Day 89 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Nine

Today I have been trying to plan ahead a little...add things to the working calendar... projects for possible submissions, Art House exhibits I am working on, getting back to Art-o-mat (eventually), and hopefully some collaboration(s) with Terri.

I sketched a little bit about the wooden cigar boxes...I have a few ideas and they would most likely be for November.

I was thinking that before I get a whole lot farther with the hatchling guy I ought to figure out a way to get hanging wires incorporated into his structure.  I tried drilling holes into the flattest parts but I couldn't drill all the way through.  I think it was a combination of nerves, drill bit was just a tad short, and/or the drill was running into the wire hangers inside of the body.  At least I didn't make it snap apart.

Then I was looking around in Studio B, trying to choose something that might be complete-able by the end of next month.  I uncovered a couple of oh-yeah-those-guys I totally forgot about...this guy with the really long horns...

 

...and the little ceramic robot-y head guy...but he needs arms/hands.  Then I uncovered a set of hands and feet.

Those hands and feet were going to be for a soft sculptured body but I lost interest in it.  They might work for the robot-y guy.  But I would have to take the knobs off to be able to attach them to the plaster cloth securely.

And I couldn't remember what made his legs so heavy...oh yeah...airline-sized vodka bottles.

Okay, so now...how long should the arms be?

Luckily I only used the caps of the empty glue sticks for his arms because they came right out after wiggling them a little.  That allowed me to "bend" the hands upward a bit...give him some elbows (sort of).

I think I have decided against these feet for him.

But here is the real question -- can he fly? 

And here he is after working on him with the wet plaster cloth tonight.  I needed to build up his torso area (I can't remember what's under there right now) but it sounded (and felt) like it needed more layers.  I also thickened the plaster cloth on his legs and strengthened both of his index fingers...one of them had a hairline crack.

And here are the two guys I together...they are kind of cracking me up.

365/2013 - Day 90

that drill and hammer get heavy after a while


The drill and hammer don't seem all that heavy when you first start out fresh on the job for the day.  But man -- it is so surprising to me just how much they wear you down.  

Today I was visited by my Universal collaborators and they guided me to flatten out the copper things as I added them to the croco-creature's base.  Of course, that meant I needed to go back and redo the top screws on the ones I had already put on yesterday...but it was well worth it.  I was also able to remove the big staples that I used on the very first day.  This base is incredibly secure.

there were some areas of the unfinished plywood table top that looked like I probably shouldn't drill into -- the wood isn't split, there is just a slight gap there

Thirty-eight copper things later and the croco-creature is back on the floor...for now.  Next I need to acquire a counterweight to replace the container of cat litter.

365 Day 346

working with tools

Oh my goodness -- I did it all on my own!

I put on my big girl pants and figured this out...measured (yes, measured), sawed, and drilled. It took the better part of the morning (and I hope it is actually turns out to be a workable solution) but I did it myself...no questions, no manuals, no internet searches. Sorry, but I kinda amazed myself when everything lined up correctly -- not once, but twice! (I also measured and drilled for the smaller tomato cage but I prefer the larger one.)

Ha ha...I am actually pretty shaken up now from the intensity and I will be going to take a good long coffee/tv break. My hands and arms need a rest and so do my nerves. I know, I know... I beat myself up/make fun of myself enough about stuff...I have that well covered...oh, poor Took.

How it went:





I measured up thirteen and a half inches from the first ring and marked all of the rods. Then I used that saw (hack saw maybe?) and killed my wrist and cut the rods about three quarters of the way through and then bent them back and forth until they snapped off.

I wonder what I can use the rods for later -- I am amassing a nice pile of them.








I had the cat-creature balanced on each tomato cage and marked where the rods were. The smaller tomato cage has three legs, the larger one has four. I prefer the larger one because it is heavier and a bit more stable.

Then I got out the Dremel tool and hoped that the correct bit was in. I laid the cat-creature on its side on my (recently cleared off) desk and held my breath and drilled the first hole.

Whoa -- stuff shot all over the place and the drill kinda danced a little but I had a death grip on the cat creature and on the Dremel tool (and I was pretty much expecting it) so we all survived.







I had to swirl the drill around a little to make the holes bigger than the bit. They don't all match (and I am trying to get over that) but they all line up!

For the large tomato cage holes I drilled an upper and lower hole. I only did one hole for each of the smaller cage holes -- I figured I could go back and do a corresponding lower hole for each of those if I needed to. I was hoping the larger cage was going to work.










I am just amazed that everything lines up and that I did it myself. BIG confidence booster!










Wow -- look at the cat-creature perched on top of the larger tomato cage...temporarily.

I am going to try and wire the piece to the rods...much later today. After this morning, that should be a piece of cake!

Now to park myself in front of the television with a cup of coffee and a sketchbook (- gasp! -) and see what I can come up with for the rest of the design for this cat-creature.

I don't usually use a sketchbook, but it was pretty handy with the preliminary stages of the building of Chime Cat. I am going to try get into the habit of sketching things more often.