Traditional Print Making

Hello everyone! 

This post is a little different from architectural related content, but it’s still a creative adventure I’m excited to share. In my TMCC Visual Foundations in Art class, I explored printmaking—an artistic process where you carve or create an image on a surface, apply ink, and press it onto paper to produce a design. It’s a hands-on technique that allows you to create multiple prints from a single block or plate.

This was such a fun and unique experience for me, and honestly, it’s something I can see myself continuing in the future. In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps I took to create these prints and show you the final results!

To begin, I started by sketching a few ideas that came to mind. Some were inspired by personal meaning, others by objects around my room that I thought would translate well into prints. After exploring different concepts, I ultimately chose a dragonfly and a moon design. The dragonfly holds a deeper significance for me (I even have a tattoo of one!), making it a meaningful choice. The moon, on the other hand, was a simple idea I found charming (I might even create a matching sun to go with it!).

Next, I traced my chosen designs onto parchment paper to prepare for transferring them onto the rubber block. This step took patience and a steady hand. It was a bit tedious and stressful at first, but once the lines were in place, everything started to come together smoothly.

After transferring the designs onto the rubber, I began carving them out. I used the smaller carving tips to carefully define the finer details, and the larger tips to clear the excess space around the design. Using different tools helped make the edges cleaner and made it easier to cut out the stamps once everything was carved. The process definitely required patience and focus, and I even managed to nick myself at one point (a true artist moment).

Once the carving was complete, I carefully cut out each stamp. I pressed them into different ink pads to bring the designs to life with color, then stamped them onto my sketchbook to see the final results. Watching the designs appear on paper was incredibly satisfying and made all the effort worth it. 

After creating my physical print, I decided to explore it further by transforming one of my stamp designs into a digital artwork. Using the digital art app Ibis Paint X, I first designed a complementary background to set the mood and atmosphere of the piece. I then imported the stamp and adjusted its color tones to blend more naturally with the digital environment, making sure it felt cohesive and intentional rather than pas
ted on. This process took about an hour, as I experimented with layering, opacity, and subtle shading to achieve a harmonious final image. Although it required patience, I felt the result truly captured the essence of my original stamp while giving it a new life in a digital format.

The final design remains simple, yet open to interpretation. Rather than overwhelming the viewer with detail, it offers a quiet scene—one that can spark imagination and invite personal storytelling. Its simplicity encourages viewers to create their own narrative, whether they see calm, mystery, or wonder in the imagery.

In closing, translating my physical stamp into a digital artwork allowed me to explore mixed media and expand the creative potential of a single design. It showed me how traditional and digital art can work together, and how even minimal compositions can hold depth and meaning when given space for interpretation.