tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52088070052662531922024-03-05T11:00:04.027-05:00Woolly ThinkingA blog about thinking about stuff---big, clumsy, strange, heavy stuff. And making stuff--big, clumsy, strange, heavy stuff. And weird stuff, too. And maybe other stuff that I haven't thought much about at all but that might be important in a not so obvious way.Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-9255376446300957592011-06-26T21:09:00.003-04:002011-06-27T09:18:28.124-04:00Triceratops Mosaic..but not really*Where has the past year gone? I have no idea. I haven't been taking any art classes at the Flint Institute of Arts, I know that--perhaps that lack is the reason I slipped into a state of dullness. I started this mosaic last summer (sigh) and had every intention of finishing it during the winter but, as I had written before, working in the basement on mosaics in winter is dull, uninspiring and, well, cold. This is not for me. I am not, particularly, a dinosaur fanatic. But I live with a former dinosaur fanatic and a current fanatic who is allergic to wool and therefore cannot receive any knitted goods (and refuses all wool substitutes I think out of sheer bloody-mindedness). So, when woolens and woolen substitutes won't do, a dinosaur mosaic is in order, or so I hope. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVlm4W2-koh530wxSUxk8Xu52Cw9R9LPH_jtxZkAIQHB0SCjUWyQ_9N6kLkIVD3HgxvWVus_0w71nb3mbhEkZQq1mywbm8NTcgHbwxW-lZ19C_d3yXFqHavJwHlcL5FfGYZXEvoFqKtM/s1600/triceratops+A5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVlm4W2-koh530wxSUxk8Xu52Cw9R9LPH_jtxZkAIQHB0SCjUWyQ_9N6kLkIVD3HgxvWVus_0w71nb3mbhEkZQq1mywbm8NTcgHbwxW-lZ19C_d3yXFqHavJwHlcL5FfGYZXEvoFqKtM/s400/triceratops+A5.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div>The glass is about 3' by 3' tempered glass, so it is really strong but, therefore, really heavy. The story behind the glass is really strange. My FIA connection was given 8 or 9 panels, most 3' by 3', but some 2' by 5' and some even larger. A couple had special ordered all the pieces for a bathroom (who has that many windows in one bathroom?!?) and had dark green bits etched into some patches and frosted bits etched into other bits. Apparently the person preparing the glass had warned them that it would look weird, but they insisted. Then, once it arrived, they hated it. It sat in their basement for years (it was wrapped in 10 year old newspaper when I picked it up, yellowed and brittle) until they couldn't stand looking at their folly anymore. In a fit of pique they dropped the whole heap off at the FIA, in the main office, and went off. [Apparently that happens quite regularly there--like hospitals finding babies in garbage dumpsters, the FIA finds everyone's ex-hobby and craft remains on their doorsteps with no note attached, and dried out or bits broken.] Well, the pieces didn't give me any sense of shame or regret so I took three panels home and set to work. I have come to think that dinosaurs have great artistic potential that is grossly underexplored. There is simply no reason to represent them in drab greens and grays, as they usually are. I wanted to express hugeness, strangeness yet nothing terrifying. I didn't want a slathering, bloody-toothed tyranosaurus -rex staring out at us for decades to come.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBCE_HLQOM80VOiWUTLI0xW7ry59Po4ieRROpJm1hpyS5a-rFJIkBx9SY6x7KW6q2R9zoVI-NDRVmpOO3vRBXoaZUyM684AcaWaEwi5GvLLz-hi0xKGbB64xGx8umHj1s8e4Xd0SUO-fc/s1600/triceratops+A4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBCE_HLQOM80VOiWUTLI0xW7ry59Po4ieRROpJm1hpyS5a-rFJIkBx9SY6x7KW6q2R9zoVI-NDRVmpOO3vRBXoaZUyM684AcaWaEwi5GvLLz-hi0xKGbB64xGx8umHj1s8e4Xd0SUO-fc/s400/triceratops+A4.jpg" width="268px" /></a></div>It was quite fun to work on this guy (or gal--s/he hasn't been given an identity yet). It was fun just picking out a crazy color scheme, like you would see with parrots. But now I have to deal with the background, and I am a bit stuck. I want to keep it simple, so it doesn't overwhelm the subject. But I also don't want it boring. I was thinking of very dark, browns and black, and then having a very complex pattern of leaves or abstract swirls which would mainly show up in the grout. But now I am thinking of letting strips of pink and wine/cranberry pipe through the brown to give it some zing. Here is the cranberry/pink/brown/black.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz8p2SjgnlCAqo63v7f6SFVoluJlCkUP6xz5NjIIfTZac5EnKNB3j9OJ525vU4yYvDFg-m8soJ_HIVio_1zg8SdgZJDTcFLfnl9zS4VFzhJJZ6qXko3Gp8yNnFK92-2jigqLRSv1Hgq5g/s1600/triceratops+A1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz8p2SjgnlCAqo63v7f6SFVoluJlCkUP6xz5NjIIfTZac5EnKNB3j9OJ525vU4yYvDFg-m8soJ_HIVio_1zg8SdgZJDTcFLfnl9zS4VFzhJJZ6qXko3Gp8yNnFK92-2jigqLRSv1Hgq5g/s400/triceratops+A1.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div>Here is just the browns and black. Hmm. It's a poser.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQyd8g1XOw0-fUaVIA2Sk89iLqkv_eRU_p3__k_ZVWwn8WvqxwG2QZqlB_tVIpKdO5pGW2qXNCci-zWDt_9Lnx4YuXEyF6NEfEytQFNslbDw5-UxU44ysz8-EBYh2iUP1mIXGAsVZuQo/s1600/triceratops+A3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQyd8g1XOw0-fUaVIA2Sk89iLqkv_eRU_p3__k_ZVWwn8WvqxwG2QZqlB_tVIpKdO5pGW2qXNCci-zWDt_9Lnx4YuXEyF6NEfEytQFNslbDw5-UxU44ysz8-EBYh2iUP1mIXGAsVZuQo/s400/triceratops+A3.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div>Mainly, I just want to get the issue settled because once I do, it won't take that long to get done as background is fairly straightforward and I JUST WANT TO GET IT DONE. <br />
<br />
*People who claim to know tell me that triceratops are not a distinct kind of dinosaur but simply baby torosaurs. So what is this--is it a torosaurus, no-longer baby triceratops or something else? What I do know is that I dug through a giant tub of plastic toys in our house, found the funkiest looking beastie, set up a photo shoot, took various shots of it in various poses, enlarged them MANY times over, and then went to work from there.Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-929624493997384532010-04-07T16:57:00.004-04:002010-04-07T17:45:19.783-04:00Jelly FishingMeanwhile, what have I been doing in class? Jelly Fishing. I actually started a piece that was going to be a close up of a coast line that had giant sea urchins and such, but then decided that I wanted to make those in ceramics, do the sand in unglazed black porcelain tile (which is AMAZINGLY difficult to get--you wouldn't have thought so but there you go), and have various rocks, shells, bits of mirror and glass--a mixed media piece, in short. Anyway, it was turning into a real confused palaver and, until I sorted that out, I had to get started with something in class. So, I set aside the other one (which is going to be on a piece of wood) and, inspired by some recently acquired books on the ocean, coral reefs and such (the benefits of a great Christmas), I set to work on this. I really had no plan other than use colors I would not ordinarily use and to use an entirely different pattern for each creature.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizle80E0L0FIyoIUYh5RFleAnaxBpuAGSGYihr9NVufTzyTekNp9cM5zldthXu5Rim5YmwzCHFVcPv-lH8f9fOsH4b5UQ6VCiPacv2n-3MnSTo_ISuhgv4q_pBcRt1ALL3OTswQPWu4xw/s1600/Spring+10+f.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 338px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457502894744749730" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizle80E0L0FIyoIUYh5RFleAnaxBpuAGSGYihr9NVufTzyTekNp9cM5zldthXu5Rim5YmwzCHFVcPv-lH8f9fOsH4b5UQ6VCiPacv2n-3MnSTo_ISuhgv4q_pBcRt1ALL3OTswQPWu4xw/s400/Spring+10+f.jpg" /></a> I'm pleased with how the jellyfish looks. This whole mosaic was incredibly satisfying to do; everything fell together just right. One person has said that it looks like a landscape in outer space and the brain coral in the upper left is a moon; another said it looked like an underwater Wonka Factory with everything made out of candy. Sounds like a novel for the 9-12 set in the making.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimfiIIQt4EubfSpuAN4sKUDMOUUCBc6rYPLugLe9j49nfm4ti2ahNynE6RDY_SWaUnrc1LJ6As-u9dh2atoEJiNgO7d9t2357mzZtB7AKXyPbXDsVah2hCpqPN_ReNmzVSb7M3nyQWltM/s1600/Spring+10+e.