Touch writing

I read the passage about tattoos. I found the passage very interesting and the stories about different people and groups that had them. I relate to this passage in many ways. There was a part in the passage where the author was explaining that tattoos tell stories, show struggles and triumphs, and mark timelines in a persons life. I have many tattoos that signify all of these things. Some are on very specific places on my body where I am the only one that can appreciate the, but have some that can be seen by the public. Some are more personal than others.

I also read the passage on pain. In the passage it explains that people can go through pain, yet sometimes you don't feel it. I can relate to this passage because when I was 25 I got into a really bad car accident with my best friend. I broke both of my ankles, shattered my pelvis in several places, broke a few of my ribs, my nose and had internal bleeding for several days. I ended up having to get 6 inches of my intestines removed as well. I was in the hospital for a month and a half and all I could think about was if my best friend was okay. Was he hurt, is he alive? I couldn't stop thinking about him and his son. Although I was in pain, I was less intense because I was worrying about my friend. They were giving me morphine for the pain, but it was making me sick. Eventually I conquered the pain and told them that I didn't want anymore medication. I don't welcome pain, but I like to think that I have the strength to control it or at least attempt to harness pain.

Architectural Relief

For this project we had to pick two different styles of architecture that we liked and incorporate it into our design. I choose Moroccan and Indian.

I used Vellum to trace out the "windows" and cut them out. I covered them with clear tape so you could see through them.

I made a onion dome out of Balsa wood and used sanders in the wood shop. I though this was the most important part of my piece because onion domes are used in both cultures' architecture.

 

 I used black ink to pain the wood and a light wash on the pillars holding the dome. Note: Sanding the onion domes to be perfect is damn near impossible. Prepare to be covered in sawdust and leave with less skin than you started with.

I created a box, sealed it with wood glue, spray paint, ink and a few other items I thought would keep it from leaking and hung up the floating windows.

I then filled the box with water because in these cultures water is incorporated in a lot of their architecture as well. The floating windows also castes a shadow which wasn't planned, but I was completely find with.

Animal Soap Carving

I happened to pick the hardest animal ever to carve. This project was really stressful to me. We needed to large enough bars of soap to carve a small animal out of them.

This project was slow at first because you had to really remove a lot of soap to start forming the body. I started on the legs first to start getting some sort of a body contour. This is an EXAMPLE of what not to do because the legs a very fragile and when you hold tight to your soap to start working on the body more you may lose your grip and snap off your legs like I did 50 times.

In this project we were required to do two soap carvings. My second bar of soap was way too soft. You really have to make sure you pick out the least soft bar of soap you can find, unless you want to carve butter.

Basically I failed miserably at this assignment, but I did learn from my mistakes. Tip 1: Save all of your extra carving scraps and mix with a little water to re-apply any broken legs or tails.

Tip 2 : Make sure the smell of the soap is something you really don't mind smelling for hours on end because this assignment completely ruined apples for me.

Body Happenings

I wanted to create something that in closed around you. Something that you could get inside and would still be comfortable. Originally I wanted to incorporate a birds nest to signify safety, but the idea was later changed to a "cage."

Here I took pictures of wire that I had bent and wrapped with duct tape. I used my blow torch to get that hole like texture. ( melted duct tape has a really cool look and texture)

                                               
I attached hinges to 3 of the top ribs and 3 of the bottom ribs on each side so that they would open and close. I needed to be able to get into them and get out of them.

I spray painted the entire thing black and lightly went over the "ribs."

This is just an up close, better shot of how I used wire to create the ribs and wrapped them with duct tape.

                       

Here are  some different angles of the piece after I finished the main body of the rib cage. I was now trying to figure out how I was going to attach this onto my body and how I was going to close the rib cage.

I spoke with my professor and we decided that it would  be a good idea if I laced it up like a corset. I also tied a piece of ribbon around my neck and to the back of the "spine" for support. It actually ended up holding very well. Finally we created a video where I would unzip my dress, bearing my rib cage and untie the ribbon and slowly remove it. Eventually the rib cage will separate, open up and no longer protect me.

You can find the video at:

https://youtu.be/LgqR_bzCopM