a few summer holiday extras

when i sprayed my net for the windmills i protected my work surface with newspaper and i have been playing with the resulting sheets.

 i love the voids created where the net was and rather than throw this paper away i have cut it up into strips and been playing with 'books'.

the one in the middle with the really curly pages i placed in resin to see how it would react.
i have used fairly conventional stitching but have also played with metal so they can be bent into shape.

as in this one above and below

and also playing with cut outs as below

all the strips started out 2.5cm wide, some folded once and others more so they are tiny. still playing!

It is finished!

this is really an interim report before the final placing of my textile. after talking to Siân at Summer School i came away rethinking the 'site specific' bit, thinking exactly what i wanted to portray with the piece. it dawned on me that what i was really getting at was the fact Skypeing is an enclosed activity so in order for my piece to work it could be placed anywhere.

so to bring you up to date with my production process.....

i rethought the method for display, i really liked the net idea but made a sample which was simpler like a wire fence structure.

i worked out the size i wanted and drew a grid onto newspaper joining the paper where necessary. i wanted the top and lower edges to be re-enforced so i added a strip of Lutrador. i was still going for a long thin 'tape' like shape.
once finished i gently soaked a bit at a time removing the newsprint and hung it to dry.

i rolled it on a roller to keep it straight - deciding to revisit this technique sometime as i quite liked it with the newsprint colours.

i then sprayed the 'net' with Warhammer Chaos black spray paint a bit at a time. above shows the net with only one side sprayed, something else i might revisit.

i attached the windmills with fishing line placing them in a regular pattern. i decided that the windmills didn't need to move independently, the fact that they are possibly moving all together when placed outside is enough.

i wanted to keep it simple and i feel i have achieved this! i attached perspex rods to either end to stabilise and keep the edges straight. i am hoping this is to be displayed soon so my fixing mechanism can work wherever the item goes.

i took it outside to see how it would react en mass, firstly laying it on a path in my garden. the path behind does distract from windmills so when placing it i feel it needs a paler backing to be suspended to keep the lightness visible

i then draped it from a windowsill where i could see how it worked with the breeze. i finally attached it to my washing line and made a short video but i now need to convert the MP4 into something that i can easily attach the sound recording to and upload easily! so watch this space.

as it is still summer holidays and it might be displayed somewhere in October i am going to wait till November to take it out and about to photograph it in various situ's. i will take it to the beach but i now feel it might work best in an urban environment but the video will i hope be the final outcome.  

more creating and playing

i have now finished making all the windmill bodies. the tape made 64 in the end.

some but not all

the resin has brought out the colours of the tissue

i then re-thought my net, making a sample with a larger, simpler grid and spraying it black to merge with the black of the tape. i attached two windmills to it and took it outside to see how it would work in the wind.
there is obviously not going to be any individual movement of each windmill, they will work as a 'mass' and NO sound will emerge just like a Tibetan prayer flag.

i attempted to attach another video but it was taking so long to upload i gave up! perhaps in another post.
i feel it is now decision time for the final look of the piece and the location/locations.

watch this space!