It sometimes takes my brain a little while to catch up with reality. Back in 2019, I used Wikidata to improve a popular piece of art. I had lots of fun writing the code, fiddling with the output, and blogging about the process. Four years later I realised I could pay a poster shop to print it out! So I uploaded it to my RedBubble shop and paid about a tenner for them to print me off a HUGE version. The print quality was excellent: And I was going to use Bluetak to stick it to my…
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I'm delighted to announce that I've actually finished a project! Over the last few years, I've been designing a custom map. As per the credo of the "Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality", this map uses the Equal Earth projection to ensure proportional land-mass size, the South is at the up, and - of course - the globe has been rotated to 150°. I've had it printed and I think it looks glorious! Hanging on the wall You can buy these maps from RedBubble. Details Buy …
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I hated art class at school. I could see so clearly in my head what I wanted my drawing to look like - but my hands just wouldn't obey me. Despite endless tutoring from sympathetic teachers, I left school with an unhealthy distaste for creating my own art. I simply didn't have the physical skills, knowledge of technique, or the temperament to continue. These days, I enjoy playing with algorithmic art where I am more comfortable controlling the input and output. A few weeks ago, I went to a…
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I present to you, dear reader, a spiral containing every Unicode 14 character in the GNU Unifont. Starting at the centre with the control characters, spiralling clockwise through the remnants of ASCII, and out across the entirety of the Basic Multi Lingual Plane. Then beyond into the esoteric mysteries of the Higher Planes. Zoom in for the massiveness. It's a 10,000x10,000px image. Because the Unifont displays individual characters in a 16x16px square, it is quite legible even when printed …
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Yesterday, I revealed my disappointment in being unable to print a bookcase. Today I revel in my cleverness at coming up with a solution! I decided to create a photo-mosaic of a nice photo of me and my wife - using all our book covers. The Result Close Up The image was printed on high-quality canvas - which gives it a pleasing texture and isn't too glossy. Zoomed in, this is what it looks like: As you can see, there is a fair amount of detail on the canvas. Enough so that most titles and …
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Yes, you read that right, 2D printing. Not 3D printing. Let me explain my problem... Our bookshelves are bare. A few years ago we made the switch to eBooks - we got rid of all our paper books. We've switched to downloading our games, so no gorgeous box art for us. All our DVD discs are in the loft, and their movie-poster allure is hidden away. When friends walk into our house, they have no idea how cultured we are! I want to print out a bookshelf. This is a walk-through of the process I…
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We forced an AI to look at thousands of photos of memorial benches. Just because. Here are the results. #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ …
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NB: The bit about NFT and smart contracts is at the end. As I discussed yesterday, being able to resell digital art via an NFT means that the price of art falls to zero. Let's assume that I'm correct and, through a combination of technology and changing social attitudes, no one wants to pay for music, books, films, or art any more. What are the ways that art and artists could get funded? Here are a few sketched out ideas - they all overlap a little. And then a brief discussion about how…
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At the moment, it is not possible to sell a 2nd hand eBook or MP3. This seems fairly reasonable because a re-seller might keep copies of their original files after selling them. This would allow the re-seller to undercut the original publisher and sell the file multiple times. We tend to label this "Piracy". Someone buys a DVD, rips it, then either sells or gives away copies. The Blockchain book that I'm reading suggests NFTs as a way to combat this (stop giggling at the back). Let's say…
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Previously on Terence Eden's Blog: I turned an old eReader into an Information Screen. This time, I'm taking a different Nook, and turning it into a magic gallery. Here's what it looks like in action: Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentUpcycled an old eReader into an art frame.Displays a new black & white piece of art from Flickr every few minutes.Full write-up this weekend, but pretty straightforward to do. pic.x.com/ttvrbhz3ee❤️ 137💬 14🔁 021:20 - Wed 22 September 2021 Video With the front l…
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Into the woods, it's time to go, I hate to leave, I have to go. Into the woods, it's time, and so I must begin my journey. I live near the ancient Abbey Woods. Site of the derelict Lesnes Abbey, full of flowers, trees, and eternal mysteries. A tattered parchment map fluttered into my hand promising adventure and enlightenment deep in the heart of the woods. This is Lore of the Wild an immersive art installation as part of the Estuary 2021 festival. And so, shortly before sunset, a dozen …
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I was inspired by this delightful bookshop clock: David Coates@OziasMidwinterBookshop clock... pic.x.com/1tvwjii4kn❤️ 42,165💬 490♻️ 017:03 - Sun 16 May 2021 I wondered - if it was possible to create a similar clock using books from a single author? So here's my first attempt - using Agatha Christie's novels. I've tried to use first edition covers, where possible. There are a few notable absences - 8, 9, and 11. The 2 is represented by "And two other stories" - which is a bit weak! If you c…
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