One Page Biography Project
The first November project was the One Page Biography Project. With this project, we had use InDesign to insert a picture of ourselves, add a title box, subtitle box, three columns worth of text, and a small black and white picture of something that interest you. We used InDesign because it allows you to easily add all sorts of different elements into one document. So, the first step was to take a photo of ourselves using the camera in the computer. This was my least favorite part of the project because I hate when people take pictures of me, let alone taking a photo of myself. After I took my picture, I inserted in into my document and added a feather effect. The feather effect added a horizontal black and white gradient to the image. After that, I inserted a text box into the white portion of the picture and typed in "An Overview Of Greg Moser"; this is my title. I then inserted another text box right below the title, this would be the subtitle. For the subtitle, you could add in a fun fact about yourself, a quote, something that interest you, etc. I chose to quote Paul Anka with "For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself then he has naught. To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels.". The next step was the main part of the project (the "meat and potatoes", if you will); the biography. This was by far my favorite part of the project because I love writing, especially about myself. So, I went in and typed up an epitome of my life from kindergarten to present day. The last thing was to add in a black and white picture of something that interest you. For me, I am a huge Dallas Cowboys fan, and I wanted to use their logo. So, I copied and pasted their logo, then changed to color to grayscale/ black and white, and inserted it into the end of my document. I would not change anything about this project because I feel that it perfectly showcases my interest and does a wonderful job of telling my life story so far. I received a 93% on this project, and I feel that that is a tad bit low. I was expecting at least a 95%, so I was a little disappointed with a 93%.
Screen Printing Project
The next project we embarked upon was the screen printing project. This was a fairly long and tedious process, as it was broken up into two parts. The first part was printing on a sheet of paper, and once you master that, you then print on a shirt (or any textile). Because of the time it took to complete this project, it ran from mid November into late December. However, I am categorizing it as a November project because it started in November.
Part One: Printing on Paper
The first part of the project was to get familiar with the basic printing process. And, to do this, we had to print on paper. So, the first thing we did was choose four possible designs we wanted to do. I chose a silhouette of Forrest Gump sitting on the iconic bench, Queen`s logo, Freddie Mercury raising his first during a concert at Wembley Stadium, and the Yin- Yang emblem. Out of these four designs, I chose to do the Freddie Mercury one. After this, you had to get this piece of green transparent plastic film. This film consisted of two very, very thin layers; a plastic layer and a layer of green film. So, once you have the green film over your printed design, the goal was to cut out just the film part (NOT the plastic part) with a knife. This was an extremely difficult task, as you had to apply just the right amount of pressure while getting in all of the details. Because of this, it was my least favorite part of the project. After you have your design cut out, you had to adhere in onto a screen. The screen is basically just a piece of felt stretched across a wooden frame. To make your design literally stick onto the screen, you had to apply some adhering liquid onto the film, dab it off with a cloth, and let it dry. Once your design is adhered onto the screen, you had mask everything out but your design with tape. Everywhere where tape is, ink will not pass through. After this, you put a piece of paper under your screen, apply ink onto a squeegee, and run it across your screen. When you do this, the ink is being forced onto the piece of paper. This was my favorite part of the project because it was so rewarding getting that first print. This process took about a week, and it is such a great feeling when it all works out. So, once you get 5 perfect prints, you had to clean off your screen with this gray paste stuff and rinse it off with water to get all the ink out. After you do this, the screen is good as new. The only thing I would change about this project is the location of the green film on the screen. I put my film on about an inch and a half away from the top, when I should have arranged it more towards the middle. Because of this, all the ink towards the top of my screen got smeared. This was very frustrating, but after some experimenting I finally fixed it. I received a 90% on this project, and feel that that`s too low. I made no mistakes on my finished product, so I feel as though I deserve at least a 95%.
Part Two: Printing on a Textile
The next part of the screen printing project was to print on a textile. You could print on any textile you wanted, like a pillowcase, t-shirt, jeans, etc. I, like most students, chose to print on a t-shirt. So the first step was to design four possible designs, and out of those four designs, pick one to print with. My four designs were the Queen logo, the silhouettes of the four members of Queen, David Bowie's facial silhouette with the text " And the stars look very different" on top, and " Today 1/10/16" on the bottom, and the Star Wars logo. This was my least favorite part of the project because I already knew that I wanted to do a David Bowie t-shirt coming into this project. So, designing three different designs just because you have to is somewhat redundant to me. Anyway, out of these options, I chose to do the David Bowie one (surprise, surprise). We then had to print out two copies of the image on this thin, transparent paper, line up the papers, and tape them together. After this, you have to get a piece of blue polymer, arrange the transparent paper on the blue polymer wrong reader (basically upside down), and put it into the 261-KS Exposure System. The exposure system forces the image on the transparent paper onto the blue polymer. Once your image is on the blue polymer, you put it into a slimy hardening solution for 90 seconds. After this, you put the blue polymer onto your screen silmy side up and wash it off with hot water. The hot water rinses off the slim, revealing your image. It`s like magic. Once your image is completely out, you put the blue polymer into cold water, then put it back onto your screen silmy side down. The last step is to arrange newspaper paper onto your screen, roll out the water, and let the screen dry. Once the screen is dry and your image is adhered to the screen, you're ready to print. This was my favorite part of the project because I was really worried that I would mess up this process. It`s very detailed and one mistake ruins the whole thing. So, I was really happy when it came out alright. Because we were printing on t-shirts and other textiles, we used a plastisol based ink. This ink is thicker and stronger than the ink we used for the hand- cut project, and will not come off with water. The printing process is the same as it was with the hand-cut screen print; put the ink on the squeeqie and pull it across the screen. Once I did my test print on a scrap piece of fabric, I printed on my t-shirt. This would be the one thing I would change about this project because my print did not come out as good as I hoped. The ink is somewhat faded on the lower right strand of hair. If I could do it again, I would do more test prints until I fixed that issue. Anyway, once you print on your t-shirt, you have to run it through this pizza oven thing that dries the ink as the shirt moves through it. The last thing to do is clean off your printing materials, unmask your screen (pulling tape off), and abrade and degrease your screen. And, just like that, I was done with screen printing. I received a 90% on this project, which I feel is just right. My t- shirt is not perfect, but it is still pretty good.