The Wandering Ideas: June 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Small Scale: Exercise 3- Bezel Boxes

Bezel boxes are a method of securing a jewel, gemstone, etc. For this exercise, I secured a glass marble backed with a picture into a copper bezel box. The point of this exercise was to learn this technique, but also to practice soldering metal together. I could have attached it to a ring or put a loop on it, but I was lazy : <.

My bezel box, a plain marble, and a cracked marble.

Small Scale: Project 1- The Eye Spyer

For project 1, I had to make a tool out of a copper ingot. The tool could be functional or metaphorical, so I made an anti-boredom tool; The Eye Spyer. It has the shape of a magnifying glass, but instead of glass, there's a slot to slide a spy card. On one side of the spy card is an eye with a hole cut into the pupil and on the other side is a picture of whatever the viewer wants to see other people as. All you have to do is hold up the device to someone's face and you can see their head on a cat's body or whatever amuses you.

I rolled out sheets of copper, which were then cut and assembled using rivets. I also pulled out lengths of wire for the actual rivets, but also to make a chain. The chain just connects to a cap which seals off a compartment for a pencil. Pretty cool huh.

: D

Small Scale: Exercise 2- Rivets

Exercise 2 required us to make 10 rivets; 5 basic and 5 nail head rivets. Rivets are a kind of mechanical joint used to connect pieces of metal without soldering or welding. They're pretty nifty and have an industrial look to them.

Small Scale: Exercise 1- Cutting Coins & Making a ring from a Quarter

I'm taking Small Scale Sculpture over the summer, which involves the primary medium of metals to craft art that is relatively small and somewhat jewelry-like. Our first exercise was to cut Lincoln and Washington out of coins using a jeweler's saw. The jeweler's saw is useful tool that we will be working with a lot, so it's important to learn how to use it without breaking too many blades. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these guys now...

The second part of the exercise was to make a ring from a quarter. A hole was punched into a quarter to start then the metal was annealed to make it workable. To get the ring form, I had to hammer the sides down over a ring mandrel.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Raku Ho'olaule'a - UH Manoa 2014

"Raku Ho`olaule`a is an annual community Raku ceramics workshop, firing and camp out in a beach side setting at one of Oahu’s beautiful beach parks. It brings together ceramic artists to participate in raku and pit firing techniques." - hawaiicraftsmen.org

This year's Raku workshop was at Camp Mokule'ia on the North Shore of O'ahu. Shown above are some people from the UH group: Genji, Gideon, Laura, John, and Ji Soo. Also a part of the group was Abi, Sara, Jake, Theresa, and myself. The workshop lasted from Friday to Monday during Memorial Day weekend and was jam packed with adventures. Roosters and chickens roamed the camp site; sometimes crowing at 4:00 am... The beach was awesome. Theresa and I got burnt pretty good, but the crystal water, shells, and turtles were worth it. It was my first time camping (Huzzah! >:D) and as campers do, we made smores (thank you John for bringing the supplies :D). It stormed that weekend too. There was rain at some point each day, but it was really intense on Sunday. Lightning and thunder roared above the camp, but the Raku continued on!