Printmaking: Tungsten

Tungsten was discovered by two Spanish brothers, Fausto and Juan Jose de Elhuyar in 1783 by reduction of acidified wolframite with charcoal. Tungsten has had many uses throughout its history. Tungsten was first used in incandescent light bulbs and tubes in x-rays. During World War II, tungsten was heavily involved in political dealings. Because of tungsten’s high melting point, hardness, density, and strengthening of alloys, it was a hot commodity among the axis and allied powers to make weaponry. Tungsten’s etymology is straightforward. The word Tungsten comes from the swedish words “tung” meaning heavy, and “sten” meaning stone.

My imagery derives from tungsten’s etymology. I thought I could create an interesting image by using negative space lettering and texturing.

My process started with decided on a set of images. I created three images and selected one of them. I wanted to refine the image and take it from a 2D sketch to a 2.5D impression drawing. I chose to texture the rock by pressing various objects on the rock and making impressions.

If I were to do my print again, I would refine my lettering a bit. I think it is inconsistent and could’ve been better.

I enjoyed the texturing process the most. Figuring out what objects make the coolest and most effective impressions was enjoyable.

2fer #7

Movies, books, TV shows, social media, and even walking down the street. These are all places where romantic relationships can be witnessed. Many people engage in relationships during their teenage years. Many teenagers complain about being single and wanting a significant other. Teenagers feel pressure to engage in romantic relationships due to media.

In a survey that I did amongst a group of Juniors at SLA, over half of them agreed that they have felt societal pressure to engage in a romantic relationship. Students in an environment where education should be a main priority express a feeling of pressure from their peers, social media, family, etc to have a romantic partner. Teenagers in this day and age have easy access to the internet, where romantic relationships are especially prominent due to social media pages that post pictures of ‘couple goals’ and other similar ideas of romantic relationships. Through social media it is easy to see who’s dating who, who likes who, who’s talking to who, ways to see relationships. Due to this teenagers feel pressure to fit in and engage in their own romantic relationships.

In an article written by TeenZeen.org the author writes that, “Sometimes, you may not be ready to start dating, but you feel that you have to because everyone else around you is.” A very common way that people, especially teenagers, express themselves is on social media sites such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Teenagers tend to show off the people that they’re talking to, they like to post about their emotions and how they feel about certain things. This can be a very powerful thing that can influence others feelings on certain topics. Many teenagers follow people that they idolize on social media, many of these social media famous people are teenagers themselves. When teenagers see people their age who are succeeding they feel pressure to mimic their actions to achieve their own success. One way that they might try and do that is through entering romantic relationships, especially if the person / people that they idol are in their own romantic relationships.

Kara Nesvig wrote an article for Teen Vogue about the “21 best TV show couples.” The article lists a few of the many romantic relationships that are shown on TV. She writes that, “These 20 iconic couples make us believe that love is real, even if it’s just on TV.” Almost every single teenager watches some type of TV. This shows how prominent couples are in TV shows and how it makes teenagers have a certain perception of what ‘love’ should look like. Almost every TV show or movie about highschool students has some type of love plot to it. This causes pressure on teenagers to enter their own romantic relationships because, “it’s what everyone else is doing.” By nature, humans want to fit into their environment and with their peers and if that means entering a romantic relationship, even if they aren’t ready, then that’s what they will do.

Relationships are seen everywhere nowadays, even though many teens say that they are content in not being involved in a romantic relationship they feel pressured to be in a relationship. This is due to how often teenagers are reminded of others, especially their peer’s, relationship statuses, and more oftenly the ones who are engaged in romantic relationships.


https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/best-tv-couples

https://www.teenzeen.org/teens-and-dating.html

Survey done by me


Fluorine

The element that I did was Fluorine and its atomic number is 9. Fluorine was discovered in 1529 and in 1810 fluorine became an element on the periodic table and the person who discovered fluorine was Henri Moissan. What fluorine is used for is toothpaste to brush our teeth and sodium fluoride is used in water to prevent dental cavities. How I got the ideas of having teeth holding a toothbrush is I looked up pictures to give me ideas of what to draw and so I thought of having teeth holding a toothbrush and putting their thumbs up was a nice idea. 
How I did this process was first I drew my picture on the styrofoam and then I painted styrofoam with the color I picked. After that I put down the side with the paint on a blank paper and put another piece of blank paper on the top of it and got a spoon to have the paint print on the paper. Once I felt like it was printed I took the styrofoam plate off and then that's when it prints. Something I would've done differently to make sure it prints is to actually make sure it print good enough so everything can be on the paper. The part of the project that I enjoy the most the painting part because it was fun to print the picture on another paper. 

