Thursday, January 28, 2016

more shop talk


Monday and Tuesday, I finished the current stab at arranging and organizing the shop. I'm determined to get it in some sort of order before it gets so hot over there it can't be inhabited. Some of what I want to do can't be done til we do this small animal hospital job (yes, Virginia there is a small animal hospital job) because the small bay that is to be the kiln room and in which one of the kilns sits but not the other or all the brick and fiber blanket sitting around taking up space elsewhere is where we are (probably) going to cut the stencils instead of where we are currently set up in the big bay. Confused yet? And it doesn't look like we are going to do the tear out of the interior rooms this year so I want to get them somewhat functional so that I can work over there this summer in air conditioned comfort.


I got the storeroom set up sans one shelving unit that I haven't bought yet (or the bricks and fiber blanket moved...see above). And I got all my frit reorganized into one pound size jars that my friend Paul sent to me, happy to be rid of 70+ empty jars, and moved. I ran out of caulk so I still have about 5' on the back side, one short side (which is totally overgrown and I can't get to), and the short front sections in between the bay and people doors left to do. I got the caulk but the weather turned cold on Tuesday and it is just now warming up again.


So I've been working on trying to get the last two cast pieces from fall finished before I start on anything else. To that end, I located a shop that could provide me with the 1/4” pieces of steel plate for mounting the magnolia leaves and set them out for further rusting. I got a big piece for all three and three small pieces since I wasn't sure how they would look best. Consensus of opinion is the three small pieces. I also didn't count on how heavy they would be so I went back and got three pieces of 1/8” steel plate. They are sitting out for rust accumulation.


So finally, Tuesday afternoon I got out the wax working tools and started on the wax model for the last little piece, the pink flower with the bee, something I had been putting off waiting for the deposit check for this job that no one seems in a hurry for us to start (though I imagine they will be in a big hurry for us to finish). That evening, I was going through my spam blocker folder looking for something and came across an email that was nearly a week old from the art consultant about the university still not having received the substitute W-9 form that we sent in weeks previous. So, form now emailed and one more step in the direction of actually getting this job.


In the meantime, I am working on this wax model of a rose leaf platform for the little flower to sit on.





13 comments:

  1. I don't know why, but those rows of jars of frit make me happy. I wish I had shelving like that for all of my yarn. I just need to get rid of a bunch of Mike's books. Yeah, right :)

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  2. Wipe your steel down with denatured alcohol and then apply fresh hydrogen peroxide to them. They'll rust in a jiffy.

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  3. Love following the steps of your creativity. It's also fascinating to see how artists set up their work space. I don't currently have a work space and this is something I need to work on.

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  4. These "working" posts just blow my mind. The amount of hard labor that goes into each of your delicate, beautiful pieces is simply astounding.

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  5. I love a clean slate in my sewing room. As soon as I get my energy back I will be rearranging and cleaning mine. I usually get it done twice a year, but this fall was filled with other things.

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  6. I would truly love to watch you work and be a 'runner' or some such. I find this work so fascinating and other's have written so much hard work goes into it. Good luck on finishig it all on time.

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  7. It looks like you're getting down to business there. Well, old business. I love organized!

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  8. Progress. I am sure that makes you feel better. How nice to have such a space. I can only wish...

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  9. Those three magnolia leaves are great. What a clever idea, to put one stage on each leaf. I know the flower and the seeds -- I guess the first must be the bud, or maybe the empty cone once the seeds are gone. In any event, they're beautiful.

    There's something about being organized that just makes me happy. Jars of anything in a row are great: canned veggies, nails and screws, frit -- whatever. It seems as though we have a really warm and nice string of days coming up. You can finish your caulking. :)

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  10. The magnolia leaves look great! And I love the platform for the pink blossom, too. Great work as always.

    It's got to feel good to have all that frit organized. I need to do the same to Dave's spice cabinet!

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  11. Looks very nice, love the pieces also. I am not the best with organization, but am getting better.Have company coming tonight so will spend 1 hr arranging and 6 hours cooking.

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  12. Every time I see someone's work area organized, I look at my own work space and want to run away.

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  13. Your shop looks amazing! What a great work space. The magnolia leaves are more delicate than I would think a cast of them could be. You work at both ends of the spectrum ~ big tools to make delicate art.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.