I couldn't see where I was heading with this motley assortment of ideas but I am glad to say I now have the inkling of an idea. As you will see from the picture I did eventually find a way of plotting a guitar chord in a three dimensional space but got to a dead end with this as I felt it didn't push the boundaries of my work enough.
After much thought and a couple of nights of interrupted sleep I sat down with Richard and discussed the whole project from start to finish. Doing this made say what I was looking for 'out loud' and I discovered what I am trying to convey is an interpretation of musical score into a more three dimensional, physical display. Richard and I batted a few ideas about (he is such a good sounding board (pardon the pun)) I took a series of photographs showing his hand as he plays the chord.
I also took a series without the guitar fret board in his hand which led me to the idea of making 'hands' out of plaster to embelish or hold part of a sculpture. I realised that I did not know how to take a cast of a whole hand, so spent a mad evening with Richard mixing up cement, filling a latex glove and then using masking tape to manipulate the fingers while it dried!! As you can see the results were not spectacular as it became a little too 'gorilla' like....
So! I have spent most of this weekend reading up on life casting and the do's and don'ts of how to achieve realistic casts so the casting alginate is on order, the plaster of paris now purchased and will be hunting around university tomorrow for some plaster bandage - I am finally excited about this ......
