Making is Connecting
Jochem Walboomers, 0891362@hr.nl
Contents
ETCHING
first time
Etching is a very old printmaking proces. This way of printmaking takes a lot of patience, and is also very precise. You can scratch something on a copper plate and after that you put the plate in the acid. How longer it will be in the acid how darker the image will be. I did something wrong during the proces, but it created a cool effect. I damaged the wax layer on the copperplate. The acid bit through the wax. In the right corner you see where it dit go wrong. This is also my first well crafted example; 'a historical example -experiment with an traditional/older technique/tool/process'
COLLOGRAPH
cardboard gravure
The cardboard gravure is a very cheap way of printmaking. You can use every kind of material, basic material is cardboard though. You can use glue, sand, sandpaper and every kind of textures. Create a composition what you want, after that you varnish the composition. The way to ink your plate is to dapping the ink on the plate. Because I had different heights in my plate the deepest details can't be printed. It's also important the you don't put too much ink on the plate so it becomes messy.
RISOGRAPH
Ecoline scans
This technique to create prints I sort of invented myself. It's a kind of marbling, you put ink water and oil in a container and then you put the paper in it. But what I founded interesting was how the ink and oil mixed together in the bottom of the container, so I used an aquarium and a scanner to frame this movements. It came out really cool and unexpected.
Four-color CMYK
I used the colors, Mid-blue for cyan, Fluo-pink for magenta, Yellow for yellow and Black for Black. I did first the light colors, fluo-pink and yellow because I was afraid I couldn't see these colors anymore if I do first the black an mid-blue. They aren't that transparant, fluo-pink and yellow are. I used xerox printed masters because it's way easier to create a new master. It's also possible to put them in digitally, but that will always go wrong when I do it. The added value of these prints are that they feel like handmade and they have a sort of texture that you'll never get with a real CMYK print.
Glitch
When I separated the four colors in photoshop it glitched. It created a really cool effect, so I decided to print that as well. It become very cool when I put the layers back to each other with their original color. I did this 4 times, so you'll see that image disapear rapidly. It also becomes a bit of an old brown color, just like the feeling of really old paintings. I find that this is a kind of printing technique that I pushed to the limit. It's a system error in photoshop that sometimes does work and sometimes doesn't. So I really tried to make the image glitch again and again.
MONOPRINT
A technique I never did
This way of printing takes also a lot of time. You can make it as difficult as you want. I used several plates and wanted to create a bigger composition. I drawed with several tools on the plates to create an interesting image.
INDIANEN WORKSHOP
I really liked the studio Indianen. They had a lot of self initiated projects, where they put a lot of effort in. The things we did was creating images with the longhand publishers machine. The low-res drawing table. We also played with the eye records project.
DEVELOPING SCANS
WHY I MAKE
When I make and create, there is a kind of connection in my brain where things become clear. When I have an idea there is for me one way to explain it and that is to make an idea physical, like an image, sketch, picture and so on. When there is an image, there is something to tell about or think about. Not everyone will see or think the same, but it’s up to me to get it clear for myself. After that it will become clear for others. When I’m busy making there is a desire I want to exploit the certain technique. And try different ways of create an image. My pushing to the limit example shows also how I exploit a certain technique. When there is a glitch/bug in photoshop, it’s easy to repair that to empty your cache memory. I did, but it didn’t solve the bug. Then I realized it’s a kind of aesthetic that is beautiful to create images. I splitted all the channel layers in different images. That’s the moment when the glitch appears. It’s creating the same image, but then with distorted images through. I did that 4 times and the original image was fully disappeared and created a beautiful dark brown image.
All this making and reading during this quarter I realized, when you create things for yourself, you become independent. I really noticed that when we were on the workshop at indianen. They realize projects almost only by themselves. They also created their own tools and software. It’s a really nice profit when you become independent, because you have all the control on you project. Then you can make things and make adjustments whenever you want and there are less boundaries. It’s very hard as well to become independent, so I think you need also some back up to go on with your thing you love.
In my final project I want to freeze the moment of developing an image. I want to make sure that the moment of developing becomes tangible. As a graphic designer I’m really focussed on the proces of creating an image. In my work you see that there is a desire to creating new way of making visuals, also with this project. This tool/installation is capable to hold the image. What I did was using a scanner to freeze the moment of developing a photogram. You see some difference on the scan and the original, so there happened something, there was development. This is what I wanted to achieve, now it’s become something tangible. Development is for me a important aspect of design, when there is no longer a development going on, it will stay still and slowly fade away. When things are still in development it stays alive and it will expand.
