December 2012 Digital Art Creation

DIGITAL ART DECEMBER 2012

W H AT ’S I N S I D E : USING DRAWINGS AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL VICTOR LUNN-ROCKLIFFE

CANVAS WRAP DETAILS PABLO PICASSO

CREATION

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the publisher’s corner

Hey All! I pray you had a restful and blessed Christmas and New Year celebration. Things here are as crazy as ever. This month’s edition of Digital Art Creation magazine was intended for December but it didn’t happen. Life here has gotten increasingly more complex and…busy.

The studio is doing more commissions and some of the other things we do have been successful as well. Silk paintings, gourd art and our concrete carving have all conspired to keep me busier than I really want to be.

As many of you know I also went back to school to complete a degree in education, I am doing my internship for the next few months which will complete that phase but then my Masters program starts in June.

There are four more books nearing completion that will be published between now and June, the first one hit Amazon a few days ago.

(From Picture to Paintings, Kindle 2.99) Most of the other books are in the photography/art arena but a few are in other areas of business that I am involved with.

Our family also started selling our artisan soaps which feature my artwork in an Alphonse Mucha style. Contacts I have in Costa Rica and I have been talking about photography and digital painting workshops at the resort we are involved with, our family is spending most of the summer there. We will bounce between there and a few shows I have scheduled throughout the plains States.

That looks like a plateful even just reading it. The reason for disclosing these changes is to let everyone know that Digital Art Creation magazine will be moving to a quarterly publication. As we prepare for the Digital Art Summit in February and March we will put out a special issue that outlines the summit and profiles the artists that will be involved. After that we will not have an issue for a few months.

Please keep in contact with us by sending your awesome art, recommending artist to profile and articles to research and write. As always we treasure your comments and communication.

Pura Vida Tim O This magazine link is free to distribute. You may however not edit any part of this PDF, copy the content, or split the pages. This PDF must remain whole at all times, the content of which belongs to Digital Art Creation. All art and trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners..

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In This Issue 5 Using Drawings as a

Management Tool

by Victor Lunn-Rockliffe

10 Selection of

Victor’s cartoons published in DAC

21 Canvas Wrap Details 29 Old Masters

Picasso

34 Digital Printing Alternative

Surfaces: Recycled Plastic

By Kathyanne White

Cover

Victor Lunn-Rockliffe

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Using Drawings as a Management Tool

By VICTOR Lunn-Rockliffe

In an earlier article for Digital Art Creation I described my process for dreaming up ideas for my cartoons. For this edition, which includes a compilation of cartoons done for Digital Art Creation, mainly on the subject of ART, I thought that I should wind back to where my cartooning started and indeed where it continues: that is, in using pictures as an aid to management.

When I left school in 1972 I went up to London to be interviewed for a place at the Central School of Art. I remember an earnest discussion with my interviewers about my portfolio but I chickened out before I was offered a place, or, more likely, rejected (my portfolio was pretty rubbishy). I phoned up the admissions secretary and told her I had decided against a career in art and was going to university instead. The main reason for my change of heart was the realisation that if

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I was going to marry and have a family, I needed a regular career and income to pay the bills. This would be difficult to achieve if I were to follow a career as an artist.

And so, it came to pass, I ended up working as a Civil Servant in the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department. I don’t think it would be possible to choose a career more conventional and more opposite and different to what I would have encountered in art school and its aftermath.

in my lunch break.

The Department was very hierarchical. In a cartoon illustrating office hierarchy I am struggling just above the typist. I worked hard and got

I wasn’t really interested in export credit insurance, apart from the financial rewards and security, and continued to dream of a life drawing and painting.

I resolved therefore that I would draw every day and see whether there might be opportunities to use my art in my work. To start with, I simply drew my surroundings, colleagues, the office and sketches done in the City of London

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Office Hierarchy

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promoted. This meant a bigger desk in an office with carpet rather than lino.

As I got more experienced and progressed up the management ladder I started to use drawings to help solve management problems.

subject and completely ignored.

writing lengthy memos and analytical papers.

I realized I was onto something. Time and again I found that I could make better progress by showing and discussing a picture or diagram than by following the traditional route of

I believe that this is because people use a different part of their brain when they see a picture.

