First success in art
Finally, I brought in something to art class that went over well. After 7 hours of finishing, my investment cast bronze hand sculpture was done. It's pretty amazing - after every step of finishing, I felt pretty sure that it couldn't get any shinier, but no, it got shinier. Impressive.
The assignment is
Many designed products must be grasped or handled as well as seen to be experienced. [On that basis], produce a three-dimensional object that is particularly gratifying to handle. Use any material that works.
The point is, people liked it. In particular, they wanted to know more about investment casting, but they liked the object also. I did get some porosity during the casting (also known as holes - one big one), and was a bit disappointed about that, but as fellow classmate Adam pointed out, and then Matt Kahn after him, master craftsmen make mistakes too - its just what they do with them that make them master craftsmen.
Cantor Center party
Last night, as mentioned earlier, we had a small impromptu bbq at the loft. So nice to just chill out and have some beers. It'd been over a month since I'd had a beer - hard to believe, I know.
Afterwards we went over to a party held at
the Cantor Center. Party on the Edge, or something. It was a whole different Stanford. People were actually talking about art, and didn't all look scarily alike (the undergrads here I find a little too conforming).
The space is pretty incredible, and they were showing some student films out in the back. There was a funny (i hope ironic?) rapper upstairs, and then a band playing in a courtyard. When I went into the courtyard, they were playing the Simple Minds song from the Breakfast club, and everyone was just having a good time, and in the middle of the (empty) dance area, was a huge Claus Oldenberg banana peel. It was a good moment.
segway riding
Went to the usual design division happy hour today. We have one every friday, but I haven't gone in a while. At one of the first ones, some professors were showing off their Segway, but the line was long and I was impatient.
Today the line was shorter, and I was less impatient, and I got to ride the Segway. Pretty fun, I have to admit. I didn't want to be won over, 'cause the hype is all just so ridiculous, but a grin did find its way across my face.
Missing Brooklyn
The past few days have made me nostalgic for brooklyn.
First, there was the article on NPR about increased use of library resources in the poor economy, and had multiple interviews with the brooklyn public library folk (the BPL, for those of us in the know). As you probably know, I was a big fan of the BPL. God, I miss reading. Not even for pleasure, since I have no reading in my classes. Reading. But I digress...
Then, this morning, I had a coaching session for ME 203 (the shop class, where I'm casting the candle stick thing). Our coach brought bagels from "Izzy's Brooklyn Bagels". First of all, *I'm* Izzy. And I'm from Brooklyn, at least most recently. I didn't share this with my coach, but these bagels totally sucked. Didn't compare at all with Terrace Bagels.
Additionally, we're having a bbq tonight at the Loft. Not only does BBQ invoke good times at John Payne's, but I went to a fancy cali-style supermarket today. And I was a bit appalled at the quality of the meat in the butcher section. Sure, they had their free range beef, and their fancy Kobe beef (even ground Kobe beef for extra special burgers), but the meat and sausages couldn't hold a candle to the United Meat Market on Prospect Park West.
Finally, Luis, a puerto rican, brought adobo marinated chicken to the bbq, and was quite surprised that I knew what it was, and jealous of my large supply of Goya adobo at home. He asked where I got it, and I told him in my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, and he said, of course, there are lots of puerto ricans in NY. Especially in Windsor Terrace/South Slope.
I miss the Slope.
Tired today
Today was the worst day by far for me. Caffeine may be a miracle drug, but I still struggled. And tonight from 7-11 I have a hot and sweaty sand casting lab ahead of me. I think I won't be bringing anything into art class tomorrow - I have 2 projects 2/3rds done, but I don't think I'll finish them tonight.
Art has been a bit demoralizing for me. I'm having trouble sticking with an idea long enough to create anything really well put together and finished, which doesn't go over very well with the professor. It's weird, because I feel like in the past I've been very good at creating well done pieces, with high attention to detail. I think I'm having trouble getting excited about my projects (after I start them - I'm always excited at the beginning), and then its hard to really do a good job. Plus, the time factor doesn't help.
Design Project 2
DP2 was today. Sadly, our project failed. But I like to think it failed spectacularly.
