by Crimethinc. Workers' Collective
Available in 284 free installments
Owner:
In a subsequent internet search, we found that the same text has been spotted all over the world, though mostly in North and South America. There even seems to be a fan club. According to one posting, a piece in New York starts with the same Toynbee text, then adds, "Murder every journalist, I beg you." Well, we would never be so impolite, but between that and the kindly instructions provided in Pittsburgh, it's clear where the artist stands on do-it-yourself media.
So, in the spirit of the inventor who was thoughtftil enough to declassify his or her technique, we present the findings of our attempts to reverse-engineer it. Now, go make and glue tiles!! You!!!! As media!!!
The so-called "Toynbee Tiles" are made out of two kinds of floor covering material: Vinyl Composition Tile and true Linoleum.
Vinyl Composition Tile: The text is vinyl composition tile, also called "VCT" VCT works because its color is solid, so when it wears down it still looks good. What will not work is the variety of self-adhesive, so-called "linoleum" tiles sold in hardware and tile stores. The surface of those tiles, whether it is a color or faux marble, is a paper-thin veneer. When it wears down, it reveals its white substrate. For Christ's sake, don't even use those on your kitchen floor!
VCT is cheap, even brand new. It sells for less than sixty cents a square foot at hardware marts. The problem is that color selection is generally limited to a few bland options when you're only buying single tiles. They do come in exciting colors, though, and if you want to order a case you can get almost any color you want; however, a case is expensive, and it's unlikely that you will ever need forty-five square feet of any one color, so we have some other recommendations.
Ingredients
Asphalt Mosaics 67
A lot of cities these days have salvage building-supply warehouses. They are often non-profit and community-run. These are a good place to start, as they usually have partial cases in a variety of colors. We have also had luck calling and stopping by floor covering stores and/or installation contractors. We ask if they have any partial cases in their storage area that we could have for an art project. Sometimes they are generous, sometimes they ask for a little money. Another method that has worked well with other materials is a classified "want ad" in the local paper. If someone has redone their own kitchen fioor, they may have a partial box that they couldn't bring themselves to toss but don't really need. People love to donate these kinds of materials to starving artists.
Linoleum: The background of the Toynbee tiles is made of linoleum. Like VCT, linoleum is solid color through and through. But beware?^the word "linoleum" is also used generically to refer to any non-ceramic floor tile. True linoleum is a very specific product made of flax fiber and linseed oil. You must use the real thing. Like carpet, linoleum mostiy comes in rolls, and has to be cut and fitted into place when installed. For this reason, it is highly likely that you will be able to get cut-offs for cheap or free from an installation contractor or salvage lot.
Asphalt Crack Filler: Asphalt crack filler is acrylic-based liquid tar made for filling cracks in asphalt driveways. It is available in most hardware stores, especially in the summertime, when it is best applied. It comes in one-gallon jugs. We have found many brands, but just two basic types. The regular strength stuff says that it will fill cracks of up to half an inch. The maximum strength product says it will fill 3/4-inch cracks and last longer. Both work, but for the minimal price difference, we lean toward the heavy-duty stuff It goes for around $7.50 a gallon. One gallon is good for a dozen or more one-square-foot designs. Asphalt Mosaics CARDBOARD OR PLYWOOD BOARD for an area as big as your design, in good condition
68 and flat with no creases or dents.
Tarpaper Water-soluble glue
Utility knife (with plenty of
blades, as they dull quickly on VCT)
Metal ruler or straight edge
Stapler or tape
Heat gun (optional, but helpjul)
You have two options for creating your design. You can make mosaics, or you can Instructions make what well call Toynbee-style pieces, in which your text or image is set into a solid background.
The advantage of the mosaic approach is that they can be made with VCT alone. You may find VCT to be easier to obtain than linoleum. Because of its brittleness, VCT is hard to cut into precise shapes such as small letters, and large pieces of it can crJck apart as the road shifts with temperature and pressure. Mosaics circumvent these problems, piecing together small, randomly cut pieces of tile to form a design.
