Make your own linseed oil at home
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 15:26
Artists grade linseed oil is quite expensive as the production process is long. It's also hard to find in some countries. But you can make a litre of your own Artist's Grade Linseed Oil for under $5!
It's quite easy, but does take some time. (A few days to a few months, depending on the quality and clarity you want)
Step 1 - Buy the best starter you can find
Buy Linseed Oil from the hardware store. Raw Linseed oil is cleanest. (Most hardware stores sell it for $2 a pint or less)Hardware-store grade linseed oil is 'cheap and nasty'. It contains a lot of mucilage (muck) from plants, insects, chemicals, etc. It is a dark colour and has an unpleasant, rancid odour. Indeed it is a vegetable oil that has gone 'off'. You can use it as is, but the mucilage will rot, make bubbles, darken the oil, etc..
Step 2 - Make linseed cream
Make linseed oil cream by mixing the oil with water. Use distilled water if possible. That's right, oil and water DO mix, for a little while. The water cleans the muck (mucilage) from the oil and traps it. The oil eventually floats to the top, leaving the dirty water at the bottom.50% water + 50% oil is a good mix ratio (you can even add a small amount of bleach, don't worry, the hydrogen peroxide forms a white cream with the mucilage and sinks to the bottom )Shake it well for a minute or two. (or more)
Step 3. Wait
Wait for the oil and water to separate. This can take a few hours, or days, or, if you warm the mixture slightly (to something just above room temperature) the oil and water quickly separate.This is the 'sweet zone' of temperature. (Project: Find out the best temperature, too hot or cold and the separation slows down)
Step 4 Freeze, sucker!
Once the oil and water have separated put the mix into the deep freeze (in a plastic container with the lid off). You can now pour off the oil, the dirty ice stays in the container. If you don't want to use your freezer, carefully pour the oil into another container, leaving the water and mucilage behind.
Step 5 Rinse and
Repeat
Repeat all the steps as many times as you have patience for.
You can make usable oil within a day, but every extra day creates a cleaner
oil
Step 6 Sun - Dry and thicken (optional)
Put the oil in the widest container you have (a big metal pan will do nicely) and leave it to oxidize, thicken in the sun.
You can place a big cloth over it to stop the bugs from getting in, but allow the moisture to escape. The longer you leave it, the thicker it gets.Linseed oil is a siccative. That is, it absorbs moisture but also allows the moisture to pass through it. Any moisture in the linseed mix will soon cloud the entire mix, but not to worry, simply pour it into the biggest metal tray you can find and leave it in the sun or near an open window. The moisture evaporates and the oil turns clear once more.
Gigapixel Camera Rig
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 12:23
Made from Lego and controlled using Mindstorms NXT this panoramic rig can capture images at 500000x5000pixels or more (using progressive scanning).The Mindstorms controller rotates the camera on a screw-thread/turret assembly and can rotate in 0.01 Degree increments. I hacked a magnetic switch into one motor controller to isolate the camera from the power and activate the shutter and focus.
It takes about 1 image per second and rotates a small amount, the images get stitched in Photoshop for a really large panorama.
At the moment it can handle a regular Canon camera with 70-200mm lens, but I'll probably need a more robust support for heavier lenses.
Next stop is to add the Y-Tilt axis.
Ultra High Resolution Images
- Details
- Published on Monday, 26 December 2011 23:06
A new collection of zoomable Ultra High Resolution images
http://www.karllilje.com/photos/ultra_high_resolution/index.html
The resolution of these images is around 20,000 x 20,000 pixels and took about 30 minutes each to process. My next set will have double this resolution with greater detail.
I took these using the age-old Mobile Panoramic Head system, ie I take a photo of each small section using a handheld camera and stitch them together into one image later. Photoshop's Automatic panorama feature is a dream, it figures out everything. Before discovering this feature I used to manually align and mask every image.
The camera is set to M mode, with all Auto-adjust, auto-optimise, auto-white balance options turned off. (otherwise each image comes out a different intensity) A quick wave of the camera over the scene with the light meter active gives an idea on the settings to use.
