Using tea to antique paper.

My mantra for design students is "Never start with a clean sheet of paper".

That works on two levels - firstly it's a reminder to always do the research, finding out, seeing what's gone before, at the beginning of a new endeavour. In other words learn from others.

The other level is literal. Actually start with a messed up page and draw into it. Last week I gave each student a messed up stained, antiqued, sheet of paper and asked them to draw on it. Incidentally, I also made them do a drawing on a napkin. Fuzzy drawing.

This post is how to produce that stained effect. Obvious once you know how, but anyway:

Here's the sheet of Canson watercolour paper and a Daler-Rowney sketchbook. To be honest the paper isn't that important - although the Canson paper is twice the weight of the sketchbook.

I have prepared two cups of tea. The one on the right I shall drink in due course - it's PG tips. The onion the left in my brand new mug is Redbush  Redbush gives a warmer tone than PG. I've tried lots of different teas, they all give different effects. Posh Earl Grey with big leaves gives a sensational texture and the smell lives on.

Here's the paper on a board. Ideally this would be glass, but this will work almost as well. Incidentally, the colours are all a bit weird because it's just gone 6.00am.

I've used hot water from the kettle to soak both side of the sheet of paper. I won't be doing that with the sketchbook, because it will ruin it. This process will remove any sizing in the paper.

Here it is, soaked.

Now I've poured the Redbush on it from the mug.  That's the teabag at the top. I'll use that in a moment. I've coated both sides. The tea will probably not soak all the way through unless I leave it soaking for hours.

The teabag is torn open and the leaves scattered all over the paper. This will give little hotspots. You could also try sprinkling salt in places - works well if you try this with watercolour paint.

Now it's the sketchbook's turn. I'm not going to soak the pages this time as it will ruin the book. This time I have used the teabag like a brush, squeezing the cold tea out and then using the bag to spread it evenly. But not that evenly.

Once agin, the teabag is split open and the leaves spread over.

The book is closed and I have used a two litre drink bottle to apply some weight. Otherwise the vicious curl in the paper will stop the tea leaves from making their mark.

Three hours later - here's the result. Paper is really curly. You can try ironing it, works a bit. I usually just let it relax over time. It will never be 100% flat - but that's part of the charm!

The Canson paper isn't dry yet, although it's shaping up nicely.

Will probably take some time. It's important to check it through, otherwise it may end up sticking to wood.  I'll add picture when it's dry.

Final results

Sketchbook, scanned, no colour correction. Although I will use the scanned image somewhere I will probably warm it up a little - sometimes it looks like weak chocolate or flesh. I may add some grain.

Almost certainly I will crop it again to to remove the dark strip on left hand side, which is a shadow from scanning. Incidentally both scans are 600dpi and 48bit.

Carson paper, scanned, no colour correction. Fairly pleased with results. Canson paper has strange mark on middle left. (Click to enlarge) Think this is fine dust from the tea pay that has floated to the top and then dried out. I quite like it, but might use Photoshop to remove it when I use the scan for something.

Mechanisms Exhibition Greenbelt 2016

This is some of the contents of the show at Greenbelt Festival this year. In my slot we had the Saturday afternoon torrential downpour, which kept numbers low and a number of people who wanted to see it missed it.

The Backstory:

The show is allegedly a collection of artefacts and specimens found by George Crow in Africa in the 1920s during the great Uranium rush (see Advert). George was a missionary, but wanted to make a bob or two, as he would have said, on the side.

What he discovered has been hidden for years and only recently discovered during demolition of the Wildfell Institute.

Mechanisms

Located in the first quarter of the 20th century and re-discover years later by explorers in Brazil and Africa, these creatures/robots have fascinated a small group of people for many years.  Mechanisms the installation brings them to a wider audience for the first time.

Location

Mechanisms have so far been found only in the locality of the few known naturally occurring nuclear rectors in the world.  These reactors, which occur only in the presence of Uranium, running water and other ideal conditions are usually found deep in the earth. Where Mechanisms are found there is also a presence of metallic ores and silicon.  

