As you read, HgAr = Mercury/Argon – gas emanates a powder blue color
Ne = Neon gas, emanates the “no vacancy” red color seen on many neon signs

Self Portrait

Starting off with the latest fantabulousness from Gary. An excellent job working with a multimedia project that required the Neon area and woodshop.

The dimensions are 38″w x 24″h, 10mm diameter glass, filled with Ne (red), and a white phosphor-coated 10mm tube filled with HrAr (blue) to create white.

From 50K feet, how was it done?

• Gary constructed a wooden frame utilizing the Norwich wood shop.
• He mounted a printed image to 1/8″ white acrylic sheet.
• Using a x-acto knife, he carefully cut out the image from the printout to expose the white acrylic (lower right)
• A paper pattern was drawn and used to create the glasses
• A separate pattern was created to create an outline around the image in the lower right
• The glasses are filled with Ne gas and are mounted on top of the print
• Underneath the acrylic, a white-coated tube filled with HgAr was used to construct the outline that glows through the acrylic cutout

Ghosts

For Peter’s 3rd Neon project, he created some ghosts to hang up in his son’s room

Size (to be added) constructed with acrylic, 10mm green phosphor coated glass with HgAr for the green ghost, Ne with clear tubing for the red ghost

From 50K feet, how was it done?

• Starting with a paper pattern, Peter constructed the ghosts in such a way that the eyes could connect without distracting from the image.
• Looking at the green ghost, the eyes are made of clear glass, and the ghost itself, from green phosphor-coasted glass.  This allows the ghost to have 2  colors in the final piece.  Clear glass filled with HgAr – blue, green phosphor glass filled with HgAr produces green.
• From the final glass form, Peter then cut out the acrylic to exactly match the shape of the ghost
• Mounting the transformer and french hinge on the back allows the ghost to seem like it is gloating on the wall

Wisco!!!!

Sam’s first neon piece!!!

Size (to be added), 10mm clear glass filled with Ne, mounted on (wood, type to be added)

From 50K feet, how was it done?

• It all starts with the paper pattern, drawing the actual size shape and then flipping it over to bend the glass
  • Note: all Neon pieces are bent backwards to accommodate electrodes and other mounting supports
• Once created, the wood background was cutout and the glass was mounted.
• Utilizing a french hinge, the piece can hang on the wall and appear as if it is floating

The hook dancer

Our Neon area champion (Rosie) created this fish dancer on a hook

Size (to be added), made with 10mm and 8mm glass filled with Ne and HgAr

From 50K feet, how was it done?

• As seen in the photos the pattern was created (backwards) where the order of the bends can be figured out along with how to bed the glass.
• glass can be bent in 1 continuous section or in smaller sections that are welded/fused together.
• the final pieces were mounted on acrylic

The Pink Pig

Another Rosie creation the Pink Pig

Size and other infor to be added

From 50K feet, how was it done?

• It all starts with the pattern.  Sections can be bent individually and assembled at the end.
• Undesirable sections can be painted (block out paint) to hide them where pieces connect.
  • Note the pigtail in the final that connects to the MOM.  Using the block-out paint, Rosie was able to mask the light from the connecting pieces.

We play on Wednesday nights at the Norwich site.  Please swing by or ask the artists for specifics about their pieces.

In the last 2 weeks, we have begun building our prototype, and we are ready to start production of the remaining hexes.

We had to start out with cutting down a 2x6x10 board into 6 pieces and joining and plaining them to all be the same thickness

Greg Waldo then taught us how to use a table saw to cut the grooves into the top rather than using a router.  This made things much faster and accurate.   

We tried to use pocket hole screws, but they did not work very well.

In the end, we opted for a good old fashion glue up and finish nailing.

The goal for this project is to be able to have it finished in time for Milwaukee Makerfaire!  Stay tuned for more updates.  We are always looking for more people to join us, every Monday!  Upcoming Mondays we will be meeting at Norwich to use the Norwich woodshop!

The Casting Area is running another Iron Pour.

This Event will be open to participants, Members and Non-Members.

Please contact Dave directly if you are a Visiting Artist/Non-member and need studio time to make your own artist mold. All non-members must sign the “Iron Casting Waiver” to participate.

Studio Time is to be scheduled in advance. If you plan on bringing a mold or making a mold all weights must be estimated and metal must be broken by said attendee. If you are unable to break iron due to medical reasons please reach out to Dave.  

Resin-bonded sand molds are weighed before they get to the pour floor. 

Artist Tile and Doodle Bowl Workshops:

Saturday 03-23-24 @ 12:30-3:30
Sunday 04-07-24 @ 12:30-3:30
Saturday 04-20-24 @ 12:30-3:30

Saturday April 27th 
We are planning to have the Safety Meeting at noon. If you plan on participating on the pour floor, show up to the safety meeting and sign the waiver, it’s required. Observation will be available from the north side of the pour floor. Observation will only be accessible from Norwich Ave. The proposed Schedule is the following:

8:00am Pour floor setup (leveling and placing molds)
9:00am Scratch blocks & Doodle Bowls available for sale.

10:30am burn-in (preheat furnace with immersion burner forced air and natural gas) 

12:00 safety meeting Immediately after the safety meeting, we go on blast.

*Going on Blast – removing immersion burner and attaching Blower to the furnace and entirely running of forced air and Coke Start charging iron/coke as it settles

1:00pm Should have first tap, Tapping every 13 minutes. 

4:00pm Drop bottom when all molds are filled – brief clean up.

Sunday, April 28th 

10:00am Clean-up and devesting molds:

Clean-up is required if you have an artist mold on the pour floor. All Artist Tiles/Doodle Bowls will be out on display for pickup. No additional payment is required for these items. For Artist Molds, gating and pour cups may be cut off and thrown in the iron pile.

Please weigh your castings and provide payment in the donation bin or via Wild Aprocot bit.ly/3wKtOcS Please Refer to the rates section for pricing https://wiki.milwaukeemakerspace.org/areas/casting/rates

Contact Dave for more information at dave@davidmarnold.com or via cell phone 4142150499

After more than a decade of monthly payments, the Milwaukee Makerspace paid off the remaining balance on its land contract on the Lenox building at Tuesday’s Board meeting. Congrats to us! And thanks to the investors who had faith in MMS! 

Hats off to all who participated in Space Improvement Day today. Here are a few glimpses from Lenox. Equal fun was, no-doubt, had at Norwich. We hope to see you for the next SID at the end of March.

Background on this piece. This is the Italy “boot” in neon mounted to Walnut with engraved text. It is to commemorate a family vacation I took to Italy this year with the engraved text coming from sayings that we picked up from the trip.

Some detail on the process. The bending of the glass tube took roughly 15 hours over the course of a week. The Walnut was purchased rough, planed and jointed at the makerspace to get the boards square, and glued up into a panel. The panel was then cut down to size and run through the drum sander to even out any imperfections from the glue up. The engraved text was designed using inkscape and imported into CorelDraw for printing on “Katy Perry”, the 30W laser cutter. This panel was at the max cutting area for Katy Perry at 32″ x 18″. The cut took nearly 6 hours to complete. A box was constructed for the back of the panel to be used for concealing the electronics as well as a mounting point for the French cleat.

Total time to complete this piece was roughly 50 hours over the span of 2 weeks. Total material cost including glass, transformer, wood, stain, filling the tube with neon gas, and time on the laser cutter was roughly $200.

The next Artist Tile & Doodle Bowl Workshop is Devember 17th at 12:30pm, contact Dave Arnold for more information on upcoming