I recently completed a large portion of the fronts for the SOLVE ⨺ 18(36) and COAGULA ⨺27(54) Sets. I started by creating geometically perfect versions of the "vectors" aka digital lines that will be cut by the dye cutter. I had been thoroughly trained by Anson Phong in how to do this in the lineage of the artist XAVI, but it has been many years since I've done it. So, I used ChatGPT to remind me how to execute what Phong had taught me. I know how to make guides (the cyan lines you see), but making them completely mathematically precise and customized was the trick. It felt good knowing that the shapes are perfect to the micropoint. That may not make any practical difference in such small shapes — but you never know if it possibly it affects subtle visual psychology even at that scale. As mentioned in a previous entry, I had wished that I could use the awkward and uneven triangles plopped together which I had come up with for my mockups, just for a progressive loss of visual harmony spanning from COAGULA to the lowest SOLVE (for symbolic reasons to do with the transformational process of alchemy) but in process with the dye cutter it was confirmed that this will impossible in this format, since tight corners are a challenge for the machine.
I still hung on to this dream as I was creating the SOLVE ⨺ 18(36) Set though. I noticed that accidental imperfections in the production of the cards can be caused on purpose, and the type of cardstock I was using had the flaw of exaggerating tears in the paper because of the white inner material under black. So I thought perhaps unevenly laying the cardstock over the holographic material and pushing the blade beyond its healthy lifespan (or using crazy settings) to get tearing in some cases might allow a deliberately imperfect final result just in the physical outcome of some. I knew this would be very hard to achieve consistently and precisely, though — so, instead of setting my sights unattainably high for a whole set, I decided to attempt this effect just for a single card face for each to eventually photograph for the format plates that will go on the website. By doing this I also came up with more ideas for imperfections. Scratched hologold from the machine wrongly aligned on it, and bending the cardstock to make it look beaten up. With enough ways to make it imperfect, I hope to complete a full span of 7 ranging in degrees perfection for the formal website plates.
It would take too many losses of adhesives and dye cutter blades to put this into practice for a full 144 card set, and I was already risking being too wasteful. But this effort seemed acceptable to a smaller extent, considering that the cardstock I am using has been judged as too poor for the final end decision on materials. This was a combination between not wanting the cardstock to go to waste, and not being afraid of that for the sake of experimentation. Right now, I'm aiming to create one full set with this kind of material to own for myself — which will hopefully be worth an extreme price one day due to being the first ever made, and containing proof of my artistic process.
A Word On My Training With Phong & XAVI
You may notice a certain visual similarity between my designs and those of Phong (phong.com), as well as the more minimal logo-based works of XAVI Panneton (xaviart.com). In an extremely rare type of simbiotic artist relationship, XAVI had developed a technique of loosely sketching out his designs, and Phong was the only person on Earth who could properly vectorize them (translate them into perfect digital glyphs). Phong later took me through a thorough training to learn how to also do this for XAVI. The amount of visionary information Phong was able to perceive in XAVI's sketches translated to the point where his training (had I completed it fully) would have likely been about 5 or 6 sessions, each about 4-6 hours long, plus practice. I probably completed about 16 hours of training on this with him. Due to my understanding of XAVI's art, I felt very concerned with being completely original when I create any imagery inspired by his (such as these). The practical skills in Adobe technique are being applied to The 7 of 9, but this does not come from the same visionary and creative origins in my own extremely unique artistic approach. I even showed XAVI the designs for The 72 FACETS (IN 144) to confirm that he found it not to seem copied — and he was certain it evokes originality. I have not saught reference from XAVI of that fact about The 7 of 9, though, since its originality is extremely well documented on this website.
The Final Results
What you see here are the website plates which came of this process. Here are the videos : SOLVE et COAGULA. It's much easier to see on video. These images will soon be replaced on The 7 of 9 MANUAL because I'm not finished creating plates as described above. Even here, though, you can see how the SOLVE 4 card was not perfect. At this stage I was aiming for a perfect looking version because I hadn't yet finished my process of getting an incrementally worn and imperfect version to span through the 7 card faces for photos — but I was unsuccessful in this case. This is the card face I wanted to feature, but in my initial process of learning how to align the carstock with the adhesive, I applied it a little bit misaligned. You can see the top right and top bottom part of the outer colored triangle is not as thick as the left. To align the stencils perfectly onto the holographic material will require a physical guide, and I'm still figuring out how to make one thick enough to just lay in the pieces perfectly with ease with the dye cutter outcuts. I'm thinking of using glue, since as you can imagine, using the adhesive presents the same exact challenge as aligning the layers anyway. Quite often I get them perfect though, by hand.
