During last weeks Monday tutorial (15th) I showed my group the samples and we agreed that we would want to achieve something similar for our final piece. There is still a lot of development that needs to be done. I hope in this weeks meeting we will start on what we want to show in the picture, how we want to display it and the possibility of projection. The most important part is the picture it’s self. We have thought of using existing photos and films of Hulme rather than taking new ones. Do we want to show change, day to day life or important events? It’s something that needs to be developed together.
In the mean time I have been continuing with samples over the last week. Things I have to consider is a way of building up layers of pictures, this means that the materials I use will have to be transparent. The layers have to either be attached together in a block or separate. I have found examples of artists to help as inspiration:
http://pinterest.com/pompouscherry/layershulme/
I narrowed down tree possible materials: acetate, glass and acrylic.
While another member of our group worked with glass I worked with acrylic.
I think acrylic could be a great material to use because it is cheap, easy to get and work with especially when it comes to shaping it and marking it. With the resin it would be difficult to create a large block and too difficult to create separate layers and the only way to include and image would be to use acetate or photos. With acrylic you can still layer it with pictures but you can easily etch the image into the surface using a laser cutter.
My first experiments were different ways to add an image. I used the laser cutter to etch three layers of a picture and used extra sheets of plain acrylic to try different amounts of layers.
I preferred the extra layers because it created more depth but they would only be unnecessary if we were creating a solid block. If the layers were separate the gaps between them would create the depth. The most important thing I learnt though is that if we were going to use laser etched acrylic from photos then I should trace it by hand first so that when I convert it to be used in the laser cutter then it will get the best result.
It was sometimes difficult to see the lines in the laser etched pictures so I wanted to see if there was a different way to show an image with acrylic so I went back to my resin block sample and sandwiched acetate between sheets of acrylic instead. I think using acrylic looked just as good as it did in the resin but attaching the picture to the surface was a problem because the glue would leave noticeable marks which disturbed the flow of the picture.
Another way I tried to make the image more clear was to dab paint into the etched lines. This could mean the lines could be different colours and would look more like a drawn image right onto the surface and there wouldn’t be any worry about gluing the picture.
I also redid the map sample using the laser cutter. Although it was bigger and more solid I didn’t think it was as effective as the shrink art. I tried over laying the two together and I was very pleased with the result. I love how the acrylic acts like a frame for the smaller pieces and the layers of later cut detail and drawn detail create a bit more depth. I think both together work better than either individually.
Laura Simone Scott 