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