Is this cool or WHAT?

Our Orrery Tabletop !

This is the table top for the orrery that we're building. An orrery is one of those old fashioned models of the solar system with all the planets on arms above a table. You've probably seen one in an old museum or library. No one in the world seems to make them anymore, except us!!!

So this is the table top for ours. Each piece is about 3 feet long by about 18 inches wide on the outside. They're about 1/2 inch thick, and I MADE each and every one! Isn't that cool??? We looked into purchasing a 6 foot glass table and having it cut into 12 pieces, but the price was outrageous!! And the glass in those tables is flat and greenish and just well... plain ugly. So after a few days of stewing over what to do, I said, well, why don't I just cast them and make them however we want? YAYYYY!! And they've come out gorgeous!

Why 12 pieces? Easier to handle than one 6 foot round tabletop, I can get them into my sandblasting cabinet, and it allows for a decorative edging between the pieces.

But why 12? An orrery shows the paths of the planets through constellations, which are symbols in the zodiac, of which there are 12! So each glass panel will have a gorgeous zodiac image and a little information etched into the underside, where you see just blank glass, not the blue stuff toward the center.

What is the blue stuff? It's blue glass cast into the glass plates. Actually, there's also red and yellow. That section of the table will be installed over a dark aluminum baseplate, so it will be darker than the outside. The swirly colors are meant to depict nebula, stars and such.

Peace,
Joy

The Standard Job

Sometimes, I really miss the standard job. I feel like crap today. If I had a regular job, I could declare Sunday a day of rest and vegetate, watch movies, play videos, nap with my kittens.... But I don't have a standard job. My job is with me all the time - weeks, weekends, day, night... Most of the time I don't mind it - love it in fact. But today... bleh. I was going to do some finishing work on the base cabinet of the 6 foot wide orrery above. I have all the pieces cut and trimmed. Some are already stained, but need to be varnished. It's hot outside though, so I can't do that. The instructions say not to apply it if it's over 90 degrees. So I move on to the next items.

I have gotten some good work done today - more stuff on my website, research. I can't beleive I've let my website sit there for four years with nothing new on it!!! I'm ashamed!!! But I've been making up for it. 28 new art pieces up there so far. I haven't coded the sales pages for them yet, but that's coming along. I have all those coded for the older pieces so far and getting into the newer pieces now.

But I sure would like to go take a nap with one of my kittens..... 20 minutes couldnt' hurt....right????

Peace,
Joy

Website building is not my thing

Well, I have been pestered by my brother to get our new artwork up on our sites. It is not one of our favorite tasks - website building, so it gets delayed and delayed. I have spent most of the past four days though going through my art and building a new gallery page.

At first, I thought "OK, it shouldn't really take that long, cause I don't really have a lot of new stuff." Then I went through the files and found 28 new pieces - and that's just what I have pictures of. I have a lot of glass work that is sitting here, not photographed yet for one reason or another (mostly because I haven't finished polishing them or whatever).

28 pieces! wow! Well then! Maybe I should figure out how to use this wonderful website editor I have - Visual Studio. It's supposed to do a great job and make everything easier. OK, so THAT took a couple of days to learn. Just today, I finally figured out how to make the images actually GO somewhere. sigh....

I still have to add many of them to the "Prints" section, and some of the larger stuff willhave/has it's own website -- like the bowl above! I have made a number of large bowls lately. They were going to be a series of solar system objects and cast into large bowls to use as sinks. Great idea! So I started working on that. I got the above Earth Sink cast and was going to do a little handpolishing on it. I set it down on the floor for less than three seconds and one of my cats jumped in, layed down and was so happy!!

We thought "OK, it's a fluke - the New Box syndrome" It could just as easily have been a free paper bag, right? No!! Cats just LOVE these bowls. They play in them, sleep in them, fight over who gets to be in them, trade out when a new bowl comes in... They absolutely LOVE them. Who knew??? So, my plan to make sinks turned into something I have a greater passion for - making my (and others') cats happy.

Now I am making a series of bowls in various colors, using an amazing technique that I developed that I haven't ever seen anywhere else. It makes the bowls looks like they're bursting with flowers. Very cool. The cats seem to favor some colors over others, so I'm playing with different color schemes and designs.

And I have about 8 bowls made, and need to take photos of them for the new site - www.MyCatsCradle.com - it isn't up yet, but it'll be soon!

But not tonight! I'm exhausted!!

Joy

Cool New Toys

The really cool thing about getting new art projects is that I usually get to learn something new. We're working on building an Orrery currently. An orrery is one of those old fashioned solar system models that you used to find in old museums and libraries. Nobody seems to make them anymore.

When we talked with the college that wanted one, we said "How hard can it be?", so we took the job. It has turned out to be Very Hard, but certainly worth it, and will come out beautiful when we're done.

For building the base, I got to get me a brand new toy! The base is solid cherry wood with 8 posts around it. I looked into buying the posts or having a woodworker make them for me, but what they were going to charge was outrageous. As is usually the case, we look at the cost of getting the work done versus the cost of us getting the equipment, doing it ourselves and then having the equipment in the future. Almost every time, getting the equipment wins out. We get new capability, learn a new trade and the pieces come out exactly as we want them to, rather than someones "Good Enough" (which usually isn't...).

