can't stop won't stop

These are kind of old. The 3 rhino screen grabs are from a few weeks ago, from when I was cleaning up my model for Vince to very generously print at Ryerson for me. I thought the bad mesh/good mesh messages were funny - not only in themselves and their detailed/detached assessments but also how strongly I reacted to them... these scripts somehow compelled me to spend hours trying to fix my 'bad' work. If only I had automated messages from my computer telling me how many degenerate faces need fixing in my thesis! oh well...

And here are the 4 fruits of my rhino labour so far. They cost $170 (approx. 11 cubic inches of plastic at $15/cubic inch) to fabricate and while I'm going to do the wax thing on them to see how it goes, I've already kind of ditched this process in my mind for other possibilities. Oh, and the 3d printer at school is now officially operational and ready for use.

and so

Well, here it is, try #1. I'm not exactly feeling it. These are just quick snapshots of what's going on but the last ones of the final cast object really depress me - all of them make me think of a sad turtle walking away from its feces. The little feces piece is the oculus spire that broke as I manhandled the foam mold off. It wasn't easy. I used some spray-on silicone lubricant (apparently candle-makers use it as a mold release) this time and I think it helped a bit but I'm not sure it was worth it for a couple of reasons.

For this cast I scented the wax, just to see how it'd go, with a perfume oil called "Jasmine Blossom" that I got at a soapmaking studio in Toronto. Not the most genuine or subtle scent but whatever. Anyhow the lube also had its own chemically fake citronella scent and the combined odour is pretty potent. The thing is I can't tell if it's more one or the other and I keep thinking about how bad the silicone spray must be to breathe in.

So reason 1 is the smell. Reason 2 is I think it kind of reacts with the wax at the surface and makes tiny little bubbles. I was hoping for a smoother finish. But those might just be from air in the foam itself. I don't know... In any case, those issues aren't really that big of a deal - I'm not so happy with final product simply because it's pretty dinky and lacks any sort of presence. And considering the amount of time and money that will go into each one (of 12!), I'm trying to figure out what it is I need to change or do differently, both conceptually and with the making process.

On a positive note I might be getting a 3d plastic print of the mold on Monday. Fingers crossed and wood touched!

needs

Success, however small, is still kinda sweet... Though this tiny bit of cnc'd foam is only for experimenting on while I wait dutifully for the cornstarch to arrive (after which I can test in earnest), I'm pretty excited that something has actually been made after weeks of hassling and waiting in turns. In the meantime I should be busy and frantic, doing all those other things that need to be done (reading, writing, modeling, deciding) instead of seething and worrying about how impossible it seems to even get one off the ground. Hopefully things will pick up once I get a functioning mold/wax relationship going.

Anyway, I think I need a new camera. This one, a Canon Powershot S410 digital Elph bought in 2004 for a whopping $400 USD, boasts 4 whole megapixels, 3x zoom, and just over 1 square inch of viewing screen. It was actually fine enough til just last year when pink static lines started appearing. Any suggestions?

funny

getting ready to cnc since the 3d printing supplies are still "on their way"

baptistery

naked abandon

Miru Kim. Images from her Naked City Spleen series
See her website and her TED talk for yourself. Breathtaking.

bits for Rosanna

Here's an update of what I've been up to:

Learning Rhinoceros

Rubber duck tutorial


Tower of Samara, thanks to Gabe




Baptistery in Florence


Figuring out how I will cast/make molds

Starch 3d printer in the shop isn't operational (surprise!) so I tried the casting wax process on these babies (though not ideally shaped to be molds) to roughly see how the paraffin will react to the starch as a mold material.

The Vs mark the sides I smeared with vaseline, hoping the wax would more easily slip away with a little lube.

As you can see it didn't really make a difference. This might be due to the odd internal voids in the make-do forms... the wax ended up interlocking in a way that it probably won't in my objects. Still, I thought I'd be able to kind of break off pieces here and there but the wax was too tightly bound to the mold. There was one small thin sheet of wax (from sloppy pouring) that slid off a very greased surface so that was a bit promising.

Most molded candle-making requires the use of a mold release agent to separate candle from mold- usually a silicone-based spray, though vegetable oil spray can be used as well. With this in mind I tried again, this time in a more regularly shaped mold- paper coffee cups- and with olive oil as another lube option.