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457502902256825202" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimfiIIQt4EubfSpuAN4sKUDMOUUCBc6rYPLugLe9j49nfm4ti2ahNynE6RDY_SWaUnrc1LJ6As-u9dh2atoEJiNgO7d9t2357mzZtB7AKXyPbXDsVah2hCpqPN_ReNmzVSb7M3nyQWltM/s400/Spring+10+e.jpg" /></a> </div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-9166160930997488552010-04-07T16:40:00.003-04:002010-04-07T16:57:23.983-04:00The Thing is DONE!I can't believe it. Here it is, after a mere 19 months or so of effort. I tried to photograph The Thing (as I call it) from straight-on, but there was always a glare spot on The Thing's face. I had a lens filter, a bounce flash--no dice, still glare. A real photographer would know what to do, but this photographer simply moved to the side a foot or so.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA8RQjy3Lx2yUKcgJl07UjofmBSRlOitYnPtVMOpMxrWH0_cK66KAt-5rOpK-GXJtZjYTuATlN2CtJHP-1d8yQVdlvMlKEXaEITekYJcsgXumXSndgvaLfLMusmbOzO9G_10t9rzTOLzY/s1600/Spring+10+k.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 383px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457498514552711746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA8RQjy3Lx2yUKcgJl07UjofmBSRlOitYnPtVMOpMxrWH0_cK66KAt-5rOpK-GXJtZjYTuATlN2CtJHP-1d8yQVdlvMlKEXaEITekYJcsgXumXSndgvaLfLMusmbOzO9G_10t9rzTOLzY/s400/Spring+10+k.jpg" /></a> Simon insisted that there be a penguin classic placed in front of The Thing to show the size of it. (It's <em>The Innocence of Father Brown</em>.)<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbrCaR4_Tva1GDynEJuprOzflEAFkgCJmCryR87ejeF825I7p261ueDnOLUT6oDXzl3-A16LObiJCYu6OmL-qGsjGnfi4waqHx3CwE0ARDgfizKyQ_5ImHQcJCNtzDY01PkuLT3kK2ev4/s1600/Spring+10+j.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 379px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457498516535316322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbrCaR4_Tva1GDynEJuprOzflEAFkgCJmCryR87ejeF825I7p261ueDnOLUT6oDXzl3-A16LObiJCYu6OmL-qGsjGnfi4waqHx3CwE0ARDgfizKyQ_5ImHQcJCNtzDY01PkuLT3kK2ev4/s400/Spring+10+j.jpg" /></a> Here is a close up of The Hulk's face. Because his face is, strictly speaking, a human face with real emotion, it was the hardest thing to capture with the glass. I don't think it's a complete success, but it isn't as bad as I feared it would be when I was putting it together over a year ago.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9XdGyyv0A4PJSvphMpLU5pXRKnGHmNDuqgRzUY-WsmDIExM-0drs-o5IT8gzvbhtBQMNTt0ZjmI6MlYpDt_XMcm5v7lzxc_oDfG4b0ALGXEPlyCENqTll6BhYU8sfczhZb-fmFPu7bM/s1600/Spring+10+g.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457498546992425922" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9XdGyyv0A4PJSvphMpLU5pXRKnGHmNDuqgRzUY-WsmDIExM-0drs-o5IT8gzvbhtBQMNTt0ZjmI6MlYpDt_XMcm5v7lzxc_oDfG4b0ALGXEPlyCENqTll6BhYU8sfczhZb-fmFPu7bM/s400/Spring+10+g.jpg" /></a> Here is The Thing's face. I was very worried about how rock would be translated by glass, but I think he is a real success. It's shiny, but still fragmented enough to look like crumbly granite. I thought I would hate working on The Thing, but I actually really liked it; the black outlines look sharp and the orange is bright and "pops."<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsKyCsGpxI_h1PeukvhDllvfXsl9sArySvEhTF5-nYZoyToGHElHYCPCNyCv0CBLvRqAj-i3-Gf_MwX228cZApSdJ6QGldUIWhTxbjH_kSwwKhCWXHzzkYkoXKZBG8YdfrXR8u-dLHF2w/s1600/Spring+10+h.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457498540575696354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsKyCsGpxI_h1PeukvhDllvfXsl9sArySvEhTF5-nYZoyToGHElHYCPCNyCv0CBLvRqAj-i3-Gf_MwX228cZApSdJ6QGldUIWhTxbjH_kSwwKhCWXHzzkYkoXKZBG8YdfrXR8u-dLHF2w/s400/Spring+10+h.jpg" /></a>The other major worry: how would the speech bubbles look? I think they turned out fairly well. I used Delorean Gray (why Delorean?) grout, which is a dove gray sort of color, so it contrasts just a bit with the white glass but the difference isn't too jarring.<br /><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0BYJLS4Ow6bEHlgV2p3pybHYl3FtulVd9CqJ253l4VtfJsPXuUK57_6jUICGCZOfDWzeki7RGcLIhIIiMc-eE-NnVSJUYzYKWvJKWiy7gjGtUNUZ8l43Qat2q2e0EMs6wz7tL23NIglI/s1600/Spring+10+i.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 319px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457498531589746866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0BYJLS4Ow6bEHlgV2p3pybHYl3FtulVd9CqJ253l4VtfJsPXuUK57_6jUICGCZOfDWzeki7RGcLIhIIiMc-eE-NnVSJUYzYKWvJKWiy7gjGtUNUZ8l43Qat2q2e0EMs6wz7tL23NIglI/s400/Spring+10+i.jpg" /></a> OK: It took about 19 months, cost about $650 ($100 for the sheet of plexiglass; about $500 for glass; $10 for grout; probably $15 for Weldbond glue; maybe $10 for wood frame and hardware; $15 for color copying of original comic page). Hmmm. Was it worth it? Well, I would do it again but I won't do it again. Though I was looking at the cover of a Hellboy comic and that definitely got me thinking about a REALLY big mosaic...10' by 10' maybe???</div></div></div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-25972427479768787922010-01-31T21:08:00.003-05:002010-01-31T21:30:58.304-05:00New Year UpdatesThese are projects I completed some time ago but haven't gotten around to posting. This was the nautilus shell mentioned earlier. I finished making it in June or July and it was fired in August, but I didn't get around to glazing it until early December. This was in part because I hadn't decided what glaze I wanted to use but also because I hate glazing at was putting it off as long as possible.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ8x310mxExkAIF1IMfV6XGzCkxyTsq4TPR9oTP54byZCS3Qr1W7fvWZJvDbGSkngn_4ZPhPTy71ttm9zJ4Fug3rvi14VAsS0FuCOFSlh-L5GXLyfxdKJocV9wKSgIZCJw8Fmw9glEm8/s1600-h/weekend+3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 376px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433091486356031858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJ8x310mxExkAIF1IMfV6XGzCkxyTsq4TPR9oTP54byZCS3Qr1W7fvWZJvDbGSkngn_4ZPhPTy71ttm9zJ4Fug3rvi14VAsS0FuCOFSlh-L5GXLyfxdKJocV9wKSgIZCJw8Fmw9glEm8/s400/weekend+3.jpg" /></a> Here is a closeup of the inside. Everyone who sees this asks, "What are you going to do with it?" I think that is a weird question. I'm not going to do anything with it. (Someone at the FIA suggested that I use it as a planter outside during the summer. Huh?)<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqbSZqtPaqTCUOrY1IqRkDwcpXJKenwjKd60QRxy72JR1gdR4GAG9lLA9FwxNAatYGCMI7X1RBXhPowORM_c8HNovjy2hgDrUy-UhOxAwyJGdRYhNljUp2tJm73bs9EZSZ0STfyOgMjE/s1600-h/weekend+4.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 359px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433091492598761618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqbSZqtPaqTCUOrY1IqRkDwcpXJKenwjKd60QRxy72JR1gdR4GAG9lLA9FwxNAatYGCMI7X1RBXhPowORM_c8HNovjy2hgDrUy-UhOxAwyJGdRYhNljUp2tJm73bs9EZSZ0STfyOgMjE/s400/weekend+4.jpg" /></a> It's hard to get myself to work on The Thing during the winter because the basement is SO COLD. (I need to convince everyone I live with to move into the basement so that I can work on the mosaics upstairs.) But I have (slowly) been getting some work done. I am ALMOST to the point of being very, very sick of working on the background.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-miQWVR9bB3pFjl7AH-5vPjzR2oFyDFeW2LAc1qYPnkKLK4MSIfzqAwKDZX2kJNaxMDcnxhayhrPjc4IyVNB8U-TlWoSapRZxBNfmNDzcx3BFpQSClI8lDj6K9F0pVvVsivhTTGfrVBE/s1600-h/weekend+2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 246px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433091477192051666" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-miQWVR9bB3pFjl7AH-5vPjzR2oFyDFeW2LAc1qYPnkKLK4MSIfzqAwKDZX2kJNaxMDcnxhayhrPjc4IyVNB8U-TlWoSapRZxBNfmNDzcx3BFpQSClI8lDj6K9F0pVvVsivhTTGfrVBE/s400/weekend+2.jpg" /></a> And, just to show that I do still knit, here is the latest attempt to make a small sweater for someone who can't wear anything itchy. All past attempts have failed (either because I had miscalculated and the sweater ended up being too small or because he had grown by the time I finished). Ever hopeful...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIS0swHQ7isXgNpcGCytJUUpuSgUvDz3djYWwtPXLDIHdxgrDzPO585pYZb6Cx-k1eleY6QHzm1yKEnON5WMe22vOZ8VPuFOS5HOH84riF7Em0AvIICbuYdhmwFh_SfhuAYKzxJX_RaI/s1600-h/weekend+5.