A new way to monoprint!

Are you familiar with the textile work of the English mother-daughter duo, Linda and Laura Kemshall?   I recently viewed one of their free sample videos from DesignMatters TV (DMTV),  Exploring Monoprint.

This method of monoprinting was entirely new to me and I couldn't wait to try it out last night.  All I needed was fabric paint (I used black, and later, added a little green and blue), a Plexiglas print plate, a brayer (or soft, sponge-type roller), plain paper,  fabric to print on, and a ball-point pen.*  Oh, two more items:  tape and a temporary adhesive spray.  (All I had was temporary fabric basting spray, and it worked fine.) 

*Actually, Laura called it a "biro," but it looked like a simple ball-point pen to me.  Can anyone tell me if they're the same?

Assembled supplies for monoprinting, Laura Kemshall-style.

I looked through my design sketchbooks to get ideas for lines and marks to use.  On my first try, I drew the lines on paper first, then copied over them during the monoprint to get this result:

My first print on fabric.

 For the other prints, I didn't draw designs on the paper until it was layered over the fabric and inked plate.

My 2nd print on fabric.

and here's the paper those lines were drawn on:

Before re-inking the plate again, I looked at it held up to a light, and the small amounts of blue and green paints I'd added to the black were apparent:

The plate after printing.

For this to make sense, you may want to see Laura's instructions on the free video.

Here are the other two monoprints I made on fabric.  As it was late in the evening, you can see that my design ideas weren't flowing too freely.

This one features fake backwards writing at the top.

Monopoly houses?  Time to quit!

My next experiment will be to follow Linda Kemshall's instructions from another of their free DMTV shows (further down that page) on Waxing Papers.