First Run ⨺ COAGULA Faces
The first run that I did was a large series of COAGULA faces. This was actually a very smooth process and any mistakes were a great learning experience. I found that the ease of the process was a perfect match for the refined and pristine symbolism of the COAGULA as the final stage of alchemy, in which lower metals are turned to gold. Not only was I not trying to experiement with complicated deliberate damage yet, but I think also the symbolism of the artwork has an effect on the vibe of how this would be experienced by the artist. I had fun and everything came out exactly how I had visualized it.
I was surprised how little issue there was with the cardstock despite the inner white under the black outer lining of it which exaggerates the look of tearing. Although looking super up close in these pictures, you can easily view every imperfection of the "successful" models, these tiny issues are of no significance in person. Yet I believe even these problems can be fixed by upgrading the exact type of cutting mat I use. After trying (and failing miserably) with a homemade cutting mat to replace my first one which was failing, I purchased one for $20 at a local art store. This one had "regular tackiness" and loved it — but decided the lower tackiness kind would fix micro inconsistencies. I found the cricut joy brand was better by far than my Portrait brand of mat.
Second Run ⨺ SOLVE Faces
Going through the second run was actually stressful with much loss of materials and digital blade glitches causing major problems which are yet to be fully resolved. As mentioned above, I feel that relates to the symbolism of these cards being of darker themes — but essentially it was much more of a practical challenge. I had many interesting thoughts while doing this. The whole notion that silver is less valuable and conductive than gold actually applies in the consumer world. Finding these holographic silver bags I had purchased for a ridiculously cheap price long ago would work to help me file the cards opened my mind to ideas about the value of my work. It's fascinating to note that holographic silver can be considered dime a dozen out there. I would say that having it laid flat (of course under mindblowing art) makes it much more beautiful than these bags for instance. But another interesting fact is that it's really hard to find holographic gold anywhere for little baggies, stickers, etc etc etc. The corporate factory made design world truly has fully embraced the notion that gold should be reserved only for the most valuable items — but items of great value such as Apple Macbooks and iPhones very rarely come out because when they are gold they attract more attention for theft.
Since the SOLVE ⨺ 18(32) Set is considered symbolic of power institutions in society with lower ethical value than the mass media, I found this optimal. But I still can't help but like the silver wrapping paper a bit more, because the rainbows are inescapable in any lighting (unlike the gold) and it also does pastel rainbows too :))
Revelations On The Material Format
As much as rent had been pressing, I went ahead and purchased a roll of shiny (non-holographic) black wrapping paper to facilitate an upcoming test. I wanted to see if using this might work better than black cardstock (since it was only $15 for a ridiculous amount). In the previous entry, I mentioned that I had estimated that the two layers of cardstock were perhaps overkill for card thickness anyway, meaning this wrapping paper approach could lower costs while increasing quality. After buying the wrapping paper, though, I had more thoughts on this. Since the thickness is supported by adhesive, the thickest result is very bendable even with cardstock — and would be even worse with wrapping paper. It doesn't seem to threaten the cards too much in terms of bend marks, but it feels in a tactile register to require delicate handling and could trigger a nervous feeling to hold and work with them.
Rolling this around in my mind, I decided to try it out with the wrapping paper instead of cardstock — but put a piece of hard plastic acetate in the centre. This kind of PET acetate is very damaging to the dye cutter blade to cut, but can be scored without significant risk of going through blades too quickly.
Scoring is a super light cut which just creates a line on the surface and helps with bending. By scoring out triangles into the PET, I am optimistic that I could cut them with scissors (using these lines as a guide) easily enough to create a result which doesn't interfere with cohesion of card edges. I feel that the additional layers of adhesive and wrapping paper would likely accomodate for the inner acetate being deliberately just a bit smaller than the rest, to avoid rough scissor cuts causing inconsistencies. If it doesn't create a distinct warp to the edge in the final result, this looks good.
I like the wrapping paper idea better too, because it is more durable and resistent to mould, warping with moisture, etc, for longterm storage. But I am concerned that it will be much harder to capture good photos of for promotion. In person I feel it would look fantastic, but in photos I worry that the shine of the light will distract from the contrast between the stencil and the underlay, making the designs harder to make out. I plan to handle that issue by promoting it primarily with the cardstock version as my approach, and for each sale version with wrapping paper, accept that the photography will be in low lighting and provide written descriptions to accomodate. That's assuming it really does look as good as I imagine when I see it.
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