Process and Production (year 2) - Physical Studio - I am... with Nick Deakin (part 4)

Attempting to draw in sugar

This is the first physical studio workshop of the term; this term we are focusing on creating 3D hand crafted type out of anything we deem suitable for the word. This means that we could use any material we want in any way we want to; I like this sense of freedom in the brief as this task is all about creativity. 

With this in mind I wanted to create type that I could make with materials connected to the meaning of the type so I started to think of words. I came up with 'sweet dreams'; I chose these as I thought I could use sugar for the 'sweet' and cotton wool for the 'dreams'.

Successful attempt

I started with the word 'sweet'; for this I used a piece of paper, blue pencil and sugar. I wanted a blue background but I didn't have any blue card at this stage so I opted to colour a piece of paper with a blue pencil. If anything it added to the 'hand' made style. First I tried simply pouring the sugar into the shapes of the letters but it wasn't working, which may have been due to the size I was trying to make the letter so they fit on the page. As an alternative option I poured out a layer of sugar and using my finger I wrote the letters in to the sugar; this worked more effectively. Once I had finished 'sweet', 'dreams' was fairly simple; I pulled apart pieces of cotton wool to create the individual letters and since I was happy with the outcome I stopped. 

I then moved on to a second piece as I'd finished before the end of the workshop; I began thinking of words again like I did at the beginning. At this stage I saw some nails in the studio and the phrase 'nailed it' came to mind so I thought about what I could do with this; I started to imagine the words being spelt out in nails which is what I ended up doing. The nails were all different sizes as I didn't have enough to to use one type but I think this made the piece look better with the random element to it. 

I didn't have a camera set up at the time to create a time-lapse of the process but I took photos of the type; I'm hoping to produce more at home and use my camera I have at home. If I'd have known this before the workshop I would have brought my camera with me to the workshop; but I will know this for future workshops. 

Here is the outcome, I have edited the image to black and white for the 'sweet dreams' as the 'dreams' looked more like clouds when I did this; they also look like they are drifting. As for the 'Nailed it' I think this looked best in black and white as well; I don't know if it's just because I prefer images in this colour scheme. Overall, I'm pleased with the outcomes I have produced today and I enjoyed the day of experimenting with materials. It was good to be 'free' as I felt more creative when I just let it flow rather than over thinking things. This was a good start to experimenting and as mentioned earlier I try to get a camera to record the process.