After preparing the wax version for the bronze mould I was keen to explore other materials to use for different disrupted Braille messages. I didn't want to keep repeating the same message so I had a think about what I might want to say as part using this method of creation. One of the reasons I was using Braille was my exploration into communication, networks and isolation. I wanted to use a language that would normally be read by touch but by breaking it up into one word lines and stacking the message I had already disrupted the message, I then scaled things up so you couldn't read by finger tip yet you still felt you wanted to connect with the bumps but individually rather than scanning them to read. I was aware when creating these that anyone who could read Braille would be unlikely to read these messages and also anyone who can see them also could read them. I like the disruption to the delivery of the messages.
First of all I had to work out wanted to say and then get a translation. Having worked with it for a while I could start to see certain arrangements. Braille is made up of a raised area from a block of six for each character or symbol. There are also indicators and whole words as shown below.
Louis lost his sight through a childhood accident. Aged 10, he was sent to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth. It was at the Institute in 1821 that Louis was first introduced to the idea of using a coded system of raised dots. Charles Barbier, a captain in Napoleon's army, visited the school to demonstrate his "night writing". This was a tactile system designed for soldiers to send and receive messages at night without speaking. It used raised dots and dashes rather than actual letters.
Louis quickly realised how useful Barbier's system could be, but thought it was too complicated. Over the next few years he worked hard to develop his own version of the code, using just six dots (instead of Barbier's 12) to represent the standard alphabet. By 1824, aged just 15 years old, Louis had found 63 ways to use a six-dot cell in an area no larger than a fingertip. He had also perfected his "planchette" or writing slate, which gave precise placing for the pattern of raised dots when writing braille.
He went on to develop signs for mathematics and even music.
It took two years after his death for his code, by now referred to as braille, to be adopted as the official communications system for blind people in France.
[rnib.org.uk/braille-and-other-tactile-codes-portal-braille-past-present-and-future/invention-braille][1]
With the use of an internet translation page I could write any message and get it instantly translated to Braille. Strange to think by using this modern technology and software how quickly it can create something that previously would have taken hours of not days. Two forms of communication and networks coming together.
After much deliberation and contemplation I settled on three messages. I wanted them short, made up of words that weren't too long but still gave a message and yet could also be ambiguous when read. I am still unsure if these pieces should be titled with the words they spell or leave that to the reader. If they were to be part of an exhibition would I supply more information or an alphabet? To be decided...
Message 1 - It's only words
Message 2 - Who's blind now?
Message 3 - Can you read me?
The next task was to get them set up so I could punch them out of a sheet of aluminium. Two of the pieces are 500mm x 500mm, with one larger one at 1m x 1m. That one brings other issues yet to be resolved!
This was printed out at the actual size by tiling the image and then several sheets stuck together. I then had to work out how to get the message onto the aluminium, with this version I worked on the back to work out the centre of the holes that needed punching. For the other message I added centre lines to make it easier.
Practice makes perfect or at least means less mistakes, so I had an off-cut of aluminium and using a punch and negative block in NUA 3D I tested how hard I need to punch and what it would do and look like.
It became evident that my original idea of locating the space and punching was going to be too tricky so I dispensed with the negative block and started to look at how it could work if I drilled a hole in some wood. This gave the added advantage of 'registering' the aluminium in place so I could work around the message and keep each letter uniform and 'readable'.
After making pilot holes in the right places it was just a case of making the holes a couple of millimetres larger than punch head. Even after all this if I punched too hard I was in danger of splitting the metal due to the way the metal reacts to the impact as you are spreading a very thin piece of metal over a larger area.
All that's left now is to prepare and develop the large message. For that I needed a larger punch. Much bigger than existed, so Jim in 3D started making one out of a massive bolt I then carried on and ground it down ready to use. It's very heavy and weighs about 4kg.
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