Faculty of Design

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Zachary Foster

I Will Never Forget You Again Triptych

Well this was exciting. I’ve always wanted to try printing on different substrates, Fabric, bingo, paper, bingo, metal, kind of bingo. Although this print is very simple, a one colour halftone which I hope to god you are all familiar with by now (if your not.... look it up!) the metal brought it’s own set of problems. Sourcing the metal was easy (thank you blessed OCAD for your honourable services) and cutting it down to size was even easier! I chose this piece of sheet metal specifically because one, it’s hot rolled, which gives the discoloration throughout the piece and it has tons of character, with the random splotches and staining it was love at first sight. After cutting my pieces to size I started with degreasing and filing the edges down to highlight them and also make them printable (sharp edges tear screens... remember that in all walks of life) then whamo I had a printable plate. The metal prep part was easier than I thought it would be, the metal shop was slightly intimidating but all is well. Little did I know.... the metal was the easier part (que welcome to the jungle). The screen process was kind of a nightmare. The initial idea was to take the unique found shapes on the metal plates and lightly change the hue with a super transparent layer of ink to add some colour in. This didn’t work at all (see image) because I didn’t fully capture how ink reacts with metal. Ink just fully sits on top of metal because it’s not pourous (ohhhhh!) Because of this, I couldn’t get the ink opaque enough to do anything to the hue without potentially interfering with the halftoned image. However, this is ok because I absolutely love how they turned out anyways. The halftoned image gave me a terrible moire at first, and for those who don’t know what that is it’s when the frequency of the halftone dot matches the frequency of the mesh on the screen, giving a really weird and quite ugly pattern throughout the image so I ended up having to reburn my screen. The absolute worst part of this process was aligning the image to the plate, because the ink was so transparent it was very hard to align it with acetate. Also with metal being metal, it was uneven so it was shifting my print everytime, anyway the point is is that registering this print was hard work when I didn’t think it would be, judging by how this is one of my most simple prints to date. Enough yapping, I love how this print turned out for many reasons, it aligned with my vision almost perfectly which never happens and will absolutely be printing on more uniqe substrates in the future. Side note - these will eventually be hung off 1/2 inch brackets so they sit away from the wall, giving a floating effect which I think will look excellent.

“This series of 3 represents the fading memory of the southwest B.C. mountains I have experienced after moving away. The metal evokes a sense of permanency, proving that these memories will always be attached to me but paired with the almost entirely transparent ink is a reminder that I no longer achieve the same feeling when I think of these places that I hold close to my heart. The use of this specific opacity on a permanent substrate represents that my memory will always be there wherever I go, but I will always have to look for it deeply within the daily industrious life I live now. This is the most important series I have created to date.”