Chugging along...

Friday provided time to make a bit more progress on a new Plumb Bob series brooch and two larger, wall-mounted pieces.  I think I want to make a larger, wall-mounted version of this new square brooch.

Forged Spoons From Lowe's?...

Who knew that you can buy a handmade forged spoon from Lowe's.  Of course, it'll require you taking my Forging Spoons class at SSA.  This demitasse/baby spoon was forged from aluminum bar stock I purchased at Lowe's.  Since I did advertised that the class will have an ice cream party on the last day of class to "test" our spoons, I thought it would be nice to try out another material instead of silver, copper, or brass.  I haven't really done much surface finishing yet so it's a bit rough, but looks great already!  I think I'll have to make one for my coffee and espresso in the morning!

First day in the studio for 2013...

The first day back in the studio in a month did not provide much time for creative work, but I finally finished readjusting the soldering area ventilation and finally installed my small pexto-style stake plate into my forming table.

Plumb Bobs...

It's been a bit crazy between the end of the term, August's stay in the hospital and the holidays all at once.  Which means I haven't been the studio this past couple of weeks like I thought I would be but at least I did manage to get started on some new wall-mounted Plumb Bob pieces.  Here's a sneak peek.

Monty Python reference...

For those of you that are both kinetic/mechanical art enthusiasts and Monty Python fans, here's what happens when you combine the two:

Moments from the week...

 What?  I'm not being mischievous.

Ok.  Now, I'm being mischievous.

This is the prototype of my Wiggly Mustache Machine.  

Chicken sandwich anyone?....

This was my prototype for a noise-making machine during Martin Smith's workshop this past weekend.    I think I smell a quick little series of works with the other remaining chicken dog-chew toys.  Working title: chicken sandwich.

Whoopee cushions... check.

You just know it's  going to be a fun workshop when these are some of the materials to be used.

 

Martin Smith, co-founder of Laikingland, will be giving a lecture and presenting a two-day workshop about making machines that make noises, at SSA this weekend. 

 

I love my job.

Kathleen Sommers always hosts a holiday season bracelet show here in San Antonio and I decided this year to double-dip and use my Basic Metal Skills rolling printing samples to create this simple and fun bracelet. I tend to work a lot with traditionally non-precious materials (although I think of them as precious). The bracelet is roll printed copper, powder-coated aluminum, and copper linkages and clasp.

Martin's coming!

Martin Smith's coming!  Yeah!  Let me know if you want to participate in this awesome workshop.  And if you can't participate, then join us on November 10 at 4:30pm to hear his artist talk.

Catching up...

I've been finding it hard to post regularly lately but just thought I'd take advantage of my son napping and post about a few things.

Well, a few weeks ago, Sarah, August and I had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling.  We got to see friends and family in Brooklyn and New Jersey, stayed for a few days in Lake Placid and visited Syracuse University, where I presented a lecture about my work.  

It was great getting to visit Syracuse again and I enjoyed the company and conversation of Barbara Walter (she's the head of the Metals Dept.).  We shared a bunch of interesting conversations during my brief visit but one thing that I've been revisiting in my mind was a conversation we had about tools.  More specifically we were talking at one moment about how important it is as a graduating student to have already begun and/or plan a big purchase of necessary equipment.  Barbara mentioned an exercise she has her students do at some point during their final year.  She has them go around the studio and mark how many times they remember using each piece of equipment/tool (perhaps overall or maybe just within the past semester or two... I forget).  The student should then have an accurate list of the pieces of equipment/hand tools that they need to invest into first.  This exercise is important to emerging artists, especially metalsmiths, because we tend to develop a tool fetish and there are plenty of items that would be nice to have but we do not really need right away perhaps.  For instance, a decent flex shaft motor is probably a more important purchase than say, a hydraulic press.  Of course, every maker's situation is unique and should be approached in that manner.

A related conversation Barbara and I had was about forming stakes.  I was mentioning to her about how I finally worked up the courage (and money) to invest into larger forming t-stake and blow horn stake.  Now, the blow horn stake I would recommend finding a good quality, used pexto or roper whitney brand.  They are often on ebay and for sale on websites like Marty's Classic Machinery (check out the misc. tools under inventory for forming stakes).  However, the larger, traditional shaped forming stakes are a lot harder to find.  Most suppliers do not offer the larger sizes, Kevin Potter being an exception (I've been told his stakes are great).

However, I went with purchasing a cast ductile iron stake from a seller on ebay.  It was an unfinished casting and I have been spending time with an angle grinder refining the shape just the way I wanted, but I only had to spend approximately $130.00 (with shipping).  THEN, Barbara mentioned to me, had I studied at Syracuse, I could've just cast one own in the sculpture foundry... and that got me thinking.  There's a small foundry not far from San Antonio that supposedly works primarily with artists and they cast in stainless steel.  I am wondering if I brought some of the beautiful, large t-stakes my school's department has if they could do a sand-casting replica.  I guess the point is as an emerging artist, you have to figure out a way to outfit your studio that is most efficient for you.  Some things I would rather buy brand new from a supplier and others I think can be acquired in a more unique manner.

