AU catch up: Mirrors & Metal

   Check one of the coolest pieces of artwork I've donated for sure: a wooden mirror frame with my logo in it; the annual Machine Head art work day; and the main event itself!

Unleashed at Machine Head!

   Once again, Dick turned us loose in his shop to make metal art out of my logo for this year's Art Unleashed. We worked for 8 hours and turned out somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 pieces of all shapes, sizes, & finishes. Plus, we had a lot of fun as usual. This year it was Dick, Robert Q, Matt, Jared, Connie, Randy, Jason, Amber, Ricky, Jana & me. Whew!
   More photos to come... I've volunteered over 22 hours this week (for HSGKC & for my friend Michele's business—in addition to working 40) & I need a nap!

Welders & sandblasters & plasma cutters, oh my!

   Today the AU Crew met bright & early for our annual work day at Machinehead in the Crossroads downtown—fueled by coffee, doughnuts & subs in that order. In just about 8 hours we busted out 40+ metal art pieces for the humane society.

   Lauren, who stopped in to help between a live TV appearance & a pet adoption event, brought lil' Dudley, a 1-year-old beagle/dachshund mix. Folks, if you are looking for a fun, NICE dog, go to hsgkc.com and get him! He was very quiet & patient in the lobby, despite all the racket we were making in the shop.

   On to the work! First step in the process, the plasma cutter. It's so cool to watch it work! (Just don't look too long or or you'll melt your retinas. This thing literally gets hotter than the sun.)

   Jason preps the files of my artwork in AutoCad, and Dick lays out the pieces on a digital grid that matches the size & shape of the metal to be cut.

See?

Then the magic machine does the rest

(click title to watch on Youtube):

Dick pulls out the first kitty head & delivers it to Randy & Jason:

Who grind off the metal filings on the edges:

And polish or grind cool finishes onto them:

Then it's sandblasting time—my favorite!

It was great having Lauren help us:

Ta-daaah!

   On the other side of the shop was Beth Nybeck's sculpture (she's taking classes at the Arts Incubator and is Dick's new assistant):

"Janamal" is a welding machine!

Jason always invents creative ways of putting the pieces together:

I made these look like Kelly's cats: Boozer & Judy!

This is the piece I got to take home (with bases added):

Cutest pitchfork ever:

Here we are: Jason, me, Randy, Dick & Connie with our creations:

   Time to go howe... Surely Dick won't mind if I "borrow" his forklift... just a half mile to the highway & I'm outta here!

   I'm not going to lie: the forklift may have been my favorite part. I think my next car will be a forklift. Once I paint some flames on the side... look out!

Dick's 15 minutes

   Before starting work, we all gathered 'round to watch Dick's new video. He was interviewed by Larry about his work creating these "Iron Paw" awards to recognize an outstanding individual in the animal health field each year. Who knew he was such a ham! Oh, wait...
We all did!    (Click on video's title to view on Youtube)

Danger at Machinehead!

   There are no less than a thousand ways you can seriously injure yourself at Machinehead. Everywhere you look, there's something that could crush, burn, cut, blind, pinch, nip, explode, electrocute or otherwise mangle you. And of course that's half the fun. Everything in the shop has a freaky warning label on it! From now on, Dick's name is Dick "Danger" Jobe!

   Sure, it doesn't seem dangerous at first, but you've seen those Warner Brothers cartoons, haven't you?

Well, at least there's a way to make it all stop.