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Year 6 have been attempting (successfully) kitchen lithography prints. This printing technique is far more complex than monoprinting. Kitchen Lithography is a fantastic printing technique. It draws from the principles of traditional lithography but uses items found in your kitchen, along with just a few standard printmaking items. 

The children first had to create their plate by backing foil on to greyboard. They then used carbon paper to transfer their image on their plate. After the image was transfered, a chinograph crayon was used to ensure their image had marks made with  wax/oil. Cola was brushed on to the plate to etch the image into aluminium foil (it contains phosphoric acid). Printing from the plate works on the principle that water and oil repel each other. The plate is first coated with water, which doesn’t stick to the etched image because of the gum arabic in the cola. Oil-based ink is then rolled onto the plate, which sticks to the image but is repelled everywhere else by the water. The plate can be cleaned and re inked at a later date, however during our class discussion the class agreed the plate was visually more interesting and effective than the final print.