Tinfoil Monoprints
"Everything starts from a dot."
- Wassily Kandinsky
International Dot Day. Yup, it’s a thing. A really fun thing. If you have a kid under the age of 8 at home you are probably familiar with Peter Reynold’s picture book, The DOT. It’s a book that sweetly and simply illustrates the power of making one's own mark on the world. So every year around September 15th-ish, artists, educators, and people of all types celebrate by creating and sharing their dots with the world. I'm thinking we don't need to reserve this celebration for one day out of the year... BRING ON THE DOTS... and while we are at it, can we please make International Stripe Day a thing?! Until very recently, 3/4 of my wardrobe was black, stripes, and scarves... lots and lots of scarves. If you happen to stumble on this post outside of the week of the 15th of September, please enjoy the process of tinfoil monoprints in any shape you like. The process is so satisfying you will not be able to stop at one. So it goes without saying that I want to see your prints! Tag me!
Materials:
tin foil
acrylic or tempera paints in squeeze bottles
plastic putty knife (you could also use a straight edge ruler or a credit card)
Q-tips
drawing paper or card stock in assorted colors
brayer is helpful but not necessary (you can use your hand)
scissors
1. Lay down a sheet of tin foil on your table top. If you are working with young kids, tape the corners of the tin foil down so it doesn't slide around.
2. Start with your first color of paint. We started with a yellow blob in the center of our foil.
3. Next we swished, pushed, and pulled our blob in a circular motion with our putty knife. (I am a big advocate for this tool in the art room. Check out our rainbow scrape paintings.)
4. Start to layer in more color and texture. You can stick with your straight edge tool or add in a little Q-tip action for smaller markings. Did you add too much paint? You can always lift some off before you print.
5. When you are satisfied with your abstract design, you will lay a piece of paper over your paint and apply steady, even pressure with the palm of your hand or your brayer in a circular motion.
6. Now it's time for the best part... the REVEAL! Gently pull back your paper and take a look at your print. You will notice that your foil still has some paint left over. If you grab another piece of paper and lay it down you can pull a second print. We call this a "ghost print". The nice thing about this process is that you can just keep adding paint and taking it away on the same sheet of foil and create a different print each time. If you want to totally change up the color palette, either fold your foil in half and use the other side or get a new piece and start the process with your new colors. Enjoy!
