Archive for May, 2006

Screwing with WordPress


2006
05.31

Today I met Jerry at Barnes and Noble to work on customizing the template. We worked from around 6 to 10 and got a semi workable compromise …which really means Jerry figured a bunch of stuff out and I went uh huh and oh a lot.

I am not going to go into a painful play by play because one I’m not capable of regurgitating what we actually did at this time and if I even tried no one would ever try this. Right now my poor head is swimming in index.php and header.php and footer.php. I will however warn all readers …especially the artists… that if a tutorial starts with build your site using php and css you might want to find Jerry.

cheers and good night.

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The van Arnhem Family Bracelet Part I


2006
05.30

The Original van Arnhem Family Bracelet
The Original Bracelet

For the last 3 weeks (in addition to working my day job, trying to create my website, hassling with this blog, getting my portfolio together, and having some semblance of family life I have been taking a casting class at Burke High School with Denis Garrett on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My hopes and dreams for this class? Reconstructing a family bracelet that belonged to my great grandmother, was given to my grandmother by my grandfather, and which was once the lock on our family bible.

Let me give you a little history about the bracelet since this project actually began in April of 2005 and officially start in my pre-blog life. I am going to have to fill in a lot of gaps this way for awhile so here goes…

In April of 2005 Christopher (my better half) and I went to see my grandmother in Canada. We also spent a couple of days in the Art and Design District in Toronto and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the wine vineyards around Niagara. Note to readers…try ice wine…mmm…ice wine. While we were on this trip my grandmother unlocked the safe and showed me the bracelet. Her dilemma? One family bracelet, 4 daughters, even more granddaughters, and what to do.

Why not cast it, I said. Silly me. Casting is for PROFESSIONALS…

So off we went to Michael’s. Yes, they have Michael’s in Canada to buy polymer clay to take molds of the bracelet. I also picked up up a set of clay tools that I completely destroyed while sculpting “Pretty Tied Up.” Note to readers… do not buy inexpensive clay tools from Michael’s for this purpose because they can’t withstand the abuse. So, we were successful and the molds were taken, baked, and packed. They made it safely to Charleston, SC along with 5 bottles of wine from various small Niagara Vineyards …and sat in my studio for over a year waiting (the molds, not the wine).

The first idea was to try precious metal clay. This did not work. Let’s just leave it at that. And so, the molds sat a little longer while I contemplated the options. Then my friend Idee emailed that Dennis was having a casting class and here we are.

The Molds
The Molds

Week 1 – Class 1 (May 16, 2006):
Found the molds. This was N0T a small feat in itself. I finally figured out what color wax to use (blue, why blue…because Dennis said so). Then I followed Dennis around bugging him to get the wax pot going. I also realized I needed and found the silicone spray. At that point the wax was ready but we could not find a ladle so Dennis MADE one to pour the wax (this is a community education class so sometimes we have to be creative). In the process of trying to figure out how to actually get the wax into the molds before it cooled I burnt the crap out of all my fingers and finally was able to pour the first set of molds …which were no good …and at that point the class was over.

Wax Molds
We have a Wax Cast!

Week 1 – Class 2 (May 18, 2006):
Yippee, today I got to start the whole process over again, minus making the ladle which I kept and finding the wax ‘cause I kept a block of that too. I was able to:
*get one set of good molds
*weigh the wax
*see how many grams it weighed
* spend most of my time cleaning up the wax casts using an alcohol lamp and dental tools.

Tedious. Then someone showed me the electric hot pen with multiple tips. Darn, I sure have used that earlier. Class was over for the week but I felt I had made good progress.

Week 2 – Class 1 (May 23, 2006):
Today I realized I had not finished putting the holes in for the o-rings in the bracelet and had to fix that . Then I had to follow poor Dennis around the room asking him what to do next. This led to:
*an explanation about how to attach wax spru’s
*a demonstration on how the canisters fit together
*an all out hunt to find the sticky wax.

I personally never found the sticky wax and used red wax and that lovely hot pen instead but was able to get my bracelet on the tree and inside of a canister. Great…what to do next? I began following Dennis around the room again throwing questions at him while he is trying to help the 6 other students in the class.

Note to self: I have decided that Dennis is a saint in a human body. I also find myself wondering on a regular basis if Geshe Dakpa Topgyal is channeling tranquility to him since the Charleston Tibetan Society is down the street.

So after following Dennis around for awhile we figured out we had to “mix the investment” and that we would have to wait for the next class to start. But that was ok because we had a plan!

Week 2 – Class 2 (May 25, 2006):
So today we found out what “mixing the investment” means. It’s white stuff and it requires:
*math skills
*scales
*powders
*thermometers
*specific water temperatures.

Uh OH! At this point I was painfully aware that I needed to find a buddy. Most studio classes are best done using the buddy system. Without the buddy system in a studio class it is about 99 percent guaranteed you will never get your project off the ground. Why? Studio classes are the breeding ground for general confusion, inexperience, lack of knowledge, lost materials, inexperience in using most tools, and an unfair student to teacher ratio. Gratefully Idee was at the same place I was and also needed a buddy.

