Francium Print - Isabella - Art

The element I made a print for Francium. Francium’s atomic number is 87. Francium is a super rare element that was discovered by Marguerite Perey. Francium was discovered by Marguerite Perey, a French Physicist. She was working with the radioactive decay of actinium and when it decays it turns into another element. She was putting multiple series of reactions, and soon discovered something she did not recognize. She did some research and realized that it was one of the missing elements on the periodic table, number 87. She named the element “Francium” after her hometown, France.

Francium is a radioactive metal,  also known as an alkali metal because it has one valence electron.  And if you didn’t know, Alkali Metals are super reactive to water. If Francium were to touch water, it would cause a huge explosion. The explosion would be so dangerous and would be fatal. So for my image, I made an explosion. We don’t use francium for anything because it’s so dangerous, the only choice I had was an explosion.

The process to make the print was pretty simple. We first drew a rough sketch of our drawing and after that we had to make a final copy. Next we take thin wax paper and trace it on the wax paper. After that we get a plate (which is a thin piece of foam) and turn the wax paper so it’s backwards on the plate. It had to be backwards because if not, the final plate would be revered and wrong. I then carved into the plate by tracing the lines on the wax paper. The carving transferred and now it was time for paint. There was a paint station. Each color of paint had a roller that makes it easier to paint the print. After you cover the plate with paint, you put a clean piece of paper over the wet paint and you press over the plate. If you do this correctly, you’ll get the image transferred onto the clean piece of paper. You let that dry.

After it’s completely dry, you take a ruler and put it on the edge of the image. You then rip the excess paper off. You continue this for all of the edges. After you have the completed print, you take a construction paper and make a 1 inch border around the print. That’s how you make a print! You repeat these steps until you are satisfied with the paint coverage. The more you practice, the more you improve, the better the image transfers and comes out.

If I were to change anything different with my process, I would listen the first time and not cut my print out. I would also not put too much pressure when transferring the image with the spoon, I made some indentations which you could see in later versions of my prints. Even though I made some mistakes, I really enjoyed the whole process. My favorite part was painting the carving. I was so satisfying and relaxing to do. I would definitely do this project again!