Success! My scale-model of the work is no longer an endeavour: it is a reality. Albeit a kind of half-baked reality, but for someone who doesn’t like to make copies of the work unless it is, actually, part of the work, this feat is rather impressive. I failed in the antechamber department thanks to the fact a) it is already made in wood and b) I ran out of card, but making the cylinder itself enabled me to estimate how the antechamber might look upon it, and also meant I could puncture some holes in the cardboard ceiling for a lighting test, so it served its purpose.
I probably should have gone for black card instead of white card, as whenever I did try to do a lighting test the white card was not adequate enough to show me the full scale of the effect. It was all bright. Still, with a jumper and some cut-offs I managed to work against this problem, and feel relatively confident that it may all go according to plan.
But who knew that curtains were so expensive? Blackout curtains of course: thick, heavy, velvety curtains that are close to fifty pounds. I am feeling my pockets shrivel up like dried prunes, but am determined to see this piece through as I pictured it – if only because I know that nothing ever ends up how it was imagined. Therefore I need to condition the work as much as possible into functioning vaguely like the ‘imagined’ piece in my head.
I want to buy a solid curtain rail too, once I get paid, and perhaps – if I’m feeling really reckless – some thick, velvety fabric to prevent the floor from reflecting light too much and to muffle sound. Tomorrow I begin the task of jig-sawing out the two whopping great circles we drew out in pencil last week – I’m feeling giddy and nervous about that one – I can’t wait to start the actual cylinder structure, but if I cut one wrong line it’ll be an extra sheet of MDF.
With that and work tomorrow, and with writing a cheque for the dearer-than gold flexi-ply, this week looks to be expensive, but productive. I have also a vague idea of where my space will be for the final degree show. I’m hoping I can clear it out once my structure is ready to be erected – it’ll need a lot of work once it’s in the space, and I’ll need it put together to figure out the best way of manipulating light.
Currently however I am rather slowly working on my theory module – attempting to write an MA proposal and polish off the bibliography for my creative text. I feel it is lacking in poets and all my favoured poetry books are sitting at home. Pawing through all of them and typing out book titles will therefore be another job for the weekend.
