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Printing Project

Posted by Sarah Cohen on

For our final art project, we were each assigned an element. I was assigned the element Potassium which has an atomic number of 19. Potassium was discovered by Sir Davy Humprey in England in the year 1807. This was the first element to be isolated using the process of electrolysis. This is a process where an electric current to extract something from a piece of material. Before potassium was formally discovered potassium carbonate and animal fat were combined in order to make soap. This is what gave me the idea to make my print be of soap. I wanted to do something that not many people would know of. To do this, why not go back to the beginning?

Making the actual print took a few steps. The first step was to draft ideas for what our print was going to be. Once we had chosen our design we had to transfer it to a piece of tracing paper. Once this was done we etched the design onto a plate. Then you move onto printing. To do this, you first, roll ink onto your plate. Once this is done you put a paper on top of your plate and use a spoon to transfer the ink from a plate to your paper. After all of the prints are dried you can choose to either matt or not matt them. No matter which way you choose you have to cut out the leftover paper that is around your printed piece. If you do choose to matt you glue your printed square to piece of colored paper. Your final step is to measure out one inch from your image and then cut your paper using that measurement. Below is my final product


My final matted print
My final matted print

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. I think my favorite part was actually making my design- drawing it. I really liked getting to see an idea become more than an idea.

Looking back, if I could do this project over again I would probably want to spend more time working on the actual skill of printing the final product.


Element Print

Posted by Maureen Kelly in Art - Freshman · Hull · d2 Band on
IMG-0448
IMG-0448
My element was Iron. It has atomic number 26. Iron has been for a long time.  People say it has been around since 3000 B.C. No one knows who discovered iron. Many people say that it came down on a meteor. Iron is used to manufacture steel and civil engineering. In the human body, iron is essential for blood production. I chose to make this design because of the discovery of iron. It came down in a meteor, so I drew meteors coming to earth with iron in them. To make this print, I first had to make sketches. Then, I had to trace this design on a piece of tracing paper. When is was time to put it on foam, I flipped the tracing paper so it would be backwards on the plate. I pressed my pencil into the paper and traced my design. When I actually printed, I rolled the ink onto my plate evenly and pressed it into my paper. It took a few times to get it perfect, but I eventually got the perfect print. If I were to do this project again, I would make my design have more depth. Looking at it now, it is a little flat and adding more depth would make this more interesting. My favorite part of this project was printing. It was fun to see my final product. The big reveal after you peeled back the paper was really fun. Overall, I loved this project and would do it again. 

Printmaking Blog Post

Posted by Lillian Bromley in Art - Freshman · Hull · d2 Band on

  • What is your element? Name and atomic number

My element is Selenium. The atomic number is 34.

  • Tell the reader about your element, history, function/use and so on.

Selenium was discovered in 1817. It is a nonmetal element that is used in supplements, dandruff products, and it is also used in glass. Some people have a selenium deficiency, for which they take a selenium pill or supplement.

  • How did you get the idea for the imagery you chose?

Selenium is named after, Selene, the greek goddess of the moon. I chose to make my image the moon, because it was connected while not being too obvious.

  • What process did you go through to make this print?

I designed my idea, and put it on tracing paper. Once it was on the tracing paper I put it on the block using pressure. I then made the prints by rolling on ink and pressing them onto paper using a wooden spoon. I carefully pulled the paper away, let it dry and matted it.

  • What would you do differently if you did this print a second time?

I would make my atomic number and symbol easier to see, as they are a little blurred

  • What part of the project did you enjoy the most? Describe the step and what you liked so much about it.

We had to think of ideas for our print and I really liked making the concept and sketching out my ideas, I really like drawing so it was fun to think of new ideas and hash them out.

IMG_2982 (1)
IMG_2982 (1)

Printmaking Final Project

Posted by Ami Doumbia on
2018-05-31 09-43 (1)
My element is nitrogen which has the atomic number of 7. Nitrogen is an odorless and colorless unreactive gas that forms about 78 percent of the earth's atmosphere. It also makes up 3% of the human body. I got my idea of imagery for this element because when researching  I found out that nitrogen was first suggested to be called azote; and though it's not what we call it in english some languages do translate azote as nitrogen.
When making my prints I went through a lot of steps that had to be executed in a specific manner. First I had to sketch out my idea, but also make sure that I wasn't using any straight lines except for the numbers and little symbols. Then I went on to outlining my sketch on tracing paper which was pretty easy and after doing that I proceeded to retrace the outline onto the styrofoam sheet. This step was slightly difficult because since I chose a word to represent my element I had to retrace the word backwards. After all the tracing was done that's when the printing actually began. Printing, for this project, was rolling a thick layer of paint onto the styrofoam trace so that once it was placed and smoothed out on a piece of white paper the color would distinguish the positive and negative space.
If I were to do this project again I would change my design and try something different/more unique. Though this is true, my favorite part of this project was painting because I've never been able to work with paint in my own creative way. It also added an element of fun to a project that takes a lot of our grade.

