DAEDALUS DESIGNS

Medium and Final Product

I will be planning and sketching my 7 Deadly Sin images traditionally with pencil and paper, and also rough layouts on my iPad. I will then take these and construct the final product digitally on Adobe Illustrator. I feel I can effectively achieve the visual style I have in mind in this way; a slightly surreal, Noire vibe.
I have decided to screen print my images as a series, with a clear style and theme throughout. I think this will be a relatively quick way to produce my final product, as the positives can be made from the digital designs. Each print will be made up of the sins associated colour, accompanied by black and grey.
I decided on these methods as I feel they will be the right balance between fast, cheap and look great! Materials shouldn’t be too difficult to acquire, needing a trip to Fred Aldous. The only con is it will be a big job, and I will probably need two days solid in the print room (to be booked soon). I am yet to decide whether to make them A4 or A3, but remaining time at the end of designing the seven prints will sway me one way or another.

7 Deadly Sins Research

• lust
  
• gluttony
• greed
• sloth
• wrath
• envy
• pride
  

Lust (Lechery)
Intense desire for money, food, fame, power or sex.
Dante’s ‘Purgatory’ and 'Inferno’ talk of lust, that penitents must walk through flames to “purge themselves of lustful thoughts and feelings”. Unforgiven souls of lustful people are blown into hurricanes, symbolising their lack of self-control in earthly life.

Gluttony (Selfishness)
Over-indulgence/over-consumption of anything to the point of waste.
Thomas Aquinas said there were six ways to commit gluttony, including eating too soon, too expensively and too eagerly, not just too much.

Greed (Coveting)
Excessive pursuit of material possessions, more than one needs (especially with wealth).
Dante’s 'Purgatory’ said those guilty of greed would be “bound and laid face down on the ground” for concentrating too much on earthly possessions. Thomas Aquinas called it “a sin against God, just as all mortal sins”.

Sloth (Laziness)
Laziness in a physical, none-moving sense, but also by wasting your gifts and talents.
“Evil is when good men fail to act”, said Pope Gregory, meaning not doing the things a person was meant to. These people were punished by spending eternity continuously running at top speed.

Wrath (Rage)
Inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger; in it’s purest form, violence and feuds. Also includes anger pointed inward.
Manifests indifferent ways, like impatience, revenge, and self-destructiveness (drug abuse, suicide). Thus, suicide is seen as a rejection of the gifts given to you by God. Dante said “Vengence is the love of justice, perverted to revenge and spite”. It’s the only sin not associated with selfishness, although people can be wrathful for selfish reasons.

Envy (Jealousy)
An insatiable desire for other peoples possessions, traits, abilities, status or rewards.
Unlike jealousy alone (the feeling of discontent towards someone for having something), envy is actively wanting what other people have, “a desire to deprive other men of theirs”. It can also be “sorrow for anothers good”, as said by Thomas Aquinas, so includes people who feel sad when someone else does well. It is also related directly to the 10 Commandments: “Thou shalt not covet” (house, wife, servant, animals etc). Dante wrote in 'Purgatory’ that the punishment was to have your eyes sewn shut with wire for “sinful pleasure” gained from seeing others brought low.

Pride (Vanity)
Believing you are better than others, failing to acknowledge the accomplishments of others, and excessive admiration of self.
The original and most serious sin, the source of all others (“Deadliest of all sins, leading directly to damnation” - Jacob Bidermann’s 'Cenodoxus’). Lucifers pride and desire to compete with God was what caused him to fall from heaven and transform into Satan. Dante described it as "love of self, perverted to hatred and contempt for thy neighbour". He also spoke of it in 'Divine Comedy’, that the proud would have “stone slabs hung from their necks” to force them to keep their heads bowed.

Contemporary Contexts Of Illustration: Screen Printing Induction

In our brief, we were advised to look at different printing processes. On Monday, I had my induction into screen printing with Hannah. I really enjoyed learning all about it, and Hannah broke it down easily for me.

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STEP 1: MAKE A POSITIVE
A positive is the image you want to print, in all black, on either acetate or greased/tracing paper. This can be printed directly onto acetate from a digital image, or hand drawn. Different mediums that you draw with will have different effects as they are varying degrees of black eg. Sharpie, charcoal, pencil. Stencils and cut out silhouettes can also be used. Each different colour you want on your design must have its own positive, and by extension, screen. Greys will not show up, so bit-mapping would need to be used.

STEP 2: CHOOSE A SCREEN
The screen you select is important as different materials need different thread counts, and will usually be wrote on the top. Recommended is 100 threads per square centimetre for paper, 40-60 for printing on fabric.

