Liam and all,
Let me first reiterate Mike Press's comment about the recent FLOOD of
emails started by Liams initial enquiry, one spark starts a bush fire
and like a phoenix, crafts mailbase takes flight.
As a practising professional designer/maker for the last 25 years, I
have been enthused by the potential of the whole computer technology
since my very first green screen Amstrad PCW and dot-matrix printer.
-In just about every area apart from design! This happens in my head,
it's just much quicker and the wet ware is always in front and
available and yes the creative process is so tied in with the
material used.
In fact part of the delight of using wax is allowing it to take its
own paths as they lead to strange and unexpected destinations.
For me, computing is mainly about communication. From the mundane
issuing of invoices and accounting to the production of catalogues of
one's work. But the growth of the Internet has also meant that the
sometimes isolated designer/maker/craftsperson can now be part of a
world-wide community in all its glorious diversity.
I could probably use Cad as a useful design tool but the
time I would have to allocate to the learning process is
unfortunately tied up by the tiresome business of running a business.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to survive so far and still
develop my skills. But talking of isolation, what I am doing is
really walking alone through uncharted lands with the prospect of
exciting vistas ahead. At the moment wax lampshades are where it is
at, (see web site address below) but I would love to be able to do
more massive work such as
pyramids made out of wax and resin in which one can sit with the
light source outside. The ultimate in colour therapy. Door panels and
windows(north-facing!), and large scale light projects.
With such large scale works, CAD would probably have to be used.
At the moment I can experiment with design in real time and even
if the finished product is not satisfactory it would still have
enough merit to be saleable. This is not as I would like it but
economic neccessity and and an ideal of beauty must always be locked
in a struggle.
Anyway if you've managed to get this far, thanks. I haven't read all
the emails from Liam's initial posting yet so that's me off for now
to do that.
Ken
------------------------------------------------------
Ken Parsons at Spectrawax in Edinburgh & Peebles.
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/plaza/fw48/index.html (or htm)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|