Week 3, the Kindergarten soon-to-be 1st graders in the fall, group learned about Printmaking!
We discussed printmaking and I asked what came to mind when I said, “printmaking” or “print.” All answers involved a printer or a copier. I asked if I make something on the computer, would I be able to print it over and over again? Can I make something more than once? They all agreed that yes I could, and would, print multiples.
I explained that printmaking is like a stamp, and the artist creates the stamp once in order to create the same art over and over again. I then asked if they ever dipped their hand or finger into paint and pressed down onto a different paper- everyone agreed that they have done this before. I told them, that’s a print! Hand prints, footprints, thumbprints, fingerprints– all examples of printmaking!
I showed the group a piece of bubble wrap and asked what kind of print they think might happen. They all exclaimed, “Circles!”
I demonstrated how to paint on top of the bubble wrap and blend one color into another. We didn’t use water to rinse our brushes because the water would have made the paint too wet to print correctly. Instead, we used napkins to wipe away the excess paint from our brushes. After they painted their pieces of bubble wrap, they flipped the wrap over onto their papers and “massaged” the bubble wrap. They were told to massage gently, because pressing too hard could smush the paint and make a big blob.
They lifted the wrap up when they felt they pressed enough for their color to transfer. When they removed their bubble wrap, a dot pattern was revealed! Then they wiped the paint off the bubble wrap and started again. They did this over and over, and were encouraged to overlap their bubbles. They were really amazed at this technique and everyone had awesome and unique results!