Project Kaki 06 - Outlining

Its been awhile since I posted last... let's just say I've had some trouble getting the ink to stick to the paint. However, I've somewhat bettered my technique and I'm back on track. I'm in the middle of drawing on the guitar and I thought I would update since I'm sort of between the outlining and detailing phases.

Here is the front of the guitar:



And here is the back:



And a little bit of detail:


I'm not making a video of this step... stay tuned for another installation.

Project Kaki 05 - Painting

Okay, so its been a lil while since I've posted progress... the painting process has taken longer than expected. The first color was much more neon/mac'n'cheese colored than I expected, so I didn't want to post pictures till I fixed it. :) Here's the back:


And the front:


Detail of the front:


And my hand after the golding process:

I actually acquired injury #2 during this step... when I was rubbing the gold over the back, I somehow embedded some gold paint into the skin on my forefinger. It never bled but its definitely in there. Here's hoping it comes out sometime!!

Here is my video for this step:

Project Kaki 04 - Reattachment

Okay, I actually finished this step a day ago but if you watched the previous video, you know that my adorably persistent puppy insisted I give her attention instead of work on this project. But now step 4 is done - all the little pieces I pulled off before are now reattached. Here is the back:


And the front:


Here is a detail of the side where I rearranged the mechanics:

Here's a detail shot of the new wood arrangement:

Project Kaki 04 Video Thwarted

I'm in the process of completing step 4 - reattaching the pieces of the guitar... but my adorably persistent puppy Norah won't let me make a video. Here's her debut for now:

Project Kaki 03 - Plastering

So far, this part of the process has been much more complicated than I anticipated... When I first got the guitar and examined the back, it appeared to be plastic, so I thought I would score the back with a razor to roughen it up enough to hold the plaster. Here's what it looked like after 30 minutes of hacking:


Obviously by this point I figured out that the back is not made of plastic... its some kind of fiberglass. Thus, the scoring was not working and the fiberglass dust made my hands itch something terrible. SO, I put some plaster over the scratches and over a smooth area to see how the plaster would stick:

At this point I'm really really hoping that I don't have to change my plan, and scrape off the plaster and start over... but thankfully it stuck just fine, so I did the entire back:

And THEN... I ran out of plaster. :(

SO, I'm going to get some more after work tomorrow and I'll finish the plastering process. Then, the really fun part begins... stay tuned!!


Here's video #3:

Project Kaki 02 - Disassembly

So today I tore the guitar up. This includes but is not limited to removing strings, removing tuners, tearing out the frets, prying off the wood inlays, dissecting the controls, unscrewing many screws, and tearing the neck off.

Here is the fret-less neck and stripped front:

Here are all the pieces after I was done:

And here is the neck after I snapped it:

I'm now off to do step 3... plastering. Yay!! Here's a video of step 2:

Project Kaki 01 - Guitar Received

Got my guitar in the mail today!! Super excited.

My puppy Norah had to check it out too. :)

Step 1 of "Project Kaki": Cleaning and de-stringing.

I'm starting on it tonight!! I still need to do some planning but I have some general ideas. Get excited!!

Here's an intro video:

New Project!!

I somehow earned the privilege of participating in guitarist Kaki King's upcoming art project. Basically I'm doing my art on a guitar in the theme of one of her songs, which will then be displayed in a gallery in NYC. Here is how she describes it:
"What I want to do is to meet twelve amazing artists, give them each a blank guitar, and let them go wild creating anything their heart desires. The theme of each piece would be the title of one of my songs, and my only artistic contribution would be to paint my fingers and 'play' the fretboard (wherever it ends up) as I would during the song so as to create a visual representation of where my hands travel. At the end of this project we're going to display all of the guitars in a gallery and throw a party with performances and perhaps the finalization of the last guitar."
Translation: I may go to NYC to see this gallery!!

Kaki King's Myspace page.
the project's Facebook page.

