Pages

Monday, January 21, 2008

Tyvek again





The first photo shows a piece of Tyvek painted with Dye-Na-Flow paint and some Lumiere after it was melted; the "before" shot is second (I folded the strip and punched holes in it.) The third shot shows a piece that was folded accordian style and then slashed with scissor cuts before melting. I tried the heat gun tonight on sheets of Tyvek, but didn't like how it moved around and buckled up. I like working on sheets between my Teflon pressing sheet, with an iron. The last piece reminds me of a molted snake skin.

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.


Today I am celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. with some great quotations by him:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

“The time is always right to do the right thing.”

“Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

“I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.”

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

Tyvek Beads


I tried my hand at making beads out of Tyvek today. First, I painted Lumiere on a rectangle of Tyvek (a recycled U.S. Priority Mail mailer) and cut it into triangles about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. I coated the back with a glue stick, then rolled the triangles around a wooden bamboo skewer. (See second photo.) I used a heat gun to melt them until they fused.


I think I'm going to try making them a bit fatter next time, and perhaps melting them a bit longer. They are still a bit "papery" on the ends. I'm also going to try allowing the Lumiere to dry longer, and lusing less of the glue stick.