This is a cool little technique that I learned in my printmaking class. I nice way to add a bit of color to your prints, especially when you are primarily working in black and white. I used this to turn my little skeleton man into a ghoooost. (Miss R drew the skeleton and I transferred it to a safety-cut block and carved it. )
I’m going to try to explain how I do this, but if you have any questions, let me know!
- stamp your carved block on a piece of cardstock.
- cut out the shape that you would like to use as the colored portion of your print. This becomes your template. I wanted the body of the skeleton to be white so I just cut out this portion.
- using your template cut out pieces of paper that will add the color to your print. I used white mulberry paper. Mulberry and tissue papers are “traditional” chine colle papers but honestly, you can use anything.
- ink up your stamp.
- paint glue (I use nori paste, again a traditional paste for this technique but any thin, acid-free glue will work) onto your cut out pieces. This is tricky, your piece of paper is going to lie on top of your stamp then your final paper will go on top of everything. So in effect, you are putting paste on the right side of your paper.
- put the glued piece of paper on top of your stamp.
- put your paper on top of the stamp. press down using either a baren or the back of a wooden spoon.
- lift the paper up carefully. Sometimes the thinner paper will stick to the stamp instead of adhering to the paper. If this happens, lift it off carefully and place it onto the heavier paper. This is why you make lots of copies, just in case.