Sea Intaglio Prints

Fourth graders made these beautiful metallic sea creature prints using foam plates and metallic pencils. First we discussed composition and cropping. The girls chose a sea creature image from a variety of sources. They cropped the image and then reproduced the picture on a piece of printer paper. The printer paper was laid on top of the foam plate and while applying pressure, they retraced the lines of the drawings. After they completed the tracing, they removed the printer paper revealing the engraved plate. To make sure the indention was deep enough, the girls retraced over the plate with a dull pencil. They were able to choose between a variety of colored printing paper for the print. When the print was dry, they colored over the image with metallic pencils. The results were amazing!