Shou Sugi Ban

Shou Sugi Ban is a Japanese technique of burning/charring/torching wood’s surface to make it more fire resistant and prevent rot and insects.  PLUS!  It’s freakin’ beautiful.  Jake taught me his method of burning wood for his art pieces.  We use wax to seal our pieces in the end, but I think we should try a wood oil next time.

Shou Sugi Ban – Dragon with Flower

I made Jake’s Etsy store, HammerFistClan!  Only one item so far, but I have to edit and put watermarks on more images before posting more items.  I should also write more of a description for the process of these sculptures.  Oh well, good enough for now!

Sooo… I got myself a birthday present last week. I bought an iMac with the retina display.  Editing images on there with Adobe Lightroom is pretty awesome.  I MIGHT end up buying a monthly license after the trial is over, but I just did a cross platform license swap for CS6 Design Standard!  Therefore, I might just stick with editing on Photoshop.  Getting closer to never leaving my computer (except for climbing!).  It’s also easier to study on this computer–I mean 2 full pages side by side on a 27″ screen?!  I’m jumping from a 15″ laptop screen by the way.

Note to self: do not buy a refurbished laptop again.  It’s not really worth sacrificing a little bit of money for so much frustration.  Besides, laptops get updated every year or so, AND they don’t last as long as desktops.  If I had the patience and knowledge to build my own PC (sorry, Andrew!), I would.  If I’m going to be helping Jake with his business, though, I gotta get shit done now!  Life is now work, climb, edit photos, make shit, try to sell shit, and study!!!

Okay, I may have scared people with my last post with my health falling apart and what not.  My corneal ulcer is healed.  I have an MRI scan in two weeks for my kidney.  My urologist is thinking about removing my left kidney since I’ve had quite a few infections since, well, ten years ago, haha!  It really would be nice to not have an infection every couple/few months.  Besides, my right kidney is perfectly fine!  The left one is dumb.  I feel like for my next post I’ll finally write about my surgery 10 years ago.  I talked to Lauren recently, and I realized that I suppressed quite a few things.  I guess that happens when the pain is so much that you feel like you’re gonna die!  That’s about it health-wise.  I’m alive.  Good enough for now!  Haha.