Final Major Project - Final Evaluation

Overall I feel that my Final Major Project was very successful, i have a range of different primary and secondary research in which I explored a whole range of different Cultural patterns and no cultural patterns which i found very inspiring coming up with designs that i could then manipulate and change into being my final design.I found it quite hard to stick to my original project brief that i had written myself, for i originally wanted to create wallpaper for three different cultures but during my research it was quite clear to me that i would not be able to do this as i did not feel strongly and inspired enough by three different patterns, the only two patterns that really did stand out and inspire me was Aztec and Mehndi.I tried to stick to my action plan as closely as i could but this started to become hard towards the end of my project as the prints were taking alot longer then i thought to try, which was a problem when i was printing them straight into my sketchbook and this was also a problem when it came to printing my final Aztec piece as i need to have three different colour prints layered on top of each other so each layer could not be printed till the previous one was dry or it would just ruin the print. I also used my blog to explain my thoughts and talked about the problem's that i came across as I went through the project more thoroughly then my sketchbook. I have really enjoyed my final major project as i really like working with patterns and some of the patterns i found were very interesting to me and inspired me alot, I also really enjoy using the printing hand printing methods, I think i have developed skill in making a repeat pattern which i have struggled at before on previous projects but i feel that in this project my repeat patterns were very successful.I am very pleased with my final major project, i think if i was going to do anything differently i would like to either make a small sample booklet or make another sheet of wallpaper for both of my designs maybe in different colours or layed out in a different way but still being a repeat pattern, but other then that i am very happy with my final major project and i think i have a successful outcome.

Final Major Project - Aztec Finals

I am very Pleased with all of my Aztec prints, i think that i have successfully made this design work as a border that will go around a round and also a repeat pattern.All of the different colour designs have all worked really well even the smaller one which i have no made into a repeat pattern.
If i could change anything, i think i would make more of the longer strips of the design repeated in all of the different colours that i have experimented with also i think some of the prints would probably be better if they had slightly more ink rolled onto them or they were printed with more pressure applied.

Final Major Project - Mehndi Final

I am very pleased with my Mehndi final out come, i think that i have successfully made it work as a wallpaper repeat pattern, i think that the Brown colour that i have used for my prints also works very well with this design and as a repeat wallpaper pattern.If i could change anything i think i would add slightly more ink to the lino before printing it and i would try to add more pressure to it when i am printing it, or hold the same amount of pressure on it for long, but other then that i am very please with my outcome and wouldn't change anything else.

Final Major Project - Wallpaper layouts.

I Knew that before i could start printing i needed to know how my designs were going to be positions on the wallpaper, so i did some very quick rough sketches to try and help me decided how i was going to have them.

The layout circled is the one that i have chosen would be best for my design, i have chosen this lay out because i feel that it would work best with the design there wouldn't be too much going on and the wallpaper wouldn't be over crowded, and it would make a very nice repeat pattern over one wall in a bedroom or living room.

Once again the design circled is the layout that i have decided to use, i have chosen this design because i think if my design was to cover a whole sheet of wallpaper in a room it would be very sore to the eye and would just be way to much in one room, so i thought that this design and shape of the design would work best as a border that would be going round a whole bedroom or once again living room, this design could even possibly work in a bathroom or toilet but it would have to be printed onto tiles rather then wallpaper.

Final Major Project - Aztec lino prints and reduction prints

Before i could start making my final Aztec piece i had to make the pastel pink, purple and blue as i did not already have them and then i had to test them all out individually to make sure they were they right colour.

First of all i made the pastel pink using a small amount of red and a lot of white.

I was really pleased with the colour it turned out the exact way i wanted it to.

This print could have done with more ink and slightly more pressure applied to it.

This is the pastel blue which is made from a very small amount of dark blue and a lot of white.

i am also very pleased with this colour as it came out exactly how i wanted it to.

This print had a good amount of ink rolled onto it and i think a good amount of pressure was applied because the print is not to patchy.

This is the pastel purple that i made using Red, blue and a huge amount of white.

I am happy with this colour but it is not the exact colour that i wanted it to be, i would of liked it slightly lighter but no matter how much white i added the colour did not seem to get any lighter.

Here I have printed on to the thin sheets of paper you get when you buy acetate to protect it.

The paper really absorbed the ink really well, it feels really smooth but the only problem is you can hardly see the print properly because of the type of paper that it is.

Here i have printed onto tracing paper, this worked very well, much better then the paper i had just previously used, on this particular print there was a perfect amount of ink and pressure applied to the lino, you can tell this because the print is very clean and clear.

I then went onto printing onto different types of wallpaper, to see weather you would be able to see my deign if the wallpaper already had a design raised on it.

On this type of wallpaper you can very faintly see my design but it really doesn't work well at all.

i think this would have worked better if the wallpaper was slightly flatter. 

Once again on this type of paper you can only faintly see some of my design but yet again it really doesn't work well, even thou it doesn't work well I do like this print.

Printing on these types of wallpaper was very impractical because the ink would have taken several days maybe even weeks to dry, which i just didn't have enough time to do.

This is what my Lino Looked like with just the first cut.

Once i had printed all the prints i needed from the first cut into the lino I then had to work out which sections i would cut out to make the first reduction on the prints.

I thought the easiest way for me to do this would be to photocopy my design and then colour in the sections that i need to stay the first colour of the print then i knew i needed to cut them sections out of the lino.

This is what i did to help my work out which piece of the lino i needed to cut out, everything that is coloured in pink needs to stay pink on the original print so that has to the sections that i cut out of the lino next.

This is what the lino cut out after i had cut into it for the second time.

Here is my first experiment using the two colours on one print, in the actually colours that i want to use, i think this print would have worked much better if the second layer of ink did not have so much ink rolled on to it and it is also very slightly off in position.

Here are two other colour experiment that i have done using two different colour inks on the same print.

I then repeated this process again but coloured the sections that i need to be cut out in blue for they would be staying blue on the print, and the sections left would then be printed in purple.

This is what the third and final cut into the lino looked like, everything remaining on this lino would then be printed in the last colour.

This is what my final will look roughly like, i think this would have been a successful print if i hadn't of printed the last colour on the wrong way round, for i think they was a good amount of ink and the right amount of pressure was applied to the lino.

Here are two more colour experiments that i have done using three different colour inks.

I think that they both work very well and i really like them both.

Final Major Project - Chosing Aztec design colours

 Before starting to print my Aztec design i wanted to knwo what colours i was going to use for my final design, so I decided photocopy my design several times and colour each one of them in different ways and colour themes.

Firstly i decided to just colour it in using two different colours.

Here i have decided to use a black and white theme which doesnt work very well with this kind of design, I find it very boring to look at and i dont think it would be anybetter if it would to be used as a repeat pattern for wallpaper.

Here I have used a contrasting colour theme, using red and green.

Once again the colour theme didnt really work very well, there is too much green and not enough red for it to be successful.

For this design i have gone with a cool colour theme, using three different colours dark Blue, light Blue and a dark shade of Grey,I thought that this colour theme also work incredibly wel with my design, but just by looking at my design whith this colour theme it did make you feel quite cold, it remined me of being in the antartic which is not the effect i wanted to get being that this is an Aztec patter, so i think it should make you feel quite worm seeing as the Aztecs came from a hot country.

  

Pastel Pink, Blue and Purple.

Here i have gone for more contemporty colours such as Pastel Pink, Pastel Purple and Pastel Blue.

I really liked this i thought the use of three colours instead of two worked much better and these three colours that i have chosen all completement eachother.

This is the colour design that i am most pleased with and I think it will work really well as a repeat pattern wallpaper for a bedroom or living room, so this will be the colour theme that i will go with for my final design.

Final Major Project - Mehndi Lino Prints.

Once my design had been carved into the lino and the lino had been ink up it was then ready to be printed, here are some images of some of my experiment.

This was the first print that i printed, this print has come out very patchy and blotchy, I think this was because the layer of ink that was applied to the lino was very thin and there also could have not been enough pressured applied to the lino.

Even though this print did not come out the way i wanted it, i do really like the patchy/blotchy effect on this particular print, it makes it quite interesting to look at.

Here are some other experiment that i have done, all of these prints are in several different colours.

Brown

I really like this colour with the design, it gives it that traditional effect and i think they colour and design do work well together.This print could have been much better if there was slight more ink added to some small sections of the lino and if more pressure had been applied to the whole of the lino it would make the lines alot more clear and crisp.

Green.

I felt like this colour really didn't work with the design at all, it was very bright and i felt it was very eye straining, it really wouldn't have worked as a repeat pattern for wallpaper.Once again this print is quite patchy and really needed more pressure applied to it when it was being printed as i feel that the layer of ink that was applied was a good amount.

Blue.

This print has come over very well you can see all the detail in the design and most of the line are very clear and crisp, I think the blue colour works well with the design if it was going to be used as a tile repeat pattern that would be used in a bather room or a toilet maybe even possible a kitchen.

I then went onto experimenting with different colour prints onto different colour paper.

 

Black print onto Brown Paper

These two colours with the design really work well together as a single print but I think if it was to be repeated and made into wallpaper I don't think that it would look as nice then, I feel that brown isn't a colour that you would have on your walls in your home.

Red print onto yellow card

The yellow and red work quite well together but I don't think they work well together with my design.

The red is quite vivid and the yellow is very powerful, I don't think they would work well as a repeat patter wallpaper for that reason.

This print would have been better if there had been more ink on the lino, where there was not enough ink on the lino when there was pressure applied to it it made the ink stick to the card that is why the left bottom corner of the design is half missing.

White print onto Pink sugar paper.

This print had way to much ink on the lino, that it has fallen into the engravement on the lino, which had caused the print to be very unclear and messy.

The two colours work well together and i think they do work very well with this print, i think it would look very nice in a repeat pattern for wallpaper maybe used in a girls room or a living room.

White print onto Gold metallic paper.

This type of metallic paper didn't absorbed the block ink used because of this the print has gone very irregular and the ink has kind of separated its self. The result that it had given the print is very effective, I think that it could work as a repeat pattern for wallpaper to be used in a kitchen or dinning room.

I thought it would be a nice idea to try printing my design twice together in two different colours, i decided to go with red and brown because i thought the two colours would complement each other and i feel that they were the two best colours that wen with my design.

I think that there was just to much detail in my design for the two prints and colours to work together in this way, which i was very disappointed about as i thought it would be really interesting to have this kind of print part of my repeat pattern wallpaper. 

After i had done all my experimenting with my Mehndi print, I decided that i would use brown ink on top of plain white or off white wallpaper, as i felt that it was the print that worked best in the experiments and i really like the whole idea of keeping this repeat pattern as traditional as i possibly could. 

Final Major Project - Lino printing process.

Before I could start printing my lino design I had to make sure that I had all the right equipment first, this included :

• A square piece of lino.
• Lino cutting handle
• Lino cutting blades
•  Lino Roller
• Printing ink
• A thin sheet of plastic
• Newspaper

 Once i had all of the equipment I could then start on my lino, firstly I transfered my design onto the lino using tracing paper making sure that my design was drawn on the opposite way round in which i wanted it for when i printed it, it would be printed in reverse, i then went over the pencil lines on the lino in a perniment marker so that when I started to engrave the lino the lines would not smudge or fade away.

I then started to cut out the lines that were drawn on my lino using a lino cutting handle with a cutting blade, the blade that i decided to use is called a Liner, i decided to use this blade for it created the thinnest lines and does not cut to deep in the lino.

Before I could ink up my lino I made sure that the area I was working in was  Protected so that I did not get ink everywhere, I covered the whole area in newspaper.

I then tapped the thin sheet of plastic to the desk so that it would stay in place when I rolled out the ink, I then applied a small thin line of ink on to the sheet of placed and used a lino roller to spread the ink over the piece of plastic, i did this so that it I would be able to apply a equal amount of ink over the lino.

Once the ink was rolled out equally I then applied the ink that was on the roller onto my piece of lino with my design engraved, making sure that the ink was equally spread and there was not too much ink or not enough ink on the lino.

when i was happy with the mount of ink on the lino i could then carefully place my piece of lino face down on the sheet of wallpaper/paper in the correct place, making sure not to move it about when it was placed down as it would smudge  the ink and would not make a good clean print.

I then applied a large amount of pressure on to the bottom of the lino using a new clean roller, which would then transfer my design onto the paper.

Once i was happy with the amount of pressure I had applied to the lino i would then very carfully peel the lino off of the wallapper/paper once again making sure to be very careful not to move it about too much as it would smudge the print.

When I produce a first print that I am happy with i then would repeat this whole proccess again untill I had printed on the whole sheet of wallpaper.

When creating a lino reduction print I would have to make sure that the first base colour of ink on the paper/wallpaper was dry before I could start my second layer, whilst waiting for the ink to dry I would then cut out the second and third sections of the lino.

Final Major Project - Print making timeline

Even though i know what printing technique i am going to use to make my wallpaper, I thought i would still find it intersting to look at a printmaking time line to find out al the different printing techniques and howthey developed over time.



200
Woodblock printing
Originated in China, woodblock printing was a technique that uses ink on blocks of wood to print images, texts or patterns which were engraved into them.

rbanks. (2009). Creating, cutting and printing your own woodblock.Available: http://www.instructables.com/id/Creating-cutting-and-printing-your-own-woodblock/?&sort=ACTIVE&limit=40&offset=40#DISCUSS. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1040
Moveable type
Uses individual letters or punctuation to create a document, is a system of priting and typography.

Tina. (2013). Moveable type. Available: http://likeordinarylife.com/post/59764096061/movable-type. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1500
Etching
A metal (copper, zinc or steel) plate is covered with wax and then engraved using a scratching technique by the artists where lines are wanted to appear, the metal is then dipped in acid to remove anything unwanted on the metal, it is then covered in ink and put through a high pressure press.

No Author. (2012). Etching Guide and Tutorial : Introduction. Available: http://www.wretchedetcher.com/etching-tutorial/etching-tutorial.html. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1642
Mezzotint
Tonally roughing the plate with thousands of tiny dots made by a metal tool (a rook) with small teeth.
In printing the tiny pit holds the ink when the plate is being whipped clean.

Nancy Farmer. (2011). A first attempt at mezzotint…. Available: https://nancyfarmer.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/a-first-attempt-at-mezzotint/. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1768
Aqatint
Acid is applied to make marks in a metal plate, powdered rosin is added to create a tonal effect.The tonal variation is controlled by the level of acid exposed over large areas.

Belinda Del Pesco. (2012). Silk Aquatint: The Captain's Cabin. Available: http://belindadelpesco.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/silk-aquatint-captains-cabin.html. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1796
Lithography
A stone or a metal plate that is a completely smooth surface covered in wax or oil and etched into then printed on to paper.

Andreas Praefcke. (2007). File:Lithography stone Princeton motif.jpg.Available: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lithography_stone_Princeton_motif.jpg. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1837
Chromolithograph
An image is applied to stone or zinc with a crayon, it is then gummed with gum arabic then dipped into weak acid then dunked into oil base ink then run through a priting press to create the image, this process is mainly used for multi-colour prints.

No Author. (2006). Chromolithography. Available: http://www.johngrossmancollection.com/id13.html. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1843
Rotary press
Prints images from a curved round cylinder on to paper.

No Author. (2004). Custom Rotary Press. Available: http://www.sdmdiecuttingequipment.com/baseexchange.htm. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

19th Century
Hectograph
Transferring of an original prepared with special inks to a pan of getatint then pulled tight onto a metal frame.

No Author. (2014). Hectograph. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hectograph. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

1907
Screenpriting
A woven mesh/silk screen is used to support an ink blocking stencil, ink is applied to the top of the screen where the stencil is, then a squeegee is used to spread the ink all over the silk screen.

No Author. (2011). iW (No. 1) t-shirt screen printing. Available: http://www.ideasworkshops.com/idea-workshop-1-t-shirt-screen-printing/. Last accessed 1st May 2014.

Websites:

No Author. (2014). Printmaking. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmaking. Last accessed 1st May 2014.