come to the party!

So, we finished the bar. It’s quite amazing…

Now, we’re moving on to 3D CAD and renderings.

And the party. It’s going to be an epic celebration!

!

Yeah, I think that laminate should probably not be cut on the tablesaw. At least not while I’m in the building. It’s a real shame that I’m allergic to everything. If we still lived by survival of the fittest, I would have been gone a LOOOOOONG time ago.

Also, it’s kinda cute that we thought we might go home early tonight. We ended up staying even later than yesterday. Yeehaw.

We still need to finish the top surface. Then we can work on the cart and the well.

Slow and steady wins the race!

sixteen hours…

So, I’m guessing the post-by-midnight rule doesn’t apply when you’re still in the shop working at midnight…with your professor… Yep, today’s been a long day. I’m super-impressed that David stayed with us all day long…letting us use HIS tools in HIS shop. Cool!

A quick recap:
-We got kerf board from the AWPL. Twice. Yay!
-Table saws are a little less intimidating to me now.
-Why am I afraid of a table saw if I’m not afraid of a 22-caliber nail gun?!
-We got our foundation down. In the concrete. Maybe permanently.

So, it’s been a good day all-in-all. Time to rest up!

well, we would’ve gotten work done…

if it weren’t for that disgusting cockroach! I feel better knowing that I’m not alone in my crippling fear of icky bugs.

Seriously, though, we got some good work done today. A lot of it was on the mental front, but knowing is half the battle, right? We’re going to finish dimensioned drawings and a scaled model this weekend, so we’ll be ready to roll with our full-scale models on Monday. Yeehaw!

bar inspiration

I spent a little time at Barnes & Noble last night browsing through a few books about bar design.

Some key points:

glowing is always good. the more glow, the better. especially under-the-bar glowing. it looks great!

high contrast is really important, since you’re virtually in the dark while you’re bartending.

you don’t really need lots of color. simple, honest colors that highlight different materials look really nice.

I’m including some relevant photos…

on how i’m pretty nerdy…

So, I’m sure we all have our reasons why we’re ready for school to be out for the summer. Traveling, limitless sleep, seeing family and friends…I’m looking forward to all of these things. However, throughout this school year, I’ve amassed a small collection of design books.

Most of them are about sketching, but I’ve also got a couple on type and layout. I just really feel like those are some of my biggest (and most evident) weaknesses, and I’d like to improve on them before I graduate. Mainly, I want to find my own style in sketching. I was talking to Cristina about a fellow student I thought had gotten really good at sketching, and Cristina said something interesting: the other student hasn’t really gotten any better, she’s just found her style and discovered how to make it work for her. That sounds like a good idea…sign me up.

Also, I visited some friends last night, and they got a bunny!

Here’s Keebler loungin’ out in a way I’ve never seen a rabbit lounge before.

And a sepia shot to tone down the creepy, evil red-eye.

And, to continue with more animal pictures, I saw a donkey when I was visiting my grandparents the other day…crazy! From the looks of things, he saw me too… o.O

shaping up

Things in studio seem to be coming together nicely. I really like the direction our concept is taking, and I’m really excited about making a full-scale model! …mainly the welding part. I want to weld.

The seating project is starting to be a bit disappointing to me. Nothing’s really happening; the design decisions just feel arbitrary, and we’re starting to be controlled by software and time constraints. So… I feel like it’s just going to end up being a let-down. Maybe I should keep that to myself, but I just wish it could have been better. C’est la vie.

That’s all I got for right now. I’m going to sleep long and hard tonight!

baby steps…

So, my to-do list from now until the end of the semester is quite long. I decided today to cross off a few stragglers that had just been hanging around for a month or so, while the pace is somewhat slow…I believe this is typically known as the calm before the storm.

I also decided to post some pictures I took in New Orleans for your viewing pleasure…

Enjoy!

new strategy…

So, those of you who see me sketching in the next few days might notice something different… No, I didn’t injure my wrist; I’m wearing a wrist brace to try out  a new technique.

I borrowed David’s copy of Conceptual Drawing by Kevin Reeder, and it was a powerful resource. In the book, the author insists that there IS a correct way to hold a pen while sketching. You should grip the pen lightly between your thumb and forefinger, resting it on your middle finger. The wrist should be held straight and locked in place, and the drawing motion comes from the shoulder. Also, your hand should be kept off the page the entire time. I’m not going to say that it’s easy to even start drawing this way. I got the wrist brace so I’m less tempted to draw with my wrist, and I’ve been really focusing on using a lighter grip and keeping my hand off the page. At first, I was a lot worse. I spent a few days practing my lettering and drawing profiles, and now I’m starting to get used to it. I can definitely tell a difference in my control of line weight and overall line control. It’s an effort, but I think it might pay off.

There was a line in the book that really got to me…The author was talking about students who feel insecure in their drawing abilities saying, “don’t look at the drawing, look at the design!” I think that was my motto during sophomore year. He urges that this is impossible. You can’t ask your audience to look past your bad drawing skills. The entire point of a sketch is to visually communicate what you can’t verbally communicate. So, it just makes sense that you can’t try to verbally communicate what you’re supposed to visually communicate because, well, the whole idea is that it can’t be verbally communicated in the first place. I realize that’s a pretty convoluted explanation, but I hope you get the idea. I’m eager to see what kind of a difference I can make in my sketching. I’d say that’s the area where I have the most room for improvement…

trying to hang on…

The past few weeks have been fast and furious, and I feel like I’m barely hanging on anymore. I’m sure those following my blog have noticed… My apologies. I’m going to do my best to catch you all up.

Let’s go chronological.

Three weeks ago was our spring break. I spent several days just browsing modern furniture stores, drooling. I went to DWR, Ligne Roset, Bova, Cantoni, By Design, & Domus. I always feel inspired and motivated after a few hours poring over beautiful design…

The next week was our infamous ATLtoNYC trip—what an experience! That trip has really changed the way I think about design, school, and life. I really feel the urge to produce more compelling work and develop my skills NOW. Every single day we spent there was one eye-opening experience after the other. We saw it all: amazing model making techniques at Utley’s, manufacturing on-site in Brooklyn at NuLux, a first-hand look into the designer minds at Crush+Lovely. Everyone we visited had something unique and new to offer us, and it’s really helped me define what I want to do in design: research-based design. I want to take the time again to thank everyone we visited:

Crush+Lovely

Smart Design

Curve

NuLux

Utley’s

Rockwell

Ecco

Material Connexion

Frog Design

Core77

and Scott from Karim Rashid’s office.

I hope you ALL realize just how much you have meant to our class. It’s so valuable to see so many different facets of design in work. Thanks, y’all!

To wrap up the three week crunch, last weekend was the IDSA Southern District conference down in New Orleans. I went to last year’s conference in Savannah, and I’m glad I came back this year. I saw some thought-provoking lectures on sustainability and design for the other 90%, witnessed a nearly life-changing demonstration of a 3D CAD package called Solid Thinking, and had a good time with some fellow students at SCAD and Auburn. I also managed to get some feedback on my revised portfolio, and it went much better this time. Thanks to Isaac from SCAD, Paul from Auburn, and Maureen from Creature, I got some new perspectives and suggestions to help make my work really stand out. I was also delighted to hear that some things are working well for me! Things are on the up and up…

So, now that I’m back, I’m hitting the grindstone hard and heavy! I’ve got 9 projects due in the next 4 weeks, so it’s really time to get things moving! I know I’ll be able to put a fresh spin on things with all the new things I’ve learned in the past few weeks. I’ll take some time to stop and  blog along the way.