My vector skills were rougher than I thought!

Work on the Mummy Key continues, but for the time being all work is digital.

My first YouTube Video!

Please excuse the quality. This was shot with a point and shoot digicam, and I really need to invest in better lighting.

I want to say that again…

IT IS DONE!

I don’t remember if I began the project before moving to Austin but, I was certainly working on it in Austin. That would be two years ago. I think. The last few years are a little foggy. (You can’t really count the five months I was in El Paso.  I didn’t want to travel with knives and solvents and bits of metal and plastic.)

A few years ago, I was watching “the Mummy” on my father’s big screen TV.  I have always had an interest in how things work and that night took a particular interest in the Key to Hamunaptra.  I don’t recall now which took root first, the desire to make one for myself or the utter revulsion that hit me when I finally determined how the hero prop worked. I was convinced there had to be a more elegant solution. My father and I talked about several mechanisms and I took these ideas home with me and set about drawing some rough schematics. It was my conviction that any cleric or acolyte responsible for building this important box would have spent quite a while on it and would have used something more clever.

I had only a few criteria. The first is the mechanism would be invisible. Also, the device must open as in the movie, when the halves are counter-rotated.  Additionally the device must match the prop superficially, in scale and appearance. Fortunately for my sanity, we never see the box closed on screen. Thus, it was not critical that box close automatically as well.  I did extensive research on prop-making in general and the key specifically. I registered on a few forums and learned quite a bit about working with plastic card and a variety of tips, tricks and techniques. I also discovered that while a few intrepid artisans claimed to be working on a working prop, no one was particularly forthcoming with their findings. There were static props out there, available on eBay even, but no sign of any other working prop replicas.

There is one now. I have discovered a thousand ways that don’t work, but most importantly, I discovered a way that does work. Perfectly. Now, I say it is done, but it isn’t finished. Right now it is still raw plastic. I need to glue the two halves together and prime, polish and paint. This is all insignificant compared to working out the mechanism.

Two years. Several prototypes. Dogged research. It’s done. I will post pictures (and hopefully a video) soon.

(warning! NSFW!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZedQYcGOYkw

I’ve been watching a lengthy series of how-to/ demo videos produced by a now defunct Japanese TV station.  Generally, I have been watching with rapt attention, impressed and even humbled.  Tonight though… well I don’t want to judge because he’s not finished and there are another 6 parts coming but… this guys’ a hack! Wait, wait! This isn’t some kind of more-talented-than-thou trip! He has all the right tools, all the best materials… and he’s butchering it!  Instead of watching and thinking “Ooh, I gotta try that next time!” or “Oh, I gotta get one of those!” My thoughts have been more like, ” AUGH! Somebody stop him!”

I am a total tool fiend.  I strongly believe in having the right tool for the job if at all possible, and fabricating the right tool if you have too. I am impressed when people achieve peerless results with bodged together tools. My parents have a painting that I love, produced entirely with brushes made by chewing on the end of sticks. There is also something to be said, however, for having the right tool for a specific job.  With respect to the episodes tonight, I had almost forgotten that someone could have all the right tools, time, and materials… and still F it up! He had to have been someone’s cousin…

(OK, its two episodes later and I still want someone to burst onscreen and restrain him. I mean my god man, does the word ‘Scale’ mean nothing to you!?)

[sigh]

I unearthed my sketchbooks going back as far as I’ve been keeping them, looking for a character I was developing in High School. I didn’t find him. (By the way if we went to school together and I ever gave you a drawing of “Bunky,” please scan it and send it my way?) I saw a lot of images I liked and concepts that I wanted to revisit so I grabbed a fresh book and copied what I wanted to see again. This tour took the better part of an afternoon and I came away with a few observations.

• I can still draw and, I don’t know how, I’ve improved quite a bit since college. Maybe the caffeine was holding me back?
• I have (almost) never finished a sketchbook. I can’t answer why, but there was sometimes as much as a third of the book left when I moved on.
• I was a little … obsessed with girls. What? It’s not like they were all naked!

(Oh for crying out loud! put the Airbrush down and back away! WTH? That finished product doesn’t look anything like what he was working on!)

The Key to Hamunaptra is closer to completion today that it has been in the two or more years since I’ve been working on it. I am going to attach the last pieces tomorrow and while it remains to be seen if this one actually works…

(HA! See!? He couldn’t even fit the chassis back on!)

While it remains to be seen if this version, 3.. or is it 4 now, works, I am going to finish it up and paint it.  Naturally, I am already finding more ways to make my self insane, I think I want to make one out of brass and stainless steel next time, maybe even clockwork driven.

I rarely, and I mean almost never, paint my sculptures.  I always have a good reason [read: clever dodge] but sometimes you just have to suck it up.  My Mother has been graciously awaiting her birthday present, [*cough* Jan, 12th] and I am in the final stages of paint and seal. Of course, I got it into my head that it should have a high gloss. I’ve never done that before, with anything even approaching success! High gloss has to be on a flawless surface or you’re just wrapping neon lights around a turd. So I’ve been sanding, and painting, and sanding, and painting, and… The end result is actually one of the nicest finished pieces I’ve produced.

