Easy Carbon Print Paper Printing for Kids!

I really enjoy working with children, and teaching them how to access art techniques which may not be available to them through the art curriculum.  Recently, with support from Culture Perth & Kinross, I took a group of children to visit my Print in Process exhibition of wallpapers at Perth Museum.  The wallpapers have been inspired by the collections of birds held in their collections.  You can see one of the girls pointing to a beautiful display of tropical birds.  I wanted to teach them, in an easy way, some of the basics of pattern making and printing.

We started by taking a look at my Golden Oriole wallpaper.  We talked through how any pattern is formed of a repeat motif - in this case, a Golden Oriole on its pendulum nest, surrounded by flowers.  A print is successful if it is a mix of contrasts - in this case, solid black, solid gold and detailed, textured areas.  We then took a look at the incredible Pictish Stones which are on display at the Museum.  The children were fascinated that such complex designs were made up of such simple motifs which had been repeated and linked together.  We took a look at a few more objects made up of different patterns in the Museum and then the children went off to draw an object which inspired them.

We then got to work on creating patterns by taking simple prints with carbon paper.  Each child made a basic motif of what they had drawn onto thin sketching paper.  They made it fairly small - no bigger than 10cm square, so they could fit quite a number of them on a piece of A4 paper.  They trimmed it down with scissors.  They went over the motif with a black pen so it stood out.  They chose a piece of coloured paper.  They put a piece of carbon paper on top.  They drew over their motif with a blunt tool.  They made a pattern by either flipping the motif over or turning it round.  

Children always amaze me with their inventiveness.  One child turned her drawing of a wolf into an abstract motif which she flipped horizontally, joined up then made a three faced wolf.  Below, you can see a video of how one boy took inspiration from the Pictish stone, drawing his own square spiral motif which he repeated...

...and how another really embraced the idea of pattern making.  This carefully thought out abstract pattern made up of simple shapes is incredibly effective.  He took time to think through how to flip it.  The placement of the flowers enhances this careful placement.  Carbon transfer paper is an affordable way of taking a print.  I bought mine here - and although it is very simple, you can see the results can be very impressive.