Man, since January I’ve not posted? Wow. I guess I’ve had a lot of other things going on, many of them either not blog-worthy, or things I just can’t share (but hope to before long).

At any rate, I can share this sculpture piece. I completed it a little while back, but I’ve had to do some vetting of photos on Flickr, because I’m nearing my limit for the free account, and I’m having a hard time justifying spending cash on the paid account. Sure wish I could find some money lying around. Oh, I did try the lottery twice in desperation, probably around January, but the winds did not blow in my favor, so I just picked up additional work. More on the additional work in a moment.

Sculpture:

Nifty, huh? I kind of love it, although it was a ridiculous pain to build. It fought me at several points. There were odd little things to square away to keep marbles from rolling all over the floor, and then I went and got really crazy and built that seemingly simply brass piece at the end. I was under a tight deadline, and the “steps” seemed like such a simple idea. It was brilliant!

Brilliant, yes. Simple, no. I figured it would take me, well, I don’t know how long, but not long. Maybe I was thinking an hour or two. I believe it was closer to six or eight, and with the schedule I was on at the time, that was like adding another week to it. It did underscore my need for some metal-bending tools, like a brake or a small press. With a press and an appropriate die I would have had that thing made in half the time.

However, it all turned out very nicely. The steps are of brass, and since they are suspended rather freely on the copper they have a fair bit of ring to them when hit by the marbles. It’s a nice affect, and precisely what I was going after.

I did learn a lesson from this, and that was on the practical side of time investment and pricing. I think I priced this appropriately at the time I was commissioned for it, but in the future my prices will have to change. I simply cannot produce work like this in a short time span. I tracked the hours on this one, and it overshot my estimate by fifty to seventy-five percent.

I am quite pleased with this one, though, and with all the help I received on it in various forms from other people. It sapped a lot of my time at some rather crucial points, and the understanding I received at those times was pretty wonderful.