I still need to finsh the Moai, but that’s best left for warmer days. I don’t want to be up to my elbows in cold, wet, wallpaper paste in 65 temperatures. There might be a Tiki coming too. I think I might like to build a miniature Tardis. If I can find my notes, I want to make a “Bunky” action figure. At this rate… I will never die!

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
“…this distinction may help us understand the difference between public and private spaces…”

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can…what do you touch first?
Bed frame.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
“Animatrix”

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, what time is it?
2am

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
2:07am

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear:
My upstairs neighbor’s TV.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?:
This evening, walking to my apartment.

8. Before you came to this website, what were you looking at?

www.Instructables.com

9. What are you wearing?
boxer-briefs

10. What did you dream last night?
No idea

11. When did you last laugh?
Watching Dragnet with the folks tonight.

12. What’s on the walls of the room you’re in?:
“The Great Wave” by Hokusai and a Jack Vettriano.

13. Seen anything weird lately?:
Assorted physical symptoms of feline diseases while looking for reference material for a sculpt of a healthy cat.

14. What do you think of this survey?
It updates my blog.

15. What’s the last film you saw?
“Definitely, Maybe”

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
Pay off all my debts, my Parents’ and my Sister’s.

17. Tell me something about you that I don’t know.
If you don’t know, there’s probably a valid reason and I’m not going to blow it now by proxy.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?
Geographically: I would move Australia much closer to the states. (without changing anything else about Oz.)

Geo-Politcally: I would put everyone east of the Mediterranean in Time-Out.

Historically: Library of Alexandria did not burn down.

Ecologically: … the Automobile is abandoned in favor of walking and cycling.

19. Do you like to dance?
If you can call it that… no, even then. ;p

20. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Daughter

21. Boy?
Boy

22. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Depends on a lot of variables… but Absolutely. 

Well, lets see…

December 15th 2007: “How soon can you be in El Paso?”

December 17th 2007 - April 27th 2008: Running a store to the best of my abilities in El Paso. Beautiful store. Great kids. Dry, sandy country. Approximately 20 hours flying between home and work.  A couple of friendships that I could have done more to maintain. The relationship with my manager continued deteriorated.  Not my fault, he is an asshole, but I will probably be more successful in keeping mum in the future.

May: Transferred at the last minute to newest store working under the most duplicitous, spineless, deceitful, and sweaty sorry son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met. Nice store. I hired several good kids.

July: Started spending more and more time with a woman my own age for once. Would have become something if not for having been misled about one relationship and another going altogether unmentioned. I was confused, frustrated and hurt. Another prime example of why dating coworkers is a bad idea.

August 2nd: Pulled aside by my store manager and warned that I might be terminated soon.

August 5th: Fired from DSW Shoes because my first go at running a store, in a remote area, for 5 months, was unsatisfactory, and because I estimated a time incorrectly and thus brought question to my credibility, and because I prioritized and did not complete two tasks requested my my incompetent store manager. [More likely because I made too much money as an Assistant Manager and promoting me would have been very expensive.]

August 14th: Began working at a staffing agency helping out with a major account. Less than a 3rd of my previous income, but with negligible stress.

August 29th: 1st date with former co-worker. Spent almost every day of the next two weeks with her.

September 9th: Wonderful date celebrating her birthday.

September 20th: Attended her bbq with complete strangers. Admired her from afar. Was completely misunderstood. She explains she just needs time. Coming from a background at times more miserable than most could imagine as well as being only 4 months distant from a broken engagement, she does not know who she is or what makes her happy. She does not want to lose herself in another relationship.

October: I end up solely responsible for hiring another 400 associates, dispite having been hired as a temp.

November: Fired from staffing agency because the client couldn’t get their facts straight. Filed for and granted Unemployment Insurance.

December: Finished everyone’s christmas gifts on time, for once.

I managed to spend quality time, and cherish my parents and sister, more than I had been able to in the last year or two.  I got to watch my niece grow. Reunited with “the girl I took to prom.” Actively working on a working replica from a prop featured in a movie, a 4′ tall Easter Island Head, a Shoji lamp, Arduino hardware and software, and 5 sun/moon jar inspired lamps.

With the exception of the last month… not the most fun I’ve ever had. Here’s hoping that ‘09 is more forgiving.

I am the stereotypical out of work artist. Not Kerouac. Neither Duchamp nor Basquiat. Nowhere near Che. I did get awful close to Donald Judd though…

I have made more progress on a couple of projects in the last two weeks, than I have in the last two years.

But…

It won’t last. It can’t.  My parents are saints but, unless I win the lottery or something, I need to get back to work. The liberal arts are like any other line of work, no one is interested unless you have experience. Its awfully hard to get experience in one field when you’re spending 50 hours a week in another.

Most people have several careers in their lives.

The economy is in a depression, its just that no one wants to say it for fear of making it worse.

So…what do I want to be when I grow up…

I never thought I would want a hallmark ornament so much!

Warning! Major Geekout!

This has always been my favorite Sci-Fi spacecraft.