Mono-printing Exercise

I experimented with mono-printing as an art technique to try and broaden my art skills for the future. 

Mono-printing is a type of printing technique that involves evenly rolling a thin layer of ink onto a surface and placing a surface of which you wish to print onto on top of the inked surface. To create lines, you would simply use any form of mark making whether it is a comb, branch, pencil, etc, on the back of the surface you are printing on to apply pressure to where the ink prints onto the surface. This would make patterns in the ink when it is printed onto the surface. 

When printing, I created a print with the word "NYC" that relates to my project of graffiti as it is the place where the documentary Style Wars was filmed. I chose to print a word because I felt it posed a challenge as well as link it to my graffiti project in future development. 

To print a word, you have to write it in reverse or else the print will come out in reverse. To do this, I had to write the word out normally on a piece of paper and use a mirror to copy the reflection onto the surface you want to print. 

For my first attempt, I used blue ink on black paper. However, I felt I used too much ink and so there isn't much texture or marks created that printing usually creates. As well as this, the blue ink does not show up on black paper so the word didn't create any contrast and cannot be read very well from a distance. 

                                      

To improve, I changed the surface to be printed on to a white piece of paper instead of black. This helped the word show up much easier than on black paper and therefore improved the contrast. I also used much less ink which made much more gaps in the ink and therefore creating more texture which I wanted in my work. However, I felt that the piece itself was plain and the word itself does not show up as well as I had hoped. 
To improve, I would make the letters filled in so it is easier to read, and I would also use more than one colour to be able to create a more interesting background.


After, I decided to experiment with different surfaces because while paper creates interesting effects, I feel that using different surfaces with different textures will create better marks and depending on the surface, it will look much less flat and therefore show depth in the print. 
I decided to experiment with tin foil and wallpaper.