This week my synthesizer arrived and I began varnishing the furniture pieces and wallpapering the box structure. As it’s reading week I’ve had time off but still remained busy by my workload. For that reason, and to avoid any stress or panic, I decided to limit myself to only working on the furniture and wallpaper for the week. By setting a manageable task I could easily complete, I didn’t get in over my head and wasn’t disappointed by my progress or rushing anything.
Wallpapering was very straightforward, I simply varnished the bottom and top of the box, allowing them to dry before cutting the sample sheets to size and applying them to the inner walls. I left the back wall blank as I hope to have a projection on it and so didn’t want to compromise the quality of the projection and visuals by adding a busy wallpaper or dark varnish which might obscure it.
[ADD IMAGE HERE]
Varnishing the furniture was a much more careful and lengthy process, as was the case last time. The parts were small and fiddly and so it was difficult to varnish them quickly without making mistakes or causing imperfections. I’d varnish one side and dry it to avoid air bubbles again and again until I was done, then I’d do the opposite side, then, one by one, I’d do each side. Two pieces of furniture would take almost the whole day. It was gruelling and painful and boring at the best of times. But, I stuck with it and varnished the pieces. They are now drying and ready to be pieced together into furniture.
[ADD IMAGE HERE]
Next week I’ll piece the furniture together and add the final touches before beginning work on the food creation!
Hi Naomi, Great to see progress with the making of your set and box, and also your reflection on what worked well and what didn’t – the hairdryer! As you continue your self directed project, leave time to state and think through the significance of your development. What are the value of insights gained in terms of working with new materials. The work you’ve posted shows experimentation, but make sure you also post in depth research and reflection and discussion on the themes informing your project – waste, wasted life, domestic settings turned uncanny. Who and what is contextualising your work? Who is inspiring you. Make sure you include research / reflection and experimentation in your online notebook posts, and share your sources too, to show the research you’ve been doing. It’s great to see your project process and progress. Make sure you post about the classes each week. Even if you miss class, you need to make sure you catch up in your own time and follow up with me and other students. You need to reflect on class activities weekly. Keep up the experimentation and project development. It might be worth booking the project room for a day, so you can start to experiment with how you will document and locate your final work. Remember you only have two weeks left now, so you need to stay focussed and think carefully about how you plan to exhibit and document you final project. Looking forward to seeing more posts at the end of this week! Link to the booking form for the project room is here https://myaccount.aber.ac.uk/protected/o365bookaslot/?SOAProjectRoom
Hi Naomi, I’m just checking in on ON posts. Make sure you leave time to post weeks 7 – 10 and a conclusion post. I’ll check in with you on this over email on Monday. Caitlin