Table Part 2

After some time away due due to business, I'm back in the shop. We left off with the table top covered in red putty. After a bunch of sanding, you can barely see where the red is. 

Many more hours went into sanding the top, sides and putting and sanding the bottom. 

Finally, it was time for the color. I decided to try a Stain Gel with a "Georgian Cherry" color. They didn't a have an Oklahoma Crimson available.

You apply it heavily to the top. It looks like I poured paint on and let it stand for 15 minutes. After a lot of rags, staining my hands (use gloves!) and a 2nd coat the next day...

I think it looks great. It's now a deep crimson and a great backdrop for the glass etchings.

Legs

This table will be put in a game room that already has bowling alley wood as the floor (it totally looks sweet!) I wanted this piece to tie the maple floors to the OU theme so the legs will stay the natural color and will "disappear" with the floor making the table top "float."

Using the left overs from the top and a long section of alley I start chopping.

5 sections will make 2 legs. Some assembly required (as usual).

You might remember that I mentioned this wood is very dense and can be hard to work with, but it also has hundreds of 3" nails hiding throughout it. Typically I find them the hard way and yank them out. So the 2 legs above are being glued and then a lot of sanding begins on them. 

Next up is finishing the legs, mounting the legs to the top and the important glass feature. 

I see the end nearing and I hope to get this done pretty quickly. Thanks for coming by and more coming soon.

Sooner Table

New Project! I am working on a commission piece for someone without him knowing it. What?? I had a very nice local couple donate some wood to me for my art cause. As a surprise thank you, I am making a coffee table for the gentleman's game room. He is a huge OU fan and since I'm a fan/alumni/professor it was pretty easy to think of an idea for him. 

The plan: I was given some wood that was used in a local bowling alley. It is solid beautiful maple wood that is very sturdy and great for furniture. I plan on using some of the wood to create the top and legs. I will top it with blasted glass. 

 For those who don't know, I'm a huge sports logo geek. So I decided to take 5 of OU's history logos and I will blast them into the glass top. The 'crimson' will come from the wood table top being stained.

Bowling alley wood is way more dense then I would have imagined. This is the original 6 foot by 4 foot by 2.5 inches thick section and it took 2 guys to move it. It's a little rough, but its had 20 lb bowling balls thrown at it for decades. 

I have chopped it down to 4 feet and 16" wide. I pulled out the nails and used clean edges. I added strength with screws and glue between every row. After rough sanding (60 grit) down to the bare wood, it was very beautiful. 

What a bloody mess? After rough sanding, there were still cracks, spacing and pits that I wanted to have smooth. I used a mahogany filler because I am going to stain the top a deep cherry.  This looks worse that it really is. After I sand the extra off, it will be hard to notice.

Ok, I'm a couple OU games behind on this project, but I hope to have it done before Bedlam. More to come.

Boomer Sooner!!

Equestrian=Done

Thanks to everyone who has been following along.

I am passing over the sanding period and taking you straight to the final construction. The sanding was about 24 hours, but its not visually interesting, trust me.

I had to mount some the pieces in a certain order to make sure I had room to work. Although it is easier to work in layers, to hide the mounts and glue sometimes you have to work backwards. This is the metal horse done and mounted to the top wood element being glued to the lower level. 

Adding the last metal trim to the sides before calling it done.

I wanted to show the steps of each layer so I photographed it after every few pieces to show it coming together. (click pic to see it full size.)

It's Done!! On display at Living Arts in Tulsa for the Oh Tulsa opening August 4th

Ok, one shot of me for scale reference.

Thanks again for following and I hope you come out for the Oh Tulsa opening August 4th at Living Arts in Tulsa keep an eye on my website MickelYantz.com for some upcoming news!

Glass Design

Lets tie up a loose end. After showing the metal design process, here is the final outcome:

Visual FX did a great job. I certainly will be back. If you need anything label, banner, display wise, talk to them, they are great.

GLASS

Glass design is similar to the metal, but I do it myself.

I design what I want on the computer, based on photographs from the Boston Ave. Church.

I then print out the design on the printer. 

After adding clear vinyl to the glass. I trace the design in red. After it is drawn out, I hand cut the design with a sharp xacto.

I have a blasting cabinet in the shop, but for anything larger than 2 feet long, I have to move my operations to the "Blasting Cave." The cave is outside so even though it looks dark, this was actually done at 8am before it got so hot outside I would melt. 

