the last few weeks...

Hi everyone,sorry its been so long since my last post but things have been CRAZY here. I love all my classes, which is great but means that I have no easy classes. so all my classes have a ton of work! and on top of that I’m moving forward with my new gluten free, dairy free diet. Its been a challenge i'm teaching myself how to eat and cool again. I can't really tell you i feel a ton better the amount of headaches has gone down but that's about it, however now whenever i do have some gluten, i can feel it. so i thought i would give you all a brief overview of everything i have been up to in the past few weeks. class by class, as my life revolves around school.

Media history - this class remains fascinating, I mean how could this not be great! we jump around in history but its always interesting. I just finished up the first big paper for the class, we were supposed to pick one piece of historical metal work. I chose my favorite of the imperial Faberge eggs. I could take about this all day but instead i will just show you a photo and tell you that that they are all really cool but i like this one because of the really cute story that goes with it.

here is a few paragraphs from the essay i wrote about the egg explaining the basic facts about the egg and the story behind it.

The Rosebud egg was made in 1895 under the supervision of Peter Carl Faberge and made by Michael Perchin. It was the first egg commissioned by Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, and the eleventh imperial egg made by Faberge. It was presented to his new wife Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna on their first Easter together. Standing at just over seven inches high, the egg is covered with translucent red enamel over a guilloche pattern. The egg is then divvied into four panels running up the length of the egg.  Each of the dividing lines is set with diamonds, in each of the panels there is green gold Laura garlands twined around a stylized arrow. The arrow is also adorned in diamonds to match the diamond borders and topped off with red gold ribbons and finally pinned with a diamond. This pervading a decorative element and a strong symbolic element as well, showing the love of the young couple.  On both the top and bottom of the egg is a small clear table diamond. Under the diamond on top is a miniature portrait of Nicholas II and on the bottom the year of the egg, 1895 When the top of the egg is opened a closed yellow rose bud is revealed. Made out of yellow enameled petals and green leaves the petals are hinged to open, allowing the second surprise of the egg to be placed in the center. It is thought that the second surprise was a gold crown set with diamonds and rubies and a cabochon ruby pendant. However they have unforly been lost and the only evidence of them are an inventory taken in 1909 and an old archival photo taking around 1935. At the presation of the egg to Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna the young royal couple had only been married for three months however having known each other for a long time they were very close and very much in love.  The new Tsarina was unconformable in Russia surrounded by unfamiliar customs and people. She was also very homesick and reported missing the famous German rose garden called “Rosenhöhe” the rosebud egg was there for meant as a comfort to the new bride.

English - going fine, we have been reading the “best of” essay’s that come out every year. its a standard English class not much to say really.

Craft workshop- This is that kind of odd class, we have finally started working and last class i made a led that turns on when it gets dark, way cool. its in a prototype board right now but I just attached it to a cool lamp, that I made out of copper mess and paper. its due tonight so here are the photos of the light it turns on when it gets dark, and I kind of meant it to be a night light, I think it came off rather well.

Intro to futuner - we have started working! my band-saw box is almost done i just have to inlay the copper into the top and stain the whole thing. I will post a photo next time when its done. but what's more exciting is we have bought the wood for the tables, I picked out three really nice pieces of walnut. we are buying wood that has not been milled yet so its still really rough and not even and everything and we have to do all that ourselves. I made sure to get some extra so that i will have plenty to make a box for my jewelry project.  i'm making a folding tray table for my project here's a photo of the full scale drawings. I am going to do the hinges in metal.

Jewelry 2A - we finished the last project (the thimble) and i was going to spend a full post on it but i never finished it so i'm just going to give you a little info on how this was made and of course photos!

Thimble have a long history in the jewelry world as they were used for practical purposes and as decorative items, there are thousands of personalized thimbles. the assignment was to make a thimble to commemorate a person or event. my first thought was to do Lillian Gilbreth but after a week with no clear ideas I switched to Ada lovelace. I'm so happy i did i think it turned out well and while im not crazy about it, its not bad for only one week to work on it.

Like I said it could be done better but its not too bad. I'm glad that projects done so that i can now move onto the main project of this class. the really hard and famous (at least in the major) Bank project.

we have now moved on to the bank project and I finally have a plan for what i want to do. I don't think I have talked about this project yet. it’s HUGE. it is said to be the hardest project in jewelry, like the whole four year is this project. the time strand is huge, the expectations are bigger and the whole thing is gigantic!!!. the requirements are so simple its a bit dispective.  you are making a bank for something. funnily enough no one has ever done a money bank.  it has to have a concept and two ways into it, a deposit and withdrawal. a box with a lid is not going to cut it. there has to be something physical as the currency, the idea can be very conceptual but there still has to be a real representation. now these things are somewhat flexible such as the two entrances into the piece, if your idea is good enough or if you're doing a set of pieces like i am then you don't have to have that. they can be made out of metal and a combination of anything else. they can be worn, set on the table, hung from the ceiling, or whatever you want.

so i'm doing a set of pieces in silver, I wanted to do something around the seed, Like you all know I love plants. we were asked to think of things we collect, i don't really collect a ton of things what came into mind was my doorknob collection (its still small) my puzzle box collection (even smaller) my nail polish collection (its huge) and how I impulse buy plants. i can't collect plants her but i still like them one thing i can keep are the seeds, easy to transport and have the promises of a real plant later.  so i'm drawing inspiration from that and also from these diagrams used in bonitey to identify the structure of a plant these are the basic ones, but there are tons of variations.