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 264px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433091498073587890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIS0swHQ7isXgNpcGCytJUUpuSgUvDz3djYWwtPXLDIHdxgrDzPO585pYZb6Cx-k1eleY6QHzm1yKEnON5WMe22vOZ8VPuFOS5HOH84riF7Em0AvIICbuYdhmwFh_SfhuAYKzxJX_RaI/s400/weekend+5.jpg" /></a> </div></div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-7876084899909216332009-11-28T13:33:00.001-05:002009-11-28T13:38:06.677-05:00Thanksgiving WeekendAnd here this is, finally. It's always a bit of a let down finishing something. Even if it turns out well (and I suppose I will admit that this one is well enough), there are always things I wish I had done differently. The blue background looks nice (nicer even than in this photo) but still...<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBxglhlOoXFqtPTRNCGrE9Runch9ScFInBpFhyT8PpLXrTTBAcJPBQAqwak3dNA5qRuuEwa-mRwO467nTbPtJwgYOFHWnPZHGE1Bcs64jy5htHaqNv8iGf8Rm4pE6lCWMaOO3NjQ7vLA/s1600/November+Nautilus.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409224757372607730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 306px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBxglhlOoXFqtPTRNCGrE9Runch9ScFInBpFhyT8PpLXrTTBAcJPBQAqwak3dNA5qRuuEwa-mRwO467nTbPtJwgYOFHWnPZHGE1Bcs64jy5htHaqNv8iGf8Rm4pE6lCWMaOO3NjQ7vLA/s400/November+Nautilus.jpg" border="0" /></a> And here this is, still so much potential. I'm nearing the outer ring. I won't set myself a date but it surely would be nice to be done with this before Christmas.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAaHcuU32r2xXS61OZPVVrEjeLAgXtoFIXK_mttAS1aUb-ZRLALXs_LdS83JE_KpVLXrBFRvlPH-MY4Wgi6X6Wqtl0EFQSqxtzDI1VmXjMVglWh86bNMDEhp4Fle7xa97gKFte8QeJSg/s1600/November+Thing+A.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409224746719856930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 289px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAaHcuU32r2xXS61OZPVVrEjeLAgXtoFIXK_mttAS1aUb-ZRLALXs_LdS83JE_KpVLXrBFRvlPH-MY4Wgi6X6Wqtl0EFQSqxtzDI1VmXjMVglWh86bNMDEhp4Fle7xa97gKFte8QeJSg/s400/November+Thing+A.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-36342439567542507832009-10-26T10:30:00.002-04:002009-10-26T10:40:37.388-04:00More on...The ThingHere this is, black frame finished (both the wooden frame that will support this on the wall and the lights that go behind it and the black, glass mosaicked frame around the picture). I've also begun on the background, which I'm doing with "architecture glass" which is frosted glass that lets in light but obscures whatever is on the other side (which, in this case, will be wiring and a wall).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5iPO9PV-h724fr8HSWzny5jPuty7XIA8o9lnQVO8BojoJxSc2_yfw6HpbT38xBn49yONJTXgWY-GnzVaq_PvVnsH2eyzKNQlGWcjg6Mj9mZexXiqVU9HE5Abylz0elOLRmM_4SqnDxA/s1600-h/The+Thing+October+1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 220px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396916692776572818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5iPO9PV-h724fr8HSWzny5jPuty7XIA8o9lnQVO8BojoJxSc2_yfw6HpbT38xBn49yONJTXgWY-GnzVaq_PvVnsH2eyzKNQlGWcjg6Mj9mZexXiqVU9HE5Abylz0elOLRmM_4SqnDxA/s400/The+Thing+October+1.jpg" /></a> Here is a closeup. The glue I am using, Weldbond, takes a really long time (2 weeks) to become completely clear so you can see how much work I do at any given time by how wide the various bands of drying glue are. The 3 inch wide thick white glue band was done two days ago. Underneath The Thing is a big sheet of kraft paper, about 3' x 4', onto which I drew out concentric circles to use as guides for placing the glass. I thought I was being very clever by using a nail in the middle, tying a piece of string to it and, at the other end, a pencil. Then, or so the plan was, I would spin the pencil around the nail, letting out ever increasing lengths of string so that I would get ever larger, perfect circles. Except that the string went around the nail and so got shorter, and so my circles spiral. In could be a good effect if it was noticable, but it will be broken up with the Hulk and Thing bodies. So will it look like perfect circles, slightly wobbly circles or an ever increasing (vertigo inducing) spiral? Or just a big slab of indistinctly broken glass?<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8a-_7D1Sgsnu4YwgErm6a6wkNnby168ozHrMDIAcZB6yv6rJJBKVaSgoNG1OsTuPsO9VCHUenbT9IvAbDYdEW_4EhcoZIfaot41FwsaFFgqAhNXPiMBxWRRduOfN6I4mLfNGn-r4Sas/s1600-h/The+Thing+October+2.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396916687924775186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8a-_7D1Sgsnu4YwgErm6a6wkNnby168ozHrMDIAcZB6yv6rJJBKVaSgoNG1OsTuPsO9VCHUenbT9IvAbDYdEW_4EhcoZIfaot41FwsaFFgqAhNXPiMBxWRRduOfN6I4mLfNGn-r4Sas/s400/The+Thing+October+2.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div></div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-38788157157621612382009-10-25T14:01:00.004-04:002009-10-25T14:07:15.105-04:00Getting Somewhere?Here is one thing I have been working on. After a sputtering start (doing and then undoing the tentacles) I am finally back to work on this. The shell is done (I keep reminding myself that, although it looks too intensely bright now, the grout always flattens the colors out a bit) and so are the tentacles (barely visible now in a sea of sketch lines and gobs of old glue) and am starting to work on the background--always the hardest part.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibiZ7OrK47_Un5_pi_pp8edrzp1ssDvFXKWfnKBKSK1_Z9g-rAxDDy6iSuVVwHsz2kQr3rny93Ud5M5rGrQXPOpK0NtGl_didGHzaJqEevWN89lHAtJZRkLRizO0vLIxFFwM_AnI_0DSM/s1600-h/End+of+October+3.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 296px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396599618509403058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibiZ7OrK47_Un5_pi_pp8edrzp1ssDvFXKWfnKBKSK1_Z9g-rAxDDy6iSuVVwHsz2kQr3rny93Ud5M5rGrQXPOpK0NtGl_didGHzaJqEevWN89lHAtJZRkLRizO0vLIxFFwM_AnI_0DSM/s400/End+of+October+3.jpg" /></a> The eye looked really big when it was the only thing done, but now it is sort of lost in the activity. I'm not sure how I feel about that.Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-10556848484844038812009-09-02T16:55:00.002-04:002009-09-02T17:07:14.713-04:00Fiber Show, Flint MIPeople with more energy than I can imagine are organizing a local Fiber Show in downtown Flint for sometime next week (or sometime soon--I can't remember the dates of anything except the upcoming semester that starts in 136.5 hours and counting). I was asked if I wanted to enter anything. Here is a huge piece of felt I made last winter during the felting frenzy of Christmas Break 2008. I didn't have a plan for it then and couldn't come up with anything too imaginative, so it is a shawl--at least for purposes of displaying it in the fiber show. (That weird little circle is just light reflected from something in one of our trees. It looks strange but it isn't part of the wool. No really, it isn't.) <div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUz5cDJf_zikda2IYLAxe00M9hnG4Zld6b5XS0vIN7r7F9HHU0nk6D1YzXuOp7K9d2OMuEQPJ-NLWY62k7QF5qrY9Mmx098cyLiq1_-mgT5Mt8qlL_vO7AIfgwSQLSNHhe6t_Jc0NvgY/s1600-h/felt+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376977893341621986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUz5cDJf_zikda2IYLAxe00M9hnG4Zld6b5XS0vIN7r7F9HHU0nk6D1YzXuOp7K9d2OMuEQPJ-NLWY62k7QF5qrY9Mmx098cyLiq1_-mgT5Mt8qlL_vO7AIfgwSQLSNHhe6t_Jc0NvgY/s400/felt+1.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here is a close-up with a bit of glass being used as a pin to keep it together and on the hanger. Mainly what I want to do is write up a narrative about what a mad scientific experiment felting is.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkBhz-cOmPJ1DkF5SCsSdyRV6GbEuUWTGHV3NFWCornF93ENIzfIt7nNoph6asCeFb60PXTvr8gHuYszs9rbLOOOhYLOhEumb4IqO4sCpSYE8t6dJiY2XzXm2KO9dYKjCpnsRm-bn5rV4/s1600-h/closeup+felt.