What Do I Do Now?

 It feels really weird to be finished with my thesis. This time tomorrow, all of my final edits will be done and submitted. I'm really not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, this marks the end of my undergraduate experience. I'm not going to graduate school in the fall, so I'm done with college for a little bit. I feel empty knowing that I don't really have any large projects going on.

On the other hand, it's really nice to know that I now have a large amount of free time and that I can use it for whatever I want. I didn't realize how much time I was spending working on my thesis until the work finally began to wind down. I'm not really sure what to do with all of this extra time now. 

(S)Printing to the Finish Line

I know that I still have a lot of writing to refine and flesh out, but it's really nice to be finished with the project portion of my thesis. There is something really nice about having a physical, tangible reflection of the work that I have put in this semester that makes things seem less stressful. I think a lot of what makes things less stressful is knowing that there isn't much writing to do, and I need to finish refining things and adding additional sources to help support what I'm writing about. 

With the full draft due next week, I'm pretty hopeful that I will actually be able to have everything done without too many issues. It's also very cool and satisfying to have 3D printed letters on my desk now. They're a fun decoration to have, and they hopefully serve as the start to a nice collection of memorabilia related to projects and papers. 

Here is an image of me printing with the letters that were recreated.

You Know When Everything Piles Up?

 I think we all know the feeling of having a really detailed, precise plan. And I think we all know how, inevitably, something will happen to throw that plan off. I'm a bit behind schedule for creating my facsimiles (#ThanksLife), but I'm really hoping to kick it into overdrive and get the four facsimiles made in the upcoming week.

Beyond detours and delays, I did complete my second draft and have realized a few things. The structure of papers change so much as you write them. Originally, I had decided to leave authenticity as a small section my literature review, but as I keep working on the project, I am finding authenticity to be central to the argument of my thesis. I'm working on restructuring my content outline to match the more central position of authenticity in my work and gathering additional sources to support my arguments on authenticity. 

While these changes do create a lot of extra work for me, I do enjoy them because I love to see how my writing and focus has changed and grown. Writing is so fluid. It's alive, and being able to see how drastically my work is changing and shaping brings me a lot of joy. I think the changes of focus that happen during the writing process are my favorite part of writing. 

Progress on the Process (and Very Fast Paced Progress at That)

I feel like I’ve gotten whiplash from the differences of pace between my last entry and this one. I felt like I was trying to eat sand when it came to writing eight new pages and organizing and finalizing the project aspect of my thesis. I somehow, miraculously, managed to write eight new pages almost entirely on the process of the many decisions that went into the project aspect of my thesis. Who knew there were so many factors in choosing a letter or a font to work with?

Compared to the slow crawl of gathering materials and information to write eight pages last week, I am absolutely overwhelmed by a whirlwind of progress. I feel like I have done so much and the first round of creation will be completed soon, which is absolutely amazing, by the way. I’ve also learned so much during the process of creation. This past week, I’ve been focusing on 3D scanning the physical typefaces I want to recreate. You would think that scanning four letters would be a pretty simple process, right?

There are a lot of nuances that I didn’t even consider when it comes to 3D scanning. The scanner operates off of two cameras that focus on the object. Lasers then triangulate information based on the location of the camera and the object. Each object needs to be scanned from multiple angles in order to have a full, detailed render. Each individual scan takes about three minutes. Needless to say, I spent about two hours scanning each letter from multiple angles. Sometimes, the same angle would be scanned before there was a high quality image that could be worked with. When working with the third and fourth typefaces, the scanner did not want to pick up on the letterface, and there were large portions of data missing. I think with the third typeface, there were a lot of issues with exposure. Typeface are incredibly dark from decades upon decades of ink, and the background for the scanning was a dark table. The fourth typeface would not scan because of the above reason but also because it was such a glossy letter. The lasers used for 3D scanning need to be able to “grab onto” the surface of the object to record data points. A glossy object will reflect the lasers, and it can cause large gaps of data in the image. 

