The Infinite Print. INFINITELY FRUSTRATING.

This project has been plaguing me... which is why I haven't posted anything until now, I could only think of each part of the assignment separately - if I had a good idea for the infinite, I didn't know how to make it unique, and vice versa. My first thought was to make an image of  something, then make a 3D version of it. What's more unique than the third dimension? 

I am particularly interested in soft sculpture (fancy name for not-for-kids plush toys). 

Sorta like that, but a little more refined (hopefully!). Lizette and Roberto Greco create plush toys based on their children's drawings. Click here for more of their work (really nice stuff, but most don't show the reference drawing). Anne Karsten did a similar project with a class of 4th and 5th graders, asking them to do a bit of product design and creating plush versions of their "concept drawings."

Disclaimer: I'm not an art major, so I'm not looking at 

master artists all the time or thinking serious art major thoughts. I've always been interested in crafting and most of my inspiration comes from the Craftzine.com blog (which I read daily). 

(Unrelated, but see also Yeondoo Jung's magical "Wonderland" project that turns kids' drawings into photographs)

Anyway, so 2D to 3D. Want some more distractions? I got 'em. Like this 3D printer used for rapid prototyping. This thing is SO cool, but sort of the opposite of what I want to do. It's able to create 3D objects over and over again in precise

 detail from a CAD file. Dang. Good thing I don't have access to one of those puppies.

I also considered making a crochet version of my image, but that kind of thing can be very frustrating. I kept thinking about how patterns make pretty much anything reproducible, but I could avoid that by doing more of a free-form crochet without using or making a pattern. Entertained the idea of making the object first and writing my own pattern for the infinite edition, maybe doing crazy typographical things with the pattern. Scrapped that idea. Still very little thought about the subject of my project.  

Considered monoprinting, particularly with an image that's been in my head for a long time. It's based on a lyric from "I Can Barely Breathe" by Manchester Orchestra. You can watch the video on YouTube - embedding is disabled so you'll have to click. Anyway it's just the first two verses and they go like this:

When the dark flood came, 

we wrapped ourselves inside a dirty blanket,

citing different opinions

on whether we should move.

When the houses came,

they ate up everyone like they were fishes

saying, "come on, come on. 

it's the end of the world."

Here's a crappy photo of the only time I ever sketched out my idea. I think the thing on the right side is a dude in flippers? I dunno.

Aaaand this is what it sorta looks like with a little live trace. I love the way the lines look but I couldn't get the trace to pick everything up. I remembered that I wouldn't have access to the studio and materials anyway, so monoprinting was out. I thought maybe I could create a 3D set-up with wood blocks for the houses and printed out versions of the water (pasted on cardboard or something).  Buuuut I think this image wants a lot more attention than I could give it right now. And I think it wants to be a block print or a screen print, not some crappy diorama.

So I am back to soft sculpture. I want to make something as awesome as this gigantic mosquito by Weird Bug Lady, aka Brigitte, who is a zoology student by day and a plush invertebrate crafter by night. Just so happens that I like bugs too...

More content soon!