It was so fun visiting old friends in Texas. Nice to see an older sculpture of mine in excellent company with other art objects. That raspberry doodle is my favorite color of neon (and generally just favorite). It's in the collection of Brooks Oliver in Denton- who himself is an amazing ceramicist.
The blue an yellow cup with orange dot I was drinking out of is the work of Chris Alveshere- who's work I really like. Brooks stays on the cutting edge of super neat ceramics.
I only made two of those raspberry doodles. The other one is in Seattle. I wanna come back to em- but I would probably make them differently these days. That one is from 2019 I think. I really wanna throw some blacklight in when I play with raspberry again- I think the two colors would pop off each other nicely.
[#]neon #sculpture #friends #travel #texas #denton #glass #craft #ceramics #light #smallsculpture #collection #art #handmade #oldwork
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Made a little video of us polishing up this collaborative, We Are Magic sculpture for two upcoming traveling exhibitions. We are, Alicia Eggert, James Akers (myself), Jason Mishou, and Marco Buongiorno Nardelli. The four of us met at Alicia's studio in Denton, Texas to work all in the same room. Its actually the first time we have all met up, and its been a real treat!
Maybe you don't get the sense in the video, but there are numerous instances of feeling like it cannot crescendo any more, and it still does- until it climaxes, generating a barrage of blinky lights and generative vowel soungs.
The installation is activated by touching the hand pedestal, and holding hands with someone else touching the other hand pedestal. Each time the sculpture is activated it looks and sounds different.
Next stop, Urbanglass NYC!
https://makertube.net/w/mmBLa61WG5Zmxf3vAz6VDm
[#]sculpture #installation #interative #art #neon #led #steel #collaboration #teamwork #texas #nyc #Peertube #video #crescendo #climax #together
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I am excited to be teaching a class in Minneapolis, Minnesota in April at FOCI glass studio.
April 9-13 from 9-5 with a 1 hour lunch break each day.
https://www.mnglassart.org/visiting-artists
Over the course of an intensive week, we are gonna learn the basics of neon bending while also learning to make vector patterns and designs using inkscape. @inkscape
This is an all levels class- prior glass experience (or graphic design experience) would be helpful, but is not required.
We are gonna learn to build digital sketchbooks of designs- complete with cost estimates all from the comfort of our own computers as well as practicing the basic skills needed to make those designs in any color or shape :)
They said they have some computers, but I highly recommend students bring their own computers, preferably laptops. Then you can edit your designs wherever you want.
Land of 10,000 lakes here I come!
[#]neon #class #midwest #minnesota #glass #inkscape #design #howto #opensource #art #sculpture #intensive
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I made this doodle today to do some things the even heat of the kiln is good with including super weird size mismatches and bubbles and whatnot.
Its a bubble doodle! With some wiped tubes, and some hand pulled purple and silver/gold bubbles (the pink and weird brown ones).
Its currently sitting at about 800F in an oven under vacuum for tomorrow (although by tomorrow it will be at 250F).
I plan on putting a wiggly xenon fill in it tomorrow morning.
I like to try bends I have never done before. Its fun to take a bunch of scraps I like an try to make something seemingly impossible with them and it works.... maybe- we shall see tomorrow.
[#]studio #doodle #nyc #neon #glass #xenon #phosphorcoated #murano #handmade #sculpture #electric #improvisation #art
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Another exciting thing I did at work was make this 25mm crackle tube!
The folks in the office are talking about selling 8 foot crackle tubes. I had never done one in 25mm, but hey it totally works, especially when you bake out the filling in a kiln! I dont think 8 feet would be too heavy... so long as it was handled carefully.
I learned that the opaque colorful frit is not as nice as the clear-and that it will actually be cheaper to buy crystal f4 "frit" than it will be to pay people to crush glass. That is, unless the office can upsell the recycling- our fill glass is currently recycled tubes.
I was kinda fearing the 8 footer, but now I really DO want to make one. Its slow and meditative- as long as the tube doesn't split open and spill its crushed glass guts everywhere :)
I really should make a peertube video of this so you can see the lightning
[#]neon #crackletube #plasma #plasma? #glass #specialeffects #fancy #25mm #nyc #workinprogress #work #frit #crush #recycled
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Got to fix another piece of neon to an "NYC Institution" today- Trash and Vaudville.
Although I have never actually been- I did find a photo of where the neon goes online- looks like near the back of the store.
This one was "natural" tube death from sputtered electrodes. They used super tiny electrodes, which run hot and flake off their metal from the electrons running into them. This also reduces the pressure in the tube leading to even more sputtering. Those old blackened shiny electrodes have been on and sputtered for awhile. Probably about a decade or two or even more.
I fixed it by replacing its electrodes, repumping it, and repainting. Took me one hour.
I replaced the electrodes for ones with the shells twice as big. Should be good for decades more. Fixing red neon tubes brings a strange satisfaction, especially when they are ruby red.
