Newsletters for the letters T-Y feature subscribers who each volunteered to adopt a letter, select a word, explore the topic with a project, and then write about the experience. If you want details on the why and how behind this, check out the Quest post.
With that, I want to introduce Nikki Halpern who has chosen unfurl as her word. Nikki and I connected through Creative Quests and I was thrilled she was the first to volunteer. I hope you enjoy her project and writing as much as I do!
ALPHA BITS
You can find the full post for unfurl here and also on the homepage. Here’s more info on Nikki’s project:
For the illustration, I pulled on an example of unfurling I was familiar with in my life. I thought it complemented Nikki’s write-up nicely.
While Nikki considered creating a “UN of furling,” and found some global translations of unfurling, I was happy to see the GIFs as her final project. I’m a GIF fanatic and it made me want to do my own!
I loved how she included typos of the word and made a fun visualization of it using Glitch Text Generator (see the post to reference the image)
Note for these GIFs: the movement appears upon first loading but doesn’t repeat like many things that unfurl! You can also view them on the website; refresh the page as you need to (unless you click the images on mobile to see some re-unfurling).
CONNECTION(S)
This section is for my email friends—you won’t find it on Alpha Projects. Nikki and I wanted to share these gems with you!
Go into the history behind the sculpture inspiring one of Nikki’s GIFs and explore more of Camille Claudel’s art through the eponymous museum
Watch in awe as you listen to the sounds created by glass instruments: Cristal Baschet, seraphin, and glass armonica
Be entranced by unfurling with time lapse videos on Ferntastic Ferns and sprouting ferns (and bugs!). Inspired? You can sometimes forage fiddleheads—be sure to boil them and don’t overharvest!
Learn about flowering aka blooming teas and then buy from a company that seems solid
Play “The Unfurling of the Flag” (if you’re musically inclined) thanks to this sheet music found on the Library of Congress website
💖 Show Nikki’s project some love by sharing this post via email or social media—and tag with #alphaprojects.💖
You can also respond to this email if you want to pass on kudos and feedback to Nikki.
Thanks for reading (and sharing)!