Monoprint & Ghost

The photo above is the monoprint from the plate I posted Sunday night.  The general steps we followed are:

1. Prepare a “plate" to print from, mine was Yupo paper [basically plastic].   Measure off the plate area that you want to print [depending on your paper size] and mask it with tape.
2. Paint [I used watercolor] with a brayer, brush, sponge, caran d’ache, watercolor pencils, etc, inside your tape lines.  Dry media can be used as well – pencil crayons, chalks… 
3. Remove the tape and gently clean anything outside your tape line…  this is to ensure that your print winds up exactly where you want it on the paper.  Place it face up on a flat, dry surface
4. Prepare your paper - I used BFK Rives printmaking stock.  First soak the paper for at least 3 minutes in a clean sink with a few inches of warm water [longer won’t hurt it]. 
5. Lift the paper out onto a flat support [drawing board, etc] and remove most of the water with a shower squeegee from one side, flip and remove from the second side…  between you’ll need to dry the board with a clean towel. 
6. Place the paper between two clean papers [blotting paper is best but drawing paper works too].  Run a rolling pin over the paper to blot surface moisture, but don’t over dry.
7. Centre your damp printing paper over the print “plate” and lay a large sheet of wax paper on top of that.  Now comes the work…  Rub a printing baren, large flat spoon, brayer or other flat smooth tool in a circular motion over the surface with even pressure.  You can carefully lift a corner to see how it’s printing.  It’s done when you say so or the paper is dry. 
8. Now you have a monoprint…
9. You can reprint from number 4 above to get a “ghost”.  Mine is below.   Next time I’ll paint into these prints with whatever comes to mind…  this is really truly mixed media.  Enjoy!

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