amphora and failure

Last week while I was at Staystack, I decided to cast a couple amphora designs that I had wrapped with raised William Morris like wallpaper designs. I thought this would be cool to come back and engrave over the top of or it reminded me of looking through my microscope and seeing these enlarged scrolls as I have been practicing engraving. 

It's interesting how an entire idea can go sideways when you start making something using an artistic approach to making rather than an linear engineering approach. Everything that could go wrong during the process went wrong. First I wasn't married to the forms and didn't really fully commit to these when I was modeling them. They were interesting, but not THAT interesting or maybe a better word would be "surprising". There has to be something surprising to keep my interest going and these kind of fizzled out. 

Then I went to invest them and they were a nightmare. I had to have core pins and I had to fill the interior first and then pour investment around them. My vents collapsed from the weight of the investment inside and then I had to redo them; it was a mess! Then I made my vents too short as I just wanted to be done. Then I finally got them invested and when I poured them I used a couple of metal ingots that I thought were bronze, but it was a brass alloy instead. The tops of the pieces didn't turn out due to the short vents and the alloy caused cracking everywhere due to the thick and thin areas. The pieces looked more like urns than I wanted. It was a complete wash. 

Sometimes this is exactly what is needed to make a piece though. Sometimes I need something to push me into an area of uncertainty to get me to respond to the moment. That's what being alive is about; responding in the moment to adversity. How will I handle it, how will I respond, will I have faith that I'll come out on the other side better than I went in, or will I become a better person as a result of the situation? Everything I make has the same potential IF I don't throw it in the trash bin or give up. 

Well yesterday I took one of the pieces to the plasma cutter and started piercing the low areas of the relief in the top section. I also played with engraving some of the areas and I enjoyed this. I liked it yesterday, but today I hate it. This is part of the process and some objects make it through and some don't. However, I learn from all of it.  If I'm not failing then I wonder if I've gotten too comfortable in the process and I am missing out of something.

So it the object sits on the bench today. I may have to let this sit for a bit but it gives me time to think and reflect and then hopefully respond.

 

bronze wheel mold opening

 

pouring bronze wheel

 

gratitude: bronze wheel casting

The theme for the week is gratitude. Last week I made a resin bonded sand mold from the pattern I made earlier in the week. I was thinking about how fortunate I was to spend time with Chuck Kraus while I was in Milwaukee. He was so generous with his time and knowledge at a time when I was just trying to figure out how to teach. He welcomed me into the Sculpture community and made certain that I had exposure to all sorts of things that he had been doing for years in his personal work. He was exceptional at sharing everything he knew. 

As I look back on the time I spent with him, it's like I had an entire second graduate school experience while I was working at UWM with Chuck. It's interesting to look back through life and realize that there are hundreds of people that move in and out of one's life, but there are other people that come into your life and make such a strong and indelible mark that it seems like a supernatural experience. As I've grown older I realize that God seems to orchestrate these encounters, events and especially relationships. 

I am deeply grateful for the time I spent with Chuck when I lived in Milwaukee. He most likely doesn't know the impact that he has made on me and on my teaching and the extent to which a value him and the things he taught me. But it's moments like this, when I am ramming a mold, or pouring metal that he comes to mind and I think of how I wouldn't know ANY of this if it weren't for him. Thank you, Chuck.

aluminum pour

 

We poured Mia's second set of aluminum molds today. Adam and I poured the first set and Mia was out skimmer. But today was Saturday so Mia and I were on our own. We pulled Daisy in to assist with getting the crucible out of the furnace. We made a dry run before hand to make certain they could lift things. 

The molds are traditional investment with patterns made from PolyCast filament on our Bambu P1P. Mia is making two cast aluminum clutches. I burned the molds out in the new car kiln. This is a game changer for getting molds in and out of the sand pit. The vents/gates came up well when we poured the molds. The pour went very smoothly and Mia and Daisy did a great job. We'll have to see how things turned out; hopefully well.