they will be three broochs each with two parts. one with be a representation of one of the diagrams from above and then a larger version of the seed on the other side connected with a chain. there will be a way to open each “seed” to put in the seeds. I know it may sound a bit confusing but it will become clearer as I keep working on them.  I have ordered my supplies and its on its way I should start construction soon!

now that I’m done with school (haha I’m never done) I will move onto the next biggest part of my life, going gluten free. now that its been over a month i have managed to get over myself with the whole, OH GOD I WILL NEVER EAT BREAD AGAIN REAL BREAD!!! thing (well kind of...) its hard but i'm moving forward i have attempted two baked items without gluten and they both came out fine and were no harder than the gluten filled treats I used to make. I have found some great blogs and some cookbooks that I hope to order soon. so i'm working on it. I'm really glad that i wasn't diagnosed even 5 years ago because there are so many new products and a great online support system out there on the web now.  I'm going to include some links to some of my favorite blogs about being gluten free and stuff.

One)    and love it to. this blog is not huge but some great recipes and some good lunch ideas, I’m planning to buy one of her books soon. the Gluten free Asian Kitchen

Two) Gluten free reviews. this place is awesome. there are a ton gluten free products out now and some are great and some not so great its nice to be able to find new products with a review attached  this site turned me onto my replacement Luna bars - Pure organic bars and Kind bars. Life savers when i'm going to be in the studio all day.

three) Gluten free girl is based in Seattle which is cool, there are a ton of good recipes and seasonal recipes on this site, plus just a ton of information. looking through the site you don't really miss the wheat flour all the much.

Four) elanas pantry is great too, she does everything with almond flour, I have not made anything from this site yet because i need to order the flour she uses. I hope to buy her cupcake book soon

when i was going through all this i also ran into one other really cool blog its not gluten free but the women is a chef in Seattle who also has food intolerance's (to garlic)  so kind of on the list and kind of not is chef reinvented

Anyway hope to talk to you all soon. - Katie

more on classes and starts on projects!

(Sorry this is a full week late. Hopefully I will soon be caught up on all the posts) - KatieWe are heading into the second week of classes and we have started projects in all of them, or at least by this point we have started to get down to what we are going to be spending the rest of the semester doing. I so much prefer when a class has really started to move. We are done with all the introducing ourselves and have gotten the basic facts out of the way! First, a comment on e-books. People either seem to hate them or accept them for the features they provide. I have never run across a person who loves e-books; its really hard to love a digital file. Its not like owning a book, sometimes I love the physical book as much as the story. That being said, I love my e-book reader because of the practically and the functionality it brings me. I’m a college kid, and I’m also a huge reader. When I was in high school I read about a book a week, that has changed to about a book every three weeks in college. If i were to get all of those in printed form my room would be full and moving would be more of a nightmare. I could get them from the library, but lets be real, I have never had luck doing this. I get too attached. I'm also very weak willed when denying myself that new bestseller THAT I JUST MUST READ NOW AND NO, I CAN'T WAIT A MONTH ON THE WAITLIST! My Nook (my ereader of choice) is always by my side. It’s in my backpack everyday, its on my nightstand, its in my purse when I go anywhere (I do mean everywhere, including school functions, soccer games, and yes, partys).  I can always have something to read, no matter where I am. When this relates back to a school book, you would think that’s a good thing. If I can get the book you want me to have and read for your class it will be with me, I will read the homework you assigned when I have a good time to do so, maybe between my bus ride and my class. Because of this, I will not put it off and end up reading it right before class. But no, all the teachers cry, you will then not be giving your reading the analysis and the critical thinking that it deserves, you can't write in the margins and highlight things for later. This just shows they are outdated in their thinking, as I can do all of that and more; there is a highlight, note, and bookmark function on my Nook and even the Kindle. This also brings up the point that even if it was not an ebook, there is no way I am going to write in the margins. I hate that, a pen is not going to touch that page, something about that just seems so wrong, so that cancels that out. Then there’s the objection that if I’m reading the book when I bring it to class, for all the teacher knows, I could be sitting there and reading something else. This might have been somewhat valid objection in high school with 24+ people in a class, but for our classes that usually max at 16-18, you can tell when someone is not engaged and has no idea where the conversation is going. My final point is that most (not all, but a lot) of the books you are given to read in class are older, they are established reads, and when a book gets older it gets cheaper, or often goes into the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Oh how i love public domain, it means the ebook is free, or if you want it with a bit of work (interesting footnotes and such) it’s really cheap. This is wonderful for a book I'm being forced to read in class (I don’t mean the book is necessarily bad, I may enjoy it, but I'm still being forced to read it). The best price is free! For all of these reasons I get a bit frustrated when a teacher bans us from getting their chosen texts in ebook form. They just make my life harder, and therefore their assigned homework harder to accomplish, not their goal and not what I want either, so no one wins.