When they are found they are almost always in a semi-fossilised and incomplete state. Despite their being many eons old, they will still occasionally light up or twitch if exposed to a strong electric field. However, the parts of them that may be naturally occurring semiconductors have long deteriorated and we can only at this time speculate at the functions of these devices.

Origin

The origin of the mechanisms is a matter of some controversy. Opinion is deeply divided along several fault lines.  Were they made, or are they the natural result of unusual evolutionary mechanism? Should they be investigated by the physicists, or the biologists?Biology, or Construction

Here you will find what is known about the construction of the Mechanisms. Careful examination of the remains has revealed that these creatures use naturally occurring electrical fields as a power source. Also, the construction has given rise to the thought that these creatures both self-repaired and also repaired each other. Reproduction happens through construction.

So far, several different types of creatures have been found. Some are like Trilobites, others more crab-like. Some show external mechanics and nearly all have a visible antenna for collecting radio frequency electric current.

The Expedition.

When George Crow and Alan Prothero first set out for Africa, they were going as missionaries. Crow an amateur geologist and keen electrical experimenter had been avidly reading about advances is radioactivity and Tesla's theory of power transmission.

Crow somehow managed to get some lead foil and constructed a radiation suit. It had breathing equipment and they managed to obtain telephonic apparatus to communicate.
Crow had also brought his violet ray machine as a radiation detector. This glowed violet in the presence of either radiation or in a strong electric field.

On June 29th, 1921 they disembarked at Port-Gentil in Gabon, hired porters and set off for Franceville. 

As they got closer, Crow noticed his violet ray machine was faintly glowing st night. This was a good sign, but what they were about to find surpassed their wildest dreams.

During the long voyage Prothero had decided to use the spare time they had exploring and looking for Uranium and Radium. If they could find those elements - or even the Pitchblende they are extracted from, they could become very wealthy and the curative powers of electricity and radioactivity were beginning to be recognised.

Discovery

Crow found the first Mechanisms while searching for Uranium and Radium.

He said: “I looked into a gap in the rocks.  "The last thing I expected was to find something looking back at me. I didn’t know what it was. If it were alive or dead"

During the early part of the 20th century when the Mechanisms were first being discovered the early researchers made copious drawings and rough  castings of them. Often when they were first pulled from the ground they had intense colouration, but this was found to fade quickly in the light, followed by the subsequent sudden deterioration of the specimen itself. 

It wasn’t until the early 1980s, with advances in preservation techniques that further scientists returned to the fossil reactors and successfully removed them.

Origins

Creatures or Robots?

Ever since the discovery of these creatures there have been almost continuous argument about their origin. There are a number of inconsistencies that have derailed repeated attempts at proper scientific research as the opposing factions have argued the most basic propositions. Basically the issues are:

Age of Mechanisms

The mechanisms appear to have been there for a very long time, dating suggests that they are contemporary with the reactors and existed for around 100,000 years. This is disputed by the Oxford group, who claim that they are of much more recent origin, maybe less than 150 years and represent an unusual, but not startling use of contemporary knowledge. Finally, there are those who suggest that the mechanisms are about 3-4000 years old and are hitherto unknown and products of a civilisation that arose at the time.

Location

Scholars have to take into account the radiation at the site. Even today it is unsafe for anyone not properly dressed for the intense radiation to be in the area for any length of time. Unless this was properly understood by people in those earlier days, then radiation sickness, death and other ailments would have been a real issue for them. The further back in time we place the origin of these creatures, the more atomic and electromagnetic radiation would have to be dealt with and death may have occurred within hours of exposure.

Biology

The complexity of the Mechanisms is thought to be unlikely to have occurred spontaneously. While most biologists can agree that carbon-based mechanisms can spontaneously appear and evolve to higher forms, almost all scholars find it difficult to account for a similar mechanism in a creature that is effectively made of metal, ceramic and silicon. The style of the fastener to hold them together furthers the hypothesis that these are of human origin.


