The Price of Memories!

So, now that my memory box is complete it's time to count up the cost! So let's see:

Petrol to Halstead to pick up Pencil Box- £5.00 (approx)

Bottle of Shellac (Button) Polish - £3.40
Set of craft knives - £4.99
Guilding cream - £7.99

Petrol to Peter Ward - £3 approx

Print - £6

Frame & Glass - £12

This brings it to a grand total of £42.38

Not exactly free, but here's a list of free stuff too, just for good measure:

Wood stain (2 portions) (care of Tim!)
Meths - (borrowed from family member)
Paint stripper (borrowed from family member)
Blog space (care of Google)

Care and attention (care of me!)
Thoughts and creative ideas
Motivation and perseverance! (priceless!)

Though I do feel I have injected value back into this object via effort and attention, I also feel that, alongside creating it, I have become somewhat attached to the object, having invested in its development. So the value for me lies in the memory of the original object, signified by the untouched interior of the object, and the memory I have associated with it as part of my work. The actual cost to me is perhaps a gain for me too in the end because of the people I have met along the way and the skills I have begun to learn. This is MY exchange value!

Finishing Touch

Putting the finishing touch to my guilded pencil box has been a somewhat tactile and tentative process of waiting, doing a little bit, waiting and so on, fitting it in between other processes. But those times spent doing a little bit can need a careful hand and an attention to detail that requires both patience and determination - skills in themselves I believe! For this it was all about the order of things - I tried applying the guilding first, then taking the excess off with meths, then touching up the wood stain, then applying the shellac polish - then swapped the process around a few times, leaving the shellac til last of course, to see what heralded the best results (bearing in mind that each individual process was separated by a day!). As it happens it didn't make too much difference but it was worth it to gain that knowledge aspect of the skill involved. So, if you want to see this piece in it's final state, and all the other pieces, come on down to The Minories Art Gallery in Colchester for the exhibition, which will be running for 4 weeks from Saturday the 12th December 2009. I should be there the following Wednesday (16th) during the day if you'd like to meet me and ask me any questions in person, otherwise please feel free to post any comments on here!

Gold Finger!

Another helpful man I went to see was one Peter Ward of Colchester. He gave me some great advice on how to get the guilding effect I wanted for my numbers and etchings: Guilding Cream - or, as he calls it “Gold Finger!” Mr. Ward showed me the rather high profile work he’s done with the military, making all sorts of clothing, as well as the restoration work he does, which is very impressive - especially the leather boxes - brilliant work! He also just happened to know Mrs. Elizabeth Cannon (see earlier entry); what a small world eh? …well they do both live in Colchester so I guess not that unusual a consequence! Anyway, I also recommend Mr. Ward as a fantastic source of historical data -we chatted for some time about various subjects.

Coming along!

The Golden Rule!

Glueing the crack in the pencil box was fairly easy - all I needed was some clamps, some white PVA glue for wood, both borrowed from my girlfriend's father, and some plastic to put in between the clamps and the wood to keep the edge straight on the wood - which I improvised by using one of those CD-shaped clear plastic bits that come with every CD cake-stand.

Tim had told me that I needed to stain the wood a few times first, to get the wood slightly darker than I want because the shellac would lighten it slightly, which required my first purchase - a bottle of Button Polish (shellac), which cost me £3.40 from the local hardware store. I couldn't find any on Freecycle -or at least not this week - it is not allowed (ethically) to put up the same 'wanted' post more than once a week - and I couldn't find anyone I knew who had any, so in the interests of getting the job done I had to buy it. But, now tht I'm getting into the idea of restoration I plan to restore the old walnut table I have inherited from my late grandma, which I am presently sitting at whilst typing away! It has a veneer though so new skills will have to be learned!

I applied the stain, several times, waited, sealed it with a thing coat of shellac, then cut it back with very fine sandpaper -which I have plenty of laying around the flat as I've recently decorated. You sould wait 24 hours between each application of shellac and I wanted to move on to re-etching the inch markers so that I could prepare them for the gold leaf.

As I began to re-etch the markers, very carefully, with my stanley knife, I realised that the stain had made it very difficult to see the numbers, which gave me an idea.

Numbers represent our need to control our world and this discourse seeks to categorise our world into purpose and process. It is an empirical stance. However, I think that creativity works differently to this - it is about intuition, rather than facts - and the fact that this is a school tool made me reminisce about sitting in the classroom, geting bored by the constant drumming of information, when all I wanted to do was draw and daydream. I've often thought that too much emphasis is placed on scientific / factual based subjects at school or by employers, and recently the governments 'Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy' policy also focusses on the importance of developing creative skills, with the view that they fundamentally underpin our ablity to excel in the workplace. Although this is pleasing to hear, personally I fear that the focus is slightly skewed towards science and the digital arts rather than visual arts per se, but anyway, I digress!

