hey everyone
this week i'm back at school instead of securing the bag, which is for the better in this case. These last few weeks of the semester are getting to be a crunch and honestly I don't have time for anything except schoolwork at this point. That being said, I've been cranking out my graphic design portfolio over the last week or so. Even though it's due Monday and I'm not nearly as far along as I'd like to be it has been going better than I expected.
I'd be lying if I said due dates weren't making me lose it a little, but that's another story. My sculpture pieces that I mentioned last week are less complete than I'd like them to be, and I've had to cut two of my 3 pieces related to the original concept. This is only because the one piece I've been pouring my time into (the turtle) is going to end up big enough to make up for 2 of my 3 pieces. I'll also have my cast-iron piece that I made during my trip to SLOSS, and all that needs done there is to clean it up. My turtle's shell is partly cast in aluminum, and I would attach pictures but it was still ~300˚F when I tried to pick it up (that felt nice).
The other half of my shell casing developed a crack when it was being hardened, so it's going into surgery tomorrow as soon as possible, and I'll be casting it and all of the turtle's limbs in aluminum the same day hopefully. After that it's just cutting and cleaning (assuming all goes well). I hope my rambling made sense to some of you, it's kinda therapeutic at this point.
Good luck to everyone in the same boat. Until next time
I'll throw some pictures up of the turtle once it's cooled off if I have time.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Homework for Life
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME
So this week I don't have any amazing finds for you, and instead of being at work this week I'm spending most of my evening at the sculpture studio at Bradley University. These next few weeks are critical for my sculpture class as we are finalizing our pieces to exhibit at the Studios On Sheridan in Peoria, IL. I will be displaying several pieces (at least 3) alongside those of my classmates and professors. We have about two weeks left, and we're all pumped for the event.
Conceptually, my personal projects are about the relationships that wild animals have with humans and with themselves respectively, that humans have with the environment, and the effects of man-made disasters on the environment. My first piece is a surrealistic themed tortoise, with the shell folding up on one half to reveal a house built into the tortoise's body. All of this acts as a metaphor for the fact that the home is often more fluid and easily destroyed than we'd like to believe, just like the shell of a tortoise. These animals are known to shed their shells as they grow, which is similar to the way that people grow and change in the non-literal sense. The shell will always grow back and keep the turtle protected unless it is destroyed, but once it is there is most often no repairing it. This piece is nearly finished, I only have to cast it in aluminum and refine from here on out. It's in pieces and covered in plaster for now so the details can't be seen, but the pictures I include should show them all with their venting systems (these are so the metal doesn't trap air when being poured into the mould).
The second piece is a rabbit, twisted by the effects of a man-made disaster, which in this case is nuclear radiation. In places where disasters such as this have occurred—Chernobyl, for example—the wildlife has been almost permanently genetically mutated and/or stunted, in some ways very grotesquely. My rabbit has two heads on an otherwise completely normal body, which is a known and observed mutation caused by radiation. This one is nearly finished in wax and ready to be coated in plaster.
My third and final piece is a head with a hairdo, only the head is in it's most basic skeletal form and the hair made of old and useless cables and cords from that pile that arguably most people have had or seen in their home at one point or another. There's nothing wrong with the phrase "it's just an extra," but when the extra becomes trash to us it can often become harmful to the environment it's thrown out into. Being made of synthetic material, odds are they will never decay in the average human lifetime if ever at all as the bones they are attached to in this case. I have yet to start this piece, but I feel it's crucial in visualizing the concept.
In a nutshell, that's what I'm up to for the foreseeable future on top of the heavy project load for my other classes as well. It's gonna be a fun few weeks.
Until next time
So this week I don't have any amazing finds for you, and instead of being at work this week I'm spending most of my evening at the sculpture studio at Bradley University. These next few weeks are critical for my sculpture class as we are finalizing our pieces to exhibit at the Studios On Sheridan in Peoria, IL. I will be displaying several pieces (at least 3) alongside those of my classmates and professors. We have about two weeks left, and we're all pumped for the event.