Now that that’s all out of the way here’s the better stuff;

Like I have said, I am enjoying all my classes., In Jewelry II our first project is due next week. I told you all about it, it’s to make a thimble and a display for it. At the time of the last blog post i was going to do Lillian Gilbreth, a women I really love to learn about and really admire. However I have reached the conclusion that a thimble is not enough space to represent her as a full person, I needed someone a bit more focused. Instead I’m doing Ada Lovelace – a person who has much to recommend her (to find out more about the person who was called “The Enchantress of Numbers” click here). I have the design and how I'm going to make it all worked out but I'm still not set on a display yet… I will do a whole blog post later on the process and the project, so never fear, I will explain how to make a thimble. History’s going well, really interesting but not a lot to say on that. English is going well too, although its not really going to push me at all, so far it’s been similar to my senior high school class. My workshop class is fantastic, but weird, for instance we have now had a lecture on hacking Ikea stuff and a random overview of a ton of different materials and how to use them. I’m not really going to try to describe it because it will just sound weird. I will blog about it when I have something to show you all. In furniture  we are starting our band saw box its a very standard opening project just to give us a low stakes way to get us on the tools and such. I have also found the kind of table I want to do. I’m going to make a really nice, functional, and collapsible lap desk. I know that much but I’m still playing around with design and hinges and so forth, but will give you images when I can.

On a last note during a walk around the neighborhood I found that there is a little stream that goes through a few blocks down from the house and there is a kind of walking tour art project on it. It consisted of these large monuments that when you look though you see some small sculpture by the pond of a kind of native animal.

They look a bit old and not all of them work well, but my favorite is this one with the snake, it looks so real, but trust me, its metal.

Until next time – Katie

Homework, Classes, and Gluten

Hi everyone - So this is the first weekend after school started and man, the teachers are not easing us back into college life. I have a ton of homework! At least its all interesting.  There have been a few changes since my last post. For one, I dropped the Form and Space class, it was not any better the second day, and the things that were being covered were not what I thought would be covered. Instead I have switched to an all day Friday Furniture class. There are some downsides to this class, like the fact that I have to now get up and catch the shuttle at 7:20 to arrive on time to my 9:00 class.The shuttle does not run that often on Fridays, and if I was to try and get their on my own it would take over an hour. It does promise to be an interesting class and I will be getting all the basic wood shop stuff.. There is really only one project to the whole class as working in wood takes a while. We will all be making a table, not a large table, we don’t have the time/space/money to do that so think more end tables, bedside tables, and coffee tables.The other two classes I have not told you guys about would be my English class, and my Workshop class. My English class looks like its going to really be a English class, we are going to be reading lots of non-fiction essays, and doing a fair amount of essay writing, and the teacher looks like he will be interesting. The workshop class is going to be awesome! First a few notes, a workshop class at CCA takes a few majors and puts them in a class with a kind of theme (such as Fabrication) one is required for a jewelry major. This class is even a bit weirder than most Workshop classes because  the other department (Besides jewelry) does not really exist. I was introduced to the two people who run this non-department late last year when I was talking to the head of the Interaction department. He got me in touch with them and I was invited to drop by and meet them. Its one large room in the animation department on the Oakland campus. You kind of enter through this tunnel of random stuff, such as wires, small motors, rusting grates and for some reason (maybe a pop of color) fake flowers. The end of the room is divided in two. The lower part houses several nice updated Mac computers and a large desk, and the second part of the room is a raised gallery that goes along one wall, which is crammed with stuff. This is where you get sent if you want to do something with computers and hydraulics and whatever art you already do. They have a room, two people on staff and even a budget, even though they are not an official department. I found out that they call themselves Department 51 (HaHa). Anyway, the class is taught in conjunction with 51 and the Jewelry department (David Cole) it looks like its going to be a really cool class, not sure what we will be doing, but our first project is a crash course in basic electronics and we are going to start by redesigning an Ikea lamp. So there is promise for this one and its worth being in such a late class. The other big news this week is after a blood test run by my doctor, I have found out that I have a very bad wheat allergy (you know, to keep my dairy allergy company). I was very upset when I found out, maybe more upset than was required. But this came as a shock and will be a huge life change. I love all the foods that I can no longer eat. I know that lots of people live a gluten free and even gluten and dairy free life. I also know I will feel better. I know there are substitutions and that there is still plenty of food I can eat. I know that I will  be healthier than the average American.  I also know that my food bill will be more expensive. I know that eating out will get harder then it was before. I know that I will miss my bread (as i know it) and Pasta (as i know it). I know all this and its still going to be hard. Its going to take time to get used to the idea that I will never really be able to eat wheat again, so until then I’m trying to deal with this by doing other things, looking at all the foods I can eat, and dealing with it one day at a time.

Me and rice are now best friends

Now that its been a few days, I’m starting to see the world has not ended and that things could be worse and really this will be OK after a while , however I still have moments where I realize that I will never eat something again, such as Baklava or girl scout cookies, or most cookies for that matter. So its going to be hard. I also said that last post I would talk about where i am living this year. I’m living off campus in a lovely house just a few blocks from campus. I’m renting a back bedroom, with a bathroom and a separate office space in the attic. On Sundays a few blocks over, there’s a farmers market. There are also two dogs. Does this beat the dorms? Oh yeah! So here’s my room, its not the best photo, the carpet is really brown, not the olive color it appears in the photo. Here's the other side of the room and my little desk area that I mainly use to put on my make-up. The spice rack on the left is actually in the kitchen. Here’s my office area. Just look at that nice new desk and chair, and now that you have all had the tour, I would like to note that you’re free to send me stuff here but I’m not posting the address on here (its a open blog after all and that’s just a stupid move on my part) you are free to call or text me or my parents as they will be more than happy to pass it on. – Katie

P.S - you might have noticed I have changed the look of the blog what do you think?

