Maker Projects for Kids Who Love Printmaking

Maker Projects for Kids Who Love Printmaking — page 3
History of Printmaking Can you imagine seeing pictures only once or twice a year or perhaps never at all Before printmaking evolved all art was original You would never see an artistic creation unless you visited a church or the home of a wealthy person Printmaking brought this beauty to everyday people BuIlDinG bLocKs Artists liked the idea of more people being able to view and buy their work The first prints were made by carving a picture into wood This created a printing surface called a relief The image was coated in ink and pressed onto cloth to make multiple prints During the 1700s in Japan an art form called ukiyo-e YOO-key-oh AY became popular Meaning pictures of the floating world ukiyo-e first illustrated city life in Edo now Tokyo and was later applied to landscapes Printmakers used multiple blocks and colors to create intricate prints making separate designs and blocks for different parts of an image Because they used water-based paints it took perfect timing to achieve the desired tones before the paint dried Four people a designer engraver printer and publisher worked together The process was labor-intensive but the results were precise and elegant This famous Japanese print called Under the Wave off Kanagawa shows a wave about to crash into a boat An artist named Hokusai designed the image then a master carver carved the woodblocks used to make the print 66