Mad dash here at the end!

So much crazy stuff

This semester has been bonkers. I am ready for a break. On top of teaching casting (which I had to dust off some serious cobwebs for), moving to Boone, setting up our studio, teaching two sections of 3D foundations, multiple visiting artist lectures, one commission, juring an exhibition, having work in six exhibitions and doing three interviews I am beat. 

I am just going to post photos. 

So much stuff happened/is happening. It has been hard but it has been great!  I can't complain.  While stressful, life has never been better.  I love being the one to make the decisions in metals, both the good and the bad.  It has been a huge learning lesson with a lot of stuff.  Most of the repairs to the studio will be done soon which, fingers crossed will allow me some time to to sit down and re-vamp the metals curriculum here.  

If you are around Asheville NC, you should come visit Liz and I at Mora we will be selling some sweet jewelry for a local jeweler's holiday takeover.  I hope to eek out a few pieces for that AND get work in the mail to some of my other galleries. 

So until I get a minute to sit down and really write something I am going to post images of some of the things I have been doing this week (besides recovering from a horrible cold). This includes burnout tests with the makerbot and zbrush models, more enameled work, a little cabinetry for the studio, a recent pre-1820's Peter Wright anvil acquisition, new bracelets,casting casting casting and more!  Enjoy.  

I have not quite perfected it but I am working on using Makerbot PLA 3D prints for lost wax casting at Appstate. So far, so good.  I think there is a lot of wiggle room.  The first run was a semi-success.  I have a lot of tweaking to do.  There was some pitting but I am fairly certain that I poured when my mold was way too hot.  I also need to adjust the soaking times to insure that the PLA has been completely burned out.  

Here is my burnout schedule:

Ramp to 400 F 
Hold at 400 F for two hours
Ramp to 750 F
Hold at 750 F for two hours
Ramp to 1350 F
Hold at 1350 for two hours
Ramp down to 800 F
Hold for twelve hours 

The last twelve is for the students.  If I can nail this down we will have at least four students casting in one session.  The twelve hours is overkill but allows them to get all their stuff together.  

I had some pitting on my piece but I am certain that with the above schedule it was due to the flask being way too hot. 

I also tried printing the sprues along with the print.  I am not sure if this will work.  It is very easy to attach the sprues to the PLA.  I think I am going to just stick with printing the model without the sprues.  

I had to almost completely re-do my handouts. They are all laminated now and ready for the studio.  

I am going to try it again today with another print. 

I am having a lot of fun experimenting with Zbrush to produce models for the printer (green skull at the top). I have found that the more I mess around in Zbrush the more I like it.  It is not Rhino but fills a void for me regarding organic modeling.  

I also bought a new DSLR (Nikon D5300) and plan to do some experimentation with high resolution agisoft photometry. 

So much to do.  If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.