Cassette Tape

Cassette Tape

What could be better than creating an image with the same method that Delia created her music... 

I went on a hunt for Cassette Tapes...

This was harder than I expected. No charity shops in Leeds sell them anymore, nor HMV. They are a thing of the past now. I ended up going to a record store and there was a lovely guy that told me they had a selection of tapes that had been left for collection but 7 years later were still sitting there. 

He said that I could have a few of the oldest ones. I felt awful explaining my purpose to a guy who is so into his music. He said " you're destroying peoples dreams here" and I totally agree that no music should be destroyed as everything is valuable and crafted. Therefore with my creation I wish to also portray the craftsmanship, time and effort that these musicians and Delia put into constructing their music. I respect her so much!

I had a large struggle trying to take apart the cassette tape. Luckily I had a screw driver however only the one in the middle had screws, meaning that I could only take apart one cassette tape. I also could only get 3/5 screws out because it is such an old tape that they wouldn't come out! I tried for 45 mins!

 I then attempted the tape art. It is incredibly fiddly and as soon as you get glue on your fingers you have no chance. It was also really difficult because the tape is so light and twirly. Also, unlike string, it works with straight lines and I didn't expect creating curves and circles to be so tricky.
I thought I would try to translate the train continuous line drawing because it had some interesting patterns and was complicated enough to compositionally fit a page right.

I managed it though! I then thought it could do with some colour. I was couldn't put coloured paper in the right areas behind because the nature of the line drawing meant that it was going to be quite experimental. I then realised it would be possible to add coloured paper to the big blocks of space.

 I like this with the red contrasting the white and thought I would add a different colour to see what it would look like.

 I realised that I needed to add some colour or do something to pick out the train as at the end of that day, that is the thing that makes a noise. I decided it was too complicated to add paper cutouts to the train though because already the tape is so fragile. I debated for a while over what to do... I didn't want to use a tool that showed texture or had any line quality because it would detract away from the line quality of the tape. I also knew that whatever I did I couldn't change it as it is not like cut out paper that you dont have to stick down straight away. I decided to use my POSCA pens because they have a very opaque quality to them. I also decided to take the purple out as I decided that 2 colours was enough. I am not sure that I am happy with how this turned out with the trains but appreciate that something needed to be done so that the focus of the image wasn't obscure and lost.