One of our first assignments for the year was a relief print using cardboard as a matrix. Students found or created a drawing that they taped to cardboard before I traced with an X-acto knife. Once there was an outline cut, students could wet the shapes they wanted to remove with a wet paint brush, and after a minute or so the glue would dissolve and they could peel back the top layer of cardboard to reveal all the corrugated bumps. Some students removed entire parts of the coardboard to create three values (light, medium, and dark).
Then students used a brayer and relief ink to evenly cover their cardboard with ink before placing a piece of paper on top and rubbing it thoroughly with their flat hands.
Once they had a print they could work back into it in several ways. It's important for the ink to be dry before adding layers so it doesn't smear around, but some students rubbed chalk pastel in parts to add a little color, while others used marker for bold colors. Some people made their prints on patterned paper to add a layer of interest without any post-print additions. I love how the cardboard texture adds such a distressed or vintage look to the images, and the areas of richer black make a bold impact. I wish I had experimented with this years ago, and may need to buy a gel plate to take the printmaking to the next level in the future.
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