I just confirmed with Kaki that I do indeed get to do the song "yellowcake". If you'd like to hear the song, here is a link to the music video on YouTube. According to Kaki,
"'Yellowcake' refers to yellowcake uranium, the stuff that George Bush claimed Saddam Hussein had and was one of the reasons behind the Iraq war."
Here is a picture of the original batch of guitars Kaki started out with:

: Be Famous, Advertise Here

There's a billboard with this headline advertising billboard ads on Hefner that I see on my way to church. And no, I didn't mis-type that sentence. It seems to intentionally insinuate that advertising on that particular billboard will somehow promote you to stardom. Ha.

My first reaction to this marketing ploy was something along the lines of "either those guys have an entirely inflated idea of the impact of their tiny, self-promoting board on a semi-busy street, or they have a skewed definition of the word 'famous'...".

Then the delayed philosophical part of my mind kicked in, and I had to admit that the owners of this particular billboard really tapped into something that relates to people of every age and status in life - the need to be known. I know that not everyone feels an aching need to be in the spotlight, but I think that every person on some level feels the need to share themselves with people, to be understood on a deeper level than the surface. Why do we blog and tweet and update our statuses and post pictures and videos?? Why do we discuss our political, religious, and personal beliefs?? For most people, everything that comprises their online identities is their not-so-subtle way to publicly state "THIS IS WHO I AM. ADMIRE ME." And you really can't blame them. Obviously there are some extremists and arrogant bastards that are the exception, but I think every passionate point of view deserves to "be famous" on some level.

Perhaps I'll rent that billboard.

: Newbie's First Week

For those who don't already know, I recently got a job as a Creative Services Intern in the marketing department at Love's corporate offices. Stoked, obviously. I survived week one, and it looks to get even better from here. Here's a general recap of last week:

• Piles of paperwork & "on-boarding"
• Meeting upwards of 50 people
• Spending the week with the witty gentlemen in the Print Shop
  
• Re-creating several small decals and the like
• Designing a new print job order form for the Print Shop
• Assisting on a photo shoot, aka holding the light pole
• Lunching with fun people (boss Eric, coworker Lyndsie, coworker's friend-from-the-fuel-trading-floor Kristin)
  
• Shopping for business casual (sexy + professional = sexfessional)

Quite productive. I think the best part is designing things that are actually going to be put to practical use. I mean, one may not think that a sticker warning customers not to syphon fuel with their mouths is exciting... but that sticker I designed will go on fuel pumps in 30 states. The must-have-ID-to-purchase-beer sticker will be in every Love's station in Tennessee. The new print job order form will circulate into every department in every building at our office, onto nearly every desk. These little things may not mean much in the long run, but if my designs make life that much easier, make information that much more absorbable, make that much of a difference... then its worth it. And I'm loving it.

Week 2 brings me new challenges and... MY OWN COMPUTER!! Tomorrow I'm moving into a sweet setup in the marketing department. My cubie (cubicle) is directly across the hall from my boss and adjacent to the company's über-talented graphic designer, Michael. Good things are bound to happen.

On a side note, I despise the word "cubicle" and will forever refer to them as "cubies", pronounced "CUBE-eez", not "CUB-beez". I thought you should know.

: waiting for my real life to begin

I've been finished with college classwork for over a week now. The fact that I'm done still hasn't fully reached my conscious mind. I've said some goodbyes, I've celebrated, I've mourned, and yet I cannot seem to grasp the fact that life as I've known it for the last 5 years is gone and a new life should be beginning. Of course things have been changing, it just seems that I'm lagging behind the realization a bit.

Does anyone know the song "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin" by Colin Hay? This song has always meant a lot to me, and I feel the lyrics hold especially true for me at this time. I'd like to share this video clip from Scrubs, because the cast performs part of the song in a warm yet chilling way. If you don't know the show or what is going on in this episode, don't watch the video, just listen to the song once they start singing it.


song by Colin Hay

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
I'll stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down down down, on me

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in
But don't you understand
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

When I awoke today, suddenly nothing happened
But in my dreams, I slew the dragon
And down this beaten path, and up this cobbled lane
I'm walking in my old footsteps, once again
And you say, just be here now
Forget about the past, your mask is wearing thin
Let me throw one more dice
I know that I can win
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
And I'll check my machine, there's sure to be that call
It's gonna happen soon, soon, soon
It's just that times are lean

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart, let the light shine in
Don't you understand
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin