Quink ink

Recently, while I was looking through my photo gallery  I found some interesting photographs that I took some time ago during shipping forecast project. For this project  I was using quite a lot of quink ink and every time I had too much ink on the paintbrush I was drying it with a tissue and unconsciously I created these blue and yellow/orange abstract shapes (even though I was using black ink.) that in my opinion look just awesome especially when the photograph is changed into black and white image. Well, I think it might be worthwhile to use this idea to do some further experimentation. So I hope you like it and look forward to see the outcome!

sdc16739

Graphic design – Shipping forecast (week 2) – Media experimantation

Recently I promised to write about our second mini project for graphics so, here we go!!

Our starting point was the same as the week before: Shipping forecast for a random shipping location. This time however we were asked to experiment with whatever methods we want to create our designs and so our creativity wasn’t limited to a computer design. Yep, I know it sounds Exciting!

MalinThe shipping forecast for Malin:

Wind: northwesterly 5 to 7.

Sea State: rough or very rough.

Weather: squally showers.

Visibility: moderate or good.

At first I wanted to design a poster using InDesign and then work on it with pen but when I created the first design on computer I decided to change my strategy and be more experimental. So, on the right you can see the first design that  I created that day, before I decided to change my way of working:

In my next designs I decided to use only a part of the shipping forecast rather than the whole text and I ended up with a short: “Malin squally showers” I then begun to think about how I can arrange the letters to make them visually express their meaning. I still decided to use InDesign to create the initial arrangement of the text. I then experimented with different methods and here are some examples of what I created:

I also used one spare copy of my design and cut out the letters to create a stencil. I didn’t like the effect that much but I decided to do some further experimentation using the letters I cut out. As it was raining at the time a had a perfect opportunity to use a wet ground as the background for my letters and I think I managed to create some interesting designs.

So here is the design created using stencil (the one that didn’t work too well)Experimenting

..and these are the photographs I took outside:

I know, they look awesome!..but putting them on the wet ground was a disaster as they kept rolling up! Before I managed to do anything I ended up with a pile of letters that looked pretty much like that:..it probably wouldn’t be that bad if not the fact that it was raining, my umbrella was heavy, my camera was running out of battery..and I also had to keep it clean and dry which was really difficult since my hands were covered in mud…uff

Oh yes! While I was putting the letters on the ground, another of my ideas was getting wet on the road (purposely of course). While I was still in the classroom I quickly painted one of the spare copies of the design with the quink ink as I was curious what effect I can achieve if I put it outside, on the muddy road on this rainy day. And hey! I did it purely out of curiosity but it turned out to work quite well!..And I also have one of the works that I created by accident when I crumbled a spare wet copy of my design..which was also covered in mud as I kept my letters on it after I used them!.. I know I shouldn’t make this post any longer..but just have a look okay!

So, that’s it for now! I hoped you liked it and look forward to my next post!:)

Intaglio and relief printing

On our first day back at college after the trip to Aberystwyth we started to learn about relief and intaglio printing. The main difference between these two methods of printing is that with relief printing we need to make sure that ink sits on the surface of the plate we want to print. Whereas with intaglio printing the ink sits below the surface of the plate and the excess ink is wiped away before we print our design on the paper.

Printing methodsBefore we printed the plates that we previously created we had to damp the paper in the first place. Different types of paper require different amount of water but its important to remember that the aim of putting the paper into the water is not to wet it but to soften it.

Some photographs illustrating the process:

Soo..I guess I can’t make printing sound any more exciting than that, since we only just started, but I have to say that making prints can be enjoyable and also very satisfying when you see the effects of the effort you put in to make sure that the print is as neat as possible!

Anyway, shortly I will post the effects of the effort I’ve put in to create my own relief and intaglio prints so look forward to it!!