Conceptually, my personal projects are about the relationships that wild animals have with humans and with themselves respectively, that humans have with the environment, and the effects of man-made disasters on the environment. My first piece is a surrealistic themed tortoise, with the shell folding up on one half to reveal a house built into the tortoise's body. All of this acts as a metaphor for the fact that the home is often more fluid and easily destroyed than we'd like to believe, just like the shell of a tortoise. These animals are known to shed their shells as they grow, which is similar to the way that people grow and change in the non-literal sense. The shell will always grow back and keep the turtle protected unless it is destroyed, but once it is there is most often no repairing it. This piece is nearly finished, I only have to cast it in aluminum and refine from here on out. It's in pieces and covered in plaster for now so the details can't be seen, but the pictures I include should show them all with their venting systems (these are so the metal doesn't trap air when being poured into the mould).
The second piece is a rabbit, twisted by the effects of a man-made disaster, which in this case is nuclear radiation. In places where disasters such as this have occurred—Chernobyl, for example—the wildlife has been almost permanently genetically mutated and/or stunted, in some ways very grotesquely. My rabbit has two heads on an otherwise completely normal body, which is a known and observed mutation caused by radiation. This one is nearly finished in wax and ready to be coated in plaster.
My third and final piece is a head with a hairdo, only the head is in it's most basic skeletal form and the hair made of old and useless cables and cords from that pile that arguably most people have had or seen in their home at one point or another. There's nothing wrong with the phrase "it's just an extra," but when the extra becomes trash to us it can often become harmful to the environment it's thrown out into. Being made of synthetic material, odds are they will never decay in the average human lifetime if ever at all as the bones they are attached to in this case. I have yet to start this piece, but I feel it's crucial in visualizing the concept.
In a nutshell, that's what I'm up to for the foreseeable future on top of the heavy project load for my other classes as well. It's gonna be a fun few weeks.
Until next time
Upper Tortoise shell and limbs
Lower turtle shell, house visible
Two-headed rabbit, happy easter.
Behind is a 5.5' tall sculpture being done by Liz Johnson
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
50lbs of Mobile Recording Power
HELLO FELLOW KIDS
Ever wondered what kind of device they used to record all those tapes when Watergate happened? I would bet money that it was one of these, or something very similar at least. Before hand held tape recorders became a big thing oh, this is what people had to work with when they wanted to record something as simple as audio. These bad boys have about a 30 minute record time, even with spindles that seem pretty large. That's not to mention how awkward and bulky these things are to carry, assuming you can get it off the ground. I'd say this thing weighs about 50-60lbs. You could also record by winding the tape either way and control the speed of the playback, both of which are some of those top shelf features.
It may seem like this thing doesn't have a lot to offer, but this was top shelf at one point. It comes with all the audio jacks you can possibly imagine for any kind of microphone for its time. It even comes with two solid-state microphones that are wired directly to the recorder, so you'd always have something to record with. I suppose if you had the right jack, you’d be able to record instruments like an electric guitar using one of these. On top of all of that, it’s also got some built in speakers (again, high tech for the time) which adds a lot to the weight but definitely would have made this one of the more portable audio recorders for its time. This would have been especially handy for Watergate indeed.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
SLOSS
hey guys
so this week I'm not at work, so I have nothing to show you in terms of rare or mildly interesting items that someone didn't want. Instead, I'll tell you briefly what I've been up to while I'm in Birmingham, Alabama. Five art students from Bradley University and I are in town for the NCCCIAP (National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices). We have our own Iron pouring cupola (10' tall furnace) and will be competing in a competition tomorrow night basically on who has the biggest and baddest cupola.
Day1:
We arrive at Sloss Iron pouring facility in Birmingham, and set up the cupola for a burn-in which will basically prime it for the actual iron pour. Next thing up was to smash up 492 lbs. (exactly) of iron to use in our furnace on Day 4. Next up we made around 20 sand-cement moulds using materials provided by Sloss to use for the actual competition. We brought some of our own custom moulds with which to fill with iron, so we began prepping those as well later on. Head back to the hotel after an 11 hour day.
