Last week, the miller came out to tune up the windmill and test a couple of sails:
Back at the studio I added an additional element representing the millstone’s “furrows”.
This motif has a different placement on each sail, progressing across the sails’ length. The intended effect is that of a four-frame animation; as the mill turns, the semi-circle will appear to move from one end to the other…
Airbrushed Shape #1
Airbrushed Shape #2
Thanks to Jacquard Products, the sails will be printed with high-quality fabric paint! The company has graciously agreed to support this project, ensuring that the final result will last for a long, long time.
After experimenting with samples of a variety of their inks and paints, I am pretty sure that Airbrush is the way to go. This is quite surprising, since I’ve always associated the medium with fringed t-shirts sold at beach decal-shops; you know, unicorns and the like. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that). The bright, saturated color really makes the graphics stand out from far away. Also, the transparent paint almost glows when back-lit by the sun, as I attempt to demonstrate in these photographs.
Originally, I intended to print each shape in a solid color. However, the airbrushed color gradation allows for the use of multiple tones without assigning different colors to each component of the design. The alternating positive and negative shapes are unified by this consistency while remaining dynamic and playful.
Both of these samples were sprayed over a stencil using a pneumatic paint-gun. I used less paint for the “leaf shape” than for the other shape; the use of a new medium entails a learning curve. Ultimately, though, the one-shot nature of the spraying-over-stencil technique will inevitably result in imperfections, which I’ll accept as inherent to the process.
Yesterday’s work session was challenging, but we got a lot of tiny shapes cut. Xerox enlargements of a millstone rubbing resulted in these shapes, which were first traced onto the plastic fabric and then cut out by hand. This stencil will be used to print a textured layer on top of the larger, simpler shapes that will make up the overall design.
An article about the work-session and the project in general is in today’s Providence Journal, but I haven’t made it back to “the city” to pick one up. I will scan and upload a copy soon!
Can you use an matte knife or a marker? Do you like making art in historic buildings? Do you want to help make something that everyone will get to see?
If you answered YES to most of these questions, come to the last public workshop tomorrow! 
We will be cutting out giant stencils that capture the millstone’s texture.
The design is finally complete! (except for color choice). The sails will alternate between two designs, based on positive and negative shapes abstracted from the basic motif.
Two of the sails will look like this:
and the other two sails will look like this:
The leaf-shapes, and their colors, result from overlaying two circles of different colors.
To honor our radial saint, I’ll walk through the development of a circle-based pattern I’ve been working on as a potential sail design.
In order to work off of the millstone pattern as the basis for a design, I needed to understand how to draw that pattern somewhat accurately. At first, I mistakenly thought the eight “master” furrows were radial, with the shorter furrows parallel to those radii, like this:
But in actuality, the master furrows are more tangential to the inner circle:
The tangential effect rendered here is a little more extreme than on the actual stone, but incorporating it into the design gives a much better sense of it’s character.
Super-imposing five of these semicircles over the area of a sail causes some interesting overlays; some of the furrows are aligned while some of them cross.
If over-printed with a transparent paint or dye, two overlapping colors would combine to create a third color. But maybe this design is a bit too crowded and complex, especially when it’s applied to all four sails:
To see what this pattern would really look like, I’m laying it out full-scale. I folded the fabric first to create guidelines, then drew out the circumferences using a giant compass. Now I’m outlining the furrows with a straight edge.
(It’s hard to see unless you have some dedicated friends to hold it up for you from far away).
Speaking of which, sometimes it’s important to take a big step back, both literally and figuratively. It may be wise to revert to the simpler design of the previous full scale test, as seen here from afar:
and even farther: 
Here’s a play-by-play of last weekend’s workshop, where we made a giant block print!
First, we used different tools to carve marks and images into a piece of rigid insulation foam…
Next, we applied paint to the foam block with a roller, and prepared to place it onto the paper…
Then we pressed the block down onto the paper by crawling around in circles on our hands and knees:
Finally, we removed the block to reveal our first print. It wasn’t perfect, but it turned out great!
I would suggest this large-scale printing method for artists and students of all ages / abilities.
We will be practicing block printing on a full-scale test sail, then carving shapes into a large foam block from which to print the final sails…and eating snacks by the fire. 1-4 pm at Prescott Farm!
Location: 2009 West Main Road, Middletown RI, 02842 (or, use written directions from NRF.org)
See the article online (scroll to page A8) or pick up a copy in town (I’d try West Main Pizza).