Chops Printing

The final step for our Gyotaku prints was adding our chops to the prints. In some Asian cultures, men and women had their own chop (similar to a seal) which they used to identify artwork they owned (sort of like how we put our names on our assignments!)

When the piece was sold or given away, the new owner would add his or her chop to the art. That's why, when you look at Asian art in museums, you will often see a vertical line of red printed symbols. Those are chops and a history of who has owned that particular piece of art.

We made our chops in the classroom using squares cut from egg cartons. We had to remember to make a mirror image of what we wanted the chop to look like.

BW holds up her finished chop, all ready to use for printing.

Mrs. Ryan demonstrates how to add the chop to our artwork.

Rolling the red ink out on the plexiglass with the brayer.

GCD makes a practice print - perfect!

More practice - we want them to look beautiful!

EP seems to have the printing process perfected.

Time for the real printing - we were a little nervous. AM, GH, EP, and JB.

JS and PH do one more practice print.

JR, who is studying Mandarin Chinese, made his name in Chinese characters. Here he shows off the final product - Gyotaku with a personal chop applied.

Gyotaku - Octopus Printing

Yesterday was the day we did our Gyotaku - an ancient scientific method of preserving specimens for study and, more recently, a Japanese art  form. We had six octopus from an Asian grocery to use for our printing project.

At first, the kids were a bit hesitant to touch their animals.

But they soon warmed up and were grabbing their octopi out of the bags and preparing for the inking process.

We carefully laid our animals out on paper and dried them with paper towels.

Tentacles needed to be untwisted and artfully arranged.

JS discovered that the suckers on the tentacles still had suction!

After carefully arranging the octopi, we used brayers (and fingers!) to ink the animals' bodies.

Brayers worked best on the larger parts of the octopi.

Mrs. Ryan, our Art teacher, helped us with the project by loaning us her room and supplies. She even got to help with the printmaking, too!

The children worked in groups of four and five.

When the inking was done, we had to put tiny bits of paper over any stray ink marks so that they did not transfer to the rice paper during the printing process.

A close up of an inked octopus and the small bits of paper covering the stray marks.

After each octopus was thoroughly inked from head to tentacle tip, we laid rice paper over it and patted gently to transfer the ink from the animal to the paper.

It took two people to lift the completed print off the octopus - this helped prevent smearing the inked picture.

JB and AH hold up their finished print and are ready to take it to the drying tables.

We will let our Gyotaku dry over night and then add our chops tomorrow. These will be displayed for Parent/Teacher Conferences - they'll be mounted on rail board and hanging in the hallways!

Gyotaku!!

Yesterday my class did Gyotaku, an ancient Japanese art form. Rooted in science, it began as a method for Japanese scientists to preserve specimens for study - since there was no refrigeration, they'd ink the animal, press rice paper onto it, and make a print to study after the animal decayed too much for study.

As part of our study of oceanic ecosystems, I brought in six octopus (food animals found in the freezer section at an Asian food mart) for the project. I also invited JT, mama of one of my students and an art teacher herself, to come in and help with the project.

And what a project it was - I was exhausted afterward, but that tiredness was soooo worth it!

 JT prepares the ink.

 We lay out our octopus...

 ...and arrange the tentacles carefully.

 The kids were fascinated by their creatures!

 Figuring out just how the animal should go.

 Nicely aligned.

 The children were surprised at how long the tentacles were. And, that they were not all the same length.

 JT has patted her animal dry, arranged it, and is ready to ink it.

 MC helps her ink the individual tentacles.

 The children were absolutely fascinated!

 Almost ready to make a print.

 The chop station. Children who wanted to sign their artwork with a Japanese chop designed and made them the previous day.

 The finished prints!

Next up? Matting the prints and dissecting the octopus.