Back After Easter

Back after Easter and surprise surprise the laser cut sheet got put up and graphics seem to of pre booked slots even though i was told i wasn’t aloud to do this so therefore there is no laser cutting time left. Now i am 3 weeks behind and really not happy about it i was hoping to of got all my images printed now. I have asked Matt in the print room for a definitive time of when the sheet will be put up and i will be sat outside the workshop room door waiting for it!

I have printed my first two and got 2 to go i have also finished the designs to these and will post them up later.

WORK IN PROGRESS

This week we had a work in progress meeting to see where we are at in our projects i had Louise as my tutor . She discussed with me how to show my designs as they are fragile and said that hanging them would be a great idea and maybe they can be hung in a row with clear wire. I said i would run this by Pete and see what he thought on the idea. I like the idea of hanging them in a row this sounds good almost like creating a wall. A wall of higher deities.

Easter Disaster

Easter disaster is that the laser cut sheet got put up a day early than i was told therefore when i got to it in the third week there was no space to laser cut.

This means i am a week behind schedule and I’m not happy about it. i won’t waste this week though i will crack on with my designs and keep chugging along i will also work on this blog while i am at home for the last week of easter.

This is how i feel right now like an big implosion!

I am a bit angry as when i come back to uni after easter it will be a mad fight for the laser cutter.

Athena Lasercut

Here is the process of the Athena Lasercut from start to finish with a bit of a hiccup in-between too! 

Firstly i sent the first image to the laser cutter before realising half way through cutting that i had forgot to invert the image

NIGHTMARE!

I dont want to waste this so maybe if i have time at the end of my project ill print out the bottom layer not inverted too and print a whole non inverted image onto dark paper with a light coloured ink.

Above is the final laser cut panels the top one is varnished the bottom one isn’t. I am pleased with how these came out and i am hoping the line in the middle won’t be obvious.

This is my laser cut with the paper on the top just after i had printed it and before i lifted it off and took it to the drying rack. I have chosen a yellow hue for the colour of this print as i think it suited the sun perfectly and i didn’t want to use a war like red on the image as Athena is not a vicious warrior so yellow is a mellow hue to represent that.

Below is the final image stuck on a window again to test the light and see how it looks all dry and finished.

I think this has worked well but feel maybe there is too much space around and i could have possibly added another symbol to the image as the previous Mother Earth Image had more symbolism added to it. Maybe i am over thinking this image as when i have asked peers what they thought of this image they thought it was a great representation of Athena. I did not connect with this image as much as i think Greek symbolism for me is less interesting than say Indian or Pagan symbolism, which for me can grab my attention more. I found this image a struggle to finish and i did spend less time on this than my Mother Earth image so i can get everything done on time.

I shall attempt to connect more with the next images i produce and really put 100 percent into the composition and layout.

On to the next one!

Athena Image

During the week  i have been working on my image for my second final piece which is Athena  Goddess which is described as

GODDESS OF AIR: ATHENA

Spiritual warrior wields the Sword of Truth

After extensive research and looking back at the my other Athena drawing( below) which didn’t work well

There are parts of this image i have kept and other parts i have re worked. I tried out some different options in my sketchbook but Below is the final drawing.

The Meaning Of The Symbols

The sun: is a symbol of the divine and strength and a well being which Athena was associated with and the Sun Gods were Assosiated with her therefore i have given the sun a male face.

The Owl: This traditionally accompanies athena its her sacred animal and has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom.perspicacity and erudition. On Greek coins the owl features next to her.

The Ram: Aries is associated with Athena and the ram symbolises the warrior spirit within her and the rams skin was used on her breastplate so therefore i have symbolised the dead skull of the skinned ram.

Olive wreath: This symbolises the way Athena was a strategic fighter and was diplomatic with her wars. She extended the Olive branch out to others to mediate with them before attacking.

Seven Snakes: Seven is the number that is lucky to Athena and the Snakes represent the head of Medusa that Athena had on her  shield.

Athena Goddess:  I have decided to keep the image of Athena as quite traditional and below is an image from Pinterest i based her on.

As i am keeping to my tight schedule of getting an image done a week i think i am happy with this image but i struggled with making the snakes look realistic so that is the only down side to this image i will see how it prints out later and see if i am happy with it.

Mother Earth The Big Lasercut

The first of my final pieces is finally getting made but before that there has been a change of plan. Originally i was going to be printing on Japanese white paper but i went to an art shop to pick up some samples of different types of japanese paper when i came across a see through fabric with flecks of gold and silver leaf in it. I purchased it for 90p a sheet i didn’t get a picture before i printed on the first sheet so hopefully with the pictures of the final print you can see how translucent and ethereal the fabric/paper looks. I decided that i will use this paper over the japanese paper because it just seems much more fitting with the ethereal feel I’m trying to achieve with my project.

The first panel took 1hr 22mins to laser cut so that is a good indication of how many hours i will need to book the laser cutter out for to cut all 8 panels.

Above is the inverted image i put through illustrator and put through the laser cutter. Below are the two panels that took over about 3 hours to etch.

I varnished both these panels and then inked up the green ink ready to do a quick test print of the first panel to see if it prints ok with the background and everything is in order

Everything seemed to be in order with the print and not a drop of ink on my new shoes! today must be a good day!

Below are all the images of my final print on the gold leaf/silver leaf translucent paper which i will now nickname ghost paper!

I hung this print in the window to see how it would look with bright sunshine behind it mirroring the stained glass window effect i saw a lot in Paris and that inspired me quite a bit.

Printing this wasn’t as hard as i expected it to be the main fiddly bit was taking the paper print off the wooden panels when wet and transferring it to the drying rack at the other side of the room without it flipping over. The print has the exact look and feel i imagined. It looks ethereal and delicate and ghostly and very representative of what I’m trying to portray about goddesses. They are higher deities and therefore the gold and silver leaf in the paper makes it look even more magical and worthy of a goddess.

I had some spare laser cutting time so i managed to print an A3 sized non inverted version of the image so i can print this image on black paper with silver lino ink just like one of my mini laser cuts from before as shown below.

Overall i am really pleased with my first final piece and i hope the others turn out this good.

Easter Plan

Here is my Easter Plan

Week 1

Book in Morning slot on Tuesday to laser cut Mother Earth image

Varnish Mother Earth panels

Print on Japanese paper

Draw out and Design Athena image ready for following week

Week 2

Book in Morning slot laser cut Athena image

Varnish

Print

Design Juno image ready for following week

Week 3

Book in Slot and Lasercut for Juno image and Lasercut

Varnish

Print

Week 4

Spend some time at home as haven’t seen my family for four months!