Georgiana BrummellTonight, at dinner, I somehow began discussing blindness and colour with my nephews D and A, who are twelve and seventeen, respectively. Since they are minors, I will just use the first letters of their names. Both are fully sighted and I am totally blind, having never seen. D thought of an idea whereby colours would be represented by different textures that could be drawn onto the page. Then, he said, they could be equated with things that connect the colours to things e.g. blue with wavy lines like the ocean. A said that, when he was around ten or so, he had pens that, when turned at the top, would change not only their tip and colour, but also the texture on the ink! Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the name of the brand. I asked Perplexity, and it gave me suggestions like Cra-Z-Art Spiral or Twistable Texture Pens, magic texture changers, Moon Monster Texture Changers, and Gel-X Texture Pens. I couldn't find anything about those, even in nostalgia discussions, while searching the Internet. I found something about Puffy Pens, which led me to a page with pens that, when hot air from a blow dryer is used, puff up and become tactile, but that was not what he was describing. I also found information on Hi Mark - Tactile Pens, but these sound similar to the Paint Pens for the Blind that I once tried. These aren't pens at all, but little bottles that you squeeze as you draw. Wet paint is released and dries into a plastic-feeling tactile picture. Does anyone have any idea what D was talking about? Have you used such pens, or do you know where we can find them?
In the meantime, I sent D some videos of the Sensational Blackboard and links on tactile graphics. I own the Blackboard but must find it and my tracing paper.
#accessibility #art #blind #childhood #colors #colours #pens #tactileArt #TexturedPens
Evolucija Svesti
Sarah Matthews
Claudia Winkelmann
