New Digs!

Thanks to the "spring flood" in our basement, my old art room has been cleared out and the renovation begins! Yes... it is Christmas time and yes... it is promised to be finished within the week according to my very capable assistants. They are in charge of this project and I have no doubt it will be accomplished. The cabinets are in their shop and are in their way... incentive. But I missed the demolition pics! Dang.

Budding artist

Another of my bass goals was to inspire kids and adults alike. That's why I made it interactive. I thought it would inspire budding musicians. But, as with most of God's inspirations, there was more to it than that...

My nephew has always been the creative sort and he spent time with us during the crunch in July. He was busy in the shop with me and created his own sculptures. Cool!

Going once...going twice...

SOLD! The buyer is a VERY nice person, too. It was, of course, a bargain, but the piece is loved and appreciated and I'm very glad she was the one who bought it. And.. it isn't unusual that these art fundraiser events sell great art at bargain prices (if the artists don't buy them back). And... my piece was one of many bargains that evening. And... I reached my goal!

I put my art out into the world... Contacts were made... I was introduced to some very successful Omaha artists... And, I think, my work was noticed by them and by others. On top of all that, since the buyer is building a new house, she has arranged to keep my piece (her piece now) at the Heller Art Gallery there in Rockbrook Village until her house or landscape is ready for the sculpture to be installed. So... I will also still get to display the piece publicly for some time. Kudos to Heller Art for their great generosity!

Heller Art has been very encouraging, too. And if you have never been there, you should go... they have some great art available for purchase. I may even see if they will show more of mine.

Miles to go before we sleep.

We're exhausted...we're from out of town...it's really late...

After searching everywhere we could think of that was open at that hour, we settled for a temporary fix. Somewhere there are some little nuts that fit our little screws (misplaced in the rush to deadline), but tonight we must smash nuts to fit.

So we can go home...and fall into our nice soft beds...at last...aah.

Yes, that's a forklift.

We had to bring our own forklift to unload the bass. Those things are REALLY HEAVY! But we got everything unloaded and put in place. Even distant relatives (in miles only) came to see us and the bass, of course. After it was strung, we were off and running again. designerGina arrives at Eppley tonight! We are all anxious to see her.

The deadline cometh...

...and it passeth us by. As I said in an earlier post, deadines and I have never been friends and it really doesn't seem to matter if I start early or late. Even this self imposed deadline was unfriendly. But I called the Rockbrook officials and they agreed to wait an hour later than they had planned for me. This gave us time to finish up, pack up and head out!



And I think my GREAT assistant has GREAT legs, too.

Makin' music

The notes are clamped on and it's lookin' good...but looks can be deceiving.

The brass notes went on without a hitch. Then... it was time to attach the crystal notes. Not so easy. There is a BIG difference between heating copper tubing and heating copper foil when soldering! Duh!

It was a huge challenge to get the tube hot enough to melt the solder and get the solder to stick to the note, too. Of course, it did NOT help that we were bumping deadline and needed to be on the road to Rockbrook! STRESS!!!

Had I had more experience with glass, I would have known to attach wire hooks to the note and just BRAISE the hooks to the tubing like I had braised the brass notes to the tubing. Learning curve. Next time I'll know better!

Staff problems

After a lot of time and bending along with some kinking and unkinking (!#$&!!!); I decided it was time to add the measure bars...which in turn made the bending much easier. Yay!

I ended up cutting the floppy part of the staff off at the top. I was trying to keep it under hieght requirements and it kept kinking. Plus it LOOKED a lot better!

We're stuck now!

The epoxy has set. The copper and bass are mounted in stone.

It will be interesting to see how easy/hard it will be to get the copper music staff to bend in all the right directions. However, the bass is practically finished. The fingerboard needs to be painted black and notes attached. But the tuning machine will be installed and strings strung on site.

Holy rock, Batman!

Or is that holey rock... We drilled holes in the rock God gave us about the time the new batman movie came out :) And no, we still haven't seen the movie but, it's on our list of things to do. The kids, of course, have all seen it (the movie AND the rock).

Drilling was easier than we thought, but we still wrecked a few bits along the way. Have I mentioned my GREAT assistant? And my woosie muscles?

Line 'em up!

