Two Color Relief Block Printing with 3-D Butterflies



























This printing project began with pre-made stamps and ink pads. They stamped leaf prints all over colored construction paper. You could use real leaves and ink pads or paint instead. Set this aside.  Next make your own printing "blocks" out of cardboard and yarn. I gave them two copies of a butterfly outline and they glued them each to a piece of cardboard. They made one cardboard "block" the outline of a butterfly with yarn. You could use any outline, or have them design their own.

This is to be printed in one color. The other "block" is decorated with designs inside the outline with yarn for the butterfly's wings. This will be printed in a second color. Let the "blocks" are dry before going on to the next step.

Put two colors of paint on a sheet of foil and, using a brayer, roll it 











out into a thin layer. You could use a rolling pin instead. It is just a bit bigger. Use your printing "blocks" just like rubber stamps and press them first in the paint, and then on colored construction paper. Use a second color to print in the details of the wings with your second block. Now you can cut your butterflies or whatever your design is out and glue them to the backgrounds they made previously. If you  made butterflies, you can glue down just the bodies of the butterflies and then carefully fold the wings, and it gives the butterflies a 3-dimensional look.

Top Row: student work (left) age 11 (right) age 4 
Middle: (left), special needs, age 14 (right), age 7 
Bottom: (left), age 16 (right), age 4

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