How to Make Valentine's Day Mono Prints

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Lanie Evans and on behalf of Expert Village, I'm here to show you how you can make some print-making Valentine crafts. Take a look at some of the supplies we're going to need today. You're going to need some various papers that you can print onto. Depending on the ink, you don't want the same color ink. So...For this project today I'm not going to be able to use the red paper. I'm going to be using these other items. Here, you need some kind of heart or Valentine design that you like, that has a texture to it, that's going to have bumps or a raised surface, that you will rub the ink on, on top of. You're going to need something to burnish with. This is called the burnishing tool. You want something that's smooth on one side. This is going to be basically a rubbing tool, to transfer the ink from your heart onto your paper. This spoon also works well. This gets messy, so you're going to need some kind of paper to cover your work station. Also, here we need a brayer, and some kind of ink, printing ink. This stuff is really tacky and sticky. Regular Temper paint wouldn't work for this project or acrylic actually. This is Speedball paint, and this works really well. The first thing I'm going to do is, get the ink ready. It takes about an inch or so, to kind of get a good layer of ink. This does get messy, so be prepared. You're going to take your brayer and you're going to roll it through the ink. And you're going to want to roll in different directions. You're going to listen for that sticky, tacky sound. It's going to let you know you have an even application of ink on your brayer. And you're ready to start rolling ink out. Over here I'm going to take the heart, I'm going to put it on the white paper, and you'll see when I pick it up. I'm going to just try to get an even surface, or even coat. I might have to come back over and get some more ink, this isn't getting...I'm going to lay it out. Take whatever kind of paper you're going to be using, and pick up your heart and just place it gently onto your paper. OK, now we're going to turn it over, and this is where you take your burnishing tool and you're going to rub it. Basically, you're transferring the ink off of the heart onto your paper. OK, and turn it over. And then you're going to just...See, I've already made some of that ink transfer onto the background paper. OK, and here's your finished product. You're going to gently, peel it off. And, you can do this with a lot of different papers. You can decorate envelopes, bags; anything with a texture is going to be a great surface for you to print-make with."