hearts

We learned some printmaking techniques to make our parents Valentines. We cut pieces of styrofoam trays into heart shapes and then we drew on them with pencils, pressing hard. Then we used real printing ink (water soluble -- non toxic) and worked the ink onto a piece of plexiglass with a brayer (to get an even coating on the brayer)(a brayer looks like a smooth paint roller). Then we used the brayer to apply the paint to the foam. Then we lay the inky foam face up on a clean piece of paper, then lay our "good" paper over the inked foam. Then we used a spoon to rub the paper so the ink would transfer evenly. We had great results! Here are some of them (they are 6-7" tall -- 15cm) :