When the email came through from Laurel McKellar at THEMUSEUM looking for artists to create a sculpture for an award entitled “The Joan Euler Order of the Creative Mind” we jumped on the opportunity for a creative collaboration.
Together with Bernie Rohde, our LED circuitry genius…and Meg Leslie, mosaic tiler extraordinaire. I took care of the precise CNC work, modeling, laser cutting, assembly, veneer application and overall “finishing” of the piece.
This is the first edition of the award which will commision a new sculpture each year and be awarded to an individual that has contributed to THEMUSEUM and to the community in a meaningful way that reflects THEMUSEUM’s values.
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Here are some shots of the finished piece…
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Here is how it started out. Thanks to my newly acquired SolidWorks skills I was able to make a 3D model and even calculate the weight of the final sculpture. From this model I was able to produce the laser cut files.
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12 layers of 1/4″ hardboard cut and assembled with wood glue.
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Lamination complete! Minimal sanding required.
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On to the veneering. Bought some nice oak veneer and some contact cement. First time working with this stuff and it was actually pretty straight forward.
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Cut to a slightly large dimension, coat with contact cement on both surfaces. Let dry for 15 minutes until no longer tacky. Lay the veneer on the surface of your object and burnish with something (I used the paint stir stick) to make a strong bond. Using a sharp knife, cut the excess veneer using the object’s edge as a guide. Sand the edges down, the pressure from this will also ensure good contact on the edges and makes it very nice to touch!
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I also veneered the front facing edges to complete the facade. Then gave it 3 coats of clear varnish.
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Now Bernie gets to plan where his batteries and circuits will go. We needed to make a base for the name plaque to go on, so it worked out that we could hide the batteries inside.
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Quick sketch as we talked through the plans.
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And voila! Laser cut base. I used bolts the attach the pieces together.
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Bernie made the metal drawer that would house the battery pack and control panel from the back.
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We decided to use magnets as a way to keep the drawer from falling out. Ended up getting my hands on some countersunk magnets you can secure with a flat head bolt… they are great!
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Veneering the base.
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Virgin veneer.
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Made my own “stain” by mixing 2 colours of dollar store acrylic. Applied it with a paint brush, and quickly wipped off the excess so I could still see the woodgrain. Regular stain would not get the deep colour I was after, so this was an awesome cheap solution!
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And with one coat of clear varnish, it’s looking pretty spiffy!
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Bernie building the LED circuit at home.
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Components and soldering area.
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It’s alive! These LEDs are programmed to pulse like a heart-beat. Bernie would give you a more technical explanation of how it works…ask about it when you see him!
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Meg takes the M home to start adding her mosaic elements.
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Little by little…
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…the M gets filled.
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The M, pre-grout, travels back to kwartzlab to get “fitted” for it’s lights.
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Okay, back home to Meg who will stay up REALLY late to get it all done in time. I added in posts in the 4 corners with a nut glued in. These will be used to attach the acrylic front. We needed to make it removable in case anything went wrong with the circuit.
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Love the car.
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Grout goes in! Messy stuff. Meg wanted to make it look fleshy…like the insides of a body.
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Grout cleaned up.
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The M gets it’s acrylic front fitted…leave the plastic film on for as long as possible. Acrylic scratches quite easily! Thanks to Ryan Wicks who came to the rescue with some spare acrylic when I realized KW Surplus was out!
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Lights are added in and extra wires for aesthetic.
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Testing out the battery life.
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This little guy (holding his bouquet of LEDs) is actually the brains of this piece. He is in control of the pulse.
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Bernie’s handy work. It all fits just as planned!
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We added a paper strip in the battery pack to disrupt the circuit until it was time to show it off. Bernie included an AC power adapter which takes over powering the M once plugged in- no need to remove the batteries.
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Photo by Derek Weidl of THEMUSEUM
After a couple of weeks the project was finally complete and delivered to a warm welcoming committee- Laurel McKellar, Derek Weidl and David Marskell at THEMUSEUM.
The award was announced on Tuesday evening during a special event, An Evening with Joan Euler.
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Bernie decided to dress in his best t-shirt.
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Unveiling of the award to Joan.
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The award, complete with plaque courtesy of TEHMUSEUSM.
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You can check out the sculpture in person, it will be put on display in the front lobby of THEMUSEUM. I have been told it will be put in display case just to the right of THEMUSEUM’s indoor entrance to Imbibe- it won’t be hard to miss with it’s pulsing red glow.