Sunday, May 15

May 15, 2022

Sunday, May 15

Senior Project day 7

Today was a really exciting day! I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep so I got right to work at about 7:15. I started the day off by unpacking my printer! I was super excited to get it running and start experimenting with the prints. This is the original painting I chose to run my first test print:

I set the printer settings up to the best of my ability and knowledge and put some plain 8.5 x 11 paper in the tray. I used the scanner on the top of the printer to create my very first print. I ran it through once on the standard paper, which went well, so I decided to try some thicker paper. I had to cut the cardstock paper to size, adjust the printer settings, scan the painting again, and then clicked on the print button. I waited with great anticipation as the paper slowly came back out, and, to my surprise, it actually looked pretty decent! I experimented with sizes of paper and settings and did a lot of troubleshooting. There were a lot of different options to consider. Is the scanner better to use than uploading a photo from my phone? Is it best to export the photo right from my camera roll or upload to photoshop to make adjustments first? What paper size works best and what type/texture of paper should I use? Do I put the side of the paper I want the print to be on face down or face up in the paper tray? I also ran into issues where I couldn't print multiple prints on the same page, which was a little frustrating. I'm still working on that, because I want to be as efficient as possible and waste as little paper as possible. All of this took me four hours this morning. There are so many small details involved in this process, most of which I have only started to explore.

So, there is a long way to go, but I would definitely consider this first day of printmaking to be a success, and I'm excited to keep printing and learning in order to eventually get to the best quality prints. The pictures below did not upload very well onto this blog, and are a little more detailed and vibrant in person.

In the early afternoon, I worked on my concentration paper. At around 2:30 I went to the studio to trim my last bowl that I wasn't able to get to yesterday, and then headed to musical rehearsal at 4. I'm only on stage for a short amount of time, so while I sat and watched I got a little bit of work done on my concentration paper, which has been going very slowly for me. Starting today, tech week rehearsal schedule for the musical begins, which means I'll be in the theater every day from about 4-8 pm. Fortunately I only have a small part, so I should be able to get some work done in the afternoons. Musical theater is also art too!