Deutschkurs Dokument

This week I started finally using the video camera I got for my last birthday. I am filming a documentary about my German class. I just film stuff during breaks. We get two 20-minute breaks per class.

Making documentary movies has been a big fantasy of mine for a long time, so I'm both excited and nervous about really doing it. Starting a project is the second-hardest part, though, so I'm over that hump.

The movie is going to concentrate on the students in the class, not the organization that runs the school, not the teacher, not the space we're in. I'm not sure exactly what the film will be about in the grand sense, but I'm trying to set up a few constraints for myself to make the task less daunting and more focussed.

I think it will be cool to learn more about all the people at the same time as the people learn more and more German to talk about themselves. I'm potentially in the class for seven more months.

Finally, One for Myself

I've made a bunch of these beer cozies this summer and have given them as presents to people we stayed with on our road trip. Recently I made one for Dan for his birthday. Finally, I have gotten around to making one for myself. I used two kinds of sock yarn I had left over and some leftover mohair. I ran out of mohair before the top ribbing and had to change needles, but I like the way it turned out.

I started making these from a pattern in the book Knitting With Balls, but since the first cozies I have improved the pattern from the book a lot. I keep meaning to write up a nice how-to. This one is Berliner-sized for gigantic beer bottles.

A Little Game

Erik, Vigo, and I have been trying to make a drawing a day. We've had limited success. See if you can guess who drew what. One drawing is by Iris.

Click on the link and say in the comments who you think drew what.

The Instructables Book is Out

The Instructables book, featuring my screenprinting how-to, is out now. Have a look. I haven't gotten my free copy yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

I didn't make the cover, but you can get my instructable as a free pdf sample on the book's page.

Bust

I haven't done any kind of sculpture in a long time, so I decided to kind of get my chops back by doing a very small bust of Vigo in clay. I plan to use this project to teach myself some things about making molds. The only kind I know how to make now are plaster molds that can only make one piece because you have to break the mold to get your sculpture out. I'd like to learn how to use something else and make a little series in different materials to see how they compare. This is also an exercise in documentation which has always been a weak spot for me.

I've only sat down to this piece three times so far. The light in our apartment is not so great, so I have to work on it on weekends, in the daytime or I really can't see what the hell I'm doing. The other hindrance I have is that we don't have a high table or stool for me to put the piece on, so I end up working on it in uncomfortable positions. I have a serious kink in my neck right now. My main problem is that I'm just out of practice. Luckily, I'm not in any big hurry to finish this project.

Here are a couple pictures in chronological order of the work in progress. The last two are from today. You can see I didn't leave off on a high spot, but my neck was killing me!