Matted Print - Phoenix Satterfield

Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature. It's dangerous to handle, since it can do serious (and even fatal) damage to the nervous and immune system. Today, mercury is used in a lot of thermometers, batteries, and fluorescent lights, and it has been misused as a medicine to treat typhoid fever and parasites for a century. 

This print started out as a hand drawing on tracing paper. I then turned the paper upside down (so it would show up backwards on the foam) and put the tracing paper on top of foam and traced/shaded it in darker. The traces and shades were printed on the foam. I covered the printed side with paint and pressed the foam onto another piece of paper. The paint design showed on the paper when I lifted up the foam. 

I enjoyed the painting part because that was when I brought color to my design. That steap was easy and fun because of how we used more than pencils and paper. Before I completed that step, It was hard to picture what the final painted version would look like. Despite how much I liked it, I would add more paint to the foam if I had to do it again (not every corner of the final product was covered in paint).