Printmaking - Aidan McLaughlin

Technetium is a man made element with an atomic number of 43. It was discovered in a sample of molybdenum bombarded by deuterons by C. Perrier and Emilio Gino Segre in italy in 1937. Technetium isotopes are radioactive and it is the first element to be produced artificially. It is used in 20 million diagnostic nuclear medical procedures yearly. .

I got the idea for the imidry of my print from the fact that the element is artificially created by humans and it is radioactive; furthermore, hence the hand and the circle around the hand.

To make this print, I started by creating several designs that I thought best portrayed the element. Then I chose my favorite, traced it into wax paper, and pressed it into a foam rectangle plate. After that I rolled out paint and layed it smoothly on my pressed foam. To finish I placed the foam, with paint on it, under paper and rubbed it with a spoon before removing it. I repeated the rolling, placing, and rubbing several times until I came up with prints that I thought were appropriate all along making corrections to my design.

If I did this project again I would turn It in on time because there is no excuse for forgetfulness and I should have been more intent on setting reminders for myself.

My favorite part of this project was rubbing my print onto a paper in order to receive a result. I used various rubbing techniques. I enjoyed this because it was interesting seeing what worked and what didn’t.