Made In England

Andy Roche (Project Manager) Wednesday 22nd April

It's the day before the launch! All the technical parts are working, and it's fantastic. I haven't experienced any of the "feely boxes" yet as Nick is busy in his garden this afternoon doing the final castings! He tells me he's been trying to locate a surprise item for one of the boxes. I've no idea what it is yet so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

Launch is at the Usher Gallery, Lincoln at 11am. Listen to BBC Radio Lincolnshire 94.9FM and watch Look North on BBC One to see more.

Andy Roche (Project Manager) 7th April

The last few days have been really busy, as I've been zipping around the county recording sounds for Hive. I thought this would be the easy part, but that's not been the case. Outside recording is out of the queston when it's windy - too much wind noise on the microphones, and if it rains then that's all you end up hearing too, so that's not good. But, I've had successes - a great recording of a 1946 Field Marshall tractor, built by Marshall's in Gainsborough, a lovely pint of Lincolnshire beer being pulled. I've been on standby to record the sound of a windmill too - it wasn't windy enough last week, but yesterday I got the call and a great recording was made as a result. Today, I was due to be recording the first flight of the season of the Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby. The flight's been delayed though, and I'm not going to be able to make the recording until after Easter now (I'm on holiday after today!).

Andy Roche (Project Manager) Tuesday 24th March

Yes, we WILL launch on St George's Day, April 23rd! After much discussion, it looks like both the "arty bit" and the "electronics bit" will be ready, and there should be enough time to marry them together successfully.

Work in progress

The other exciting news is that "it" finally has a name: HIVE. It will look like a beehive, but the name also suggests the gathering of the sounds from Lincolnshire, to bring them back into the hive for people to enjoy, just as bees do to create honey.

... which reminds me... I am supposed to be the bee, and need to start recording the sounds!

Nick Jones (Artist) Monday 9th March

I took the castings to the Brasstek Foundry today in Leicester. Apart from the task of Navigating through the Leicester labyrinthine road system, Rod, Brasstek owner, was very helpful and positive that the panels were all cast able. The issue with metal casting (using sand rather than lost wax) is that there can be no undercuts in the design. Everything on every panel has to be able to release from the mould (think jelly from a jelly mould).

So the last two weeks have been about filling all the undercuts, grinding overhangs and recasting the panels until they work. So they are there now in Leicester waiting to have the holes cut in the panels for hands, then the sand moulds made and finally the molten aluminium poured in to create the sides and top. Big sigh of relief and then I will be thinking about making the insides of each of the 8 box's.

Nick Jones (Artist) Tuesday 24th February

I have been making the final casts of the Walls and lid. All of the surfaces are about Lincolnshire, and I wanted to include Stone work, representing the beautiful lime stone buildings so went hunting for appropriate walls.

I ended up making up a large clay panel on a board and taking it up to Newport arch and pushing it against the stone to get a lovely impression.
I got some peculiar looks, but most people were intrigued and I was impressed by how many people had heard of the project.

I've made the rubber mould and will be casting it up in the next few days ahead of it going to the foundry for turning into Aluminium.

I have also cast the top from pebbles, with help from my 5 year old daughter Mia. She hasn't quite got her head around the cast resin version not being separate stones and was trying to pick them up whilst quizzing me why had I painted them all.

Nick Jones (Artist) Friday 13th February

This week has been effected by the snow a little. In order to make sure I could work on the outside cast panels last weekend, I relocated from my studio in Sleaford to my home in Lincoln. Since space is limited, this has involved putting up a Gazebo in the garden, so the rubber mould pots, used to heat and melt the mould material to pour over castings, are under cover.

My wife suggested it looked like a police incident tent, so I hope to be moving back into the studio to do the messier plaster casting from the rubber moulds next week.

Nick Jones (Artist) Friday 6th February

Having agreed the contents of each of the eight boxes I have been making drawings of the subjects, trying to work out how I can represent each of them without just making a model. We are going to have to stop being explicit about what the subjects are, because part of the fun is that people will come to the "Sound Hive" and put their hand in, and not know what to find. We have tried to identify a theme for each box that encompasses some of the most important elements of Lincolnshire Life, that along with the sounds, will share the story of what makes it distinctive and special.

Andy Roche (Project Manager) Tuesday 3rd February

It feels like the project's passed a major milestone today! The artist, Nick Jones, BBC Lincolnshire's engineer, Adam Keen, and I all met to consider the next stage of planning. Adam will be building all the technical equipment which plays out the sounds. It was a bit hairy to start with, when Adam discovered that the sculpture would be about half the size he expected! We spent a long time working out how all of the electronics would fit into the small space at the bottom of the cabinet. There will be amplifiers, motion sensors, and speakers to fit in - including a huge 15 inch bass unit so we can really feel the low frequencies, as well as hear them. After a lot of discussion, we worked out how it could all fit together, and Adam went away happy. We've also come up with our final choices for the themes of the 'feely boxes' - more on that later.

Andy Roche (Project Manager) Monday 2nd February

We're having a meeting tomorrow to shortlist some of the sounds to include. I've been going through all the suggestions we've received. The most popular sounds by far are aircraft. The Lancaster tops the bill, with many people also suggesting Vulcans, Spitfires and the Red Arrows. There are lots of other sounds though, including a lot of wildlife and agricultural themes.

Nick Jones (Artist) Tuesday 27th January

I've been making card models of what will go inside the 'feely' box's and testing them out on my family. I am trying to not just make a visual model of what is represented, but to make it more of a tactile picture. I hope people will feel the objects and create the images in their minds eye. In this one I have also put in a few clues that I hope will make sure people get what it represents.
The actual pieces will be fabricated from different materials including cast plastics and resins and fabric.

Nick Jones (Artist) Friday 23rd January

Since making the model of the 'Sound Hive' idea, I have been thinking about what each of the 'feely' boxes will contain. Listeners are already submitting some great ideas on the blog including the Cathedral choir, (Veg) Market callers, skylark and a Pheasant, as well as a number of different iconic aircraft associated with Lincolnshire. Some of these will be appropriate to represent as sound elements, others, I am enjoying thinking about and working out how they could be sculpted inside the small boxes.

Last year I worked with residents of Branston who made a trail around the village of cast metal plaques. One of the ladies made a panel depicting a potato plant, with the roots and 'tates' underground, so maybe one of the boxes should be like pushing your hand into the soil to feel for the potatoes.

Andy Roche (Project Manager) Tuesday 20th January

The artist, Nick Jones was the 'sofa guest' on Rod Whiting's breakfast show this morning. Nick brought with him the very first model of the design. After talking about this as a concept for months, it was really exciting actually to see something physical. Nick explains how the sculpture now resembles a bee hive, with the Radio Lincolnshire people being the 'worker bees' who bring the sounds into the hive!

Andy Roche (Project Manager) Monday 19th January

We launched the project on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, on this website and on Look North today. Lots of reaction on Rod Whiting's breakfast show, with dozens of people telling us their suggestions of which sounds to include.