Cast-able Materials!

Castable Materials:

Plaster

Wax

Sugar

Gelatin

Hot Glue

Chocolate

Soap

Resin

Plastic

Rubber

Foam

Ice

Pudding?

Exhibition Opportunities

*Resources for finding shows and opportunities. As emerging artists you should be looking at these things at least once a week.

http://www.collegeart.org/opportunities/type/3/

https://www.nyfa.org/Classifieds

http://artisttrust.org/index.php/for-artists/opportunities

 http://inliquid.org/opportunities/exhibitions/

 https://www.pittsburghartscouncil.org/public-art/artist-opportunities-listserv

 http://sidearts.com/

 http://www.oac.state.oh.us/search/IndividualArtistOpportunities/SearchArtistOpportunities.asp

Final Tree

This is my tree finished. I decided to put eyes behind and in front of it to add more depth to the piece and I'm really pleased with the turn out.

Light It Up!

I finally after 2 attempts to radioshack and 3 to Lowes -I kid you not. I finally managed to get my electricity part working: meaning the magic just began: I made little metal frames for all of my cards: cutting, folding and riveting all of it took half of forever :)
so now all of them have these little frames: which holds it. then I made this box which need to undergo major plastic surgery: but just to show the wiring etc:
 a top view and section view



 then I also spent a lot of time thinking of our last blog about the words, and what I want this vessel to mean to me; so instead of just random words I spent ALOT of time editing and making this cards which are meaningful and personal to me yet can be translated to many things: this one is about me- and how i cant keep secrets, i will have to reprint this cause it caught on fire- laser cutter #catching fire but just to put it out there; i can't keep secrets and I would only tell my boyfriend who wouldn't tell a soul (just because he can't be bothered)
 

this one is a countdown when I was still back home and counting the days down to leave to penn state and now i'm doing the exact opposite: 85 days 22 hours 10 minutes and 08 seconds of this moment till my flight home.
 
glowworm is a reminder: there was a point in my life when I was abroad 3 years ago somewhere and i was very tired of not-home ans my sister sent me a quote and she said "always be a glow worm and bring your own sunshine; for how can you be sad when you are glowing from your bum?" :D
here is a portrait of me on a portrait of me because I am self obsessed like that and here is one where Rohan (my boyfriend's) face was burnt from #catchingfire in the laser cutter
he normally looks better than that. he actually has a left face. or shall I say some face left?

Good Morning Oranges

My first sewing attempt with dried clementine peels. They were too delicate and didn't make a realistic enough shape because of their stiffness.

Next I sewed orange peel slices together (thank you to south dining commons). They were fresher and moist and easier to sew. 

I didn't love the harsh triangular pieces. I was looking for something a little more organic.

I ate yet another orange and sewed the peeled pieces together.

I like this affect. It's more organic and pieced together in an expressive way. 

Orange you glad that worked out? I sure am.

Turtle Island Progression

The wood portion of my project is pretty close to being finished. The piece just needs to be refined and sanded with the 220 sand paper. I'll use most of the day tomorrow and maybe Wednesday to do the metal portion and finish before Thursday hopefully. 

The metal portion really shouldn't take me that long. In addition to the metal and wood, I think I'm going to incorporate moss/seaweed and a water-like environment to the piece to make it more cohesive. Some types of moss/seaweed I'd imagine using would look like...

I'm planning to assemble the piece, drape moss on different parts of the wood/metal and have the turtle positioned on a bed of moss/dirt in a sort of pool of water to symbolize different mythologies of a turtle. I'm also thinking about painting the turtle brown and the metal green to tie them better together with the moss and dirt, creating an earthy theme to the entire piece.

*I'm coming in early (7) to take pictures of current progress, so stay tuned for more pictures*

Water Vessel Update 3

So...my camera is on the fritz and I can't get a viable replacement before this post is due, so I'm afraid I don't have any photos for you. Sorry. I think it has something to do with a corrupted SD card, so I'll check that out tomorrow.

Progress on my goblet is going well. I just have a few connections and a couple of design kinks to work out and I'll be done with the metal stem/sheath. Everything is bent into shape, it just hasn't been bound together as of tonight. I have yet to finish the base, but that should be a pretty quick job if I do it on the lathe.

My dad helped me turn the wooden cup part. It was a rather easy project under his direction, and it turned out pretty well, if a bit heavy. I'm currently finishing it with a non-toxic finish so that it will actually be a functional cup when it's done. The only concern I currently have with it is if the stem caves under the weight of the cup.

Blog #3

There have been a lot of changes from the last blog post. As it's crunch time, it amazes me how quickly this project has been coming together. The Sand Blaster and spray paint have become close companions of mine. Since I utilized that machinery with the dish rack, back support bar, two metal arm rest bars, dish rack basket, and the orange tractor seat--following that process with spray paint. I even spray painted the shower curtain rod hooks to match my black and brown theme. 

                                                    

At first all I wanted to sand blast was the back support bar. But then I had the thought that bringing the dish rack to its original state would look great. I thought that the silver would look beautiful and sterile. However when I finished sand blasting the dish rack and its basket the consistency of the original metal was not all the same gradient. It did not have the look I pictured in my head. Additionally, the silver looked awkward against the black back bar and the original off-white color of the curtain rod hooks. So I decided to spray paint the rack and its basket. I knew I didn't want to go with black again, it needed contrast, so I went with brown. 

 All of these steps took a very long time. I can't stress that enough. But in the end of the day it was very worth it. 

I decided to spray paint the hooks the same brown color to match the rack because I wanted the hooks to be a continuation of the "spine," not something else entirely. 

 Assembled it all together!

 Weaving two belts through the rack, I then drilled holes through the leather belts and through the black back support. Additionally drilling holed into bronze metal sheets that I cut up to size. No glue necessary! The bronze loops around the belt while holding the curtain hooks in place. Finally, secured tightly with screws.

 Adding the arm rests...

I added more brown and black leather belts with a surprise pop of gold. I didn't want the leather to be overwhelming, but a nice a systematic appeal. Fastened together with rivet's. 

 

Now, I'm entering into the final stages: creating the bottom. On the bottom right is one plan of a leg system. I like it because it has a spider like quality to it. On the bottom left is another solution I have, I might take off the top seat and utilize the legs. 

As my installation is coming to an end I have taken photos to show the close up details incorporated into each envelope. I have created, with the help of Matt a frame to hold the envelopes up from the ceiling. I am very excited to present this on Thursday!

Labyrinth Progress #2

The metal half of my piece is complete! My idea is that it will be hanging on the wall, like it is seen pictured above, and will be hanging at about waist-level of its viewers.  I just began the wood part of the project today using many small pieces of scrap wood.  This will be laying on the ground and act as a sort of shadow to the metal piece hanging on the wall.  It mimics the metal piece somewhat from looking far away, but as you get closer the puzzle is very different.  My plan is to paint and/or sand the wooden part of the piece to make it more colorful and in a way stand out more than the metal part.