A New Start

Each new semester instigates in me a deep anticipation. It is a combination of excitement and fear. I think back over the break and wonder where the time decided to fly. Perhaps it flew with Peter Pan to Neverland and never came back. Throughout the previous months, my peers have told me stories and advice about certain professors and classes - some that make me want to run - so I use discretion in figuring out which stories are valuable, and which are exaggerations. Wednesday was the first class of studio, and now I can have a fresh start. The anticipation is over.

Our first project began with us scanning pre-cut wood pieces and assembling them to make an assortment of animal models. Many of my classmates have a type of dinosaur, but I decided to build a praying mantis. It stands poised with one of its forelegs outstretched as if ready to punch anybody who comes too close. Its wings resemble the pattern of a monarch butterfly’s wings, yet it has a sternness that never shows in a monarch.

Before we punched out the wood pieces, we all scanned our templates in order to have the shapes of the wood pieces documented digitally. We will use a process that involves Photoshop and Illustrator to convert our scans into drawings in AutoCAD, so that later on, we can model our animals and make scaled up versions. These versions will require laser cutting at the Ranch, a place I have only been to once.

That introduces a minor problem that I have managed to avoid for an entire semester. Last year, I had to pass a quiz and be taken on a “tour” through the woodshop that is located in Building B. I used the woodshop a lot last year to make multiple models, but unfortunately, my certification expired after two semesters. Last semester started pretty suddenly, and I didn’t have the chance to make it down to the woodshop even once. Well, I might have avoided it intently because I knew it was a hassle. Anyways, that is on my list of things to do for this project: get re-certified to use the woodshop I already know how to use.

I am eagerly looking forward to this project, because it seems that we will be learning mostly about how to strengthen weak joints in our models. This project compared with previous studio projects is much like editing a paper that already exists. The main “design” is already there; we are just figuring out where the weak spots are.

My guess is that my praying mantis will have its weakest joints where the forearms extend out past its body. The body seems fairly stable right now, but time and a bigger scale will tell if my guess is correct. Please join me next week for an update of the activities we have been doing in studio. Or perhaps I might give you an example of life’s little conundrums in my world.