changes to images

After talking to Pete, I decided to change three of my images I was screen printing (screen printing images shown above). The original pictures I drew weren't obviously like tattoos so I decided to go with a more traditional style. I also spent another few days screen printing. The previous colours I had screen printed with weren't metallic so they didn't have the quality of gold, silver or bronze. I spent some time experimenting with metallic acrylic paints to print with. I tried mixing the paint with printing paste so it had a more fluid consistency but it printed out very faintly and didn't even look metallic. I then tried printing with acrylic straight out of the tube but it didn't look much better. So I had to make the decision to abandon the gold, silver and bronze/ copper colours. I was quite disappointed they didn't work because I think colours that reflect more traditional jewellery would have worked well. Instead I am using more traditional tattoo colours, blue, deep red and deep purple. I feel they work well as they reflect the young, fun qualities of the jewellery.

screen printed butterfly

The image of the butterfly was my first screen print. I have decided to do them in three colours, gold, bronze and silver, to reflect more tradition jewellery. I printed the image slightly to the left of the tyvek sheet so it will be in the middle of the laser cut. After each image has been printed, I intend to print the instructions on the right of the sheet. I am also thinking of how to package the jewellery. I want it to be A2 sheet size so the user can see what the jewellery looks like. I don't want it to use too much material either because I hate products that have loads of unnecessary packaging. Another consideration is whether to sell the jewellery individually or as a set of six.

screen printing images

I have decided to screen print the tyvek before it is laser cut. Each sheet of tyvek will have one bigger image of what is cut out on the sheet, for example, cherry blossoms, stars or an anchor. This will act as a piece of art on the sheet before the jewellery is taken out and become abstract lines and shapes on the jewellery when it is worn. I drew each image, which i then scanned to be printed on acetate ready for screen printing.

finalising the patterns

I have been cutting some patterns on recycled paper to save some tyvek. This means I can perfect the patterns before I cut out the final pieces; ensuring there are no weak areas and the pattern works aesthetically. Above are flowers and cherry blossoms, anchors, chains and stars. These practices allowed me to see what changes were needed and what size the pattern had to be so they are not cut off by the laser cutter- width: 413mm x height: 386mm is the maximum they can be.

patterns

Rather than printing out a whole sheet of a new pattern straight away, I did test samples of the same images with slight changes to see quickly which one worked the best. The first three images show these test sheets. After I decided which one worked best, I then printed the whole sheet with it, like the butterflies and stars above. I have also been working on the design of the roses and swallows. I feel the roses still need some work and to be simplified further although I am happier with the swallows design.

more patterns

I have been working on more patterns for the jewellery. I have adapted the swallows design as I thought the joins between each bird was too thin. I think it works better now that the tyvek is cut thicker throughout, however, I think I still need to make the design tighter around the sheet so not to waste so much of the tyvek.

I now have a roses pattern, one of the traditional flowers that many people get tattooed. I like the shape of the roses but it is far to fragile at the moment, so I will need to simplify the design.

The next photo shows a pattern that I have seen in tattoos, it is quite decorative but not typical of tattoo design so it may need to also be changed if it is to work.

The last design is more tribal. I feel it may be too masculine, however. When I cut it out in the tyvek it was also very fiddly and I think it would be too delicate to be worn and to work well as jewellery.

strength testing the tyvek

I tested the strength of my samples of tyvek with Dr Mark Pridham in engineering. I used the Instron tensile testing machine that you can see in the top diagram. I put small samples of the tyvek into the machine. This gave me the maximum load, the tensile strength at maximum load, extension at machine break and tensile extension at maximum load. The samples of tyvek did not break in the machine but were stretched. I took samples of tyvek cut horizontally, vertically and diagonally to see if the direction made any difference to the strength. All of the results were similar, as you can see in the graph. I also tested a sample that was cut to see how easy it was to pull two pieces apart. This had less strength than the other samples. Each sample began to fail at around the same load and extension, therefore we can conclude that the structure of the tyvek is random. The strength really depends on the structure at that certain point, the thickness of the material varies in random patterns as well but the strength is similar throughout.

More information on tyvek can be found on the DuPont website: http://www2.dupont.com/Tyvek/en_US/tech_info/test_results.html

A tyvek handbook is also available which tell of the properties of tyvek and additional information: http://www2.dupont.com/Tyvek/en_US/assets/downloads/tyvek_handbook.pdf