Sanding and Glass

I hope you and yours had a great Holiday season. 

Mine was great, but I still found time to jump into the wood shop. 

 

After gluing some of the layers together, I work through various grits of sandpaper smoothing everything out. Power tools are a great help. 

And it's our first look at......GLASS!

This is a 9.5" x 43" x 3/8" custom cut glass. I have mocked it up with the layers. I am grateful to see the measurements are right on.

Profile of the mock up

Seeing the 2 materials come together really gets me excited and I can't wait to see it when its done, but I still have a few more steps to accomplish.

I'll be working through the end of the year so more posts to come.

Sanding and clamping

I have been doing a lot of sanding which is not visually interesting especially on a blog, but trust me, its looking good.

There are some very small natural spots in the wood that my OCD is going to make them blend into the grains, so I was checking a few putty colors. Like the directions say, "check on a sample piece to make sure it turns out right."

Next is gluing the similar sections together before I go back and sand them all over again.

Yes there are 2 pieces of wood in there. 

More to come...

Sanding, the beginning.

A quick update. Started the rough sanding. 

 

I used the dowels through the two matching pieces and clamps to make sure the curves matched.

After 80 grit on the belt sander, the curves match, but I have a lot more sanding to go. 

I quick dry fit to see how the pieces will look. Not bad. This also lets me double check my glass size. 

More sanding to come.

Nice Curves

I thought the old blog design was a bit heavy, so I tweaked the color a bit. On to the sculpture:

Using the curve template, I marked all 12 secondary pieces with the same curve.

In the warm 40 degree weather, I decided to use the big band saw for the curves.

And the nice curves are done. There's less coffee in the mug too. 

 Next we move over to the drill press for an important step that wont even be seen after the piece is done.

Little notes do help with so many pieces. "No Hole"

In each of the secondary pieces, there are two holes that will be drilled. This will help for two reasons:

1. A temporary dowel will be placed while I sand the curve to make sure the two pieces that will be laminated together will have the same curve.

2. Longer dowels will be used when I glue to make sure everything matches up and doesn't slide on me.

The very top will have 5 pieces of wood whose curve needs to line up perfectly and this help to make that happen. 

Next up is A LOT of sanding. I will also order the glass. I have had a couple questions about the symbolism behind the glass design. I will go through each one when I start cutting and blasting the design in place. 

 

Thanks for following.

Time to Cut

Ok, I measured so now, its just cutting time. 

The board was a couple inches wider than I needed so first a quick strip off the edge.

(Thanks to Joyce for the action shot)

Then I took the short board and cut it into the segments that will hold and cover the glass

Some assembly required

To make sure all the curves match I made a template.

I will rough out the curves and start pegging all the segments together so I can sand them together before gluing. 

It's starting to get fun. I just need to make sure each piece is put together in order or the wood grains will look weird. 

More coming soon. I'm working through the Holiday weekend. Thanks for following.

measure 5 times

I took the test planks from the edge of the board and finished a "Minion" to get a look and an idea of it's look. The wood darkened nicely with a couple coats of oil and should darken more with more coats. I also have a couple ideas to help bring the red out too. The Minion:

The old adage is "Measure twice, cut once." Well, the bigger the piece, the more I measure. I also wanted to make sure everything would line up and the grains would match up on the outside.

Luckily, you can't see my erase marks on the white board.

A little math transferred over digitally. This is how you take 10 feet of wood and squeeze it into 4 feet. 

Now, it's time to cut!

Got Wood

I was able to find a great piece of cherry wood from my supplier. I showed up right after the pallet was delivered and I was allowed to dig to the bottom of the wood stack for the perfect piece. It is 14 inches wide and 10 feet long. But my car wasn't 10 feet so it came home as a 6 and 4 foot lengths.

When I start using a wood that I don't have a lot of experience, I cut up some tester planks and go through a few tests to see how the wood is going to react. This cherry cuts and routes really well. A little sanding and we will see how it looks with some oil.

More to come this week.

"Can you go bigger?"

Can I go bigger? I'm an artist, of course I can go bigger.

