Final Printmaking Post-Rene Hart

• What is your element? Name and atomic number

My element was Helium and it’s atomic number is one

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

Helium’s  name originates from Helios, which is the greek word for the sun. Helium was detected in the sun before it was found on Earth years after.In 1868, Pierre-Jules César Janssen noticed a yellow line in the sun while he was studying a solar eclipse.Sir Norman Lockyer, an English astronomer, realized that the yellow line could not be produced by any element known at the time.  It was guessed that a new element on the sun was responsible for the yellow emission. The element was named helium by Lockyer.Helium is not gravitationally bound to the earth. Helium gas is used to inflate blimps, scientific balloons and party balloons.It is used as an inert shield for arc welding, to pressurize the fuel tanks of liquid fueled rockets and in supersonic wind tunnels. It is also used in rockets.

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

I felt like a balloon wouldn’t be original because many people know there’s helium in balloons. I did a blimp because I didn’t know helium was in blimps so I thought others probably wouldn’t know that too.

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

First I sketched out three 4x6 inch designs for my printmaking. One big thing I had to focus on was negative and positive space so I made sure not to draw too many details. After I finished all three of my sketches, I picked which one I thought was the best. From there, I got a thin piece of tissue paper that was also 4x6 inches. I placed the paper on top of my design and traced my design onto the tissue paper. One my design was on the tissue paper I grabbed a styrofoam 4x6” template where I would created my print. I flipped the tracing paper so I could trace my design backwards onto the template. When my template was finally finish I was ready to print. I spreaded printing paint on a plate so I could use my roller to as a paint brush for my template. After rolling a couple layers of paint on my print I took a white piece of paper, and placed my print backwards on the paper. I flipped the paper and print and used a wooden spoon to ensure my full design would get on the paper. Once I thought it was printed I lifted my template off slowly to look at my creation. I repeated the painting process two more times. Once I was finished I put my prints on the shelf to dry and washed off my template.

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

I would have taken more time to smooth the print out with the spoon because I felt like some prints could have came out better.

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

I liked the step where I smoothed my print with the wooden spoon because it felt soothing and it was fun to look at the results.