Happy Easter

Going through my old art work, I came across an Easter Card that I made more than 10 years ago. It is a small accordion book. I particularly like the cover. I used a rubbing technique for this project. I printed with yellow, green, pink and blue (Easter egg colors) screen printing ink. For the cover, I printed a block of yellow and used the same opening for a rubbing ,which was printed with purple. I only found enough of these for my family - I will share this on Facebook for my friends.

Any textured surface can be used to create stencils that capture the look of the original surface. I often use antique, embossed book covers, dried flowers and leaves, ribbon and laces, coins and wood.

The screen is placed over the surface to be used. It is important to have a comfortable grip on the screen with one hand. Then with the other hand use a crayola crayon to make the rubbing directly on the screen. Don’t let the screen move, or you will have a double image.

The crayola will act as a block-out to the water base ink. The image will be the color of the paper and the area around it will be the color of the ink.

It is necessary to have a border of block-out around the rubbing. An open area on the screen can be made first and the rubbing can be done within it. I made Easter egg shapes with drawing fluid and screen filler and used floor finish for the different colors. 

When I use antique books, I cover them tightly with saran wrap to keep the crayon from getting on them. Dried flowers and leaves should not be too dry and brittle as they would crumble when rubbed.

After printing, clean the ink off with cold water. The crayon rubbing will stay on the screen. When cleaning the rubbing from the screen use hot water and a strong cleaner to remove the crayola. I used antique guide books from my collection for this project.

COVER