
I just wrapped up a printmaking class at the Des Moines Art Center. I’ve done relief printing most of my life, but wanted to dive deeper into other printmaking techniques.

My new-found printmaking love is a modern lithography technique called pronto plate. The pronto plate is drawn on with Sharpie and then taped to a piece of plexiglass. The plate is wet down with a sponge between each inking. The ink sticks the the toner in the Sharpie, but not the paper. Then printing plate is then run through the printing press.

I did several series of this technique. It’s a process I really enjoyed and it gave a clean, crisp image. The kind of image I always wanted to achieve via silkscreen but couldn’t seem to ever attain.