Greetings from Oakland

(This post was delayed in production it was written about a week ago, but that's OK :) ) Hi everyone its the start of the new school year. I'm now on semester three of my college experience. its the third day of classes and I have had all of then by now and some of them twice. So far everything's seeming to be working out great. but lets back up to the end of last year, my last post promesses a wrap up of my impressions from year one. I never got around to that as i got busy enjoying being back in Seattle. I feel however that this is still a good thing to reflect back on  my last year as I start my second year.

My First year was a mixed bag, and I'm going to say more bad then good. It was hard leaving Seattle, I never realized how much I loved the place I grew up in until I left and it was hard moving away, harder then I thought it would be. I missed my family, i missed my house and i missed my freainds who for the most part were all havering a great time back in Seattle at the University of Washton or a community college in the area.  I felt stuck down here missing out on all the fun things and normal college life my freainds were having without me. I also found out that you are capable of missing a entire city. I had no idea that it was possible to miss a whole city. I mean i missed even the things i don't really like about Seattle, like the bus system. I think the move was so hard for two reasons, one I have never lived anywhere except Seattle, anywhere i would have gone would have been hard because of that. the second reason is that CCA largely is a commuter school, sure there are freshman dorms on campus but there new and by in large, most people live off campus in Oakland or the bay area. the school does not have a community, not really. there are no clubs, there are no communal dining hall so there is really very little sence of a community around the school, I think the feeling of CCA is closer to a community college then a university or even a small school.  In fact I think that there was more of a community at my high school then there is here. For someone like me a person who gets on well with people but is really a introvert it was hard to meet people, even harder to meet people that I atchely would want to be freainds with. It wasent all bad tho, My classes (- one or two) were great. I lived for my classes, I was finally getting the instruction and support in my work and art education that I really wanted. Something that I knew I could not get back in Seattle (trust me, I looked. a lot). I am in one of the best jewelery/metal programs in the USA (also one of the longest running programs - this year marks the 100 year jewelry has been offered at CCA!) on top of that the bay area is humming with technology, if something new is happing in the tech world it probley started or is based somewhere around here. This would include Apple, Google, pixar, and Adobe as just a start, that's really exciting to be around. So most of last year I was torn. Socially being here sucked, but education wise, and corear wise this is the place I have to be.  I think this year will be better so far it looks as if all my classes are going to be great. I'm out of the dorms witch is awesome on so many levels (yea good nights sleep, having a real kitchen and not being surrounded my crazy artist who think its great fun to run yelling down the hall at 3 in the morning.) I think I will start to really get involved in my jewelry department and get to know the people there better, along with the tech people on campus (the students not the staff). I'm still not ruling out the possibility of  transfuring schools there are several that are more of a standered college with great jewlery programs on the east cost, but for now I'm here and going to try to make the most of it.

I'm also going to give you a little update on my Summer. Witch was long and awesome. I went back to Seattle as soon as I could, My dad drove down to pick up me and lots of my stuff and then we had a nice three day drive back part of the way on the cost.

(A beach on the way)

lots of my freainds were still in school but that was fine i hung out on campus with them and pretend to be a normal college student. Some highlights were checking up with my best Friends,  Feeding a Graff during a large joint Zoo birthday, 

working in my garden witch even thought it was kind of cold all winter did well, and getting all my jewelry photographed by a good freands and great photographer,

along with getting all the hard stuff done for my NEW website (also hosed by Wordpress!) that will act as a online portfolio (Its not up yet but I will tell you all when it is!)

Now back to this school year, as i said above i have had all my classes by now. Heres my schuagle   it looks a bit weird but I think I will like it. Notice that I don't have any class on Friday (Three day Weekends every week!), and i have morning classes all the rest of the days. I'm a bit wearid in the fact that I like having morning classes, if i don't i will not get up and then i don't get anything done and feel lazy.

the First class I had on Tuesday I was almost late to, not a great start to the year but in my defense i had just found out that i could join it 20 minuets before it started so... Its Media history, every major (just about) has one I'm not surprising taking the history of jewelry. I have never had the teacher although he is one of the jewelry teachers, but i will be having him a lot this semester as if you look at the schuagle  he also co-teachers the workshop class. the class only has jewelry majors in it witch is kind of cool and looks like it will be interesting but a bit hard as there is going to be a ton of reading to go with it. its also going to be really broad as there is a TON of history to jewelry, Jewelry is the first form of abstract ideas put into practice, it came before cave paintings. So there a lot of significant history there.

the class after that on Tuesdays/Thursdays is Jewelry Two A, taught by Marilyn DaSilva who taught my intro jewelry class and happens to be the head of department, I'm excited to have her again but the class is huge like 17 people, im thinking a few might drop but for now its a full class - not everyone is a jewelry major although there are some new people to my year and a few that are just repeating for whatever reasons. the class only has three projects but as you can emmagain they are big deal projects, and we have already started on the first called the Thimble project, the idea is to make a thimble (working or not) for someone famous (sorry mom I was going to make a thimble for you but...) some of the people who have been done in the past are lady Gaga, Emelia Earhart and the guy who invented mining lanterns. I think im going to do Lillian Moller Gilbreth (Click on her name if you want the Wiki page) she was a really awesome and busy lady, somewhat obscure and will allow me to make a functional thimble (hey mom maybe you will end up with a cool thimble!) but the thimble is only half this project as the presentation is about 50% of it, its a bit odd because I often don't have to think about setting, but in this case i have to. anyway its going to be a shot projects, at only two weeks long.