Measure, string, measure, tack, measure... you get the idea :)

We don't want the strings to be falling off the bridge! So we lined everything up... fingerboard, bridge, end pin. And don't forget the ratios... nut to bridge, bridge to tailpiece. I usually just kept my measuring tape around my neck throughout most of the project.

Nice scroll!

And get a load of that box! All the angles just right. And believe me there were a lot of angles. But, it's coming together! Have I mentioned my GREAT assistant?

Deadlines!

!#$&@!!! ...Deadlines and I have never been friends. It doesn't matter how early I start, I still need just one more day or just five minutes more or... you know the story. Anyway, sorry I have not been posting here lately. The deadline came and I needed just three more hours :)

I will try to catch up the blog today!

Top that...

...bass! This was the tricky part! Everything had to fit just right. There were clamps and more clamps... and...

it looks great! Have I mentioned I have a GREAT assistant?

A bridge to...

... a bass :) This is the part of the bass that holds the strings up. It is made from 1/2 in. steel with a brass rod across the top to hold the strings.

Of Notes...

This is VERY FUN! I have been having a great time "decorating" my brassy notes. It's a bit tricky braising brass with brass... everything melts at the same time or the thing you do NOT want to melt DOES. But I love the colors that happen on the thinner brass of the note itself.

The note stems have been the most challenging, but I think they are turning out pretty good. Sometimes when things go differently than how you plan them to go... it looks cooler than how you planned them. Bonus!

Road Trip...

Clear notes, brassy notes, notes that sparkle, too! Ha!

I went to Omaha last Thursday (July 17) to get my glass notes. Ed Fennel from Hot Shops made them for me. They are just what I wanted! ...a puddle of glass. Also picked up some stained glass supplies plus a couple of "jewels" for my eighth notes while I was in Omaha.

The brassy notes I cut out today, with tin snips, of course. It was much easier than I thought it would be... which is always nice. More on them later.

Have I mentioned my GREAT assistant?

This project is definitely stretching my skills to say the least. I am finding out how much I do NOT know! More than I had hoped! But, I have a GREAT assistant! And I have to say that this piece is better because I have had his help... especially his welding skills! He has been GREAT!

Ouch... and Ouch...

The nice curves of this steel bass were harder than I thought. I didn't know that pounding metal would beat ME up so. I spent a couple of days whammin' on the front and back pieces... not banging... WHAMMing.

The next day I couldn't make a fist... and my back hurt on one side. I put ice on my wrist... ahhhh. And stopped pounding steel (It's just right for now). So, in another day or two I was back to normal.

WoW! I'm glad THAT part's over!

Live model...

Thanks to my nephew, I have a real live model for my bass! What a great guy! He swore he didn't need it back 'till August when school starts...or was that just a ploy to get out of practice. Hmmm...

Anyway, it has been a tremendous help! Plus! Les Korus, a luthier who came highly recommended to me, has also been a marvelous resource...a fountain of information and has even helped me with some parts.

More than metal...

I'm definitely an amatuer metal worker. But, it is the look I like... rough around the edges. Still, there's rough and there's "what the heck is that". So, I have put my wood-working skills to use in the making of patterns or guides to use with my plasma cutter on the more complicated cuts. My assistant helped with the big pattern for the front/back of the bass and I handled the smaller guides. I really should work out, I suppose. Woosie muscles.

While it did take longer than just free-handing, I'm really hoping that, in the end, the extra work and attention will help the bass have at least a half-way decent sound.

Foundations...

...it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:25

God made me the perfect rock for my sculpture, the foundation... kind of like the bass as the foundation of the strings... the beat... the low note that carries the melody on its back. More profound than I had intended. I was just so excited to find the exact kind of rock I was looking for :)

Here we go...

Doing this piece was more impulse than one of those well-thought-out-plans. One of those "if-then" moments... "If" I am going to be an artist, "then" I had better start getting some art pieces out there! I have more vision than follow through too much of the time :)

The Omaha Symphony accepted my application into their "Music & Masterpieces" fund-raiser, so at least this piece will be out there. Thanks in no small part to my family... they are my assistants on this particular project. I don't weld...yet; they do, hurrah! And they have bigger muscles, yeah!