The point is that life's not all about facts and figures and working 'for the man' as it were, it's about enjoyment and interaction too - which is the place where the arts are a prominent part of our lives.

I decided that, because alot of the original markings were now so faint, I would change them by removing the periodic marks and gradually including more and more artefacts as the rule progressed, with angled marks, differences in marker width and length, shapes, missed marks, removed sections and at one stage a complete removal of an inch to the opposite side of the rule, ending with a depiction of the golden spiral, which to those of you who enjoy math, will know reveals the golden ratio - which is the interstice of art and mathmatics. Many of the most beatiful art works and architecture have use this concept and to me these represent the marriage of logic and art, of efficiency and creativity. This aspect of the piece makes reference to the value of both art and mathmatics, or rather a creative marriage of the two, as well as the gold leaf to represent the golden age of capitalism, which is now encroaching on anything in its wake that doesn't display efficiency, accuracy and profitablity and which is, in my humble opinion, creating a very ugly world of digitality (digital Britain).

Art injects beauty back into our lives through creative expression, and so using digital networks to help create art seems fitting because by utilisng the thing (the internet) in which I see the tensions of the modern age, (alienation v's mass communication / freedom v's expoitation) I am attempting to re-address the balance between creativity and efficiency - in my own small way.

So it's off to the digital world to find enthusiasts who are willing to give me the benefit of their skills, for free, so I can inject some value back into this otherwise purely functional object.

Tomorrow's another day!

If you've been reading my main blog you will have noticed that I am getting closer to my particular take on recycled/upcycled/re-purposed everyday objects and I think I have decided what I want to do with this object.
I was interested in the inside of the pencil box because it seems relevant. I had contemplated painting the inside white to increase the emphasis between inside and outside of the box and to generate intrigue with connotations of innocence. I had also thought about painting a pictire on the inside or painting it in liquid light and exposing an image onto it, but it never really felt like the right approach.

Then I realised that what intrigued me about the inside of the box was that it was hidden from view - in some way it represents where the emotions are placed within the object by its previous owner, having been kept for over 40 years - which is significant for two reasons. Firstly, it originally beloned to the lady's sister, so obviously there is a strong emotional connection. Secondly, I think that the reason people place so much importance on buying objcts and keeping them for a long time, or even a short time, is the emotional investment - perhaps they reflect a need to find a channel for our emotions: emotions that we have a difficulty expressing in words or actions and interactions. Whatever happens to this pencil box it will always hold some emotional significance for its previous owner, relating to her sister. I want to preserve and emphasise that 'value' by leaving the inside of the box in its raw state, whilst I treat the outside using antique restoration techniques.
The other thing I want to draw attention to is that this object was used at school in the late 1950's to early 1960's, acordng to it's previous owner, and this was in the middle of the golden age of capitalism (1947-1970) - a time when ideas about sustainability and green issues were only beginning to appear in the far corners of the scientific fringe.
I also want to emphasise the connection between 'art-crafts' and and 'conceptual' art by drawing attention to both the intrinsic (the surface of the box - the physical beauty) and extrinsic beauty (inside the box - the emotional connection the previous owner has and that we all invest into the objects we own).

I will make reference to the golden age of capitalism by reviving the inch ruler marks in gold leaf. I hope also that the use of restoration techniques will embellish the wood with a rich and yet delicate ambience, which I hope will make it difficult to imagine using it with the kind of throw-away functionality of its original purpose. I want it to move beyond its function to gain a more significant value.

So anyway, enough with the flowery descriptions and onto making it happen!

After talking to Mum, I found out that my great grandad was a french polisher and she said to ask great uncle John if he could help; but alas, he loved watching his father but never followed in the trade because after the second world war there was litle call for the trade and new sprays were being used in mass-market factories so my great grandad turned his hand to being a telephonist to support his family - he had to use his hands really after having his leg blown off saving a soldier from drowning at the battle for the bridge of Arnhem. But anyway, John couldn't help so I decided to find a local tradesman and I happened upon one Tim Baskett, of Southend-on-sea!

Tim was extremely helpful and gave me lots of tips on how to french polish - he even gave me some materials - a dabber, made from materials he had in his workshop, some wood stain in the colour of my choice, and he also gave me the names of the best materials for the job and where best to buy it locally! We had a great conversation about my work and he showed me a fantastic toy rattle that he'd designed and made and is currently selling quite well to friends and family who have kids. I remarked that it was rather similar - and actually more ecological - than the specialist toy I had bought from an eco shop for a friends baby, which was supposedly scientifically designed to improve analytical skills. Tim's even had its own box, which gave it a nice traditional feel, and I loved it.

So anyway, the first thing he told me to do was to glue the crack in the side and clamp it together overnight, which is what I did! Tomorrow's another day!

Revivals!

