Week Four: Painting, Painting, and Painting

  I said I wanted to paint and painting I am.

  For the majority of this week, I was adding more coats of paint to the hanging piece. There are five pieces all together and I had started and finished painting only three of them. With the other two, Dennis decided to paint those with fluorescent colors. For the fluorescent to really show I’m painting both sides with three coats of titanium white first. I was able to get one of the pieces done with white and start the first coat of the fluorescent paint.

  Other than painting, on Monday Dennis had me start sanding the piece that I glued together from the other week. Dennis had me start with the toughest grit on the table sander, he showed me how to run the piece through, then I did the rest. After I sanded the stuff off I switched to the lowest grit and sanded the sides again to get it even smoother. This process involves a lot more sanding, but that's as far as I got for this week. I'm sure I will continue sanding the rest soon.

                                 Before Sanding                                                                        After Sanding                                                   

  On Wednesday after I put another coat on the hanging piece. Dennis wanted to cut out more shapes on the laser cutter at Nextfab, I joined him. Before we left we cut some plywood down with the table saw so it could fit inside the laser cutter and inside Dennis's car. Dennis also showed me how to prepare a file on adobe illustrator for the laser cutter. When we got to Nextfab he gave me a tour of the location. Nextfab has a woodshop, 3D printers, Metal shop, and more. It's a nice little space for people to use equipment that might not have the immediate access to those things. There is a membership cost but Nextfab is a good resource to know about for when I wouldn't be able to use the school's studio anymore.

  A laser cutter is an interesting tool. Dennis showed me how to set up the file on the computer to be read through the software, how to select the material you'll be cutting, and how to focus the laser. Everything that needs to be done for the laser to properly cut. I did watch the laser cut the wood and yes, I found it oddly satisfying. When it was done cutting the wood, we took out the wood and placed the next one in. The laser took about two minutes for each shape to be cut out. It's definitely quicker and more precise than just cutting out each shape by hand, for Dennis's work that's important.

  Week four is done and I'm about halfway through. I'm still looking forward to learning whatever that gets thrown my way.     

Me watching the laser cutter! 😂