Friday, September 18, 2009

Korea and Japan trip

I got my plane tickets to Korea last week. I'm leaving Sept. 23rd, and returning Oct. 14th.

The first week I will be doing the home stay in Cheongju. The next week I will be visiting my friend in Pyeongtaek, and I will also be going to Seoul for sightseeing.

The last 5 days of the trip I will be in Japan, in or around Tokyo. I have been to Japan several times, but this will be my first time in Tokyo. I'll be meeting a Japanese friend from grade school who I haven't seen in over 20 years. I will also meet a friend from GIA who I haven't seen in 8 or 9 years.

I still have some orders I need to finish before I go. They are causing me a little bit of stress.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

birthday

Today is my birthday. I'm not too happy about it. I never thought I would live to be this age, and I never wanted to. I have been feeling like this for the past 4 years.

initial pendants

Right now I am finishing up a commission for 10 pendants. They are calligraphic letters, cut out of 1/4" aluminum. Sawing out the first letter or two was kind of a bitch cause the metal is so thick. But after I changed the saw blade size I was using and got some practice I started to enjoy it. I started out with a #8 saw blade, I thought I should use it cause the metal was so thick. #8 blades are good for cutting straight lines, but they are too fat to cut all the curves and corners of these letters. So I switched to the next smallest size saw blades I had, #2. The #2 worked much better, it was much more maneuverable and still cut through the metal fast enough.



Monday, September 7, 2009

Iceland and Sweden trip

I got back from my trip to Reykjavik, Iceland and Stockholm, Sweden the other day. It was good, but I wish we had spent less time in Stockholm and gone to one more place.

My favorite thing in Iceland was going on Langjokull glacier. This photo is near the edge of the glacier:


Once we were farther on to the glacier everything was pretty much gray, so I don't really have any good photos of it, but it was a cool experience.


I also liked Gullfoss waterfall:


Drottningholm Palace was my favorite thing in Sweden:


Stockholm: