Around Michael Leistner’s third hour, the scent of fresh ink fills the air. Students work on many different projects, each pursuing their own artistic desires in this unique form of imagery creation. Their limits are decided merely by their own creativity and imagination. Truly, it is an art form that students of all skill levels can come to enjoy.

“I like how we have the freedom to come up with our own designs based on the prompts. “ says junior Christina Turnbull.

Turnbull is one of many students currently enrolled in the printmaking course, and can attest to the many different appealing aspects of the class. One such aspect, is the ability of students to do as they please, as long as they remain within the realm of the prompt and appropriateness. This allows each individual to take their own interpretations of what is presented to them, and make it something personal and unique to them. The personality of the students is further captured in the many different forms of printmaking, including serigraphy and intaglio and linoleum printmaking, each requiring a completely different material than the last process. There is something for just about anyone in this class.

“The reason is because i took a printmaking course in college intaglio and I really like the class, “ Leistner said, “Also, there was no printmaking class here, so i stepped up for it.”

While the students in the class enjoy the various processes very much, the person most passionate about the course is Leistner himself. His knowledge of the course is rooted in his introduction to it as a college class. The enjoyment he took from his class stuck with him, and when the realization that there was absolutely no high school courses on the topic, he decided it was time to establish the topic as an option to all the students of Francis Howell North. And, the class has become somewhat of a hit with many students, a large sum of them citing the ability to make their own t-shirts using serigraphy as a primary motivator for adoring the class.

“(serigraphy is) Stenciling, you have a wooden frame with silk stretched across it and you attach a stencil to it and drag the ink across the surface with a squeegee.” Leistner said.

In order to gain a greater understanding of what the course is, and why people enjoy it so much, it is vital to have at least a basic understanding of the different forms of printmaking in the class. One of the most popular forms of printmaking tends to serigraphy, which can be used to make designs in fabrics, namely silk, in order to make shirts and other such products. The next process is relief printmaking, where you carve into the surface of a printing plate and roll ink across the surface with a brayer, and the ink stays on the raised part, making a print. When you carve, you get rid of the areas that are not being printed. The final process is intaglio printmaking, which serves as an opposite to relief printing, Instead of raising certain aspects of the surface to decide what parts are printed upon, lines are etched, which holds ink inside the etch lines after smearing and wiping ink off the surface. After that, the paper is run through the press to complete the press.