Hi all So we have been in school three weeks (almost) and I now know a bit more about my classes. I have mixed feelings about my 3D class it all is based (or mostly) on found objects which I don't really like working with. however I have found the teacher who I first thought was a little bit stuck up and a bit slapdash in his work. however he has turned out to be very nice and approachable. He is quite good at woodworking and just not very good with metal some of the things he demonstrated about annealing metal and riveting made me a bit nervous, but this could be down to the fact that I am used to working a bit different and that in itself was enough to rattle me. we are working on a project about making tools out of found objects they don't have to work but they must have an intended porpoises and theme. I'm going with tools for the obsessive. Rulers, watches, and things like that are featuring heavily in my set of five tools.
My 2D class is going downhill. I'm not sure why if it's the lack of an overall plan for the class, if it's the fact that he has never taught the class before or the fact that he is just not good at communicating. everyone including the teacher seems to be a bit confused, right now we are working on a five planned painting using various sets of colors. I fail at painting and drawing in compared to most of the people in the class so I am spinning off a drawing I did in my drawing class, involving a quote.
My ethics class is really mixed - the lectures are long and boring, they also moves really fast for something that takes some real effort to understand. The distinction groups are better thought i often find them more informative than the lectures or the readings. This class also gave me an excuse to revisit some very funny videos that were shown to me as a tenth grader in AP Euro. Be warned then are not for young kids as they can be a bit crude and dirty, they are not very politically correct. however they are funny and surprising informative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm0Uq08xXhY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOCmJevigw
I'm hoping everyone we learn about has one of these...
My casting class is going well and I'm very happy I'm taking the class. I am investing (where you put it in the mold) my first project on Thursday and should cast over the weekend or on Tuesday. I am making cuff links for my dad. you start by making them out of wax, wax is kind of weird medium to work in. it's very messy and it kind of reminds me of carving soup. some of the people in the class have trouble with the wax. because it's very soft (compared to metal ) it can also be carved away and added to, normal you are caring away from a block of wax as opposed to metal were you are adding or forming (not taking away or adding just changing) I don't have a lot of trouble in this regard and find it kind of fun however i don't have a perticturl talent either. here are a few photos so far
that small block of blue wax is what will form one of the cuff links - since i am only making two i am making one individually. please note the blade on the saw, its much thicker then the ones we normally use, its spriled and looks a lot like barbed wire for ease of cutting in the wax. 
this is after the first shaping see how the sides are sloped there not done yet but starting to take shape. 
here they are finished - ugly I know they will look a lot better in silver I promise. the red is where i made mistakes in the wax and had to fill it in using a softer melting wax.
One more thing before I go - after this week I decided that my work load was too much for six classes this semester. It made me very sad to drop interaction design after only two classes however it was the right thing to do, and with the encouragement of the teacher I will try to take it next semester, after the summer !