Ahh

Oh you know just have five things going all at the same time........ ahhhhh. I'm making good progress though. I ordered everything else I need for the neck piece I'm making and I'm fairly certain once that comes in I should be all set. Only four more actual class days left but there's still plenty of time... maybe if I keep saying that it'll become true.

Nearing the end of the semester grind

We're getting close to the end of the semester now.  Well four or five weeks away at least.  Things are kind of moving along.  I think I've fully figured out what I plan to do with my free choice project making the neck piece.  Robin said she would help me incorporate fiber optics into the piece and I think that will give a great contrast to the patinaed(?) bronze I plan on using for the cones.  I've also done some sketches where I've off set what used to the be the center piece and removed a few of the cones from one side getting rid of the symmetry to make the piece far more dynamic.

I've also been cutting out dyes from acrylic I bought last week for the earring trio project so I should be moving along with that.  I just need to get some of them shapes smoothed out so the pieces dye form better. I did a sample with one of the dyes and it's not doming out as far as I would like so I need to either keep annealing the metal and continue to dye form it or rework the dye a little bit. Only a few more weeks until the student sale but hopefully the earrings should be done by then.  I'm pretty sure the dyes will be the longest part of the process so once I get those cut out it should be smooth sailing.

The mermaid is almost done.  I just need to smooth out one more spot on her upper body and then I can cut out the pieces and attach them.  I'm still not entirely happy with the way the piece is going to turn out but I like the look of the tail.  Like I've said before ideally I would have been able to chase a design onto a vessel but that can probably happen next semester in metalsmithing.  Who know if I'll want to do the same design though.  I am still leaning towards turning the mermaid into some sort of broach because I feel like it would be easier than worrying about how to clasp it as a bracelet while I'm still working on the other projects.  Speaking of that I wonder if the alternative materials project is still going to be a thing and if so hopefully I can just count the fiber optics as my alternative material.

I'm almost done with the top half of the mermaid. I just need to chase in some of the finer details and then clean everything up... and then make a hinge connecting the two pieces..... and still figure out if its going to be a bracelet or just turn it into a pin or necklace... ugh

Mermaid project

Progress on my mermaid. It's coming along. I just need to finish the upper half but the tail is pretty much done. The texture is okay I couldn't get it exactly how I wanted but its pretty good. I think the whole piece is going to be too big for a bracelet though so I might have to turn it into something different. I guess we'll see.

Tool progress

Hardened tools yay!
Just have to sand them again.

Very late night

I'm having trouble sleeping so here's another blog post.

I'm still having trouble completely nailing exactly what my project is going to be.  I've gone back and forth with so many ideas and so many different sketches and just completely scrapped most of it.  I would still really like to do a chase and repousse piece wrapping around a vessel with the one design i came up with, but that would just be far too time consuming for right now.  When I get up I'm going to try to finalize some sketches so I can move ahead and make a model of my piece.

I still have not been able to remember to get rocks to set up my pitch bowl.  You would think something that simple that doesn't cost any money would be a little easier for me to get.  Hopefully with my mind fully on this piece I'll remember to grab some on my way into the studio.  It would be nice to be able to at least check off setting up my bowl out of my to-do list.

I've started working on some pieces for the student sale as well.  I'm still fairly lost with what I want to do with the herkimer diamonds I have.  It's been pretty hard to try and come up with a decent way to set them.  I'm thinking maybe using bezel wire around the entire stone and then attaching it to a band or a neck piece.  Still sketching out some ideas with that.  My model for the dream catcher earrings I made turned out fairly well.  I'm pretty sure I'll need to make it a deal smaller though as ideally I'll be making them out of silver.  I thought about using the herkimer diamonds as the decorations hanging below the actual dream catcher but they're too big to fit in with the design.

Back to the drawing board.

Yay for tools coming along. I just forged a lining tool and I have the forming side of these started. It's hard to tell what shapes I'm going to need but I think I have an idea. We'll see what happens just like always

New semester

So I came up with a theme for the semester about a month ago and its not necessary this semester. I hated the requirement every other time but now that I was excited for it we don't need it. What can you do. I'd like to still try to incorporate my theme into my work this semester. I think Grimm's fairy tales can provide a lot to work from. With the chasing and repoussé project I'm leaning towards doing something Cinderella inspired but I'm still brainstorming. I think this process could either be a lot of fun or really awful. We'll see what happens I guess.

Dropping niobium balls does not a kinetic piece make

After battling with the machine for about an hour we were able to anodize my niobium balls once we realized the only connection we didn't check was the problem.  I'm still cleaning up my vessel. I'm kind of disappointed because I think I liked the vessel itself a lot more before I added the wire rim but it ties it in to the base. So all three projects are coming along nicely and should be done over the next couple days.

Getting close to finishing my vessel which has been a grueling process but it was still very enjoyable. I'm on to sanding the outside of the vessel and then I just need to solder it to the base.

The kinetic movement project was giving me some trouble but then I came up with making a bracelet/ring combo that wraps up the arm and works like a track for a small ball (hopefully of niobium) and ends up in a cage on the looking like a set stone. I think that if I get thick enough gage wire I should be able to make it work.

Base problems

The planishing of my vessel is coming along nicely. Probably one or two more courses and then I'll be happy with the surface, then all I'll have to do if file down the top of the vessel and then wallow in misery while I try to come up with a base for it.  My new idea for the base was to have it look like it's sitting in shattering glass, well not glass but copper. But I have to draw up some sketches to see if that would be feasible and still look alright. I guess I could also always alter my original idea and have it still look like it's hanging off of something but just solder it to what it's hanging from. I guess we'll see what happens.

Planish ahoy!

Planishing is very time consuming but its still pretty enjoyable and very meditative.  After a few more times of this then I just have to finish the base. I'm also contemplating doing something to the inside of the vessel but I'm not sure

Vessel

My vessel is getting there. I'm very close to getting it as deep as I want. Next time I'm working on it I need to planish the bottom of the vessel. Then it shouldn't be long until I can start fully working on the base.

Yay

Yay progress!!! Annealing and more raising next time

Progress on my vessel

New semester

Yay the semester has started and we're starting with metal smithing which makes me really happy. I've been wanting to do metal smithing since I was in intro. I think its off to a good start and I'm loving it so far.

As of right now for my theme I'm thinking about theatricality and showmanship. I think that can lend itself fairly well to the semester and I won't feel as limited as I did with last semesters theme.