soft machine

In Term 1, we worked on creating our very own Chimera’s, which are a combination of mythical creatures combined to form one. 

We first learnt about many mythical creatures and their magical abilities, so we were able to select what elements to include in our own. We used Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to design our Chimera’s and learnt how to combine multiple pictures so we could alter and shape our creatures.

After a few practices, we freehand etched our designs onto aluminium plates, learning about different techniques and textures we could incorporate to create depth and dimension. Next, we soaked our engraved plates in an acid bath to deepen and accentuate the etching before moving on to the printing process.

During the printing process, we learned how to use printing presses and ink to create an edition of identical prints that were neat and technical. First applying the ink evenly onto our engravings and cleaning the plates, we then moved onto the printing press where we layer out our paper and plates onto the press and roll them through. This was one of the most challenging parts of the process for many of us because it was important that everything was lined up perfectly or the ink would smudge, so we were all careful to be precise. After we had all our prints, we finally got to edition our prints and choose names for our new Chimera’s.

-Jessica Hart, Year 9