Arrived at a crossroads, and the installation blasts off from here. On the table:
If I make the LED panels instead of mounted prints:
a) new scans are needed to make the Duratrans films. The last price I got was from a fellow in Colorado for $200 each. Big scans. The final images need that much data. I'm not sure if he's gonna run a sale in the summer like he did last year, but if he does, I'm there.
b) before any scans are made, I've gotta see if I'm gonna like the results. What if the LED panels look tacky, gimmicky? Yes, it sounds cool to have giant rectangles hanging in mid-air that emit light, but what encases them has to be in the material that I want, and a thickness that doesn't interfere with the design of the piece. NOTE: the actual lights are encased in the outer frame and, through a series of prisms in a type of honeycomb, the entire panel is lit.
c) To consider is the cost of the LED boxes themselves. I got an estimate of the 4x5 foot LED panels just shy of $1300 each. Everyone has said that's cheap--but they're not paying for it! And, I can contribute something, but by the time it's all said and done, we've hit $13,000. (Nine panels plus one back-up).
d) And then there are the Duratrans. Lambda for Less in Michigan is having a sale this month, but I won't be able to make it in time. Things need to be tested and I can't afford to make any mistakes. They're pretty cool out there; their prices are reasonable because they supply the entire roll of exposed and processed Duratrans film and you do the rest. I'm probably gonna have them trim it because I don't have a table that size to work on the finished prints and I'm sure they're set up for it. The last time I used them was for the show in Kinderhook. They printed seventeen 15 x 45-inch [38 x 114 cm] and three 24-inch [61 cm] square prints and mounted them on archival Sintra in ten days after tests were uploaded. I have to call them to cost it out, also this week.
First things first. I'm going out to the manufacturer this week to see what they've got and how it looks. I'm gonna buy a small one and, with a scan I already have of one of the images, I'll send out to Michigan to have a prototype made.
But now the critical boring part: It's starting to look like $18,000.00 without electronics.
 |
| A Crossfield drum scanner. The 4x5 transparencies are coated in a spe- cial oil and affixed to the cylinder (drum). The drum spins while the scan is made by a laser reading the density of the images's dye particles and creates a digital file: RGB or CMYK. |
a) new scans are needed to make the Duratrans films. The last price I got was from a fellow in Colorado for $200 each. Big scans. The final images need that much data. I'm not sure if he's gonna run a sale in the summer like he did last year, but if he does, I'm there.
b) before any scans are made, I've gotta see if I'm gonna like the results. What if the LED panels look tacky, gimmicky? Yes, it sounds cool to have giant rectangles hanging in mid-air that emit light, but what encases them has to be in the material that I want, and a thickness that doesn't interfere with the design of the piece. NOTE: the actual lights are encased in the outer frame and, through a series of prisms in a type of honeycomb, the entire panel is lit.
c) To consider is the cost of the LED boxes themselves. I got an estimate of the 4x5 foot LED panels just shy of $1300 each. Everyone has said that's cheap--but they're not paying for it! And, I can contribute something, but by the time it's all said and done, we've hit $13,000. (Nine panels plus one back-up).d) And then there are the Duratrans. Lambda for Less in Michigan is having a sale this month, but I won't be able to make it in time. Things need to be tested and I can't afford to make any mistakes. They're pretty cool out there; their prices are reasonable because they supply the entire roll of exposed and processed Duratrans film and you do the rest. I'm probably gonna have them trim it because I don't have a table that size to work on the finished prints and I'm sure they're set up for it. The last time I used them was for the show in Kinderhook. They printed seventeen 15 x 45-inch [38 x 114 cm] and three 24-inch [61 cm] square prints and mounted them on archival Sintra in ten days after tests were uploaded. I have to call them to cost it out, also this week.
First things first. I'm going out to the manufacturer this week to see what they've got and how it looks. I'm gonna buy a small one and, with a scan I already have of one of the images, I'll send out to Michigan to have a prototype made.
But now the critical boring part: It's starting to look like $18,000.00 without electronics.
 |
| I'm gonna need 18 of these. |
I had lowered my Kickstarter goal to $10,000, because of re-addressed engineering costs but that was before the LEDs came into the picture. This new avenue might completely confuse backers, since now I'm seeking funding to supply the images, as well as the electronics.
So, this week, I also have to plan some damage control.
Thanks for Knowled
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