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Printmaking

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My element is Radon (Rn). The atomic number is 86. My element is a toxic substance that was discovered in 1900 by Friedrich Ernst Dorn. It was known as Niton until its name was changed in 1923. It is primarily obtained through radium decay. It is used in cancer treatment.

I got my idea from the toxicity of Rafon. Gas masks that filter out toxins need to be used when near Radon. So I drew a gas mask.

We researched our element and then we came up with 3 ideas. Next we copied our best idea on to copy paper and the copied it onto a foam board. Then we used paint to print it onto another paper.

If I could do anything different I would make sure my drawing and words was more indented in the foam.

I enjoyed the printing part of the project when we used the paint. It was the most fun to me and I enjoyed doing it. It was when we put paint on the foam and copied it onto paper. I liked putting the paint onto the foam the most of the entire project.


Element Print: Antimony

​I have the element Antimony. The atomic number is 51 and the symbol is Sb, which comes from the Latin word "Stibium". Antimony has no known discovery date. Antimony was mentioned in the Old Testament, as well as in papyrus in the 16th century. There is an Antimony vase in the Louvre in Paris, estimated to be 5,000 years old. It was also used in kohl eyeliner in ancient Egypt. Today, Antimony is used in some batteries, bullets, cable sheathing, and flame retardant materials. 
In my print, I chose to have a kohl eye. This was a symbol used in ancient Egypt used to represent people wearing eyeliner, which contained large amounts of Antimony. The kohl eye symbol is so intricate, yet simple. I thought it would look great in a negative space print. For my print, I first sketched my kohl eye. I then copied the design onto tracing paper. Next, I flipped the tracing paper over, then copied my backwards design onto a foam plate. After that, I rolled paint onto my plate. Lastly, I flipped the plate onto fresh printer paper and applied light pressure to the back of the plate to transfer the paint.
If I were to do this project again, I would make my atomic symbol and number a little bit more distinguishable on the design. They were both a little bit small and hard to see. I would also press all of my negative space lines in further so they could be more prominent. I enjoyed printing the most. I really liked rolling the paint and printing it onto the paper. It was a very satisfying feeling. 

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Printmaking Blog Post

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​    My element was palladium the atomic number was 46. Palladium has two significant roles. It is used in rings and also in catalytic converters. My options were only between the rings and catalytic converter because those are its most popular uses. And most people don't know what a catalytic converter (a component of the exhaust system) is. So, I decided to make a ring. For the process I had to first draw my idea, then I had to trace it onto print paper, which then had to be printed onto the foam. And from there I duplicated the sketch with different colors. If I were to do this again I'd probably ask for help with the foam part because I was pressing down so hard the sketch paper began to tore, but it still didn't come out the way I wanted it to. My favorite part of the project was the research aspect because it gave me an idea of what I was doing.

Printmaking Blog Post & final steps for the element print

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  • What is your element? Name and atomic number
My element is beryllium and the atomic number is 4.
  • Tell the reader about your element, history, function/use and so on.
This element was used in the world wars for missiles. 
  • How did you get the idea for the imagery you chose?
I got it because I though since they used the missile eiht my element I though that would be cool and creative.
  • What process did you go through to make this print?
I drew out the symbols and letters backwards so when I print them they would turn out how you would normally read numbers and letters. Then I got the paint roller out and rolled the paint onto the my drawing. After, I put the drawing and printed it onto my paper. Lastly I tore of the extra paper and put it on a one inch boreder
  • What would you do differently if you did this print a second time?
I would make the cuts into the styrofoam deeper so the paint wouldn't go in the cuts.
  • What part of the project did you enjoy the most? Describe the step and what you liked so much about it.
I enjoyed creating the idea because I thought I came up with a good idea. Also I liked collaborating with my friends and seeing what they had made as well. 

Printmaking Blog Post & final steps for the element print

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  • The name of my element is Carbon, its atomic number is 6.
  • Carbon was first found by Lavoisier in 1789. Carbon is produced everywhere around us, when combined with the element oxygen it produces carbon dioxide which we exhale out of us.
  • The image is a cycle of respiration in the world, all carbon dioxide exhaled or produced will eventually be turned into oxygen. It is a continuous cycle.
  • To make this final print, I first had to sketch the idea and research the element. Then I had to trace it into print paper which I then had to print onto foam to duplicate the images multiple times.
  • If I was given a second chance to redo this project, I would go for more detail in the drawing, carve deeper into the foam.
  • I enjoyed duplicating the final image onto paper, the peeling of the foam onto paper was very satisfying, to have an image you made be replicated was very nice.