I haven’t researched the neuroscience, but I would guess that when people get locked into a particular way of viewing an issue, it is easier to get them to see another view by stimulating a different part of their brain, the bit which is called into action when looking at an image.

Gradually, I honed my technique and broadened my use of pictures to record important discussions and communicate complicated concepts. Over the years I drew thousands of pictures and my dream gradually became real. I started off wondering how I was going to manage to draw

My Desk

A very common problem was the propensity for senior managers to keep changing their minds which caused havoc in the implementation of IT projects. I got so frustrated by people not acknowledging the problem I drew a cartoon of the project specification kaleidoscope and tabled it for discussion at a meeting.

I was astonished to find that the drawing had far greater impact than a mountain of memos which had already Project Specification Kaleidoscope been circulated on the

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and ended up drawing management! I got quite brazen towards the end, exhibiting my art work in presentations to the Management Board.

I also got very fast at drawing, as in a business environment it was vital to turn an idea into a drawing very quickly to maintain interest and momentum.

After workshops I got into the habit of turning out a cartoon summary to land on participants’ desks the next morning.

But some things took a while to realize. I wrote and drew a number of comic books to help explain how the business worked. These took much longer to produce. The business was actually quite complicated and based on a mathematical model – all insurance is similarly based. But the Board didn’t understand how the model worked. So I drew a 125 page comic book to explain everything really simply and vividly using the shape of a Stegosaurus to illustrate the long tail of risk in an insurance risk distribution curve (image5). The book was a sell out within the organization and I believe is still used to this day as a training aid.

Sometimes I sailed very close to the wind. On one occasion I was given the

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Should be more dynamic job of leading a Task Force to review the organisation of the Department.

This resulted in a long report which had to be summarized and presented to staff. I found that presenting the conclusions using pictures was much more effective than the classic bullet points in a series of slides.

Some of the conclusions were quite critical of top management. These are included in a single page cartoon of the review which showed the board as disconnected from the rest of the organization with phone lines broken and views swinging around like a weather vane. I wasn’t sure how this would go down with the Chief Executive, but to my surprise it was all accepted in good spirit. (Image6)

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If had tried to express the same sentiment in words these would almost certainly have been edited out. Its much harder to interfere with a drawing as it kind of gathers to itself an integrity and wholeness which people are reluctant to challenge.

This meant that if I got something wrong it might be more difficult to erase the mistake. I found that I could mitigate this risk by showing my draft picture to a number of trusted individuals to check that I was going along the right lines before launching it in public.

I didn’t always get it right.

My biggest misstep was to send a Christmas card based on Gericault’s raft of the Medusa. The Department was going through a really bad

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Image 5: Tail of the Unexpected - Introducing Steg patch and I thought it might be amusing to draw an analogy with the shipwrecked sailors in the painting. This was viewed as in very poor taste as a Christmas card, given especially that the sailors may have resorted

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to eating each other to survive.I realized from comments people were making that I had made a big mistake. But I was really pleased with the drawing and it sill makes me smile to this day (image 7).

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After I retired in 2006 I started the career as an artist and illustrator I had put on hold for over 30 years branching out into book illustration, digital fine art (I got shortlisted for the 2012 Lumen digital fine art prize), graphic novels

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Image 6: Task Force Report

Image 7: Raft of the ECGD Medusa D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

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and various other projects including continuation of drawings for management.

I have also worked with a management consultant, Keely Nugent, on a number of projects for major companies, involving a kind of story board of the organisation’s challenges, problems, strategies and solutions. Often these drawings become the business equivalent of the conversations of an individual on the

psychoanalyst’s couch, only visualized rather than verbalized. For obvious reasons, this can be very private material which I am bound to keep confidential.

I illustrated Keely’s book Change Bring it on (link) http://www.amazon.co.uk/ Change-Bring-frameworksuccessful-transformation/ dp/1906821518 which compares bringing on a company to how a horse is trained – this might seem crazy, but actually the

metaphor is pretty good and provides a simple way of describing the key principles of managing change.

