Here are today’s aesthetic materials: copper tacks. I found them online. First I ordered the ones on the left, but when they came they were so tiny that I feared they might not be sturdy enough to hold the lizard onto the staff. I then ordered the ones on the right, only to find once […]
Nearly there! Yesterday was the most nerve-wracking of the construction steps for my staff, since the lizard is the main design element and I was fearful of “messing it up,” a perfectly meaningless concept of course. But still. Here is the design: It will be made from copper sheeting, which I just happened to have […]
Our lizard has undergone some weight reduction: He wraps around the staff much more prettily now. Here’s our next set of materials: Copper, brass, and aluminum wire. Not sure about the brass, but I felt that three metals/colors were required. These are to create the required markings for the staff. Remember the grooves? I drilled […]
Time to stain the staff, and no, that’s not a euphemism, Jobie. Here we see my system in all its perfection functionality. The pole on the left is for another project altogether that I hope to get to tomorrow. On the right, we have my Old Man staff. After one coat of stain: After two […]
Art is an ugly ugly business, you guys. It just lies there, laughing at you, taunting you with its eternal and unattainable perfectability. And you should try doing it on a curved surface sometime. Here we see the staff wrapped in a rectangle approximately 4.75 inches across, that being the circumference of a 2-inch circle—despite […]
In an alternate universe, I would be nervously packing and repacking for to leave for Burning Man next weekend. In this one, I’m just now getting started on a couple of items for Alchemy, the north Georgia Burn in October. Each officiant in 3 Old Men is responsible for creating his own staff. (Quick recap: […]
Remember how I kind of wanted jewels for the eyes of the lizard on the staff but never really went back to the idea? I was in Michael’s picking up some white acrylic paint for one last 3 Old Men project—Alchemy is this week, YOU GUYS!—and there was this whole series of new paint substances. […]
I know, these are boring posts. Listen—if I have to sit through six football fields of handkerchief hems, so do you. Yesterday, I finished — after a tremendous false start — the northeast wall, the first “long” wall, about 108 feet long. Here’s what that looks like: Three more to go. I got started on […]
: Ritual action : [original post here] What kinds of actions are performed as part of the rite, for example, sitting, bowing, dancing, lighting fires (!), touching, avoiding, gazing, walking? In what order to they occur? … What are the central gestures? … What actions are not ascribed meaning? What actions are regarded as especially […]
I’m revisiting my explication of 3 Old Men in terms of Ronald Grimes’ Beginnings in Ritual Studies. : Ritual objects : [original post here] What, and how many, objects are associated with the rite? … Of what materials are they made? … What is done with it? … What skills were involved in its making? […]