Styrofoam Block Printing
I recently signed up for a printmaking swap at ATCsForAll, with the intent of carving some stamps. I found myself dreading this as the deadline grew closer, and kept putting it off. In my world, that’s a sign that I should abandon my original idea in favor of something that sounds like fun—so, here we are, with finished cards made by creating patterns in styrofoam plates. This was infinitely faster and less stressful than carving stamps, and a great deal of fun.
Here’s how I made the cards:
I started with an ATC sized base, cut in cardstock. I placed the base on a small styrofoam plate, and traced around it with a pencil. I always have these plates laying around my work room, because I use them as pain palettes—I buy them in gigantic stacks at my local dollar store.
Next, I cut a heart shape from a scrap of paper, and centered it on my ATC tracing. This technique really lends itself to tracing around shapes, so if you have some fun paper punches around, punch out a few pieces on scrap paper, and see where that leads you.
And important thing to know at this point is that wherever you press down with your pencil will not be inked in the finished stamp, and wherever you don’t press will be. So, if I’ve traced around my card and heart, all I’m going to get is white outlines of those shapes. Not exactly the most interesting design! I decided to cross-hatch the heart, using the pencil to make lines across it diagonally in on direction, then diagonally in the other. I also broke up the background around the heart by adding different sized dots.
Once I had a design I thought I’d like, I was ready to get down to printing. First, I cut the design away from the plate, to create a flat piece.
I used some waterbased printing ink for this project. It’s sort of like acrylic paint that’s the thickness of cake frosting. I’m sure you could do this with acrylic paint, too. The key is to use just a little bit of paint or ink, and spread it thinly.
Here’s where the spreading part comes in: I used a hard acrylic brayer to spread the ink in one direction, then the other. Then I loaded the brayer with ink, making sure it did one complete revolution across the surface.
To ink up the styrofoam, I rolled the loaded brayer across the surface several times, making sure all the raised areas got a little ink on them. Now I can finally see what my design will look like.
I had some pieces of white cardstock, cut just a bit larger than finished ATCs. I place a piece of the cardstock onto the inked design, and pressed down, making sure I touched all parts of the design.
I slowly peeled the cardstock and styro apart, and set the wet print aside to dry.
For each print, I inked up the design again, to get a nice, dark impression.
I wanted to have a little fun with my cards once I’d mastered my technique. I drew another heart shape, and filled it with swirls. I printed this design on some rose colored cardstock.
When all the prints were dry, I trimmed them to size. The cards were trimmed using an ATC blank, which I then glued on the back of the card to make it more solid. The hearts were trimmed close to the edge of the design, and applied to the finished cards with foam dots. I added a few dots of silver glitter glue here and there.
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Ah, lovely - I’ve done lino cutting, and been hoarding a few bits of styrofoam from packaging for printing one day, but never quite got around to it. I think this is a great kickstart.
Linocutting is great, but I find it quite hard on the wrists, even with easy cut lino.
Thanks!
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
another great idea - You are one very smart youngin ! ! ! Keep the ideas coming. At least I have everything on hand for this one - going to try it after my nap !
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Wow, can’t wait to try this, I think we have a few of these in the kitchen - need to get around the wife. Will let you know how I get on.
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I’m so glad to see I’m not the only one to carve stamps out of styrofoam trays…
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Very creative! I like this idea. TFS!
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I did this many years ago. It’s really fun. I drew figures & animals in a simple primitive style with lots of geometric shapes. I printed them on mulberry paper. It’s amazing how well they looked when matted & put in a simple frame.
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Brilliant idea, is there anything that you can’t do? I am amazed of what you have done with a foam plate. I have plenty and I will get started as soon as I can, and keep these easy ideas coming, I appreciate all the time you take for these tutorials. Thanks!
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Cool idea. Wish I was in this swap!
Aug 3rd, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Thanks for these instructions. I’ve been saving my styrofoam meat trays just for this. I’m gonna give it a try.
Aug 4th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Cool! I’m a “frugal” new art teacher doing my internship with a very small budget. Your site gives me helpful ideas. Thanks Lisa!
Aug 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I am SO loving this tutorial!!! It has SO many posibilities!!! THANK YOU so much for sharing!!!!
Aug 4th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
This is wicked! I just cannot wait to tune in and see what else you can come up with. I just re-upped my Monthly muse because I can’t bear to know that craftiness is moving on without me! You rock, even for us beginners!
Aug 4th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Lisa, Thank you so much for providing the tutorial. I have received quite an education from you so far. Looking forward to more content on your web site and more CD instruction from you.
Aug 4th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Brilliant idea, is there anything that you can’t do?
I can’t add or subtract without counting on my fingers or using a calculator.
I can’t find my glasses, even though I have three pairs of them in this house somewhere.
I can’t keep my art supplies off the dining room table, even though I have an entire room dedicated to making artwork.
Aug 4th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I love this form of “monoprinting”. I save those meat trays for projects like this. I use the stamped logo on the bottom of the meat trays as part of the design element.
For those of you that don’t think you can draw, you can always use Staz On to stamp a non fussy rubber stamp on the styrofoam. All you have to do is trace the pattern. Don’t throw away those old pens that no longer work. They are perfect for tracing!
If you really want to be adventurous, quickly paint different colors of acrylic into the “carved” pattern for a realistic look.
Aug 4th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I love it!!! I think I can do it!!! I will try this out tomorrow and hopefully produce a neat card. Thanks a Bunch
Aug 5th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Hi Lisa!
This is BRILLIANT!!! I can do this!!!
Big happy hugs,
Rebecca
Aug 5th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
You know I think I could do this too. I am going to try a big star. I love stars.
Yup, I’m gonna do it tonight.
Thanks again.
Aug 5th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Awesome technique.
Like the others I can’t wait to see what you are up to next. Frugal is good too!!!
Must try this out.
Lesley
Aug 6th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
You know, I can’t draw stick people but I am great at tracing! I can forsee myself tracing some of the great shapes I find in magazines and other papers. I love the idea of recycling and this gives me another way to stamp those great shapes I haven’t been able to buy yet!
Sep 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I just did some ATCs with this technique. I used a stencil for the image. The results were great. I like this in that it shows you how to expand the use of your supplies. It also allows you to create a large number of prints. I’m going to use it for my next chunky book swap in which I have to make 31 pages.
Sep 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
@Nora: excellent variation! I’ll have to give my stencils a try next time I do this.