1 hour and 50lbs. of glass beads later, the design is etched in. The blue background is tape I place on the opposite side to protect the glass and it helps see the blasting process. 

Detail shot. 

Okay, Its time to sand, sand and sand. After that, its a big puzzle to put together. I will post more this week leading up to this Friday's opening of Oh Tulsa at the Livings Arts Gallery in Tulsa where this piece will make it's debut. Come on out and thanks for reading.

Metal Design

I am trying a new feature with this piece. 

I been working with the wonderful crew over at Visual FX in Tulsa 

 for my exhibit labels, signs, banners and other crazy ideas I have. 

I decided to bring them on board and help me with a new texture - cut metal.

The gray areas in the above pic shows where I want to add the metal to accent the side features and the entire horse will be made out of metal. 

The first thing I need to do is design what I want cut out. I use Adobe Illustrator to design the outside shape and the pieces that will be routed out by machine.

Luckily, with VFX's help I fix the design to work best with their machine. The great thing about have great partners is having many pieces being worked on at once.

After sending the file to Tulsa, I need to get down and get my hands dirty. I need to route the 2 boards that will hold the glass in place. 

I use simple technology for this step. I lay the glass on the boards and measure a hundred times, then mark it with a pencil.

I use a hand trim router so I have more control getting right on my lines without it jumping and tearing up the wood. 

Woohoo. It worked the first time.

 

I will next mock everything together to make sure the pieces work and see where I need to sand. 

Thanks for following. More this week.

Making Pieces

To put a puzzle together you need the pieces. The fun part of being an artist is making my own pieces. 

I have finally learned something in making art. They say measure twice, cut once. If you cut your patterns out of paper first. You know that the pieces will match up. And yes I had to cut some of them out twice.

Laying out the paper patterns on the wood

 Chopping up the boards

Getting the big pieces ready

 After the blanks are cut I needed to laminate a few of them to give me the wide blank. The wood is in there under the clamps, paper and braces...I think.

 Back pieces are cut down to size.

Shapes are coming out.

The glass is ready to be picked up and the wood is about ready for the long journey of sanding. Time is short on this project so every day counts. I hope for a productive weekend. 

Thanks for following.

New Scuplture for a New Show

Greetings everyone. 

I know it has been a while since I posted, but I thought my new project is worthy of me dusting off the virtual dust from my blog and let you follow along as I try to create a new 5 foot sculpture in a ridiculously little amount of time.

So what is it? I have been honored enough to be included in "Oh Tulsa" opening August 5, 2011 at Living Arts of Tulsa . This art/media show has the theme (what else?) TULSA!!!! It will be curated by Melanie Fry with Cynthia Marcoux as co-curator.

I have always loved art deco design and many of my previous sculptures have shown my deco side, but I'm jumping in feet first with this one. 

My muse:

Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa.

(A church? Yes, my Mom will be proud)

Built in 1929, credit for the building’s design is still debated. One account credits Tulsa art teacher Adah Robinson, while others credit her former student, Bruce Goff. The exterior is decorated with numerous terra cotta sculptures by the Denver sculptor, Robert Garrison.

Specifically:

Above the south entrance are the equestrian Circuit Riders. Two of the three riders represent historic individuals, Bishop Francis Asbury, the first American Methodist bishop and Bishop William McKendrie, while the third figure, the one in the center, is symbolic of all the other men of God who did His bidding from horseback. The face on this rider was created by Garrison using the church minister's father-in-law, the Rev. T.L. Darnell. Rev. Darnell had in fact been a circuit rider for half a century.

 

I wanted to focus on one rider and chose Rev. Darnell. I wanted to challenge myself and I have not done a person in any of my sculptures. I love this style of deco architecture and thought I could try out a couple new techniques while putting my spin on it.

Here's an even closer look at Rev. Darnell

So what's the plan?

After weeks of drawing and scaling everything. "The Equestrian" will be a 5 foot free standing sculpture made from 10 layers of 3/4" wood stained to match the terra cotta color with the main image media blasted into glass with the horse and accent panels laser cut from brushed metal. 

 

Oh and the deadline? It must be dropped off at Living Arts on July 31st. 

Let the insanity begin and look for updates all month long.

Thanks!