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Macaroni Art
Mar. 18th, 2024 08:51 amI have NRE with the makerspace I joined.
One of the things I am working on is attempting to become familiar with the physicality of blacksmithing. Just, you know, getting the hammer to hit the piece of mild steel and not the anvil, that sort of thing.
Yesterday when I was there, practicing, a guy asked if I wanted some advice. I gratefully and enthusiastically assented. He gave me information I VERY much wanted, about posture and how to minimize one's chance of repetitive stress injuries or throwing one's back out. I'm in my 50s, this is the kind of tip I want!
So yesterday I took a 3/8" wide square bar and made 4" of it into a flat sheet. I'm very pleased with myself!
I call these efforts macaroni art, in a callback to the preschool and kindergarten art many of us made and then later in life received. Said art may not have always involved literal dried noodles, but it often did. This is the art of someone who is learning the physical effort, skill, and technique of applying glue, of using crayons, of selecting colors. It's an age of experimentation.
That's what I am doing. Macaroni art. I am faffing about in the enjoyment of learning a new thing. Of course it's not more polished, more refined! Of course my wood joints show! Of course things are lumpy and uneven! That's the POINT of this whole endeavor for me -- to try new things, to expand my physical skills, to embrace my specific creativity.
Macaroni Art.
One of the things I am working on is attempting to become familiar with the physicality of blacksmithing. Just, you know, getting the hammer to hit the piece of mild steel and not the anvil, that sort of thing.
Yesterday when I was there, practicing, a guy asked if I wanted some advice. I gratefully and enthusiastically assented. He gave me information I VERY much wanted, about posture and how to minimize one's chance of repetitive stress injuries or throwing one's back out. I'm in my 50s, this is the kind of tip I want!
So yesterday I took a 3/8" wide square bar and made 4" of it into a flat sheet. I'm very pleased with myself!
I call these efforts macaroni art, in a callback to the preschool and kindergarten art many of us made and then later in life received. Said art may not have always involved literal dried noodles, but it often did. This is the art of someone who is learning the physical effort, skill, and technique of applying glue, of using crayons, of selecting colors. It's an age of experimentation.
That's what I am doing. Macaroni art. I am faffing about in the enjoyment of learning a new thing. Of course it's not more polished, more refined! Of course my wood joints show! Of course things are lumpy and uneven! That's the POINT of this whole endeavor for me -- to try new things, to expand my physical skills, to embrace my specific creativity.
Macaroni Art.