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376977899695653474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkBhz-cOmPJ1DkF5SCsSdyRV6GbEuUWTGHV3NFWCornF93ENIzfIt7nNoph6asCeFb60PXTvr8gHuYszs9rbLOOOhYLOhEumb4IqO4sCpSYE8t6dJiY2XzXm2KO9dYKjCpnsRm-bn5rV4/s400/closeup+felt.jpg" border="0" /></a></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-56485999869049584692009-09-02T16:45:00.003-04:002009-09-02T16:55:40.523-04:00Haven't Forgotten The ThingJust to show that I haven't completely forgotten about my promise to finish this before some Christmas or other, here is evidence that I actually do work on this piece once in a while. Here is the border SLOWLY getting done. I realized as I worked on this that I had to leave spaces for where the screws would attach to the wooden frame. BUT since I didn't know which screws to use, I didn't know what size space to leave so I was leaving huge spaces but didn't have the pieces for them... the whole thing was quickly dissolving into a mass of doubts and speculations. So I decided to get to work on the frame and then I could just get the damn black glass border done in a night or two.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRr8rFggfeIL6J0qLkKwtRj5WoFbwzKBDd3f-fKlJQIyHvTv7y2UyPk9u3YXKsRXDXKn0LDWg6rOV1lzhdU0WDJpBqtGBvrnvYnOci-1q_S5cWsLDRsHniExziKYfMT8ppTPC8lTNNAIA/s1600-h/The+Thing+September+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376974231396840786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRr8rFggfeIL6J0qLkKwtRj5WoFbwzKBDd3f-fKlJQIyHvTv7y2UyPk9u3YXKsRXDXKn0LDWg6rOV1lzhdU0WDJpBqtGBvrnvYnOci-1q_S5cWsLDRsHniExziKYfMT8ppTPC8lTNNAIA/s400/The+Thing+September+1.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here is the black frame. This is just shy of being 4' by 4' (remember the broken corner business of over a year ago--still angry about that). Once I get enough layers of black paint on and it is COMPLETLY DRY (unfortunately I have a history of being a bit slip shod about these sorts of things--hanging pictures on walls before the paint is completely dry, that sort of thing) I will attach the frame to the plexiglass backing.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIgKyk54V6AWaxfB5dY8zjEMAP-w_zLfuHAQyagKNso-cXY9racOlvWoPAM3OiFX45i89CViHW7zbE0BwKlrXBTaikttCknNdYREO28RrUn_J3GLUV17K9DZ2kEqR3hnq8_zrZKz5wyo/s1600-h/The+Thing+September+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376974240477348866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 329px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIgKyk54V6AWaxfB5dY8zjEMAP-w_zLfuHAQyagKNso-cXY9racOlvWoPAM3OiFX45i89CViHW7zbE0BwKlrXBTaikttCknNdYREO28RrUn_J3GLUV17K9DZ2kEqR3hnq8_zrZKz5wyo/s400/The+Thing+September+2.jpg" border="0" /></a> And here is one of the little holes I have drilled into the plexiglass so I can attach it to the wooden frame. I also have a dozen or so bits of wood that I am going to artfully scatter about within the frame to support the weight of the plexiglass and glass while I work until it is grouted. THEN I will finish the glass border and begin filling in the middle. Making the frame is tedious business and the black paint is really slow to dry (of course it has been raining every day for weeks, that might have something to do with it). But the end seems to actually be in sight...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiATnRBVb-2_IHizJOd7n5D2-qnDBSVSwyeCjNtNyJbS86i_2OBwfza4MLUwCNtkrdZfXIS7e7NrsWiHYZEhIPxSHMeDJWjpy9CmplLDaXqs2gV0oY41pPihWXe-Al5ItmxINWv0olGrY/s1600-h/The+Thing+September+3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376974244591400402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 308px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiATnRBVb-2_IHizJOd7n5D2-qnDBSVSwyeCjNtNyJbS86i_2OBwfza4MLUwCNtkrdZfXIS7e7NrsWiHYZEhIPxSHMeDJWjpy9CmplLDaXqs2gV0oY41pPihWXe-Al5ItmxINWv0olGrY/s400/The+Thing+September+3.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-58495889929792108612009-09-02T16:25:00.005-04:002009-09-02T16:44:47.221-04:00Clay NautilusJust for the sheer perversity of it, I decided to make a nautilus sculpture in my most recent clay class. Since the class was only 6 weeks long and in summer (while it was really muggy and the clay most difficult to work with) I see in hindsight that I was being foolish and deluded to attempt this. While I won't relive the whole experience, the nadir was when I came to class one day and, because the moisture in the clay had moved around [no really, it does that: if clay is almost dry in one part of the sculpture but very moist in another, the water will relocate more evenly throughout the whole of the sculture--unless you wrap up the different sections of the sculpture differently--which I didn't do...but now I would...] and so sections that I needed to be dry and strong became wet and weak. And so I found it at the start of one class after a long holiday weekend collapsed into a big, 30-odd pound blob. I was rather dissapointed. But, unlike most things in life, unfired clay can be forgiving and Addie, my genius teacher, helped me stuff it with newspaper and we got it back on track, more or less. I still see sections in the walls that are bumpier now than they were before the disaster. Here is it, post-disaster, and almost dry. The plastic vegetable bag wrapping on the edge is there to keep the very thinnest part from drying out too quickly and cracking (which is what happened with my 3 story house, see earlier post). So what have I learned about working with clay? The real artistry lies in knowing how to wrap clay in plastic to control wandering water.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQVhYNs_Qri4lptdNZxcCd1NVDwJdWUoCMJpVMWruR1RbznRByLHP2_3UxeNUT5tO5OO9I52hwdmDlHKhCvPKAAmQ3PsQxL37R1rvOoYVBgu4_Yu2C2hlLr3xuyh6G0eHgoup4C07IiQ/s1600-h/clay+shell+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376969112413116962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 345px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQVhYNs_Qri4lptdNZxcCd1NVDwJdWUoCMJpVMWruR1RbznRByLHP2_3UxeNUT5tO5OO9I52hwdmDlHKhCvPKAAmQ3PsQxL37R1rvOoYVBgu4_Yu2C2hlLr3xuyh6G0eHgoup4C07IiQ/s400/clay+shell+1.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here it is after surviving its first trip through the kiln. Guy, the kiln man at the FIA, said it needed to be in an especially slow fire otherwise it would have exploded (I must confess that I like hearing that my pieces make the lives of others difficult--what is the point of making something insignificant and unremarkable?) so it not only needed to be alone in the kiln but had to be fired for almost 48 hours. Since the semester had long ended, I didn't have time to glaze it yet, so it is actually rather fragile right now. Here it sits, on one of my grandmother's towels that I remember using when staying at her house more than 30 years ago, in our basement on my work table. Once the next semester starts I will get it back to the FIA and glaze it. [I HATE glazing. It's hard work.]<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp3wwNLWjdEQ7JL8Z5GluqzVSOXsTfhkC_jQ1x-1DQZKndWbhnjocTyMo8gAPJg-2Dr4ruT3dgB4rQdbJk6AkMdk_mcZYRDSugr9w1ct3mD9A_qV2faFxKfJIQwySawgYmyRDvnYbzGuw/s1600-h/clay+shell+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376969125972593954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 384px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp3wwNLWjdEQ7JL8Z5GluqzVSOXsTfhkC_jQ1x-1DQZKndWbhnjocTyMo8gAPJg-2Dr4ruT3dgB4rQdbJk6AkMdk_mcZYRDSugr9w1ct3mD9A_qV2faFxKfJIQwySawgYmyRDvnYbzGuw/s400/clay+shell+2.jpg" border="0" /></a>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-35373997300063224712009-06-25T11:30:00.005-04:002009-06-26T15:43:07.973-04:00A Few of My Favorite Things...I am taking a photography class at the FIA. I took photography classes MANY YEARS AGO when I was in highschool and I got very comfortable with my Pentax k1000--the classic photography student's first camera: relatively cheap, reliable, heavy and virtually indestructable. (I dropped that camera into the Yellowstone river and then later on a cement pathway in East Berlin and it still took great pictures!) But the world has moved on and now I have a digital camera (a Nikon--eee!!!!) that is light as a feather and can do ANYTHING (or so the manual tells me) but I can't figure the damn thing out. So I am in a class, with other people that really belong in an Agatha Christie murder mystery: there's the guy who only "shoots raw," the woman who wonders whether or not her memory card will be in b/w or color, another woman who "LOVES taking picture of children--ANY CHILDREN," and the guy who claims that "all photography is prevarication." So far I have learned a little more about how to used my camera (and a lot about what it could do if I only knew how to do it). Here are a few of my first photos:<br /><br />This is late afternoon, looking up through our grape vines. I spend quite a lot of time in our backyard but never really noticed how many bugs there were until I really got up close and personal to everything.