Finally, I wrote a book telling my story of how I “managed to draw management” in “Drawing ECGD 1973 -2006”.

If you are interested you don’t have to buy the book but can view all of its 125 illustrated pages here (link) http://www.pixum.co.uk/ my-photos/album/3519847

Selection of Victor’s cartoons published in DAC Victor has been with the magazine since the very beginning. If you have ever taken a course with Victor or had the opportunity to sit down with him for any length of time you already know about his keen eye for detail and his sense of humor. Many times one may have to study his cartoon for a bit to understand the meaning. Often times there are many layers of meaning and humor that need to be

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unraveled one piece at a time. We have been blessed to have a cartoonist at his level share his work with us on a monthly basis. Even better is that Victor is one of us, an artist using digital media to create. The profile this month is split into two parts. The first group had some of Victor’s work that is accompanying the article.

The remaining images that follow are samples of Victors work from the past

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few years. Some has been in this magazine but there may be some pieces that you have not seen before.

Take some time to look carefully at the work so you can understand with clarity the depth of insight that Victor brings to the table.

Thank-you Victor for sharing with us, we appreciate you and the creative inspiration you bring to the publication each month.

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Varnishing Point

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Watercolour Pooling

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Digital Art

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Paul Klee - A dot is a line that went for a walk

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Traditional Versus Digital

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Color Notes

The Devil in the Detail D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

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Curatorial Curiosity

Cezanne is Rubbish D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

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See the light, Fear the dark

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Canvas Wrap Details

Exploring the options and how to make your own inkjet canvas gallery and museum wraps from start to finish.

Gallery and museum wraps are the most popular ways to finish inkjet canvas prints. They add value and artistic flair and bring the image out from the twodimensional confines of frames and other flatmounted applications.

Of course, you can apply canvas to a flat substrate as you would any other inkjetprintable medium, but here we’ll focus on gallery and museum wraps.

First, and to be clear going forward, we’ll use the term “gallery wrap” to describe the basic concept of using a wooden frame to stretch the canvas over and around the frame for

hanging it on a wall. A gallery wrap means that the image continues over the sides of the stretcher bars. This is usually accomplished by adding a 2 or 2 1/2 inch border by mirroring the main image, effectively adding a “bleed” area (a link to instructions and a video on how to do this is included below). A museum wrap, on the other hand, uses a solid border for the edges wrapped around the stretcher bars.

Coating Canvas Many print shops prefer to add a protective coating after printing by either spraying or rolling it on the

canvas. Typically, coatings come in either gloss or satin (luster) finishes. Gloss coatings are often used to not only provide additional protection, but to bring out the density of blacks and the vibrancy of the colors in the print.

For a more subdued look and particularly to cut down the glare from highpowered lighting, a satin or luster coating may be preferred. Some will choose not to coat the canvas at all to retain the unique texture and characteristics of the material. However, if you don’t coat the canvas you should only apply it flat, i.e., mounted to Masonite or some other rigid substrate.

When stretching canvas, always coat it to ensure the ink, whether it’s an aqueous or solvent, doesn’t crack when stretched.

Coatings are available in both spray and liquid (can).

Sprays from Hahnemuhle and Clearstar Corp., for instance, provide excellent results, though there are other brands available from other companies that specialize in fine-art and

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photo printing. Stick with sprays and coatings that are specially formulated for this application, rather than those that are not tested specifically for inkjet prints (Krylon, for example), because the long-term effects of these off-theshelf sprays on inkjet paper surfaces are unknown.

Liquid coatings that come in a can, such as LexJet Sunset Gloss and Satin Coatings, can be either rolled on or sprayed using an HVLP (high volume, low pressure) spray gun, which requires a well-ventilated dust-free area.

5. Don’t try to coat the whole print at once. Start with one or two passes at An HVLP spray gun wastes the edge of the print, and less coating in overspray 2. Pour the coating into the than other types of sprayers. tray and dip the roller in the go over each pass enough times for the bubbles to It also provides more coating until it is thoroughly control over the application wet, but not too wet. It helps dissipate, but not so many times that the coating process. But since most to pour a light amount becomes tacky or bumpy. photographers and of coating evenly on the imaging companies don’t 6. If large bubbles appear, canvas itself, in addition have room in their studios try blowing on the coating. to having coating on the or shops for spraying roller. This helps eliminate 7. Make overlapping passes (and can’t justify buying potential problems with so you can maintain a wet specialized coating rolling onto a dry area of edge and avoid lines and systems), rolling is still a the canvas, which can lift or streaks. good option. smear the ink.

