Installation!

I'm excited to report that the cylinders have now been installed at Barons Quay! It was fantasitc to see them hanging finally and I felt very proud of myself, and all the people who have contributed to the project, especially the students at Hartford High and Leftwich Primary School whose artwork is etched in to the surface of the cylinders. A big congratulations to you all!

A huge thanks to the lads at Art fabrications http://www.artfabs.co.uk/ for doing such a fantastic job!

The cylinders are finished!

Preparing the etchings

Since my last post, I've been preparing and applying the etch resists for the copper and brass cylinders.  I'ts been a logistical challenge, getting the sizes correct, and the right part number's artwork applied to the right metal, but I luckily, I'm a big fan of spreadsheets!

Production in full swing...

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures of what I've been up to since my last post. 

I've been creating the Etch resists ready to apply to the copper and brass which will adorn the cylinders.  It's important to be really organised to make sure each cylinder is the right size and shape.

Here's the stacked up metal ready for etching...

An exciting day when I took delivery of the stainless steel welded cylinders with their protective coatings.  It's all coming together!

More soon, as the production continues.

Creating designs for the cylinders' surface pattern.

 Here's a sneak peek at my final design proposal for the surface etchings on the metal cylinders using artwork created by myself, and students from two local schools; Leftwich Primary school, and Hartford High school.   More images of the fantastic work produced by students can be found on the image bank here...  https://www.flickr.com/photos/129716078@N08/albums

Breakthrough moment!

A breakthrough moment with a prototype metal cylinder hanging for the first time! 

Designing the etched metal cylinder surfaces

For the past couple of months, I've been using the artwork produced in the school workshops, combined with some mono-prints and salt related imagery of my own, to produce the artwork that will eventually be etched on to the surface of the metal cylinders.

Much of the design work is done on the computer, by manipulating, resizing and layering images which will produce different qualities of texture when etched in to the different metals; copper, brass, white brass and stainless steel.

Making progress...

I've been working hard on creating prototypes of the metal cylinders which will be eventually hung in Barons Quay.  I've been working on how the cylinders achieve the layered compositon, with copper, brass and white brass etchings layered on top of one another.

The challenge is to keep the cylinders as light as possible, whilst being structurally sound and maintaining the high level of craftsmanship I always strive for.

 Contrasting metallic colours.

 I was excited to try etching textural salt deposit - like images on to the stainless steel cylinder.  It's really beautiful the way the shiny metal contrasts the etched matt grey image.