After my first successful test, I continued experimenting to see what would work. I started by trying the same one-reel method, but getting the tape as taut as possible; however, the tension on the connection of the tape was too much, which led to the tape snapping during testing. I had tried a very loose tape, but this led to the tape falling out of its casing and getting jammed in the player. My next successful result came when testing a length slightly shorter than the first successful loop. It was more even and had less slack, which meant the speed of the tape passing the playhead was more consistent, leading to a more natural recording sound. I recorded my voice onto this tape outside as an experiment, but there was no noticeable outdoor sound on the recording.
Having made another successful loop using the one-reel method, I thought it would be a good time to try the 10-second tape loop method, which used two reels. I tried several lengths of tape; the first few attempts were too short and wouldn’t fit around the reels as I wanted them to. I continued with more attempts, but made loops of tape too large to fall out of the casing. After trying again, I got a length of tape that worked, but it was very temperamental, only looping for a short amount of time. My theory as to the failure of this loop is that there was too much friction with the tape. When I was watching the loop, the second reel wouldn’t spin; all the friction of the tape rubbing against itself and not being able to spin the second reel may have caused the tape to come to a standstill. After this method didn’t work for me several times, I decided that the one-reel method was more effective, especially considering the fact that in an installation setting.
I decided that in an installation setting, I would stick the letters onto the wall, overlapping them, and I would keep the books next to the tape player on a plinth beneath the letters. I have, perhaps incorrectly, assumed that the “Good luck” letter was a parting message. There is no real way to know the correct order of the letters, so overlapping them on the wall behind the tape player feels like a way to let a listener gather the context of the piece as well as assume their own timeline. The listener having the context of the letters and seeing them physically as well as the books they were found in is important as it allows a listener to not only understand the content of the notes but the physicality, age and emotion captured by the material: The sweet childish books, the handwriting of the author, the way the letters were concealed unnasumingly.
Overall, I feel like my progress so far has gone well. I have garnered a level of technical knowledge and theoretical knowledge of other practitioners’ work, which has informed the way I have worked. I have conducted a series of tests in terms of the length of tape and have experimented with the location of recording. After conducting these tests, I have settled on a method of tape manipulations well-suited to the way I want to present my work, as well as having an in-depth understanding of why I want to present my work the way I do.