When rolling coatings on 3. Lay your print on a clean, 8. Find the rolling pattern that works best for canvas, follow these basic dust-free board that is you. Some users prefer steps: bigger than your print. The rolling in one direction only. extra space on the surface 1. Start with a high-density They go up the print in one around the print can be white foam roller and a pass, and down the print used to roll off excess plastic tray that is typically in the second pass (like used for holding paints. You liquid if you happen to mowing a lawn). oversaturate the roller. can buy these products 9. Don’t press down on the in the paint department 4. Consider using two or roller. Maintain a light, even of any home-improvement three thinner coats, instead pressure. store. The high-density of one thicker coat. foam will help reduce D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

bubbles. Use a larger-width roller if you plan to coat larger canvases.

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10. If you are applying a second coat, allow the first coat to dry before applying the second coat. A thin coat should take about an hour to dry. It may take a little longer if you’re working in an environment with high humidity. If the first coat is just a bit tacky, rolling on the second coat while it is can peel off the first coat, along with some ink.

11. Allow the coated print to dry thoroughly. Don’t try to speed up the drying process with a fan; allow the print to dry on its own.

12. Clean the rollers immediately after each use. Run cool water of the rollers immediately after use, and squeeze them until they run clear. Allow 10 to 15 minutes. If you keep the rollers clean, you can use them for about six months before you need to replace them.

A couple of important notes about coating canvas: Make sure the ink is dry

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before applying any coatings. A good rule of thumb is 24 hours. To test whether a print is ready for coating, some printmakers suggest this technique: Lay each print on a flat surface, then cover the print with inexpensive butcher paper.

The evaporating glycols will cause ripples to appear in the butcher paper.

Periodically replace the wavy butcher paper with a fresh sheet of paper. If no waves appear in the fresh sheet of paper after a few hours, the print will be dry enough to coat.

Coat the print before stretching the canvas and wait at least six hours after applying the coating to stretch.

As more inks and media types are introduced, it is impossible to predict the compatibility of every combination of media, ink and clear coat. Therefore, it is strongly recommend that you test before use. A test will immediately show any incompatibilities, including

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water sensitivity, inkjet receptive layer mud cracks and ink bleeds. Generally, let the tested material dry for at least 24 hours.

Evaluate the adhesion, flexibility, and visual appearance. Be realistic in your expectations and simulate the conditions the material will be exposed to. Generally speaking, coatings formulated for wide format printing will work well with both aqueous and solvent prints.

Some people use coatings to mitigate the perceived effect of optical brighteners, or OBAs, since the coating effectively seals the canvas and protects it from the degrading effects of UV light. For a more thorough discussion of the OBA topic, click here to read an article by Dr. Ray Work, To Brighten or Not to Brighten.

Canvas Wrap Options Typically, there are three ways a canvas print can be stretched – by hand, with a canvas stretching machine

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like the Tensador II or using instructions by master a stretcher bar system like printer, photographer and Sunset Stretcher Kits. craftsman Ralph CookseyTalbot on creating your own Stretching canvas by hand stretcher bars and canvas can be very involved and frames, including the tools time-consuming. While and materials necessary, efficient, using equipment click here. While the raw like the Tensador II requires materials needed to build an initial investment your own canvas stretcher upwards of $3,500. If system are relatively your volume supports inexpensive, the process is the equipment purchase, rather time consuming. definitely investigate the Tensador II. If it doesn’t, On the other extreme, Sunset Stretcher Kits are the and as mentioned happy medium between above, is the use of time and cost, helping an automated canvas to simply produce truly stretching machine like the professional canvas wraps Tensador II. Companies in less than 15 minutes. producing higher volumes of canvas wraps find For detailed step-by-step

it to be indispensable.