Printmaking Blog Post

Posted by Shawn Golden in Art - Freshman · Hull · d1 Band on
IMG_1419 (1)
IMG_1419 (1)
​ My element was Born. It's atomic number is 5. Boron got it's name from Borax. Boron was created by heating Borax with potassium heat. Boron is need for a plants cell walls and it's also used for rocket fuel igniter. I got my idea by doing research. When I did my research I found out that Boron is in padlocks and keys , so I based my print off of that.
To make my print I first drew the padlock and key into my artbook. Then, I traced in onto traceable paper and then I traced it onto foam. I then took the foam and I painted overtop of it and placed the painted side on printer paper and smoothed over it with a wooden spoon.
If I did this a second time I would want to find something more interesting that Boron is in so my print could've looked more appealing. The part I liked the most was when were painting the foam print template and transferring it to the printer paper. I liked it because we got to use paint, and i'm a fan of painting.

Element Print (Fluorine)

Posted by Hannah Flanagan in Art - Freshman · Hull · d1 Band on
​My element is Fluorine and it has the atomic number of 9. It is the lightest halogen and appers naturally as a gas. It was isolated in 1886 by a French chemist named Ferdinand Ferderic Henri Moissan. It is used in iron welding, and when mixed with water it is used toothpaste and tap water to prevent cavities. I got the idea to do iron welding for my print because I didn't want to do a basic drawing of a bottle of toothpaste. I thought that this was something that not a lot of people knew, and it would show well with negative space. 
To create this, I first drew my drawing onto a 4 by 6 piece of paper. I then drew it on tracing paper, and then drew my drawing backwards onto the styrofoam canvas. I think put the ink on my canvas, pushed it down onto a paper with a regular piece of paper, and then slowly removed the paper from the canvas. I then ripped off the edges from the print, and then put it onto a 5 by 7 mat. 
If I could do this project again, I would fill up more space on the canvas, becauase it is pretty bare. I would also make more prints, that way I could have more options when it came to which ones I was turning in. Finally, I would try and measure the mat better, The frist time I tried to put my print onto the mat, all my measurements were off, and I had to do it all again. The part of this project I enjoyed the most was putting the ink onto the canvas. I had never done it before, so it was cool to learn how to do it and see how it came out everytime. 

Element Print

Posted by Payson McConnell on
2018-05-31 09-38 page 1
2018-05-31 09-38 page 1
​I made a print based off of the element plutonium. Plutonium's atomic number is 94. Plutonium is well known for its radioactivity. While its best known use was for atomic bombs during World War II, it is more commonly used in nuclear power plants and back up batteries for space probes. My print does not resemble any of those uses because I chose to make it a pop culture reference. In the famous 80's movie, Back to the Future, the main characters used a time traveling Delorean that was powered by plutonium. I thought it would be something fun to make because it's what a lot of people think of when they hear plutonium. To make my print, I traced my design onto a piece of tracing paper and then used that to transfer it to my stamp. I made prints with my stamp by rolling a brayer covered in paint across it until it was covered. Then I put a blank piece of paper over top and pressed it down evenly with a wooden spoon. When I peeled it off I let it dry for a while then used a ruler to tear the edges down to a 4x6 piece of paper. The last thing I did was mount it on a 6x8 piece of construction paper so it had a 1 inch border. If I were to do the whole process over again, I would probably spend more time shading it in evenly. It looks kind of blotchy and weird. I was also kind of disappointed that a crease formed in my stamp that transfered to my print. Next time I would be more careful about that. Overall I really enjoyed this project, but my favorite part was the actual printing. 

Element Print

Posted by Stella Peterson in Art - Freshman · Hull · d1 Band on
2018-05-24 10-03
2018-05-24 10-03

My element is Tungsten, or Wolfram as it is sometimes called. Its atomic number is 74. Tungsten has the highest melting point and boiling point of all the elements that have been found. It is a transition metal. My element was found in 1783 by two brothers in Spain. They found it when they isolated it from acid. Tungsten can be used for a lot of stuff from military weapons to lights bulbs and x-ray tubes.

I got the idea to do a cello because I learned that Tungsten is used for one of the strings on the cello. The C string on most cellos are made with Tungsten. Because Tungsten is so dense, it gives the C string extra projection. Since this is a less known use, I decided to do that.

First, I sketched out what my cello would look like in my art sketchbook. Then I traced it onto the tracing paper Ms. Hull gave us. After that I traced it onto styrofoam. From there, I painted it and put the image onto paper.

If I was to do this project again I would have a more interesting texture in the back and I would try to indent more so the image is clearer.

The part of the project that I enjoyed most was painting the styrofoam and putting onto the paper with a wooden spoon. I enjoyed this because it was fun and gave me a better understanding of negative space.


Printmaking Process

Posted by Brooklin Johnson-Coles in Art - Freshman · Hull · d1 Band on
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IMG-2918
My element is Magnesium. It's atomic number is 12. Magnesium was found when a man named Henry Wicker tried to give his cows water from a well. They refused to drink it, he then realized a form of magnesium sulphate was in the water and gave it a bitter taste. Later on a man named Joseph Black recognized magnesium as an element in 1755. I choose to draw a well because it was the first sighting of magnesium and the beginning of the discovery. 
To make this, I first drew my image on paper, then traced it onto tracing paper. Then I traced it onto a foam piece. Next, I painted the foam and pressed it against regular paper; the printmaking process. Next, I used a spoon to press down my image. Finally, I then matted the image. 
However, If I could do this again I would make sure my letters and numbers are spaced apart so you can clearly see them. I enjoyed the printmaking process the most because it was really cool to see my image come to life. I was actually creating something colorful and my own drawing.