My Work pt 2
Following on from investigation of the knights influence over the Maltese Islands, this lino-print shows a basilica built under the Order. The basilica known as Ta'Pinu is the landmark shown in this print. Reflecting upon this print there have been a number of errors in both attempts, including smudging and misaligned printing. How could I resolve this?
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To resolve this error, the lino print is converted into a collage. This creates a brighter contrast and makes the image more distinct and bold.
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This is a simple lino-print which depicts a similar image of the basilica of Ta' Pinu at dawn.
Unfortunatly this had smudges on its background as well. |
To resolve the smudges in the print above I follow the same solution. Cut out the foreground and display it as an over layered collage. There was not much too cut out due to there only being three colours.
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The colours were Vermillion Red, Dark Royal Blue, Black.
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This process called Solar-etching is an interesting one just learnt during a workshop tutorial.
It involves transforming a photograph into a physical print. Firstly the photograph you want needs to be edited on photoshop where it can be converted to black and white. The contrast must be turned up to maximum. Then the edited image is printed of on two transparent acetate sheets. |
The two acetate sheets displaying the image have to be precisely aligned and taped together before being placed inside the UV exposer device.
Also you will be placing a zinc plate on top of the acetate sheet before exposure. The exposure time is 15 seconds. Whilst this is happening the black, shaded areas of the acetate sheet act as a shield against the strong UV light the device emits. The strong UV light burns the surface of the zinc plate where the acetate sheet has no shade, forming the detail of the image. |
As you can see there is a faint outline of where the UV has lite the plate, with a blured outline of the one on the acetate sheet.
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Next, ink is scraped along the surface of the plate, with a piece of cardboard covering the whole plate.
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The ink is then wiped into the grooves where the UV light had hit. The ink is wiped in a twisting motion, so it wipes the surface clean. This makes the grooves ink ridden.
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Grease paper is scrubbed along the plate to polish the surface.
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Thick print paper is damped in the trough before being semi-dried with tracing paper or newspaper anything to mildly dry the plate.
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,The ink ridden zinc plate is placed on top of the slightly damp paper ready to go through the print roller.
This machine will place a tonne of pressure on the print, making every ounce of ink being squashed into the paper. |
These were the results. This black and white one was the first result and appears to have a dramatic mood with the camera angle, I took of the Jean De Valette statue. This shows the high profile of this historic figure. Valette was former prisoner before becoming a Grand Master of the Knights of St John. Plus the dark sky above in my opinion reflects the triumph and dominance of the Knights presence against invasions they endured. This experiment was caried out again, but tried out with red ink. I thought the red ink could reflect the main themed colour revolved around the Knights of Saint John. Unfortunatly the print plate must have moved inside the printing roller to cause the print to misalign and mis place in the bottom corner of the paper. |