Nov 28-Dec4

I didn't post for the week of Thanksgiving so in this post, I am going to give and update of the past two weeks.

Nov 21-27:

Honestly I did not get a lot done in the studio during this week because I went home for Thanksgiving. I did, however, begin to work on my presentation for my senior review. I still have some glitches to work out with that, but I presented my practice review on the 28th.

Nov 28-Dec 4:

As you can see, I bound the book for my code project. That took me about 3 hours. Then I had to wait overnight for the glue to thoroughly dry before I could open it and start writing code. The covers are made of steel, and I cut windows out of the paper I covered them with so you can see the steel underneath.

I spent a frustrating 2 hours trying to finish the box for the book, which resulted in my melting a giant hole in the box, spending another hour and a half trying to fix it, and finally deciding I had to start over.

Spy Book

This week:

1 hour cutting and finishing steel book covers

2 1/2 hours cutting and folding books pages

1/2 hour sewing book pages together

2 hours working on box

I don't have a picture this second because I forgot my camera, but I will take one later and add it to the post. My goal for Thanksgiving weekend is to write the entire coded story inside of the book and have the book itself bound. I will continue work on the box when I get back after this weekend.

New Book!

Last week:

3 1/2 hours working on this box for my new book

4 hours writing my grant proposal

I finally started a new book, and it is going well so far. This one is based on the wheel cypher shown in the photograph. I am making the book out of steel because I think it implies that it holds something super important or "top secret." The memory that this goes back to is how I spent a good deal of my childhood pretending to be a spy. It actually got kind of pathetic. I am going to write the book (which will actually be an excerpt from a mystery story I wrote when I was young) in code using the wheel cypher.

Finished(ish) Book

Last week I spent:

4 hours making this box

1 hour drilling a hole in the rock on top of it (yes really)

2 hours sketching and finalizing ideas for my next book

Well once I finally finished this box, I tried to close it and realized that it's not going to work. the paper made the top too thick and it does not open with ease, so I plan to convert it to a clamshell style box instead which should be a looser fit. I m going to go ahead and start my next project though because I have been working on this same thing for a little too long and need a break. Next on my agenda is to start welding because my next book will be made of steel!

Enamel

Last week I ran out of PVA so I had to stop working on my box book for a couple of days. Instead, I filled my time by getting demos of processes I wanted to learn and doing some planning for my next book. I spent 3 and half hours in the metals studio getting an enameling demo and then practicing on a sample. The picture this week is what I came up with. I don't have a plan for it yet, but I want to incorporate enamel in one of books eventually. It was an incredibly fun process, so I'd love to do some more of it soon.

I spent an hour planning out what I will be doing for my next book. I found a wheel of codes in my hoard so I will be writing my next book in code and including the wheel as the object for that book. I also spent 3 more hours doing research and brainstorming.

Getting there

This projEct is taking me much longer than I expected, but I am nearing the end. I ran into a bit of a problem over the weekend. I ran out of PVA, so I have to make a trip to Hollander's sometime soon and buy more. Last week I spend 2 and a half more hours drawing, and then 4 more hours measuring and cutting pieces for the box and getting the bottom of the box pieced together and covered in paper. On the agenda for this week: Actually finish this project. I have my next book sort of figured out already and I am excited to get started.

Fall Break- Make-up Post

Well, my fall break was waaay more hectic than I expected, and I completely forgot to post for last week. Last week I spend probably 4 to 4 and half hours just drawing lines, as you can see in the photos and another 3 and half hours at home gathering tons of stuff to bring back to my studio to base books on. On the agenda for the rest of this weekend is finishing this book and conceptualizing and gathering materials for the next one.

Finished!

I finally finished my swiss army knife/ring. This week in the studio:

1 hour sharpening knife

1/2 hour attaching knife to ring

4 hours filing/sanding

1 hour polishing

1 hour working on a book

You may have noticed that the last part of the list does not have anything to do with my knife/ring contraption. That is because I am taking my project in a different direction. I have decided to make books instead. Ideally I will have a giant hoard of books by the end of this year, all dealing with connections I make to objects through memories.

Almost Done?

It is highly possible or even probable that this ring will be finished before the end of the week. This week I spent an hour soldering, another 2 hours sawing out finger holes and edges so they line up exactly, and probably at least four more hours doing cleaning and finishing work. The brass was copper coated after I took it out of the pickle (mild acid solution for cleaning), so I had to make a brass dip (pickle plus peroxide) to get the copper off. I still have to file off some more copper that the brass dip didn't get, continue filing the edges of the piece, sand the entire ring to remove scratches, sharpen the blade that will be in the center, and then attach the blade to the ring. So I still have a ways to go, I guess that's the thing with metal work-- it takes FOREVER. But my goal is to be done by the end of this week. In other news, I am sporting some great scratches and cuts from working in the metals studio, as illustrated by the slice on my thumb in the picture. I kind of forgot how gnarly metal work makes my hands look.

Getting Started

This past week I have been working on actually constructing the ring that I planned out in the sketch below. It is a ring with a knife hidden inside. I spent probably an hour last week working with my design and finalizing what I wanted for the actual piece. Then I spent probably 3 hours sawing out all of the pieces that I needed to solder together, and another couple of hours filing and sanding the edges. This morning I started soldering. I still have to saw out the finger holes in the third layer of metal, file all of the edges again so they fit perfectly, and attach the knife in the top of the ring. I am hoping to be starting my finishing work by the end of this week!

Official IP Blog

So this is my first post to document the progression of my senior project. So far, I have some ideas that I will be setting into motion early tomorrow morning, but I don't want to spoil any surprises until I have something concrete to show (AKA my sketches are an embarrassment and I don't want to post them on the internet). So here is a photo of my very own studio, which I have been decorating/hanging out/working in since school started. I have added curtains and a rug since I took this photo. Anyways, more on my project later, it should be well underway by tomorrow afternoon.