Draconaei’s Blog

Last summer I moved into a new apartment; it would be my first time living alone, and I had no furniture of my own.  While scouring Craigslist to furnish my new place on the cheap, one of my friends noticed an ad for a wooden drafting table, free to anyone who could pick it up.  Another good friend – also involved in the searching – owns a pickup truck, so the three of us drove over to check it out.  This is what we found:

This was one hefty drafting table, and a solid piece of craft, but had obviously been sitting in the barn for years.  The wood had greyed, the handles had rusted over, and the wood polish was all but entirely removed.  Scuffs and marks covered each surface.  It seemed sturdy and useful enough to be a worthwhile challenge, so there the work began.

With much help from a number of friends, I sanded each surface down to fresh wood, removing all the grime and markings, and priming the wood for staining.  Here you can see sanded and cleaned wood on the left, and the dirty untouched wood on the right:

Next was the most drastic step: staining the wood.  I chose a deep, dark red stain, which transformed the appearance of the wood beautifully.

Once the stain had dried, I sanded the wood again and re-applied the stain to deepen the color.  Once the second coat was dry, it was ready for the wood polish.  I repeated the sequence of sand, polish, and let dry several times to build up many thin layers of polish.  This kept the polish a uniform thickness and will continue to protect the table’s surface.

My friend removed the rust from the drawer handles, and I attached a couple of desk lamps.  Here is the newly cleaned desk, finished and beautiful, sitting in my apartment:

During the several-day long exhibition of my canopy, I created a makeshift sign explaining the project, and fastened a notebook to the sign asking for comments.  To my pleasant surprise, many people graciously obliged!  The responses show the varied reactions everyone had.  I’ve transcribed them here.

• Fantastic installation!  Too often we forget that there is a canopy above us as we walk through a forested area.
• Nice idea.  Sloppy implementation
• Interesting… I like it!
• Great place to park my motorcycle if it rains.  Great Job!
• When I passed by this am there was frost on the ground.  I through your “ice leaves” were frost on the netting.  I would have gone w/just the netting, and not the parachute, then the shadows would have been on the ground.
• Very cool!  =)
• hung too low… had to duck…
• relaxing to look at during the day.  At night, it has a decidedly ghostly feel, a sheet rustling in the woods lit by eerie lamps.  thanks
• Great work!  Looks awesome!
• Even though this was meant for the sun, it’s amazing at night.  Architecture is a beautiful pursuit; keep up the good work.
• at 4pm I saw the pre-printed leaves + some outline of real trees
• Transparent leaves are a nice touch
• I love that it is constantly changing with the sunlight.  Beautiful!
• Good!  It is kind of art!  Thanks
• I like how the fake leaves look.  However, you should have done this at a time when there actually were any real leaves.
• Three thumbs up!!!!
• I think this is the greatest canopy ever made!
• DONNA ROCKS
• The fabric seams ruin the effect a little.  Good idea though.
• Fun idea!  I think I’ve enjoyed seeing the reactions of people to it as much as the changing light and shadows themselves!
• We should build these everywhere!  More, more and more.
• Very cool - hope you get these before it rains
• Thank you
  - it simulates the effects of camping beneath a few trees, waiting just after sunrise to watch the shadows dance above.

My final semester assignment for “Borrowing Light” was to pick a location somewhere on north campus, and build an intervention/installation that reflected the already existing light quality in that space.

My site was a pathway located between two parking lots: the blue lot behind the Space Research Building, and the connecting orange lot.  The path is rough concrete and it weaves through the woods.  On a bright, sunny day, the light passes through the foliage in a specked pattern on the path- or in the winter, the sun casts long shadows from the bare branches.  At night, a row of lamps arranged along the path lights the way.  I chose this as a potential site because it’s an often used path, but removed from any sculptural works found in the more central and populated region of campus.

There is already a specific light quality in the space, which I could choose to emphasize or draw attention to.  I suspect the light is almost never appreciated, however, because the path is most often used by people arriving for work in the morning or leaving work at day’s end.

Placing a canopy above the path catches the shadows of the trees and branches, creating a “shadow screen” overhead.  My hope was for the installation to draw attention to these shadows, which otherwise generally go unnoticed.

In addition to creating a shadow-screen, I wanted to both convey and toy with the quality of light as it shines through and between leaves in a natural forest canopy.  To achieve this, I laser cut a series of acrylic leaves, wove them into a thin net, and suspended them a few inches above the cloth.  Light passing through these leaves created familiar and yet surreal shadows spaced among the natural branch shadows.  Additionally, the canopy was supported by a branch-like metal structure sewed into the fabric, which then in turn was fastened to four surrounding tree trunks.  In this way, the structure was a continuation of the trees reaching out over the path.

Below are stitched photographs showing the canopy-as-shadow-screen.  Enjoy!