I spent hours agonising over what to buy today. It's all prohibitively expensive. So I'm trying to anticipate and avoid problems (paper buckling, paper tearing, magnets repelling, fine pen catching) at the same time as planning the logistics of the work. How will I hang it? How to ensure it is archival and light resistant? How can I draw on a large piece of paper? Standing up or sitting down? Will it tear?
In the end I bought:
A roll 1.5 x 10m of Fabriano cold pressed paper at 200gsm. Lighter but much, much cheaper than watercolour paper. Good for a try at a larger all-in-one piece.
£45
A couple of rolls of magnetic tape of opposite polarities with an adhesive backing. This will let me attach each square element of the tiled piece, as well as the top edge of the paper roll piece. Hopefully.
£20
A bottle of Tung Oil which apparently is the best thing I can use to treat the free wood veneers I picked up from the Surface Design Show in Islington. I want to draw on them with permanent pen, without the marks bleeding.
£15
I still need to figure out what board to use for the tiles. I want size 24cm x 24cm as drawing on a smaller size (even 21cm x 21cm) is so fiddly. But then I can't scan 24cm on my A4 scanner and it seems to be impossible to buy an A3 scanner for a reasonable price (they are all high end pro scanners). So should I go with 24cm and then use a camera to document and or reproduce the images? But then I'll need a new camera. And lights.
And should I get the tiles cut to size and buy a batch of them? Or go for the standard pre-cut 10 inch ones I found? But imperial annoys me. And these seem rather thick at 5mm.
I'll be happy to find a successful methodology and stick with it for a while.