So I got to get me a brand new lathe to make these posts. It took me a day to set up and practice, and then I was going full tilt! Very fun. Very calming too. Sure is messy though, but it's outside, so I don't breathe in too much of it. Besides, a good coating of sawdust lets you know you did good work that day.

Joy

Am I a "Space Artist"?

I think many "space" artists immediately narrow their own market and success by adhering to that title. We're artists - first and foremost. Let the gallery of works show that we can focus into space related things, but we can broaden our scope, and therefore our market, into numerous other paths.

Clients tend to immediately classify and pidgeonhole - why help them? If you state that you're a "space artist", chances are you are immediately overlooked for multiple other jobs that you could do wonderful work on. Even with the multitude of abilities we possess, we see this pidgeonholing on us time and time again. it's infuriating. Now that we've seen it so many times, we recognize it when it starts and immediately try to deflect it. Doing this has gotten us jobs as building designers, park sculpture design and production, environmental work, performance work, voiceover jobs, abstract sculptural works, woodcarving, fantasy, landscape, writing, webdesign, portraiture, engineering, etc.

Yes, maybe other artists don't have the range of capabilities that BJ and I have, but I bet most of them can do more than just only "space"

Fire's Over, but not out

Well, after more than40 days looking at the thick smoke and breathing the ash, the skies have finally cleared. I'm able to go back out without a respirator on and actually do some work! Our projects are so so far behind, it's ridiculous, but we've been working very hard on them to catch up. Here is a photo taken from our deck. Scary, eh?

Fire Line

Just went out onto the south porch to see if I could see the front through the smoke. The closest section, on Uncle Sam, is in places half way down the portion that we can see over the top of Elephant Mountain. This isn't much of a change from its position on the 6th (Sunday evening). When the fire is backing down the hill, it moves a lot slower. Advancing up the hill is another story. It feeds on the fuel that is being heated in front of and above it and it is supplied with an unobstructed flow of air from below; a perfect scenario, so it moves very rapidly. This is one reason why we are so concerned.
The ridge line to the NW from there and a short ways to the SE is all ablaze, subtending an angle of 45 degrees. I was taken aback when I first saw it. Each time I go out, I am hoping that somehow it is going to be better. Never is. At times, an entire tree will burst into flames, shooting them hundreds of feet into the air like rock concert pyrotechnics, although it's not fun to see.
A separate section farther to the SE at nearly that angle is still on the other side of the ridge but is very bright, lighting the clouds for quite a distance from the site. Seeing nearly 90 degrees of fire is not a happy feeling because you know you are at the middle of it.

I feel so sorry for all of those life forms out there who cannot move to get away. At least this has happened at a time of year when young animals and birds have grown enough to be able to flee and not perish. Those species who are able to move but not move quickly enough are not so fortunate. I can't bear to watch for very long. I feel for them all, deeply.
One of the endangered California Condors that was missing was located and is in fine shape. We expect to see increased wildlife populations here as the fire progresses in our direction. This will of course mean more, Foxes, Bobcats and Mountain Lions, so we have to be a little more careful. If they are pressed for food, they do come around here. Pressed for territory and food, we'll have new neighbors for a while. Bird population is already up; different species, too. We ran out of bird seed today filling the feeder. Tomorrow's trip into town to get the needed parts will include a stop to get another 40 lb. bag of seed and more suet.

This thread -IS- space related after all, though I'll leave the title as it is. I made an analysis with the topo map tonight and our fire hose will reach from our tanks on the NE corner of the property up to the observatory that sits ESE from us, so we can defend it as well. (I KNEW I wanted the tanks over there for some good reason. Didn't really dawn on me until tonight--even having thought about clearing around it. I'm so stressed.)
There's a hydrant up there but, as I said earlier, it's little more than a wishful thought when this many chips are down. We'll have to re-configure to get that far. One 300' section won't quite make it. This will mean a lot of running, dragging a 1.5" 400' single jacket fire hose full of water up that hill. I don't know if we could even pull it full of water. It'll take more time but we may have to drain it on something useful and pressurize once we're up there. Either that or find something that will hold that volume temporarily. I'd hate to waste our resource. If you need one more gallon and you don't have it.... We may opt to get another 4 sections, if only to save our bodies and time.
I'd like to find a Y fire fitting. Then we could use all 600' -- 400' up the hill and two 100' sections off that to get around both sides. Each hose will have less pressure when they are both running but we can cover a greater area. If one of us needs more distance, we can shut the other off temporarily and get the pressure back.
If the fire happens to advance first up our section of the property that is out in front of the dome and we can defend the observatory, it will make our job of defending the studio easier. We'll see how the finances are after we're set.
Hmmm, I had better go over there tomorrow and see if the louvered ventilation windows are closed. Wouldn't be good to defend on the ground, only to have airborne brands fly in through the vents.

Gotta run as many scenarios as you can--while you can--in relative calm, so you will be less surprised when it all goes south in a way that you didn't think of.

Time to try to get some rest. Temp at this hour is still 87 degrees. At this altitude under these conditions it doesn't drop much like it does in the valley. The fire loves it. Tomorrow will be another 100+ day; the last for a while, thankfully. We can get through the day by looking forward to a 68 degree night. Should trickle down to 88/55 by Sunday and the relative humidity is creeping back up out of single digits. Yaaay. That will slow the fire down... if it isn't going up another mountainside by then. Timing is everything.