Presto Foam Printing Plates Econo Pack, 4"x6", 100 Sheets

I came across this product recommended in an online printmaking lesson. Classroom budgets are (as always) pretty tight and the block printing product we use is getting more and more expensive. Still, print making is part of the curriculum so I'm always actively looking for ways to do the job on the cheap whenever possible. So here are my observations: (1) This product is waaaaay more economical than the "easy cut" material we use throughout our district. (2) While the easy cut material better replicates the sharpness of line one achieves using traditional linoleum block cuts, the Presto Foam product is a pretty good introductory material. I would rate it as excellent for elementary and middle school levels, and acceptable for a foundations high school art class. (In fact, that is precisely how I'm using it this week.) (3) Due to the economy, it's easier to have an "extra" piece of material if a student makes an error. That's generally not possible when using the more expensive product. (4) I was surprised to see how versatile this product is. I've done foam printing with students in the past using disposable foam plates. Opening this product and discovering it was much thinner than foam plates concerned me - at first. But the foam is dense and takes incised line very well. It also does well with larger reduced areas and shapes. In fact, I may use this as an introduction to the concept of material removal before having high school students work with the expensive stuff. Although I haven't tried it yet, I kind of think this would work for reduction printing. While I'm on the topic of printing, I'll share that this material prints well ... IF you use block printing ink. My experience using tempera was a little dicey and I would think kids would get easily frustrated - you really need a thicker substrate to work consistently well. Thinner inks and watercolor won't work at all...they'll bead up on the smooth, unabraided surface. I even tried some intaglio ink because I had it out at the time, and - meh.From a production standpoint, I found that the best application to the foam plate was using a brayer (as you might well imagine.) A little experience is necessary to judge how much is "too much" and how much is not enough to get a good transfer. I've a Speedball hand press that seemed work very well. Simply rubbing with a spoon was ok. Using a brayer was ok. Using a baren worked best.

I bought these to use for an art project with my kids. They are very easy to use and we had a blast making their stamps with them! They turned out so cute and I even made a few prints myself. All you need is a dull pencil to make your design. I highly recommend

I bought these to teach a teen printmaking class. They arrived a little curved and definitely were not totally flat. I was able to stack a bunch of things on top of them and they will still work.

Always Love Foam Plates for printmaking!

These foam pieces were bought for printmaking. My students had difficulty transferring their image because these are just a little to thin.

These are super fun! I used to reuse the styrofoam plates brocolli came in, but felt such pressure to get my design just right (I guess we don't eat enough brocolli). I love having abundant sheets, don't have to worry so much about messing up a design. And with brayers and the right printer paint, these are a breeze to use. We discovered a neat trick for printing: instead of spreading out scrap paper to protect your table, just use catalogs, and turn the pages every time you print. Yes, you get paint on every page of the catalog, but who cares, and you always have a completely clean surface to print on, so you don't get ink in all those places you don't want it to go. These are a great price for the amount of headache saved, these have actually turned us onto foam printing (I do this with my 10 and 11 year old kids), whereas before having this product, we were starting to find the craft a little cumbersome.

I used these with my fourth and fifth graders. We used pencil to etch design on the plate. We were able to do mono printing with washable markers. Also we did A series of prints with regular ink. The students had a lot of fun with this project!

I've bought this product 3 times now because I've been so impressed with the result. They are thin but I did not have may problems with students breaking or puncturing them while using them. It worked as a fabulous introductory lesson to printmaking for my older elementary students.