Friday, December 16, 2011

2011 review

2011 started out great, and stayed good for about the first half of the year, after that it really started to suck. 

Korea was really good, I came back to the US at the end of April thinking I would be here for 1-2 months.  Now it's the end of December and I'm still here.  

Traveling was good this year.  I think of my time in Korea as an extended trip.  I took a three week trip to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia in January.  In May I finally went back to San Diego to visit after being gone for over 6 years. 

I didn't complete any interesting pieces in 2011.  I wasn't really able to focus on making new work because I was too stressed and thinking too much about going back to Korea.  I made lockpicks, aluminum training blades, and some small pieces.  I am working on a belt made like the scale neck piece I finished in 2009.  I'll post photos of that once it's done. 

I'm glad 2011 is over.

Monday, December 12, 2011

aluminum training blades

In October I started making aluminum training knives and swords for people I practice martial arts with.  The martial art we do is called kali, and that often involves training with knives and swords.  The weapons are 1/4" thick aluminum, I wrap the handles with paracord.  I have anodized some of the knives.  I can't fit anything larger in my anodizing tank, but I am thinking about setting up an anodizing tank using those long tubs used for wallpapering. 

I still need to find a good place to photograph them.  They are too big for my light tent.