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGJjchAxObNRqs8Izxuow9V46fk1d6nVm8-k0Y9Lm-_72Y-HogOfxTwwy_A5nka8H-Ds9fYIh5U3vqI0Nwm7-8sfzDi6lq8VVP_wXfu2sEfPuQUimbCGDBL2T75TDz0hPV7rfNDgMCmM/s1600-h/FIA+photo+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351288205573190802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGJjchAxObNRqs8Izxuow9V46fk1d6nVm8-k0Y9Lm-_72Y-HogOfxTwwy_A5nka8H-Ds9fYIh5U3vqI0Nwm7-8sfzDi6lq8VVP_wXfu2sEfPuQUimbCGDBL2T75TDz0hPV7rfNDgMCmM/s400/FIA+photo+1.jpg" border="0" /></a> Most of our yard is surrounded by hedges (which I refuse to trim too rigorously because it is unnatural but the result is that we can barely fit the cars down the driveway as they close in on us more every year) which get covered in tiny flowers (I think I am allergic to the pollen) which attacts THOUSANDS of bees. <br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmKknyeYRPEagg4Y1AV88LyoPGF-HUA3Sqa97OVk103fdFxhleCoL1iJppSev9HcsHnqB80cpatFcFf65H23v_mFNbXXQUOnzSo610rhyphenhyphenzceMYpbItS4ZamxnXNK1wVraLOOsKFBRR6M/s1600-h/FIA+photo+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351288203759300370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmKknyeYRPEagg4Y1AV88LyoPGF-HUA3Sqa97OVk103fdFxhleCoL1iJppSev9HcsHnqB80cpatFcFf65H23v_mFNbXXQUOnzSo610rhyphenhyphenzceMYpbItS4ZamxnXNK1wVraLOOsKFBRR6M/s400/FIA+photo+2.jpg" border="0" /></a> This taro used to be 3 feet tall but suffered from poor care while spending the winter in my office. The plant died back to the ground and I thought it was all over, but after a series of amazing thunderstorms, these signs of life appeared.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewCwGJ43iIoA9cqNtiwxqrUNhRs34RQjuMixER2FVBj8EVmlIYqhMtA8XFgA-fdkwLq3bHWeL5itlfEV5jL0m838Z5WHXQqQmoOJ9GTRGf7_D7V6t24aiqU60rdoMPXPIalKdtEbwhU8/s1600-h/FIA+photo+3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351288197949547474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 294px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewCwGJ43iIoA9cqNtiwxqrUNhRs34RQjuMixER2FVBj8EVmlIYqhMtA8XFgA-fdkwLq3bHWeL5itlfEV5jL0m838Z5WHXQqQmoOJ9GTRGf7_D7V6t24aiqU60rdoMPXPIalKdtEbwhU8/s400/FIA+photo+3.jpg" border="0" /></a> More bugs enjoying themselves. I think these are fireflies.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1p8vDPSgrzq6szj9lFz174QxC4ZidTi71ODIIl442U4IYczpezveMrHw6RVMcnjy_GZ6a1TFYrtFQpft6pZ6SGXpPe6cYtoPj2Uk6M_jui52zBv5P5IJwkEgT3aCLJFiTaph2aXn3gLc/s1600-h/FIA+photo+4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351288198675643202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 292px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1p8vDPSgrzq6szj9lFz174QxC4ZidTi71ODIIl442U4IYczpezveMrHw6RVMcnjy_GZ6a1TFYrtFQpft6pZ6SGXpPe6cYtoPj2Uk6M_jui52zBv5P5IJwkEgT3aCLJFiTaph2aXn3gLc/s400/FIA+photo+4.jpg" border="0" /></a> We have an enormous tree stump in our backyard which is an ecosystem all of its own. Sometimes as I head to the compost pile it hides I can hear buzzing and scratching coming from within it. It had bark when we moved here 10 years ago, but most has fallen off. A few days ago several hundred mushrooms appeared during the night.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBb2cKY_aA4wXUNNotebSheeh6EUrcaSTMReZvoTtVr38JwlZdnfG-RWySNOQmPj46tAHHfGY53ZhfiSlt9Vc9teC8nyKsMT3TeMO8VRjTkhm5DodUOl1sUC-0yziJ0SyvrDrwQn0E1ls/s1600-h/FIA+photo+5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351288192099267778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBb2cKY_aA4wXUNNotebSheeh6EUrcaSTMReZvoTtVr38JwlZdnfG-RWySNOQmPj46tAHHfGY53ZhfiSlt9Vc9teC8nyKsMT3TeMO8VRjTkhm5DodUOl1sUC-0yziJ0SyvrDrwQn0E1ls/s400/FIA+photo+5.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div></div></div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-86146474023167436212009-06-13T10:39:00.003-04:002009-06-13T10:44:09.685-04:00Delphi Adventures!Wednesday Thomas and I headed for glass paradise--though you wouldn't know it by the sign. <div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQ4lvL44xxmSR41hPPcf9xv9OFFQDjqyjwqHBxUx8uzujUP_tuZCHZuYzEVBfzL-JU8COBsjZurfeer0TPKpTbzmPtpaZSQEHElUUrlCosNakDDtlUqS018rIZHP89CFWNs13LXkjw68/s1600-h/delphi+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346822099152316242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 360px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQ4lvL44xxmSR41hPPcf9xv9OFFQDjqyjwqHBxUx8uzujUP_tuZCHZuYzEVBfzL-JU8COBsjZurfeer0TPKpTbzmPtpaZSQEHElUUrlCosNakDDtlUqS018rIZHP89CFWNs13LXkjw68/s400/delphi+1.jpg" border="0" /></a>I'll have to take their word for it. There certainly was a lot of glass to look at. A good location to set a murder mystery... spend a lot of money. I didn't go hog wild but I did finally get the glass I needed to fill in the background of The Thing. Now I will do the black border and away I will go. Maybe I will even finish it before next Christmas! (Interestingly, Thomas didn't think this place was all that great. What's wrong with kids today?)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhql97f-X5_iXp720gYdLetcvNEnILyuwT2NsSe6aFlds5xpCYKeXEjsZZ4nqpkORhbYIwcwhrKy4f9Nguauj4Kq2o8UYqpnQ0faPHLRYDaOf5FqCWiogE1Ul0un6aI3tXoDt_bCKW5eY8/s1600-h/Delphi+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346822103876306930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhql97f-X5_iXp720gYdLetcvNEnILyuwT2NsSe6aFlds5xpCYKeXEjsZZ4nqpkORhbYIwcwhrKy4f9Nguauj4Kq2o8UYqpnQ0faPHLRYDaOf5FqCWiogE1Ul0un6aI3tXoDt_bCKW5eY8/s400/Delphi+2.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-74934988381896341612009-06-09T17:21:00.004-04:002009-06-09T17:29:02.830-04:00The Thing and moreI was putting off chipping off the tentacles for months because it just seemed too depressing to undo 30-odd hours of work. But, today seemed like a good day for destruction and I went at it. I expected it to be slow and tedious but, as the saying goes, with the right tool any job is easy. And for this job, the right tool was a big ass screwdriver. I chipped off the glass pieces in about five minutes. This left me sitting amongst several hundred glass shards but the art process cannot be tamed!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4E5FBHBtpe_wGLLO-hPOAvQsocomQSb3Z7oIKj6rMcsB2WArgxJXSrd6tPXkZC6UuyA7_mtS_aaNFmeNqq0RUHBRiyWyQfLPmqhut6leohmr25fiR7M1x7bFEzQxyvRrCVsdezZsAQ6w/s1600-h/nautilus+no+tentacles.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345441357852915202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4E5FBHBtpe_wGLLO-hPOAvQsocomQSb3Z7oIKj6rMcsB2WArgxJXSrd6tPXkZC6UuyA7_mtS_aaNFmeNqq0RUHBRiyWyQfLPmqhut6leohmr25fiR7M1x7bFEzQxyvRrCVsdezZsAQ6w/s400/nautilus+no+tentacles.jpg" border="0" /></a> I finished the ground (brown and black glass) in just a few hours and here it is. I'm actually toying with the idea of <strong>not including any impact lines</strong>--<strong>gasp!!!</strong>--but just finished with a frame in black glass and the frosted shattered glass for the background. The idea is frighteningly tempting because it would save dozens of hours of work.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMl6agIdG3ICGsniSSU_BckmsJcuK6cxpHPRns4AEiL1HwRK9_7xFj1w29U1Q04r_75aX74EGoInB8QZULeWSaaeWg89cSDQWqGvjTM_RSxJysxyoAGxEzsX5B4tel3cIAFsLIEAVUoLY/s1600-h/Thing+ground.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345441349727851058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 198px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMl6agIdG3ICGsniSSU_BckmsJcuK6cxpHPRns4AEiL1HwRK9_7xFj1w29U1Q04r_75aX74EGoInB8QZULeWSaaeWg89cSDQWqGvjTM_RSxJysxyoAGxEzsX5B4tel3cIAFsLIEAVUoLY/s400/Thing+ground.jpg" border="0" /></a>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-38435948567465198372009-06-07T17:02:00.004-04:002009-06-07T17:28:54.282-04:00The Thing UpdateI haven't given an update on The Thing mosaic in a long time. I had a burst of energy in January and got quite a bit done but then, halfway through the second speech bubble, I stalled. The letters (most seemed to be round and very small) were really frustrating and I just couldn't face it. Simon started to despair of ever getting his Christmas present. Then, inexplicably, about three weeks ago I had a burst of enthusiasm and started working on this once again for several hours a day. The second speech bubble was done in under an hour and it seemed to take no time at all the finish up The Thing's second leg and second arm. Here he is:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJmVCQ_JdZrGcHjl29qq7Se11sqRl-b09rZUpgClGKSOFILQcEOonCIYvu7e-2164Buxh7bnWT_ZnEkQ8gLdDUWhfjlsOxH7OfOmYRjcUpaRJQ3RuDNGOxMx47r5510a0tfxnMKwu_n4/s1600-h/Thing+B.