Re: My First Painted Wall Sundial

[John Carmichael]

 Hi Alexei:   You asked: What method for declination do you usually prefer?   With the wall declination measurement method that I used, the little bumps on the wall were not a problem.  I placed a flat board with a white sheet of paper on it up against the wall so that it laid flat on the ground.  I hung a plumbob to the south of the board so that the string cast a shadow onto the paper.  I then marked where the shadow was on the paper several times during the day, noting the exact time.  Then using the "Dialist Companion" program, I calculated the solar azimuth at those times.    I averaged the results from the different time readings.  That gave me the wall's declination.   The owner picked the colors.  The yellow matches the flowers of the Palo Verde Tree.  The blue matches the sky.  And the lavender border matches the flowers of an adjacent Ironwood tree.  The magenta just seemed to fit.   Thanks for the compliments.  It means a lot to me that you guys like my work.   take care,   John ----- Original Message ----- From: Alexei Pace To: 'John Carmichael' Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 6:53 AM Subject: RE: My First Painted Wall Sundial Well done John for a great piece of work/ Some may not like the colours, pink/yellow, but I think they’re cool ! ;) I find textured finish on walls a pain also when measuring the declination of the walls.   What method for declination do you usually prefer?   Regards,   Alexei Pace Malta   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John Carmichael Sent: Il-Ġimgħa, 30 ta' Ġunju 2006 15:43 To: Sundial List Cc: Christina McVie Subject: My First Painted Wall Sundial   Hello All:   I always wanted to try to paint a sundial on a wall and have just finished my first one. I painted a large colored vertical decliner for a client's home here in Tucson and I think it turned out quite well considering the harsh working environment.    First let me say that painting a southern wall on a 10ft. scaffold on a rough textured stucco wall in Tucson in the summer is HARD!!!  Because of the heat, I could only paint from 5am-8am and 5pm-8pm.  Painting fine details by hand on textured stucco is a real pain and very difficult.   I could not use painters tape because of the bumps, so everything had to be painted free hand. I see now why the sundial artists in Europe often replaster a wall with a smooth texture before painting.  But the owners did not want a smooth surface.    The rough texture is artistically very pleasing, but it does affect the sharpness of the shadow a tiny bit, but it's not bad.    The sundial measures 44 x 92 inches (1.12m  x 2.33m), declines 4.53 degrees east of south, and has a gold-plated solid brass conical gnomon.  (Remember the discussion we had about cone gnomons?  Those experiments I did were for this dial).  We decided to employ Dave Gard of Aten Sundials to custom make the brass gnomon on his metal lathe since we wanted a cone gnomon that is wider than off-the-shelf plumbobs.  We wanted the shadow to be wider, like the hands of a clock.  The cone is 2 inches wide at the base and about 4" tall and is screwed to an anchor bolt on the wall on top of a gold-plated brass star.   I transferred the Delta Cad drawing to the wall like this: 1. I made a full size drawing of the sundial on Mylar plastic. 2. Then, using a leather awl (like a short icepick), I punched holes into the lines on the drawing. 3. Then I taped the drawing to the wall, and using Sharpee marker pens, I made dots on the wall through the hole in the drawing. 4. Then I removed the drawing and connected the dots on the wall.   I painted the colors first, then painted the lines and numeral on top in layers.   Click Here for photos: http://advanceassociates.com/WallDial   John L. Carmichael Sundial Sculptures 925 E. Foothills Dr. Tucson AZ 85718-4716 USA Tel: 520-6961709 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Websites: Sundial Sculptures: http://www.sundialsculptures.com Stained Glass Sundials: http://www.stainedglasssundials.com Sundial Cupolas, Towers & Turrets: http://StainedGlassSundials.com/CupolaSundial/index.html

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