​My element is iron (Fe), atomic number 26. Iron was discovered in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Egypt, dating back to about 3000 BC. It had been smelted and used for ceremonial purposes at this time and was way too expensive to be used in everyday life. Iron is mostly known for being used to make steel. But, it is also used to make tools, frying pans, railroad tracks, bolts, horseshoe, and even weapons like guns and knives. The most important thing about iron is that it forms a lot of Earth’s outer and inner core.

​Cobalt is an element with an atomic number of 27. The element was discovered in 1735 by a man named Georg Brandt. During a little background research I found that Cobalt is a major part of electric cars and for companies like Tesla. The market for Cobalt surged as Tesla was on the rise. It was worth more than many other ores for a while and still is worth more than most. That' what gave me the idea to put the Tesla logo on my print.

My element was Caesium, it's atomic number is 55. Caesium was discovered in 1860, by german chemists Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff. Caesium was named after the blue lines that was observed in its spectrum. The most common use for Caesium is as drilling fluid, but it is also used for atomic clocks, which is an important part of the internet and mobile phone networks. I made a drill for my imagery, because caesium is used as the drilling fluid within drills, and used blue paint because the element got its name for the blue lines within its spectrum. I decided that making a drill would be the best option because it wouldn't be hard for people to understand what I was trying to make and it would be interesting ways to show this by using positive and negative space. If I was to print a second time, I'd use some more paint on my paper, because, there was some white spots still left on the matted print. I enjoyed the actual printing part, because it was cool seeing the reversed image coming out the correct way, it was so satisfying.

My element that I had to create a print of was the transition metal, iridium. It is number 77 on the periodic table. Iridium got its name from the goddess Iris for its colourful salts. Iridium was originally discovered by Smithson Tennant in 1803 in London. It was found in the residue of platinum that had been dissolved in aqua regia. It is usually used as a hardening agent for platinum alloys. It is also used in the tips of pens and in equipment that has to withstand high temperatures.

For my print, I got the idea to do the skeleton of a dinosaur. The reason why I picked this was because of the Alvarez Hypothesis. This said that an object collided with the earth 65 million years ago, making many species extinct (dinosaur's being an example.) During the time when this object is said to have collided with the Earth there are high levels of iridium in the Earth's layer. Because of this, I decided to do a print of a dinosaur skeleton to symbolize the hypothesis of the extinction of dinosaurs. To create my print, I really tried to create a drawing that would be easy to see but eye-catching at the same time. I really tried to make the lines deep so that they would stand out in my print. After, I had to trace my drawing so that it would be backwards on the foam but forwards in the end. We then rolled a layer of paint over our foam and put a piece of paper on top to smooth it onto the paper. If I could do my prints gain I would take more time making sure that the lines didn't have paint in them and that they are bold so that people can really tell what my print is of. I would also add the atomic number of my element way bigger because it was really hard to make a print in which you could see the number clearly. A step that I really enjoyed was the actual printmaking process because it was really fun to be trying to create a good print and testing different paint colours.

My element's name is beryllium and beryllium's atomic number is 4. It was first discovered by Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, a chemist and pharmacist from the late 18th century. Vauquelin discovered beryllium in its oxide form in beryl and emerald. The metal was isolated in the early 19th century by two other scientists separately,Wohler and Bussy.

My element for this project was Arsenic. It's name on the periodic table is As and the atomic number is 33. It's compounds were mined up by early Chinese, Greek, and Egyptian civilizations. A man named Albertus Magnus was even able to make the element by heating soap with orpiment.