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344694271475741458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 285px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEJmVCQ_JdZrGcHjl29qq7Se11sqRl-b09rZUpgClGKSOFILQcEOonCIYvu7e-2164Buxh7bnWT_ZnEkQ8gLdDUWhfjlsOxH7OfOmYRjcUpaRJQ3RuDNGOxMx47r5510a0tfxnMKwu_n4/s400/Thing+B.jpg" border="0" /></a>Notice I extended the B of the BUH out past the frame. The idea is that the content of the picture is bursting out of the frame--not hard to figure out but I thought I would be explicit. This was Simon's idea many months ago and I don't know why I resisted for so long--perhaps simply a habitual response to all his suggestions that I have acquired in the past twenty odd years of living with him. He now has no memory of suggesting the B extension and thinks it was my bright idea--I certainly came out ahead on that one! Next I will work on the ground with brown and black glass and after that the "impact lines" which frame the image. I'm not sure how I am going to break up the glass for the impact lines--if they are too even, it will look static. Thin lines look like motion but thin, squared-off pieces of glass do not. Glass shattered (like a broken windscreen) would convey motion but it would be hard to pack that into the spaces. I could double the width of each line (and so have half as many) and therefore would have more room to arrange the pieces...Hmm. Not sure. Have to think about this more. Anyway, here you can see the ground The Hulk is standing on and the impact lines on the bottom half of the picture.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrqIp_z72fANEzR8z9S9mZN6_EZuU4PXfoqUtVXjtsbAaQxJIaU1Xdw1Eiu1IO-jlzmgJI6DqEwPu2A4qq_wvajuYXhC5ghmwfxNfnhtBVYLXxyuFFwMix9G3VW-UD6bcoqVzHqRywX0/s1600-h/Thing.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344694268940209426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIrqIp_z72fANEzR8z9S9mZN6_EZuU4PXfoqUtVXjtsbAaQxJIaU1Xdw1Eiu1IO-jlzmgJI6DqEwPu2A4qq_wvajuYXhC5ghmwfxNfnhtBVYLXxyuFFwMix9G3VW-UD6bcoqVzHqRywX0/s400/Thing.jpg" border="0" /></a> The other issue that haunts me is the moment of shifting this mighty construction onto the wooden frame that will house the lighting. Should I grout first (adding 20 odd pounds of weight to something that will already weigh at least 20 pounds) and then shift it hoping the grout will keep the billions of glass pieces in place OR should I shift it before I grout and risk the plexiglass bowing and billions of glass bits popping loose? Working through this problem is keeping me up nights.Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-75117139713558366912009-06-01T13:56:00.002-04:002009-06-01T14:03:16.144-04:00Flint Institute of Art Art Show--June 2 to June 30Here is the finished version, (tentatively) titled: Broken Glass Inside. I just finished it and schlepped it up into our bedroom to be used as a clothes horse (what ARE you supposed to do with clothes that have been worn once and so should not be rehung in the closet but that do not actually qualify as dirty and therefore needing to be put in the hamper?) when I got the word that it was wanted for an art show at the FIA. The show is featuring "The Figure" and, although this was never intended to have a human form, most people think it is a female human abdomen (indeed while I was working on it several women leaned into it and caressed it--longing for those long ago but not forgotten "baby bumps", perhaps?). Works for me! So off it went, back down the stairs, back into the car (strapped in, of course) and back to the FIA. The reception is on June 9th. (When I asked Simon if he wanted to attend with me, his only question was, "Will there be snacks?" Yes. "Then I'll be there.") <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBgZG_y8C2Tvizv7d55nF4OzxkVJymo8ycL_a99oolNVWZ_lXTEZlGK7niTiUZH5IUxwPIOVvHhQ7Ty_YIH83CaTBuqYQaL8FqmBvl5vvVyI3VarpqW9k1F8gmdWCeuLx1-WHGf-eLVg/s1600-h/broken+glass+inside.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342419800815279634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBgZG_y8C2Tvizv7d55nF4OzxkVJymo8ycL_a99oolNVWZ_lXTEZlGK7niTiUZH5IUxwPIOVvHhQ7Ty_YIH83CaTBuqYQaL8FqmBvl5vvVyI3VarpqW9k1F8gmdWCeuLx1-WHGf-eLVg/s400/broken+glass+inside.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-69270963929665539922009-05-04T10:04:00.003-04:002009-05-04T10:12:29.930-04:00Hey--I'm in Knitaly<a href="http://knitaly.blogspot.com/2008/10/ma-hegel-faceva-la-maglia.html">Check me out!</a> I was looking through Google to find out who has been paying permissions to use excerpts from my text and this is what I found! (You have to read past the Italian to get to the mention of me--keep going, it's there.) I wish people would let me know if they find what I write interesting. It's so thrilling to get something published and then you spend year after year wondering if ANYONE ANYWHERE gives a rip about what you did.<br /><br />Here is the original article: <a href="http://www.apaonline.org/publications/newsletters/v08n1_Feminism_10.aspx">Hegel Knits</a>.<br /><br />(And I never did find out where the excerpts from my text are going--will someone please tell me who is quoting me and paying royalties to Prentice Hall? It's not as if I will make a dime but I am rather curious.)Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-77715480991148274632009-04-29T10:19:00.002-04:002009-04-29T10:21:51.163-04:00Clay in CarHere is the clay pot, after being glazed, on its way home. It's in the basement now, awaiting mosaicking and grouting. What its future holds after that, I'm not sure.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadLoia153DZK15PwPNlwsq1XT0xYdDvjXPEyUlX0xzmJrU1uXV2lvYJnZahbuCjB2NuT1DFJCY87A3j8KpaLp9c_aHMl5tY8-DLeELuIo4cIuGlUDvm86mJeBzxG45VXBSj5JJUdWJRQ/s1600-h/vessal+in+car.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 390px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330118045267647810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhadLoia153DZK15PwPNlwsq1XT0xYdDvjXPEyUlX0xzmJrU1uXV2lvYJnZahbuCjB2NuT1DFJCY87A3j8KpaLp9c_aHMl5tY8-DLeELuIo4cIuGlUDvm86mJeBzxG45VXBSj5JJUdWJRQ/s400/vessal+in+car.jpg" /></a>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-74162924828086216472009-04-21T17:06:00.007-04:002009-04-21T18:31:42.541-04:00Clay UpdateHere is the mystery pot just after getting five coats of glaze. I used the sprayer in a hooded, vented area (wouldn't want to get black lung or anything else nasty) at the FIA. It was quite satisfying watching it get darker and darker and (or so I hope) softer looking with the velvet underglaze. I don't know when it will get fired, but I am rather anxious to find out if it will make the journey to 1900-odd degrees and back without cracking. (Hmm. Sounds like a Jules Verne novel.) The long term plan is to mosaic the inside of the...mouth (?) with glass, light green and turquoise. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4IZZZqZTAjmCe6hWx9lVzDXELkPIMqvpGnuvHc0voi819yF0vbho8Mt61cKLppw-siI2PsTIggKR_n1Il_bqwJG_smVJ99g0VVObHIO2iMHlm2Un0T801MXN-NlSDOaOnRh34yV-1P8/s1600-h/clay+pot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327254250206773202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4IZZZqZTAjmCe6hWx9lVzDXELkPIMqvpGnuvHc0voi819yF0vbho8Mt61cKLppw-siI2PsTIggKR_n1Il_bqwJG_smVJ99g0VVObHIO2iMHlm2Un0T801MXN-NlSDOaOnRh34yV-1P8/s400/clay+pot.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />And here is my house. I did say in an earlier blog entry that I wanted to learn how to work with slabs and here is what I came up with. Each of the three levels is a separate box that, I hope, will survive both the bisque firing and the glaze firing without cracking or distorting to the point of no longer fitting together snugly. This structure has no purpose but I am rather satisfied with it nonetheless.