Kodachrome curtains
Here's the finished curtains I made out of Kodachrome slides! The slides date from the 50s and early 60s, and are all from a lot of slides I got in Kansas City last fall. The majority of slides on the right panel are of horses. Go figure. Travis drilled 8 holes in the slides using a Dremel tool in a Dremel drill press thingy, and I connected them all using aluminum chainmail rings.
Hey, this made Flickr Explore! Woot!
Holy crap, now this is on Lifehacker and Make and Craft and Craftster! Double woot! I have the most famous curtains on the internets. :)
In response to the whole "Won't it fade?" question, I'm
pretty sure that yes, in time, the slides (especially the ones in
direct sunlight) will fade. I don't know how long they'll last. If
it happens in the next week or so, I'll let you know. :) Hopefully,
they'll last a year or so. I have a ton of old slides, so as they
fade, I can just replace them with others. That won't be any big
deal. I think if this was on a north-facing window, the slides will
fade a lot slower. Also, I scanned in the most interesting slides, so
in case the slides to fade to nothingness, the image is still
preserved.
---------------------
Fifth update - After 5 months, the images don't look like they've
faded at all.
Fourth update - I finally went ahead and banned the guy who had been arguing with me in the comments. So, if you're reading through the comments and things seem like they're missing, that's why. If you're curious about what was said, just Flickrmail me and I'll paraphrase. I just want to make it clear that this particular user has been blocked not because of anything he said, but because he continued to infringe on the copyright to this photo after repeated requests that he not do so. I'm cool with someone disagreeing with me; I'm not cool with theft.
Third update! - I wrote an epically long, self indulgent blog post about the whole "You must preserve history!" angst that's gone on in the comments. You can read it here: yarnzombie.net/craft/?p=194
Another update! I made a lamp out some of the leftover slides. It's here if you want to check it out: www.flickr.com/photos/yarnzombie/4366892426/
*Update!* 2-17-10 www .roadsideonline .com , who has been arguing with me in the comment section, has stolen this picture without permission to use on his own site.
Comments and faves
insomnike, likefireworks, MamaYou, cassiecsmith, and 276 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Jake~o (40 months ago | reply)
So creative...so cool!
wheehamx (40 months ago | reply)
Looks really good.
onecog2many (40 months ago | reply)
Really great make. Anyone wanting to re-create the effect could attempt to simulate a stained glass window by picking and placing the slides to make a larger image.
eriven (40 months ago | reply)
What a great idea! I have loads of those old slides in a box somewhere ... now you've got me thinking :)
Sock-a-holic (40 months ago | reply)
Neat. It reminds me of that dress made of Amex cards that woman wore to the oscars the one year.
whooz_queen (40 months ago | reply)
Great work, love the idea...wish I had the slides!
gramarye (40 months ago | reply)
oh my! that's brilliant
Sesty (40 months ago | reply)
fantastic idea. love it.
grammardog (40 months ago | reply)
Those are beautiful! I've been trying to dream up a plan for a suitcase full of old slides I inherited, and this is wonderful!
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
Thanks, everyone! :)
Norm2006 (40 months ago | reply)
That is stunning and absolutely incredible. Nice work! I'm glad it made the Craftzine blog!
hlkljgk (40 months ago | reply)
so cool!
evelyne.frank.huller (40 months ago | reply)
i have about a 1000.slide thank you for this great idea
ninja_pixel (40 months ago | reply)
Friggin' awesome! I am going to copy you =)
jason.moseley (40 months ago | reply)
Curious: would the effects of the sun fade the slides?
pillowhead (40 months ago | reply)
Questions :)
1) Where'd you get the chainmail?
2) Did your driller stack em at all or do one at a time?
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@jason.moseley - Yeah, I'm pretty sure the slides will fade in time, but I always have more slides. I put more info (well, speculation) about this in the picture description.
@pillowhead - We get chainmail rings here: www.theringlord.com/ We've always had good luck with this company, and they have a huge selection of colors and metals. The slides were drilled one at a time, although if you had a tall jig, you could probably do them in a stack.
MrMattWarren (40 months ago | reply)
Really cool, great idea.
rlsuk (40 months ago | reply)
Fabulous door!
