I am selling these at the CCAD art fair tomorrow. Along with some of my pottery and some other small sculptures. Things! Presents! Wine! 
paper clay
Day 590
I sat with my work earlier today, listening to Sigur Ros and trying to drown out the ambient noises. It kinda worked. Wrote some new realizations down, legs fell asleep, took some pictures, realized that it was raining, walked around a bit, and finally saw pieces and installations that I hadn’t seen on Friday. Looks good, guys. Impressive, even.
I’ll post pictures of my install later. Don’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn’t been in the gallery. *finger pointing*
Still working on stuff. You’d think that there would be some sort of lull, but nope. Animating and editing those damn paper puppets. Writing on the thesis paper. And making more things out of clay. Hopefully I’ll have one more firing before graduation, just to finish everything. Loading and firing an electric kiln is so much easier than firing my woodfire kiln. Not nearly as fun, but so much easier. There was an idea about naming all the boxes that Charlotte had mentioned a while back. I’m working on that. These bits will somehow be added to the boxes. It’ll make sense later. Thinking on what to do next, is that supposed to be the whole idea?
I’m going to go make stuff.
Day 569
Hahahahahahahahaha! It works!
I went to the thrift stores yesterday and, aside from the numerous versions of Trivial Pursuit, found two more working mini t.v.’s. They are about to be shucked and placed inside the boxes. This one has poor picture quality and may be disqualified, but we’ll see. It could be a different take on watching the animations. To what lengths will people go to watch t.v.?
I also submitted my microfilm (anything I make that is under 8 minutes should be considered a microfilm. Calling it a short seems too presumptuous) to Ohio Shorts at the Wexner Center for the Arts this morning. Fingers crossed. I added music. Turn up the volume dear readers. Hopefully it will be accepted. Or a least make the judges giggle. Which is the whole point, in the end. Right?
Day 539
More shorts.
Had a good talk with Malcolm Cochran last week. As of now, I will be focusing more and more of my time on animations. Hopefully no one needs Sam’s old studio for a while. Having a proper shooting space is nice. And if they do need it, maybe I’ll pull rank.
That’s it. I’m going to go work.
Day 533
I have commandeered an empty studio on the second floor today. I’m going to be shooting my animations down there. Or at least for the next two weeks. I’ve been story-boarding them out, and we’ll see how far I get before I break something. I’ve also been putting the finishing touches on my box sculpture. Which is finishing the boxes for the t.v.’s and the boxes for the bases. And the bases are 18″ cubes.
There is a strong possibility that I will be putting stuff outside my studio. Be a dear and watch where you’re going. Thanks!
Here is another thing I had to make before continuing. Actually, two things. Out of wood. And metal. Not clay. That would be silly. One is a banding wheel and the other is a table for my throwing wheel. Making things to make things! Inception!
That’s it. I’ve got work to do.
Day 522
I had a fantastic studio visit today with Nicole Gibbs. There was significant discussion about happenstance, chance and centrifugal force vs intent, narration and still lifes. We also talked about scale, albino boxes, the black tiles in the gallery, and architectural deities. She left me with a lot to think about going into my next sculpture. Which I will start very soon. Especially considering how much time is left. Dun dun dunnnnnnnn.
94 tiny boxes. They fit into three packing boxes. A huge undertaking and yet, it seems like I’ve barely done anything. That’s what I get for working so damn small.
This is a potential section of the sculpture. Now, if I have 94 small boxes, 6 big boxes, 4 sides to the sculpture, 2 short films to shoot, multiple short animations, 3D thinking, 0 sleep and a dirty chai, how much work can I get done before I start smelling colors and seeing sound? Word problems in math, the bane of every six-grader.
I’ll have some animations posted soon. I’m going to go find some food and get back to work. That’s it. Come back later.
Day 518
It’s been a while, dear readers. Oops. There are a large amount of boxes just out of the kiln. They are sitting in my truck right now, waiting to be brought up stairs and animated. Boxes and boxes in boxes. Inception, hmm…
We started discussing our thesis papers last week in thesis, and I laughed when I started to write down my bibliography. A lot of my research is going to be short animated films, feature films and t.v. episodes, whether it’s stop motion or traditional. It all ties into my baseline theory of humor. My research is actually fun, getting to watch stuff rather than read. Though I am doing a bit of that as well, mostly comic books. Hahaha! Don’t worry, it will all come together. I’ll make it happen.
Sentient Tricksters.
I am starting my second sculpture and it’s going to be a round one. And I’m going to throw them. Similar idea for now: multiples of one. And the locking table leg hardware just came in the mail and now I can finish my throwing wheel stand. Yay! I get to spend a significant amount of time in Battelle tomorrow not on duty. If we had a miter lock bit my life would be that much easier, but alas, no such luck. I’ll have to make due with a dado blade and a rabbet bit. Woodworking lingo! Anyway, as for the animation on the second sculpture, I may do something a little different. Charlotte Belland told me about this company here in town that prints lenticular images. Remember those “hologram” images for when you were a kid that changed as you moved? It’s lenticular printing. Awesome. I’m thinking about it as a possible way to present my animation. The viewer would have to walk around the piece to see the animation. Hmmmm…
That’s it. I’m going to go work now.
Day 465
BOXES! I’ve been trying to read a bit between making these things. It’s really hard not to get red iron oxide everywhere, including the books. Yay for Lava soap. Stuff’s amazing. Oddly enough, Rube Goldberg machines have come into my research. Not really sure why, but the humor and genius behind them is fascinating. Maybe it will lead to something later on…
But for now, I’m making metal things. Out of clay. Still.
Animations to come soon. Don’t panic.
These are the boxes that I have finished. There’s about 35. I didn’t actually count. Maybe later. Math, pbbbth.
T.V.’S! (damn you thrift store, why don’t these come with power cords?)
Pre-assembly as of this morning. There is enough material here to make another 25 boxes. I want to get these into the kiln before break begins. Here’s hoping. *clink*
I’ve found a new use for the FabLab: the ceramics spray booth. Making my life so much easier.
That’s it. I’m going to go work.
Day 395
and this thing.
Technically it’s not the next day for me, but time and dates. Pbbbth.
Day 382
Making, making, making. It’s one thing to just make things, it’s a whole different fish to actually know why you’re working and what you’re doing. I’m in both camps. I need to keep working to figure out why I’m making, and this year is going to be a lot of thinking with the making. Good thing I’m a thinker. Thanks Strength-Finder, I had no idea. Hahaha! This year, I’m making larger piles of rejected detritus with tongue-in-cheek animations and a vague idea. We’ll see what happens. As for the animations, I’m going to keep working on those and eventually I’ll come up with an excellent reason why I’ve incorporated them into my subtly beautiful joke. Work, brain, work!
amylewisoneword 