So my next blogged sculpture will be a 4 foot piece made from cherry. The design has a lot of symbolism, but I'll go into that later. I finally found a single piece of cherry wood wide enough to begin. Here's the mock up:

More coming soon.

Cup of Joe

Had a great time playing in Tulsa last night and I was able to slide by a certain Starbucks.

 Don't forget to order your tickets for the 2010 Breast Impressions Gala coming up on October 2 at the OU -Tulsa Schusterman Center. Get more info at http://www.breastimpressions.com/

On Display

The casts are on display in Tulsa and mine is hanging proudly honoring my survivor Karen, along with Artist Scott Johnson's for survivor Saundra at the Utica Square Starbucks. 

What, M.Y. Art TM is in a coffee shop? Shocking. 

Check out the rest of the casts in September including by the elevator on the upper level of Woodland Hills Mall; the food court of Tulsa Promenade; and both Marilyn Ihloff salons.

DONE!!

Don't scroll down and get a sneak peak. 

You have been with me from the start. So let's finish this off together.

After cutting out the design, I used my pattern again to protect the back from the sand blasting.

What is it? Its my homemade sand blasting cabinet. I know it looks redneck, but it only cost $20 to make and it works. Stop laughing, lol

Wing inside the cabinet. Seriously, stop laughing, lol.

And after some time making a sand tornado in a box - Frosted acrylic.

Stage 3 DONE!

Assembly:

I measured 4 times and started drilling holes. 

This is a reenactment. I would never drill left handed.

Bolts and nuts. Slot A into tab B...

And now.....

drum roll.......

TA DA!!

I am very happy with the way it turned out. Based on some of the other finished casts, this looks to be the unofficial "Year of the Wings." I am so honored to have this displayed with the other great art pieces that I have seen so far. I also hope my wonderful lady who this represents likes it too.

Please check all of the finished casts out throughout Tulsa in the month of September. Also remember to follow Breast Impressions for more news on the gala Oct. 2nd and more upcoming events.

Thanks for following me on this journey, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Stage 3 - Acrylic

Stage 1 (cast) and 2 (backdrop) are done. Just one more to go

The Acrylic! 

Why acrylic? For this piece I wanted a custom shape and I wanted it light weight for hanging on the wall.

I took the same pattern I used for the back drop and trimmed about 1 inch around for the new pattern.

Placed it on a nice sheet of 1/4" think acrylic.

2 outlines ready to be cut out.

For the acrylic, I use the big band saw.

The paper on the table is to eliminate scratching while I'm cutting and I can see my marks better. Dark marks on a dark table makes it tough.

And just like that, they are cut out. Spent some time sanding the edges to make them smooth. 

I took the pieces to the drafting table. I cover them with a clear vinyl covering.

I then copied the design on the vinyl. I take a sharp exacto knife and cut around the design, then remove the extra vinyl. 

Tomorrow is sand blasting and hopefully assembly! So close.

Paint done

Finished up the second coat of the pink fine paint. I think the pink really pops.

I highlighted the tips of pink with white and the dark side with purple.

Here's a detail shot. Looks better in person, promise

The next step is the acrylic and then we can assemble. 

I'm starting to see the end and I cant wait to see how it all looks together.

2nd coat

Quick post. Worked 3 hours adding a 2nd coat to the pink line work.

A little detail shot. Ignore the pencil lines, lol

Picking up the brush

Ready for the hand painting

Everything is drawn out.

The pink is coming along well.

I would have never thought to paint brown and pink. But it looks good.

1st coat is done. It needs a couple coats and some fine line work. 

More to come

Back on track

I am very glad to be back on track. 

Finished up the back drop. Through the magic of spray paint, I added the same texture I did with the bust background, but with brighter colors. DONE!

I moved back to the bust and started drawing out the fine lines that I will paint. 

I started with the lotus over the heart. Looks pretty close to the original drawing.

Then added the rest of the lines. 

They are there, really. Its tough seeing the pencil lines on brown.

I start the hand painting tomorrow. I feel behind, but positive it will get done.