then there is my last class of the day. It's in SF so as soon as 3 comes I'm out of jewelry and heading down to chech the shuttle to the other campus the ride takes about 30 minutes. this is the first class i have had on the SF campus and so that will be interesting. I did not love this class as soon as I got there, its the into class for both Interior design and Architecture however lots of other majors take it such as ID major as its a basic class on space, planing and all that.  I'm not found of the teacher or the class room, someone decided that having classrooms that were all contented and open was a good idea, they failed to take into account the noise factor so the walls don't go all the way to the ceiling and have gaps in the floor for who knows what. when the classes on eather side of yours are in section its noise. I know all about who the outer teacher feels about being professional in the art world but I'm not sure what MY teacher was saying half the time. she also made us do the worst class introductions EVER. I don't mind going around and introducing yourself, my all for that its easy and a good way to start to know your classmates. Hi I'm Blank, I'm from blank and My favorat Blank is Blank. Its a good way to start a class.  I hate it when teachers make you intrduse someone else, you have a speed interview (what's your major, where do you live, your hobby's, how do you say your weaid name right) and then you are forced to stand in front of the class and hope you don't forget anything or say there name wrong. That sucks, I hate it there is not way to make that less awuard, I'm all for meeting my fellow students but this dosn not help - I have all semester to meet and get to know them, this just adds more stress on the first day. Okey so doing that is bad enough what she did was worst. she wanted us to "Meet" Three people do the speed interview and then when your called on intruduse someone who had  not already been talked about to the class, this means that there are even more things to rember and even more things that could go wrong. on top of this she did not really explain or orgnise it right (or at all) so introductions turned into a even bigger, longer more aquared mess then normal, it took a two out of four hours to do the introductions. and to top that off I still don't know half the peoples names because the room was so noisy. I just hope this class gets better because what we are so-post to be learning should be really helpful later on and i want that information.

Anyway I still have not gotten to my living situation or today's classes but since this post is getting so long im going to sign off now and talk about both of thought in a later post, Untell then - Happy start of the School year everyone.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, The last Week of School.

I am in the last week of school! here's the lay out of all my finals and important events for this next week. I'm supper busy so this is going to be short, Don't fear i will wright a longer post about the last few projects and my overall impressions of my first year of College.

Monday- Final for Ethics

Tuesday- no Finals but last chance to work on 2D final and the Crosses for casting

Wednesday - Crit for 3D, Final for Modern arts I also hope to have my modern arts essay in (its not due until Friday but I don't want to forget)

Thursday - Crit for 2D, Crit for casting. Dad arrives in PM

Friday - clean out and move out of Dorm room, Hit the road and drive up to Eureka

that's my week, its going to be busy i think the worst day will be Wednesday because of the crit in the morning and then the final in the afternoon...

Oh on the happier side i got to see my grandparents who drove down to see a baseball game, hang out in SF and see me, we went out for a nice lunch and a tour of campus. I also Found housing for next year and it really could not be better,  I will be renting a room in a house about six blocks from campus in a lovely neighborhood. the People are a young couple with two great dogs and plenty of space for a bit of gardening!

The Countdown Begins...

Last week was busy, and this week is going to be busy ,but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (or school year ).  I have managed to keep up with my casting schedule, which is good, because I do not have room for it to slip. Here they are in wax

and now magically cast in bronze, I was just starting the cleaning process

I cleaned up the small one. I have realized that I won't have time to do all three, I will at least get the small cross done. I don't know if the larger one will get done, but we will see.

II got to make a mold for the first time, It's a interesting  process. After you make the thing you are going to make a mold off (In this case the cross) you have to solder on a sprue rod, this will allow you to in the future to inject the wax.

then you mount that in a frame, here they are

One of the other women in the class filmed me going through the process, I hope to have that to show you soon.

It's a interesting process and not very hard but sounds weird when you try to describe it. So we are just going to wait for the little movie.

after the mold dries (about 24 hours) you take a scalpel and very carefully cut it, I was not super careful and ended up runeing one side of the mold, thankfully we (the teacher) were able to save most of it however i lost the smooth back on all the crosses and there was some bubbles so they require some fixing in the wax form before i can cast them - I am casting on thursday meaning i have to finish them and invest Wednesday.

Here are all the waxes almost ready

Running parallel to that i was also casting some puzzle pieces in silver, as a make-up for the failed natural castings.

I did not stop in the process of cleaning to take photos but when they came out they all had a weird texture, we think it's because the wax only make it through about half way through the investment process. However I really like the look and when I was cleaning them I tried to leave it alone, they needed something to give some interest.

Here’s a photo of the set of cufflinks and studs.

I high polished the cuff links

and gave the studs a frosted finish (I'm not sure what the name for it is, you use a special disk on the polisher)

you see this texture a lot on men’s watches. the studs are really too big so during the summer i hope to cast some smaller puzzle pieces and switch them out.