[#]nyc #neon #repair #repump #glass #sputtering #work #brooklyn #trash #vaudville #handmade #muranoglass
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I wanted to share this gift that my brother and I made for my dad.
My dad compulsively checks the radar on his phone, and now has to leave his phone behind to be "off work". I cobbled together some hardware, a CNC box with edge laminate, and my brother did most of the heavy lifting in getting the github radar I found up and running (Maker Thornhill)'s tutorial.
It basically calls on the National Weather Service to overlay a nearby radar. My brother said he was gonna rewrite a bunch of it to smooth and polish things up about it.
It isnt neon, but still glows- haven't implemented a night or dark mode yet. Some coworkers said they really like the "natural" computer. Yes.
I used an adafruit board to make those two CNC buttons capacitive touch. One for zoom and one for mode change- keeping it really simple.
My dad has had it running for over a week now, and has texted us some storm moving in updates.
I want to make more server sculptures this year.
[#]gift #raspberrypi #frame #radar
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Here is a photo of the oven pumping.
Not as much to see here, but it was neat to see the overall color this made shift as it aged in and the mercury worked its way through the rainbow.\
While it takes way longer, and is less efficient, there is no risk of the tube arcing- leading to irreversible tube death. So less exciting is good here :)
You can really see the effect while its on the aging table. The greens and yellow are all on the same tube, but that is just the argon, the brightness is the mercury (mostly its effect on the phosphors).
Gosh those Murano colors are nice. I wanna pull and coat some more tubes.
I probably should leave it in the oven overnight next time. I think the pump wasn't the greatest- it likes to snake like crazy -which looks really cool but is actually a sign of a not great pump.
We shall see how badly and how fast it stains up. I do like looking at the little rainbow doodle.
[#]neon #handmade #sculpture #small #art #glass #fragile #kiln #nyc #brooklyn
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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And again. And again.
I remembered that I have a kiln next to my manifold now. So I returned to this sequence of bends I had been playing with around this time last year.
I forgot the whole, "make it perfectly and don't leave any inconsistencies behind part" so it took me all morning. After trying again a few times I eventually got it :).
Instead of bombarding, this lil Rainbow Sunrise Doodle got sent into the oven :) I didnt have to place any mica, but I did have to wait a bit.
Gosh, I should really come back to those designs that are impossible to bombard.
[#]glass #2025 #newyear #rainbow #sunrise #glass #handmade #newyork #brooklyn #nyc #neon #tubing #perseverance
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A day after posting that last post, I finished the "Office" at Urbanglass and it's shining brightly now.
Currently setting up for the Pattern free class- it's gonna be fun!
Feels good to have the office lit. Yeah I am a little off the pattern.... But aside from everyone on here- no one else will know ;)
[#]neon #office #Urbanglass #glass #handmade #brooklyn #nyc #class
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Some shots from my show at The Helper Mini in Utah. Electric Horses Forever has three horses running, with a few more out of the gallery. You can blink them if your near the gallery by joining the "Pink Pony Club" wifi network, and it's "captive portal" even works on iphones and androids.
The three of them should make a nice pink glow in the gallery day and night, and light up a little piece of the town of Helper.
The horses have made it out west!
[#]neon #show #exhibition #glass #mini #infinity #mirror #neon #electric #horse #3d #sculpture #art #infinitymirror #wifi #blink #captiveportal #esp32
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I will be teaching an all levels neon class at Urbanglass December 14th and 15th (not next weekend but the one after). There are still a few spots left open.
Not sure when my next all levels class will be, but my unofficial description for this class is "hippies dancing in a field of flowers".
We will be eschewing the patterns and templates traditionally used in neon fabrication. Instead focusing on learning the basic bends, and then finding interesting sequences of those bends to riff off of.
Join me for a weekend of 11am- 5pm fun with glass tubes, fire and electricity. Leave with a 3D doodle of light and transformer to power it. You wont be cold, and may learn a thing or two.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pattern-free-neon-weekend-with-james-akers-tickets-939716205467
I was just told that sign ups will be closed on Monday (December 9th)
Below are some things I have made without a pattern. I do have a good bit of experience and good access to colored glass so your doodles may look a little different ;)
[#]nyc #brooklyn #classes #events #glass #art
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About a year ago @alifeeney and I got this tropical plant from a neighbor. It had been brightening up our dim room with its tropical leaves, but it loves sun, and our cloudy Brooklyn apartment does not provide, so its been dying/shrinking and has a mould from not enough light.
After trying little cheap led lights for it, I decided to use some of the giant tubes I got in NC and make a light for it. This is about 12-18 feet or so of 20mm mercury rose pink. I think its between 4- 6 pounds of glass. It puts off a lot of light, is really easy to light up (large diameter tubes have less resistance) and you can look right at it without it being too bright.
