Pikmin + Card
Sending a loving message through Pikmin!
So far I've designed and made 5 Pikmin Greeting cards. More are coming!
The Creative Process
Using Cutting Die for the 1st Time...
This photo shows my first attempt. It looked ok overall, yet something just felt wrong. My partner pointed out that the die-cutted "LOVE" at the front was too odd, that it stood out too much.
Not wanting to scrape the idea of making a Pikmin card entirely, I tried to die-cut the letter with a craft paper, and this time, it looked more organic.
To make the card, I tried cutting die machine for the first time in my life. I sourced a second-hand Todo cutting die machine from Vinted and fumbled about many times.
At one point I almost returned the machine, thinking there's something wrong with it, and eventually got the hang of it.
I had to set the machine on the floor, literally using both arms to wind the machine to push the plate go back and forth, and pressing onto the plates with my left feet - it was definately a workout, to say the least!
Lino-Cut of "I Pik U".
The title for the "I PIK U" card saw my first attempt at Lino Cuttting.
This is a tricky one. I had to first find a font that resembled so much of the one used in Pikmin 3 (correct me if you know a better one but the one I found was called "Blueberry" on Canva.com), printed them out, then used a needle pen for drypoint etching to stab the lino for the "I PIK U" outline in reverse.
I tried a few ways of marking the letters in reverse onto the thick lino but this one was the easiest. If you examine my card carefully you might find some (very subtle) dots still :)
The the carve. I tried two types of lino sheet and prefered the softer type.
Then the print. Again I tried two types of ink, a more liquidy one and a thicker one to see which one worked the best. Personally preferred the thicker one but it took like a day or two to completely dry!
I got the tools shown in the picture from various sources including jacksonart.com, local art shop (Bradbury Art Store in Belfast), Amazon (the good old) and all. These are the onces that survived...
What a process!