This experimental design rediscovers the temporality of things we are familiar with. The method is about redesigning the way we write and draw by applying photo-sensitive ink to create more dynamic and interesting experience. By changing how we perceive the impact time has on our daily behaviors, this project raises awareness of our weakening connection with natural, personal, primitive TIME.
This project is also about defining new opportunities for the diminishing antique photography. The cyanotype chemical that I used for this project used to be one of the most potpular photographic material. Nowadays it can be seen in infrequent courses at schools and in the tool kit of amateurs. When I took the class called Antique and Alternative Processes at RISD, I was fascinated by the noticeable emergence of the image. Later on I found other of its interesting characters have potential for new form of art. design and creative writing.
The drawing above is an experiment that tries to achieve rich tone only using one type of ink that reacts to light. It is done by controlling the sequence in which the color blocks were drawn. The tone of each stroke indicates how long it has been drawn. Photo- sensitive ink changes color as it’s exposed in light. So the early stroke react to light more sufficiently than the following strokes and become the shadow area. In one sentence, first drawn, first to change.
Chemical reaction happens immediately when the ink lands on the paper, as the ink begins to get exposed in light, causing the ink color to change. The ink is fresh yellowish green at the beginning, and then gets darker and turns blue at some point. After long enough it’ll end up almost black eventually.
Using photo-sensitive ink as paint changes the drawing experience thoroughly. Instead of employing dozens of colors of paint or pigment, this new method apply only one type of ink. Each stroke, however, gets its color and tone individuality at the moment it’s drawn. Longer existence is mirrored by dense color and latter ones by more transparent shades.
The painter will notice that what he just drew begins to change slowly in light. Bright turns mid-tone, and mid-tone becomes shadow. The contrast of the image reflects the speed he draws. Sensing the time passing by and realizing there is no permanent perfect status, the painter experiences the drawing as a colored, time-sensitized meditation.
The painter will notice that what he just drew begins to change slowly in light. Bright turns mid-tone, and mid-tone becomes shadow. The contrast of the image reflects the speed he draws. Sensing the time passing by and realizing there is no permanent perfect status, the painter experiences the drawing as a colored, time-sensitized meditation.
Writing, as another daily activity we do with pens, shares the similar tools with drawing yet is more accessible and common to everyone. While drawing project mainly utilizes the color changing effect of this special ink, writing on the other hand conveys more chronological information that a painting would never manage to do.
Memory fades away over time, so does handwriting. However pen with special ink can make it to the opposite. The older, the denser; the fresher, the more transparent. A photo-ink equipped pen is a timer that reminds you about passage of time each time you write your diary, note, or to-do list. The handwriting gets more and more thick over time, like wine, and never fade away.
Memory fades away over time, so does handwriting. However pen with special ink can make it to the opposite. The older, the denser; the fresher, the more transparent. A photo-ink equipped pen is a timer that reminds you about passage of time each time you write your diary, note, or to-do list. The handwriting gets more and more thick over time, like wine, and never fade away.
