Tag Archives: video

Stained Wood and Swingin’ Music

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Man, Tina is going to town on this RBS project I’ve handed to her. Check it out. She’s doing test designs and stain colors on scrap wood for this thing. Honestly, I figured she’d just whip out some nifty little design, draw it out, stain, and bam – we’re done. But no, such is not the case. She’s being meticulous about every detail. Witness the use of the bone folder if you don’t believe me. Feel free to leave her a comment if you like. I’m sure she’d enjoy hearing from you.

Today we also have a first for you here, kids. It’s personal video! Well, it’s not my personal video, but I’m actually in it, part of it. In addition, this is, if not the first, then one of the first blogs containing much about my musical pursuits. I play with a band regularly, and while I’ve been working with the same band for over ten years now, it occurred to me a few months ago that I have some good friends with whom I’ve fallen out of touch musically. Some of these guys are people with whom I formed my first band in college. I thought it no coincidence that, not long after I arrived at this conclusion, one member of that group of friends came to me and essentially said, “I have a line on this gig with these other friends of ours. Do you want to do it?”

Have I ever told you about how I don’t believe in coincidences? I don’t. I think stuff happens for a reason. I think I got the opportunity to rejoin my friends and play with some new folks right at the exact time that I was ready to embrace the opportunity. It was a little unnerving, because I’ve been used to playing with the same guys for so long. New stuff, even old new stuff, can be kind of scary. I spent twelve hours total driving to practice with these guys so that we could do the best job possible. Still, the big day arrives, and you’re a little nervous. Even if it’s just a house party, you’re a little nervous. Will the show set sail, moving gallantly into open waters, waves crashing at its bow as it triumphantly makes its maiden voyage, or will it get about eight feet from the pier, suddenly begin taking on water, and moments later present only the mast above the waterline?

I’m happy to say that she fared well, and an excellent time was had by all. The inside joke on the song’s title comes from the last name of one of the attendees. The guitarist wrote this song especially to mock him, which is what musicians do to people they like. It’s a bit of cheese, but then the whole point was to have fun with it. I’m lucky I have friends who ask me to be part of things like this. It was big fun.

Inspiration

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I’m a little chagrined here, a little excited, a bit enthused, and rather admiring. It is my wont to occasionally peruse that veritable cornucopia of visual medium known as Youtube. There’s TOOOOONS of absolute crap on it, but there is also an amazing amount of truly wonderful material out there to inspire, assist, and educate. Today, while trying to re-find a video on a giant rolling ball sculpture that a college student built for his thesis in engineering or physics or something (it uses bowling balls that reach speeds of 80mph – sweet!) I came across a video I’ve never seen before.

Behold, awesome readers, a copper rolling ball sculpture that aspires to art as much as movement:

View, view, view, and view. I can’t get enough of this thing! I mean, just, like, just check out…LOOK! The frame, it’s not just eight pieces of water pipe soldered together to make a box. Those curves, so swooping and graceful, and notice that where they dip they become contact points for the supports that hold up the track – gorgeous and effective. Two points! The solder joints are all very well done, and the spacers for the track are shaped into rings rather than simple flat bars. Note that other support legs are formed into curved pieces as well, and small termination points are shaped into curls. All these elements add to the whole of the sculpture. It’s very harmonious, no?

And look at the use of open space. The marbles seem to zip and float across the curved track in the center, then gracefully move through the spiral, exiting at the bottom without a bump. The visual grace is fantastic. I admire how he has taken car to not use too many support rods. It has a very clean feeling to it. I wish I could see it up close without the shadows in the background to distract from the effect. It’s really great stuff.

In addition, the lift wheel is beautiful. I’m trying to figure out what it’s made of, as I believe a solid copper piece of that size would price in at an extremely health chunk of change (brass wheels of three inches in diameter are 80 bucks, for what that’s worth, and all metals have sharply increased in price in the past year). The fit and finish on everything is of very high quality.

I post all this, partly in reference to some comments made by Matthew Gaulden about some characteristics of my own work. I must enjoy the curving lines, as I was immediately drawn to this when it came up on my screen. I also post it as a point of interest, to give you an idea of just what inspires me when I do my own work. You and I are learning this stuff together, as I’m very early in the process, and there will be many discoveries as to what makes me go, “Oh, yeah! I wanna do THAT!” Right now, this is the sort of thing I want to do. I’m finishing a smaller work right now, but the long, uninterrupted lengths of smooth track on this piece are really, really getting me going. I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that doesn’t show up in one of my future works. This is finely crafted stuff. I wish the guy lived in the U.S. I’d love to meet him some time.

This weekend I have some free time. Hopefully, that means there will be more accomplishment news come Monday. See you then.