HI BUDDY! Happily, she is a wonderful buddy that possesses not only a calm and organized demeanor, but also math skills…Go Idee! So we:
*found all the stuff we needed
*read the directions
*Idee did the math
*mixed 2 batches of investment
*poured the investment into our canisters
*decided we should find Dennis again.

So we followed Dennis around the room again, parroting “we poured the investment what do we need have to do now” until he paid attention to us (I have to say this again. I am not sure why he does this…he must be exhausted when he goes home), and realized we had POURED THE INVESTMENT AND ONLY HAD 9 M1NUTES T0 FINISH and saved us by putting cylinders on the vibraty thing to knock all the air bubbles out. At this point the class was over, we were late getting out, my head was reeling from TOO MUCH MATH, and I am sure Dennis was so ready to go home.

Instructions
Figuring out the Instructions for the Investment

Investment
Mixing the Investment

Pouring the Investment
Pouring the Investment 9 Minutes & Counting!

Vibraty Thing
Dennis Figures Out the Vibraty Thing

No Air Bubbles
Look Ma! No Air Bubbles!

The Weekend Before Week 3
Scrap Silver
Accepting Silver Donations

I failed to mention that we also had to:
* weigh the piece
*spru and stem attached
*do mental high jinks
*math…lots of math
*figure out how much silver we need

This included converting grams to ounces and adding a percentage for burn off. Idee and I spent way to much time trying to figure this out. I finally gave up and asked Google. Google’s answer? Approximately 7 ounces. So now I knew and off I went hunting for silver. While looking I ran across the original pictures of the bracelet and I thought my head was going to explode. I had forgotten to cut the wax out of the backgrounds and I had put the holes in the wrong places. What to do? I had already poured the investment and Dennis had already put the mold in the kiln over the weekend to melt out the wax. I decided to pour.

Weigh the Pieces
Weighing the Piece

Math
Help Me Google!

Week 3 – Class 1 (May 30, 2006):
I got to class late and EVERY FREAKING GATE was padlocked shut and I could not get in. I considered trying to climb over the fence but it has lots of poky things and I was really not dressed appropriately for this type of activity. As I walked around the campus hoping to find an unlocked gate a very sketchy woman who was talking to herself minus her shoes and wearing a red terry cloth bathrobe like a superhero cape kept following me.

I got nervous (It is under debate exactly how safe the neighborhood around Burke is…my opinion is basically if you got the tools/equipment I need to use I’ll go to you and sometimes you wind up in interesting places), tried Idee on her cell phone (didn’t’t get her), and decided to leave. I got two blocks away and Idee called so I turned around and guess who was waiting to let me in…Dennis ( thank you Dennis). I was an hour late. Ok, I thought. I am supposed to do this.

I weighed the silver I had found. We had enough so Dennis put boric acid in the crucible and heated it up. That didn’t work so we went to Plan B (crucible #2). We put the mold into the kiln to heat it up and arranged the workspace. Dennis heated up Plan B crucible and I put the measured silver in. We were off and running. Here’s what happened next:
Dennis blasted the silver (this is amazing to watch), melted it and when it was ready ran over to the kiln
took the mold out and put it in the hole on the vibraty thing.

Guess What? The entire mold PROMPTLY GOES UP IN FLAMES. UH OH. Major equipment malfunction. ALERT…THE SYSTEM HAS EXPERIENCED A MAJOR HIT…STOP EVERYTHING UNTIL THE CRISIS HAS BEEN AVERTED!!! DANGER!

Ok, so we got the crisis resolved and decided it was okay to resume the sequence. Then we realized that the silver has solidified so we had to re-melt the silver. When it was ready we began to pour it into the mold and ran into another system error. The vibraty thing is not producing suction …Operator (Dennis) about to explode …Minus ten and counting …Bystander (me) completely in the way.
Boric Acid
Coating the Crucible with Boric Acid

Silver
7 Ounces of Silver in Plan B


Fire

I’m Meeelting…

Getting Ready to Pour
Getting Ready to Pour

Pouring

Right Before the System Malfunction

After the crisis had been averted Dennis and I agreed that this did not work. We put the mold on the shelf to cool so we can reclaim the silver next week. We also agreed that it might be a good idea if Dennis contacted the manufacturer for more specific instructions on how to use the vibraty thing. Where are we? 0 to 60 in 6 minutes. Thursday I have to bring the molds, find the wax, find the ladle (I gave it back), get the wax pot, pour the molds, clean up the molds, mix the investment, weigh the piece, do the math, melt the silver, and try again. Why? Because this bracelet has a mind of its own and does not want to be made any differently than it is …OK ..I GET IT. I will make the bracelet correctly. I’ll keep you posted. Same bat place, same bat time…

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Pictures for the Portfolio


2006
05.29


Taking Pictures in My Makeshift Photography Studio…sometimes things are just easier with 2 people…like always.