These are not trilobites at all, rather they are self contained replicating mechanisms. Researchers who believe that these are of human origin often cite these are being too complex and too inter-dependant to have evolved. Certainly, the appearance of screws, nuts and bolts would lend some weight to that theory; although in the specimen above it should be noted the fasteners had corroded and here they have been replaced with modern fasteners.

The specimen here, which is not in the exhibition, is one of the most complete found. Once again, modern fasteners have been used to join the sections together. 

Examples of this creature are common, but rarely in anything like a complete state. Mostly there are only fragments. The outer shell is quite thin and doesn’t stand up to corrosion as much as other kinds do.

Electrical remains originally inside the head part have been removed for continued examination. Speculation is that this creature was very fast moving.

Workings

1. Light sensor, and also illumination. Glows a red/orange colour when the creature is moving around and when it is receiving electrical stimulation.
2. “Brain” of the creature. This is a naturally forming silicon/copper semiconductor that performs the role of organising the creatures functions. No complete specimens have been found and much research is going into the precise functioning of this organ. Crystals include Galena, Carborundum.
3. Coil-like structure, which together with a capacitor structure and the whip-like tail, form a resonant circuit that scavenges electrical energy from the reactor. 
4. Copper and iron wires that make up the energy distribution. These also would appear to carry high-frequency switching commands that tell the structures in the actuators what to do.
5. Actuators. Small electrical motors that move the creatures limbs and provide a certain degree of locomotion. It is estimated that these creatures moved very slowly and once they had found a comfortable place within the rocks would stay there until forced to move.
6. Limbs. Used for locomotion, but mainly for gripping onto rocks. Some carry additional parts for building or making repairs to other Mechanisms.
7. Whip tail, used as an aerial for picking up electricity by radiation.

Specimen Box

Map showing location of the finds in the Oklo region of Gabon. Diagram of the reactors and the interconnected caves. There is a region beyond five yet to be explored

Specimens in this box are castings from the fossils found in the walls and floors of the dormant reactors. 

To avoid disturbing the fragile creatures/automata, a cast was made by pressing wet clay onto the wall to make a mould and then subsequently cast in ceramic material.

Disclaimer

Sadly, only part of this is true.  There are natural nuclear reactors, and they do have background radiation. But they don't, and I suspect never have given off intense electrical fields. 

George Crow was my Grandfather. He was a Joiner. He never travelled further than South London, other than when on active duty in WW1.

There were no creatures or robots there. That is entirely fictional. 

Most, but not all the references are made up.

If this show is about anything, then it’s about checking everything and not believing until you have things verified. Even if it’s an expert telling you. Especially if it's an expert...

The Mechanisms Project is by Stephen Spicer. www.stevespicer.co.uk

An examination of the curious creatures that exist inside naturally occurring nuclear reactors in remote parts of the world

Bits about the Bullet.

I do promise I will get a better pic than this one. Note the carrier on the rear.

I've had a Royal Enfield Bullet since April.  It hasn't been a smooth ride, and although I enjoy it and I'm not quite at the point where I wish I hadn't brought it, at times it has been close. This has not been an easy purchase. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I thought I would give anyone who cares the benefits of my hindsight.

Bullets have faces. Or at least eyes and a big nose.

Importers/Makers/Dealers

You should understand whats's written on the RE website is lacking in precision. Just because it says something on the RE website, don't take this as something you can rely on. For example is the first, second and third service free? Website said three free services. Dealers one and two said one free (first) service. Other dealers said no free service. I ended up paying £100.
This is what two of the manuals on the RE website say:

Now try getting that to happen, although to be fair this page is missing from the manual that you get. According to the dealer I brought it from they are very strict about warranty, and the terms and conditions in the manual/warranty I am pretty sure are not enforceable under english law - they are full of get out clauses.

After many years of dealing with HD dealerships, dealing with RE dealers was an eyeopener. HD dealers are usually anxious to please and have shine showrooms, whereas RE  dealers tend to be harder to deal with and have minimal showrooms. 

