Tu Tu Tutorial Time...

Ever since "Wild Art" classes... 

I've been looking at the concept of the journal book 

in a whole new light.

It has become a place to experiment,

a place to p l a y 

a place to  e x p l o r e  and make mistakes

and a place of pure f r e e d o m !

I am sharing a technique that I 've been using with kids for years.

It's funny how the simplest ideas can sometimes 

translate into the loveliest of creations.

Grab yourself some foam sheets at the craft store 

and see what artistry you'll create!

Foam sheets? 

Who would think 

these handy dandy foam sheets 

would serve as a cool base 

to make a basic monoprint with?

You'll need two brayers, some block printing ink, a sheet of glass 

and a ball point pen to play with.

Use the ball point pen to draw some designs into the foam sheets.

I chose organic images, as I was planning on 

making subtle background patterns on my journal page spread.

The harder the impression you make with the pen, 

the better the result you will get when you transfer the design.

mmm... pretty...

I already had some block printing ink, but bought a fresh tube of white. 
I chose white, because I wanted to go over 
some other colors that I had previously put on my pages.

When you are done drawing the images, 

roll out some ink on the glass with your brayer.

The plan is to get a good coat of ink on the drawing side of the foam sheet.

Getting a fair amount of ink, should insure a good clean transfer of image.

When ready... flip the foam in the position you want it on the page, 

apply pressure and roll evenly with your second (clean) brayer. 

(oh- did I mention... the transfer will come out backwards from the drawing...

usually not a problem, unless you are writing words...)

This sample shows my first sneak peek, 

where I can tell 

that I needed to get heavier on my ink.

Much better... now I was ready to print on my pages... 

Below is the finished spread. 

I used two different images to transfer. 

I love how the white ink made a subtle pattern on the page, 

and also picked up some faint blue 

from the ball point pen in places.

So much fun, with such a simple process. 
What will you create? 

(Would love to hear if you try it out)