Blog Post #5 Reflection

In short, I think my presentation was a flop.

After prematurely moving to a slide, that was meant to be a "surprise", very early on in my presentation, my planned flow and presentation had  been ruined. I had continued to replay this failure in my mind during all of yesterday, hoping it does not become another one of my "haunting memories". I also believed my answers to some of the questions were long-winded and that I did not focus on whittling specifically enough. Overall, I think my preservation and my person looked extremely half-baked on stage. Very much like my first experience on learning how to ride a bike, after a small slip up, I go hurtling in that direction until I fall over or crash. I am sure that my presentation was not as much of a fiasco as I imagined it to be, but I can ensure that it did not go as as I intended it.

Well, looking after the TED Talk I think that I had done well throughout these past weeks. In these weeks I had encountered 2 successful pieces, 1 piece that still needs a bit of polish, 1 true failure, 2 more pieces to come and, most importantly, a gift to friend. I think that this gift that I made and the reaction I got from the recipient, has shown me what I truly wanted to get out of whittling, a new form of creation under that I can use to express myself and to spread a sense of joy and happiness to other people. I do not think I have mastered whittling in any sense of the word, but it does not discourage me that I have made a number of blunders. Instead, I "see" a piece that I want to create of a dragon that spirals up a very thin cylindrical tower that houses a large spherical building at the top, but its creation is even further. I am just glad that this image/idea was forged in my head, maybe I'll come back to it later, after I hone my skills... But first things first and I am going to finish what I had promised during these weeks, with great haste and hopefully as little number of faults as possible.


Comments:
Noah Kilshaw
Kevin Schaeffer
Paul Scott

Blog Post #4

It looks like the project is coming to an unfortunate end and I can say for certain I have not mastered whittling to the point where I am satisfied. I have been working on the heart and was able to rush it to the point where it at least resembles what I wanted it to look like. The heart ended up to be mostly knife work and very, very, very rough smoothing. Very many patches on the heart are exposed and it looks just as rushed as it was. Also it's height compared to the spade is very inconsistent, not to my satisfaction. I should have realized the heart was too tall in the drafting, but it will be hopefully reshaped to the size I desire.
Also I believe my blades are becoming duller, making it very difficult for making any cut, I looked at some tutorials to sharpening knives, and I believe it is about time I get a sharpening stone and learn how to sharpen a knife.

[Image to be placed of incomplete heart]

Even though I have not finished my intended set suits, I am determined to and I will finish this project. I do not want this project to only be something that I will keep half baked, and I will finish it with the detail that I originally intended. This will definitely include smoothing out and shortening the heart's height and various other shenanigans with proportions. With the level of detail that I desire and the amount of time whittling takes. I may end up finishing my base for all the suits next year, due to the fact that I still have to design and map out the design and shape of the base for all of my pieces, but I will surely finish this sometime in the future. I promise myself and anyone reading this that it will be completed and made with the quality that is acceptable to me, even if it means starting over with the skills I have obtained.

I know this blog post is extremely short, but I had been focusing my attention more for preparation of my TED Talk, which includes preparing the slides and what I am going to say. I think that the heart shows kind of how sloppy my whittling can be with a dull knife and only an hour each day.

Comments:
Jason Shu
Jacob Cohen
Joshua Chu

Vlog Post

This is my vlog...
Sooo... yeah.



Comments:
Trevor Bert
Paul Scott
Jacob Kaffey

Blog Post #3

Catch up on what I am doing by reading update 2.5 and 2.5.1.

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After the set back of the failure that is the diamond prototype, I have chosen to work on the second version and it has been going as planned. I have become more aware of the bigger picture and much more careful after throwing the last diamond out the window (not really). I am planning to have the full diamond be create and not just merge with the base, which would make the bottom spike disappear, instead I will have the base go inward, along with the diamond. I have only gotten a little less than halfway in my second attempt.

