Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Lessons learned is logic lost

I just like to make up titles that sound good, then try and apply some logic. I keep thinking I am learning stuff and progressing with my experiments of epoxy, screen printing and faux fresco techniques, but when it gets down to it I just push forward with the things that are closest to me. I find myself working in a daze sometimes, just printing and mixing and slapping things together. The only logic that seems left in this is that I have gone to the trouble of putting things around me that I think will work together.

The variations on the types of things I have been making keep me running in circles with finished products. Each time I get close to something finished, like a pendant or emblem, I think that the finishing steps are too cumbersome and I trash the concept. What seems to be the problem is that I don't want to make things that are not going to keep being fun to make once I figure them out. I like figuring them out, but sanding and applying adhesives to make pieces into something useful like a key chain or sticker keep pulling me down. The larger products like prints and framed pictures are difficult to carry, display and sell, but these types of pieces seem easier in that when you are done with something it holds itself.

I've taken to spray painting the edges of frames to make the finished prints on frames even easier to give a slight sense of finished without attaching a frame. I can't say I am a huge fan of that technique, but it works, it's cheap and it's fast. My last batch of screen printing frames converted to printed frames are still being finished, but I did get an assortment of techniques into a finished set of pieces by doing some down and dirty processes.

First I cleaned and scraped the ink and residue off a bunch of old screen printing frames using a putty knife, mineral spirits and rubber gloves. After they dried I put some tape on the inside to block the design and then put a couple of coats of some old latex paint over the emulsified screen without trying to clean out the emulsion or remove the design, I just painted over it. After two coats I removed the inside tape and put a coat or two of paint on the inside of the frame to seal off the emulsion and screen, as well as, to cover any ink residue left on the inside of the screen. This provided me with a white flat surface on the topside of the screen to work on.

I'm not sure how well the latex will hold to the emulsion on the screen, but since the latex is going to be covered I am thinking that it won't be subjected to significant abuse. This process provided me with a batch of 10-15 frames with a flat white surface that is essentially primed with a gesso like coating. I wasn't super pristine in my work so there are some bumps from left over tape and ink, but I am trying to keep the labor down and be able to do this job without thinking too much. If I was outside looking for a piece of wood or flat surface to work on this would be ideal, so although it may not be up to the standards of a professional art canvas it's better than a scrap of wood or rough cement surface.

I have been applying a batch of techniques to these frames from direct printing onto the surface with a variety of screen printing inks and epoxies. I have also used them to apply vinyl adhesive backed prints to, large stickers basically. Each of these techniques showed promise, but the idea of working on the frames and the prints separately has merit. I also created s a rusted surface directly on the frames and I have a few of those sitting around that I can now try to print directly on. The benefit of working on the large vinyl stickers is that I don't have to be committed to the work while I work on it, because I don't have to think that I am wasting a frame if I don't like it. Cleaning the frames is more work than what I do to make a design, so I have an added mental investment in a piece being done directly on a frame that may keep me from testing techniques. Also the difficulties in printing on the surface of the frame itself are a little bit of a problem. I have been using spray paint stencils for a final coating on the image part of designs and that eliminates the problems with printing.

Some of the techniques I've been using are things that I hate, like splattering around a design. God I hate that, but because I am so sloppy with the epoxy it has dripped from time to time onto the background and there is no way I can even begin to think about getting it off, so I have had to just add a few drips around it. Once again, I hate this look, but aesthetically it does look more finished than some of the pieces that just have an image floating on the background surface. It is like I hate using artistic techniques that will appear arty even if they work. I am trying to make something that is as if it came out of a machine, with no feeling besides the texture and the graphic, but these cheesy methods like splatter seem to make the image come together, which makes me hate it even more because I can't escape it. Spilling paint is something I can do, but I don't like to think of it as a skill or something that I meant to do or it destroys my whole process of industrial design. I am interested in how people perceive it and if pieces are more attractive to the viewer because of these painterly accents.

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