Course Materials for Introduction to Printmaking for the Home Studio
Required Materials
The following materials are required in order to be able to complete all the assignments and receive the completion certificate. If you do not have the means to obtain all of them you may complete those assignments you have the materials and equipment for and not receive a completion certificate. In many cases there are some possible substitutions and I have tried to offer those in the description.
- Printmaking Paper - we'll go over this more in the first lesson, some popular choices include Rives BFK, Arches 88, Arches Cover, any Hot Press (smooth) watercolor paper and even standard card stock can be used. I recommend a 60-lb bond minimum though. 1 or 2 parent-sized sheets should suffice for the class unless you get highly inspired.
- Inks - one ink pad, dye based is required, though I recommend two highly contrasting colors such as a bright pink and a black. Waterproof is ideal, though will stain your plates/stamps. You may also use water-based printing inks which are made by Speedball as well as other companies.
- Acrylic Paint - again, one color of acrylic paint will suffice, though a selection of at least 3 are recommended for later weeks. Golden acrylics are very high quality and pleasant to work with, though craft acrylics will suffice.
- Acrylic Paint Retarder - I know for sure that Golden and Liquitex make one and can be able to be used with any acrylic paint. The craft acrylics may also offer retarders.
- Acrylic Medium - a gloss finish is recommended in either liquid or soft gel form to be used as an adhesive as well as a protective coat. A soft bristle brush and/or sponge brush to apply it is also recommeneded.
- Plexi-Glass or Acrylic Sheets (~3) - thin (1/8 - 1/4 inch thick at the most). At least one sheet should be sized to fit your pasta machine or Speedball Personal Desktop Press if you will be using either of these, the other should be slightly larger than the size of the prints you wish to make. This is readily available and fairly inexpensive at most hardware stores or home improvement warehouses like Home Depot and often it can be cut to size for you by their employees for nominal fee. For some of the techniques you may be able to substitute picture frame glass, equally thick copper plates or in some cases even overhead transparencies.
- Barren - this is a tool used in traditional Japanese printing techniques and offers a smooth way to apply pressure to the back of the paper in order to make the print. Speedball makes an affordable version that is available at most large crafts stores as well as many local art supply stores. A wooden spoon dedicated to art may be substituted.
- Brayers - I recommend having two if you can afford it, that way you have one that is dirty with paint/ink and one that can be used like a barren if you wish. The 4-inch Hard Rubber Speedball available in most crafts stores will suffice.
- Soft Block, Polymer Eraser or Linoleum Block - I highly recommend PZ-Kut, though the MarsCarve works well too. I have not been happy with either of Speedball's products the Speedy Cut or Speedy Stamp, though they can be used in a pinch. Polymer erasers are usually a milk-white and somewhat flexible. I do not recommend Linoleum blocks for first time relief block carvers or those with limited strength in their hands as it is harder to carve. You will need to make at a minimum 4 blocks during the course that are no smaller than 2 X 2 inches.
- Speedball #1 Veiner and Handle - I highly recommend the U gouge (#4) as well. You may use the traditional carving handle, or the handles for calligraphy tips will also hold the cutting tips. Stick with the traditional handle if you will be using Linoleum. You can also use the Staedtler Mastercarve tools, though the handle and all needs to be thrown out when you can no longer sharpen them and you can't switch styles of handle if you discover you dislike it.
- Craft Knife - an everyday #11 x-acto blade in handle is just fine as is a Testors hobby knife (in the model making section of craft stores)
- #400 Sand Paper - again, easily found at your local hardware store or home improvement warehouse. This is used to sharpen your carving tools.
- Soft Cloth Daubers - these can be made from tightly rolled up felt or cheesecloth, otherwise places such as MisterArt.com have them for purchase pre-made.
- Eye Protection - for drypoint etching.
- Drypoint or Etching Needle or Burins or Scribers -You can order these supplies either from MisterArt or Daniel Smith. If you have a Dremel tool with engraving bits that may be substituted here. Your dentist may be a good source for some interesting bits to use.
- Textured Items - gather up textured ephemera such as pieces of mat board, corrugated cardboard, lace, buttons, coins, easily engravable metal foil etc.
- Shallow Tray - this should be large enough to hold you largest print size you wish to make during this course. It will be used for preparing the papers for some of the techniques. An old cake pan or even jelly roll pan should work fine if you have one lying around.
- Drafter's or Artist's Tape - this tape is high tack, yet removable without marring the surface of paper and is used to aid in registering when making multiple transfers for one print. Many of the large office supply stores carry the drafter's tape and art supply stores should have the artist's tape.
- Cardboard, Chipboard or Mat Board - a few pieces sized to fit in your pasta machine (~1/4 - 1/2 inch less wide than you can fit through the machine to allow for thickness) if you have one or your desired finished print size or slightly larger. Thicker chipboard can be recycled from old notebooks or legal pads or cereal boxes and the like can be glued together to double thickness.
- Design Ideas - you can get ideas for designs for your prints from many places. Try picking out portions of doodles you've made, sketches in your sketchbook or art journal, take rubbings of interesting textures or as a last resort use copyright and royalty free clip art such as that from Dover or ClipArt.com.
Recommended Materials
The following list contains other items you may find useful when making prints at home, though they are not required and you may delay purchase until you know if printmaking is something you wish to pursue farther. Or, if you already have them pull them out for this class!
- Art-dedicated Pasta Machine - this can make a great make-shift home printing press for several techniques.
- Speedball Model-B Printing Press - this is a home, table top press that can also be really useful with temperamental commercial rubberstamps. It generally runs between $50 and $100.
- Scarp of Wood and Stack of Old Newspapers - You can get a similar effect as a press with a scrap of wood the same size or larger than your print and standing on that, though the pressure isn't quite as even.
- Felt and/or Fun Foam - This is only needed if you are using a pasta machine or wood pieces and yourself for a press. So, size to fit through the pasta machine or match the size of your scrap wood. You'll need at least two pieces, though having some extras on hand is recommended.
- Monotype Base or Monotype Colors - these are made from Createx and can be quite useful in monotype work if you've found you like it.
- Water Soluble Oil Paints - these paints have the advantage of a longer open time like that of traditional oil paints which make them a bit easier to work with for montypes and they also clean up with water instead of toxic solvents.
- Gelatin - the plain, unflavored gelatin can often be found in the bulk section of food co-ops and health food stores for better prices than the individual packets, though the packets are available in nearly every supermarket. It is used to make a softer looking monotype by using the gelatin as your plate. Acrylics do not react well with the gelatin though so you'll need either watercolors or water-soluble oil paints to use gelatin for your plate.
- Modeling Clay - the non-hardening clay is used to create a dam for your gelatin while forming the plate.
- Watercolors - these can also be used in monotype work and are highly encouraged for gelatin plate monotype work. Watercolors in a tube will produce more vibrant results than pan watercolors.
- Newsprint - newsprint is suggested for layering between prints when drying and/or weighting and it makes a great surface protector as well.
A search on any of the material names should supply you to links of many suppliers. In general Daniel Smith and MisterArt have a large selection of printmaking materials at reasonable prices if you need to order them. If you have any questions about these materials, please send you specific questions to [email protected].
