Poster House Beginner’s Block Printing Workshop!
This past February, I had the honor of being invited by Poster House to host a Beginner’s Block Printing workshop for their First Friday program!
In this beginner’s block printing workshop, 15 participants carved their own 2”x2” stamp, printed in red ink to honor Lunar New Year!
In the end, everyone was able to complete their own handmade stamps and print multiple bookmarks to bring home to share with friends!
example completed student bookmarks
What is Poster House?
Poster House is a museum located in Chelsea, New York that is dedicated to presenting the impact, culture, and design of posters, both as historical documents and methods of contemporary visual communication.
It is the first poster museum in the United States, and provides a space for inquiry for all those interested in design, advertising, and public interventions, with the aim of improving design literacy among the general public. You can learn more and plan your next visit here!
Workshop Prep
With the help of Poster House staff*, an hour before the event we set up their workshop studio room into a block printing space!
Each student was equipped with:
craft paper mat
Block Print 101 Zine
2”x2” trimmed rubber blocks
pencil + paper
speedball linocut tool
*thank you Shaquille and Gillian!!!
Workshop Format
15 minute welcome & intro of Block Print 101, including how to hold your carving tool and tips for creating a bold design
students then took ~30 minutes to sketch their ideas on a 2”x2” sheet of paper
once sketches were done, students transferred their designs and started the carving step! (roughly 45 minutes)
students then did test prints and refined their designs
in the last 30 minutes students printed and laminated their bookmarks to take home!
Once the workshop got started, you could really feel the energy shift in the room! Everyone was so focused and in their flow state, especially once they got to the carving step!
Workshop Highlights
Everyone’s favorite part was doing the block reveal at the end! This is when each student can see the final result of all their hard work (this is also my favorite part of the printmaking process!)
It was such a pleasure to see all the students’ reactions and the unique charm of each of their handmade stamps!
It was a pleasure to see everyone in the workshop so focused on their print making! I’m always impressed and inspired by my workshop students — in particular I really liked this fun design by student Virginia that looked cool when tiled together!
One of my favorite moments was hearing multiple students say in the beginning:
"I’m not creative”
"I can’t draw”
and then see them at the end of class proudly hold up their bookmarks, with the recognition that regardless of their past inexperience — they made art with their own hands!
Takeaways
It felt rewarding to help others connect with their creative side and help guide them towards making their own one-of-a-kind handmade art!
There is something so special about witnessing students who are at first shy, nervous, and may be even afraid to call themselves “creative” — walk away with tangible proof of art that they made and can feel prideful about.
It was such an honor to bring the community together in this way, thank you so much again to Poster House for collaborating together on this event!
thank you Gillian and Shaquille!
Want to try block printing?
This free Block Print 101 PDF folds into a classic 8-page zine, it is the same one we follow for in-person block printing workshops!
For any future workshop inquiries, please email hello@kintsugiprint.studio ❤️