STEP 3: PREPARE THE SCREEN WITH EMULSION
To get the image from your positive onto your screen for printing, it needs to be coated in emulsion, a chemical that is then exposed to UV light to harden wherever the light hits it. The dark parts on the acetate block the light from passing through, thus, not allowing the emulsion to harden underneath. This is called the “photographic method”, as it is similar to exposing a photograph in a dark room. And just like a photograph, having the screen out in sunlight before it has been dried and exposed in a controlled fashion in the unit will cause it to harden all over, and you will have to remove it and start again.
The emulsion I used at uni was Fotecoat 1019 Blue (which is in actuality more of a teal colour). Put on some gloves and grab the right sized trough (about an inch short on either side of the edge of the screen- taking care not to get it on the frame!) and attach the guards on either end to prevent the emulsion from leaking out. Pour a generous amount into the trough (you want too much and put it back rather than not enough to cover in one go), and let it settle into the length of the trough so it will apply evenly. Stand the screen against something, preferably on the floor so less likely to spill or fall, and press the flat edge of the trough against the flat side of the screen about an inch from the bottom. Tilt the trough forward until the emulsion is touching the screen all the way along, then pull upwards with even pressure until approximately an inch from the top. This should create a thin enough layer about the size of what you’re printing on, but not too thin that there are patches. Take the trough away, careful not to spill, then pour any remains back in the pot, scraping it back in with the pallet knife if necessary.

STEP 4: DRY THE SCREEN
After the emulsion has been applied, it needs to be dried in a drying cabinet, taking approximately 10 minutes at 30 degrees. If the drier is higher than 30 degrees, it could possibly damage the screen. Also, remember to turn off the heat before opening the doors to remove the screen, or it will create a heat vacuum.

STEP 5: EXPOSE THE SCREEN
To get your image onto the screen, it now needs to be safely exposed to UV light in a UV exposure unit to harden the emulsion. Wherever the black print is on the positive will block the UV light from passing through and hardening the emulsion, which will stop the ink passing through when printing.
First, make sure the shutters are closed on the UV light. Place the positive on the glass inside the box (facing the right way), then place the screen face down on top in the place you want the stencil. Lower the lid and lock it to protect yourself from light, and press the vacuum button to hold the screen down in place. This also stops the light refracting in the small gap between the screen and the positive. Choose your exposure time with the dial; about 10 seconds for acetate, 20 for paper as it is less opaque. Hold the button down to open the shutters and begin. Once finished, make sure the shutters are off and turn the vacuum off. Open the lid and retrieve the screen- you should be able to see where is hardened faintly when you hold it up to the light.

STEP 6: WASH THE EMULSION OFF
The parts of emulsion that have been covered by the positive will still be soft and removable. This is done either with some water and a sponge, or a pressure washer for the more stubborn parts. Take care to not have the pressure washer up too high as this could damage and tear the screen. Make sure to get it all off or it will mess up your stencil when printing by blocking the screen. Dry thoroughly.

STEP 7: ATTACH SCREEN TO PRESS
Your screen now needs to be locked into the screen press. This is done by placing the screen flat side down, sliding the rails along to its edges and making sure the screen is on the small runners, raising it up about the thickness of a penny. This is called the “snap” and means the screen can give way slightly and bend when you press down while printing. Next, push the hammers down and screw on tightly so the screen won’t slide to the top when you lift it between prints. A small spanner may be needed.

STEP 8: PREPARE TO PRINT
It is best to get everything you will need from now on to hand as things will dry quickly. You will need:

- acrylic paint and acrylic printing medium (I used System 3 brand for both, and was advised on Permaset Ink for fabrics)
- an acetate the size of your print which will be your “register”,
- paper/whatever you are printing on,
- newsprint paper to test on,
- dry gloves,
- masking tape,
- parcel tape,
- small rectangles of cardboard to use as guides to line things up,
- a squeegee the right size (about an inch shorter on either side than your screen),
- a pallet knife.

Place parcel tape on the screen where you don’t want to accidentally get ink, such as around the edges of the screen where there is no emulsion, and off the sides of your paper. Lift the frame on the printing bed and lay your register acetate sheet in line with the screen, then sellotape down the left side so it can be opened like a book. The bed is covered with small holes, which are used as a vacuum to hold the paper down and smooth. To focus the air flow and protect the bed from spills, it’s common practice to cover the rest of the bed with scrap paper.
Next, prepare your paint by mixing it 1:1 with acrylic paint medium, which sort of thins it out for spreading. This should be done in a jar or pot with a lid, and then can be kept for about a month. The paint should now be quite thick but still drop off the pallet knife.

STEP 9: PRINT
Lower the frame so the screen is on top of the register sheet. Using the pallet knife, place a decent amount of paint at the top edge of your stencil, taking care to keep it on the emulsion or tape and spread it to the edges of your stencil on the screen. Take the squeegee and press it into the middle of the ink, then using both hands, pull the squeegee down across your stencil with an even pressure, dragging the ink with it. This will put your design onto the register sheet, which you can use to line up each layer if you have several screens. Lift the screen after printing, and pull the squeegee down again to “flood” the screen and make sure it doesn’t clog and dry. The print mantra is “PRINT, LIFT, FLOOD”. Take a look at your register sheet, then place your piece of paper underneath and see how it lines up with the register. When you’re happy, flip the register sheet over off the paper, and take the cardboard guides and line them up with the edges of your paper so each print should be the same. Lower the frame and repeat the “print, lift, flood process on your paper to make your print. Repeat as necessary for screens of different colours.

STEP 10: CLEAN UP
Once all your printing is complete, unlock your screen from the frame and gather anything dirty with ink to be washed. Take any tape off the screen, then use a sponge or pressure washer to clean off the screen of any ink. Removing the illusion requires two chemicals, a de-greaser and remover. Then, your screen can be reused for another design. Wash the squeegee and pallet knife in a sink, making sure to get all ink off before it dries and becomes difficult to remove. Check there is no ink or mess on the print bed.