Check my doors set, if you want ;-)
[ via flickriver explore --rlsuk ]
shawn.tavassoli (40 months ago | reply)
VARY COOL IDEA!!!!! Now i'm going to have to try this.
VoodooDahl (40 months ago | reply)
Great idea, I have seen people make lampshades out of slides too.
Slides will fade and probably fast, if they hang in direct sunlight all the time. But you can buy cheap slides from flea markets, ebay etc.
Think I'll try it too. :)
Randy Wentzel Photography (40 months ago | reply)
Congrats, you're on Gizmodo now too:
gizmodo.com/5472389/old-film-slides-give-your -windows-a-s...
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@pixelrandy - Holy crap! My curtains are famous. :)
blk_silkat (40 months ago | reply)
Where/how do you get a bunch of old slides? (by where I mean in what sort of an establishment would you find them?) I really love this idea and I am casting about for design ideas.
knittingbrow (40 months ago | reply)
This is soooo great!
Theresa Thompson (40 months ago | reply)
This is an awesome idea!
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
Hi, Gerry! [waves]
@blk silkat: I poke around antique stores and find them there. I'm sure you could pick up a ton at yard sales or estate sales. There are some available on ebay, but the ones I've looked at on there seem really expensive. I bought a carousel (about 100 slides) a few weeks ago for $10, and that was a little more than I usually pay. I think the slides I got for the curtain came in a lot of probably around 400-500 slides, and also included a great big slide container unit and a (working) projector, all for about $25.
Also thought I should add that I've seen online today that the Kodachrome slides will fade "quickly" (although I have no idea how soon is quickly) compared to other brands of slide film (for example, Kodak Ektachrome and Fujichrome). So anyone wanting to make something like this where it will be displayed in direct sunlight might want to take that into consideration.
SerialCoder (40 months ago | reply)
Brilliant, Just brilliant!
chris johnson. (40 months ago | reply)
best. curtains. ever. even if they will fade with time.
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@RoadsideOnline: If the images are of value to someone, maybe they wouldn't have wound up abandoned in an antique store somewhere? Like I said in the pic description, I viewed them and scanned some of them in before we made the curtains. You can view some of the scans in my Found Film set: www.flickr.com/photos/yarnzombie/sets/7215760 7000475373/
oddstray (40 months ago | reply)
PLEEEESE don't rely on your scans of slides to last!!! They are not nearly as robust as the original slides. Review them at least every five years (I've had CDs/DVDs go bad on me sooner than that!)
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@oddstray - Dude... I'm not a museum curator. These aren't the Zapruder slides or anything. Most of them are pictures of people riding horses. Also, I uploaded some of them to Flickr, so they're preserved here, on the internets. :)
the velocity of saul at the time of his conversion (40 months ago | reply)
Whoa.. I am working on the exact same thing right now! Only I was using fotoclips from Lomo. I think I'm going to change tactics now. This looks WAY better than what I'm doing. How tedious is it to attach all those rings?
A & P Bench (40 months ago | reply)
Very clever! I would love to have something like this!
CuriousCardinal (40 months ago | reply)
Jacki, I just love you! You are so creative. This is my daughter, everybody! I'm always proud of you. Love, Mom
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
Hi Mom! :)
@velocity - I had never seen those fotoclips before. Neat. I have some 4x5 slide film that I'm planning on making into other things after I develop it, and those may come in handy. It wasn't too bad attaching the rings. Someone on another curtain photo suggested that I could get away with just doing one hole per side instead of two, and honestly, after you get the top row done, the slides will hang pretty straight, so the rings on the sides of the slides probably aren't even necessary. My method was just to open a bunch of the rings at once, and then connect them to the slides in a group, instead of opening one ring, and then connecting that one ring to a slide, and then opening another... Having the right tools will make it go faster. I used the wide nosed pliers from the Ring Lord:
theringlord.com/cart/shopdisplayproducts.asp? id=69&ca...
chequered plate (40 months ago | reply)
Or buy the clear slide filing storage sheets ?
eg
for ring binders
www.kenro.co.uk/productlist/3/541/Storage Pages for Ringbinders & Products.html
for filing cabinets
www.kenro.co.uk/productlist/3/542/Storage Pages for Filing Cabinets.html
I used the blacksleeved mounts for larger format trannys
www.kenro.co.uk/product/KBM024/3/540/Sleeves+ for+Black+Ma...