PACKING ARTWORK!  Ok, so the other topic I thought I'd briefly mention is packing work.  As a professional artist, you're going to have to ship work to a location at some point.  So, approaching packing in the same manner of detail as your work is important.  My graduate school professor, Billie Theide, once told us that your piece of artwork is not finished until you have good quality photographs of it and a well built crate.  So, recently when I was shipping Wowzers! off to participate in the 38th Annual Toys Designed by Artists exhibition at the Arkansas Arts Center,  I took photos of the packing, both for my records and to send to the gallery.

I like to photograph the process of opening up the box and revealing the work for the gallery, no matter how simple.  This also makes sure you have a really good chance that your work is returned to you in the same box with the same packing material in the same manner.  You'll also notice that I used the box-within-a-box method.  The exterior box is just filled with sheets of insulation board to help protect the interior box from punctures and other unknown scraping.  The interior box provides an enveloping cushion of high density foam around the artwork.  The difference between the last two images is that little piece of cushion that protects the crank handle.  I've found with shipping mechanical works, that you often need to insert cushioning around mechanisms to help from rattling during transportation.  I've had galleries report that screws and pins had wiggled loose during the trip.  So, this has been my answer to help solve that problem.

Quick links for Interplay...

So, we've been getting quite a bit of attention for the Interplay: Mechanical Objects exhibition that I helped organize and is hosted by the Southwest School of Art.  Here is a link to a local newspaper article that ran last week:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/visual_arts/article/Playing-with-art-3880897.php

And if you were not fortunate enough to attend the exhibition in person yet, an assistant to the gallery director put together a great, handmade catalog design for the exhibition and posted an online version here:
http://issuu.com/swschool/docs/interplay_catalog2012-composite

Check out the links and enjoy!

Also, for those of you living nearby, I'll be giving an artist talk this Saturday, Sep 29th, at 2pm.  This will take place during a 1 - 4pm open house for the Jewelry/Metals Department.  Bring a friend!

Sneak peek...

Eskimo Kisser: Duet #1 and #2 are finished, installed and ready to be played with, starting this Thursday evening.  That's when Interplay: Mechanical Objects opens to the public.  This exhibition was co-organized by the gallery director at my school, Kathy Armstrong and myself.  Artists exhibiting are: Martin Smith, Alexis Archibald, Ben Cowden, Forrest Gard, Keith Newstead, Nik Ramage, Kevin Curry, Nathan Dube, Miel Paredes, and Steve Bruniak.

Unlike most of the art exhibitions you attend, this one will be different in that everything is intended to be physically interacted with in some manner!

Below is some quick video of one of my two new pieces.

Been a while...

Geez!  It's been forever since I've added anything here.  Been busy!

Well, I'm going in the process of finishing up two new eskimo kisser designs but a wee bit different from the others I've done.  I'm not giving too much away yet, but I am casting components to be included with these two and thought it'd be great to even include a short video of the gears I'm casting this week.  More soon.

New book...

I've always been fascinated by the works of Sigurd Bronger.  So, it was a delight to purchase his book from Charon Kransen at this past SNAG conference.  I highly recommend this book.  Besides a great survey of his works, there are essays included as well.

works for IdioSINcratic

Just thought I'd share images of new works before I ship them to Facere Jewelry Art Gallery for the group show, IdioSINcratic.  These brooches are of my Calories Per Serving series.  The enticing food packaging imagery is paired with a visual reminder of the calories per serving.  You have to wonder if they are badges of honor or shame?

My first technical article...

In the frenzy of trying to get ready for the SNAG conference and then classes beginning this week, I completely forgot to mention my first published technical article!  If you have a membership to Art Jewelry Magazine, go to their website and check out my online article about building your own jeweler's work bench. And a huge thanks to Annie M. Pennington for all her help and patience.

New website...

Amazingly, I had time to get my new website live just before leaving for SNAG.  The address is still the same (www.garyschott.com).  However, if you had bookmarked my previous website you may want to update that bookmark.  I had been using iweb and just redirecting garyschott.com to my mac website address.  So, please visit!

Also, in addition to a link to my blog on the new website, I now have a link to to my etsy page were I am offering a small selection of production earrings.  Perhaps more items will be added eventually, but I just wanted to start with some simple and fun works.

Friends and kick-ass ceramic artists, Jennifer Ling Datchuk and Ryan Takaba are getting married today.  Yay!  I'm ready for some fun, food and dancing!  Hope August is, too!

New stuff soon...

I've actually been getting a decent amount of time in the studio lately but haven't had time to snap any images.  Most recently I've started producing earring designs with embossed, formed, and powder-coated surfaces.  Yum!  Images soon AND I'll be adding select designs to etsy, in addition to a local gallery.  I'll be announcing all that and my new website (just in time for the SNAG conference) soon.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this image of a mobile I made for above August's crib.  The rubber ducks where left over from a baby shower for Sarah.