Armando Garcia, director of operations for Soicher Marin, a high-volume fine art reproduction company is Sarasota, Fla., says, “We use the Tensador for just about everything up to 60 inches. When you compare it to doing it by hand, the machine always wins out.

I can’t think of a situation where we wouldn’t use the machine, unless it was an original canvas.”

Garcia adds that it usually takes one of their operators about a day and a half to learn how to use the machine to its full potential and cuts the time needed to do a canvas wrap by anywhere from 30-50 percent.

The third option is the use of a pre-made stretcher bar kit. This is a happy medium between the two. While overall material costs are a little more than if you made the stretcher system by hand, each canvas wrap will take two to three times less time than doing it by hand. Also, when the image is wider than 60 inches, as they often are for panoramic images, stretcher kits allow for those larger sizes and any number of custom sizes that are beyond the bounds of an automated stretcher machine.

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Here are the step-by-step instructions that show how quick and easy it is to use a pre-made stretcher system with LexJet Sunset Stretcher Kits.

For videos of the process, including how to set up a file in Photoshop for printing a gallery wrap, click here.

1

This setting gives you a two-inch border all around the image. The border size will depend on the depth of the stretcher bars, so it may well be 2 1/2 inches instead.

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Put the X on the back where the hole is located.

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Draw the lines on all four corners.

Print the canvas with a 2 or 2 1/2 inch border, or mirror the edge 2 or 2 1/2 inches on each side (the border size will depend on the depth of the stretcher bars, and you want at least 1/2 an inch extra to staple the canvas on the back of the stretcher bars). Coat the print surface as you normally do and wait to dry.

Locate the corner of the print by using the supplied push pin. Pierce the corner of the print as shown.

Then flip over the corner and draw a precise “X� through the hole. Do this for all four corners.

Draw the lines. Turn over the entire print with the back showing. Using a ruler, draw lines as shown. Then, depending on the bar depth, draw a second set of lines either 1.5" or 1.75" in from the first set of lines.

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Place the stretcher bars down. Peel off the two sided tape and place the stretcher bars down as shown.

Orient the bars with the slanted side toward the inside of the canvas print. To avoid fouling up the double-sided tape, tilt the bars inward until they are positioned correctly on and between the lines. Press the bars down firmly onto the canvas so the tape will adhere.

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Trim the canvas as shown, then fold up the corners and stick them to the double sided tape inside the corner as shown.

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Use a corner brace as a guide to cut the canvas.

Stick the tabs to the tape.

Fold up the sides and insert the corner clips.

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Remove the second set of double-sided tape and stick the canvas onto the double-sided tape. Be sure to tuck in the corners of the canvas very neatly.

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Staple the canvas, placing a staple every 2 1/2 to 4 inches.

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Insert the corner braces into the channels on the inside of each corner.

Seat the corner braces by tapping them firmly into the corner. At this point the canvas will be fairly tight. Note: a gap will appear in the very corner about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch or about the thickness of a credit card. This is normal and desirable.

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Screw in the eight screws which were provided. Do not over tighten and crack the stretcher bar.

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Insert the back brace if one was provided.

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Attach the hanging wire about 5 inches from the top.

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PABLO PICASSO The Founder of the Cubist Movement?

“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”

Pablo Picasso Who wouldn’t recognize Picasso? The very name alone conjures up the most eccentric of images, of ears being cut or fist fights with Gauguin, however his infamy is also a detrimental element in certain terms, if only because it deflects the spotlight away from the genius of his art.

Pablo Picasso was born as Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Napomuceno Maria de lose Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso after different Saints. If that isn’t a mouthful, what is? So to cut through everything, he was simply known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso. He was born in Malaga, Spain on 1881.

Picasso’s father was himself

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Self-Portrait with Uncombed Hair, Picasso

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a talented naturalist painter.

He focused mainly on birds and other wildlife. He was also a teacher and curator.

Picasso was considered, early on, a talented painter and draughtsman. He was earlier enamored with the realistic style of painting. His father became his teacher in the early decade of his life. Picasso’s techniques was so natural and pliant that it is said that Picasso’s father upon seeing his son painting a pigeon when he was 13 said, he will give up painting altogether.

masterpieces of work he left behind. An experimental artist who hated much about the modern world his paintings, often mystified and stunned.

