Plutonium Print
The element I created an art piece for is Plutonium, with the atomic number of 94.
The name plutonium came from the planet Pluto, which was thought at the time to be the greatest planet beyond Neptune. Since the previous element discovered was Neptunium, Plutonium came to be from the planet Pluto and the "ium" from Neptunium. Plutonium was once used in a bomb in 1945, during WWII. Its fuel was also known to be used as rocket fuel, and its power is used in power plants.
I came up with the idea for my final imagery by looking up plutonium and searching through various images of the dangerous element. One image showed the radioactive symbol attached to a plant, representing Plutonium as a "power plant." Since Plutonium is used in power plants, this image stuck with me and I recreated it, but above an actual power plant. The smoke cloud and every other small detail in my final image came from my original idea, of representing a Plutonium power plant.
The process of making this print was complicated at times. We had to go through stages of sketching and ideas, and then put our actual image onto a foam rectangle that would be painted over later. Once we painted over it, we had to then press it onto paper to copy the image over. To make the image look right, we had to draw our images backwards on the foam rectangle. Then, the image pressed onto paper accurately with any words and images facing upright. At times this was complicated, because sometimes the print didn't copy over well if there wasn't enough paint. But, it was an interesting and fun process full of learning.
If I had to print a second time, I definitely would have made sure my drawing didn't touch the edges of the paper or foam rectangle, because when painting over this and printing it, the edges faded off the paper and weren't seen. If I did this again, I would just make sure the image itself was slightly smaller than the paper it was drawn on, so every part could be seen.
The part I enjoyed most was the sketching and drawing phase. I enjoy this step most because it is full of creativity. Also, I like this because it is the best time to collaborate with people and determine which work is best or has the best potential. Sketching and drawing is my favorite, because I like to free draw and not have it be a final decision or image.
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