I was very fortunate to take a workshop with Claire Benn in June. One of the many techniques we explored was monoprinting with a large piece of plastic sheeting. The plastic is the kind you buy in a home improvement store and it turned out to be a great revelation! I have monoprinted with Gelli Plates, made my own plates and used a sheet of acrylic, but had never thought about using a sheet of plastic.
The best thing about using the plastic, from my point of view, is to be able to place the print exactly where you want it on a piece of cloth, as you can see through the plastic. Brilliant! Thank you Claire!
This means that you can add bits of patterned colour to a piece of cloth - rectangles, squares, circles, or any shape. You are not limited by the size of the plate or piece of acrylic, but can cut the plastic to desired size. And, this method is especially useful to layer over previous imagery without adding a solid block of colour that will detract from the layer underneath.
My favourite, in the short time I had to experiment with this, was to use a foam brush in cross strokes with thickened dye. The dye formed bubbles on the second cross stroke across the plastic which I found to be very unique and organic.
I am so looking forward to working with this further!!
This technique is outlined in the book, Making Your Mark by Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan.