Okay. We really got it this time. While Maia and I had fun last time, I wasn't as happy with the final results and thought that the process could be improved for younger (and older) kids so that it was both fun AND produced a crisper final product.
First of all, we used a couple of acrylic box frames we had lying around since pink and green mama, a printmaker, suggested doing the prints on glass or plexi. This worked so well! Not only were the box frames easy to work on and easy to clean up, they also produced a crisp print edge without effort since they were elevated. The second big change was using rollers to apply the paint in an evenly thin layer. So no gloppy mess.
After rolling the paint on we drew our designs using the q-tips as before.
Here, Maia is telling me she drew a hospital kit for her friend Marlise.
Then we pressed the paper over the image. See the nice crisp design and edges? I love it.
A couple more prints. This one is a "baby duck inside a sack inside her mama's belly."
And this one is "a brain -- it's a part of your body." So... Give this project a try. It was fun and effective. If you don't have an acrylic box frame, try a piece of plexi or glass (from an unused frame) or maybe the lid of a washable box (I'm eyeing our tin domino box) or ?
