Friday 26 November 2010

Laser cutting relief print blocks




After experimenting with some further settings to get depth of cut and detail acceptable I have now cut some sample test blocks from perspex on the laser cutter. I have tested halftones from both dot and line screens to consider the most acceptable effects. Having reviewed the cutting, both have worked successfully and whilst I am now going to print from these blocks it will be interesting to pursue this process and investigate how refined I can make the halftones and still achieve a successful cut from the lasercutter. The halftone I have used at this stage are from 300dpi images processed into 21 lines per inch halftone screen. On this basis i should be able to reduce the dpi resolution and still achieve enough detail for the cut. My previous test was based on a 33 lines per inch halftone. at this resolution the laser cutter was having difficulty resolving the image and odd, herringbone morais patterns were appearing from the laser cutting. I will post some of the printed outcomes as soon as they available.

In addition to cutting these perspex relief blocks I have also experimented with a rubber/vinyl sheet (used as a synthetic lino for lino-printing). This seems to cut well on the laser cutter and I will print a test piece to judge the success. It seems to have achieved the same level of detail as the perspex with a quicker scan/cut time. If this is successful, this will be a preferred material as the material is flexible and will provide an improved print surface to the perspex.


Some images above of the laser cutter at work.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

For screen prints or digital prints


I am continuing with developments from the collage illustrations to consider suitableabstract imagery for prints. The image above has been developed from the 'In my youth I have travelled' collage and explores keeping some texture from halftone and 'mezzotint' filtters as well as overlays of flat colour/ These should work equally well as screen prints or digital prints. I aim to continue to develop these abstract images alongside the more image based prints such as the one illustrated in the previous post.

Monday 22 November 2010

Some on-going influences

Scott Campbell
Rowena Dugdale
James Rosenquist

Patrick Geroux
Pat Steet
Morning Breath
Morning Breath
Matt Springman
Estelle Flores
Emma Clayton
Cecil Touchon
I have included here some other collage artists who I have found that show some inspiring and alternative approaches to use of image/space.

developing collages into print


Taking other image and print ideas forward from collages I have been looking other artist/designers approaches to graphic image development. I have been particularly interested in the prints/paintings of 'Morning Breath' the New York duo who deal with imagery from old ads, graffiti, comic strip etc. Alongside their graphic design practice which is mainly focused on the music industry they produce prints and paintings which combine underlying collaged/painted in/out imagery with overlaid line drawings in comic strip style.

I am beginning to experiment with my initial collages as backgrounds and as providers for line images imposed over. I have considered and tried constructing the drawings with pens and markers but have found that drawing digitally over images in Photoshop with live traces in Illustrator create more reliable outcomes. I have include an initial piece of work here and intend to take this further.

Laser cutting tests and outcomes

I have now started the tests for laser cutting halftone relief images into perspex acrylic sheet. Some initial trials showed that the cutter could not resolve halftones that were any finer than around 21 lines per inch. I experimented with cutting speeds, cutting lines per cm and heat intensity.. The final tets had a setting of: 5mm perspex, 60mm speed and 85 laser power. This gave a result where I felt that I could achieve a relief print. Having now carried out intitial print tests it is clear that this process will work. There are issues around materials though: in cutting the halftone the laser seems to burn cutting debris which 'sticks to the halftone cut in the perspex. The result is therefore imperfect. To resolve this I am trying to strengthen (make coarser), the halftone structure and consider a linear halftone to compare with the dot screen. Having said this, the printed halftone gives a feel for coarse newspaper halftones before the advent of digital and litho preparation. I am going to persevere with the perspex; additionally I am going to test other materials in the laser cutter, such as MDF and some synthetic rubber/acetate material (which I'm not sure of the name of at present) used for lino cuts. My aim is to achieve bold, high contrast images which can then be either hand coloured, screen printed onto or collaged back into further image developments.

Thursday 11 November 2010

Laser cutting relief/intaglio blocks

Bitmapp for lasercutting
To extend my exploration of print from my 'Library of Babel' collages I am going to investigate the process of laser cutting relief and intaglio blocks from acrylic sheet. I have used the basic greyscale image taken from the collage and converted to a half tone bitmap at a coarse screen of 21 lines per inch. I have used this screen line count in order to keep a bold graphic impression from the original image. Additionally to keep laser cutting time to a minimum I have cropped the original image to a square format. Once I have the print blocks produced I will experiment with and consider, hand tinting of printed outcomes.

Frustrations of digital print

Bitmapped halftone
Flat colour and mezzotint tones
Mezzotint textures
Image deconstruct
This last week has seen a frustrating series of events for me. In developing the Babel collages to compare printing methods - screenprinting/digital - I have experienced a succession of failed attempts to output colour matched digital prints of my designs developed from my 'There are official searchers... inquisitors' collage. These problems have been due to mis-calibrated screens and printer profiles both on Hewlet Packard and Epsom kit. I now seem to have resolved these issues by calibrating both screen and profiles for my Mac' and am beginning to get print results that I might expect from the screen images. Experimenting with paper stock has also provided alternative results; ranging from plain, average quality cartridge paper to Epsom coated high white water colour paper. To some extent I prefer outcomes on the plain, lower quality paper.

Additionally, to cap all these print frustrations.... I rather foolishly left a folder of my initial prints at UWE after a tutorial on Tuesday of this week. Therefore I have had to re-print each example. In some ways this has had its benefits, it has allowed me to further consider and investigate the control of digital print output and results are improving.

After this series of frustrations I am now becoming sick of the sight of this piece of work! So.. I am now planning just a few extensions to this work before moving on to other material: experimenting with screen printing the final K separation on top of inkjet output CMY and also after an introduction to the laser cutter the idea of burning/cutting the K separation on top of the inkjet CMY. One extra investigation might be some lasercut relief/intaglio printing blocks from the grayscale halftone image.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

A short break then onwards...

Edouardo Rueda
Edouardo Rueda
Edouardo Rueda
A short break in studies last week to visit Paris. Whilst there, two major disappointments.... couldn't get into the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition at the Musee de Art Moderne at the Palais de Tokyo and the Musee Picasso was closed - for two years for a total refurb. Still managed to pick up a good book in a discontinued print shop on Boulevard St Michel on Edouardo Rueda. I has seen some of his work some years ago but with my current interests in collage, his work seems more relevant and inspirational. He lists the many well known's as his influences such as Schwitters, Cornell, Hoch, Brownfield and there is evidence in his work of this. I was interested to see his 3D 'collage' and division of space with textured metal/wood. Some further ideas here to consider.

The visit also gave me the opportunity to collect more ephemera and photographs of abstract street graphics; using the camera to viewfind type/signs and textures. As I process these I will post at a later date.