making progress...

Today was a good day so far. I discussed my final project with my instructor today and my goal is to finish designing it tonight (which probably means I'll be done with it midday tomorrow, but hopefully sooner). I have a list of items to produce for friday (everything's due at 6 pm then!) so a lot depends on tonight to make sure I get shit done. Leaving my chilly apartment to work at a friend's place where we will guzzle tea and scrounge up midnight snacks when we start slowing down. Tonight I'll need an extra pair of socks, or maybe my slippers wherever they are, my glasses, and I wish I still had a pair of fingerless gloves. My fingers get SO COLD when working away at a computer for 8+ hours at night, UGH. I wore a beanie today to ward off the cold wind that FREEZES my ears while biking home and my friend declared me 'hobo-chic.' Well now I am just complaining about the weather - Southern California is freezing over! Time to get work done now.

I want to snooze.

My sister caught me and BB snoozing after the first round of cooking on Thanksgiving!

Day 1 of final charrette and I'm already tired?! Working on my final design and I can't say I'm completely satisfied, but I'll have to give it more substance through the renderings and diagrams. AAAHH. Vibration collection, undulating lines and planes and mesh and flickering opacity all sounds cool but am I making it WORK? Drinking two huge mugs of vanilla and cinnamon black tea from Trader Joe's keeps me up with a subtle hint of nervous energy, but with the mess of rain yesterday and gusty winds today I want nothing more than to curl up in my now-warm bed (brought back a big thick blanket from home!) and sleep for a few hours to stave off the chill that sets in my bones from hours of working. I'm giving myself til 3 to finish this design, that's not much time!

bronze casting, part 7

All done! My finished dog BB in all her bronze glory. I need to photograph her on a black background to make the details really pop and I'll do that at the end of this week, when hell comes to its slow-burning end. (Stressed much?) All the little posts that extended from her ears and the gate on her back were sawed off with a chop saw (scary!) and then I buffed, grinded, scrubbed and broke off any extra metal I didn't want, using the bench grinder, angle grinder and a dremel. 3 hours flew by so quickly - I loved getting absorbed into the craft and I can see myself doing this all the time... I'm so glad I took this class this semester. Favorite and most fulfilling, hands down.

bronze casting, part 6

I have a few minutes to kill before I head off to work; I was so preoccupied with working on school projects last night that I didn't think to post this yesterday. The first photo my instructor took of me because he noticed I'd been documenting the entire project and said here I'll take some of you, and this is one of the clearer/less sillier ones. Breaking the forms that we had cast with bronze the previous week to reveal the piece inside! I took photos of my peers cleaning up their pieces but didn't do any other process shots after that. 3 hours of intense cleaning and my hands were too messy and I was too into it to stop and take pictures.

bronze casting, part 5

The night of the bronze pour took place from 7 that evening to 4 the next morning! Most of the time was spent heating the bronze in the foundry - I took that time to work on my thesis paper rather than hang around in the art studios with the rest of my sculpture class. The pour itself was amazing! I felt like I was casting the One Ring, no big deal. So awesome. I just want to cast bronze sculptures all the time now - every part of the process is just so enjoyable. Hard work, but so fulfilling.

happy thanksgiving

I'm still recovering from food coma I think. Is there such thing as a tryptophan-induced headache? Turkey hangover? I'm probably just massively dehydrated. This was the first year we did turkey! My sister was in charge of the bird and she did an amazing job. I headed the veggies and we had stuffed mushrooms, green beans with garlic & pine nuts, mashed potatoes, bacon brussels sprouts, a parsnip/rutabaga/turnip roast, and sweet potato fries! The last image is of a plate my mom packed for one of her workaholic friends to take over to her after dinner, which I thought was such a thoughtful gesture. It makes me happy to know that I have an amazing support group of friends and family and for some reason this year I got really mushy about it. And even when things get tense and stressful it is so necessary to take a deep breath, take a step back and re-evaluate the situation; and unless you're in with a bunch of really horrible or manipulative people, usually the one who is being overly critical or overbearing is doing so out of utmost concern and love for you.

I was going to do some work tonight, and shouldn't really take a day off but it's Thanksgiving... which this year I find I appreciate more than Christmas because it's simpler! But I still love Christmas. Anyway, instead of Black Friday madness I'm going to work a few hours at TJs in the morning and then come home and hopefully get done what I need to before the real weekend. I hope everyone is stuffed and happy and content today.

bronze casting, part 4

We lined up all our forms, made copious amounts of the gypsum/grog/walnut shell/etc. mixture and poured them into the forms. After they had set for about an hour, we loaded them in the kiln to be fired. Firing has a dual purpose - stabilizing the mold and melting out the wax!

fall berries

So tired, but uploading pictures from the weekend while blow-drying my hair (lest I wake up chilly from damp locks) prompted me to comment on how swiftly fall arrived this past week. Rain over the weekend and temperature highs in the 60s! Cold for Southern California and almost unbearable for me. I found moth holes in two of my favorite woolen clothing items, which makes me kick myself for not having protected those pieces better, so this calls for a winter project or two once school lets out for the semester. Speaking of school, I just got back from an intense session of work with two of my best friends in my year. I think I finally have a strategy and form figured out for my final project, and now I just have to DO it. I am a day behind in my personal schedule so no matter what I'll have to bring it back up to speed today.

