Observation

The prime importance here was to notice things I don't normally see, which would seem to exclude most things, however I did notice many different styles of lamppost on a very short walk around the block, there are pretty looking lampposts with curly tops, new steel ones with a single curve at the top, other modern versions include two pieces of steel joined at right angle to form the overhang for the lamp, in the alleys there are straight galvanized steel posts with a funky shape at the top to direct the light, it's worth noting that at one point two different lampposts occupy the same metre of the verge. Additional to noticing all these intriguing differences I realised that much of the modern double glazed windows include stained glass motifs, many of these conform to an older design as seen in one with the original single glazed windows, and there are many varied designs which may have only been invented on the spot at the time of their recent installation.

Textures III: The photo frame

Textures Part II - Newspaper

There, so I have chosen to investigate the properties of newspaper

Using PVA glue between sheets various thickness and contours are built up. When the glue dries the forms are cut using a sharp blade, the peices may be glued further to construct more complex shapes, and these forms when dry may be sawn with a fine tooth saw, the glued material can also be drilled. I have also shown some newspaper unglued and plaited.

Textures Part I

They are cane, pine, newspaper, stainless steel wire mesh, cotton and a cut log.

For your interest only two of these are from seats, one was from a railway staition vendor, one I noticed through a dry cleaners shop window, one was in the park and the other was someone elses rubbish. See if you can guess which materials match which objects!

The modern Rec

When I was small the towns rec was a fun place, I use the term fun in the sense of what is today termed as "dangerously unsuitable." There was a huge slide about 20 foot high, 45 degress with about 1.5 to 2 metres of horizontal slide at the bottom, yet this was still relatively small. Mischivious children used to polish the slide, you can guess what happened.

The swings hung on chunky chain, about a 22mm guage, from sturdy steel frames. There was a proper roundabout. There were monkey bars in a grid of 60cm cubes 3 high 4 wide and 6 deep with a further two cubes beside each other in the centre on top so 1.8 metres high at the edge and up to about 2.4 metres high in the centre.

But my favourite was a large log type swing, the seating timber from the centre of the tree shaped to be straddled hung by it's ends from two solid iron or steel frames and swung through each frame in turn along the line of the log in other words it swung on a path at right angles from a traditional swing like a gigantic rocking horse. Older kids, for the size and strength required to get the thing moving, would stand up on the ends holding the bars from which it hung, normal procedure was to push with the feet while hanging on the swinging, suspending bars in turns until it wouldn't go any higher or until someone told them to stop to rescue a flying three year old.

When it was really going the sound of metal on metal screeched and yelped like a giddy two year old, on one occasion I saw the bars it hung from almost horizontal, I think the shear weight of it and the physics of a people using it meant that it could only go so far round before it had to come back down. Well the dangers I think are obvious and this was the first to go with the rapid growth of the suing culture. today there are many smaller brightly coloured, but not as much fun installations at the same location.

Footprints....

Further afield from the metropolis of London town, the strict format of semi detached houses in Stoneliegh has been broken up by 70+ years of alteration, including loft conversions with large rear facing dormers, garage conversions where some have added a nice bay window, some have built on the tops of garages in a complementary style.

Also I see a vast range of plants in the gardens, others have converted the whole front into a block paved, parking facility, occasionally both halves of the semi have thoughtfully conferred giving a seamless appearance.

There are many houses with modern stain glass, some with a variety of origional patterns. 23 houses on opposite sides have a precisely matching stained glass motif, a small flower, incorporated into the modern windows, matching one house which still retains the original single glazed windows in this style.

There are three very styles of lamp post: One is cast in concrete, one is cast iron and painted green, although not recently, and a more modern type is manufactured in galvanized steel.

Big, green, also not recently painted, wrought iron gates open into the park, home to oak, willow, pine and several other species of tree. A section within a low green fence contains swings and brightly coloured climbing frames of tubular steel. Another section is enclosed in a high, bright blue steel fence where older kids can have a "kick around". The whole park is surrounded by a security fence made from vertical strips of sheet steel molded and cut to three points at the top joined by horizontal strips of the same type.