Christmas Cards and Other Holiday Card Ideas

That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-164 -- More Projects »
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Project by Gay Bryant from Knoxville, Tenn.
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Using erasers and traditional relief printmaking materials, Gay Bryant creates plates and stamps images onto cardstock to create three festive holiday cards. She embellishes her cards with enhancements such as sun catcher gifts, fabric and raffia.

Materials:

tracing paper
graphite pencil
plastic erasers or printing blocks of various sizes
linoleum knife (cutter handle with a #1 and #2 V-blade and #2 U-blade)
water-based gel markers
white and dark green card stock
envelopes
18- and 20-gauge black wire
beads with holes large enough so they will string on the wire
raffia
small piece of wood
small nails
hammer
needle nose pliers
pencil or small piece of dowel rod
printing or fabric ink
brayer
inking plate
2"x 3" fabric
glue stick
white printmaking ink
gold acrylic paint
toothbrush

Steps:

Basic Relief-Print Card

1. Select a simple image that will fit in the space of your printing block or eraser. Break it down into a linear drawing that requires no modeling or shading. Consider the color fields and areas you wish to fill with ink. These will be the raised areas on your plate. Cut away the areas that will be blank (or white) on the paper. The raised areas (areas that are left on the plate) will print and will be filled with color; the cut-away areas will be white (or the color of the paper) and will not print.

2. Sketch the image (or trace an image) onto tracing paper with a graphite pencil.

3. Turn the tracing paper over onto the printing block so the graphite marks are in contact with the surface of the block.

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Figure A
4. Rub over the back side of the tracing paper, rubbing and pressing lightly on the drawing, to transfer the drawing to the block (figure A). The image will be reversed on the block (from the way it looks on the original drawing). When it prints, it will print like the original drawing.

5. Using the linoleum knife with the #1 V-blade, "draw" on the block, outlining the areas you wish to have filled with color.

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Figure B
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Figure C
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Figure D
6. Using the knife with the #2 V-blade cut away the areas you do NOT wish to print. This blade is larger and will remove more of the plate material. You can also use the #2 U-blade to remove background or large areas of the block you do not want to print or contain color (figure B).

7. After cutting the block, fill in the raised areas with selected gel marker colors. (figure C)

8. Position the block with color on the surface of the paper. Press down, being careful not to move the plate while pressing (figure D).

9. Carefully lift the block to see the relief print.

10. Re-ink and continue stamping.

Also in this Episode
That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-164
•Hand Woven Table Runner
•Santa Doll
•Christmas Cards and Other Holiday Card Ideas
•Holiday Elf Music Box