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Typeforce X Process Vol. 3

The Final Countdown

Feb 20, 2019 – by Tom

This past week was the home stretch for building out the TFX window installation. With all the wood forms assembled, we burnt through a ton of solder to wire up all the LED strips for lighting. While tedious, the lighting came together without a hitch.

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Everything was smooth sailing until we got to installation. Originally we planned on building pedestals for each of the 20 forms. What were we thinking? That would just take too long. Then we considered building a few long benches, tiered into steps like bleacher seats. That idea too got scrapped — they’d block the view, hold too much visual weight, and failed to reflect the light to our liking.

We finally landed on (forgive the phrase) building a wall. Eight by eighteen feet and painted black, it’d allow us to hang all 20 forms on the same plane. The design required the ability to build it at Firebelly HQ, dismantle for transport and reassemble seamlessly in the gallery window.

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Of course, we still wanted to challenge ourselves with how the wall’s construction. Not satisfied with a simple butt joint to piece together the plywood, we cut lap joints with the table router. This method blocks light from shining through the seam between the pieces. A few coats of black paint pulls it all together.

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Everything’s done and ready for opening night, February 22. See you then!