Late last week a friend shared a picture of a geeky cuff - it was silver (or it appeared to be) Pi to many digits. I figured it was my style (being an engineer does help) and decided that I would make one.
After looking at the original image, I think it was computer generated because the numbers are flat looking or they are just printed on the metal.
I decided I would etch my numbers into the silver so they don't wear off. I also wanted the number of digits per line to increase and to do that I had to to have the font size get smaller. I went even further such that the font size went to 1 for the last digit.
First I had to get Pi to many digits so I could fill up the cuff.
Then I went looking for a monspaced font that had serif's to add character (get it??!!) to each digit.
I then took my cuff template, in Illustrator, and pasted in the 100+ digits of Pi I had copied.
I had to bring up the character viewer so the symbol π would be the first character in my list, it turns out π is Opt-P on a Macintosh
Then I counted out the number of digits for each line and added carriage returns.
Then you start adjusting the font size.. so you end with 1 and starts with a really, really big size, so it looks balanced, centered, and not strange to the eye.
After making the art work it was time to invert it and mirror image it so my resist would allow it to be etched properly.
And then.... it was apply the resist to my silver, etch it, clean off the resist, shape the cuff, patina, bend and WEAR IT.
Below are some process pictures, of course, but it has me thinking about other things I could do...
How about:
Ohh, this could get out of hand! Off to do more art work!
After looking at the original image, I think it was computer generated because the numbers are flat looking or they are just printed on the metal.
I decided I would etch my numbers into the silver so they don't wear off. I also wanted the number of digits per line to increase and to do that I had to to have the font size get smaller. I went even further such that the font size went to 1 for the last digit.
First I had to get Pi to many digits so I could fill up the cuff.
Then I went looking for a monspaced font that had serif's to add character (get it??!!) to each digit.
I then took my cuff template, in Illustrator, and pasted in the 100+ digits of Pi I had copied.
I had to bring up the character viewer so the symbol π would be the first character in my list, it turns out π is Opt-P on a Macintosh
Then I counted out the number of digits for each line and added carriage returns.
Then you start adjusting the font size.. so you end with 1 and starts with a really, really big size, so it looks balanced, centered, and not strange to the eye.
After making the art work it was time to invert it and mirror image it so my resist would allow it to be etched properly.
And then.... it was apply the resist to my silver, etch it, clean off the resist, shape the cuff, patina, bend and WEAR IT.
Below are some process pictures, of course, but it has me thinking about other things I could do...
How about:
- π - Pi various formulas
- F(n) - Fibonacci sequence and the spiral representation of it.
- i - the imaginary number representation
- e - Euler's constant and formula
- c - the speed of light
- √2 - Pythagoras' constant
- ... other engineering and science formulas and graphs.
Ohh, this could get out of hand! Off to do more art work!
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