Today I took pictures of all the figure drawings with the new camera from work (great camera… Panasonic DMC-FX01 Lumix… in the hopes that I can get some of them turned into slides to send to Vermont.

My working conditions were less than to be desired…
between fighting with the red ants, trying to keep the dogs away from my artwork, 2 of which I am pet sitting and don’t listen to me (although they look adorable and very well behaved on the couch) trying to figure out the new camera, and wondering if anyone else takes pictures for their portfolio this way.

I also realized that it was beginning to look like rain…and began wondering if we were going to have ANOTHER tornado warning …which I have also attributed to Jerry because we have had one a weekend since he came to work with us …I think he’s a tornado portal…so I have finished with taking the pictures and am trying to get into the habit of documenting the “experience”…after that I am going to have a well deserved tasty beverage.
The House Guests – What? Who? Me?

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Text Message and Email Posts


2006
05.26

OK! Let’s try this one more freaking time.

In an effort to make documenting the process of reading, writing, sketching, and creating a little easier I had the bright idea of setting up text message and email posts to the process blog to make it a little more convenient and to save time…hmph.

Eventually we got it (we being me any my insanely helpful friend Jerry) …although as in most things technical it was not exactly the answer I was hoping for…but it will suffice. If I want to post text I have to email from my phone which gives me unlimited blah blah time but nothing to look at. If I want to post pictures I have to text message them and I only get about 3 lines of blah blah …but I can edit after the fact…gruel…ling. I think it is still better than always having to sit down at a computer (today, I think this today).

Oh yeah and there is still the problem of the subject from the text message says “You have new Picture Mail”…how exciting.

So that is where we are at today.
Cheers

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You have new Picture Mail!


2006
05.26

src=”http://www.jpvanarnhem.com/mobile_images /unnamed-image-1-716868.jpg” mce_src=”http:// www.jpvanarnhem.com/mobile_images/unnamed- image-1-716868.jpg” /> Lady Madonna in the process of getting her hair extensions installed.

Which really means I have posted a picture from my phone to the blog but it didn’t freaking show up.

Drat Drat Double Drat.

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We have begun! Sort of…


2006
05.16

Over the last several weeks my insanely helpful friend Jerry Spiller (a.k.a. the great code guru) has been helping me modify the template blogger template file to match my website that he also helped me with by writing the php script so that my images will randomly change at jpvanarnhem.com. Thanks Jerry!

Then he made the mistake of educating me about the pro’s and con’s of WordPress…in particular the ability to tag and search posts) so we have been messing around with that.

Where are we? It is installed on my server and I am reading the tutorial about how to customize it. I am also patiently waiting for more help from Jerry

In the interim we have decided that the best thing to do is to go ahead and post to the blogger account so that something is at least getting documented.

I am currently trying to think about want tags should be in the posts so that when we convert them to Wordpress I don’t have to figure that out too.

So that is where we are right now. Kinda like an e-ticket ride at Disneyland.

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About this Project


2006
05.15

Why am I Doing This…

The Process Blog is a documentary of the creative process for new and existing pieces. The goal of the Process Blog is to document in real time the activities and thought processes that an artist goes through while creating. I hope to provide a documentary of the everyday life of an artist and to provide insight to how pieces are developed inside and outside of an artist’s studio practice.

A Little History…

The blog was an offshoot project that resulted from the development of my website at jpvanarnhem.com, which was an offshoot project that resulted from my interest in trying to get to graduate school and a direct result of me meeting (and taking an inflated steel workshop with) Sabrina Fadial at the College of Charleston.

Timing is Everything…

I have been working towards creating my portfolio for graduate school since 1998. During this time I have completed my BA in Education and continued taking courses in studio art. My interest in John Dewey led me through a slippery slope to Union Institute & University at Vermont College. While attending a presentation given by Sabrina Fadial her explanation of documenting the creative process made a huge impact on me.

I was also reading Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit and had been mulling over the idea that in order to be creative you had to create a lifestyle for yourself that promoted creativity, discipline, and the time for thought and reflection. Sabrina’s message that you had to read, write and create everyday echoed in my head as I left the presentation.

And then I Stewed…

And tried to figure out how I was going to create the environment that I needed to be creative and document the creative process in a way that worked for me.

What I Realized…

I needed a lot of help to 1) make it work, 2) work out the technical kinks, 3) actually start posting, and 4) present the information the way I wanted to.

Who I Need to Thank…

Jerry Spiller for all his help in creating the the customized Blogger.com blog, figuring out how to customize the WordPress Blog, writing ALL the PHP on this site, being a really great friend and pretty much making this happen! This project is as much his as it is mine.

Visit BitRot at http://www.unc.edu/~jmspille/blog.shtml.

Enjoy and check back often.

Proost,
Jolanda

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