two more things

Here are the CAD drawings for the new molds.  I have included little tangs and stands to hold everything up and together.  If it works I will end up TIG welding the little feet to one of the blanks plates so the mold part can slide out of one side.  It will still need a clamp but at least it will stand on it's own while I pour.  The plates are 3/16" thick which still might be too thick.  We shall see. 

I also tested the casting machine and so far so good. It seems to be in good working order.  Working on a Zbrush model to print in wax.  

More additions.

     Just a few additions to the studio.  The stationary planishing hammer came in!  I love this thing. I bought one for New Paltz, one for my studio and now one for Appstate. Our casting machine finally arrived.  Unfortunatly it arrived damaged. It looks like the UPS man dropped it on one side and it dented the crap out of it.  I can fix it but... it kind of sucks getting a super expensive damaged thing in the mail. We ordered it from Rio and they have been amazing helping us out. I am going to fix it myself.   

     Recently we had open house and I had to create more signage for the studio and our little gallery space under the steps.   I also took a break from the studio to do some pickling.  I love the smell of pickles. 

     I have been trying to utilize the spoon molds I had made for the studio.  Two things. One, it is way to thick, and two the pour end should be a the top of the bowl.  I had a few issues so it is back to the drawing board.  I have changed the design a bit to include a stand to hold itself up.  I will post more photos as they come in.  

     I found a bunch of great shelves on craigslist to work as our enameling cabinets.  We also bought new lamps for our workbenches and I laminated the instructions to the salt water etching.  I have so much more I would like to do.  Some of these projects may need to wait till the summer.  

While bouncing around the interwebs I found some interested pieces by Wim Delvoye, who you may recognize from his laser cut victorian construction vehicles.  This new work is a series of repouse aluminum suitcases.  

more things

   So just few more things. I am making few stick on wearables for the faculty show tonight in Boone.  I have also been working on the studio a bit (school).  With some help from the tech we made a big flat steel plate stand which I hope will serve us well considering there are no large flat surfaces in the studio.  I am also excited to report that I have started to acquire the parts to our meat press one piece at a time and the handle and the gasket came in the other day.  That means that we will have sausage soon! My birthday just passed and Liz unfortunately had to leave the next day for a trip and left me all alone with the cats. Luckily there is plenty of beer and food for us.  Zoe, the neighbors dog loves the cats but I am not sure if the cats have quite figured out what to do.  Taco has never seen a dog before so he is totally perplexed/mesmerized.  

On a side note I had a solo show that I unfortunately could not attend. Ugh.  I know super lame.  I am a bad person.   With the new job, it has been hard to break away.  I will keep posting images of things as they happen.  

It has been just insane. I have not had a minute to sit down and post anything. 

Liz and I are very excited to be in Boone.  I has been a busy four weeks. We have already had a visitor/visits (Jen Wells and Amy Tavern).  I am happy to report that four out of five rooms in our house are unpacked and "finished".  My office at school needs some help.  It is kind of a wreck.  I did get the makerbot up and running which is great.  Our personal studio is in full swing but it has been hard to work there.  My main work station crashed so I had to build a new computer.  It has been a long time since I had to build a PC from parts so it was a lot of fun but also frustrating.  The laser cutter is installed and fully vented.  I can cut almost anything now without fear of choking myself.  The cats are settling in. Our neighbor's dog keeps them in check for the most part.  We have also discovered some local BBQ and TACOS!  We have only tried one BBQ place so far but it was great! The tacos at the local Taqueria put all of the tacos in Kingston NY to shame.  It is also about a quarter mile from our studio so most of our diet lately has consisted of tacos. 

Yesterday we took a trip to hike Grandfather mountain which was epic.  We saw the largest amethyst found in the US!  They also had an impressive display of hand carved/painted birds which were kind of amazing.  I am proud of myself.  I actually concurred my fear of heights and crossed the swinging bridge (almost a mile up in the air).  I almost stopped in the middle if it were not for liz pushing me across they would have had to call in the choppers.  Grandfather mountain was so close to Penland we decided to pop in on Amy Tavern and in Penland tradition we took her out for pizza and then had ice cream sandwiches! Soooooooo good.  I am proud to say that my sticker installation in lower metals is still there!  

I am about to start my third week of school.  In metals we started sandcasting in pewter.  The students are really enjoying it.  I also have been working hard to make improvements to the studio.  Bit by bit I am whipping this place into shape. Hopefully soon I will be able to take a break. Maybe around Thanksgiving I can relax a bit.