His startling imagery questioned the very institution of art making.

His works are among the most reproduced images in the world.

The Spaniard revolutionized the art Weeping womanPicasso- 1937

field with the startlingly confliction of his works that severely contrasted and contradicted the “renaissance beauty” of the old masters.

His work raises all sorts of questions about modernism being the archetypal modern artist he tended to always grab any topic by the controversial end. Picasso’s deeply emotional rejection of the modernity surrounding

Picasso, through the influence of his father, entered the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona when he was 13 and the Royal Academy of San Fernando when he was 16 or so. The Academy did not impress him though and he soon gave up formal teaching for the many attractions Madrid had to offer such as other painters’ works. He loved looking at the paintings of his predecessors such as Francisco Goya, Zurbaran and Diego Velasquez, and especially El Greco.

Picasso; the modern rebel, the one man in the entire history of the arts to become wealthy rather than poor by his creative endeavors but sadly also the one artist whose promiscuous lifestyle was a far more highlighted subject rather than the D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

Maya and the doll or “Portrait of Jacqueline”

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him let him to explore and broaden cubism as an art form and theory.

Instead of divulging the same cliché’ of the past hundred or so years he did what only a genius could fathom.

He simply rejected the reality of which he so wholeheartedly disapproved. He thought it unnecessarily full of meager and pointy details. He brought his own personal brand of reality in his progeny; “cubism”. I would go so far as to say that cubism in its purity and height was and remains the brainchild of Picasso.

Picasso shaped a massive quantity of work in an integer of diverse styles.

But the advance that made him so controversial happened in the six or seven years before the First World War. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon ­ a 1907 painting of Parisian prostitutes’ is widely regarded as a turning point, not just in Picasso’s work, but in the history of modern art.

The painting caused fury because of its viciousness and rage, but its command lies in the degree to which the images of the women are contorted and distorted.

Other modern artists like Cézanne and Matisse had been experimenting with new ways of expressing the reality they saw. Picasso D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

Picasso may not be the first one to apply the term “cubism” but he definitely is the father of the style. He Demoiselle was the catalyst brought the very elemental for the development of complexities of this style to Cubism. Working closely the forefront and brought with his friend, Georges about a new era rendered Braque, Picasso developed in his imagery. a way of painting which As many will later on know undercut any simple though, he was never relationship between artist famous for these realistic and subject. By revealing paintings, but rather for his subjects from different later works which veered angles simultaneously, the Cubists suggested that the towards more experimental real world was too dynamic ideas and techniques. The and complex to be reduced years that Picasso was in France during the 1900s to the two dimensions of a were hard times for the canvas. went further by starting to create an entirely new reality in his paintings.

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painter financially. He struggled to sell his paintings and, in fact, many of his works were burned just to keep the little room he rented with poet Max Jacob, warm enough. It took 5 years for him to actually establish a name. He was especially popular and was known only as Picasso to the American collectors such as Leo Stein and his family.

Picasso apparently had a competitive nature as most of his colleagues became friend-rivals. Painters such as Henri Matisse, for instance, whom he met in one of the Stein parties, were especially a threat. Just as Picasso underwent several lovers, so did he also undergo several Periods in his painting style before settling on Cubism.

Picasso first underwent a Blue Period where he mostly used shades of Blue and Blue Green in several of his paintings. He then moved on to his Rose Period where he used shades of pink and orange. He also underwent a brief African-influenced period before he moved on to Cubism.

Even Cubism underwent several styles and Dora Maar au Chat, 1941 patterns. After which, he veered towards Classicism and Surrealism.

“Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind Picasso died in 1973 while entertaining it?”

Pablo Picasso friends at home with his wife.

Massacre in Korea, 1951, Picasso

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Three Musicians, Picasso, 1921 Previous page: Picasso-Portrait of Daniel Henry Kahnweiler-1910

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Digital Printing Alternative Surfaces Recycled Plastics KathyAnne White The subject of this column is a surface that is funky, textural and on the edgerecycled plastic bags. They are readily available- dry cleaner bags, grocery bags, bags from retailers and just about any soft thin plastic you can find. You want to stick to the thin plastics since the thicker ones might melt enough, but they also let out fumes you won’t want to be around.

