The ending to a long project. Hold onto your breath!

This is the final link to the chain of events that have brought me to this time art project. Hold onto your breath and take 11 minutes to watch this to see how I ended my Time Art Piece for my class assignment. Tomorrow, I get to show the video with the blog to the class as a presentation. :)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0_qEnZAK8w

On Friday, we took a little trek out to Chuckanut Drive in the south end of Bellingham, WA. over to hike on the trail to Clayton Beach while the tide was out and coming back into shore. It was a gray with clouds and windy, but not too bad with the weather to get this adventure under way. (Just to let you all know, I did pick up the left over paper reminents left behind.)

I'm really looking forward to hearing feedback from others, so please do leave comments here or on the You Tube link. Thanks so much! This was a great experience & I'm so glad to share it with friends. Also, I'd like to give a special thanks to Jeffrey Cunningham, my love, who helped me take the video and encouraged me through out the process.


~Love & Rockets~
~Rachel Simpson~

Day 2 and 3 of my project:

On the second day of my project, I began to mix the ingredients to make the sugar cubes. I had a thought that it would be nice to try using salt instead of sugar, so it will be more eco-friendly. I wasn't sure if it would work, so decided to do a test trial of making salt cubes in one tray at the same time I made the sugar cubes in the other cube tray. That way, I could see how each of them work. It was a fun and easy experiment.

1. Test of using salt



2. Stirring the salt



3. Making the sugar cubes



4. Mixing sugar



5. Put the sugar in the mold tray



6. Make sure it's pushed into mold



7. Gently scrape off excess sugar



8. Let it set for a couple minutes



9. Flip over the tray & tap out the cubes



10. Salt is above & the Sugar is below



11. Let the cubes set for 30 minutes



12. The Salt test failed. It did not set, but crumbled as I suspected.



13. Sugar has set correctly.



After the sugar set, I placed them all into a storage container for the following day to begin building my art project.

16. Day 2 of sugar cubes placed on a tray to build a structure. This will be a slow process since I need to work on it daily. I'll be taking pictures of it & posting them onto photobucket and this blog.



Day 4 is technically today, so I will b e adding more cubes to my structure and posting them later. I will most likely be posting in this 3 or 4 times a week, since daily I am also busy with classes & work, but I'll still be taking pics of my daily progress.

Here is the Photobucket album link: http://s66.photobucket.com/albums/h259/chaneecat/Art%20130%20Time%20Piece/


~Love & Rockets~
~R~

A new era of blogging...

This Google blog is going to be a new era of my blogging. Since I started to post blogs online about 6 years ago with Livejournal for a mainly private journal, I've got some experience in using these things. Now, I'm going to use this one for one of the art classes called Art 130 3-D Design, that I'm taking this winter quarter at WWU. We are doing a Time Related Piece through out the whole quarter. After giving it some thought, I've decided to record an art project that I will be doing daily. Even though it will be a little each day, I'll be taking pics on my digital camera and posting them weekly here on this blog to show it's progress.

While I don't yet have a title for the piece, I will say a little about it without giving spoilers to the planned ending of the 2 month long project.

Step one/Day one: To learn how to make sugar cubes & get supplies. I searched on the web to find instructions on how to make sugar cubes. It's actually very easy & requires no cooking what-so-ever. Here is the recipe/instructions:

How to Make Sugar Cubes

By Joseph Eitel, eHow Contributor

Petite and sweet sugar cubes are a welcomed addition to any cup of tea or coffee, but they can be quite costly in grocery stores. Learning how to make these simple staples at home can save you money and expand your culinary knowledge. This is also a great project to do with children, as it requires no sharp objects or cooking. Making your own sugar cubes at home gives you control; you can use Splenda for a healthier version or raw cane sugar for a more natural take on the classic white sugar cube. A simple addition of food coloring to the sugar/water mixture can also turn your sugar cubes into something whimsical and unexpected.

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Mini ice cube tray
• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 tbsp.of hot water
• Mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Fork
• Flat surface, such as a kitchen table

1. Combine two cups of sugar with two tablespoons of water in a mixing bowl.

2. Mix the sugar and water with a fork until it begins to hold its shape, similar to moist sand.

3. Spoon the sugar into the moldings of the mini ice cube tray.

4. Compact the sugar into its molding by pressing it gently with the back of the spoon or with your fingers.

5. Turn the mold over and gently tap the sugar cubes out.

6. Dry the cubes out by lining them up on a dry, flat surface. Do not touch them, as they will crumble while still moist. Allow them to sit and dry for anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the humidity.

After finding this, I went out to find the small ice cube mold/trays (in a silicone rubber material good for bending), at a local kitchen supply store here in Bellingham, WA. I found them at The Greenhouse on 1235 Cornwall Ave www.greenhousehome.com

The plan is to build something out of sugar cubes bit by bit over the course of 2 months.... what it will be is a surprise and what I will do with it an even greater one. :)


~Love & Rockets~
~R~