The Zenith is our last project at Freestyle. It’s supposed to be the apex, the most ambitious thing you do at Freestyle, and really your ultimate project. That’s why it’s called the Zenith. The type of project that I’ve been wanting to do is something very physical, rather than purely computer work. I chose to make stamps from carving linoleum and stamp them onto shirts, hats, and tote bags.

Process

I started with some practice projects to get familiar with the techniques and motions. I practiced with simple images like a flower and a worm. After I carved them into linoleum blocks, I applied ink with an ink pad, and made test prints on paper, because I did not want to use the fabric ink yet. After I had practiced on dummy images, I started making my own designs with Adobe Illustrator. The theme of the designs was acquired tastes in food, and I chose a pickle and a can of sardines. I was originally going to do an olive as well, but due to time, and not being able to get the design to look good, I decided to drop the olive design. This was the longest part of the project for me. It took me about two weeks longer than I wanted. Also, originally I wasn’t sure whether I should design them in black and white or color, which slowed me down somewhat as well. After that, I used two methods to transfer the image from a printed piece of paper to the block of lino. The first method used vellum, which provides a faint outline from tracing on top of it. This outline can then be traced over with a Sharpie. There’s also another method, using an AWL, which is basically just a tiny little stick to poke small holes in the block and make lines that way. You can also do it with laser-printed Avery labels. After the image outline is transferred to the lino, the next step is carving it. This is definitely a pretty difficult part of the process, because you have to be careful and methodical. If you mess up your piece of lino, it can’t be easily mended. To that end, I thought it would be too hard to include the text in the Sardine design that I had included earlier. I also carved a smaller version of the sardine design so I could put it on a hat. The fabric printing process was also a hard one. I had to spread fabric ink on the lino block with a brayer, and then use a heavy press to transfer the design to the fabric. I tried many ink color and fabric color combinations to get both of the colors right. After I had a lot of practice in choosing color combinations, I made 29 fabric patches intended to be put on the shirts, which was a lot more than I needed. I tried many variations, including one pickle that had multiple layers of ink. It turned out well with the magenta ink I had because it created an interesting duo chrome effect. 

Final Product

Reflection

Transcript

For my Zenith Project I wanted to do something physical and unique. So I was inspired by my mother to do block printing on linoleum, carving it into the shape of something you want to stamp onto a piece of paper or fabric. I chose to do it onto fabric patches that I would then sew onto t-shirts. I also made a tote bag. I researched what kind of ink I would need and the best practices for printing on to fabric and what the best design practices were for this type of thing. I was mostly inspired by my previous works so that I could continue my own artistic style but I did have some other inspiration from other sources that caused me to Improve my style somewhat. Since this was a solo project for me I didn’t collaborate too much though. I did get some advice from my very experienced artist mother who did advise me on exactly what kind of things I needed and certain other things. I would say that I most improved on my visual literacy because I learned how to get Images into the form. I wanted them in. Also the skill of creativity and all of these really improved with my later design that was more informed by these skills. I will use the creativity skills to use when I may have to use them for a future job. I would say that I accomplished all the project objectives because I would say that this is most ambitious project I did at freestyle and I think it turned out exactly how my Ambitions wanted And it truly did elevate me and Is my ultimate project at freestyle If I could do the project over I would do was a lot faster in it so that I can even do so much more the last thing I have to say here is that style overall has been The best experience of my life so far and I am insanely grateful to live in an area where I can go to it