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii3bStHmptRn3Rj8VjtwS9LNEPQwuzX_p-QgBI0UN_S60Fofa-2wcArQMDzrHVma4Nyn_QNT2cSSiZAKI9FZ8l9RSFsyrBFGjC13Lb-L7UVB5WhDmGnnI28VfFXOV0N_g_7p1S03sXWu4/s1600-h/clay+house.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327254246960105522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii3bStHmptRn3Rj8VjtwS9LNEPQwuzX_p-QgBI0UN_S60Fofa-2wcArQMDzrHVma4Nyn_QNT2cSSiZAKI9FZ8l9RSFsyrBFGjC13Lb-L7UVB5WhDmGnnI28VfFXOV0N_g_7p1S03sXWu4/s400/clay+house.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-89298500822929647142009-04-01T14:11:00.004-04:002009-04-01T14:18:56.338-04:00The NautilusMosaics class ended and not too surprisingly I didn't finish The Nautilus. But I did get some decent work done and it is possible to see where this is all going. I hope to finish the red/orange/cream part of the shell and then will work on the backdrop once the next class session starts.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgN7XRhcwRzLQgneg0PTEqAGglnNvrDm7PydSgzEb0tNMpZzg2nwW6zFZkUCx7T7dWcuFrP3x2mjYBp-rVuSQ8woR1BW6kEWWrNFs5YeJRBw6ZQsw6Yk6sf3GaYCZ4ryTmdxhfY9IMaPg/s1600-h/April+Fool+5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319787237861264530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgN7XRhcwRzLQgneg0PTEqAGglnNvrDm7PydSgzEb0tNMpZzg2nwW6zFZkUCx7T7dWcuFrP3x2mjYBp-rVuSQ8woR1BW6kEWWrNFs5YeJRBw6ZQsw6Yk6sf3GaYCZ4ryTmdxhfY9IMaPg/s400/April+Fool+5.jpg" border="0" /></a> I have decided to chip off the tentacles and start again. Not only are they moving in the wrong direction (they will start in the shell and wiggle off to the lower right corner) but I decided that I want to make the tentacles creamy yellow/pinkish/whitish instead of the blue/green/purple that I have now. I want to have the blue/purple for the background. I chipped off one piece, and that only took about five seconds so, if you multiply that by about 300 pieces, I should get the old tentacles cleared away before I die of old age.<br /><div></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-24141849478564143972009-04-01T13:56:00.002-04:002009-04-01T14:10:13.759-04:00Clay...what is it?Here is the clay thing so far. It's sitting, drying out, waiting for the first firing, on a shelf next to a window which is why it looks so stark and alone. I am not sure how I am going to glaze it, but I do know that I want the glaze to be very matte and variegated. I ended up using 40 pounds of clay so it is a big baby. A few (a very few) other FIA students have praised me for making this, one guy (who really reminds me of a type I used to see quite often when I lived in LA but haven't seen much of since moving to the heartland) stopped me in the parking lot to ask me about it and stated very enthusiastically how "cool" he thought it was. Others just seem bemused if not slightly offended. One person went out of her way to explain to me why making such large things is unduly burdensome on the school because of the kiln space it will take up. Those hallway monitors who hassled me 30 years ago have all grown up and are still at it.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcr-MduikRpAp-CE-lfB12nghnyqDQJzE4dDEndxt3OJSCxf7MemfX350M8Yss-wfatOuNWi5duXaFovxtOzevIZcLOOMSZoXS8s9IOQKyFKTp3kyz_04vDsP6Q6aChbGg_BrhSug2rXA/s1600-h/April+Fool+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319783599640797970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcr-MduikRpAp-CE-lfB12nghnyqDQJzE4dDEndxt3OJSCxf7MemfX350M8Yss-wfatOuNWi5duXaFovxtOzevIZcLOOMSZoXS8s9IOQKyFKTp3kyz_04vDsP6Q6aChbGg_BrhSug2rXA/s400/April+Fool+1.jpg" border="0" /></a>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-42440707702033632332009-03-20T14:19:00.003-04:002009-03-20T14:24:37.589-04:00Little People!It's the 50th Anniversary of the Little People sets. I remember playing with these exact sets for hours and hours when I was little. Looking at them makes me feel so happy inside.<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ANHbfXaa_8M&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ANHbfXaa_8M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-28692692072798550222009-03-02T17:21:00.004-05:002009-03-02T17:43:09.363-05:00Meanwhile, the clayI started taking pottery (wheel) classes at the FIA about 4 years ago, and always enjoyed them but realized pretty quickly that I had no artistic skills when it came to making things on the wheel. Or so I told myself at the time--I just kept churning out these endless medium bowls and rather clunky urns. (Though, if you are into clunky urns, mine were pretty good.) But it just wasn't clicking. Then I stumbled into the mosaics class (and I can't remember why I decided to take that class but there you go--one of those fateful moments that are seemingly uncaused yet, in retrospect, seem to fit in perfectly with everything you want or have been trying to do) and suddenly I began thinking about structures in a whole new way--not as ends in themselves but as means to be covered in tiny shards of glass. And mosaics book are, as a rule, filled with fantastic pottery that people have then covered with tessarae--it was a whole new way of thinking about clay and glass. So, when the FIA offered a handbuilding glass that promised to teach the student anything they wanted to know how to do, I signed up and started making my list. Firsts, coil building. I wanted to know how to make coil rolls (see play dough reference below) and build them into fantasticly improbable shapes. I had some sort of seed pod or gourd in mind. We've just finished our third class and this is what I have so far:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bJEJSOViLwBMdqKn3L39VqvKYV2mrhx0_bZF37IBzCv8LD9pEfLggPhTg8IMbT_6MZ5h0Pja0W83DCyVNv6vR9uJfZnfz5AE-CxCgQK8crguOZpryo2hKUh7MwfJI8-LdVTAE75Up78/s1600-h/clay+vesal+002.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 297px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308719255411408162" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bJEJSOViLwBMdqKn3L39VqvKYV2mrhx0_bZF37IBzCv8LD9pEfLggPhTg8IMbT_6MZ5h0Pja0W83DCyVNv6vR9uJfZnfz5AE-CxCgQK8crguOZpryo2hKUh7MwfJI8-LdVTAE75Up78/s400/clay+vesal+002.jpg" /></a> It's about 30" tall and (so far) has used about 25 lbs of clay. I will probably use another 5 or so pounds before I am done. People wander in the classroom while I work and comment (always annoying)--so far I have been asked if it is a chiminia, fireplace (?) or flower pot (?!?). I tell them that it isn't anything yet and will never be anything functional but that doesn't seem to satisfy. I'm toying with the idea of mosaicking just inside the mouth of the vessal when it is done--whenever that will be. What next? Slabs. (That's a technical term. No really.)Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-37712741841969782612009-02-23T10:37:00.003-05:002009-02-23T10:46:14.063-05:00More on The NautilusSaturday I went in to the FIA to donate a box of glass bits to the kids mosaic glass and took these photos of The Nautilus while I was there. It always feels like I am getting so much done but, when you see how much there is left to do, it looks like I have hardly begun.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1IosI_tq4KG5ah8N81ArscZZ3cY34SL6OXCfq-ra6pzGR0IiGQgC_xFnEXlzwiSNgxHrZErtbgpZkWCx6EnqkaxDdPn5Okr0huVndYK3nM7eurSCgOqc8fwOFEQ5b9vFoNV1f-Y2w0Y/s1600-h/nautilus+Feb+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306017590713263490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 282px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1IosI_tq4KG5ah8N81ArscZZ3cY34SL6OXCfq-ra6pzGR0IiGQgC_xFnEXlzwiSNgxHrZErtbgpZkWCx6EnqkaxDdPn5Okr0huVndYK3nM7eurSCgOqc8fwOFEQ5b9vFoNV1f-Y2w0Y/s400/nautilus+Feb+1.jpg" border="0" /></a> I am still SO PISSED that I have the tentacles (not legs or arms, I now know--though tentacles with no suckers, so unlike octopi and squid) coming out of the eye area instead of to the left, the large part of the shell. ARGH! In theory I could bust all the glass and do it correctly. Sniff. I can't think about that.