Just before I went on my merry way , I asked Mrs Cannon where she gets her stuff restored if t needs it and instead of revealing her secrets she gave me some useful advice. She told me that to restore my pencil box to its former glory, I'd need to remove the varnish and use a wood reviver - which she assured me I'd find a decent recipe for online, which I did, and here's a few wood revivers I thought sounded easy to make...

This is a recipe formulated by the late Clive Wainwright, former deputy keeper of furniture at the Victoria & Albert Museum. I presume it lifts the varnish as well as rives the wood as its got methylated spirits:

1 part linseed oil

2 parts methylated spirits

2 parts terpentine

2 parts distilled vinegar

Method: Put all the above into bottle and shake well. Apply o furniture - not too much at one time - and rub in well rather than smearing i over the surface:

From: www.countrylife.co.uk/countryside/article/369535/Making -the-perfect-wood-polish.html#part2

An easier wood reviver recipe would be:

1/3 cup boiled linseed oil

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup turpentine

Method: Combine all in a Mason jar. Apply with steel wool (fine), stir mix occassionally.

www.budget101.com/household/hhw23.htm

Antiques Roadtrip!

It’s been a while now, living with the pencil box. I’ve been carrying it around with me, taking it to work, showing it off to my colleagues and generally absorbing it into my life to see what ideas might arise. I think about its past, our past, its little dimples, I mean, ‘indents’. Actually, it’s those indents that got me thinking. They’re in inches of course – back then they still perceived the world through imperial dimensions. The other thing that got me thinking was the actual wood – what was it? I realized at this point that I didn’t know much about wood types or how to recognize them…except maybe MDF!
So, I thought to myself, “I’ll find out about wood” and went forth to the trusty internet to sort the wood from the trees. After finding a few retro wooden pencil boxes and a couple of ‘antique’ ones, I came to the temporary conclusion it must be made of Beech. I discovered all sorts of interesting things about Beech. For instance, Beech can be pulped and spun to make a fabric called Modal (similar to cotton) and that Beech, native to the south west of England, is now considered an endangered species. But anyway, this didn’t help me immediately so I decided to find a decent antique dealer who could tell me all sorts of interesting facts about the old wooden pencil box!...
It didn’t take long before I found a fair selection of antique dealers in Colchester but as it was a Saturday I thought it best to phone the first shop on my list – which happened to be ‘Elizabeth Cannon Antiques”. I explained all about myself and my pencil box and Mrs C was extremely helpful and enthusiastic about my enquiries, inviting me to pop down before 5!



I arrived mid-afternoon and pressed the door bell to be let into the shop. Mrs Cannon was expecting me; a very helpful, interesting and sophisticated lady, herself a former artist and now, like me, in the business of recycling!

She introduced me to the primary tool of the trade – the X10 lens! With this little gadget you can see all kinds of detail and she showed me how to focus in on the wood, pointing out the brown flecks in the grain of the wood that discounted my initial suspicion that the wood might be molded, proving it to be natural. She also pointed out the build-up of crystals on the surface, forming a feint pattern - a sure sign of ageing. Also, the crack in the wood at one end followed the grain, proving again that the wood was natural.
What Mrs. C also noticed was that the impressions made for the numbers were all slightly different - at different distances to the inch markers and the impressions were deeper for some numbers – suggesting that these were impressed by hand; but also the divisions were in tenths rather than the usual eighths, which suggests they may have been made to line up with mathematical graph paper, having the same divisions. It seems that even then the decimal/metric system was creeping in, suggesting a period where our perceptions of spatial dimensions were inherently different.
In ancient times they measured lengths based on the distance from a builder’s elbow to his outstretched fingertips (a cubit) which was subdivided into digits, approximately equal to the width of a finger. The width of the thumb was later used, which was named an inch. Then, the foot was used for longer measurements. A yard was the distance from a man’s nose to his outstretched fingers and a fathom was the distance from the tips of the fingers of one hand to the tips of the fingers of the other hand when the arms were stretched out. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/units-of-weights-and-measures-before-the-metric-system.html)


So, the movement to the metric system symbolises a significant change in our perception of our spatial environment from a physical connection with our bodies, to a perspective based on a standard that has no relationship to our physical body - which to me represents an important milestone in the gradual shift of our everyday experience from the real world to the virtual world.

The Day We Met!

Entry 1: It all began one fine day when I noticed this beautiful item up for grabs on Freecycle and went to collect in Halstead (a traditional weaving village) – bloody miles away, and via a journey of conversations with high street shop assistants and backstreet locals! The charming lady who bestowed to me this fine object was at once perplexed and intrigued with my reason for taking it off her hands and we had a nice chat about school, clutter and conceptual art of course! She told me it was her sisters and she’d had it since the early 1960’s and ever since I’ve been imagining the life of this object in its glory days, being opened and closed and used with regular requirement.
But, I hear you think, “what the flipping ‘ell is he gonna do with it?!” …My sentiments exactly!