This week is almost over. I am shocked. This happens basically whenever we have long weekends, but I find myself confused about what day it is and thinking it is earlier or later than it really is. Like for instance, yesterday (Thursday) I called the optometrist (because I ran out of contacts and spent the whole day saying “yes I do wear glasses” which got annoying very quickly) and I scheduled an appointment for today, because my brain had confused Thursday for Friday… and then I had to call the optometrist back and reschedule my appointment for a Saturday instead… But even though the week has flown by the days have been LONG. I’m working on both my MCA (which I’m presenting today) and my internship long research project. I’m having a good time, but as expected, I am very tired. I also took a pasta making class last night that two of the folks here at VRAC put on for us. It was fun. I haven’t made pasta in a while. I tried to make orecchiette pasta with limited success. It took a lot to get the pasta to stay in the shape, so I only ended up making a few. They cooked up nicely though, so that was fun. I also helped make some bowtie pasta which was a lot easier. It reminded me of making dumplings. The idea is very similar, just different folds and a slightly different dough. I think it would be interesting to experiment with making dumplings using pasta dough and typical pasta ingredients as the filling. I think it could be faster than making ravioli and also, maybe just as good, but who knows, maybe its disgusting.
So my MCA (stands for main course activity, and is basically a self guided project I get to do while I’m here), which I’ve talked a bit about but not really explained, is a 3D printed camera with replaceable lenses so that I can test out how effective 3D printed translucent plastic is and being translucent. (spoiler alert: it’s not great). The original plan was to print the camera, print the lenses, and then use a light meter to test the lux inside the camera with each different lens, and then without a lens to see how much light is or isn’t making it into the camera. I hit a few snares, like the fact that none of the lenses are actually useful as lenses (shocking, I know) and that I couldn’t find a light meter that was small enough to fit inside the camera. But, I learned a lot about printing and I made a really cool camera that actually works. Or well, it will work once I get film. That’s one of the things I like about the camera obscura (the kind of camera I built), that it actually doesn’t need a lens in order to work, so event though the lenses I created aren’t functional, I still was able to print a working camera.
also, I’ve been working on some drawings and design stuff for my main research project. I will share some of the doodles I worked on, but suffice to say I’m really enjoying it.
This is the camera I printed! It may not look like a lot but trust me it’s one of the coolest thing’s I’ve ever made.
And this is one of the characters I drew for the game. She’s a cyborg, which is why she has the glove on. The design is a bit messy and I’m trying really hard not to focus too much on all the things that are wrong, which is something I have done in my art for a long time. I try to remember that a year ago, two years ago, I used to dream of being able to draw the way I do now. And its hard to remember that when it feels from my perspective that I haven’t been getting better at art in a long time. But, this picture I liked making and even though there are parts that I see as wrong I’m trying to focus on that.