Actually the dealerships fall into three categories: 'gentlemen' dealers, older, middle class who will lump it with concours classic British bikes if they could. Pride themselves on service - other than they are not open much at the weekend - or as I found, shut up shop before christmas and don't open until well into the new year. 

Then there's the guys who also sell Chinese brands you've hardly heard of, have little in the way of servicing or spare parts facilities. 

Finally there's the odd one in the middle. A traditional motorbike shop if you like. That's the type I went for.
All the dealer websites I went to had one price on the site and another in the shop. Most were not up to date. Only two out those I tried to make contact with replied. 

Build quality. 

OK. Just. Most bits fit, some only just, I spent 20 mins wishing I'd never opened the side panel... The finish is only OK, the instruments are ever so slightly not straight. Export versions are supposed to be better than the domestic market.

Oxygen sensor stuck on (Tricky to see here) not silver paint falling off.

Some bits are so bad they are almost comical -like the silver paint on the oxygen sensor. There's little in the way of slick trim. Infact there's almost not any trim, it's all very functional. I like that. Almost no plastic either

Highly sophisticated electrics. That's the fork lock, a token nod to security. Helpfully, the ignition switch has a large nut around it, making it very easy to get out. No need to jam a screw driver in. Think I might investigate getting an ignition that you can remove the key from when it's running. Liked that on all my glides.

Mine is on it's third exhaust heat shield in 300 miles. The first and second fell off within 100 miles. The third, so far, has held on. Apparently it's a known issue, probably down to the two crap pop rivets they use to hold it on.

It also leaked petrol. Intermittent fault. Fault never fully traced to my satisfaction, dealer says it's a split pipe on the fuel pump. We'll see. Would have thought it would have leaked all the time if that was the case. 

There's a single supplier of parts other than RE themselves. Hitchcock's motorcycles. They appear to have a comprehensive catalogue of British, Indian and other sourced parts. Every dealer that I've seen uses them as a wholesale supplier. Their catalogue states that some Indian parts need 'persuasion' to fit and equally many parts will 'need painting again'. I suppose they are cheaper than HD bits.
Having said that, the luggage carrier I got from them didn't fit - even through it was British made and quality. Either the instructions were wrong or RE had modified the rear; I eventually had to ignore them and figure it out for myself.
Turns out the loading is only 7.5 kilos, so hardly worth it anyway.

Top quality horn.

Things I would like to do is fit alloy wheels, proper luggage, pillion seat. Alloy wheels because presumably I could then use tubeless tyre - which I figure are safer. Hitchcock's do alloys, but not for this bike.

Riding

It's frugal. At the moment I'm getting about 60mpg, I struggle to put a tenner's worth in the tank. Now it's run in a bit - I'm still being careful at 600 miles, it is running a bit smoother and it's accelerating better. 40-45 seems to be the sweet spot, above 55 and it's vibrating and by 60 it's painful. People who know me will know that I can do long rides, but I would't want to to do too many 200 mile journeys on this. The sprung seat is comfortable.
I can't stand having indicators that don't self cancel. Been spoilt for 35 years and keep forgetting to switch them off. Foot pegs don't shake that I've noticed, nor the handle bars. Mirrors are completely useless.
If all this sounds negative, it's great for blatting around town, which is what I got it for.

Good bits

It's ahead turner. People stare at you. The satin green paint is nice, and the wheels are painted so there's not much indian chrome to fall off.
It's not a Harley. Riding HD is almost an embarrassment now. Jibes of "Mid life crisis" and "Born again Biker" (OK, but *not* that way). And HD are so common now. When I first got the FLT in 1981 or 2, I had the only one I knew. Now days, have a ride on the motorway and I will guarantee most big bikes you meet are HD.
It makes a proper motorbike noise.
You can flick it through the rush hour traffic.
The brakes are better than the Electra-Glide.
Maintenance and parts should be cheap.
It's cheap to buy; there not any other 500cc bikes other than one or two Chinese ones anywhere near the price.
It's fun.

