Free Software Project - Development

The problem with art/creativity is that everyone has different opinions, which was certainly true for my Free Software project. When DEVELOPING my ideas (haw haw), I took on board the feedback that our visiting tutor who had devised the project had given me - saying that the drawing I'd done was good as a kicking-off point but in itself wasn't enough for the newspaper page. He had liked my idea of making a scroll with code on it so I decided to give that a go and compose an image bringing in all the separate elements I'd worked on.

I did a bit more research into the Torah (not the actual scripture obviously just the form it takes) and headed to woodwork to make a couple of wooden cylinders with handles to hold the paper. It was a pretty simple joinery task but nonetheless I enjoyed doing it pretty much by myself, relishing my new-found shakey confidence with power tools.

Next I screen-printed lines of code I took from the HTML of my previous blog post about the project with luminous green ink. It didn't print quite as fluorescent as I had wanted annoyingly but time waits for no man so I just dealt with it and stuck the whole thing together (I had tried to tea-stain the print but as screen-printing uses water-based inks the tea just sort of shifted the letters about which was a cool effect but not what I was wanting).

I photographed my scroll in various positions and started playing about with pictures of it and some typewritten quotes I'd lifted from the article I was originally looking at. I liked the idea of using a typewriter as it uses one of the most popular coding fonts - Courier - and I love a lil' bit of physical/digital interplay. 

To push that a bit further I added in a hand cursor symbol to reference the pointers which are used to read lines of the Torah to avoid damage to the delicate paper. I liked the parallels between that physical object which can't be touched and the information on a screen which is also separate from the physical and which we can't physically interact with. So I had lots of threads floating about and decided to tie them all together in the grossest computer aesthetic I could muster, so had a look at vaporwave and MS Paint type stuff and attempted to channel those influences into my final piece.

I liked that I made all the elements of the image by hand but then it was clearly and poorly brought together digitally, showing the capabilities and limitations of the media. It's a pretty ugly thing but I kind of perversely liked it and thought there were some good ideas in it. My regular tutor however seemed to take a different view and said she preferred the drawing and thought it could have stood alone as a final piece. So I guess something I'm starting to realise is that you can't please everyone. Feedback is important but I think it's often best just to go with an idea that you like and find an audience rather than trying to fit in to someone elses style or ideas.

Cartocon Window Display

I had a busy week last week preparing for my window display at Cartocon. I was slightly nervous about it in the run-up as it was the first window display I'd attempted myself and I only had one day to get it right, but the install on Friday ended up going so well and I really enjoyed it.

All photos by Nathan Lee

I started by masking off the edges of the windows and marking out the different areas using masking tape on the outside of the window as a guide. I then drew freehand on the inside of the window using china marker for the pyramid drawings. China marker works great on glass but you have to lean pretty hard and maybe go back over your lines a couple of times. 

I then painted over the drawings and painted the blocked in shapes. Having stressed about what paint to use for ages having read lots of conflicting advice on various unhelpful websites, I ended up just buying Scola tempera paint which was less than £2 for a big bottle and worked great, it was easy to paint on and gave good coverage after a couple of coats. 

The final stage of the window painting process was peeling off the masking tape which was so satisfying and wiping off smudges using a folded bit of paper which is probably the best thing for glass (top tip).

Having taken my sweet time with the painting stage, getting the wool into the window was more stressful than I expected. I measured the correct distance from the window then put a line of tape on the wall parallel to the glass, and marked the distances for the pins on the edge of the tape to get it nice and neatly aligned. Hammering the pins into the hardboard was an absolute bugger of a job as the pins were pretty weak and kept bending. I then cut long lengths of wool, folded them and twisted the two strands together before attaching them to the pins, just to make them a bit thicker and more visible from the street. 

For the left window I decided to make the lines a bit irregular, but I went for a more uniform effect on the right just to give a bit more variation between the windows. 

I'm really happy with how the windows came out! Having done the Urban Outfitters window was definitely such a bonus as I learned lots of useful tricks and tips there that I wouldn't necessarily have thought of myself. Doing window displays seems simple but usually there's quite a few technical problems to be worked out which I really enjoy. Probably the hardest thing about doing the Cartocon window was cramming my lanky body into quite a short space. The lights coming from the ceiling were also a bit of a pain to work around, but as working conditions go it was pretty good with unlimited teas and decent music. 

The opening also went really well with a good turn-out. I left my sketchbook out and plenty of people were flicking through it. I think it's good for people to see the work that's gone into a project and the ideas behind it. Cartocon also made a video of some of my other work and let me display some prints and books in the window for a few days. 

The display will be up for a couple of weeks longer so you can see it in all its 3D glory. All in all I'm really happy with the outcome and found the whole project so rewarding. Keeping an eye out for other shops to work with soon!