Breaking Stuff for Making Stuff

Last night I broke stuff on purpose, and it was really fun. New art parts! 

Antique typewriter, with keys manually removed.

I love the cyclical process of destruction and creation that is critical to my work. It also gives me a lot of insight into how things are made. To tear open the TV, all i needed was a phillips head screwdriver. By contrast, to take apart the antique typewriter, i tried 4 different screwdrivers, and in the end i just had to bend the metal by hand until it broke to get the keys off. Had it not been rusty already, i don't even think that would have worked.

They sure don't make things like they used to!

This is what the guts of a television look like.

Little Drawers Project : Part 1

I found an old set of wooden drawers at a thrift store that seemed ripe for refinishing.

I decided to cover the surface of the frame with old newspaper... And by old, i really mean antique. These are actual issues of Scientific American from 1915! Some of the incredible images in the articles include early zeppelin flights and photos of the New York Subway System as it was being constructed. It might seem like i'm ruining these pieces of history by using them in a collage, but i prefer to think of it as immortalizing them.

They're going to need a bit of sanding first.

Featuring a story of the "Strategic Movements of the War" -- World War I.

Top Side : With incredible images of the construction of the New York Subway System.

Second side: "Our First Naval Dirigible"

Surface layers complete! Now to work on those drawers...

Surface layers complete! Now to work on those drawers...

French Door Project : Part 3

Beginning the glass collage part of the French Door Project... The idea here is to build up a life-size tree and grass in the insets of the door, then fill the panels with polyurethane resin to seal and stabilize the collage.

So far i've got the branches done. I wanted to make them realistic, but also idealistic, so i researched the pattern of the mathematical distribution of branching, which follows the Fibonacci sequence. In the natural world, this varies based on environmental influences, but more or less adheres to the general pattern.

Fibonacci branching sequence.Source: http://oeis.org/A000045/a000045.html

Fibonacci branching sequence.
Source: http://oeis.org/A000045/a000045.html

I built the branches up using layers of antique newspaper and corrugated cardboard (for depth). The newspapers i used are several pages from 1915 issues of Scientific American. I like to use these antique papers both for aesthetic value (the phrases of text are fascinating) as well as historic authenticity. By historic authenticity, i mean that i incorporate as many authentic vintage or antique pieces as possible in my work to contribute to the 'time machine' overall concept i am attempting to express.

Branches in progress

The branches aren't quite finished yet, as it is taking time to build up the layering for depth. You can see in this picture the outlines of where the leaves will go, also following a mathematical distribution pattern. I traced the pattern for the outlines of the leaves and branches on the back side of the glass with a dry erase marker so i can follow the pattern and remove it later.