Gamification of the classroom. A bit of a ramble...

In my department in my college we teach to the UAL specification. That is there's a unit of learning, which has a number of criteria and then pass/refer markings are applied to them. I have been reading recently on gamification in business and other areas and wondered if there were any merit in using these techniques for teaching. Of course there's a major difference I believe between a classroom and a business. On the whole business is about being competitive while education is is more about co-operation.

We are all told that our students today are digital natives. This has been repeated so many times it is now accepted truth by everyone including the students themselves. By comparison their teachers are lowly digital immigrants. I'm going to call that hogwash. Students are no more 'natives' than their grandparents were. Students spend hours staring at small devices and communicating, their grandparents spent hours staring at the telly and on the phone. In both cases it's consumption of media and chatting. It's just the size, portability and content has changed. Students on the whole and their grandparents are both consumers of content, they neither make or create content. Most students won't ever program the device they are using - nor be able to fix it. If there's a difference, then it's the older (non-teenage) audience is more likely to give up as soon as they are faced with a problem.

Much is also talked about attention spans. Received wisdom is that young people have short attention spans.  I'm not sure it's that easy. I teach mature adults. Most times they don't have huge attention spans as well, it's just that they hide it better, and in a classroom situation they can be worse, not better than a group of engaged teenagers. However, that observation aside, we need to keep them engaged, and using game mechanics may be a way of doing that

Engagement is what this is about, and that is where gamification may help."Some researchers are now exploring what children can gain from electronic games, often emphasizing their potential to teach academic skills."(Olson, 2010)    

There have been a number of studies which have looked into the games industry to find out why games are so attractive to both children and adults. Many have focussed on addiction, as this is now being recognised as a social issue. Essentially young people can spend hours on games while maybe only short periods for study. In a similar way some groups of adults**, more likely male (30+) will negate other things for games. 

Players may play hours upon hours whereas they are not willing to spend more than 15 minutes on doing homework or studying for exams. 

However, people confuse gamification with playing games; these two are different things: 

• Playing a game is the actual action of playing, i.e. consumption. 

• Gamification, on the other hand, looks into games’ mechanism and how those principles can be applied to other things. 

Typical game elements

Elements that are often found in games include:

• Challenge.
• Chance.
• Competition between player/machine.
• Cooperation between player/machine.
• Player feedback.
• Incremental rewards.
• Winning.
• Progression through levels

How can we apply these elements to teaching?

There are small changes in style, wording and marking that may make changes. You should note that these comments refer specifically to my own practice.

Marking

An issue with the UAL specification. In my opinion is the pass/refer marking for Units 1-7 and the enclosed criteria. Also there's an issue with the whole university spec of "refer". While the FMP aspect (Unit 8) can't be tampered with (and is marked differently); I believe that the rest can be adjusted to suit us and our students better. I think we should be marking like a game:

Start with zero points. That is everyone starts at a the bottom. The first screen in the game. The easy one. For a task/brief with typically four criteria they can  score one point for each criteria, importantly and differently these points are graded 1 (Pass), 2 (Merit), 3 (Distinction)., although they are not explicitly written as such.  When they have all four points they can either move onto the next task/brief or (2) they can repeat the task/brief  to try and improve their score. Obviously at some point they will ahve to move on, but it gives high flyers a chance to improve their marks and slower movers a chance to complete. 

Personally, I would use big numbers - like pinball machines, so 100, 500, 1000 - or something like that.

Bonus points for almost anything could be added - for example lose points for being late, extra points for extra work. A system of rewards for high flyers or random(-ish) bonus rewards could also be considered. An element of chance, not just skill rewards slower players and is an element in most successful games.

