27.10.08
Making art from barrels, part six

barrels_time

We’re getting to the point on our Glenfiddich project when we need to get some thoughts together to show the client. We’re flip-flopping at the moment between ideas that would make great one-offs, and ‘big ideas’ that could run across several installations.

(In case you’re new to this, we’re trying to create some ‘art’ from barrels to reflect the time that it takes to actually create a bottle of whisky).

So here’s a sketch for a one-off — embed wood type (somehow) in a barrel, ink it up then roll it around on big pieces of paper.

barrel_sketch

Great idea. But how do we do the other 4 barrels? And what would it/they say?

As a contrast, we’ve been wondering if the idea of ‘time’ could be explored on five barrels, and show how people get used to the idea of whisky in their lives.

barrel_1

barrel_2_3

barrel_4_5

We’ve also got slightly obsessed with what whisky-makers call the ‘Angel’s share’, which is essentially the amount that evaporates over time. So they’ll open a barrel after 20 years and half of the liquid has gone, apparently to our tipsy-winged friends.

angel_share

Again, a nice thought, but we’ll use up five barrels on just one idea. We’ve even worked out how to make ‘Angel’s share lights’ by cutting the illustrations out of the barrels. A bit too Halloween this one.

angel_lights

A the same time we’re still wondering what/how we could place text onto the wooden slats in some way, but we’re trying to work out what to say. Would look great if we could find a good way to do it.

staves_sketch

Then there is a whole slew of ideas based upon making type up out of a lot of barrels, or hoops, or both.

barrels_78

Well, we can’t mess about any longer. We’ve got to edit some of this, and have some better ideas, and show the client. With a bit of luck the next post will be about which route they’re going for.

This is the sixth in a series tracking the progress of a live project for Glenfiddich where we've been asked to design some barrel art for the whisky manufacturer, and we’re tracking the project on Thought for the week. The first piece was here, the second piece was here, the third piece was here, the fourth was here and the fifth piece was here. We’ve had quite a few emails of readers’ suggestions for this project, so keep them coming in and we’ll dedicate a post to ‘reader’s ideas’ pretty soon.

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