I had some balsa wood around the house and decided to make prints with the kids. If you’ve never seen this before, it is an inexpensive and soft wood that you can buy at most art supply and craft stores.
Here’s how we did it. I had the wood cut into rectangles already. The kids drew their designs with a pencil, then I went back to make sure that the indentations were clear. We printed with several colors of ink on colored paper (for more details on the printmaking process and materials, read this post). We had mixed results, but overall I like the effect of the woodgrain as it comes through to the paper and there was no carving necessary. I think it would be nice to have your child print several runs of the same design in different colors and frame them together. I even made a print of my own– this is not just a kid’s project!
WOW! I LOVE THIS and can’t wait to try it! Learning for you and others I would never have met are why I love reading blogs!
Oh my goodness this is awesome! What a great idea.
I am not sure what balsa wood is but I am sure interested now. I mostly work with fabric. I am keeping a file to work with my grand kids doing crafts. They are too young now, but I’ve said before,
I plan on having a week with them in the summer called “Buttons and Doodahs Summer Camp” I am Buttons and my husband is Doodah. This looks like fun.
Thanks for sharing.
good idea! Il like the results!
I reuse foam trays, the ones meat come in. It’s inexpence very easy to do using plastic knife or even pencils, and if the carving didn’t work you can make another one