Last Saturday, the Poindexter Park After School Club came to the Purple Word to make their own fractal pop-up books, as well as to learn more about the book- and print-making processes.

The group first learned about fractals after reading Mysterious Patterns.

The students finally unfold their fractals.

Even group leaders Mr. Brad and Ms. Keyana had fun making the fractals!
After learning what a fractal is and how to make their own, the group moved to the back room of Purple Word to make their own monotype prints. Suzanne, a staff member at Millsaps College, taught the kids about reductionist prints — that is, prints in which the design is made by taking away ink rather than adding ink.

Suzanne helps the students spread their ink — a task that is certainly much harder than it looks.

Here I am helping a student roll out her ink — a very big task for small arms!

Like I mentioned earlier, this form of print-making is a form of reductionism. The students used Q-tips to remove ink from their plates to be printed on paper.

The group eagerly watches as Suzanne runs a test print under the roller.

Keyana, Sarah, Suzanne, and I with the kids after a fun morning.