Completion is still a distance away. I still have to know the location of the base and of course flatten and smooth out the sides of the diamond. But for now it is going as planned. I have also made a bit of product on the heart, while making the decision on what to do with the original diamond, only sawing the outline of the sides.

The setback was pretty devastating at the time but I learned from the board game Go, that if you know that something is fruitless, then you should immediately direct your attention to restarting again with the prior knowledge fresh in your mind to try to counter the original problem. Instead of trying to fix the already messed up diamond, I moved onto restarting.

The diamond has also showed me it is pretty hard to create flat edges and trying to find the best angle to attack the piece with your hand under. Also, I have no cuts! I am glad to report that my fingers are intact and I haven’t cut my finger since the first project. Besides the point that I just jinxed myself, everything is a bit off and I am planning to put in more time to catch up. 

Weekly Comments:
Liliana Xu
Kenny Daily
Sieanna Rahatt

Update 2.5.1

I had not been careful enough and now have to start the diamond over again. This is a fairly large set back but I am still making progress. Here is what I have done yesterday to try to get back on track, using a small saw.

Oops.

Also here is the saw I am using for those who want to see it...

 (it does not make cutting wood like butter)

Update #2.5

Change of Plans

This is kind of late, because as of the time that this is being posted, I have already begun working on my new plans. As I planned in the first post, I originally intended to begin with an easy object, then move on to a intermediate and complicated object of my own design.
Upon consideration of Noah's comment on my second blog, I have changed these arrangements. Instead of creating an intermediate object, I have been working on creating the 3 other card suits. I will create a diamond, club and heart. I am hesitant to paint them, because I still do not know how it may look, or if the coats turn out uneven, possibly throwing away these weeks' work.. I will make an advanced object as my final piece, but it will be a stand for the four other creations to rest on. It will hopefully turn out as well as I imagined, with indentations to have the bases of the suits to rest in, with other designs around it. Either way, this is just supposed to keep some of you guys up to date on what I am up to.

Here is a quick glimpse for what's to come:

by the way, thanks to Noah for giving me these ideas.

Blog Post #2

I have begun and finished my first project. I made a card spade. You can tell that the final object does not exactly line up with the drawing that I made, but I think it turned out well regardless. I think that I was trying harder to keep my finger than trying to finish. The following images show steps I have gone through to complete the project.

Here is the piece of basswood I had sawed off before beginning to work on my project. I imagined the shape of the spade in my mind by created a shape of a heart with a cone from the bottom and I visualized the amount of basswood I would need. For this piece, I sawed the material by hand, a tedious and time consuming project, even for basswood that is known as a softer wood. I now know that it would be much easier to use an electric saw to do this step for further projects.

I drew my imagined spade on both sides of the wood block, using a pencil and ruler to make sure the object is symmetrical. You can see that I designed the spade to have the top portion meet at a point with two arch outwards, but in the final product it arches inward. This was a result of me not realizing the direction of the grain, moving horizontally, making it very difficult. It would have been much easier if the wood’s grain was vertical, instead, but I am pleased with the outcome either way.

I got as close to the outlined shape as well as I could, and it is visible that I am having difficulty having the wood arch inwards towards the point. This was also the beginning I used the knife on basswood and I noticed it was difficult to find a good place to hold the object, without having my index finger in front of the knife. I assume it will be easier on a larger object, but I will find out soon in my next project.

I made the decision that I could not arch the spade’s sides inward enough, so I began whittling the front and back of the piece, while making the decision to create a circular base instead of an ovular or rectangular one. I and on occasion accidentally forget the direction of the grain, accidentally going against it.

I finished cutting out the spade and made sure the spade is round from all sides, including from the bottom. I also decided to create a stand for the spade instead of the cone reaching the bottom of its base. The shape is there, but all of the edges need to be smoothed out.