Day 2:
Back at Sloss, we smash up 146 lbs (exactly) of coke to use as fuel for the fire, so to speak. coke is the 'technical term' for a material similar to charcoal briquettes used for grilling, except on a larger scale. We followed this with finalizing the prep for most of our custom moulds, which involved cutting in air vents to allow the heat from the 4000 degree iron to escape from (took most of the day). We also had a "chainlink" mould that we made to represent Bradley University, this mould broke so we spent some time repairing and finalizing this as well. I'll include pictures if I have any. Back to the hotel after another 11 hour day of prep.
Day 3:
Once again at Sloss, we attend a workshop on direct moulding with a special kind of oily sand that hardens and that can be prepped and used for an iron pour in a day or so. We finalized the prep for our cupola, ran over the technical aspects and what we need to do and when we need to do it during the competition. Demonstrations ran through the day, showcasing the incredible art of the people who attended sloss past and present. I cannot stress enough how talented some of these individuals are, the things I've seen here in the last couple days have absolutely blown my mind. The last thing we saw today was a trebuchet launching balls of clay and fire into a lake while a team of iron casters blew up a 20' long snake made of straw that was filled with fire works. Incredible to say the least.
The competition is tomorrow at 4pm, and I've never felt less ready for anything in my life. So it goes I suppose, but we came to dominate and I think we have more than a good chance.
Wish us luck. I'll add pictures tomorrow if I remember, but it's been an incredibly long day and I am going to sleep.
GOOD NIGHT HUMANS
so this week I'm not at work, so I have nothing to show you in terms of rare or mildly interesting items that someone didn't want. Instead, I'll tell you briefly what I've been up to while I'm in Birmingham, Alabama. Five art students from Bradley University and I are in town for the NCCCIAP (National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices). We have our own Iron pouring cupola (10' tall furnace) and will be competing in a competition tomorrow night basically on who has the biggest and baddest cupola.
Day1:
We arrive at Sloss Iron pouring facility in Birmingham, and set up the cupola for a burn-in which will basically prime it for the actual iron pour. Next thing up was to smash up 492 lbs. (exactly) of iron to use in our furnace on Day 4. Next up we made around 20 sand-cement moulds using materials provided by Sloss to use for the actual competition. We brought some of our own custom moulds with which to fill with iron, so we began prepping those as well later on. Head back to the hotel after an 11 hour day.
Day 2:
Back at Sloss, we smash up 146 lbs (exactly) of coke to use as fuel for the fire, so to speak. coke is the 'technical term' for a material similar to charcoal briquettes used for grilling, except on a larger scale. We followed this with finalizing the prep for most of our custom moulds, which involved cutting in air vents to allow the heat from the 4000 degree iron to escape from (took most of the day). We also had a "chainlink" mould that we made to represent Bradley University, this mould broke so we spent some time repairing and finalizing this as well. I'll include pictures if I have any. Back to the hotel after another 11 hour day of prep.
Day 3:
Once again at Sloss, we attend a workshop on direct moulding with a special kind of oily sand that hardens and that can be prepped and used for an iron pour in a day or so. We finalized the prep for our cupola, ran over the technical aspects and what we need to do and when we need to do it during the competition. Demonstrations ran through the day, showcasing the incredible art of the people who attended sloss past and present. I cannot stress enough how talented some of these individuals are, the things I've seen here in the last couple days have absolutely blown my mind. The last thing we saw today was a trebuchet launching balls of clay and fire into a lake while a team of iron casters blew up a 20' long snake made of straw that was filled with fire works. Incredible to say the least.
The competition is tomorrow at 4pm, and I've never felt less ready for anything in my life. So it goes I suppose, but we came to dominate and I think we have more than a good chance.
Wish us luck. I'll add pictures tomorrow if I remember, but it's been an incredibly long day and I am going to sleep.
GOOD NIGHT HUMANS
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