Well, the year is coming to a close and my shop is a mess, time for a good cleaning and then a break, but first things first. I just put the finishing touches on this beauty and I couldn't be more pleased with my final effort this year. I always try to be ambitious towards years end and this year was no exception.
This work went through more variations and re-workings than any that I can remember. It was on and off the drawing board for well over a year before I started any actual work.
And when I settled on a final design, I realized I didn't even have the proper tooling to build it. I had been planning to build a new CNC lathe for some time, but this design was the motivation I needed to actually get that piece of equipment built. If anyone is interested in seeing that entire process during the build, there is a slide show here.
So to make a long story short, I took the entire month of October off from making Sculpture in order to build my new Lathe, just so I could begin work on this piece.
Well worth the effort and now I have greatly expanded my capabilities for future work.
Above is a good example of why I needed to build a new machine. the top photo is a before, and the bottom is an after of how I cut the inner radius for the main spokes of the piece, I needed the inside profiles of each spoke socket to curve away to match the inner circumference of the main body. This was the only way I could come up with to get the correct radius on the curve, and my little old CNC lathe was definitely not up to the task.
I also shot some more video as I am doing some testing for some better documentation. Rather than embed it, Here is a link the my FaceBook video page.
Here is a context shot. The finished work is 19"x22"x14".
In other news, I was chosen to receive a "B grant" from the Baker Memorial fund, which is a Baltimore based fund that recognizes achievement in the arts for local artists. It is alway's nice to be recognized in your own home town and it is very flattering to be chosen. See you next year.