sand paper prints

During the Pets-n-Art camps, I did two printmaking projects.

The first one was with sandpaper. I did this project last summer in a camp and the kids had so much fun with the unusual opportunity to draw on sandpaper, I decided to give it a try again.

9 year old. "Duffy"

This project is pretty simple, but I would recommend either having an old iron you don't use for clothes anymore or make sure you have a piece of paper between the sandpaper and the iron to protect it.

7 year old. "Aussie"

The kids start by first creating a drawing on the sandpaper with oil pastel. 

8 year old. "Kali"

In the studio, I take the oil pastel boxes that are past their prime and put them into three dollar store containers, meant to hold utensils, and sort the pastels by warm, cool, and neutral colors. These are the pastels I use for this project because sandpaper chews down your oil pastels very quickly!

10 year old. "Violet"

I urge the kids to create at least of couple of layers of pastel on the sandpaper, to be truthful, three layers is best for really good results. You will see here the variety of prints has a lot to do with how well they covered the sandpaper with the pastel.

4.5 year old. "Ginger"

Once they had completed their pictures on the sandpaper, they brought their artwork over to where I was with a hot iron. I had cut out some very heavy cardboard (the backs of the art paper packs that I always save) for us to create the monoprints onto.

9 year old. "Rosie"

When all the prints were finished, I added some twine at the top in order for each child to be able to hang them at home.

5 year old. "Aussie"

I love the way the sandpaper looks after the iron has melted the oil pastel into it too and so I mounted them too on a piece of Bristol paper for display.

5 year old. "Colby"

I always stress to the kids when we do printmaking projects that you never really know what you are going to get on the paper and to keep an open mind. For those who are less that impressed with their print, the final sandpaper picture seemed to make up for it. 

7 year old. "Dream horse pet"

I think the kids enjoyed using an unusual material to create art with this project. The idea that an iron, some recycled cardboard, and a piece of sandpaper could create something pretty was enticing.

7 year old. "Q-Bert"

I thought they came out quite cute and hope the kids enjoy looking at these artworks at home.

7 year old. "Krystal"

Who knows, maybe some of them will get quite creative and add a "DO NOT DISTURB" or "DO NOT ENTER" sign on the back and hang them on the outside of their bedroom doors. Their very own guard pets for their bedrooms.

7 year old. "Pushka"

Regardless of how they ultimately utilize this little project, I had a great time introducing it to them.

9 year old. "Ghost dog"

And think the results are quite cute.