So today I decided to do another pendant. And it went well. I’m happy with my progress, like I’m gaining skill (like I want.)
Metal flows through the mold
Flowing swiftly ’til it turns cold
Shapes cast from a fleeting master
I see you freed in your sprue tree
Polished to a shine
Cast metal, frozen solid.
I’m thinking that I’m going to try sandcasting as an approach for doing lots of these. I takes a lot of time to prepare these as one-offs of wax, to sprue them, invest them, burn them out, and pour them. 2-3 hours each. I think by sand-casting, I can get that down to 30 minutes for batches of ten. That’d be awesome.
Hopefully in a couple weeks, I’ll have the materials on hand to do that. See you soon…
Burning Man, Photography, Ramblings, Things I made, casting
I’ve been messing around a little with casting metal for a while. When I was a kid, I would make molds out of cuttlefish bones, and cast lead into them. I did this in my room, often without the knowledge of my mother. I only caught the rug in my room on fire a few times, and never seriously. I’d taken to keeping a cup of water handy for putting out the rug.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to BurningMan this year, and had a good time, and an experience filled time. I was gifted an aluminum necklace, round, with a man in the middle, arms held high in the stereotypical burner way. I really appreciated that necklace, and treasure it.
And so I decided that I’d enjoy making pendants of my own to gift to people who really showed themselves to be special folks, or for those doing a really great thing. I also decided that I could make these myself, as is my wont. So I made a first one, a little man, arms held high.
I like to do things myself. Things that are interesting to me, or are difficult. It’s pleasant for me to take such a project and make it real. I love being able to say (and I think of Gir from Invader Zim here), “I made it myself!”
Burning Man, Things I made, casting
It’s an interesting thing, reintegrating into default world. I’ve had mixed feelings about being back. Lots of thinking, and integrating of my experiences into my world view. It makes for an interesting time.
I had a cool experience Monday, on the bus. I was heading home after a long day, it was after Burn Night, the local burner get-together. Jake and I parted ways; him for his bus, me for mine downtown to take me home. I notice this woman with pink and white dread-falls in her hair, kinda raver, kinda punk. I think, “Burner?” and I wait for my bus to arrive.
The bus arrives, and I get on. I took my seat, and proceeded to relax/wait to get to my destination. This woman gets on the bus, too. She sits in the seats that face the isle, I’m a few seats farther down, facing forward. The bus gets going. Time passes.
She looks over at me, for a while, and mouths “Burner?” to me. I say, “Yeah” and wave her over. We talk. It was her first year, too. We had a nice conversation, and then went our seperate ways at the Transit Center.
Being a burner is like having a special pass that says you’re okay to talk to; like you’re part of a special club of inclusiveness. That’s facinating.
The question to ask is: How can I make more of my life be like this — how can I be friendlier and more engaging with people, generally?
Burning Man, Ramblings
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200807/burningman.asp
A friend of mine referred me to this article that is the cover story for the July issue of the Sierra Club’s magazine. The article presents interesting arguments about the balance between the kinds of gigantic, fiery self-expression, about creating community, and changing peoples’ minds through radical expression.
It’s an interesting read, and made me think. It’s an interesting article. Go read it! 
Take care,
-Gabriel
Burning Man, Rants and Raves
ecophilosophy, sierra club
So, a friend and I were talking about what we might do as an art project at Burning Man or Critical Massive. And we thought about the theme this year. The American Dream. And then we talked some about what that means to us today. Shopping. Today Americans are in large part defined by what they buy, and their buying habits.
So we thought, “Hell, let’s build a giant motorized shopping cart the people ride around in.” And we knew this was a Great Idea. I’ve been drawing plans and sketches of what we’ll get with this. I think that we’re too addicted to shopping. Too addicted to More Stuff. We have to have things.
So, in light of that, we’re going to build a shopping cart. Not an ordinary one, but a grand one. One that stands five feet across, nine feet long, and 7 feet tall. Out of steel. Oh, and it will be motorized. It will be steered by a large wheel mounted in the front of the basket. Drawings will be forthcoming.
Consider this the project announcement page. There will be more to come. And why not donate to our project?
Burning Man, Ramblings, Things I made