Life is a Happy Shed: News Project

Finally, I feel I'm beginning to get my mojo back where college is concerned. Annie and I were discussing it recently and saying that we think we slightly burnt out last term as we worked so hard. It's felt really difficult getting back into things, but today was a good day.

For 'News' I'm going to be looking at how news is delivered. The cup and paper above represent the old news style of delivery: printing presses, the red ink of the sub-editor's pen, the very physical nature of newspapers themselves.

Really, to be correct, I should have made the cup in papier mache newspaper, but I wanted it to be quite durable (and I wanted to make it quickly) so I used mud rok instead. Martin was horrified, apparently one doesn't 'model' in mud rok, but I think the results are ok. And it's certainly durable.

Then today, I machine embroidered over newspaper columns. That was a job in itself. I wondered whether I'd be able to do it as the paper kept tearing, the thread jammed and you could only machine embroider on the third inside column on every page - don't ask why, but that's what worked best!

However, I'm really pleased with the results. The 'pattern' is meant to represent the original print rollers, the red the editors pen and the printed letters how they used to print newspapers (thanks for the idea, Pete. See, I was listening!)

I have previously wanted to juxtapose old with new, and I decided today I'm going to do that. So I'm going to lazer cut some plastic with type (to represent a computer screen) then fit it into the top of the cup. With a light underneath it should make both an interesting piece and something that's also quite aesthetic. (Let's hope!)

For my other two pieces I'm going to make a malevolent Twitter bird out of leather and wool (oh yes!) and I'm going to lazer cut into leather to represent how newspapers will one day become luxury items afforded only by the elite few.

I have to say that, as I was embroidering the paper, it made me feel quite nostalgic for newsprint, and I thought how sorry I would be to see it go. (Apart from the fact that I was using the Daily Mail at the time...)

Not only is there the lovely tangible experience of reading the morning papers with a cup of coffee (hence the cup above) but newspapers are actually used for a lot as well. You can't wrap fish and chips in a computer screen; homeless people can't cover themselves in them at night; you can't play games like chase the fish with a rolled up one; you can't light fires with one and there's absolutely no chance of a computer screen ever being made into something as fabulous as this...