29th September Glossary Pages And Mono-Printing

On the 29^th September we continued to design our glossary pages to express the “Principles of design”, “The elements of design” and keywords from the workshop through the “Hands On Project”. I continued to work on the pages and explore a keyword that I learnt from the print making workshop which was “Henna”. I wanted to develop the designs and ideas I have collected through the workshop to express them through myself and what is my definition of the keyword “Henna”. Firstly, I drew a basic hand shape that filled the A4 glossary page and I designed a “Henna Pattern” on the top of the hand with a pencil. I took inspiration from the recent workshop and collected my “Henna” pattern designs and ideas which was incorporated onto the glossary page. To make the hand realistic, I used watercolour paints to create a skin colour to be painted onto the hand. For the “Henna” pattern, I wanted a material that would look realistic and match what is used in real life for the “Henna” patterns so I decided to use black ink. Also, I decided to use black ink because I felt confident with the material as I practised and learnt from my mistakes when using it on one of my previous glossary pages. I allowed the watercolour paint to dry first because the water would damage the ink lines and make them bleed onto the design. Whilst the watercolour was drying, I focused on mono-printing and explored the direct method that I missed completing on the first session we had on the task.

The "Henna" glossary page with the watercolour
outline and the start of the "Henna" pattern.

To set up the mono-printing, I took what I learnt from the previous lesson and placed a giant plastic sheet onto my work area. Then I used the roller tool to spread ink out evenly so that it would be ready to print and allow me to draw into the ink evenly. I became independent with setting up the equipment correctly for mono-printing and I followed the methods carefully that I learnt in the previous lesson. To use the direct method, I collected a paintbrush and used the point at the end of the brush to sketch my design into the ink. I used a primary image of my knuckle because it is a simple shape that can be sketched easily and be mono-printed clearly when created. A problem I faced when drawing is that I found it tricky drawing into the ink as I couldn’t control my balance as my arm and wrist couldn’t be placed onto the surface  which made it difficult for me to draw. This had an effect on the drawing and to improve next time, I am going to practise further with drawing on ink to allow me to control my drawing. Next I placed my large surface that I design in the previous lesson, onto the ink and used a roller to allow the image to transfer. After I took the surface away from the ink it revealed the mono-print of the image. Unfortunately the mono-printed surface looked faded on the design. To improve next time I will include more ink on the sheet so that the surface will collect more ink and allow the mono print to transfer successfully.

The primary image and the direct transfer drawing on the
ink surface.



The mono-print outcome looks faded as not enough ink has
been transferred onto the paper surface.

Overall, the studio practise was useful as it allowed me to continue creating more glossary pages and explore another mono-printing technique that I didn’t complete in the previous lesson. My weakness in the task was time management as I didn’t complete my glossary page in the time I was given in lesson. To solve the problem I am going to complete the glossary page in my own independent study time. Also my weakness was printing the direct method drawing I completed on the ink onto the surface as it didn’t print correctly and the outcome looked faded. To solve the problem next time I am going to add more ink onto the sheet before printing so that I will have a better surface to work on which will give a better mono-print finish. However, I felt confident in the task as It allowed me to become independent and to develop the knowledge I learnt from the previous lesson to continue and explore different techniques of mono-printing.