We put together a long, 7" beam thing that fell straight down onto the 2x4, and then had weights on the end that brought it back up to standing (upside down). We used plastic gutter (light and strong), mostly. Originally we were going to decorate it as a cartwheeling person, but then got the idea to make it into the Stanford mascot: the Stanford tree. (Who has a tree for a mascot??)
We painted the gutter brown, and hung multi-greened streamers down, and painted our weights (plastic cups filled with cement - really.) with eyes. Then we all dressed up in stanford gear, and "cut" our tree down with a foam core ax. Not my idea, but fun anyway. I had to buy a stanford t-shirt for the event. It's still kind of weird to think that I go to school here.
Crazy professor
Yesterday, in a 9 am class, Prof. Dave Beach proceded to whip out an oxy-acetalene torch, and silver braze in class. I was amused even in my morning haze, and took a picture.
Investment casting, part 2
Yesterday we started invested our stuff for investment casting. Investing, I think, is just pouring plaster around a sprued and filleted mold.
I decided that if I was going to be involved to learn, I might as well make something for class. So I made an art60 project - Something that is gratifying to hold/handle.
My shape in wax. I first carved it, then used a Dremel to carve it further. 3 hours of sanding later, I melted the surface to remove all marks, and got this.
Today we're babysitting the investment as it heats up and the wax drips out. It takes 9 hours, and I've got the 12-1:30 shift. Tonight, we cast! I'm doing bronze. This may be a complete failure, but so be it.
Investment casting
On Thursday, I will do my first investment casting. I think I'm just going to make a ring, especially since i did buy ring wax (ring stock? not sure on the terminology). However, I'm hoping to be doing a lot of investment casting (also known as lost wax) this semester.
Casting, briefly, is when you make a mold, put something around the mold and leave a shape, and pour hot metal into that mold, and let it cool. Voila. Investment casting is used for smaller, finer casting, and instead of taking the mold out, the mold is made of wax, and burns out, hence the moniker "lost wax".
For the shop class, after we go through the many labs, we start on our own project for the rest of the semester, using one or more techniques we've learned so far. We're deciding our project this week, and while I'm not absolutely sure of my project, I think it is going to be a candlestick holder, and I think I'm going to use investment casting.
My "big" idea is to make something for my sister for a wedding present. Hence the candlestick holder. Ideally I would make 2, but I'm not counting on my ability to do so this quarter. The design is inspired by
Ted Muehling's work, and I'm hoping to make a kind of simplified open shell, standing so the opening is vertical. The candlestick would go through the shell, and then when it melted down, the shell would then act as a lantern instead of a base. You could also (maybe) put a voltive candle in the base and have it act as a voltive holder.
The shape was inspired by Ted Muehling's
Volute bowl. Don't know if that helps you understand the general idea.
My biggest problem with this assignment is that for some reason, a large majority of my ideas were extremely organic shapes (like this one). It really makes casting the only option... I can't really see making this on a mill or a lathe (maybe a lathe).
The Lathe
This week's lab is the lathe, and we turn both the ring for our magnifying glass (out of brass), and the plastic handle.
I was working on my handle tonight for a good 3 hours when I messed it up. It's just so hard! I was annoyed enough that I figured that I shouldn't start again tonight. Back to the beginning.
Intolerable Cruelty
Go see it.
It includes a very funny product design moment towards the beginning.
Design Project 2
We got the assignment for DP2 almost a week ago. This project is a group project, and I think I was lucky - I like my group. It includes a teacher from the Learning, Design, and Technology program, a "regular" ME PhD type, and a MBA/MSE (Manufacturing Science and Engineering?).
The problem is roughly this: There are 2 8' 2x4s stretched out 30" above the ground, 2' apart (thin side up). 2 teams, starting on different 2x4s at different ends, race to get to their finish line the fastest. The only "power" source is gravity and/or rubber bands. You start by cutting a string attached to your machine. Aside from that, it must weigh less than 10lbs, and cost less than $50 in materials. You can try to harm the other team's device, and you can restart within the 3 minute time limit. Whichever team finishes first or gets the farthest in 3 minutes advances to the next round (I think there are 10 or so teams). There is a 1' start and 1' finish area on the 8' board. The device must stop in the finish area.
