This Magic Printing Technique Will Awe Your Students

Get ready to wow your students. When we came across this mesmerizing, magical flower art on Instagram, we knew we had to reach out to the teacher who posted it. Aislinn is a middle school teacher in Ireland (she actually refers to herself as a medium school teacher). She says this project is always a favorite (or favourite in this case) among her students. She was happy to give us her tips for using it in your classroom. Take a look. 

How did you come up with this? Have you done it before?

I had spotted many people across social media using the foil printing method in art lessons. I tried it first for a combined literacy and art lesson in 2021, inspired by our class novel The B.F.G. Pupils created their own dream jars by labeling the jars with a dream they would love. Then they used the foil transfer method to create the dream itself. 

I then spotted the idea of using the foil method with flower illustrations and used it to make Mother’s Day cards.

Then we made full A4 prints this year, which you see in the video. 

How did students do with this?

They absolutely love it. They loved the challenge of drawing the flowers but their favourite part was definitely the foil printing. The class was full of “Whooaas” and “It’s like magic” that day.

What kind of lessons or concepts does this teach them?

This teaches them illustration, understanding colour (colour harmony, colour transfer), and also about printing techniques. 

Any tips for other teachers who might want to do this?

It’s important to remember to use washable colouring markers (Crayola have worked best in my experience) for the foil colouring. Also, make sure to use permanent markers for the illustration—otherwise, the illustration will bleed.

Use a spray bottle with a wide nozzle, and spray from a height so that a light mist saturates the foil. Make sure to spray a few times and get the foil quite wet.

When printing, leave the wet foil on the table and place the illustrated page face down on top. Pat rather than rub to create the print—rubbing can cause colours to mix and you will be left with a brown colour transfer.

Love art projects? Check out these collaborative art ideas.

Let’s keep the sharing going! Bring your art project ideas to our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group.