How could I print from….Staples?
This is the first in a series of posts aiming to give you starting points for new inspiration in your prints. Curious printmakers often find themselves looking at odd found objects and asking the question ‘how could I print from this…?
Starting points stimulating new approaches
These ‘starting point’ posts aim to encourage you to ask yourself ‘how could I print from this?’ more often, in order to challenge your assumptions, spark your imagination, and develop lateral thinking with technical problem solving. The idea is to extend your printmaking skills, and hopefully link with others working in a similar way by adding your experiments to the comments section.
Inspiration
I hope you will use the posts in this series as a nudge to get started when you feel devoid of ideas/inspiration. The activities can be seen as an absorbing diversion from more focussed planned work, a chance to play around. During 2026 we will return to the starting point with a variety of found objects, each one presenting different printmaking challenges. I hope to keep you well supplied with starting point ideas to inspire you in exploring new approaches to your printmaking.
Printing from everyday objects
For the ‘found objects’ starting points series of posts, I will choose things that you will most likely have at home, or which you will easily be able to get hold of.
They are small humble objects, often overlooked or thrown away, but each one is a potential catalyst for exploring new avenues of printmaking, leading to exciting new prints.
As a starting point staples fit this bill!
Example experiments with printing from staples
In this post I am sharing some of my own experiments with printing from staples – this is to help you get going on your personal test prints – feel free to copy these examples, or invent some of your own.
However you begin, be sure to allow yourself time to follow any ideas that particularly excite you and see where that leads, and remember to take some photos and notes for future use.
So, grab a handful of staples and lets get started.
Quick and simple rubbings
Rubbings produce instant results with hardly any preparation. Scatter staples randomly, or arrange them carefully, on a flat base. Lay a thin piece of paper over them to hold them still and then lay a top sheet down.
I used deli paper, but any thin paper will work, and if it is translucent that helps a lot as you can tell where the staples are under your paper. Try cheap computer paper, wet strength tissue, Swedish pattern paper, or hosho if you have any.
The side of a fat wax crayon or a piece of chunky graphite pencil will produce good results. I built up the design by moving the top paper around and making lots of overlapping rubbings from the same basic arrangement of staples.
Because staples are small and sharp the rubbings come out quite clear.
Keep trying different arrangements with the staples and see what happens.
This is a really absorbing activity with lots of possibilities, and also great for kids. The idea of using multiples and repeating patterns can be a starting point for all sorts of creative projects.
These rubbings suggested to me; a tumbling cascade, an expanding maze, and the beginning of an Islamic tile pattern. Any of these ideas could be developed further….
Using staples for embossed printing plates
Another straightforward way to create an embossed plate is with aluminium tape and card-board. The soft aluminium tape accepts a clear impression when hard items are pressed into it, and staples are ideal for this.
Here I used some of the duff staples which are bent out of shape as well as the perfect new ones. Print the plate as relief and intaglio for very different effects as you can see in the image below.
You can probably see further concepts for development in this one, but in the spirit of experimentation I left it and moved onto another idea which occurred to me…
Stapled funky foam printing plates
I thought stapling funky foam could produce some unusual results. I used the sticky back foam which has a stiff backing, intended to be peeled off.
The staples sunk into the foam making a bumpy surface which looked quite promising. A relief print, pressing quite lightly with the roller, picked up the cushiony texture, and a second one with more pressure gave a different effect.
I noticed the back as also quite interesting with the folded over ends of the staples so rolled over this as well and printed it.
Actually not sure if this funky foam experiment will go anywhere further, but still worth a try I think. My philosophy is if you don’t risk producing dud prints you are playing it too safe.
Roller rubbings
Roller rubbings use the same principle as rubbings with a crayon, except instead of a crayon you roll over the paper with a soft roller and not too much ink.
The amount of pressure you use affects the result, and the technique can produce some lovely prints. This one is taken from the reverse of a stapled printing plate so the lines are much shorter.
.
Stapled paper printing plates
As I started using the stapler more ideas came, an obvious one being to staple into paper to make a printing plate. I used 4 sheets of cartridge so it was thick enough for the staples to stay in place.
Once the 4 sheets were fixed together I thought of tearing them to get wavy edges.
