Foxy Roxy's right hand pinky finger

This is the first of five fingers I'm printing for our mannequin Foxy Roxy's hands. The PLA filament I printed it with is paintable, so when I get them all printed, I'll paint them all up with acrylic paint to match her skin color, drill some wire holes on the fingers and Roxy's hands and attach them with Titebond, an excellent glue we have here in the shop.

    Later today, I'll post my first attempt at a lithopane, a 3D version of a 2D image.

 

Compostable filament for the 3D printer

I have high hopes that this filament is as compostable as Polymaker says it is. They include composting instructions on their website. I'm going to give it a try.

Polyterra PLA 

Maybe this one

Since the subway painting is just about done (I'm still tweaking, but it won't change a whole lot more except for highlights and a few refinements). That means I'm eyeing my next one. I was going to do another mother/son image, but since I just did two close-up figures, I don't think I want to dive into another one just yet. 

     I've been mulling over a new word, "mournal", as in mourning the past and getting used to the new normal. A friend challenged me to make it a title, and this is the image that seems to fit, as it is representative of my school life right now. Except there is only one of me.

 

And the spool credit goes to...

 ... Scott Rippetoe

aka MrRip: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:376

And, another shoutout to  The 3D Printing Professor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFbfOLvHYSM

  

The start of something interesting

I showed the top image, Rene Magritte's painting Collective Invention, to my class today. I am still scuttling between two classrooms to give my students safe distancing. After class, I found the second image on the whiteboard in the second classroom. The last time this happened, the white board ended up being filled with a whole mural of images with mice as the heroes. I can't wait to see what happens this time.

 

Today's small progress and a bonus shot

While I ran my classes, I let the 3D printer run off these new spools for the filaments of the FlashForge, so that I can use other kinds of filaments that the FF type. The one on the right still has the supports attached, and the left one has been detached and filed. Small progress in the midst of the chaos is still progress.

   Plus, a bonus shot of a fitful Michigan sky.

Tomorrow, when I can keep my eyes open, I will give credit to the kind soul who published the file for the spool :)

 

A few hours of peace

    It has been such a hectic couple of weeks that in spite of saying I was going to go to school and get my classrooms prepared for tomorrow, instead, I dived into my studio and stayed there for about five hours. The top two photos are where I left it today, and the bottom one is what I started with.

    Really, this was a mental health effort, to spend so much time at my easel today. In order to socially distance my students, I've been holding class in two classrooms, which means two setups and a whole lot of technology to manage. Plus, I have to run between the two classrooms, while wearing a mask. I'm hoping it will get easier. The peace of this day will help me this week, I think.

    I still have little way to go on this one. As always, it helps me to post here, so that I can see where I need some work. I guess it is a luxury to know what to do next :)