I'm going out this week with a zoom lens so there will be even bigger images of the Western Cape. I'm especially looking forward to shooting from Table Mountain over Cape Town, and then from Lion's Head over Sea Point.
A robotic panoramic head would be amazing, so tinkering with the Lego Mindstorms, or perhaps I'll hijack one from an old telescope. My stop motion controller is made in Lego (including the camera trigger), so adding an extra axis shouldn't be too rocket sciencey.
Poetography
- Details
- Published on Monday, 26 December 2011 22:28
The Lechby Jac Montagne
upon her face a certain glow,
Working late into the night
and with light touch upon her skin
The Artist searched for a way in.
Did walk, this innocent specimen
of virtue, grace, and genuflection,
past The Artist's place of work and dream
she did of taking part in all that wild
and sacred art.
and sitting still,
this harlot woman, once shy young girl,
Did feel his touch upon her skin and search
and probe for his way in.
and, feelings mixed with joy and fear,
a girl once more she did depart,
leaving The Artist in his tomb,
a paintbrush thrust from ear to ear.
Ethereal Light
- Details
- Published on Monday, 12 December 2011 10:30
I love tinkering with old camera parts. The effects that come out of even simple modifications can spark a lot of ideas. I re-found an old crystal lens (made of Fluorite) that was beyond repair after tumbling down the side of a mountain, so I took it apart one lazy Sunday night and started playing with the elements. I noticed a scratch on the lens and thought to try and polish it out. This was a catastrophe, which turned into a lovely surprise. The polishing attempt had left a fine grain on the lens, and I decided to take a photo with it because I'm always curious. In bright sun the diffusion was beautiful! An ethereal glow sprang from each highlight and washed through the image. It was like photographing a river of light.
This lens is now one of my favourites and I've explored this accidental style in depth.
The Paint Project
- Details
- Published on Monday, 15 August 2011 22:00
If throwing paint onto people seems like a fun way to spend an afternoon, let me tell you, it is! Of all the projects I've casted for this one has received the most attention, over 100 art models applied for this series . There is something about being physically and viscerally involved with paint that appeals to the inner child, perhaps. The freedom to go back to year 1 and just be messy with all those bright and wonderful colours.
The model here is Dominique Mayer, a gorgeous mother of two living in Cape Town. We interpreted the theme as a woman's inherent ability to be creative, her fiery figure covered in wild paint is symbolic and provocative.
The image is part of a series entitled "The Creative Instinct" and explores our inherent desire to create using whatever we can.
Show me the money
- Details
- Published on Friday, 01 July 2011 05:36
Creating a virtual currency for a closed community has quite some potential. There's this continual problem of models, photographers, and stylists wanting money, which is necessary of course, but for those who don't have money creating a way to build a portfolio seems beneficial.
The industry standard is to work TFCD, where the model and photographer essentially do a shoot to build their portfolios. The problem with this scenario is it tends to pair amateurs who are still learning, a great thing, but sometimes you want to work with someone more advanced to help you become more advanced. That's where ModelDollars comes in.
Another problem with TFCD is there is usually no sense of urgency or accountability. Models often struggle to get images from a TFCD shoot (the photographers usually claim paid work has priority, even though the TFCD is technically a currency )
I created the virtual currency to help people fund their portfolios. Those who subscribe to the currency can make use of it, and the more people use it the more valuable it becomes. I also decided to create a rewards system for improving portfolios, so that people are encouraged to create rich and detailed examples of their work and get Model Dollars as payment.
Other virtual currencies exists and are doing quite well, like the Talent Exchange in South Africa, which is a virtual currency for a closed community.
To have value a currency must be finite, and show proof of work. A unit of currency is simply a receipt for social contribution, so the more people contribute to ModelMoney.org the more ModelDollars they receive.
The system is currently live and in Beta, with a few successful shoots already conducted through the site. I'm planning a big rollout in 2012 so if you're dreaming of creating your dream portfolio but can't afford the talent you might just have a solution.