Our printmaking club spent some time experimenting with different monoprinting techniques. First, students used liquid watercolor and bubble solution to make bubble prints. Then students used Gelli plates to create abstract designs with letters and texture.

​Gyotaku is the Japanese art of fish printing. “Gyo” means fish, and “taku” means rubbing. As the story goes, fishermen in Japan invented this art form as a way to record the size of their catch. After all, there were no cameras! The ink was applied directly to the fish, and the image was printed on rice paper to memorialize the moment.

The fifth-grade students created two prints for the project. For their first print, students created an under-the-sea-themed background using oil pastel and watercolor. For their second print, they used a more traditional printing method with rice paper.