They were left overnight at room temperature. None of them came out at first. The little bore holes on top are from me trying to push them out with a pen. I put them in the freezer for around 5 minutes and then tried again. All of them slid out well enough with a bit of pressure. The olive oil had the nicest surface finish, though not by too much.



I'm still unsure of how to go about doing this project. I like the paraffin enough as a material- its soft white colour (was hoping it would be more translucent/clear but whatever), odourlessness (will take scent without interference), easy workability (low melting point and not too toxic as far as I know)... and it's relatively cheap. I just hope I can make a decent mold for it.

smell new york

thanks to E.Jae for this link: new york smell map

this one i remember:

THE PAY PHONE SCENT
mostly urine

nomadic living

via http://www.nextnature.net

star shaped perfume architecture

HUMIECKI & GRAEF

You can visit this German luxury perfume label's website at www.humieckiandgraef.com

They describe their company as "memory mirrored in fragrance.... an emotional home base in a virtualized, globalized world."

Their "five uncommon fragrances evoke the atmosphere of lingering memory. Inspired by life's ardent narratives, the five distinctive moods are subtly yet intensely rendered."

The concept: "Cubism in a bottle. Individual fragrance concepts inspired by atypical, emotionally evocative motifs such as madness, melancholy, and fury, translated into select scent... For H&G, [perfumer Christophe] Laudamiel replaced the conventional pyramid shaped fragrance 'architecture' with a star shaped model. An innovation that enabled him to express emotional complexity and clearly distinguish different fragrance notes, allowing the scent to develop harmoniously and sustain itself on the skin."

Their fragrances really do sound lovely and interesting. I want to list the elements of each of their five scents first, without revealing the name and description of each... wouldn't it be fun to try to match the elements to their artfully composed descriptions? (wait, is it the other way around?)

The elements:

A: lovage, sensual musk, barley extract, frankincense, myrrh, Roman chamomile, absinth

B: birch tar, Guatemalan cardamom, soft leather, ginger, grapefruit, vetivert, Egyptian mimosa

C: soft amber, musky soft violet, soft petal, soft fir resin

D: cinnamon bark, frozen orange note, green pineapple, immortelle absolute, Vietnamese cilantro, green violet, peach kernal, ozonic red berries freshness

E: green banana, fresh mandarin peel, fresh lemon, Italian fresh mint leaves, rhubarb juice, bamboo sape accord


The five fragrances:

Skarb, "a fragrance about melancholy. Inspiration: The deep Slavic soul
Evocation: The bittersweet swell of sorrow and mysticism; at once rough and tender, deep elegance."

Askew, "a fragrance about fury. Inspiration: The demolition of the classical men's fragrance.
Evocation: An abundance of fire and explosion, energy and virility."

Geste, "a fragrance about intensity. Inspiration: A mature woman in love with a young man
Evocation: The softness of a young beau's skin with the purity of a crisp white shirt, the sweetness of freshly baked bread, and the mystery maturity brings to love."

Multiple Rouge, "a fragrance about folly and fun. Inspiration: Devil-may-care madness.
Evocation: A singular fruity note, a sort of futuristic wild strawberry. It is the moment when you forget the world around you, throwing caution to the wind, taking a dancing club with you."

Eau Radieuse, "a fragrance about desire. Inspiration: A futuristic remake of an Eau de Cologne.
Evocation: Celestial spheres. Light. Total clarity. You yearn for ease and are transported to a wondrous place on an unknown planet."



To find out which elements evoke which experience/memory, check out the website.... just kidding, (I didn't transcribe all of this for nothing) - the lists correspond directly with one another. Still, you should check out the website to see their um, evocative images... An androgynous young man with a single tear on his cheek, the torso of a nude muscular bearded man as he sits on the edge of a sofa, gripping a ceramic vase.... it's worth a cruise by.

plants, animals, shells of animals

from Historia Naturalis Palmarum (The Natural History of Palm Trees, 1823 to 1850) by Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius... see more here


from Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms of Nature, 1899 to 1904) by Ernst Haeckel... see more here


via ffffound