All Times and Places

Lenses or Recycled Parts?

Brandon — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:24:05 +0000

I am beginning a new series of work which so far has two pieces in it. They have two major things in common. Both have lenses and both lenses are from old cameras. I am not sure yet whether the series will continue down the path of recycled camera parts or will stay purely to using lenses. Either way, I really like this new ring. It is made of silver and copper, with what looks like a 2x magnified lens on top. The lens sits above a lump of metal that I alloyed from silver and copper. It’s close to 50/50 split and looks similar to gold or brass.

A friend of mine just gave me an old slide projector to take apart. There are some beautiful and quite huge lenses in it and I can’t wait to make something with them! I am definitely going to continue on with the chainmaille work and combining it with my industrial style. Maybe it can be incorporated into this new camera parts/lenses look as well. Only time will tell. Cliche I know, but I like it.

-Brandon

Chest Crank

Brandon — Mon, 10 May 2010 04:01:39 +0000

This piece combines my two favorite aesthetics, steam engines and chainmaille. I’m so pleased with how it came out and even more happy with the modeled images. I’m still frantically trying to put together my portfolio for tomorrow’s class. The most important part of which is the image list. I just wanted to take a quick break and post my progress. Back to work!

-Brandon

Finally, a table

Brandon — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:55:41 +0000

It has been a semester-long process, but I have finally completed the construction of my table. It still needs to have a finish put on, which will give it a much richer look. It’s made out of silver Maple that all started as raw lumber. The design is directly inspired by Danish modern furniture, namely the Danish telephone table popular in the 40′s, 50′s, and 60′s. Mine’s a little thicker and heavier than traditional, but I made that choice based on the beauty of the maple. Thankfully we’re going to have a professional photographer come in on the last day to take some nice pictures. Can’t wait to post the final pics of it!

-Brandon

Wooden Goblet

Brandon — Sun, 02 May 2010 00:12:25 +0000

Still working the lathe. Still having a blast with it. It was a little difficult to concentrate with OSHA hovering around. Safety is fine, but the creepy stares… Still, I made it through this awkwardness and made a goblet bowl from some really nicely grained blocks. It’s still white maple like the rest of my pieces so far, but this piece has a strange coloration that’s beautiful and unique. In some lights it looks like petrified wood or some sort of stone. I can’t wait till I have room for my own lathe at home. Oh yes.

-Brandon

Rubylith Earrings

Brandon — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:51:15 +0000

A couple weeks ago I went to a place called Scrap and picked up some awesome… well most people would call it junk. My favorite pieces were two broken old cameras and a big sheet of rubylith, a clear plastic sheet with a thin red film over it. My first order of business was to take apart one of the cameras and get lots of parts for making jewelry. So many people just throw old electronics away! Of all the parts, I was most drawn to the lenses. I got about 7 in total, some square and some round. Here’s a pair of earrings I made using square lenses and a small piece of rubylith. The rest is sterling silver and fine silver.

-Brandon

More lathe, More jewelry

Brandon — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:28:31 +0000

I’ve had a struggle working this semester. It has been more of a battle really, me against video games. They’re amazingly fun creations that give me joy and peace. They calm me when I am stressed, they take me away from my problems. That’s exactly the problem. I have been stressed about graduating and entering the working world again. It is time to conquer. It is time for me to step up and take a hold of my life again. I am doing it already. No more will video games rule my life. I am already getting new ideas and sketching way more. It feels exhilarating to experience life without brain-numbing.

Yesterday I started a pair of earrings incorporating lenses from an old point-and-shoot camera. I have a bunch of parts from the camera I took apart but I’m starting with the lenses. I also made a really awesome bowl on the lathe last week. The canister from my last post busted when I made the walls too thin, but I have another block gluing up right now. Here’s a picture of the completed bowl and the broken canister. I’ll show the earrings too when they’re farther along.

-Brandon

The finished bowl.

Thank you for the parts, camera.

Almost done, but not going to happen.

I got it so thin, but apparently too thin...

Lathe Canister

Brandon — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:33:31 +0000

I love the lathe! I am having so much fun practicing for turning the legs on my bench. To practice working the lathe I am working on some bowls and canisters out of soft maple so I can get a nice feel for the tools. Unfortunately, I took a risk on my first bowl and secured the block and base plate with paper in between instead of just glue. In the book I read about lathe-work it said you can do this to make removal easier after the piece is finished, but it’s a risk. The shaving tool caught a corner when I was hollowing the inside and the bowl fell off the stock and lost a couple chunks and now has a big crack. Lovely. I decided right away to learn a lesson from this and be more careful with my future projects, instead of getting discouraged. It’s hard when the last project I was working on had problems as well an important piece of the assembly before forming the last rivet. I’d have to cut the whole thing apart and re-fabricate a detailed piece to reverse my mistake. Not sure what to do yet, but I’m working on it. Well, it’s pouring rain outside so I’m going to work on some homework I can do inside. I’d rather not get cold and soaked today. Thanks for reading!

Back again

Brandon — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:43:26 +0000

I have had some great opportunities come up lately. Not only am I the Undergrad Student Rep, but I am now participating in a collaboration with Graduate Architecture students! Basically I’ll be designing a sculpture to go with a particular architecture student’s building. They end up with a model and proposal, so I’ll be completing the same. I won’t actually be building the sculpture, but it’s a great learning opportunity and a chance to make connections in different fields.

Aside from school, I’ve been having a hard time getting together with friends this semester. Either I’ve been busy or not feeling well and finally this Friday I’ll hang out with Dana again. Kenzie and I did have some awesome visitors this past weekend however. Carol and Karen, family friends from Kenzie’s childhood, came and stayed in a hotel around the corner from us. We had a blast going all over downtown. It worked out perfectly that we went to the ferry building, as the night before I saw one of the stores there on Food Network. It’s a new pork place that’s owned by one of the chefs from Food Network. I had the most amazing assortment of pork slices and bacon-esque gourmet goodness. Awesome times, awesome semester. Overall life is great. Oh and I’m SO excited for my sister to come to school here! Yay!

Realizations

Brandon — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:02:50 +0000

I have had some realizations last night. I was staying up crazy late, as has been my habit for a while now. I realized that there is no need to do so. I’d much rather go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. My mornings have been not existing at all, as I’m sleeping through them. I would love to spend more time with Kenzie, be more aware and have conversations. What a thought! I will be more productive with my new sleep schedule. There’s a whole new world out there, and yes, I’m going to grab it by the balls.

-Brandon

Student Rep

Brandon — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:13:12 +0000

Big news. I am officially the Undergrad Student Representative for Sculpture at the Academy of Art University. Hooray! I’ve always been anti-extracurricular activities. It’s never been something I was interested in before. I was offered this position and something inside me said it was a great opportunity. Now I can put this on my resume and I can play an active part in getting things fixed for my major. There are often problems and I don’t want to be the “trouble maker” by trying to fix them all. Now I can voice my opinions to the top people and get things done. Also, my classes are going great! I’m having a blast in Furniture Construction. I already made a little two-legged shelf that sits on the kitchen counter and props against the wall. It is mortise and tenon construction and done with hand tools. I chiseled out the square hole to fit the tenon, which was cut in many steps on the table saw. So much fun! I’ll try to post again soon. I completely forgot about this blog. Thanks for reminding me Kenzie! I forgot how great it is to write on here.

-Brandon

ps: I have a pony tail!!! My hair is growing out nicely and it’s amazing to finally have something I like the look of. Hoorah!