Scanning typeface involved placing the letter on a small pedestal within view of the two cameras on the actual scanner. I would select a part of the image for a detailed scan from the preview given to me by the cameras. As the scan completed, I could see the parts of the image that were fully captured as well as what data was missing. 

In the end, the inability to gather nice scans of the third and fourth typeface is not a large issue that makes or breaks the project. There are other ways to go about making a facsimile than 3D scanning. What this means is that I can’t 3D print those two typefaces. I will still be able to create facsimiles of all four letters through other means. I just need to scan and create vector files for the four type I am looking at. Once that’s done, I just need to find some time to head on over to The Construct, the maker space on campus, and do some routing and laser engraving to get some facsimile typefaces made.

This is what the one of the scans of the fourth typeface looked like. All of the white areas are areas on the letter that were too glossy for the laser to register any information. 

Changes in the Process

 It feels really weird to jump back into writing and working on my project after such a long break. Writing about my process has brought about a lot of thought on how much my thesis has changed since I first started to think about this idea. The ways in which I am recreating typeface both digitally and physically has drastically changed. I've changed the number of typefaces I am making as well as what I am focusing on for the creation process. 

I think looking back on all these changes and explaining the rational behind the changes is really important for me to be able to understand my project better as well as the process behind writing a paper and working on a project with such a short deadline. I think it has taught me a really important lesson on narrowing my focus and trying to avoid being too ambitious. I know I tend to think big when I first start a project or a paper, and that is generally a problem for me. It isn't feasible for one person to create scans, vector files, and accurate recreations of a full set of typeface, generally around sixty to one-hundred twenty characters. It is a lot more feasible for one person to create scans and recreations of four letters from four different fonts and have them print accurately. 

I think despite the long break and all of the changes on how to go about my process, I am enjoying working on both the written aspect and project aspect of my thesis. It's really fun for me because I absolutely love working with typeface, and having an excuse to talk about them, printing presses, printing history, and typography has made the whole process even more exciting for me. I'm learning a lot from the process of working on my thesis. It's okay to have a narrow scope, and it's really important to write about something you're passionate about. I wouldn't have anywhere near the same amount of motivation if I was writing about recreating a ship as I do with recreating typeface. 

Objects Are Cool But Adobe Illustrator Is Not

 Working with material objects is so interesting. I find myself looking at small little details and markings that show these typefaces have been used and worked with countless times. There are little marks on each character that I can only compare to marginalia in books. They are signs that each character has been used and has an intimate history. I've learned about typefaces and the different forms they take. It's so interesting to look at what historically has been done to make typefaces in comparison to what is currently done to create typefaces. I've learned so much about the broader history of American Material Culture as well. It's absolutely fascinating to look at how this singular category of functional artifacts plays into the much broader field of American Material Culture.

As I am working through my project, I find myself struggling to learn the intricacies of Adobe Illustrator. I am very familiar with Photoshop and other pixel-based software, but for some reason, I cannot seem to get the grasp of vector based software. I need to develop a working proficiency in Illustrator so I am able to create digital versions of the fonts I will be recreating. I have plans to watch an extensive amount of tutorial videos through Adobe themselves and content creators on YouTube. I think also, something that I need to continue developing my understanding of, is how recreations of objects affect the issue of authenticity. Does authenticity matter when the reproduction is able to be used in the same manner as the original? Does there need to be a communication between the historical interpreter using the recreated characters and the audience that lets the visitors know that documents are being printed with modern typefaces? 

Digital and Physical Facsimiles

Hello again! Trying to clearly define the purpose of my thesis was rather difficult because I feel as if there are a lot of reasons this is something I should research, but I knew it is best if I focus on one reason why this topic is worthwhile. 

For my thesis research, I am interested in exploring the use of facsimiles in museums to answer the question: do digital and physical reproductions of wood type fonts allow for preservation of the original fonts while maintaining an authentic, participatory experience for visitors? I plan to work with the Genesee Country Village & Museum to digitally render and physically recreate a selection of their wooden type fonts that are used in the printer’s shop onsite. By creating these facsimiles with the intent of printing with them, I hope to demonstrate the capabilities of modern technology and the benefits of its use so as to better preserve the original artifacts while still allowing for historical re-enactment. 

