Safety. And this is what you shouldn't do.

When I took Sculpture 1, I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the things I need to know about EVERYTHING in the studio.  Now that I've used most of the equipment and tools enough, it doesn't seem so bad.  I just had to remember the important things.  Like my friend and fellow sculpture emphasis student Kaiti said, "it's easier to remember this stuff because if you don't, you're dead."  Or seriously injured.

A guy in my metal casting class last year got his hair caught in an angle grinder.  If he hadn't been wearing a face shield, he would most likely be dead.  Always keep long hair tied back.  Safety is no joke.

I should follow that rule too.  A couple weeks ago, I neglected to tie my hair back before a metal pour and I got a chunk of it burned.  Apparently it was a laughing matter.  And so was getting wax in my hair the next day.  I've accepted that I am that student.  whatever.

Most people who know me know that I'm a little obsessed with metal casting.  It's a very long, process-intensive art which requires patience, skill and creativity--all three of which I am still developing.  I like casting bronze for many reasons, one of which is the ability to patina.  A patina is a chemical applied to the surface of a metal, in this case, bronze, which oxidizes and causes a color change.  Don't even get me started on how I excited I get about patinas.  When I get excited, occasionally I get dumb, too.

I was warned about certain chemicals in the patina locker.  I should have just treated them all like radioactive waste, but we don't have the equipment for that.  I was reallllllly careful with the chemical whose name contains the word "cyanide," however, I was clumsily stupid with the one that is quite possibly the worst chemical in that locker.  I got it all over my hands and I didn't think anything of it.  Well, until the next eight hours when I felt like I was dying.  I gave possible credit to the fact that I really hadn't slept in three days.  I looked up symptoms of cyanide poisoning.  I really couldn't differentiate my symptoms on any other day.  I should have looked up the other chemical.

 I drug myself to my room and collapsed on my bed.  I'm going to die and no one is going to know for a few days.  I was extremely weak.  Every muscle in my body was screaming in pain.  Anything cool or cold that touched my skin hurt.  I was sweating, shivering uncontrollably, and running a fever.  My head and eyes hurt so bad it made me want to vomit.  I knew what the stomach flu was like, and it was never this bad.

and then I died.  just kidding.

This all happened about a year ago.  Then last semester, I was using this chemical again.  One of my best friends came in to give me some music.  I noticed that I had just a bit of the chemical on my hand, so I thought, lets see how bad this stuff is.  I wasn't really expecting anything until the first MSDS I clicked on featured a skull and cross bones.  shit.  Sodium Dichromate MSDS

Sodium dichromate is not to be fucked with, kids.  Watch Erin Brokovich.

a month later, I spilled that shit on my pants.  Am I subconsciously trying to kill myself?

Moral of the story:  Know what you are using and use the proper measures to safely handle the material.  GET THE MSDS!

first post...don't get your hopes up.

  Most students hate getting up in the morning to go to their classes.  I hate waking up, but I never miss a sculpture studio class.  I feel so fortunate that I get to do exciting things.  At least I think I do exciting things.  Metal casting, patinas, chainsaws, welding, wood working, plaster, clay, wax, etc. but most of all, fire.  Sculpture.  It can be anything, anywhere, and anytime you want it to be.  The possibilities are endless, astounding, and frightening.  It may sound dramatic, but I don't really think I could be this passionate about any other emphasis in art.

But if I have so much passion for sculpture, that would mean that I produce a lot of work, right?  Wrong.  In fact, as I write this post, I should be finishing a subtractive wood piece, a steel piece with mixed media, a steel chair with mixed media, a wax for the cast iron conference, and a number of waxes for glass casting.  With an exception of the last two on the list, I needed to have those done for this semester and the photo documentation for it.  Apparently I am bad at taking pictures of my work because my professor advised me to take a digital photo class.  It's true though.  I'm really bad at it.

I was in the studio almost every day.  Why didn't I get all of my stuff done?  It comes down to constant hesitant mindset and being easily distracted.

 And by easily distracted, mean whatever bugs the shit out of me.  With the hearing-damaging and vapor and particulate-polluted air which hangs around the numerous localized messes, it's unfortunate that I am easily annoyed and easily distracted.

Or rather, if I look annoyed, it should keep people away, right?  You wouldn't walk up to that dirty, pissed-off girl sitting in a pile of wet cement to ask some dumbass question like "what are you making?"  Last semester, I think I still had some restraint.  Rather than saying what I was thinking which was "I'm making sculpture, dammit!  LEAVE ME to my suffering.  I hate everything!"  I managed to make a considerably less offensive reply, "I'm still figuring it out.  I'm in the process stage."  

An example of my "process"
1)  Oh I have this great idea!  It's gonna be soooo cool!
2)  Ask professor about it, suggests a material I've never used before.  cement.
3)  Challenge Accepted!
4)  gung-ho attitude. buys all the necessary things.
5)  gets started.  mixing cement is hard work.  oh well, this is going to work anyway.
6)  Expectations are seeming unrealistic by the minute.  what the shitballs?!  it's like trying to nail jello to a tree!  
7)  Doubt.  this isn't going to fucking work.  this isn't what I wanted.  
8)  Self-doubt.  is it because I'm stupid?  Am I too incompetent to work with cement?  I suck.
9)  Misplaced blame.  no. HE sucks.  cement was his bright idea.  he should have known I'd be too impatient and incompetent for this.  
10)  Misplaced blame overrun by shame.  oh god.  my professor is going to think I'm an idiot. why can't I get this right?
11)  sadness.  I want to cry, but it wouldn't solve anything.  people walking by would think there's something wrong.  nope.  nothing wrong here except a sad girl sitting in a mess of wet cement by a shitty steel sculpture.  I want to go home.
12)  realization of situation (brief moment of clarity)  I can't go home.  I need to finish this.
13)  anger-tinted realization  look at this fucking mess I made!  I'll never get home.  fuck.
14)  incoherent rage fit, finishing the wet cement sculpting  RRRGHHHHFFFUCKINGASSSANDWICHFACEGHHHHHEEEHHHHHHUhhhhhhh 
15)  Gives up. for now.  SEE YOU TOMORROW, YOU PIECE OF SHIT.
16)  comes back the next day, RAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!
17)  Creative problem-solving.  I'm going to hit you with hammers and then douse you with linseed oil and light you on FIRE.  then you will be done.  
18)  Misplaced rage and resolution  HAHA.  I win, you stupid cement.  Are you better than fire and hammers?  
19)  Critique and Retrospection.  holy crap.  I am insane.  I need psychiatric help.





So I like sculpture...