Helen asked me what I am planning for my next project. I just made a couple pair of earrings (photos to come soon) but longer term I want to learn CAD/CAM. Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing. In one of my previous jobs I worked with a guy who had a milling machine and it was fascinating watching him create things out of blocks of metal.
There are few different disciplines to learn and master on the path to understanding CAD/CAM. Here is a nice explanation of what is involved.
It's common to think of a metalsmith as hammer and anvil, torch and metal. CAD/CAM design and production places the metalsmith's artistry in a new location, the computer lab and machine shop. Do these techniques make you any less of a traditional metalsmith or more of a metalsmith? Does working in the same medium where you could as easily design a door knob or pair of shoes take away from the experience of being a metalsmith?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
A new design
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oh, my, my. It makes my head spin to look at the link you included with your post. Not my cup of tea at all. Too much mental and not enough of the physical exchange with the materials, evolution of the work as it goes along from stage to stage, from idea to realization. That's my knee jerk reaction. It's not that I don't think you can do some beautiful work with it....it's just that the process doesn't appeal to a low tech girl like me.
Now, I'm saying that and knowing that Michael, my better half, would be just avid to get his hands on this stuff and play with it. He would love, love, love this.
And, speaking of tools....my new rolling mill just got delivered. I need to do some serious work on setting up a better, more permanent workshop than the existing corner of the living room I now inhabit. My dream of turning my daughter's room in a studio has been put on hold. She's moving back home at the end of the spring semester. She decided it would be smarter to finish her degree while living in the old family homestead for free rather paying absurd amounts of cash to rent in the student ghettos in Burlington. Not that I'm complaining. It will be great to have her around for a while. I just need a place to set up a studio.
Any ideas?
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