The Unit is a quest with challenges

Students should be challenged by the quest to achieve the unit. The challenges, briefs and tasks, are routes to complete the quest. Their first attempt at learning something should be treated like, and as unimportant as, "Game over" if they struggle. Not a reason to give up or fear failure but a challenge to start over again. A way of increasing motivation.
As the quest has several challenges - possibly from different lecturers with different tasks - then it will be possible for them to score the points on different tasks, i.e., not pass/refer on one task only. Special attention should be paid to enable slow/disadvantaged learners earn points. For example turning up having completed outside tasks or even just turning up on time and equipped correctly. 

Tracking learning

It's likely that a different method of scoring their achievement will be required. It would be in everyone's interest to make this as centralised, easy and visible as possible.

• Centralised, so that lecturers and students (..and EVs) can easily see how they are doing, both in comparison with others (increase competition) and also their own achievement.
• Easy, because marking systems have in the past been prescriptive, arcane and difficult to navigate. 
• Visible so that everyone can see at a glance how they and others are doing. 

Conclusion

Is this worth a go? What do you think? Probably it needs more work, would it work in Maths/English where some of our learners struggle?

What do you think?

**Me, I don't play games, have never done much - other than board games - and don't do sport. So I look on from outside.

Bibliography: Olson, C.K. (2010) Children’s Motivations for Video Game Play in the Context of Normal Development. Available at: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/gpr-14-2-180.pdf (Accessed: 7 July 2016). In-line Citation: (Olson, 2010)         

"What was the most complicated Illustrator drawing you ever did?"

Last week when I was teaching Advanced Illustrator elsewhere, I got got asked "what was the most complex Illustrator drawing that I’ve ever done?” Interesting question since they (here at least) tend to grow. 

But there could be two or three answers to that which came to mind immediately:

Miss-Information. A where’s Wally style festival spotters guide. Had to draw - or more accurately produce about a 1000 people. Probably in this enlargement you can see me, I did a homage to Wally in there as well. Well, at least the hat.

Map of Bath for Fringe Festival - probably took the longest to do. Here’s a section. The college (without the Roper extension) is at the top. The Hershel building is missing, because, if I remember correctly it was hidden by text or something. Not much point drawing what you can see!

One of many drawings of electropunk insect. Drawn for a show that I did some time ago, currently being revived as the show has a booking this summer. This one will be published as a postcard this summer. 

Planning a small show.

Have been selected for a small exhibition at the 2016 Greenbelt Festival. I'm going to be updating and showing the Mechanisms thing again. This was last shown in Bath at the Fringe festival, so this is another chance to get them out. last time there were quite a number of ceramic bugs - this time it will be mainly other materials.

The Greenbelt gallery is quite small, it's basically a garden shed, and you only get a few hours to put your stuff on. Here's a picture of it to give you (and me) some idea of what it would look and feel like.

I spent some time this morning using the photo to try and work out the dimensions that were missing from the proposal. All of my stuff will be inside I expect - it's quite small and delicate and some bit - if I can get them to work- will need gloom if not darkness. The other thing I will need is power and there isn't any of that things will have to be run on batteries - or not at all.

I've done a roughs preplan and costing for setting up. There's two options at the moment - although a mixture is equally likely.

The first is a conventional gallery. I will mount the boxes on the picture rail supplied. I can't remember how many boxes I already have - there's several - nor the sizes, but I've assumed nothing at this point just so I can get some idea of costing.

The images would either m the top row OR the bottom row - not both. That would be eight 40 x40mm boxes, or 11 30 by 30. Possibly one on either side of the door, plus explanatory cards that I have already. Rough total cost around £100. That's using off-theshelf frames - but I could do with them being deeper.

The second version buys in Ivar parts from Ikea. This versatile wooden shelving system can be pushed into making a quick set up if the floor is flat. If it's rough - and we don't know yet then it's going to be a pain.

Costs for this, if we have to buy it all would be around £300, but actually it would be cheaper since I already own a number of the parts. For stability, I'd need corner shelves like those seen here. These are quite expensive at £26.

Finally, now I have a picture in my head of the size I can look at alternatives. Other shelving systems for example and also the content of the show.