I am still on the planet, upright and taking nourishment. I have been very distracted and not made a habit of posting blogs - this is not a good thing - I need to be more electronically communicative.

The Exhibition project proceeded slowly, mostly because I had not thought all the processes through before I began and I agonized over the surface that I wanted to present as the vessels for the fiber optic materials. I finally decided that although the copper forms were active along their edges they need to have longitudinal texture to provide a background echo for the fibers. Hammer and file texture provide this and also allow for  copper highlights to be seen if they are patina'd. The pin backs were not difficult to fabricate. The bigger challenge now will be to assemble the elements using rivets - given the   folded complexity of the metal elements I will have to rivet from the back - another new challenge - BUT I should make the deadline next week.

The second project I elected to make a bracelet in which the cast skins of dragonfly nymphs are cast in resin - a take of insects in amber and the irony of casts of casts - couldn't resist it. i performed several experiments with defective casts to determine the appropriate way to suspend the casts in resin without them either sinking or floating. I think my layering technique will fly but I think I also will pre-coat the casts in Krylon acrylic to seal in any moisture that may generate resin polymerization defects.

Rachel - even with her finals looming took time out to go thru vacuum casting with me and we cast a VERY large dragonfly nymph skin. It was remarkably successful given the extreme fragility of the cast skin. the legs are hair thin but cast beautifully . The abdomen did not cast -too flimsy but I have a piece that it absolutely full of possibilities for combining natural organism in a fabricated setting. Tune in next semester.

The bottom line here is that I have too many irons in the fire at once. Prioritize, prioritize.  

 I have not included much description of process in my blog but I will try to remedy that before the end of the semester. I am including photos that "Cherry" took.They prove that I DO go into the studio!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are of the processes involved in my experiments to embed nymphs in resin  - my thanks to my colleague for these illustrations. 

Ta ta