Judith has a 3D view of Down’s unique shore

Judith has a 3D view of Down’s unique shore

15 February 2012 - by JOANNE FLEMING

A KILLINCHY woman has taken a love of the local coastline and painstakingly produced 3D nautical charts

Judith Lyness’s unique ‘Nauti Charts’ are made by layering traditional admiralty charts on top of each other to visually illustrate the various depths of the water.

Meticulously hand cut, reassembled and colour coded, they are works of art increasingly of interest to sailing enthusiasts and those who live beside the sea.

Judith originally graduated from Queen’s University in 2008 with a degree in architecture and worked at the Boyd Partnership Belfast, where her main role was the production of architectural models. Through her job she gained an appreciation of how clients benefited from viewing a 3D model of their proposed designs.

“I expanded into 3D nautical charts, combining my model-making background and interests in sailing,” said Judith, who recently set up her own Nauti Charts business.

Currently unique in what she does in the UK, these quirky pieces of art still provide all the practical information in traditional nautical charts, which rely on colour to illustrate water depth.

“When a specific area of coastline has been decided upon by the client I use a scalpel to cut the different layers of Admir-alty chart of

that area,” said Judith. “These layers give details of depths in meters, navigational marks, harbours and potential hazards, and they are often illustrated in different colours — yellow representing the land, green representing areas that cover and uncover according to the tide, blue representing shallow water, and white representing deep water.

“I laminate these layers onto different thicknesses of mounting material and reassemble these pieces to create a 3D Nautical chart. Every piece is hand cut, making it a time consuming and intricate process.”

Experimenting with the process over the past couple of years, Judith is now taking both local and overseas commissions.

“Sailors and people who live by the coast seem particularly drawn to them,” she said.

“They are a wonderful way of illustrating the world we know but cannot see.”

For more information on Judith’s work visit www.nauticharts.com.