I hope to make a pair of earrings from the remaining two but I will have to get to that later this week.(they may be too heavy though)

In other news as we get closer to finals week, art starts to appear around the campus, mainly sculpture. maybe because sculpture is kind of a public viewing thing and one of their goals for it is to “work in its environment” here’s one in front of the ceramics building

Then there is this thing I don’t even know… And finally two metal sculptures. Then this weekend CCA opened their doors (well not really there are only three gates that can be locked on campus) to the public for an Art Fair. This happens twice a year and this one gets less people than the one right before Christmas. It was fun to walk around and see everyone else’s art; it was also really, really hot. I am finally getting some real California weather, it reached about 77 today and it's supposed to be like this all week.

Over the weekend/ Monday I managed to Finnish my chair for 3D I have  not talked a lot about this project but i have been working hard on it, its a nice break to be working with wood/paper as i spend so much time dealing with metal. I bought this chair months ago for $5 at a place called urban ore (Its just like the RE store) my idea would be the modern liberty playing off the fact that i don't really read any books in print anymore it all just goes onto my nook.

here is the chair before I did anything

and here it is finished

The back is rolled up and cut news paper, and there's a book light on top so you never strain your eyes.

There is the drawer for the storage of the Nook and a hidden power cord that aloes it to charge

Here's a shot of the back.

And finaly just some shots of the paperwork

For this upcoming week I have freshman review, don’t really know what the point of this is but it means that all my core classes (2D, and 3D) are cancelled. Once I go to freshman review I will let you all know what this is. In jewelery I have to work on the crosses (see schedule) and finish both my finals for 2 and 3D. That way I will be able to pack, and work on my more traditional classes, that would be my Modern Arts class and Ethics.

On the happy non work front my grandparents are driving down over the weekend I believe the plan is to go to a baseball game in the new stadium in SF (I don’t see how this could make the game more exciting but…) and to take me out to dinner. It will be nice to have a little forced relaxation time, and see them before the last major slog before the school year is over.

Casting Problems, Colds, and a really cool grocery store

Last week and this week were not my best ones. First off the sea urchins did not cast, or really they did but the shells were too thin to hold in metal and flaked and broke until there was nothing left but the the sprues (the wax wires).

Because the sea anemones were a complete fail I am having to repeat the assignment. So I’m doing something easy, quick and fun this time. I am casting puzzle pieces!  I hope to make a pair of earrings and a set of cufflinks and studs, but we will see what happens. They looked really cool all ready to cast like a puzzle piece tree!

On top of that project I am working on my final in casting. One of the main reason to cast is that making exact copies is easy with the use of a silicone mold. I have decided to make crosses for the confirmation class this year at my church (My sis will be one) plus a few extra to sell or whatever. I am hoping to have two final designs, one being small, which will go to the conformation class, and one larger that I made as a test, but looks really cool so I'm going to go ahead and cast it. I knew that it would be hard to make crosses because to make them look right they need to be exact. What I did not expect was that the waxes are delicate because the arms and top have to be added on to the bottom section making the middle fragile. This is causing a few problems; One) keeping them exact, and Two) I can't clean the wax and once I get the first metal copy I will have a lot of cleaning to do.  *Sigh*

This project will be more complex than my other projects because there are some extra steps. Here they are along with dates of steps and when they need to be done.

One) make wax models - last week and this weekend Two) Invest wax models - this weekend (sunday) Three) cast wax models in brass - Tuesday (along with puzzle pieces in sterling silver) Four) Clean brass crosses - Tuesday/wednesday Five) Make silicone mold - Thursday Six) Make wax crosses using mold - next weekend Seven) cast wax models in Sterling Silver - Next tuesday Eight) clean Sterling Silver crosses - Next thursday/ weekend Nine) Put on chain and put in boxes - Last week of school

There is not a lot of room for error or delay in that schedule.

Here they are - Remember the is just a rough version of what the final project will be but you get the idea.

This last weekend as you all know was Easter, I did not have a great Easter. I woke up with a really bad sore throat, which developed into a head cold. It kept me in bed until Tuesday when I struggled out of bed for casting in the evening. This is the first time I have really gotten sick down here. It did not come at a great time as the last few weeks of school are all about planning and hard work. It put me about three days behind on my master plan so right now I am trying to get all caught up.

Last time on the Blog I said I would give a few shots of the Book project that was for 3D, so here they are. The cover and the bookmark

One of seven pages - In my heart of hearts from hamlet.

Two of seven pages - the Green eyed monster from Othello

Three of seven pages - the print part of Brave new world from The Tempest

Things are getting really busy but on the good news front, I have a lead on some possible housing options. Knowing there are some options is a huge weight off my chest.

On Saturday me and a friend finally made it to the famed Berkeley Bowl! It was way cool, I regret that I did not get down there until now. Its just a really really great grocery store with a great everything. We saw some really cool things including a baby pineapple!

How cute is that!

At the end of the trip we both walked out with a full bag of food, and a good meal, as we ate at the deli. Here's a photo of everything I bought.

