Print 1. Project 15: Design 1

Beach-wear and accessory brand: Combined lino & monoprint.

Whilst at Cronulla with my camera last week I wasn’t just aware of my generalised surroundings and scenery, I was also people-watching.  One things that struck me is how popular Billabong brand beach and casual wear is.  Everyone was wearing it.  I tried to think who their main rival is but, not being in the surf/beach world, I couldn’t come up with a viable alternative.  So I decided to create my own brand and logo.

In my photos I’d caught a wooden slatted bin with a metal insert.  (Quite old-fashioned because nowadays they have enclosed square bins with plastic liners.)  Remove the legs and it reminded me of an office waste paper bin.

I liked the wooden panels and I liked the wood grain.  So, after drawing the bin with more detail, I started to dis-assemble it into a pile of planks.

I was also working on a brand name.  I concentrated on WASTE – from waste paper bin – and wrote down some related words and checked the thesaurus.  It gave me a lot of options including ‘fritter’.  To fritter something away – waste it.  My outline sketch of wood planks brought to mind chips (Australians: read ‘hot chips’ here as opposed to chips which are called crisps in the UK – anyone else: well, just work it out!).  What are other names for chips?  French fries, pommes frites.  My husband is French, so pommes frites is a term I know well.  Seems to relate (in the main – sound-wise) to fritter.

Fritter.  Now let’s make it my own: friter, fritta, frita, phrita.  Fritta works for me.  The ‘fritta clothing co’.  A brand is born.

Note: Being left-handed my sketchbook work tends to move from right to left so my hand stays off where I’ve previously worked.

I played with the concept on Photoshop, finally coming up with a logo and background for it to sit on.  I carved the lino and took a rubbing to check the balance (in reverse obviously) and mixed up my chosen colour palette.  I am aiming this campaign at the 14-35 year old male market, hence my choice of mainly blues and greens.

I copied the cut lino and made positive and negative masks.

Images from top: A positive mask was placed under a sheet of thick acetate and heavily extended inks were applied by brush, followed by a light roller.  Middle: Clingfilm (Gladwrap) was crumpled on to the surface.  Bottom: A negative mask was placed over the inked acetate and a print was taken.

This is the first time I have ever cut a lino block surround to the shape of the design so that has been an interesting experience.  A proof of the block was taken (followed by further carving).

Herewith a sample of the prints:

Pale yellow Kozo 60 paper which has increased the green appearance of the base layer.

Gyokuryu paper.  A perfect clean image.

Awagami Bamboo.  The first time I’ve used this paper and the smooth surface takes the ink so well.  I think it’s around 150gsm.  Slight variation in colour in the word ‘clothing’.

I then superimposed my brand onto some clothing to see just how it would look.

Overall an excellent result.  Very fiddly but enjoyable with plenty of challenges.  Also scope to use other colour schemes on dark clothing where necessary or embroider in place.

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