Working late, doesn’t look like much eh?, but by midday tomorrow it’ll be a whole lot prettier to look at.
The third day; part one.
I think that the name in the blog address is somewhat fitting. The box being the Manukau City Council, and all such institutions or sucklike which may or maynot require my services in the future, and me being the art. To cut the long story short; I work outside the box to create works of art for and inside the box. A dialectic if ever there was one.
This morning I started in on routing the back of the under plywood for the face so the perspex sits flush to the top and then went on and cut out the smaller perspex shapes to sit in the viewing holes towards the bottom. Prick of a job because the smaller sections of perspex were heating up and making the perspex more brittle and suseptible to cracking. Eventually sussed out why and cut over wood to disperse the heat created by cutting. Thats why I like this kind of work. It’s all very risky in that if I don’t know what I doing, which is just about always, then things happen I’ve got to figure out quickly before I ruin the almost enough materials I’ve bought and have to improvise with whats laying about if I do indeed reach that usually insurmountable barrier only crossed with liberal amounts of cash.
Which, in turn, brings up the subject of work I’m doing on the side because this job by itself is more about physical work than intellectual challenges. So I’m figuring out, as I’m cutting and sanding, but not routing because thats bloody dangerous and I need to right there and completely there, how to build an experimental musical instrument for a friend who is paraplegic. So I’m happily cutting and deciding etc on one level while on another level my brain is going over schematics and stuff to build this instrument so I can surprise him one Monday night at Vitamin S… and hope he takes to it like a fish in water as opposed to the opposite. Part of that process is posting on various forums about how to solve the electronic problems I’m unable to solve, at least not quickly enough by myself without judicious amounts of book learning I’d usually rather bypass, and learning, by others replies, alot about the way people view cripples. Interesting stuff.
God, I go on don’t I? Whatever, It’s written now and you’ve most probably bypassed it all for the pictures anyways. Thats okay, ’cause I only write stuff like this to get better at it… no-one really needs to read it.
Down to business. Going to start in on the steel tubing framework which means dirty and strenuous welding, cutting and grinding. Dangerous?, kinda. Fun?, yummy. (see part 2)
and maybe you’re even interested in the other topic… instruments for the disabled?
The box for the library, first days.
7/7/’09
I started yesterday, at last, on the big new cabinet for the foyer at the Otara Library (a foyer foray). Took me ages to get the various areas tidied up so that I could have the space to even do this. I started this contracty commisiony stuff about a decade and a half ago and when I did I had a huge warehouse in Newton to do this kinda stuff and I’ve always kinda thought that that kinda space is always available to me. Kinda, kinda, kinda; near enough Mate, She’ll be right!
But it isn’t now, and hasn’t been for a long time but that doesn’t stop me taking on jobs I don’t really have room to do unless I move a whole bunch of stuff about.
I got the carport all cleaned out then proceeded to finish off my lean- to thinking I’d need one for cutting etc and the other for assembly. So far it’s all been done in the lean-to.
This is my humble shed or lean-to, as opposed to shed, garage or carport.
So yesterday morning I finally started and after much thought finally started cutting and by the end of the day I had the basic box.
This morning I got into it right sharpish and at 1.11pm, which is exactly now, I’ve leaned it over and put supports in, for the face of perspex, and cut out the supporting ply for the sheetmetal. After I’ve done this I’ll go out and mark out the metal and the perspex for cutting and get it all finished as the front so that tomorrow I can start in on welding up the steel tubing support frame.
Now I’ll publish this and then send the chief Librarian at Otara Library the link so all those lovely people, who this is for, can follow my progress.