Guitars for Vets - Finished

Broc and I finished our collaboration project for the Guitars for Vets event this past week. We used a some of the back of the guitar to create a tiled pattern of triangles that were laser cut, and used some of the front of the guitar. It kind of looks like fire? I'm not really sure what we were going for exactly, but it's great (!), right? Well, we donated it and hopefully it sold and earned some money for the cause. 

It dried eventually. 

Guitars for Vets - Pattern + Paper

Here are some images from a few experiments I ran the other day on the laser cutter for the Guitars for Veterans project...

The final rosette design will be layered paper and wood that I've run through the laser cutter... I'm still playing with the pattern though.

S100 - Guitars for Vets - Patterns

I am preparing to do some experimentation with the laser cutter, engraving designs onto sections of the guitar... here is a sample pattern that I will be trying. It's a dense design, so I'm unsure if it will turn out as clear as I'd like.

I am finding a lot of inspiration from baroque guitars. The rosettes were traditionally made with hand carved layers of wood and parchment.

S100 - Guitars for Vets - Progress

Broc and I sketched out some possible compositions for our sculpture on Friday and started cutting some pieces of the guitar up.

Frankie recommended we put some tape over the cut part so we don't get fume marks from when the poly burns. Also, it looks like underwear.

Teamwork.

The laser didn't cut all the way through, but it was convenient to have a nice guideline to sand to.

S100 - Guitars for Vets

I ran into MDB in the hallway and he mentioned he was working on a project with some found guitars... We got to talking and he said that the project is a fundraiser for Guitars for Vets - Each year, Beverly Belfer from the Music Department organizes the donation of guitars to be painted or reworked into sculpture by artists for auction at an event in support of Guitars for Veterans. The guitars are supplied. While she would like for several of the guitars to remain playable, there is an opportunity to transform some into sculptural objects. - Broc Toft, another graduate student at UWM and I have decided to collaborate on a guitar sculpture... It's going to be fabulous.

We met last week Friday and started tearing apart a guitar - I took all the hardware, and he took the neck from our "rock-starred" guitar. I'm going to experiment with surfaces and pattern on most of the pieces I've taken... will do some work on the dark part of the body too... TBC