Civic Space Studio Digest for December 13: on t-shirts and white walls

A look at our little corner of Civic Space. This is where we’ve been spending the majority of our time lately. For the record, the high shelves (those really nice ones with the Letter Library letters on them) were installed by Kiki. The lower shelves were hacked together by me. They’re very shoddy, but they hold many things.

As we’ve been hosting our 1W3KND Residencies, I love coming in on Monday and seeing the little re-arrangements made. Last weekend (I think) the coffee maker and tea kettle got a new home.

Hiba was away, so I got together the little instruction set for the writers in residence and put it back in the big red 1W3KND case.

Meanwhile, Laura took on the task of repainting the walls. After two great exhibitions from Catie Newell’s class and the Green Corridor, the walls were in need of some repairs and touch ups.

One can of paint got us about 80% through. One wall left, will have to pick this up on Monday.

After painting, we spent the afternoon doing some more tests for this t-shirt project. The mangled shirt above features a number of test-sites of vinyl with various temperatures and times on the heat press.

But, before we could do more tests, we had to go back to the drawing board and get a better sense of the size of the potential texts.

We also played with a highlighter look instead of just straight text.

Our new weeding tools makes the vinyl cut process a lot faster.

Remember, cut in reverse for t-shirt vinyl!

Laura weeds.

Then, we place the design…

… and head to the press.

Laura is the master of this machine. I actually don’t even know how to make it do anything aside from plugging it in.

Laura picked up with the same time / temperature settings that we left off with before.

The vinyl seemed to go on no problem, but I think the temperature was still a bit hot, as it left a faint mark where the press hit the shirt.

We also played around with some ideas for the online forms that we’ll eventually make for this project.

Above, the blue shirt on the wall.

Detail of the vinyl.

For the sake of true comparison, we also cut the same text in standard Helvetica bold. We also set the temperature a bit lower in hopes of avoiding the marks from the press.

We’re pretty sure this looks better. I think we had discussed grey shirts before, we’ll see…

We ended the day doing some more comparisons. I’m going to wash the shirts and make sure that the temperature / time changes don’t effect the vinyl adhesion. More soon.

Designing & Prototyping tools for intervention: Letter Library + Gif Party

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (1)

Wednesday afternoon shifts into further work on testing the efficacy of the styrofoam letters being black. We’re trying to decide in anticipation of our Letter Library (A Collection of Alphabetic Interventions).

 

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (2)

Sara and Hiba painted.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (3)

HELLO.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (4)

Also, Kiki came by to help us paint the movable wall!

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (5)

And, Josh made these for a workshop he’s giving through our friends at the Arts Council Windsor & Region.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (6)

The pile of cut-offs.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (7)

After the letters dried, I went outside and started to do some test installation. The black works well in the space, but outside, the shadows can destroy some of the legibility.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (8)

On lighter surfaces though, it works well.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (9)

Those shadows are difficult though.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (10)

From across the street.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (11)

On glass.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (12)

Inside, we discuss the possibility of keeping the letters white, but using a black background to help them stand out.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (13)

This could work, but would be a huge pain installing. This remains unresolved.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (14)

On to other ideas … we start wondering about creating a tool to assist with installing the letters in high places.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (15)

An old dental tool and some tape for the test.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (16)

It works fairly well…

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (17)

But, it needs refining.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (18)

Some evidence of where the letters were punctured.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (19)

Gash.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (20)

So, Josh starts a redesign.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (21)

And Sara left notes about what to finish up on the postcard.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (22)

A detail of Josh’s latest design for our letter installation tool.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (23)

For a quick demo, a dust pan will suffice.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (24)

It will cradle the letter, but also act as a brace to help stick the letter to the wall.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (25)

Josh testing.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (26)

The scrap and push.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (27)

Looks promising.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (28)

It works!

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (29)

Josh demonstrates the techinque.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (30)

Then, another revision…

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (31)

It’s though that we need the option to have a smaller surface to work with letters that will not stand up on their own in the dust pan scenario.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (32)

Out the door…

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (33)

…more tape.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (34)

A reaching test.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (36)

Adjusting the placement of the letter on the screw.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (37)

Attempt #2.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (38)

And it’s up!

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (39)

The letter O.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (40)

Josh reviews the rig.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (41)

Then, loftier attempts.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (42)

 

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (43)

 

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (44)

And, in closing … some animated gifs from Hiba, Kevin, and Josh’s scrape dust-pan attempts.

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (45)

 

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (46)

 

Styrofoam letter tests for our Letter Library Project (47)

Yes, it was a good day.

Tools in Forgetting the Border

Part of our research for How to Forget the Border Completely is going to come from a lot of video. We’re not sure how many interviews we’ll do or exactly where we’ll be shooting, but we wanted to be prepared. I’ve had a Canon T2i for over a year now and it’s a very solid camera. I originally picked it up because of its video capabilities (specifically, the 24p option), but I hadn’t really made much time to shoot anything.

So, while HFBC seemed like the perfect opportunity to start, I also knew we needed to upgrade things a bit. I read about the Magic Lantern firmware hack a little while ago and finally got around to installing it — more in a bit on that — and with the advice from Karlyn‘s partner, John, I also picked up a Rode VideoMic and Zoom H1 for audio.

Continue reading “Tools in Forgetting the Border”

Prepping for FAM Fest Projection

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Last night out a window in the county, the new projector at night.

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Today, finishing our list of 100 ways to save the city.

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It’s going to run as a presentation in Keynote, the easiest failsafe solution. Though, we might try to open it up on Twitter somehow later tonight.

Screen shot 2009-10-03 at 2.26.18 PM

And, speaking of tonight, the weather is looking good. No rain!!!! We’ll be projecting across from Phog, look up above Empire Lounge and you’ll see us. Tonight is marks Day 2 of FAM Fest, hope to see you out and about.

Projector Tests: Day 1 of 2

two projectors

We’re doing some projector tests this weekend in the hopes that many small-power projectors might add up to something bright enough to pull off what we need.

more brightness

This is two projectors, definitely brighter than one. Does anyone have an extra projector we could play with this weekend? If you do, please email us!