This was a project that we planned as a Christmas present for the moms. I bought 100% cotton tea towels and the the students brought their amazing ideas for a linoleum block print. My constant warning to keep hands behind the blade worked almost flawlessly when suddenly one student said he’d cut himself. We washed his cut with soap and water, bandaged it up and he was back to carving.
I’ve learned some things over the years of printing. One huge help is to smear the printer’s ink on a wax coated or styrofoam plate and roll from there. Clean up is a breeze because I simply toss the plate. I used to use a big piece of tempered glass which looked very professional; but the clean up was tedious.
The other thing is with a large class, it works best to limit the color choices to around three or four. There’s less mayhem.
Working on the tea towel, the students’ first station was the ironing board to get their towels smooth. Then over to the printing area where they place their linoleum block on a sheet of paper when they are inking it. This keeps the table surface clean so that the white towel doesn’t inadvertently end up with ink splotches.
Then we put a piece of paper directly under the section they plan to print to keep the table or under layer of towel from absorbing the ink.
As usual, I was so pleased with the results.
