A bit frustrated ..

I completed and edited the new "invisibility" video and am pretty pleased with it. However I seem to be having a problem getting it ready to be available for easy viewing in the net. I edited it and converted it to a universal media so all could view it, but the images became soft which makes no sense to me. I shot it in Hi Def but the rendered end product seems soft. I guess I need to go back to the drawing board and see where I screwed up. I hate to have this happen in "public".  But I guess it happens to everyone eventually.

Tulsa is lucky from the standpoint of one not so unique area. We have a "Fablab." Fablabs are a world wide organization that makes tools available to "makers". Makers are those individuals that want to create or make items by using tools that they don't own in space that they don't have. It is such a great concept !. Fablabs are equipped with the latest computer aided tools such as 3-D printers, milling machines, Vinyl cutters, 3-D scanners, as well as the standard drill press, saws, sanders, and other regular tools. Fablab Tulsa has several different levels of membership based on projected hourly monthly usage of the space and equipment. I chose the lowest membership to get my feet wet and already see that it will do me well to step up my membership level. I'm presently at the $13.00 per month level which gives me 12 hours per month but $ 17.00 per month will give me 16 hours per month. I'll let this month go and see how the hours work out.

Before we sold the house I grew up in, we had to cut down two walnut trees that, as it turned out, were probably around 500 years old. The estimate is based on the circumference of the trees. I got two sections 10 feet long out of both of the trees. I took the trunks to a man I knew that had a sawmill and he cut me 12 lengths of the walnut that were ten feet long, three inches thick, and approximately two feet wide. I have two sections placed together that acts as my desk here in the office. As part of the harvest I took several pieces that were "residue" from the harvest. These consisted of limb sections, burled knots from the tree and several different interesting pieces. They have been drying for around seven years now and I have just started to create different sculptures from these pieces.

Although my dad was in the wholesale lumber business and very successful at it, I had no desire to go into the business. But I have always enjoyed wood and the end results of incorporating it into sculptures. Perhaps my biggest regret in College was not taking a sculpture course from John Walker.
John understood wood and the possibilities it offered. He was a master craftsman and I could have learned a lot from him. He completed a series of sculptures I'll never forget as the were so accomplished. He had taken wood and transformed it into cakes and pies complete with flowing cherries and figs, textures of smooth sauces flowing out of the wedges, all out of wood and accent metals. Cherry, walnut, pine, fir and cedar made up his pallet and the end products were stunning pieces that were like the real visual idea.....only made out of wood.

I took one piece to the lab a couple of days ago and did some sanding on it to remove the bark and expose the most fabulous grain and coloring you can imagine. I brought it home and yesterday did a fine sand on it to finish that part of the process. I have some pieces of of "art marble" from Locarni Marble in Carthage that I had purchased many years ago, One of those pieces will serve as the base of the piece. My accountant has a client that professionally sprays varnish on his products and I have given him pieces to spray for me while he is doing his. Fabulous finishes. !!

I didn't take any before "images" of the piece I'm working on but I'll show you the finished product when I'm done. I'll also find out what the issue is with the "Invisibility" project and get that to you.
Stayed Tuned .....