a problem or an awesome?

After taking two days off because of sickness I have begun to suspect I am far too easily amused. This could be a problem or very awesome. I'm not sure which. Or it could be a false dichotomy and really be dracula.

Escher Sketch

No I didn't make this, I found it on Cracked.com's list of everyday objects as if MC Escher had designed them. It amuses me.

Anyway, Etch-a-Sketches always frustrated me when I was little because I didn't have enough control to make good curves. I didn't have enough fine control or patience to get it right. So I made a lot of straight lines then threw it against the walls. I actually broke one too, just like I broke the magna doodle. Anyne else remember those? They used magnetism instead of whatever the hell Etch-a-Sketch used. I remember it was impossible to get an unbroken line on mine because the little magnetic cells didn't line up like I wanted them to.

I was such a picky little kid.

Squiggles and mindless activities

I like doing mindless things sometimes. It's calming, makes me feel more stable. The squiggles are one of those things. Some variations of simple algebra also work and writing out permutations of strings of numbers or letters (yes, I know that doesn't seem mindless, but it is for me). I once wrote out all the different ways to rearrange the letters in "aardvark" but I lost the notebook so I can't prove it anymore. It took me a large chunk of senior year in high school. 

Anyway, the squiggles were happening long before that. I don't make the squiggles, they happen when I let my mind go blank with a writing utensil in my hand. I do have to deliberately start them, but they make themselves without conscious guidance. I keep the ones that look interesting in the end. I do them mostly on post-it notes now. I used to use pages of my sketchbooks, but I would always start thinking before I finished a page. I didn't like that, so I went to a smaller size. 

I mostly use sharpies now, I used to use pencil but I hated having to stop sharpen them or even to click the mechanical ones. The squiggles are all single lines that tend to cover the entire post-it. I don't keep many that don't cover it entirely, I  don't like when they feel incomplete.

They tend to reflect my physical rather than emotional state I think. the second one down was done when I had a stomach ache, for example, the first one was a headache.

whailing

This is from a webcomic called Bunny. Yes those are bunnies...

Bas Relief

Yes it is. What amazes me is how white can look so off-white depending on how you hold the camera. oh yeah, and I got myself a decent camera to work with.

Comparison

Old Wings taken with a better camera: 

New Wings, taken with camera on my phone: 

Ignoring the lopsidedness, I think the new ones are a good improvement. Besides being overall larger, the shaping (look at the right side, please) is more realistic. The feathers themselves are trimmed to be rounded rather than pointed and the overall shape of the wing is closer to what I wanted, longer than they are wide with a smoother curve on the inside edge. They don't even use that many more feathers than the first one due to not doubling up the lowest layer of feathers. And the layering of the feathers themselves is less controlled. This looks messier, but more natural than the old ones, tough the old ones are more shiny because of it.

First pair- finished!

The first pair of wings with the new design is finished. Turned out a bit lopsided, but I know what went wrong so the next pair should be fine. I'm going to start several pairs at once now to be ready for the convention in February.

Also, you can see my table in the third picture without the nice cloth set up. This is where i work on everything. Art, Wings, Randomness. Basically everything not done on my computer is done here. I'm constantly cleaning to keep different materials from getting onto each new thing. Going from a charcoal drawing straight into working on these pretty white feathers would be a terrible idea as would accidentally gluing feathers to my 3D work. So I'm constantly cleaning up. I have to be neater and more organized than ever before in my life because of the limited space in which to work.

More wings

This is what goes underneath the feathers.

I start with a metal frame made out of fencing wire.

I like this wire because it's easily bent with sustained pressure, but won't bend if it just gets hit. This is important for the wings because they'll get bumped a lot as you walk around with them on. I use three pieces of wire then crimp and solder them together to make the places where they join strong.

The first three pictures are different views of the frame.

Then I wrap the frame in fabric matching the color of the wings: white in this case. This is in pic four. The frame doesn't provide enough places to anchor all the feathers, that's why the fabric is important. I'll hot glue the feathers directly onto the fabric and use the way the fabric is cut as a guide for placing the feathers.

Wasted day

I slept all day today. I hate when that happens because now a lot of the things I meant to do today will be delayed until tomorrow and I'll be up all night. Then tomorrow, I'll tired from having my internal clock thrown off and have twice as many things to get done. That said, it felt great at the time.

Oh yeah, the picture is a painting done on a minicanvas during an art club lock-in. I didn't make it, I bought it for ten dollars because it amuses me.

Drinking the Kool-Aid

My Dad used to use that expression a lot. I wonder why he stopped...

This comic strip is from the webcomic Something Happens by Thomas Dye. So is the one in the previous post. I didn't draw them. I doubt any comics posted here will be drawn by me because I don't have the patience for it.

This is not a blog post... wait, yes it is!

To understand this comic, you need to know about the painting The Treachery of Images by Rene Magritte. Use the wikipedia if you must.

Dead Bird

I can be a bit morbid at times. Sorry if you're squeamish and had no warning before you saw these. I'm not sure how it died, but I found a dead bird outside my dorm a few months ago. Morbid curiosity got the better of me so I took pictures of it's intact wing with my cell phone. The other one seemed to be broken because it was at an odd angle to the rest of the body.

I didn't touch it directly, but I did take care of the body afterwards.

Boxes o feathers...

These are all the feathers I use in making wings. the first is a box full of tom rounds which I use for most of the wings I make.

 The second pic has Marabou, which are fluffy and used on the tops of the wings.

The third is the box of Marabou, use caution when opening because your room could end up coated in a pound of fluff if you don't. Yes, they crammed a pound of feathers in there.

The fourth and fifth show the Turkey tom round feathers which are curved so I got half a pound of left and half a pound of right to have both sides of the wings work right. Also, if I had only one side, I'd fly in circles. The round need a bit of trimming to look extra pretty.

I also have both kinds of feathers in Black, but the pictures of these are clearer.

WIngs

Wings. I make them. And I plan to sell them so I don't have to get a real job. This is the old version. I'll get pics of improved ones up once I have pics. I don't currently have a decent camera... It's problematic.

The first

Starting things is always the hardest part. So I'll just take the easy route on this one and complain about how hard it is.