It includes - oranges, pears, a grapefruit, some good granola, bread, small cans of ginger ale, apple sauce, really good cinnamon, strawberries, some really good tea I have not been able to find in Seattle for the past year and some frozen buns with chicken and beef. It was a great trip.  I doubt if I will get back there before I head back to Seattle but it's a definite highlight.

the return from Spring Break

I have been back from spring break for just about a week now. I was right thinking that the last six weeks back would be hard. All classes work towards finals. Next week all my studio classes are moving onto final projects. On top of that is all the end of the year stuff; plans to get back home, registering for new classes and finding a place to live. *Sigh*In 3D we have been working on the book project.  I really have not talked about this too much but basically we are required to do something involving a book – and we are using book in the loosest sense of the word, it has to have a minimum of eight pages, and that’s about it.  One girl made a fan with eight leafs and someone else is making eight boxes – I don’t know what they will present, but since critique for this project is first thing Monday morning I am sure I will find out. I took a book of Shakespeare plays and found seven common phrases that were made up, or at least first appear in writing, in the plays. Then I did something with the phrase on the page where it appears, framing it in copper and writing about the phrase on the back of the page. I think my favorite part of the whole thing is the book mark that I made for each page. I will post a few photos of it after the critique. I like it better then the last project I did in this class (that was the found tools project).  The final in the class, which we start after Monday, is the chair project.  We are just asked to do something with a chair. I already have my chair but I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. I would also kind of  like the chair to still work as a chair when I’m done (not something that is required for the project) but something I really want it to be able to do seeing as it’s a chair… In 2D we have moved on to our final already. I don’t like my 2D teacher and he does not like me, I find him disorganized, and wish-e-washy. He has no idea what he’s doing teaching this class. He might have props at whatever else he does, but not this. So our final project which we will have six weeks (now five) to do is an imaginary self portrait. I have several problems with this, the first is that I don’t really like self portraits, they have their place but I feel that every good piece of art reveals something about the artist. My second is his definition of a self portrait. A self – portrait is about you it’s a reflection of you, not some fake you that involves making up a character. My last problem with the project is that he is assuming that we have some drawing skills – he would say he’s not but he is. I just can’t seem to get a good handle of what he wants and I have no good ideas. I have wasted a week trying to come up with a good idea because, (here’s a really really important point!!) If you start off with a bad idea it will never, no matter how much work you put into it, make up for that crappy idea. So that sucks but on a brighter note my casting class is going very well. We have a little half project between our last project (what I’m now calling the gear rings, that I really enjoyed), and our final. We are casting natural or non wax things. I was planning to cast two things – what I think are some type of sea anemone shells and plastic topographical map. However, my teacher forgot that most of us would not be on campus over spring break, and so we only have two weeks, which when casting is really not that much time. So I had to cut back and am only doing the anemone shells, but I’m keeping the map on the back burner for now.

Here are the shells all ready to cast:

I think they will cast out really cool but I just want to move onto the final. Over the weekends I have been checking out and hunting down possible places to rent. I want to stay in Rockridge or Berkley for several reasons. They seem the safest areas and they are also the closest. However I seem to be looking too early because I don’t need the place over the summer, but that’s really frustrating because I don’t want to have to come back down to find a place in the middle of the summer, and I would like to know where I’m going to be living, it’s very stressful. Last but not least, we register for classes next week. According to webadviser I am going to register next Monday, and of the classes I have drawn up I will have at least one class in SF next year. I’m exciting for that. I’m also excited that I have five weeks until I’m back in Seattle!!!

Dukno Yoon and Hether Bayless + spring break

Last week two amazing metal artist came to give guest talks and just hang around for the week. this allowed me to make some observations about the jewelry/metal community in general along with hearing some great talks and seeing some really cool jewelry. the First talk I went to was a lecture by Dukno Yoon - he's a Koran artist who did his grad work in Miami and is now a visiting professor in Kansas state university for their jewelry program. he is a really interesting artist as he really works with a balance between a movement of a device and a clean light feel. almost all his work is kinetic, it all moves. his lecture was fascinating not only in the presses he used but the way he makes them to his interest in the movements and ideas behind his pieces. I really have seen nothing like his work before and so it was very exciting to see work that shared ideas that i have been thinking about for some time. He is most well-known for his wings series they are his most resent set of works some are table top devices such as this

the pendulums swings and the wings flap like a bird (I could not get the video to upload with it moving but I will give a link late)

But what he's really known for are the multiply part and wing rings.

when bending the finger or when pressing on a spring the wings will go up and down. the movement is done thought a series of thin steel wire that bends when your finger bends or for the metal wings it's a series of springs. they really capture a light feel and I love that you can see just how they work.

my favorite things of his were not the wings but his rings. they are rings that measure a distance as you roll them on a hard surface and then display the measurements at the top. I found the whole idea very interesting and i really like the look of the gears, i have always loved the look of gears and would love to incorporate them into my work, however if i would like the pieces to function I would have to ether laser cut them or sent them out to be cast as they need to be so excite.  the outer really cool part of this smaller collection was the gallery display. he rigged up his table to float in air with the help of giant magnets and then hid motion censers around the room so when someone walked by a table the rings would start to move. I mean that is just way cool.

his website is well done and if your interested you can read more about the relationship between his work, you can also see it all in motion which makes hopping over their way worth it.

you can find that link here.

Now before jump to Heather Bayless and her talk let me tell you about some of the things I have noticed about the jewelry/metal community.

