fmp week 6

{05/05/14 - 09/05/14}

DAY 1: Now that I have the idea of printing from the 'Pick Me Up' at Somerset House, I tried experimenting by using flat rubbers as a base to carve into with a stanley knife to create the relieve. I have had experience with this technique and so I was very comfortable in using, but I knew the drawbacks will be that it won't be perfect and get the detail but it will help me understand the idea of printing even more. I used acrylic paint as my median because it was bold and accessible to me at the time. But during my experimentations, I found out that the paint isn't suitable for something detailed as this because of the thickness and the small size of the rubber.

Although it isn't a successful outcome, I think it was a good way to inco-operate a type of printing iin my work. So using different stamps I have made and different colours of acrylic paint, I led onto something more graphical by altering the position and manipulating the paper by cutting and re-arranging. I also tried to see if it would work on different paper too, the majority worked fine but the white paint on pink tissue paper bled on making the paint transform to a light pink.

I didn't think that the stamps were something graphical once I used pro markers and be playful with colour, layout and placement.

I didn't want to use this for my final project so Andrew Osman helped me with a selection of prints I can use, such as;- lino print, rubber stamps etc. I didn't know much about printing except for screen printing so it was interesting to see these different techniques. I thought lino print was a good technique because it was something hands on and easy to do, I have had a similiar experience with block printing at Secondary School so I think I will be fine printing. So I purchase a lino printing set which comes with the majority of things I needed, including lino board, roller, ink etc. So with that I used the biggest size of lino board and a circular soft board for my stamps for various things. At the moment I don't know what size is suitable for each of my outcomes, but once I have it laser cut, I will have a better idea. I thought laser cut will be better than me manually carving in because there is a lot of detail in the logo so laser cut was the only option, besides it was easy and quick to do.

The circular soft board came out well although it wasn't aligned to the centre, but I think it isn't a major obstacle. This size is perfect to label my bigger containers and maybe bag as well.

I also used the laser cutter on a bigger lino board to have different sizes for appropiate items like the apron, bag etc. I want to make sure that it will fit properly instead of making it fit in.

DAY 2: Now that I finally got my lino prints laser cut, I can now freely experiment with different colours and paper. With my lino printing set, it came with a black ink and I also purchased a crimson and blue to work with and a set of ink pads with many colours. This will help me find out which colours will appear vibrant and therefore suitable for my brand. At first I didn't get the grasp of lino printing so the first few pages of experiments doesn't look good because I forgot how thin the ink needed to be and so there was white marks left by the thick layer of ink on the pad. Although it was a fail, I like the texture and effect it gave to the white paper and also I was happy about how my logo was very clear thanks to the laser cutter.

Here I wanted to understand lino printing more by using less ink and use brown paper on black ink, it gave a cloudy, unclear appearance but it shows a contrast of the white logo. I didn't think the black is the colour to represent my logo because it is very basic and I wanted a colour which will show the pureness and freshness of my brand. Black has bad connotations such as darkness, evil etc and to be honest, it doesn't look like a skin care brand.

I tried the blue ink and at this moment I was getting used to the printing process by looking at how the ink is evenly distributed, I did have some trouble to print every single surface but I think it still works well. The colour is vibrant and shows the logo in a clear way, I think it works best on a white background because it keeps the idea of pureness and clean, I used colour card to see if any of those colour combinations works best, but in the end I quite like the basic white.

Then I started to look into creating a gradient/ombré effect by using two colours which bleeds into each other with the help of the roller, personally I don't like the gradient look on brands but it was a fun experience to do. I think it didn't fit into my brand simply because using two colours which has different connotations can confuse the concept of purity and so it seems too busy for my taste. But at this point, I was really comfortable with using the lino printing as I compared my first attempts to these ones, I finally grasp the idea of how much ink I need and the amount of pressure I need to apply.

With this large stamp and the lino ink, I will use these for my bag and apron because it has a bigger surface area which will be perfect to print on too, also I think the vibrant colour will show better on my paper bag and apron because I have had experience with it already. The labels for my containers will be too small to print and so I think it will be to harsh.

DAY 3: With the smaller stamps I made for my containers, I thought the ink pads will be a better option because it is delicate and has a better colour variety comparred to my lino ink. I can expand on what colour will work best and look at the opacity of it too, the ink pad gives a smaller appearance to the lino print and so I decided it was the best option. I didn't want to use basic white paper because I wanted to have that home-made vibe to my containers and so I went to the Shepperds Faulkner paper shop which displays a huge amount of different paper, I chose washi paper (Japanese paper) for my project because it reflects the delicate and homemade vibe as it is ivory and textured.

But first I must analysis each colour and look at whether it prints well or not, I discover that some colours doesn't appear well compared to some darker tones. The gold, bronze, silver colours was on the paler side and so I couldn't use these colours but it was a shame because I wanted to perhaps show a luxurious side of the brand. I went into detail of which was good to use and from there I am able to narrow down to a small selection.

Here is a example of all the narrowed selection of colours that I thought were vibrant and stamped well. I selected four colours that will represent each range for my brand, I didn't want my brand to only have one colour to reflect 'Lien' and so this way it is a opportunity to add more colour but also a easier way to identity the four ranges. I chose lime green, purple, teal and red because all of these colours is neutral to both sexes and emits the vibrant and natural connotations.

FINAL OUTCOME

Overall I think that the outcome of the stamp labels was a success, the colours is vibrant and I think it compliments every colour nicely. I think maintaining the square format balances with the alignment to the centre which makes it look neat and simple. There was some trouble to glue the labels onto the smaller containers because of the size and the circluar shape, making it wrap around, it took a lot of space being I wasn't able to stick in the second label. I think the overall look of the containers is fresh and homemade, the different heights and shape of the containers gives a dynamic appearances yet maintains a renewed way. I think that if I had time, I would re-print the purple label simply because it isn't opac as the other labels.