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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.

Tungsten was discovered by two Spanish brothers, Fausto and Juan Jose de Elhuyar in 1783 by reduction of acidified wolframite with charcoal. Tungsten has had many uses throughout its history. Tungsten was first used in incandescent light bulbs and tubes in x-rays. During World War II, tungsten was heavily involved in political dealings. Because of tungsten’s high melting point, hardness, density, and strengthening of alloys, it was a hot commodity among the axis and allied powers to make weaponry. Tungsten’s etymology is straightforward. The word Tungsten comes from the swedish words “tung” meaning heavy, and “sten” meaning stone.

My imagery derives from tungsten’s etymology. I thought I could create an interesting image by using negative space lettering and texturing.

My process started with decided on a set of images. I created three images and selected one of them. I wanted to refine the image and take it from a 2D sketch to a 2.5D impression drawing. I chose to texture the rock by pressing various objects on the rock and making impressions.

If I were to do my print again, I would refine my lettering a bit. I think it is inconsistent and could’ve been better.

I enjoyed the texturing process the most. Figuring out what objects make the coolest and most effective impressions was enjoyable.