One) everyone knows everyone else...its a small community, that makes sense. But not just locally or even country based I mean everyone knows everyone else world-wide. take Dunkon Yoon for example, when he was an undergrad (in Seoul Korea, keep in mind) he met/knew of our head of departments husband  who at the time was visiting with some of his students. He then met our department head during his grad work in Miami where she was just starting to teach, and one of his classmates was guess what, one of our outer teachers today. everyone knows everyone and everyone is connected

Two) all jeweler are married to outer jewelers - I'm not kidding. so far there is on person who i have met a great speaker from last semester who has not been married to a fellow jeweler. (and I don't know about the outer two teaches in the department so...) It's like they never leave the studio. the head of the department here - Marilyn de Silva's husband is a silversmith, the teacher I'm takeing casting from is married and has a business with her metal-smith husband. and to top it all off the two guest lectures are married to each outer.

Now onto the second guess speaker, the wife of the first guess speaker. she was very nice but way different style wise then Dukno Yoon. she is much more organic in her shapes and in her inspiration. she is also a bit more commercial then he is. her best known pieces are the look and see brooch's.

they are made of a half cast out circle. with a mirrored back. she does a bunch of veneration and as far as i can tell the line is still ongoing. what makes these impressive it she cast them with all thought holes in the piece. this may not seem impressive but trust me it is. Nature and the sturdy of nature seems to be the main inspiration for all of her work and lots of her grad work revealed around the underside of the gills of the mushrooms. I think that these may be my favorite pieces although she really did not to many but i am a fan of mushrooms and like the way her work abstracted them but you can still be identified.  she also seems to be big into contaminates for food so she made spice shakers using the mushrooms form.

Her current line is all about butterfly's. Monarch butterfly's. they are very nice using photos of the wings and silver polished to a high shine so it acts as a mirror. depending on where you are the thing you see changes because of the reflection.

  I should say i don't really like this line of work. its done really well and everything but Butterfly's and moths really freak me out as long as they are nowhere near me that's fine Moths more so than butterfly but they all creep me out. they might come in above spiders in the creep out charts (unless it's a really big spider *shutter*) this is so my problem and not her's but...

If you would like to know more please check out her website Here.

And Finally we have reached spring break!!!!! No sun for me I'm trading it for nice rainy cold Seattle!!! by the time you see this post I will be in transit or home enjoying a whole week off before I have to face the last six weeks of class which will mostly be a giant push to finals.

Shakeing awake

Don’t know if any of you heard, but we had a small earthquake very early Monday morning.  

I mean like 5:30 early… there was no damage but they did shut down BART for a bit just to check.  It is really weird to be woken up by an earthquake. This one was long enough for me to wake fully up, realize it was a earthquake and reach over and grab my phone (not sure why having my phone was so important but, at this point, since I take it everywhere, its kind of like a grown up security blanket with the ability to get e-mail). I was not scared exactly, but just felt really weird, like that the sick feeling of falling down an imaginary set of stairs. My roommate did not even wake up, she just rolled over; lucky heavy sleepers.

Over the weekend I had worked really hard to get the three rings for my casting project in photo ready shape, as I wanted to get them photographed for my portfolio. Photo ready does not mean wear ready but to the point were they will look the same even after all cleaning and shaping has been done, so here they are.

There are three rings all with the same basic shape, they move through size six to size seven. One is polished (although not well, I’m working on it) one is sand and one is brass brushed.

Like I said, these rings are not wear ready. The edges are really sharp and would cause a not great feeling if you clenched your hand. To get rid of this, I am polishing down the edges using a “rough” compound which is applied to a hard felt buffing disk and then used with a high powered polishering lathe to just take off the edge. Next step is getting a better shine on that last ring.

If you want more information on this check out this video.

http://www.riogrande.com/VideoPlayer.aspx?fn=finishing-techniques-VID-psd (sorry the linking is not working)

I took two midterms on Monday. Both went well. I was really nervous about my Modern Art midterm but it really was not too bad. I should have studied more for ethics but it went OK anyway.

In three D we have started our second out of the three projects. This one is the book project. It’s really open ended and we just have to make a book in some way and it has to have at least 8 pages. I found a really nice copy of five of Shakespeare plays so I am going to highlight the phrases that are super common now, which Shakespeare made up or at least was the first to write down, by making the pages in metal. They might not be metal but more like leafing, but whatever. It will be fun and I like it better then the last project.

Today was a great day for me.

For one I got to hear a great lecture by an amazing jeweler, (he will get his own post in a day or two when I see the other visiting jeweler who came with him).

Two, I found a great pair of heels for way cheap (don’t worry Mom, I have store credit).

Three, there was no ethics class this evening due to not having a lecture Monday cuz’ of the midterm.

And four I got to see the freshman gallery and a great senior show for one of the jewelry senior (plus all the great treats that they offer at the receptions).

I just got back from the gallery- it’s a store front right across the street from the school. Inside it’s divided into four rooms. Tonight three were for the freshman exhibition and one was for the jewelry senior (not really sure why that was). It was quite cool to see the work of my classmates especially because I often don’t really have an idea what they make or get to see a finished product. The gallery was packed, partly because of all the people in the show and partly because of all the free candy. (If you want a college kid to come to anything, give them free food). I have to say the senor who was showing is amazing. I don’t think I have ever met her because she does most of her work at night but she chases and raises metal. Her specialty is turning flat pieces of metal into parts of the body. They look real, the amount of detail she can get with a hammer is just amazing. I hope to go back and get a photo when it’s not as busy so you can see the feel the pieces have.

So all in all, everything is good, I am super ready to be home for a week and I’m counting the days until I get on that plane (its 8 by the way).