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6brrKy-XkS2OJetSFFs7zxVCDMSLH8jpcwRwPkCE8ngWpL_ffRdqEw6NgKOilUeo0ZPLdIVhZzs-0lPss-_bAjScjSPf3IfRDqvuhUXNR6OaPNPaoHB3ke0MbiZj4S320hyHM-2yBbaM/s1600-h/nautilus+Feb+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306017582985728178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6brrKy-XkS2OJetSFFs7zxVCDMSLH8jpcwRwPkCE8ngWpL_ffRdqEw6NgKOilUeo0ZPLdIVhZzs-0lPss-_bAjScjSPf3IfRDqvuhUXNR6OaPNPaoHB3ke0MbiZj4S320hyHM-2yBbaM/s400/nautilus+Feb+2.jpg" border="0" /></a> I do like the green stripes (so far) that are on the shell. I bought every damn shade of green glass in existence, cut each up into little pieces (about 1/8" by 1/2" or so) and then set to it. It's surprisingly satisfying working up a color run all within one color shade. And it looks pretty good, too.<br /></div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-27713777812040736192009-02-19T11:16:00.004-05:002009-02-19T11:38:41.837-05:00Meanwhile, The NautilusMy glass class at the FIA continues. This picture is AGES old (from the first day, I think, back in the first week of January). The board (just 3/8" wood attached to a 1" x 1" frame with knots and other uneven bits wood puttied and then covered with primer) is 3' by 4' and so weighed about 4 pounds naked. I wanted to do something rather abstract, but not completely detached from reality. I have always like patterns on shells, in particular nautilus shells, and so thought a massive nautilus would be a cool thing. I happened to have this piece of wood and so used it and, since I wanted to have it be very close up I didn't worry too much about the image ending up assymetrical. Now that I am farther along, I am worried and wonder if I should have done it on a 4' by 4' board. Well, too late now. Here you can see a few of the legs (arms? appendages? not sure) at the bottom and the start of the eye. I had it in my head that nautilus eyes (cephalopods and relatives of squids and octopi, apparently) were simply big, black circles, but they are actually quite complicated and beautiful.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyhTYig3_pQYR_khBEVWIJoThpQEOv3FiPvju3r_N53WFjSPHbPRL_jQYxwajHRKk3IWQqnMokYhzsIk70SUbGRl5kxzGs-ooL4dBt4woo59cswf8OMzrnNUsKSSKidm2UKZnN3fTKWc0/s1600-h/nautilus+1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304543331648481186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 297px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyhTYig3_pQYR_khBEVWIJoThpQEOv3FiPvju3r_N53WFjSPHbPRL_jQYxwajHRKk3IWQqnMokYhzsIk70SUbGRl5kxzGs-ooL4dBt4woo59cswf8OMzrnNUsKSSKidm2UKZnN3fTKWc0/s400/nautilus+1.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here is the pupil up close and personal. I intend to add a few more legs/arms/things in a while, but just got sick of doing them and not feeling like I was getting anywhere with this guy. By now I have the eye done, a horn/beak sort of thing done (not sure what that is, but will find out) and have started on the shell. If I remember to bring my camera to class next week, I'll get an updated picture then.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCvNsoNRkBBTRNap0ts3c9VAMYqOt7nHVLBYboIY_M-WuXl0dZserQ29nMytHa7_I69udfsoJWbanDOtV2dSo8aeMRYmeNJZoe0wF5NS-0PEPErzNqw9IvJFLUAuJn9NgG4mow8m3sno/s1600-h/nautilus+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304543334257635122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCvNsoNRkBBTRNap0ts3c9VAMYqOt7nHVLBYboIY_M-WuXl0dZserQ29nMytHa7_I69udfsoJWbanDOtV2dSo8aeMRYmeNJZoe0wF5NS-0PEPErzNqw9IvJFLUAuJn9NgG4mow8m3sno/s400/nautilus+2.jpg" border="0" /></a> I am very peeved that, because I was so rushed the first week of class (my semester has started that week, too, and I was already desperately behind and disorganized) that I didn't have time to print up a picture of a nautilus to take to class to use as a basis for a quick sketch. Going by memory, I plotted out what I wanted to create. Then, a week later, I did get to looking at photos of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus">the real things</a>* and I was really cheesed to find that I had inverted the things in a really stupid way. I had the legs coming out of the main opening of the shell, and then had the main curve going up the right, over the top at the left, and then down and around. WRONG! Of course, they fact that the legs aren't really blue and green doesn't bother me at all. I immediately remembered Gary Larson (The Far Side) writing in some preface or another, that he was really annoyed with himself for drawing bananas growing down on a banana tree, when in fact they should grow upwards. The fact that he draws cows standing up, talking and wearing horn rimmed glasses, is entirely tolerable. There's a rich philosophical analysis waiting to be created here that will explain the rules of these things. </div><div></div><div>*My now favorite nautilus is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellybutton_Nautilus">nautilus macrophalus</a>, otherwise known as the "bellybutton nautilus". They are cute as buttons!</div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5208807005266253192.post-72985601144781933552009-02-19T10:42:00.002-05:002009-02-19T11:14:09.618-05:00Glassy EyedThe lack of updates is not because I have not been working on this. Here is a photo of The Thing from about two weeks ago. Filling in the orange spaces is surprisingly quick work. It's also enormously satisfying to give the body some size and heft. I switched back and forth between the speech bubble and The Thing. Since the glass pieces for the letters, bubble filling and outlining are so very, very small, I couldn't work on too much at a time without bumping and shifting all the pieces. So I would do a few letters then, while they were drying, work on a few more orange patches, and back and forth.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQlf8H77kK3jIaCPhJLxwVWfpfsztLnBGCN7l8DX8p8crn01wji3r9lUoVrhnvgsuMWBC0QxsfcYYlJxMiLL7BCwAkSxlYGd0_wdgg4SmvKGBgTuMst2yn2phQwVatpwXnaTaDTLVeY0/s1600-h/February+Thing+a.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304539242888499122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQlf8H77kK3jIaCPhJLxwVWfpfsztLnBGCN7l8DX8p8crn01wji3r9lUoVrhnvgsuMWBC0QxsfcYYlJxMiLL7BCwAkSxlYGd0_wdgg4SmvKGBgTuMst2yn2phQwVatpwXnaTaDTLVeY0/s400/February+Thing+a.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here is where I am as of right now. Since I am officially on winter break (spring break for the rest of the world, 10 degrees F here in Flint makes it winter break here) I hope to really get to this and completely finish The Thing by the end of February.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDiBwwe1mQRGpJ95VlWZvgKuRUNfEX6uEgbpR14pID7mDdlMGusHDlIC0zWBMmPkuKTgRwiQ_QNfN1-WldyTGEV5D2FhvNeJRRszup-t6v0LHT4hwGgNMkoTpKsZ9vMd7o-UuloYlNt0/s1600-h/February+Thing+b.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304539246518818754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDiBwwe1mQRGpJ95VlWZvgKuRUNfEX6uEgbpR14pID7mDdlMGusHDlIC0zWBMmPkuKTgRwiQ_QNfN1-WldyTGEV5D2FhvNeJRRszup-t6v0LHT4hwGgNMkoTpKsZ9vMd7o-UuloYlNt0/s400/February+Thing+b.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here is the speech bubble. This was far more tedious than I expected, and I was expecting it to be pretty grim. One the one hand, working with black and while tiles was very pleasant because it looked so clean and stark. It reminded me of the bathrooms I once saw in the Hot Springs, AR health spas from the 19th century--medicinal yet luxurious. Makes me want to toss around a giant leather medicine ball. One the other, it was very annoying because it's so important to make sure the letters really look like letters, can be easily read, and also accurately protray the three kinds of font so as to capture the tone of the speech.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XWfC_ETfskHxfsf4rBn_uL6Gu95BVO_yepBK61kBjVYHSUDrgpCs0HN5NR_vGpjBaFXzoCHfb_XE7EyCVSmEEP-B1HCS5o35qlZFqoZTkwVC_sioqvis__MNvmh0n1kk5IxnNxyGoo4/s1600-h/February+Thing+c.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304539249813956130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XWfC_ETfskHxfsf4rBn_uL6Gu95BVO_yepBK61kBjVYHSUDrgpCs0HN5NR_vGpjBaFXzoCHfb_XE7EyCVSmEEP-B1HCS5o35qlZFqoZTkwVC_sioqvis__MNvmh0n1kk5IxnNxyGoo4/s400/February+Thing+c.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div>Jami Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02147458083353367549noreply@blogger.com0