As always be sure to work in a well ventilated space.

For me, I love this surface.

As I work with it I have both success and “what was I thinking?” happening. I am constantly looking for interesting and innovative surfaces to print and love the further challenge of pairing an image with this fluctuating surface. (image 1)

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accents from a variety of collected bags. Then the collected pieces were melted together to

My first experience came from making a book cover for a set of printed alternative surface papers.

A funky cover was needed for the book so I used colored plastic bags and mixed shaped cutouts as

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see what would happen. (image 2) After that I thought “what if I created a surface thin enough to

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run through one of my printers and print. That idea met with success and an interesting pebbly type surface. This is the first print created from about 8 layers of plastic clothing bags. (image 3) There are some warning labels printed on the bags you can see at the side of the print. Since I liked the results I started playing and printing and seeing what worked and what didn’t. I will share my progress and process with you.

First you will need a melting agent. An iron is a great tool to use and a dry mount/laminating press also works. It just depends on the size you want to achieve with the surface.

In either case make sure you cover the plastic with a teflon sheet or parchment

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paper on both sides so the plastic doesn’t melt and stick to anything. (image 4) In a press you may want to use parchment paper. As you melt the plastic it will shrink up and

crinkle. It seems to shrink more against parchment paper. When building large size prints I frequently use several pieces of paper or teflon to encase the plastic as I melt.

Play with different types of plastic bags to combine them to see what you like.

Amazing enough plastic may look the same but will melt differently. I use all sorts of combinations.

It depends on if I have a specific idea in mind for what I want in size and thickness. Always be sure the completed surface will go through your printer safely.

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In this picture there is plastic on the top of a teflon sheet and an ironing pad on the bottom. (image 5) This plastic bag is the

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bit and then pull the cover sheets off to see if the surface needs more heat.

Continue like this until the plastic is a complete surface.

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type from a cleaners and is quite thin. I recommend you use 6 sheets to get a nice surface with this type of plastic. Sometimes I will make thinner and thicker parts on a surface and let the edges get thin. Test it a bit to get the right mix for you to create an interesting texture with plastic.

Once the plastic is covered

top and bottom use an iron slowly and evenly across the top to heat the layers. I use the highest setting on my iron. (image 6) After the top has been somewhat melted I flip the sheets over to melt the back without taking anything apart. This helps to adhere the plastic on both sides to get a good bond. Let it cool down a

Hint - When the surface is ready and the plastic is still warm, but not in danger of sticking to another surface, I recommend you put it under something to make sure it cools flat. This can be done with books or other devices that keep it flat. Plastic can warp and could rub up against the print heads. Not a good thing. Best to get the surface as flat as possible.

Another choice available is to add something to encase in the plastic as it melts. When you start you could put something inside the pieces to add texture and interest. In this case I laid some thread randomly in between the plastic layers and melted all to encase the thread. (image7) After the plastic is melted and it’s checked to make sure it will fit through the printer safely. Wash the surface of the plastic with a vinegar and water solution to clean it. Sometimes if the surface seems very slick a light brushing on the top with sandpaper is used before washing.

Next it’s time for an inkAID precoat. The two I like the most for these plastics

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are Clear Matte and Semi Gloss Type ll. Here are my descriptions of these products from my experience of using them.

clear and shinier then the Clear Matte pre coat on non porous substrates. If you want a glossy surface with metals this is one of the precoats to use. Clear *Clear Matte: This precoat GlossType 11 is another of gives a clear detailed print the inkAID precoats I always and allows the properties of have on hand. It contains the surface texture to show an adhesive so it works through. There is definitely well coating porous and a matte finish to an image non porous surfaces. When using this precoat. Clear used on synthetics it allows Matte will give a soft some of the shine of the matte look on a metal or surface to show through. nonporous surface, but it will be less evident when A Clear Matte precoat precoating fabric or paper. was applied with a brush.