Here is the finished spade after smoothing out corners with the knife and sandpaper. And for my first project I think it turned out fairly well. It is a bit rough around the edges and has a couple spots here and there, but the knowledge I have gathered from this project was invaluable, especially knowing the direction of the wood’s grain before beginning a project.

Weekly Comments:
Dani Grafton
Fred Sorg-Taylor
Ruby Lee

Update #1.5

I have obtained the Materials required to begin the project and have begun. The knife set I now have, has a variety of blades and handles, with a small saw, sanding block, and a variety of other tools. The knives are very sharp and most of the blades are not longer that an inch. I have received the knives before the wood, allowing me to try to work with extra wood planks my dad has, and it is quite difficult.


After finishing my first attempt with the wood planks, I believe these wood planks are made to be too hard durable for whittling. I have also come to the decision that my bedroom is the most convenient place to whittle, more so than my basement or outside. Outside is far too cold to be whittling on the porch. And my basement is inconvenient, for the reason that it is chilly, dirty, far from anyone else and lacks internet. It does not help that I have been traumatized by a mini Reese's Peanut-Butter Cup from my basement, that held a number of small white larvae or bugs in the wrapper. I feared my basement and mini Reese's  Peanut-Butter Cup ever since.

Either way, my room is most convenient for the reason that it is open, fairly-well organized, I am often there and I know how to use a vacuum.

The basswood blocks I have arrived in the mail, which includes multiple 2x4x12 blocks and a single 2x3x12. I will begin my main projects now.

Blog Post #1

Last update 2/23/2015 (moved to 2/19/2015 to align chronologically)

I'd Like to Start this Blog with an Anecdote...

My love for art began with my love to create. Throughout my life, this love led me to drawing and origami, and began when I was little. When I was in elementary school always had ideas that would leave as fast as they would come.  This lead to me drawing... all the time. But a problem, that frustrated me beyond belief, was that I could not draw with the detail that was fabricated with my mind. For a period of my life, I was obsessed with constantly drawing on and folding post-it notes, to the point where my desk, pencil box and backpack had been littered with post-it notes. I am sure I burned through more than 3 or 4 packs of just doodling and folding. And now I only recently am able to draw with the proficiency I have always desired, but was a product of many years of practice and determination.

I know that this passion lead me to my skills in drawing and origami, and I am very satisfied at the level that I am at now, but I want to see where else this passion can lead me.

The Decision

I had three primary activities I wanted to “master,” which were painting, whittling and chiseling. And as you can see, I have chosen whittling because I believed it was the most convenient in terms of materials. Also for the reason that I knew chiseling is a skill that takes many, many years to become good at, while painting is something that I believed was too close to what I am already doing with drawing. My goal for these next few weeks was not to master whittling, but master another way to make my ideas into reality.

The materials I need to obtain include a knife, basswood, sandpaper and possibly a mineral oil (used for preservation). I have already obtained minimal information on whittling such as cutting away from myself (instead of towards) and always going with the grain, ,or else the wood will splinter. My three large goals for the following weeks are going to be projects that ramp up in difficulty. Each project will have a number of steps, which include obtaining an idea, drafting (sketching out the image on the wood), creating the major shape, adding dimension and more details and smoothing out the piece with sandpaper.

Progress

I will measure and document each projects’ progress with photos. The first projects will be a fairly simple shape, without any textures on the surface. It is very likely that it will be a spade, formed by an upside down heart and a cone that arches inward. It is only designed to get me being comfortable using a knife, I will probably try not to accidentally cut myself more than trying to finish the shape. The second objects will have a more complicated shape such as a bird or other animal. The purpose for this object is to get a firm grasp on how to whittle more complicated shapes. The final project will be a replica of an item from a show or an object of my own creation. If it does become an object that I designed, then it will require the extra step of sketching, creating a solid idea through multiple drawing of the object from different views.  The purpose of this final project is to show my progress on whittling, by comparing the result with the intended object.

Weekly Comments:
Joshua Chu
Matt Autieri
David Weiss