I’ve been wanting to try printing with styrofoam for a while now and finally got over my guilt complex enough to buy a pack of styrofoam plates for a $1.59. I realize they will never, ever decompose and that this doesn’t exactly jive with the other efforts I’ve been making to be more environmentally friendly. I guess my excitement over the possibility of a new art project wins out over environmental responsibility sometimes. I kept thinking I’d buy something in styrofoam and just use that and then at least it would be recycled, but I guess I just don’t buy stuff packaged in styrofoam. Anyway, clearly all this over-explaining and justifying means I’m NOT over the guilt. But let’s move on for now, shall we?
First, Maia and I drew our designs. We used pencils, both mechanical and regular, and pressed hard to gouge designs into the styrofoam. Maia especially liked to poke holes straight through the plates.
We cut the plate rims off, to make a flat printing surface. Next time I’d do this first, then draw the designs. Also, I’d use a drawing implement that makes wider lines — maybe the back of a colored pencil (ie a pencil with no eraser) or a chopstick.
Then we used the rollers to spread paint over the design…
and pressed the styrofoam paint side down onto paper, rubbing it gently to transfer the image.
Sorry about these photos by the way. I had the camera on a weird setting and didn’t realize until later.
We did a bunch of these and had fun, but our images didn’t transfer super well since the paint collected in the tiny grooves. I’m thinking that using a wider drawing implement would solve this. Another option would be to use a proper rubber brayer rather than our fuzzy paint rollers. I actually have one but didn’t think to get it out in time. Any other tips from those of you who have done styrofoam printing before?
I’d try this again but so far I think that the monoprinting we did using acrylic box frames was the most successful young child printing endeavor we’ve tried (and more environmentally friendly!).
Hi! My name is Jean and I am mama to two daughters -- a four year old and a newborn. I'm trying to parent in a way that encourages creative expression, imagination, joyfulness, and a love of learning. Thanks for visiting!
Ericka said
I have been meaning to save styrofoam too! Same problem of never buying anything packaged in it. The brayer would solve the problam of lines filling in. I let my daughter use ours a my personal back massager!
Also, check out these: http://thelongthread.com/?p=4243
The Artful Parent said
Thanks for the link Ericka. Another printing project to try!
Christina said
I did this last year with my kids (3 & 5) and it was a big hit. We used the following tutorial and got similar results. It helped that we used larger utensils to create the images. Also, I liked using very small canvases (I saved any and all meat trays and cut out the bottoms). This allowed for a manageable work space for the kids to “carve” an image. We painted on the styrofoam last year, but I now have brayers (yah!), so we’ll try those next time.
http://kleas.typepad.com/kleas/2008/07/tutorial-carving-stamps-with-young-children.html
The Artful Parent said
Excellent link. Thank you! It looks like the styrofoam packaging is thicker, too, than the plates, which would make it a bit easier to work with.
rowena said
This does have potential. I imagine doing a starry night sky on one of these and making constellations of mythological creatures.
The Artful Parent said
Yes, some of Maia’s look like constellations. It would be neat to do a real one. There’s even a constellation with a star named Maia in it — the Pleaides.
Gina said
I’ve done this with big kids (middle school age) on the meat trays (sometimes come with veggies too…) cut into rectangles and using very dull pencils or the back of a crochet hook. The teachers at Phila. art museum had my students design a 1.5-inch square as their signature stamp and print it in red under their Asian-styled linoleum block prints. It was very cool.
Dharmaflyer said
Gosh I did this with my munchkins today! We used blunt pencils to make the mark and found using brushes instead of a roller worked better. It helps that my husband is an artist. We are both going to experiment on our own before we get the children to participate again. Another way to do printmaking is to roll ink onto a piece of perspex and put paper on top and then draw your image onto the paper. The results can be quite captivating: http://suzanneauty.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/p1011266.jpg
erin said
A while back you posted about sand models with plaster of paris? Last summer, we did an alternate project when the sand wasnt cooperating using styrofoam plates and plaster. We carved into the styrofoam just as your daughter did, poured in the plaster and painted when dry. A good rainy day activity and you can use up that guilt-ridden styrofoam!
It was difficult to remember to carve letters backwards though!
Julie Liddle (ART IN HAND) said
I second the comment about using thicker styrofoam…I swipe cafeteria trays from the trash at my kids’ school and clean those and use them (talk about a LOT of styrofoam being used…Fairfax County Public School lunches! Makes me crazy). Anyway, they work pretty well, but it is still a challenge to get the little ones to make deep enough grooves. Usually the preschoolers do okay, but 3 and unders have a hard time. You could deepen the marks that they make without changing the design though by going over it yourself after they are done. They do love the printing process. Elementary school kids REALLY enjoy this project as well (but have to be reminded that any word they write will turn out backwards!!
Rachel said
maia looks like she’s about 6 in the first pic!!!
Bibliophile said
Yeah, I would use the brayer, and I know you’re working with little ones, but printing ink would really help your designs show with the stickier texture of the ink. I think they make it non-toxic too. I’ve used it with 2nd graders making collagraphs and they turned out great! I bet collagraphs would be a fun printing project too for your art group.
This girl loves to talk said
I too have been saving the kleas link in the hope of doing this some day.. each time I throw out a meat tray I think.. could have done some printing with that!! I am a bad recycler!! lol
a big thick pencil perhaps.. and a smaller piece of styrofoam so you get more picture and less paint background
http://kleas.typepad.com/kleas/2008/07/tutorial-carving-stamps-with-young-children.html
This girl loves to talk said
the other end of a wide/fat paintbrush might be wider than a pencil and leave better marks
Melissa said
We did this about a month ago. We used a take-out box, and it felt good to reuse it rather than throw it away
rae said
thanks for the flashback! i did this elementary school and it was actually put in an art show in a museum during children’s week or something. oddly enough, it is one of the only works of art from my childhood that i still have. we used the meat trays which are nice and thick. i personally don’t ever buy anything that comes with these trays. maybe you could talk to the produce or meat guy and they could save some for you….maybe they have damaged ones they aren’t going to use or something. you could also try requesting some on freecycle.
Darcy said
If you sand the styrofoam plates lightly you can also put colors on with markers or watercolor paint.
Tracy said
I always save the Styro trays our grocery (unfortunately) uses to sell past their prime fruits and veggies. I leave the trays intact and cut the paper to fit just slightly smaller than inside of tray. You can make a nice print using cookie cutters for the design. For younger children this part is probably for the adult and the actual printing for the kids. Press in the cookie cutter, give a good wiggle, and then go over with a chopstick or something to make the design a bit bigger. Then the little ones get to paint and print. quite a process for a little one actually if you think about it. Older children could of course draw their own design (little ones could but it’s a little tricky to make the grooves right as you have discovered) but my little guys (3-5) really enjoy the whole paint and print process. Some will print the same design over and over. I like to see their concentration on a multi step task like this.
leslie said
We just did this project in Sunday school with elementary kids. I asked the butcher at our local grocery store and he gave me stacks and stacks of meat trays for free. You might ask your local butcher about it. We used dull pencils to make our designs and I went over them before we inked the images. We used brayers but also used printing ink which worked well. Our kids loved it.