During our initial brainstorming, I only contributed one really workable idea, and felt lame. Then we had to go away and each draw how one of the ideas would work (this is our own team's process, not the class's). Someone else picked my one idea to flesh out, and I was left with an idea that I didn't really understand, nevermind be able to draw how it works. So I kind of made up a new design.
Back together, we went over each others drawings, refined, and evaluated all 4 designs. I felt much better about my contribution when it came down to a tie breaker between my 2 designs. We're prototyping the latter idea (the one I made up 'cause I had to) tomorrow... hopefully it'll work out. We're not being very offensive, but we also think that it will take around 1 second to get across the 8 feet, so we're hoping it doesn't matter.
I'm not sharing ideas yet - I'm wary of competitors who might read this! The competition is next Wednesday, I promise to provide more details then.
Homesick
I've been struggling with homesickness. I just miss New York.
I miss mass transportation, and the easy access it provides: To museums, stores, food...
and friends. I miss the nyc attitude. I miss some sense of shared experience, provided by living in new york. Different from the shared experience of going to grad school, or living in silicon valley. I MISS THE EDGE.
There is one second year student in my program who I met last year when visiting. For some reason I felt (and still feel) totally comfortable with him, and today he gave me a lift to the jewelry supply store. We were talking about driving (different from nyc right there), and that led to talks about the new york area. He grew up just a few towns away from me on long island, and we have people in common. He also went to a competitive east coast school, and he's a scorpio, just like me.
Are these the ingredients to someone who seems like home?
Candid camera
I was on candid camera today. Except there was no camera.
I was food shopping at Albertsons, a big super market chain out here (I think?). Got in line behind one woman who had a lot of stuff, but whatever, I figured it'd move faster than 3 people with a little bit of stuff.
The first thing that was weird was that she didn't unload her stuff onto the conveyor belt. She just stood next to it with a grocery cart stuffed to the gills. Who does that?? The bagger had no hesitation in coming around and taking stuff out of the cart and putting it on the belt. Is this normal practice? Do lots of people not put their stuff on the belt?
She then asked the cashier if he thought her stuff would cost more that $150. He didn't know. Rings it all up. $163. She pulls out her money order, which they didn't take. Turns out that she only has $80 cash. Fine, whatever, they need to take stuff out of her order (which is already bagged at this point).
This is another whole debacle, of her getting upset - No! I want the hotdogs! Keep the water! No no, thats the bag that I definitely am keeping. Ok, get rid of the hotdogs. This lasted for about 15 minutes. The poor guy behind me only had a bag of ginger (who needs that much ginger??). I was really looking around for the cameras.
I tried to get the cashier to talk trash about her after she left but he was professional to the core. He did give me a discount.
Thai cafe
Today I went to lunch with Elena, a friend from Yale who is at the law school here. We went to the Thai cafe, which I'd seen but not eaten at before.
The Thai Cafe is a restaurant on campus, although calling it a restaurant is a serious stretch. It's only open for lunch, and its just a classroom that is taken over by big vats of thai food. There are some regular options on the menu, and everyday there are some specials. You stand in a (long) line outside the classroom, order your food, pay the cashier, and get your food scarily fast. It's all very odd, this long lunch line in the middle of a class hallway.
Some 2nd years in my program had told me previously about the secret place to eat your Thai cafe lunch. In the building the cafe is in there is a beautiful roof deck, complete with tables, that is for employee use. Sometimes, like today, they leave it unlocked. It was just incredible - this beautiful view of the campus, and the hills in the background, and of course beautiful weather. Although, it was a little cold today - maybe only in the high 60s instead of low 70s. It's amazing how fast you can get picky about the weather.
Viola lesson
I'm taking viola lessons with Lesley Robertson, the violist in the St. Lawrence Quartet, and today was my first lesson. They are artists in residence here. It's always good to get a new teacher, because they always start back at the beginning with just a reminder about technical things. However, the last 3 teachers have all decided to focus on the same technical things with me. Perhaps this is a sign that I should actually pay attention when they tell me what to do to work on these things, and maybe in the future I'll actually be able to move on from these technical problems to new and more exciting ones.
ice cream
Went to a great ice cream place tonight. Flavors included rose, saffron pistacio, industrial chocolate, and computer chip. (We are in Silicon Valley, after all). I got Rose and Green Tea. Mmmm.
