----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 9:35 AM
Subject: RE: My First Painted Wall
Sundial
Hello John,
It
is a beautiful dial. Congratulations!
This
dial is illustrative of a number of interesting design issues. I now
understand better the discussion on the cone gnomon. I assumed a polar rather
than a perpendicular gnomon. With a polar gnomon, the angled line of
the shadow tells time. With the perpendicular gnomon, only the tip of the
shadow is important for telling time and date. The conical gnomon shadow
brings the eye to the tip very well. Your southern latitude, approaching
the tropical zone, is a problem for vertical south facing
sundials. The shadow lengths get very long, even with a short gnomon. In the
tropics, the sun moves to light the north face towards noon. Shadows from
overhanging eves are also problem. You have done well overcoming these design
challenges and poor working conditions. Consider the toils and
tribulations of earlier artists like Zarbula who left us with so many
masterpieces.
Regards,
Roger Bailey
-----Original
Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of John
Carmichael
Sent: June 30, 2006 6:43 AM
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.
John L. Carmichael
Sundial Sculptures
925
E. Foothills Dr.
Tucson AZ 85718-4716
USA
Tel:
520-6961709
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