Preserving the Physical through Digital Means

Hello again!

For my senior thesis, I am hoping to look at alternate means of preservation. The rapid growth of technology has allowed for many new opportunities in the fields of Public History and Museum Studies. Google has partnered with many historic sites and arts institutions so as to create digital renderings of their buildings and sculptures, all of which are viewable through Google Arts and Culture. Other museums have allowed for open-source renders of their artwork to be placed on the internet so that visitors and any curious person can view an artifact in detail within their home and, for those with the ability to, create their own small models. I feel as if these technologies as well as new ones widely open up the field of digital preservation. Digital preservation (and the use of facsimiles) allows for many artifacts to be kept well beyond their natural life span. The unfortunate nature of physical materials is that, regardless of the sturdiness of the medium through which the artifact was made, they will at some point or another suffer from deterioration and other damages.

I am hoping to be able to work on a project with a nearby museum that would allow me to digitally render and then recreate an artifact or a series of artifacts in their collection. Ideally, the artifact to be rendered would be a functional piece so the durability of the facsimile could be tested as well. The recreation of a damaged artifact would be incredibly interesting to work on as well. 

The topics I am interested would involve research into photogrammetry and 3D modeling. I would need to learn different methods of photographing an object that would keep the depth, the color, and the overall shape consistent with that of the original. After talking with a friend who works in 3D Design and another in Game Design and Development, I have a couple of ideas of software I could use for creating the render as well as several methods that would work well for photographing the artifact(s). There are specialized programs that allow for multiple images to be composited into a single 3D render while there are other programs that I am capable of using that would let me alter the original render to be more accurate to the original. After creating an accurate replica of the artifact in its present state, it would also be possible to create an alternate file that could be used to "restore" any damages to the artifact. Those same programs also allow for the exportation of the file as an object file which would make creation in a fabrication lab incredibly easy. The recreations would most likely occur through several stages as each physical recreation would reveal changes that need to be made to the digital file.

Hello! A Small Introduction

 Hello! My name is Koda Drake, and I am a third year Museum Studies student. I remember being absolutely fascinated by museums when I was a child. On one occasion, I went to the Franklin Institute while they were hosting an exhibit on Tutankhamen, and I remember being completely awestruck by everything in the exhibit. I wasn't sure at the time if that was something that I would be able to do for a job, but that became my dream job for several years.

While I am much older than I was at the time of my visit to the Franklin Institute, I am still absolutely awestruck by Ancient History, particularly Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian history. My interests have branched out a bit, and I find Early American and Pre-Colonial American history to be of particular interest. Art History, notably Rococo, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism, are also some of the subjects I am most interested in. 

In regards to Museum Studies and potential work within the field, I am interested in becoming a collections manager or an exhibit designer. I would love to work on increasing accessibility in and to museums, though I am not quite sure how I would start with that. I have past experience with collection work. For several semesters now, I have been slowly working on creating a finding aid for the technical literature at Image Permanence Institute in Rochester. That project has involved cataloging the various manuals within the collection and creating a working finding aid after the complete list has been made. I spent a summer in Genova, Italy working with the Galata Museo del Mare as a collections management intern. I helped transfer information about their collection to an external database while also providing aid in moving, storing, and restoring some objects in their collection. My most recent internship experience has been with the Genesee Country Village and Museum working on cleaning and cataloging wooden font types. Unrelated to any particular requirements, I spend time doing transcription work through the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institute. 

July 2019; Genova, Italy; This photograph shows some of the preparatory work I had to do for creating object files in the external database. The museum did not have photos of all the pieces in their collection, and I need to capture images of some works already on display.

[Image Description: The above image is a color photograph. A corner of a room in a museum is visible. On the left blue wall, there are five paintings of similar sizes. These painting show ships at sea. On the right blue wall, there is one visible painting of a ship at sea. The right blue wall is partially obscured from view by another blue wall in the foreground with no visible paintings on it.]