Three days left ...

Here's a great article (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Life/All/6500260/story.html) that goes a long way to summing up my thoughts re. not-so-cute-fauna. I have always felt that if we take care of the not-so-photogenic first, the rest will take care of themselves.

Just three days left till World Tapir Day ... clocks are ready to go. The last part was making a cover so that the hands of the clock don't get damaged in transit. And I remembered to put a battery in the box .... yes, battery is included.

A reminder that donations can be made to The Tapir Preservation Fund's site: http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/fund.htm

The wording for the project is "Clock for World Tapir Day 2012." If you get an error in the shopping cart you can call the phone number on the page or send email to Sheryl Todd <oregontapir@yahoo.com>

The Clock Side ..... Maps, Stamps and Hands

For the clock side, I'm using an old circular map of the Malaya/Indonesia area ….. keeping it yellow like faded paper. Then for the '12' (which is only to orient the dial) I have modified an old Indonesian Tapir stamp so that the value reads 12. Lastly I have laminated the skinny hands with dark paper … fatteneing them up a bit so that they really stand out against the brown paper background. The last remaining challenge is to package these clocks so that I can put them together, transport them, stack them, without damaging the hands …. waiting for inspiration … still waiting …. still waiting …..

The tapir clock ... a two sided affair

I'm seeing this project as a two sided affair. One side will be the mailed package and the other side will be the clock. For the mail package, I found some interesting cancellations, stamps etc and used a handwritten address. I wonder if I should add a 'Fragile' sticker and then throw it around the studio for a while to give it the true patina of a mailed package.

Stationery ephemera

I'll need some stamps and some cancellations …… and maybe some other postal/stationery ephemera ….. better hurry now, only 22 days left!

Why not make it a package?

Why not make it a package? …… a tapir package ….. a package for World Tapir Day …. complete with Tapir stamp and string etc. Wait! how would you access the clock (for the battery) if it's tied with string? Ah ha! maybe one side is the package and one side is the clock. One side is the practical, functional - rather simplified clock, while the other side is the fun side.

First boxes disapointment

Here are the finished boxes, with a colour variation. I like them but am concerned now that they may be too complex for the hands of a clock to appear against. Here's one of those classic examples of form vs function. How awful it would be if someone were to say … "Nice image, pity I can't read the time!" I'm thinking that if I call this a clock then I am duty bound to put the function first and have a simpler, more readable clock face …… back to the drawing board.

A simple stencil …

For the tapirs themselves, I used a simple stencil - cut from a manilla envelope. However the finished print looks a bit 'rough' and stark against the background. I'm thinking I need some Jungle! Some foliage! For a while now, I've been thinking of printing from textured wallpaper. I found some 'anaglypta' border material ….. might just do the job, as long as it's not too busy for the more simple images of the tapir.

First thing I'm going to need is a base ...

First thing I'm going to need is a base ….. a colour background for the tapirs to appear against. A white circle will double as a clock face and also as the white areas of the tapir. I'll tape the edges and then cut a circle mask for the centre. A neutral colour would suffice …. Unbleached titanium should do it.

Replacing Cats with Tapirs

Taking Sarah Young's 'cats' as a base I start to replace cats with tapirs. There's a few liberties taken with the anatomy of the tapir ... but hey, it's art right?