Earlier this week I tried out monoprinting - a technique I haven't tried before, but it is super easy to do and I love the effect!
To create a monoprint, you need some printing ink in any colour (here I used black), a brayer, paper, pen, and plastic flat palette (I used one that was A4 sized - make sure your paper is the same size).
1) Roll out a small amount of ink onto the palette using the brayer, ensuring that it will be big enough for the image you would like to create. Leave this for a minute or two until it loses its shine and goes tacky - the tackier it is, the clearer the image will come out.
2) Next, place the paper on top of the ink, right side down.
3) Draw on the back of the paper using a pen or pencil ensuring that the nib or the pen is the only thing touching the paper - if not you may not end up with a very clear image. If you use a really thick pen or pencil, the lines created on the other side will be very thick, so if you are creating quite an intricate image, a thin nib is best. Remember that the image created on the underside of the paper will be backwards, so make sure any writing you do is backwards!
4) Peel off the paper carefully to reveal your image!
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| Positive monoprint |
5) To create a negative version of your image, just put another piece of paper onto the ink once you have peeled the positive version off, and then roll on the back of the paper with the brayer to transfer the ink to the page. The indent from the first image will create the negative effect! This works best when the ink has not been left as long to go tacky as it means the ink is still wet and transfers better onto the paper so there will be a really clear negative image. Peel this off and leave to dry.
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| Indent from positive version |
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| Negative monoprint |
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| Negative monoprint |
