Setting up Hame...

Working a bit in reverse, here are some shots of setting up the exhibition. It is always such an interesting transformation of a space.

First up, we packed up our trusty hire-van and this is what an exhibition look like in the back of the van!

We walked in to find a blank room plus a big ladder and half a display table.

Our Day 1 (Wednesday) job was to get the lettering up on the wall. It is the most stressful part for me, primarily because we don't do it very often and there is no emergency lettering support person to be found here in the Highlands!

With Barry's exhibition last year, we had lots of lines to put up and we did it line by line. This year, I had far fewer words and our sign guy had managed to get it to fit on one sheet. Which was great, but added a whole new dilemma for apprentice folk like us - how do you put up a piece that is 2 metres plus wide and about a metre high in one go? Without getting it crooked? Without getting air bubbles? 

We spent time finding the centre of the wall, thinking about how high up it should go and all of that and then got down to peeling off the backing.

And then we got up on two different ladders and did our best to get it on straight, and without bubbles, and then I went through and pulled off the front sheet, leaving the letters behind...

Giving each of the letters a final, gentle rub down to adhere them fully.

And then we re-built the display table and layered the calico onto it.

The end of Day 1.

Day 2 saw the actual laying out of the exhibition pieces.

Working out how the plinths might go; and which scroll might go where... 

I had always imagined a straight line of descending height plinths, then in the middle of the night I thought about varying the heights, (as suggested by a friend) and then on the day I staggered them as well! I do respond to the space I must say.

Laying to the postcards for The Emigrants - with Postcards Home on a white table in the foreground.

Hmmm, that white table really didn't work. So we thought about options and ended up moving the whole display to the right a bit, and released a further 10cm of calico to the floor, where we could cut 30cm off and create a covering for the white table for the strips! And then we put the whole display back to the left by about 10cm

At the end of the day Barry got up on the ladder to direct the lights.

And I went around putting the didactics in place. I love the peg!

Day 3 (Friday) was the morning for final tweaking. I had discovered on Day 2 that I had not removed a double up of the word chair on one of the scrolls. 

These marks are usually removed by heat, and in general, I iron them out. However, I have no iron here and the work was already installed! Luckily I remembered the tip from Liz about using a hairdryer. So I took mine is and plugged it in and it worked!

Ta-da!

And then we were done...