nicoyektai.com» Studio Stories

Hand/Eye Magazine

NY — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:38:04 +0000

Keith Recker of Hand/Eye magazine has asked for help spreading the word about his gorgeous magazine. The magazine explores the amazing work of crafts people from around the world with an emphasis on sustaining and supporting indigenous people. Keith was recently honored as the ambassador of the month of June by the Urban Zen Foundation

Please have a look at this PDF version of the Magazine Hand/Eye 06

Please consider subscribing

Please help spread the word!

thanks

Nico

Summer in the Hamptons- Everyone Comes Back!

NY — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:17:43 +0000

You can tell its summer in the Hamptons when the population surges, the villages get crowded and old friends make an appearance. I was visited by this Snapping turtle who I first met when I was scouting a location for my studio. She is laying eggs in almost the same spot she chose three years ago. Nature is amazing! Her head is as big as my fist and her shell measures about 12″ long.

It is finally feeling like summer and I have been getting ready for a few events.

I have built two chairs for children. That are being donate to the fundraiser for the Ross School.

I have also been working on new planters for the Planters on and Off the Ground Show At the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton NY. Here is a sneak peak of the scale models.

Enjoy the warm weather!

Karma Kids Art Project

NY — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 01:29:03 +0000

I would like to take a moment to do my part to introduce Karma Kids to a broader audience. The idea is children making art every Tuesday in Sag Harbor NY that will be sold at the end of the summer to benefit children’s causes around the world. The classes are taught by artists who volunteer their time and expertise to engage the children in new and exciting projects. The classes are free but the artwork remains behind to be part of the auction. A simple way to engage children and artists in a broader dialogue that benefits everyone. Many thanks to Sam Christie for all of her hard work in establishing this project.

The website has just launched
www.karmakidsart.org

The facebook page is up and now all that is missing is the ability to donate by PayPal!
facebook

I had my first opportunity to run the class a few weeks ago. It was a blast! The project was making and decorating a wooden wall sculpture to hold keys. I cut and pre drilled plywood that would act as the canvass for the project. The next step was to select a variety of scrap from my vast collection and cut them into interesting shapes. Recycling at its best!

I am not usually this organized but I wanted things to go smoothly.

I brought an assortment of hammers and asked the children to choose one when it was their turn to hammer in the dowels.

Now for the fun part. I held the dowels while each kid took a turn. They were an accurate bunch. Not even one errant blow!

The next part of the project involved decorating the plywood boards by gluing the scrap pieces on.

I know that I will be buying two of these at the auction on August 28! Thanks to all of the Karma Kids for making this so much fun!

All photos except for the first courtesy of Marcia Ciriello Photography

New Bench And BBQed PVC Pipe

NY — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:13:37 +0000

I have a number of project going on that I am very excited about. One of those projects is a bench that I am designing for a clients home in the Hamptons. It turns out that their needs are in line with what I need for an upcoming show In the Berkshires at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. I will be exhibiting three benches in their upcoming show- Sitting Pretty: The Garden Bench As Sculpture. Two are ready to go but I am in need of a show stopper! This is where my needs have overlapped with the needs of the client. I am still in the process of finalizing the commission with them but I am going to press on and build a version of the same bench for the show in the Berkshires. The two benches will be about the same size, 10 feet long, and they will share the same look. That said they will each be unique. My work does not lend itself to multiples and this is as close as I get.

Here are some photos of the model. Note that the model is more detailed than the ones I make for myself. The model is my primary tool for expressing my intentions to the client.

This last photo illustrates the first stumbling block in the construction of the new bench. The inside curve of this cove on the outside of the leg is going to be a challenge to fabricate. The concrete will be cast into a form so I need to find a tube of suitable diameter to incorporate into the form. In the past I have use PVC pipe to make a similar detail. In this case the pipe would have to be big. Probably around 12″ in diameter. I have a section of a pipe half that size. What to do? I went on Ebay looking for sections of large diameter PVC pipe. I found some but they were not long enough for this application. I had an idea!

Here you can see the before and After!

Here the part is incorporated into the form

Not quite ready for concrete but a very good start and nothing caught on fire!

Like Lemmings Over A Cliff!

NY — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:09:44 +0000

One day I realized that my collection of hand power tools had become quite old. Some of them are pushing 20 years! I don’t think I would have predicted this when I bought them so no real complaints. That is until today. A few weeks ago the brush on a Porter Cable 690 Plunge Router shot across the room. Needless to say work had to stop until I figured out what had happened. It turned out that the plastic cap had cracked and the brush sprang out of its home. I was able to screw it back in and get back to work. It is shocking that I have not ordered a replacement since my “field fix” is not going to last.

This was the culprit

Today my Porter Cable 6″ Random orbit sander had an incident. By incident I mean complete failure. A bearing blew, a screw sheared and into the recycling bin it goes.

A close up of the orbit mechanism and the busted bearing.

I wonder what will be next? I have my eye on a Panasonic 12V cordless drill that is acting up. Perhaps it could be my other Porter cable router, it is howling a bit. My fear is that there are probably half a dozen tools that are of this vintage. It would almost be easier for me if they all jumped at the same time!