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!