Tossing the dice

       Today was another hard day of technical triage in the classroom, and it may well be the day that made me call the two classroom solution quits. 

        

        I'm realizing that the situation is sucking the joy out of a job I (used to) love. And I have a suspicion that nobody but me is very concerned about anyone's safety. Plus, I think the stress will probably kill me before the virus does (I am fully vaccinated and am religious about mask wearing). 

     So tomorrow, I am bringing them all back into one classroom. Because the stress just isn't worth it. I really hope they are all vaccinated. We'll see how it goes. If they want to keep the two classrooms, I will agree. With the understanding that everything is hard and takes longer.

        On the bright side, in the process of the day and the technical frustration, I asked for a student assistant and got one! Initially, I meant for him to be boots on the ground to keep me informed about the classroom connectivity. Since I might not need him for that, now he will be free to help me with the other things I never seem to get to, like organizing store rooms and the sculpture shop. And he could also operate the 3D scanner and printer. So, even though going back to one classroom is technically a fail, I still ended up with a win :)

    And now, maybe I can get back to teaching normally. Carefully, behind a mask. 

Monotypes

A few months ago, a tall, charming friend suggested that I might like Marcel Proust's Swann's Way. Even though I'm terribly slow at reading it, I think my friend might be right. I just passed the point in the novel where Marcel, the narrator of the story, experiences doubt about his ability to be an artist, but then is inspired by the spires in his town and is overtaken by the need to write about it, proving that he is an artist after all.

    I was reminded of it today, because recently, as a result of pouring all of my energy into keeping my classes on an even keel, I haven't felt like much of an artist. But, because I have a student who wants to try mono printing on Monday, I thought I should do a few, just to refresh my memory. 

     For lack of a better idea, I did a series of four images, all based on how my hair is showing signs of distress from all the pool swimming I did this summer. I intended to only formalize a few steps for my student, but I ended up being in the zone for a couple of hours. It felt really good, "as though I myself were a hen and had just laid an egg" as Marcel describes it.

    The images are pretty rough, as it is a fairly new technique for me. But I can see the potential. I think I will do this again. Now that I see them here, they look like they could be illustrations for a horror film. It is a good time of year for it.
 

On My Window

 

Yesterday's scans

Well, here are two examples of how my week went:

     I'm trying to get Roxy's fingers scanned and printed (amidst all the madness in the Creative Arts Center). The first image probably happened because the black drape over the scanner was letting light in, so the scanner accidentally thought the scanning bed was part of the object and went with that.

   On the second, my best guess is that the finger is symmetrical, and so the scanner was fine with meshing the first two scans, but it sensed the third as a different thing altogether and it couldn't mesh it  properly. Live and learn.

    I didn't take a photo of the mess the third effort made, but trust me, it was just as bad.

    On the fourth try, I got a decent image of the pinky finger. That time, I made sure the clay finger was in a totally different position on the bed for the second pass, so the scanner could tell the difference. I called it good after the 2nd. There didn't seem to be any reason to tempt fate.

    Will see how it does in the slicer :)

 

News from the Teaching During Covid Front

I just finished my third week of teaching in two classrooms and online, all at the same time. A few days ago, I was so worn out from having to shout over the air cleaners through a mask, and from hiking between two classrooms, often just to ask if anyone had any questions, that I asked for some things to make it easier, namely a microphone, which was approved through Covid funding, and this little darling, which is changing my life for the better. It is a Kandao camera, which allows me to see and hear the students in the 2nd classroom. I still have to run down to check work and answer questions, but it is saving me a lot of trips. I am very grateful to the guy who I consider to be my personal  tech guy, Zach K. (he isn't; he helps everybody, but he always seems to be there when I need him) and to my department chair Scott C., for the same reason. Teaching is hard during a pandemic, but these guys are doing their best to help. I appreciate both of them.

    That's poor, armless  Roxy in the background. I'll print another of her fingers on Wednesday. I think she needs a new outfit and a new 'do. Maybe in Spandex and bleached blonde?

 

The 3D News

This was my second effort, and it worked out! The first one looked the same, with comparable quality, but it was printed with a raft, a base that the real piece is built upon. Unfortunately, the raft stuck like glue to the piece, where it remains. After reading some of the forums on the subject, I ran across a sassy guy who said he never used rafts but used brims instead, So, I changed the setting to brim, which is supposed to be just a border around the piece, and lo and behold, it worked, because with medium effort, I was able to release the part from the brim. Except the "brim" extended all the way under the part, exactly like the raft, but thinner. So, I dunno. But, I'm not complaining. Next, I'll try either a photo or a drawing. We'll see. 

 

Lithophane

 Well, I would post a photo of the lithopone I printed, but the raft, the plastic platform that gets built underneath the part, is stuck like glue to the image. So, I have to figure out how to remove it. When I get around to ordering new supplies, dissolvable supports will be first on the list. Until I figure this out, this is the image I printed:

I can't take credit for it; my wonderful son took the photo of me at a restaurant before the apocalypse and applied an anime filter to it. I don't usually like to see pictures of myself, but I like this one very much. Thank you, Coltrane G.💗