Knocking a Block Off

I had so much fun teaching an introductory block printing class to some folks in the neighborhood recently that I thought I'd share a few pics of what we made. I love printmaking so much for its affordable and low-tech ease. Its an art form well suited to the kitchen table any day of the week. With just a basic set of Speedball cutting tools, a block or two of rubber and a little ink, my friends and I whipped up these designs before the class was through. (Okay, so it was just my friends who did the whipping up. I sat around watching and chatting.)

Melissa made some envelope prints (above), since she's obsessed with the dying art of letter writing. I want to give her a special shout out for her workshops that teach kids how to correspond the old fashioned way. Be sure to check out her website Viva Snail Mail! to learn more about how she does it. She inspired me to incorporate a snail mail element into the goody bags I'm currently cobbling together for Jake's birthday party. Look for that in a future post soon.

Dari, Jessica, Pete and Gaby also made beautiful designs. My poor photography skills were not equal to the task of capturing their lovely work. But I thank them all for coming out to the class and sharing their creative spirits with me. I'm going to try and squeeze in one more embroidery class over at Hootenanny before the big move. Details to come.