This Is My school

And this is why I like it.

OCAC: A Modern Laboratory for the Invention of Art and Craft from OCAC on Vimeo.

2010 OCAC Metals Department Postcard

Yeppers. I'm on there. Go me.

My First Commissioned Piece

Well, traded piece anyway. I traded work for work with a girl I go to school with. She took some photos for me for the juried postcard contest the metals department has every year. My piece was one of 6 that got selected to represent the metals program last year. In return, I made a ring for her daughter for Christmas. I met with her and her daughter and they gave me pretty wide parameters to work with; I was allowed design control for the most part. Her daughter is a cute bubbly high school student so I thought this ring would fit her personality quite nicely.

Copper Fingers

For my next miracle I will turn wax into copper. Not really, but electroforming is pretty cool. I can plate anything I want with copper if I just paint it with a special copper paint called DAG. I can plate leaves and feathers and stupid little quarter machine plastic toys and also my new current obsession, wax fingers. First I made an algenate cast of my finger, filled it with melted wax a few hundred times to make a bunch of fingers, sprued them with a copper wire for the current to travel through, painted them with DAG, put them in the electrobath for about 12 hours, and Ta-da, copper fingers. This is very scientific and has to do with converting AC current to DC current so it makes a continuous loop of current from the anode to the cathode in a special chemical bath which then magnetically builds layers of copper onto my piece. Really it's just magic and if I follow the steps carefully and not electrocute myself I get amazing metal covered pieces.

Free Box, Take 2, Part 1

So my first free box that lived at Colonel Sumners Park for over a year and a half disappeared one day out of the blue. I was riding my bike by as I usually do and it was no longer there. Sigh... I have my suspicions, either the government or some drunk hipster kid took it. THE GOVERNMENT! Anyhoo, I was walking down the street talking to my buddy about how it sucked and I needed to put another one out and lo and behold this was sitting on the corner, primed and painted, waiting for a friend to take it home. And so I did. I have little time to get it ready due to school, but one day down the road there will be another free box at Colonel Sumners Park. Hooty Hoo!

Casting

The current metal class that I'm attending is "casting and electroform". My first metal cast was a bronze ring "set" with a piece of living moss. It was a Pythagoras opposite piece representing the dead of the metal alloy and the living element of the moss. Typical art school shit, but I really like playing with fire and liquid metal. The piece was initially carved in wax, set in a plaster of investment, fired in a kiln (to melt the wax and set the plaster), and then spun in a centrifuge specifically made for molten metal. I likey cause I get to use huge torches to melt the metal and a sorta steam punk machine to fling the molten bronze into the flask. Fun times for me.

Grandmas Paper Bag Apple Pie

My partner in crime insisted the best apple pie in the known universe was his grandmas paper bag apple pie. I was incredulous at first but after obtaining the recipe and baking said pie... I do admit that it is the best apple pie I have ever eaten. You win again world.

Pie crust, homemade of course...

Filling...

Assemble...

Topping...

Bake in paper bag and tada!

Me Likey Baking

I love baking and I love baking for other people even more. I've had a slew of birthdays in the last couple of months to bake for and also just some good ol' fashioned "eat eat you're too skinny" baking.

Double layer carrot cake for Fern...

Cinnamon rolls for Kiah...

Rainbow cuppy cakes for Margo...


And cheeseburger cuppy cakes for Volpe.

Little Finger Carrots

Bumper crop this year. One pot worth of little finger carrots just for me.

Life and Death

I've been thinking a lot lately about death. Here are some things that I have brought to life.

Nasturtiums...

3 little lemon trees...

My avocado tree getting all grown up...

Pineapple tomatoes...

And my fabulous crown of thorns that continues to astound me with its awesomeness.

Caulder Piece

So I have my first actual professional photograph of one of my metal pieces. This is the very first metal project i had in my very first metal class. It still happens to be one of my favorites, not only because it's pretty but because it's actually wearable to some degree. The rest of the year I made armor and enormous abstracted completely unwearable body pieces. Professional photography is very expensive however so don't expect many more nice images like this in the future.

School Daze Part 2

And some more.

School Daze Part 1

Classes start this week and I will again between work and school be going non-stop. I whine about it but I like to stay busy, it keeps me out of trouble. I photographed last years 2D work so I can have it in my portfolio and make room for some new stuff. My 3D work will have to wait until I figure out a better way of photographing it. I know Ike, spinny light box thingy. I guess that will be my next side project. So... here's some of last years homework.

And One For Kal-Bal

I love you little brother.

Public Service Announcments Part 2

The instillation.

Public Service Announcments Part 1

A while ago I found an entire Ikea (I think) desk (I think) broken down into each individual board on the side of the road. Cheap pressboard is good for somethings, art that you hang on telephones poles is one of them, furniture is not. So I brought them all home, on my bike. Don't ask. I decided to send inspirational messages out into the world, or at the very least, my neighborhood. I think sometimes I need to reiterate these messages to myself as much as I want to get them out there.

Sarah Sarah Quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?

Life Is Awesome

But sometimes it's hard to remember that because our lives are busy and sad and so very short. Every once in a while something will happen that makes me stop and really contemplate for a minute how awesome my fragile little life is and how lucky I am to be here. I really do have it pretty good and my petty problems pale in comparison to how others in this world live everyday. Every once in a while you too should stop and stare at the sky for a minute and contemplate how awesome life really is.

And Another

This one's for you Vah.