Week 6 - #3

This week I did get a chance to go speak with the printmaking technician about this as a sort of informal induction. There were a couple different methods of making a digital etching we talked about specifically the difference between making a linear laser cut or a pinpoint pattern digital cut. These are the only two options when creating a piece of metal to hold ink. There is also a second process of treating each metal with a chemical that will let the wells hold ink that was discussed but I will need further instruction on that to choose which to use.

Since my fairy drawing is digital, one of the things the technician and I spoke about was which photoshop effects to use to make the drawing compatible with both the laser printer and the ink. The two choices she gave me were “Indexing” the photo to reduce every line to either pure black or pure white. Below is the result.

I did not like the amount of detail lost in the image, particularly on the fairy figure and the sky. So I tried the next idea the technician had which was to bitmap the image. Below is the result.

As you can see, the entire integrity of the drawing stayed intact, and I was happy with this. Only when you zoom in really close can you tell that the image is a bitmap.

I wanted to try one more process of photoshop effect that I came up with on my own in order for it to be as close to a traditional engraving as possible. I searched youtube and found a tutorial on how to make your image with a pattern overlay so that it looks like it was etched, taking on the appearance of the images on American dollar bills. Below is the result.

Again, I was not entirely happy with this effect. I simply have too much white in my drawing and not enough solid color shading. After trial and error I decided to pursue using the bitmapped version.

While working with the printmaking team, I was instructed to go speak to the laser cutting technician in the Hunter building to collaborate on the choice between linear and pinpoint patterns but unfortunately, all staff qualified to use the machine were absent all week. I have really struggled with getting into studios this semester due to the nature of it being summer while also being a time where technicians are getting COVID. It has taught me that I need at least two visits to the studio to get a result so I will keep that in mind for the final deadline.