These are expensive though, being an archival, inert product
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@RoadsideOnline - Okay, here's what I do - I go to stores, find cameras with old, undeveloped film still left in them, buy them, take them home, and then develop the film. I buy, on occasion, collections of slides that are for sale. From both of these collections, I will, with care and respect for the original images, scan them in, preserving the image, and then, in addition, upload some of them to Flickr, so they can be viewed by others and not lost forever.
Now, what exactly else would you have me do? Just store them in some type of archival, dark, temperature controlled storage unit forever? Come on. *That*'s ridiculous. Speaking as someone who has shot thousands and thousands of photographs (including a good chunk of those on slide film), this is not offensive to me - in fact, I have a bunch of old slides that I've taken that are underexposed, or blurry, or are just not that interesting that I'm probably going to use in a similar project. Not every image ever taken is worthy of reverence. Frankly, if I were the original photographer, I'd be happy that my images were being enjoyed again and shared and preserved (through the magic of the internets!) with others.
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@RoadsideOnline - Well, if you want to send me money to create an archival film storage addition to my house, I'll gladly accept it! But until then, I'll feel free to use items I have bought (and like I said already over and over *scanned to preserve the images*) in crafty projects like this.
choofly (40 months ago | reply)
So cool!
BevKnits (40 months ago | reply)
That is too cool!
BookLounge.ca (40 months ago | reply)
So Neat! I used to work in a slide library in university, and I have a whole box of slide mounts - was hoping to make something similar but never knew what to connect them with. Great job!
jenni from the block (40 months ago | reply)
awesome!!
trvance (40 months ago | reply)
@RoadsideOnline. Why should anyone have to justify what they do to you? You the slide police?
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@RoadsideOnline - That's awesome that you know exactly how much room for storage I have in my house! Oh, wait, you don't.
Obviously, this is something that you feel passionately about. I happen to disagree with you. Instead of spending your time and energy insulting me (which isn't really doing a great job of changing my mind), why don't you spend it collecting more found images?
harvestar33 (40 months ago | reply)
I was thinking this would be a great way to find something useful out of slides that didn't turn out. My husband has lots of those. :) The good pictures, we keep in a nice slide binder, but there's lots of ones that didn't turn out.
Sock-a-holic (40 months ago | reply)
Hey jacki, there is thing call the ban user button. I suggest you use it on Mr. Asshat.
Roadsidepictures (40 months ago | reply)
Ummm, I buy slides in antique shops, garage sales and thrift stores to save them from being destroyed or thrown in the trash.
Of course, there are many slides that have no historical value (pictures of flowers, animals, mountains, trees, etc.), but pictures of cars, towns, roadside attractions (motels, signage, gas stations) can actually bring in some money! Even vintage pictures of people doing everyday things can be of value.
I give you an A+ for creativity, but I think Roadsideonline's idea of shooting pictures yourself and making curtains out of them is an excellent idea! You can get the shots you want and those of us who do have room to store vintage slides can buy them in the antique shops and thrift stores and share the images with future generations. Just my two cents worth. ;-)
Carl Stovell (40 months ago | reply)
that looks great! even better up close no doubt.
yarnzombie (40 months ago | reply)
@Roadsidepictures - I am sharing the images with future generations. Here. Online. On Flickr. I have a set with about 150 found pics in it, and a bunch more I haven't uploaded yet. Again, I appreciate the concern, but feel that I've gone above and beyond as far as recovering found images. I'm of the opinion that if items that are unused and unwanted (slides, cameras, tools, etc - again, things in flea markets, antique stores, etc) can be repurposed into something functional, then it's a good thing, and is giving new life to those objects. I respect your opinion, but happen to disagree with you. I have a collection of over 400 slides of people and horses. Now I have a curtain that looks awesome and is thought provoking and appreciated every time I stand by my front door (which is often, waiting for my dog to come inside).
Although I do encourage people to use their own slides, if they already have some of their own, or to buy some film and shoot it. I support anything that means more people are buying film. :) I have some slides of my own that I'm planning on using in similar projects.
@everyone else - Thanks for all the kudos! :) Send me pics if anyone makes more slide crafts!