How to Make Monotype Prints from a Plastic Blueberry Container

This is a post from Belinda Del Pesco’s Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.

Repurpose Plastic Food Containers into Printmaking Plates

Your enthusiasm for this post about converting a plastic cookie container into a drypoint engraving inspired another monotype printmaking experiment.

I started clipping plastic from all the food and produce containers we brought home from the grocers to experiment with monotype, drypoint and collagraph prints. This post is about how to make a monotype print from a plastic blueberry container. Want to make one?

Slow the Drying Time on Your Pigments

If you only have standard artist’s acrylic to make a monotype print, you can slow the drying time with Liquitex Slow-Dri Fluid Retarder. That will give you a lot more time to work your image. The pigments have to stay wet till you press your paper to them, because acrylic dries permanently. Its not like watercolor, which re-wets over and over.

Monotype Printmaking Video Tutorials

I’ve been sharing step by step monotype print video tutorials over on my youtube channel for awhile now. I filmed a new one for you (see it below). Its fun to make art out of recycled plastic blueberry containers!

I especially love that you don’t need drawing skills, since you can trace through the clear plastic. And you can use acrylic artist’s paint (with just a few caveats) if you don’t have printmaking ink. With nothing more than a soup spoon, you can transfer the print to paper! You don’t need a press!

I hope you have a lot of fun making an afternoon of monotype prints at the kitchen table. If you post them somewhere, be sure to leave a link in the comments so we can see your fun results.

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in the next post!

Belinda

P.S. Jay Weinstein is a photographer who was snapping candid images of people in India a few years ago. After lining up a shot of a man standing in his storefront, Jay paused, and thought better of it due to the man’s stern expression. He moved on to take other photos, until a friendly voice said “Hey, take my picture too!”. It was the same stern-faced man, completely transformed by a smile. Resting faces can look naturally grim, or intense. A smile can transform your impression of a person dramatically. And Jay proves that in these photos and essay by Jack Shepherd. If you’re not naturally prone to smiling at rest, maybe these images will nudge you to practice smiling a little more often?

P.P.S. I had a conversation with a friend about making art in a small space, and storing art supplies and finished art in a tiny apartment. I wrote this article about working with a small artist space on Medium, and I hope it’s helpful if that’s what you’re struggling with.

Art Quote

It is all a question of weeding out what you yourself like best to do, so that you can live most agreeably in a world full of an increasing number of disagreeable surprises.

M.F.K. Fisher

The post How to Make Monotype Prints from a Plastic Blueberry Container appeared first on Belinda Del Pesco’s Art Blog Belinda Del Pesco.