Fence art, part 3

This project looks more and more as if it’s going to be less art and more fence. Oh well, GESTALT and SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION will do that to you.

What fabric do I want to use for these panels? I’m thinking canvas of some kind so that it’s sturdy but still washable if necessary (and it will be necessary). Local fabric suppliers don’t have a lot of that in stock, so when My Lovely First Wife suggested just using a canvas dropcloth from Home Depot, I was delighted.

This is a medium-weight canvas, 6’x9’, just to get started with some ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS.

Close up:

I’m thinking that stuff might make a sturdy peasant shirt to be worn at burns…

Anyway, I tossed it up onto the wire to check its translucency in the setting sun.

This made me think twice about decorating the surface of these panels (there are five) at all; shadows and sunlight would compete with anything I could design. (On the other hand, I will want to hang some prototypes up and see what the effect is at night, without the backlighting.)

One design element I think I’m committed to is a collection of these sea shell discs:

These were a windchime given to me by a neighbor. It failed at some point, but I’ve kept the discs. I’m thinking I want to figure out a way to cut holes in the canvas and install these as little windows. The problem will be when it comes time to clean the panels; I will have to have a way to remove the discs before washing the panels, or I will have to clean them by hand.

How will I even hang these things, assuming that I want them to be easy to put up and easy to take down? At the moment, I’m betting on these:

Powerful little magnets. Here’s my plan: sew in a strip of twill tape, inserting these puppies every nine inches or so in little pockets. Then sew another strip an inch or so down, and insert a matching magnet in matching pockets. They should be strong enough to hold the panel up, but I could also grab them down pretty quickly. (My fantasy is that they will also be easy to put up.)

Won’t it be tedious to do all that sewing? Clearly you don’t know my history.

P.S. Did you know there’s a twill tape company right up the road in Marietta? This is handy when you need 30 yds of heavy-weight 1/2” twill tape in natural.