Antonia Solar- Printmaking Post

My element that I had to create a print of was the transition metal, iridium. It is number 77 on the periodic table. Iridium got its name from the goddess Iris for its colourful salts. Iridium was originally discovered by Smithson Tennant in 1803 in London. It was found in the residue of platinum that had been dissolved in aqua regia. It is usually used as a hardening agent for platinum alloys. It is also used in the tips of pens and in equipment that has to withstand high temperatures.

For my print, I got the idea to do the skeleton of a dinosaur. The reason why I picked this was because of the Alvarez Hypothesis. This said that an object collided with the earth 65 million years ago, making many species extinct (dinosaur's being an example.) During the time when this object is said to have collided with the Earth there are high levels of iridium in the Earth's layer. Because of this, I decided to do a print of a dinosaur skeleton to symbolize the hypothesis of the extinction of dinosaurs. To create my print, I really tried to create a drawing that would be easy to see but eye-catching at the same time. I really tried to make the lines deep so that they would stand out in my print. After, I had to trace my drawing so that it would be backwards on the foam but forwards in the end. We then rolled a layer of paint over our foam and put a piece of paper on top to smooth it onto the paper. If I could do my prints gain I would take more time making sure that the lines didn't have paint in them and that they are bold so that people can really tell what my print is of. I would also add the atomic number of my element way bigger because it was really hard to make a print in which you could see the number clearly. A step that I really enjoyed was the actual printmaking process because it was really fun to be trying to create a good print and testing different paint colours.