Media, Techniques and Processes: Control and Experimentation
This domain tests two things together: control of materials and willingness to experiment. A controlled but timid portfolio and a chaotic experimental one both lose marks. You need tested processes, documented decisions and evidence that you can repeat or refine an effect.
Core rules
- Know the properties of each medium: drying time, opacity, absorbency, grain, fixative, resolution.
- Test before the final piece: swatches, samples, small maquettes.
- Control edges, layering, registration, tool pressure and clean-up.
- Experiment with unusual tools, combined media, scale shifts and supports.
- Document what worked, what failed and what you changed.
- Follow health and safety: ventilation for solvents, safe blade handling, correct disposal.
- Select and edit tests; do not include every experiment.
Worked example
A lino print: test three ink consistencies on two papers. The first ink is too tacky and fills fine lines; the second, with extender, prints cleanly. Register a second block using tracing paper, note drying time between layers, and record that the first registration slipped by two millimetres. The reasoning is visible: the final print is not luck but the result of controlled tests and a recorded correction.
Traps that cost marks
- Using a medium without testing its behaviour.
- Experimenting without recording the process or result.
- Ignoring safe practice with blades, solvents or dust.
- Staying with one safe medium and never taking a risk.
- Displaying technique samples that serve no project purpose.