And it’s essentially the same as what we know as “woodcut” printing.
A design is etched into wood, rolled with ink and then printed on the paper.
I’ve been wanting to make these for a while now…..
But I’ve been afraid!
Not of the mess, but I’ve been shaking in my flip-flops over:
The Foam Meat Tray.
YUCK.
It’s bad enough that I have to touch that creepy thing just to get my Rib-Eye out.
But now (for the sake of ART) I actually have to handle this thing.
Creepy!
So after washing this thing for like 20 minutes…..
And a good round of Bleach….
It was finally ready for carving!
But before we made our first cut we took a little looksie at this:
Origami: Inspired by Japanese Woodblock Prints
from the Metropolitian Museam of Art.
There are lots of photos of Japanese prints, alongside some fun Origami characters for children to make. There are historical explanations for the prints, and children get to learn about fine art and also learn new origami techniques. You can see sample pages here if your interested.
Anyway, we had a blast….
We spent all afternoon making prints….
This activity was just so much fun!
I put up full photo instructions on our main site, so you can make your own set with your little kiddos.
But be warned: You’ll want to be doing this one right alongside them!
One thought on the meat tray is asking the butcher at the grocery store for a clean one.
Another thought on getting the black on the tray is a brayer with stamping ink. You roll the brayer across the pad and then roll ink onto tray…I’m going to try that with my little ones. Thanks for all your tips and ideas…I love your site.
EW EW EW! I would be feeling the same way about the foam meat tray. I have serious issues with that. BUT that artwork is AMAZING!
just fyi…your local butcher counter (any grocery store except wal-mart will most likely do this) will give you a few styrofoam trays if you ask for them. they may even give you different sizes! then you can just recycle the ones that had meat on them…i don’t think i would ever feel they were clean enough…blech!
I just found your site and am excited to read more. This is a wonderful idea. I love teaching my kids about art from around the world!
Jen
Creative and Curious Kids!
http://raisingcreativeandcuriouskids.blogspot.com
I know it’s been several days, but I really liked this post and kept the idea in the back of my mind. When I found the other day that the grapes we’d bought were packaged on top of a foam tray, I thought I definitely had to try it. Last night I etched a lion figure along with some words (mirror image) for my dad’s Father’s Day card (he loves lions). I decided to paint a layer of black followed by a layer of brown. I liked the bi-colored effect. I’ll definitely be using this crafting technique in the future. Thanks so much for the idea, Valerie! ~Bekah
Just came across your website and I really love this craft idea! Thanks for taking the time to share it. =)