Back in January, Devon Thein posted a request for help crocheting sea urchins for an installation in Singapore, which eventually included over 32 miles of 3mm nylon rope. I made 3 repeats, which doesn't sound like much, but they were hard work, not least because the rope they sent us to use was thicker than the rope they had used to sample the work, so we had to adapt our numbers of stitches (and even some of the types of stitches) to fit exactly to the size of the architect's design.
We have just received a report on it all. I hope you will enjoy looking at the photos. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: The Urchins From: Jin Choi <jc...@choishine.com> Sent: Monday, March 20, 2017, 10:35 PM To: Sue Babbs <suebabbs...@gmail.com> CC: Hello Sue, The Urchins in Singapore have been a great success.  We are very grateful that you have been part of the creation of the Urchins. We have posted images of the Urchins in Singapore on our website, including images from the fabrication and installation, and a brief page about the concept of the design.  Please check that you name is correctly listed on the Urchins and the fabrication pages, and let us know if there are any omissions or corrections needed.  The webpages are here: The Urchins in Singapore The Urchins Fabrication The Urchins Concept The fabrication of the Urchins had three major parts.  The first one involved crocheters like you from around the country (and some international ones)  making motifs and panels.  As the crocheted works arrived back at our office, we started joining the pieces into strips of 5 motifs, then joining the joined motifs and strips into the large skins for the there urchins.  We completed each skin except for one seam, which we planned to join around the metal frame once in Singapore.  Images of some of this work is on the website. I am sorry that our communications with you largely stopped once this started, but joining the motifs required much more work than we anticipated, and almost every waking hour we had was spent on the assembly in Boston with our crew of assistants. The third fabrication step was planned to take place at the site in Singapore, consisting of assembling the metal frame and fastening the crochet skins to the frame with a local assembly crew.  This went more or less according to plan although the festival organizers were a little late with the riggings and supports for us to hang the Urchins, and once hung, they were local engineering problems with the height of the hanging, but after many days of sweating in the tropical sun and humidity, we managed to hang all three Urchins on the lower boardwalk at Marina Bay, just west of the Marina Bay Sands hotel.  We have never worked as hard in such uncomfortable heat as we did for the five days of installation, but by 2 oâclock in the morning on the day before the opening, the urchins were hanging and lit, ready for the opening night. The Urchins proved to be very successful on opening night with large crowds of visitors photographing the Urchins, standing inside of them peering out, and appearing to greatly enjoy the art work.  The were so many people visiting and touching the Urchins that festival organizers posted 2 guards at the artwork, limiting the number of visitors to 20 people at a time, with lines of people waiting to get in to see the Urchins. The festival organizers have requested that we allow the Urchins to travel around Southeast Asia to other light festivals.  We do not know if this will happen, but we will keep you informed if the project progresses.  It is also possible that the Urchins will travel within the US, and we have received some requests from museums to show the work.  We hope the Urchins return to the US and travels around the country, so that you can see your finished work. Each person who helped with the Urchins rightly deserve credit for this success and we could not have completed this project without your help.  Thank you again. All the best, Jin Choi +Thomas Shine Choi + Shine Architects 358 Tappan Street, Brookline MA 02445 Phone: 617-879-3255 Fax: 617-879-3254 Creators of the Land of Giantsâ¢Â and the BIT Light⢠- To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/