Portfolio night
Tonight we had portfolio night, where all the first years shared their portfolios with each other and the 2nd and 3rd year students. As you all know, I have a confidence problem, so this made me a bit nervous. Wine helped.
As expected, a lot of the stuff was just amazing, and everyone really did really different things. The best part, though, was another anecdote a 2nd year shared with us: Apparently, one year they didn't accept anyone who turned their portfolio in on time, and accepted everyone who turned it in late. The point was that you didn't have to/shouldn't follow the rules.
Again, the imposter syndrome sets in...
My Enorme phone
In class today, we had a competition to see who could guess how many parts there were in a fuji disposable outdoor camera. Without opening it up, of course. My team, or really, my partner, figured it out - we guessed 27, and it was 26. As a prize, we each one an Enorme phone.
There is an anectdote that goes along with this. The phone was designed jointly by David Kelley and Ettore Sottsass, in the 80s. Apparently, Enorme (just David Kelley and Ettore Sottsass, I think) did the design, engineering, manufacturing, and distribution of the phone, and failed rather miserably along those lines, although the phone did go immediately into the MOMA's permanent collection. Anyway, since it was basically a $6 phone, functionally speaking, but by the time it reached the shelf cost $150, not that many people bought them, and David was stuck with boxes of them in his garage for years.
Now, as a collectors item, they apparently go for $300-$450 on eBay, but I (due to my partner) won one!
Another anecdote along those lines is that Ettore Sottsass apparently designed a total of three houses in the U.S., David Kelley's being one.
arnold
Of course I'm horrified. As you should be too. But sadly, not surprised that the recall went though, and that Arnold won.
I did not vote -- I "registered" to vote online, or rather, I thought I did. What happened was that I filled out a form to register. And then they sent the filled out form to me, and told me to sign it and send it back. By this point the deadline had passed and I couldn't vote. Major design flaw.
Green.
For my art class, the project I'm currently working on is this:
Using pen and colored inks (red, yellow, and blue) create (invent) three different textures, one orange, one green, and one purple. Do not mix or overlap inks. This project is concerned with the nature of visual texture, as well as the color potential in fibrous or cellular structures.
I decided to do needlepoint, with embroidery floss as my "ink". Orange and purple are fairly successful, but green. Green. GREEN. I can't make green, and I want to go to sleep!
Welding
Welding is really fun. I am very bad at it, though. I'm going to work on this.
Design Project 1 - part 2
So, today in class we showed our solutions to DP1. It was a crazy day - totally fun. Some people went over the top with their projects. I may have been one of them.
I think all told, I probably spent about 40 hours on DP1. I did go with the flower idea, slightly modified. About halfway through I realized that I'd measured wrong - a 5 foot diameter circle is 60", not 50". ARGH.
I took many pictures - I'm working on getting them up for you to see. Highlights include a raceway that delivered all 10 dimes at once, a self-powered archimedes screw contraption, and a small, black spy suitcase which enclosed the entire device.
I'm off to lab to learn about castin and welding etc.
Shotgunning
On Saturday night, I made my first excursion in the Bay Area. I went up to Oakland to visit a my freshman year roommate, Sarah, and another friend of ours from college, Mark.
I managed to leave very very late, and was almost 2 hours late to our planned event - oops. But it really made me realize how big the "bay area" is. Huge. On the way up, I must have not latched the top of my car very well, because as soon as I sped up to about 65, the top came flying off. Scariest thing ever. Luckily, it stayed attached to my car, just folded back instantly. Still, I was pretty shook up on the way there, and was passed by just about every car on the freeway. Plus, it was COLD.
It was great to see Sarah and Mark, and Sarah's roommate Sadie (who is actually a friend of my sister's - weird connections). We went to a party a couple of blocks away, and Mark somehow convinced Sarah and I to join him in shotgunning a beer. It was my first time, and it was an experience. We didn't stay long, and I kind of felt like I had crashed a party, shotgunned a beer (making a mess along the way), and left. Oops.
I spent the night in Oakland, and so sadly missed beach day, but apparently that was a very cold event, and I wouldn't have been prepared for the weather. I can't get used to the huge swings in temerature around here.