Clear Matte is clear when Depending on what surface it dries. This is one of the precoats I always have in my studio. I like the way it affects a glossy surface as it allows a satin look to the surfaces even on gel medium, recycled plastics or metals. *Clear Gloss Type ll: This precoat is used on surfaces such as metal, skins, plastic and all types of surfaces that are non-porous. This precoat allows the surface properties to be visible under the print. It dries D I G I TA L A R T C R E AT I O N

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is coated I will switch between a regular bristle brush and a foam brush.

With the recycled plastics a bristle brush seems to fill in the little indentations better. You will see ink pool in your printed surface if the precoat is not applied correctly. (image 8) Let the precoat dry overnight before printing.

Hint: Be sure to mark the back side of your surface with a B in one of the corners so you know which side is the backside is.

Once the precoat is dry you will not be able to tell which side has the precoat and which doesn’t. That can create a real mess when printing if you print the wrong side.

Attach the surface to a carrier sheet to print. There are several ways to attach this type of surface. It depends on the thickness and stiffness of the plastic

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after melting. It also depends on if I want to overprint the surface or if the surface is a little curvy on the edges. Using a spray glue on the back is the best way to make sure the surface is flush against the carrier sheet, so this is something I do most of the time. Depicted here is Sulky’s KK 2000 Temporary Spray Adhesive. This temporary adhesive works well on the plastic without leaving residue behind. (image 9) You can see the B on the bottom right corner of the surface on the carrier sheet to identify the back side of the surface.

Double faced 1/2” (1.27 cm) scotch tape is holding the outside edge of the surface to the carrier sheet. In this case I want to print over the edge with no masking tape for a natural edge. The surface is also flat and pliable enough that it doesn’t need the strength of masking tape on the edge WIth the surface attached to the carrier

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sheet you can see overprinting that runs onto the paper. (image 10) This detail shows a close up look at the words on the bags blending into the printed image. (image 11) Sometimes I leave the words in and sometimes the words are cut out when a surface is created. Here is the finished print after removal from the carrier sheet. (image 12) Using masking tape is the other way I tape to the carrier sheet. Masking tape is used when the surface is stiff or thick and needs extra help staying flush to the carrier sheet.

Depending on the desired hold use either 1/2” or 1” (1.27 or 2.54 cm) wide masking tape to tape on top the edges. Remember to use temporary spray adhesive so your alternative surface lays flat against the carrier sheet. (image 13) This image is 24” (62 cm) wide and

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was printed on my Epson 7890. It was overprinted and when it dried I cut off the carrier sheet inside the masking tape.

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You can see the tape on the carrier sheet depicted in the image shown. (image 14) The image off the carrier sheet. (image 14a) To finish the process the prints are left to dry for several days. Once they are truly dry you can spray them with an archival

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preservation spray. Dry that spray and then use a varnish spray. The one I have been using on plastic surfaces is Krylon Gallery Series - UV Archival Varnish #1375 Gloss. Choose satin or glossy depending on your preferences. I use a spray varnish so I don’t have to drag a brush across the print to varnish. At this point I have been happy with the results of the spray varnish.

Once the varnish is dry your surface is complete .

Following are a few more images on and off the carrier sheet.

Printed on my Epson 7890 with a carrier sheet (image 15) and removed from the carrier sheet. (image 16) Printed on my Epson R3000 with a carrier

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sheet (image 17) and removed from the carrier sheet. (image 18) To preserve the jagged edge of the plastic surface the image was printed with double faced tape under the edge as it was attached to the carrier sheet. (image 19) When the image was lifted the tape was carefully taken off so not to destroy the edge. (image 20) Some added images on recycled plastic with descriptions: Using the same image with different surfaces shows what effect different plastic surfaces have on the images (image 21) detail of (image 22) Same image as image 21 was printed on plastic with a plastic grid piece (avocado bag) melted between the layers and

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with Clear Matte instead of Type 11 as a precoat. (image 23)

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Again the same image as for images 21 and 23 was printed on a thin piece of plastic from melting light weight foam

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packing material. You can see the flip side first (image 24) and the full image (image 25)

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The next 2 images show the flip side of the plastic print (image 26) and the print (image 27)

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