After about an hour of being wrapped in the light, the plants leaves started perking up a little :) I plan on making an acrylic trellis with stuff scrapped from Manhattan ad campaigns so I can make a few more coils for it.
[#]handmade #plants #neon #coldcathode #light #houseplant #tropical #brooklyn #glass #maker #nyc #sculpture #fragile
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It finally happened.
I had been using Adobe illustrator for years to make neon patterns and take care of all my vector needs (laser, cnc, vinyl, etc.)
About 8 months ago I switched over to inkscape to take care of these needs and make my neon patterns.
Recently I have been teaching some high school students how to make neon patterns and I taught them inkscape- a bunch of them still sent illustrator files back (I told them they coulduse whatever as long as it was vector)
I found myself instinctively pressing all the inkscape hotkeys when using illustrator. Illustrator now feels clunky to me.
The students are learning to use adobe products because they are (for now) provided to them. I will be teaching another of these digital design to neon classes next spring and this one will be outside of academia. I shall be teaching them to use the inkscape tool and it will be available to them :)
yaaaay inkscape!
[#]design #foss #education #teaching #digitaldesign #vector #nyc
@inkscape
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even the moon has stalagmites
[#]monsterdon
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My flock of ponies is going in an infinity mirror box- so I figured I better do SOMETHING to address the transformers.
At the shop they vinyl wrap transformers that clients "have to have" a certain color. I typically never touch vinyl- but today I got to learn a little.
The installation guy said that the mirror vinyl isn't forgiving and flexible like some I have seen them use. With that in mind, I set out making a vector "jacket" for them on inkscape. Mel at work ran it through the cutter and showed me how to apply the first one. Like a big custom sticker.
Next time I am gonna improve the jacket by making the overlap tabs a bit longer but hey not too bad! Like a souped up car- it's a wrap! Good for infinity mirror ponies! Chromey :O
[#]neon #transfomer #vinyl #sculpture #electric #chrome #sticker
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I bent a neon Mr. Ed yesterday.
He was the star of a TV show in the 1960s. His trainers used peanut butter on his lips to train him to open his mouth on command- so he could speak along with another person doing voices.
I got the palomino colors with some old italian 6mm Incandescent along with some 5mm I coated myself with "warm white" for the hair.
Getting ready to ship these off. I think I may bend a dressage pink pony and another over the weekend- then they all gotta go in a foamy cardboard carrier for shipping out to the lil' gallery in Utah.
I am mocking up Mr. Ed next to his Emerald friend seeing how they do sharing a transformer. The rest of the herd is at the home studio.
[#]sculpture #neon #horse #tv #brooklyn #glass #handmade #light #drawing #3d #smallart #glow
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My friend El had their birthday party a few days ago. They had collaging with old ArtForum magazines and their partner cooked/ baked delicious treat after delicious treat. I collaged this lighter with some of my favorite old white dude artists (thanks 70s ArtForum). I must say I am a big Bruce Nauman fan, especially his neon pieces, many of the masterfully bent by Chicago's Jacob Fishman.
To cap it all off, El baked this family bread recipe with neon tube inside of it! Partygoers revealed more of the bread as it was picked away. I really want them to do a helium version of this- for warm white glow and it would run hot- keeping the bread warm.
Yes the bread was de-light-ful :)
[#]birthday #neon #lighter #bread #neon #art #collage #Nauman #brooklyn #nyc #sculpture
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What a weird day.
I made this emerald pony about a week ago. It's filled with neon gas so its simultaneously orange and green. Sort of a brown neon with the filtering out of the red.
Been busy with some bill paying work lately, which is nice! Fun work, neon work, really signage though. Exciting projects I think.
Excited to get back to making these- and to a few other ideas- I really wanna make that WebLink neon.
My art brain gears are turning, and they are turning faster as things feel a bit more dystopian. What a time to make art. What a time to make. The sun will continue to rise.
[#]neon #pony #horse #sculpture #tiny #brooklyn #nyc #makers #electric #glass #3d #muranoglass
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My latest distraction from the emails I should be sending- a flask server that displays a webcam, has a sqlite database and has GPIO control.
I also have been playing with cloudflare tunnels so I can open this up to anyone who wants to blink it. The idea is to make it so anyone can interact with sculptures and "be" at the gallery without actually being there- so thousands of people could "attend" an art opening.
I wanna one day teach this web blinking neon stuff. Thinking of structuring the class as "WeBlink" and parodying WeWork to market it. I sorta share Adam Neuman's demographic... Except I actually use computers- just not so much for emailing ;)
Planning on bending a "WeBlink" neon that will allow people to vote on "We Blink" or "Web link" styled in your favorite co-working space font.... Just as soon as I ship off a bunch of ponies.... And finish this current wave of bill paying neon work :)
[#]programming #serversculpture #blink #sculpture #studio #brooklyn #nyc #art #weblink
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