Hammer Time

I was thinking of a fantastical hammer, that would be impractical to wield.  The challenge this week was sourcing large enough blocks of wood to create a big enough hammer head.  I was hoping to find some wood around the sidewalks during my walking routes.  I did find a set of nice oak sofa legs, but they were too small and tapered for this project.

Tuesday is usually my most productive day since I don't have classes and I'm nearby school.  It was snowing a mixture of snow and gross.  I recalled in my memory that one of the Blick stores by Canal st. had these large wood blanks when looking for supplies for my final last semester but, to my disappointment their stock had changed (or my brain).  So I stepped out and Googled "wood supply" and came across a building supply store a few blocks away.

I walked inside the warehouse of building materials, wall-to-wall with plywood and pressure treated wood.  It was the kind of environment that reminded me of the lumbar yards my dad used to take me on his various supply runs for projects.  This one was more compact, Chinatown style.  Anyway, I came upon two decent sizes of wood, looked like cedar, discarded by the table saw.  Perfect,  I grabbed them and went up to the counter and asked.

"Hi...Can I just take these?"

"oh no, you have to pay."

"But they are just scrap left over by the table saw over there."

"No, still have to pay for everything here."

A pause.

"How much?"

"Five dollars"

I paid the man and he included one of those generic bags usually associated with take-out food.  I hopped on my way through the snow excited I found something to turn.

The lathe was open! Yes!

The fresh wood I bought from China Town smelt wonderful as it pelted me like the exit of a wood chipper.

~

The only drawback of using the wood lathe when assignments due is that there is a queue of people behind you.  While some are calm and polite, others may have an encompassing stress, constantly asking when you are done.  Every time I stepped out to have a drink of water or wash some of the dust off every pore of my body, I was asked if I was finished or told how I can turn faster if I use this chisel (which was totally the wrong way to use that type of chisel, you can tell by it's shape).  Then while I was turning someone goes behind my back without asking to turn on the vacuum for the band saw.  They were students I have never seen before, much younger, being loosely accompanied by a 2nd year.  I don't know where they came from but the shop became crowded with lost looks.  The air of the shop changed into a nervous taint and I had to take a break while they were exclaiming how big the pieces of wood they were cutting were. I will not get into how the chisels were before I used them, but they were burnt black and misshapen.

(I needed to get that out)

Anyway, how I longed for an environment to match the nature of turning.  This was not the setting I wanted to work and it turned to a rush job.  My holes of my hammer head are all offset but I had to step away.

Next time, when there is more time, I want to re-do the hammer head with the other block of wood I have. I want to rework this project, or at least create one in a better environment.  The handle feels in great in my hand, and I'm proud of that.  I also want to buy my own chisel and keep it far from anyone but myself.

But I still love that moment of smelling the fresh cut wood.  It was so fragrant and intoxicating. 

LED Fade

This weeks assignment was to create an LED fade that can be interrupted.

Using materials around the floor I planned to create a flower night light.

Some fiber optic cable I bought last semester but never used.

Arduino with a HIGH and LOW state switch along with the LED light source for the flower.

Testing ways to use the fiber optic cable.

Construction of the diffuser petals, created from different opacities of paper.  The thicker weight paper was used as a base to focus the light and give structure.  Then the lighter opacity paper was built off of that.  YG in the back hard at work.

Difficult to capture the LED in this environment, but this video shows when the user activates the switch, the fade will accelerate the speed fading up/down.  When the user's hand comes off the switch, the fade will resume the default speed at the same point it left off.

Here is the default fade being run in a darker room.

Light and Interactive: Week 1

A view from the Manhattan Bridge – Sunrise.

The sunrises in NY is often something that is overshadowed by morning commutes and the anxiety of the day that awaits.  I find that in the morning, as the sun strikes the buildings facing east there is a spectacular display of reflection from the different architectural choices from the buildings.

The warm glow from the sun filters through the smog giving a diffused blue glow in the background.  Closely resembles robin egg blue, but paler. 

The windows of the newer buildings reflect the light like a seamless mirror from a distance, adding depth between the seemingly cramped city plan.

The older buildings absorb more of the glow and offer a nice contrast to the cooler colors emitted by the reflective buildings.

In the foreground the bridge has many shadows cast by the steel support frames and even the brilliance of the traffic cone pops out from the dark asphalt it sits upon.

There are many objects in this photo, but the tones set by the sunrise brings it all together in unison.