Design Project 1
Our first project in ME 313 is due Monday. That's mainly what I'm working on the next couple days. The problem is:
Brother, Can you Spare a Dime?
Given the tough economic climate today, we think its important to help others in need. So, we want each of you to bring to class next Monday a machine that will hand out a dime to each of the 9 or 10 other people in your presentation group.
On presentation day, each person in your group will be given a donation cup to place along the edge of a 5' diameter circle marked on the floor. Your contributing tool must fit within a designated 2' x 1' space on the outside of the circle to begin with and the dimes must be loaded into the apparatus within this area. All or part of your mechanism may then cross into a circle to distribute the dimes, one at a time or as many as you like at once. You may have manual control of any part of your machine that lies within the 2' x 1' area during the donation process, but you may not reach into the circle with your body at any time. All parts of the tool must be brought back into the 2'x 1' footprint for reloading. The goal is simply to contribute one dime to each of the other people in the group. Bonus points will be given for elaborate or unusual ways of delivering the dimes to the cups.
And of course the materials are constrained. Mostly foam core, string, rubber bands, hot melt glue.
Ok, so at first I was overwhelmed just by the mechanism. After brainstorming, some really really easy to make, effective things came to mind (think lacrosse stick). So, I am picking one of the easier ones (aimable ramp) and expanding... right now I think I'm making this flower like thing that blossoms in the circle, and can be turned from outside the ramp (pulley?), and has a ramp on one of the petals, and is "pollenated" by a "bee" on a stick... I'm excited about it, but the metaphor is kind of random.
It'd be better if I could relate it back to the begging paradigm, but all my thoughts that direction are too complicated mechanism-wise. I'm not so good on the mechanism thing. (How does a pulley work? what exactly is a washer for?)
Anyway, lets see if I can build this thing. Back to my prototype.
(as an aside... i'm still loving my classes, and my work for them, i'm just still having trouble with the volume)
working too hard
My comfort level with my skills for the classes I'm taking is very very low, so I've been trying to work really hard, early, for various assignments. This in turn has tricked the other first years into thinking that i'm totally on top of things, in an overly-concientious way. It makes me kind of uncomfortable to think of myself in those terms - I don't want to be a kiss ass. I just am so scared that I won't be able to do stuff, I start really early.
It reminds me of my first semester in college - I was similarly scared, and got papers done early, and stuff. Ah, how that changed as my comfort level quickly shifted. My first semester freshman year did result in my best semester. Something to think about.
am i becoming... sporty?
It may be true what they say - move to northern california, become sporty. Of course, my definition of sporty is seriously hampered by the past 3 years of sedentary, nyc-style abuse of my body. But, I ride my bike a lot here, and I've started swimming! What next?
The bike is pretty much a necessity -- I live on campus, but over a mile from the loft, and the general area of my classes. I haven't started riding from the loft to classes yet, since my classes either require me to bring art supplies/finished products that might be precarious on a bike, or are ridiculously close to ride a bike. But still, I'm averaging about 4 miles a day. My goal is to bike as far as I drive in any given week, excluding excursions to SF or Berkeley (or farther).
Plus, a fellow first year, Nicole (who actually worked at Sapient SF, in OPs), has inspired me to go swimming. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have an annoying 2 hours between classes, from 11-1. After eating lunch, even leisurely, there's enough time to do... not much. So, she decided to go swimming, and I've been going with her. The pools at Stanford are beautiful. There are 4 in the athletic center area, and the one with lap swimming is 50 meters. Oh, and they're all outside. I know there's at least one more on campus, too. Are you jealous?
my lug
For one of my classes, we also have a lab in the Product Realization Lab (PRL). As the term lab would imply, we have work do in the lab that is separate from the class, but helps us learn the shop.
Our first lab was this week, and we learned how to use the mill. For those of you (like me), who aren't familiar with machine shops, this is basically a very large, scary drill press combined with a 3-d etch-a-sketch (you can move your work piece along 3 axes).
After learning the mill and how to make a lug for a magnifying glass, we then go do it. On our own time, mostly. It took me 6 hours, but I have achieved the lug. I messed up several times, but before I cut anything - I always caught myself. The result is - a bronze lug. With a threaded hole, and everything. I carved something out of metal!
