Printing Patterns

1Umutoni's marching leaves

Umutoni picks up an avocado leaf from the ground. She paints the back of it green. She presses it onto her paper and lifts it up.

There on the paper is a leaf — with every little vein showing, like tiny rivers.

She does it again. And again, and again, and again. Five leaves marching across her page, and every one exactly the same. That is printing.

2Drawing and printing are not the same

When you draw ten leaves, your hand makes every mark. Each leaf comes out a little bit different. That is beautiful too — but slow.

When you print, you put paint on a real object and press it down. The object leaves its own shape behind. Press it again and you get the same shape again.

That is why printing is perfect for patterns. A pattern needs the same shape, again and again.

Worked example: printing a leaf

Follow Umutoni exactly:

1. Choose a good leaf. One with strong veins — avocado, cassava or a bean leaf. Fresh and soft, not dry. A dry leaf cracks when you press it.
2. Turn it over. On the back of a leaf the veins stick up like little ropes. That bumpy side prints best. The smooth front side prints a flat blob.
3. Paint the back. A thin coat. Too much paint fills up the veins and you lose them.
4. Lay it down, paint-side down, where you want the print.
5. Press. Put a scrap of paper over it and press with the flat of your hand — the middle, the edges, the little tip. Count slowly: one, two, three. Do not slide it.
6. Lift it straight up by the stalk.

Look at the print. You can see the shape of the leaf and all its veins.

Now Umutoni wants a second leaf. Her print comes out faint and ghostly. Why? Because nearly all the paint stayed on the paper! Put fresh paint on the leaf before every print.

3Printing with your fingers

Your hand is a printing tool that you carry everywhere.

• Fingertip: a small round dot. Five dots in a ring and one in the middle — that is a flower.
• Thumb: a bigger, fatter oval. A row of thumb prints with tiny legs drawn on — that is a caterpillar walking across your page.

4Printing with cut shapes

Ask a grown-up to cut a potato or a piece of cassava in half. Never use the knife yourself.

The flat cut face prints a round blob. Now ask the grown-up to cut the potato away all around a triangle, so the triangle is left standing up above the rest. Only the part that stands up touches the paper — just like the veins on the back of the leaf. Now the potato prints a triangle every single time, a hundred triangles if you want.

Other good stampers you already have at home:

• a bottle top — dip its rim in the paint and it prints a ring, because only the rim touches the paper
• a piece of sponge — prints a soft, patchy square
• a folded piece of cardboard, held like a stick — prints a straight bar

Worked example: make a border pattern

Keza wants a border around the cover of her exercise book. Here is what she does:

1. She draws two very light pencil lines near the edge, a small space apart. Her prints will walk between them, so her row stays straight.
2. She prints: leaf, thumb, leaf, thumb, leaf, thumb...
3. The piece that repeats is leaf-thumb. So she always knows what comes next.
4. She leaves one finger-width of space between every print, so the gaps are all the same.

You can make the repeating piece longer: leaf, dot, dot, leaf, dot, dot, leaf, dot, dot. Say it out loud while you print. If the song keeps its beat, your pattern is right.

5Four rules for a clean print

• Press, do not slide. Sliding smudges the print into a blur.
• Fresh paint every time, or the next print is faint.
• Thin paint, not thick. Thick paint hides the veins.
• Wash it before you change colour, or your green goes muddy.

Try it yourself

Answer each one, then look below.

1. Which side of the leaf do you paint — the smooth front or the bumpy back?
2. Your first print is lovely. Your second print is faint and ghostly. What did you forget to do?
3. What comes next: leaf, thumb, leaf, thumb, leaf, ___ ?
4. You pressed the leaf down, then slid it a little to the side. What will the print look like?
5. You need the same shape twenty times. Why is printing better than drawing?

Answers

1. The back. That is where the veins stick up, and those raised veins are what print.
2. Put fresh paint on the leaf. Almost all the paint stayed behind on the paper the first time.
3. A thumb print. The piece that repeats is leaf-thumb, and a leaf has just come.
4. Smudged and blurry. The paint smears sideways. Press, count to three, lift straight up.
5. Because the object leaves the same shape every time. Your hand cannot draw twenty leaves that all match — but one leaf can print twenty that do.