More deliberation

This morning I'm being totally indecisive about the height of the readjusted box. The helpful Resident Carpenter wanted to change it immediately on hearing about the new plans, so that it could be beautifully repainted, but I was unable to make an instant decision on height; had to sleep on it, and have some quiet morning time to try out various things. After all, there's much to consider - not just the balance between the size of the two boxes, but internal factors:  the distance from the top of the work to the top of the box will affect how the light is caught within the box and reflected. I have only the one light on hand, and have been making boxy holders of various sizes for it -

The depth will affect the placement of the books in the box; the tracing paper is meant to prevent dazzle when the books are picked up and looked at. (Even though it might be tricky to put them back the way they were, I would like people to pick up and look at the books - after all, the very last page really can be read.) The LED lights have a hook on the back for hanging up, and a magnet for sticking to metal, but neither of these help me at all in this situation! They have to be kept in a certain position and these little boxes are all I can think of at the moment.

Much as I loved writing these, and even though I'm happy with the format, I made a big mistake - and should have known better. "Think ahead to how it will be displayed" said Paul Coldwell during the walk-through crit of the Wilson's Road exhibition - I noted that at the time, but did I keep it in mind for this? Apart from the size of shelf and the lights, and people reading the books, there's the matter of putting them into position, and the way that, out of their envelopes, they lose their particular titles. These will be on the label on the wall, and it might not matter that they're closely linked with the individual books. (It matters to me ... maybe this is something I need to move on from? So much to think about...!)

At the moment the decision is between 16.5cm height -

and 17.5cm height -

(those happened to be the sizes of the small books I found on my shelves). The "real" shelf will have nice white sides, of course - and slightly more space. 

It's helpful to see the photos together - does the smaller look slightly claustrophobic? How will it be with four lights? Should there even be four lights - why not three, or two? (or just the one??) 

The relative sizes of the shelves, along with some hasty painting-in in Photoshop -

The positioning will be with the blue on the right, and they'll be about 60cm apart, enough for a person to sit between them.

In this scenario (the chair represents the person sitting winding wool) the tops of the shelves are at eye height (ie, my eye height) - they'll need to be a bit higher -

It's really good to get input from people of other heights.

Height adjustment of box, buying of more lights, installation of everything, and repainting in situ are happening today. That will free my mind for the few(?) remaining decisions and actions.