Alternative techniques is a bit more of an experimental sketchbook project covering the baseline methods to approach printing. We covered the different techniques such as lino, vinyl, press-printing, etching and more. This unit was a really fun one for me as it really broadened my skills index and I can now go on to use these techniques in the near future for other units or personal work.
I made an array of different designs for the different printing methods we used, the first one being print-pressing which I had a little bit of experience in. I decided to roll with the skulls and bones theme from last year and made my design using bird skull visuals in my work. I am very proud of this design and would love to use its designs in the near future to create tees. If I was going to make any changes to this piece I wish I had thickened up the lines so when printing it was a lot more bolder. And secondly I would have been extra cautious about the pressure I would be applying to this piece as it did crack a couple of times.
For the making of my vinyl, I was very influenced by the halloween spirit and tried my hand in designing a spell elixr. Whilst I loved the design and was very excited to try my hand in vinyl printing, I was unfortunately not in due to outside occurrences and feel that this has left me a little left out of the loop in terms of my skills. This is going to have to be something I decide to catch up on through out the week. Sadly whilst I emailed I did not include my font and therefore it had disappeared when printing. This is an issue I will be learning from when selecting fonts from my home computer.
For lino and etching I created a simple little teethy pattern to copy on to my plates. Etching was another one of my favourite practices when applying alternative techniques and whilst I unfortunately I did not take pictures of my process in the making, I did my best job in replicating my teethy design.
I think whilst I did have fun on this unit there is a lot more I could have done in the way of development, I was very inattentive during this unit and was issues outside of uni I was struggling to overcome which I feel really distracted my from progressing and showing my skills on a much bigger scale. I feel that when I started getting involved with Livetales I started to let myself slip in to another unmotivated slump. I hope that I improve on this in the future and show work more like that of a HE Student.
SWOT
Strengths:
- An array of different techniques learned
- Different print methods I can apply to future work
- Up-to-date documentation
- Pride in work
- Previous experience helped motivate and encourage me to come out of my shell
Weaknesses:
- Poor time management
- Cockiness from previous experience
- Poor decision making
- Poor design choices
- Allowing distractions get in the way of my work
Opportunities:
- Make a timeplan
- Be realistic and professional with coursework
- Get a second opinion when it comes to decision making
- Ask for criticism and points for improvement
- Find a place to settle down and focus
Threats:
- Prioritising the wrong tasks first
- Letting distractions get in the way
- Clamming up and not reaching out for help
- Not listening to criticism or advice
- Falling behind schedule