Various Artsy Projects

Back again folks, this time with updates on the various projects I've undertaken (mostly for school classes). Nevertheless, I'm pretty proud of (most of) them.

First off, the yukata (Japanese summer kimono) that I've been working on since what feels like ever since I arrived is finally (FINALLY) finished!

That's more or less what it looks like (I had to stand with one leg on my bed and the other on my desk to take this photo, so it looks a little odd). I am SUPERDEDUPERDEE proud of this, mostly because I had to use a sewing machine on my own for the first time ever. And it doesn't look that crooked in real-life, I was trying to get it so you could see more or less what it looks like on.
Time it took to make: GAH don't even want to think about that...25-30 hours, maybe? It made me think of Project Runway where the judges are like "ok guys, go make xyz" and in a day  they whip out a design. I bet they could make this in a day, easy. *30 hours grumble grumble*

Second off; art class projects: my chopsticks and box, and ring:

Very proud of the chopsticks, but the box ended up being kinda half-assed, to put it frankly. I just painted it and put small circles of shells (mother of pearl or something) on it. I wanted it to look like a gradient of stars, but it didn't really work out. The chopsticks, however, I LOVE.

First I had to carve them from two rectangle pieces of wood, then I had to fine tune the tips and the ends (and since I'm not super familiar with the shape of chopsticks, this took a bit of sneaky observation of the other people in the class). Then I had to sand them until they were smooth (I mean, if you were going to eat off them you wouldn't want a splinter.) After that I painted the ends in a purposefully-sloppyish gradient from white to blue. That got 2.5 coats. Then I used a natural stainer for the bottom. And then after they had dried: VOILA!
Time to make: about 8 hours
Box: (which I didn't make, ,just painted and decorated) 2.5 hours The box is maybe not quite done.

This is a ring I'm making, which is most definitely still a WIP. (The art class is technically over since it's a 3rd year art class and they all have tests now, so I have to go after school next week to keep working on stuff). What looks like a random knick is actually some sort of geometric cut-out, just FYI. First I had to draw a pattern on a slip of paper, then you pasted the paper onto the metal and were given a small saw to carve out what you wanted. The pattern on the inside was made by drilling a hold through the metal and then sawing from that hole. After that you blow-torched the metal until it was malleable, then hammered it around a metal cylinder to make it a circle. Then you heated it again and put some chemical stuff (I didn't understand the explanation) to seal the crack. Then you hammered some more. Now I'm in the middle of the filing stage, to smooth out the sharp edges and to make the ring shiny. Next I polish it. And then, unless there's a step I don't know about, I'm done.
Time so far: 3.5 hours

That's a project I did by myself: an advent calender. I thought I wasn't going to get a tree this year, so I decided to make my own little one. It sits on my desk and every day I lift a flap, check the day off, and get to eat a piece of chocolate. :) However, it turns out my host family did have a small (fake) tree:

The presents underneath (sort of) it are from me to my host family. Not what I'm used to *sniff, pine smell!* but it's better than nothing!

What else is going on? Well, we launched model rockets in science class today.

I actually like this teacher best of all (except for my Japanese teacher) because even though he does do a lot of talking, he brings a demo of SOMETHING to each class. Last time it was a demo with an egg; something to do with air pressure I think. But since this week all the classes are 30 minutes (because the afternoons are parent-teacher-student conferences) I think this was a throwaway class. Still, it was really cool!

That's me, in uniform, getting to push the launch button!

You can't see the rocket, but if you look at the smoke trail, that's the path it took. That one landed on the roof (accidentally)! Whoops!

And that's all that's going on! The countdown to winter break continues!