Printmaking

My element is Mercury (Hg) and the atomic number is 80. Mercury is the only transition metal that is at a liquid state of matter in room temperature. Mercury was used for thermometers. When mercury was first discovered in Egyptian tombs in 1500 BC. Later on, mercury was used for ointments by the Greeks and the Romans used mercury for cosmetics. In the past, we used mercury for thermometers, but today we don’t use thermometers anymore because scientists found out that mercury is dangerous.

I got the design of the print I made from where mercury is found. It was found in Egyptian tombs so the theme I chose was ancient Egypt to symbolize where mercury was originally found. The two symbols in the middle of the print are hieroglyphics and they means the letters h and g, which are the atomic symbol of mercury (Hg). On the top and bottom of the print is an ancient Egyptian pattern. The process of making this print was interesting because we didn’t use any machines to print the design, instead we used a baren to put pressure on the print and transfer the design.

I first drew out three different designs of the print and afterwards I chose one design and used parchment paper to trace over it. We used a plate and formed the design on it. We used printmaking ink to transfer our design onto paper. Instead of cutting out our print, we ripped it. If I can do the print the second time, I would use different materials to form the plate so the print would have different textures. The part I enjoyed the most was transferring the design onto the paper and applying the printmaking ink onto the plate. I like it because I thought it was interesting and fun to see how it would come out.