I want the staples to remain the dominant item in these experiments so am wary of introducing too many other elements but felt torn paper was ok – I added more staples over the torn edges to fix them down.
Stapling over and over again in patterns sets up a rhythm, and the activity became quite meditative. The plate developed as I kept adding more staples during the inking and printing process.
Just rolling a layer of ink over these produced some good results – I particularly liked the way the staples appeared as a layer over the torn paper background.
This is a relief roll directly over the paper plate with no other preparation so it is very quick to see the results.
It suggested a landscape with rain coming in. I decided to develop this plate and make the surface better for intaglio inking. This involved painting gesso over the surface to fill the lower areas, it also makes nice brush mark textures on the surface.
The gesso layer means the plate is all the same tone so adding pva to smooth and lighten some areas, and a bit of carborundum paint to make a darker shadow round the edges gave the image more contrast when inked as intaglio.
Thinking about weather and landscape, and with the last post about ‘finding titles‘ in my mind I raided the weather forecast for a title for the print. What do you think of ‘coherent bands of sleet followed by flurries’ ??
More ‘starting points with found objects’ coming soon
I hope these examples illustrate the process of using a found object as a starting point, and diving in with quick print process without planning or thinking too much at first. The process of ‘thinking with your hands’ is very liberating, and I believe it allows your own unique creative style to develop in an exciting and enjoyable way. This approach is also brilliant for getting you out of a creative rut, or renewing your enthusiasm again if you feel a bit stuck.
If you take up this ‘starting point’ challenge and try printing from staples, I suggest you try to limit your materials to keep the staples the main event. It can be hard to do this once you get into your creative zone but giving yourself some boundaries to work within really helps to stretch your ingenuity.
I hope you give it a go and feel the benefits of a ‘creative workout’ session. Please do share any of your results by adding photos to the comments section below this post. (nb comments may not appear immediately as they are moderated.)
Look out for future posts with more found object starting points to inspire you!
16 thoughts on “Printing from staples”
Very interesting prints. Thanks for the insights.
Fabulous information and especially good for those who are stuck creatively. As a print teacher using everyday objects allows groom for experimentation. Thank you.
Thanks for your comment Carole – finding inspiration from the everyday is the way to go I think.
Great work with the staples. You have probably already used tape as a found object. I have had fun results with that. As well as cardboard packing squares.
I am always on the look out for suggestions of interesting ‘found objects’ – keep them coming!
I love this experiment! I think it would be great to build up material like this to use in collage …. I have created prints using old packaging materials and printing both the negative and positive images and kept going with whatever the process suggests but wasn’t sure what to try next so must give this a go. The addition of carborundum is particularly pleasing
Thanks Hannah – I hope you will have a go with the staples idea – share some photos if you do.
Can you do a post using glue to make prints from? I’ve seen it in a book and think it would be great to use with young children but I’m not sure what glue to use and if you stiffen it with something
its on my list, thanks for the suggestion
a great start to the new year…inspo!!! thank you.
Thank you, they are super prints and the process has endless possibilities.
Rubbings are always great and aluminium tape is a fantastic material. I love the staples over torn paper, how they seem to hover over the bottom layer in the print and then change again with the addition of gesso and carborundum.
I don’t often comment but I always read and enjoy your posts, I love the experimentation and the curiosity! Many thanks for sharing your work.
Perhaps I saw the technique here some years ago…but ironing crisp bags under grease proof paper to wrinkle them makes amazing textures and staples added could be amazing with those too.
Thanks for your kind comments Marie, combining melted crisp packets with staples would be a good contrast of organic shapes with straight lines – one to try I think!
Pill cartritges,empty ones, are also a wonderful found object lve been playiny with. Gluing them with pva on cardboard, and then passing through the press to flatten them a little, before printing. Or pressing them into soft ground, getting a reversed impression. Lots of fun!
Good idea – I have been saving some to have a go with so will try this, thanks for the suggestion
Not sure how you can properly staple the middle of a sheet of paper and get the ends to fold in as the stapler is so short.
I just went round the edge as far as the stapler could reach. I discovered too late that my mum has a long arm stapler so this would work for getting into the middle….