Specialist Skills: Monotype

Monotype is a super easy printmaking technique, which allows you to draw directly in ink or trace an image as long as you use fairly thin paper.

The key is to roll out a really thin layer of ink to place your paper on top of, having too thick a layer can lead to patches of ink transferring onto the paper like the print below

These prints were made by creating a gradient of light blue and red ink and drawing directly onto newsprint and tissue paper. I managed to get the ink pretty thin and avoid placing my hand on the paper making the ink transfer.

 

I wanted to create prints similar to Eveline Koljin's work. She looks at patterns in nature and created a series of intaglio prints based on images of bacteria and cells coming together in symbiosis.

Image by Eveline Koljin from her website