bronze casting, part 3

Time for the face coat! The face coat is a mix of gypsum, ground walnut shell, grog, and another powder which I do not remember at the moment. Stir it all up so the ingredients are evenly distributed and then add to a some water in a cup. The fineness of the powders makes for a nice smooth paste which lets all the details get captured and reduces the formation of air bubbles for when the rest of the plaster gets poured into the mold (which is pictured above, made with chicken wire and two layers of tar paper). More on the mold-pouring next time!

re-focus

This is a crystal pendant that my sister wrapped and gave to me for my birthday this year. I wear it on the days I am feeling particularly troubled/turbulent, hoping that the 'healing properties' of the crystal might help me stay focused or clear-headed, or whatever they say crystals do. It doesn't work nearly as well as actually spending time with my sister though. Tonight she and I were supposed to get dinner at Chipotle, but she got full on sandwiches so since she had saved some for me, I went over to her place and ate them as we talked. I don't know what it was, but today I felt much more connected to her than I have felt in a while, which makes me breathe a sigh of relief, as drifting away from her is a terrible, emptying feeling. And with plans to do sisterly/fun/mischievous things this winter I am feeling so much more motivated once again to finish this semester strong. After my gigantic paper I fell into a two-day slump of wanting-to-do-nothing, but I need to clamber out of that lest I screw myself over for good. With my boyfriend coming to visit this weekend I have even more reason to work my butt off for the rest of the week. But alas, I need to get going to bed now, so I can get to work at 4 in the morning.

bronze casting, part 2

This is the 'gating' and 'venting' part. I took a paper cup and dripped melted red wax into the bottom, then stuck a fat piece of red wax into that puddle of melted wax. The cup and wax nub make up the 'gate.' As you can see I got a new piece of the base wax in the second photo, because the first piece was dangerously tapered and didn't support the dog very well. Using thinner rods of red wax for the vents, I attached them to the ears and tail - any place where air bubbles are likely to get trapped and might not fill up with bronze. In retrospect I should have attached the other way - gating through the stomach and venting the feet, but the teacher didn't say this would be a huge issue. Hopefully it won't.

bronze casting, part 1

For the past few weeks in my metal sculpture class we have been working on our final bronze casting project using the 'lost-wax' process. The very first task is to model a figure out of wax - the wax we use is called micro-crystalline wax, which is softer and much easier to work with than paraffin/beeswax. The form can be made using an additive or subtractive method - I used the additive method to form the Westie's body and fur, but carved away as I saw needed for the detailing. We were given two class periods to work on our figures, and the third class was dedicated to gating and venting them, which I will describe in the next installment.

hell week 1, done.

This past week of working almost nonstop on my thesis paper (which at the end, stood alone fine somewhat but I probably could have worked out a few more things) and preparing for an adequate but disappointing pin-up today, has finally reached an end. So tired. I have a headache that was full-on raging during the afternoon but has now lessened to a dull throb. I just paid my credit card bill online and tomorrow morning I will feel poor... it doesn't help that I gave away my shifts all last week.

It's okay. The wall of work has been torn down. It's rebuilding itself as the minutes tick by, but I'll be ready for the next wave.

rainy/blustery

After the rain last night today was incredibly windy! I wore my big army field jacket though so it didn't bother me too much until I was on my bike! Brr... Today was an unexpectedly awesome Monday because I figured out that my paper isn't due this Friday but next Monday. But I will continue to follow the strict schedule I wrote for myself for the week because in the end, getting all that work done ahead of time will pay off. So some redemption there. Time to get to work now!

showers inspire

Something about taking a shower puts one in a unique state, physically and mentally. Aside from the obvious physical sensation of being bare and cleansing oneself, something happens mentally as well. Perhaps we fall into a relaxed state from the warm water, the steam, the pounding of water droplets and essentially being immersed in a column of falling water, shedding an old self and re-emerging refreshed. I accomplish much of my best thinking in the shower - perhaps I should start up showering twice a day again, or just on the days I'm extra stressed, bothered, or in need of a jolt.

calm at the moment

Work today was a nice, pleasant blur. 4 am, little paper cups of coffee, grocery aisle, cut-up finger skin, shift giveaways, failed baking and yumminess. I ran some errands once I got off - turtle wax for the car, fill-up on gas and lunching on leftovers. After that I met up with my mom and sister at Sweet & Savory where I got a red velvet cupcake and a non-menu Arnold Palmer, mmm.

Almost done reading the foundation book for my thesis paper. I say that in optimistically hoping my idea will further piece itself together and finishing the book will facilitate writing the first few introductory pages of the paper. Thus far I have notes notes notes and key words and phrases and when I space out at them something blurry begins to emerge like those Magic Eye books. Not as clear as I'd like but I'm obviously a little crazy right now likening the beginning of this project to a funny novelty children's book series. What am I saying now? I just need a respite and I'm not even a fraction of the way into my work.

Full-steam ahead!

upboats

Behold my new Reddit alien flashdrive! Its head pops off and it can hold 4 GB of stuff. I'm geeking out over this little guy. Time to SLEEP now because I have work in 6 hours.

cine-kodak royal magazine

My pop found this and, knowing I collect old cameras brought it over for me! It's been sitting around collecting dust for a few decades I suspect. I think he had a few home movies of the golf course that were taken with this which is pretty craaazy. I need to get my hands on some film so I can shoot some home movies FILMS (making fun of myself here) of my own. I'd been wanting to get a super 16 but wouldn't have any idea what to do so if this one works I'm excited at the thought of shooting with it!