Exploring Relief Printmaking (1967)

[Music] print making is a way of making pictures by trans referring ink or paint from one surface to another in the commonest kind of print making the surface used to do the printing has high and low places when the surface is Inked and pressed against another surface only the raised areas leave a mark this is called relief print making for thousands of years artists have used relief print making to make beautiful [Music] prints and for hundreds of years printers have used type another form of relief [Music] there are many forms of relief print making you can use by exploring relief print making you can discover new ways to create designs there are four main types of relief prints press prints are made by objects that already have an interesting [Music] relief carved relief prints are made by carving a design into a surface raised relief prints are made by adding material to build up high areas in a mono print the relief is made in the ink or paint itself many objects which we can find around our homes or schools already have surfaces with high and low areas we can print with objects like [Music] these even our fingers can be used to make prints Press Printing allows us to repeat a design many times we can add details to a print with pen pencil or brush [Music] many different objects can be used for Press Printing and each object leaves its own special [Music] Mark when we have discovered many different marks we can use our imagination to combine them [Music] don't forget to look for Relief inside things many surprising relief surfaces lie hidden inside ordinary vegetables and [Music] fruits some may be used for press prints While others such as a potato have surfaces which are suitable for a second technique carved relief printing high and low areas are made by carving directly into the surface prints from potatoes can be repeated many times to make interesting designs [Music] other materials can be cut or carved to make relief prints these include cardboard plaster clay material for the printing surface is important because different materials give different effects with some materials very fine detail can be produced While others give a softer less distinct effect a traditional carving material for making this type of print is Wood high and low areas can be made by pounding [Music] grinding cutting and burning [Music] a third way of producing relief is by adding material the shapes used here are cut from rubber inner [Music] tubes as in other types of relief print making only the highest parts of the block touch the paper [Music] several copies of prints can be made from the same printing surface with different colors of paint and [Music] paper many materials can be used for raised relief printing such as [Music] cork acrylic modeling [Music] paste cardboard and textured plastic [Music] [Applause] [Music] most prints from these materials have large broad shapes however other materials for example certain kinds of glue can provide shapes and lines of varied thickness when the glue hardens the surface can be Inked and prints made [Music] finally to make monoprints the paint is applied first to a flat surface usually to a plate of glass designs can then be drawn directly into the [Music] paint by simply pressing a piece of paper against the glass A monoprint is prod [Music] produced the first mono print while still wet may be used to make other [Music] prints the painted glass can be covered with the printing paper and the picture then drawn on the paper [Music] dark lines will appear wherever we press down with a pencil or other [Music] tool we have seen relief prints made in many ways by pressing with ordinary objects by carving into material by building up raised surfaces and by drawing directly into paint or ink whether you use just one technique and one material or many techniques and many materials relief print making allows you to make an endless variety of prints relief print making can be an adventure in visualizing and expressing your ideas and emotions [Music]