What a great weekend! -- Tue, 30 Jul 2002 22:53:02 -0700
Bowls back from sacto Monday not today (sunday) [posted by Sparky] -- Sun, 28 Jul 2002 11:38:51 -0700
Egeria in Sacto this Sunday [posted by Julie] -- Sat, 27 Jul 2002 00:40:20 -0700
Another copper sculpture -- Thu, 25 Jul 2002 11:46:04 -0700
Egeria: Need helping hands! -- Thu, 25 Jul 2002 09:54:00 -0700
Work tonight! [letter to Julie] -- Wed, 24 Jul 2002 03:01:00 -0700
This weekend -- Sac'to! -- Tue, 23 Jul 2002 14:49:13 -0700
Pounding all week! -- Tue, 23 Jul 2002 14:44:59 -0700
Fuel -- Friday, July 19, 2002 at 20:08:00 (EDT)
Weight -- Friday, July 19, 2002 at 15:35:26 (EDT)
Creamy centers -- Friday, July 19, 2002 at 05:15:07 (EDT)
Bunches of welding! -- Thursday, July 18, 2002 at 06:29:19 (EDT)
What a productive day!!! -- Monday, July 15, 2002 at 04:22:04 (EDT)
Fish sculptures! -- Friday, July 12, 2002 at 15:02:50 (EDT)
Firefall weekly project update -- Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 01:33:36 (EDT)

We got TONS done at Allen's place in Sac'to this weekend!  His friends Chris and Michelle helped out a lot, and Claudine, Paul and their friend Craig also showed up and helped out.  Sandy was filled in by Dorian, who got a lot of great footage.  [Have I missed anyone?]
  
It was a frenetic weekend, after an already frenetic and hectic week of kick-ass work.  I was exhausted, and tired from not sleeping in my own bed, so a lot of the weekend is a blur. :)
  
These things were done by the time I got home monday night:
  
Top bowl:
    edges pounded
    one spout made
    second spout begun
Middle bowl:
    lip welded
    lower wall 2/3 back-welded
Bottom bowl:
    [had been pounded and completed by pickup time friday]
Support:
    designed and finalized [damnit!]
    templates for the bottom and middle bowl gussets made
    bottom plate remade [John's plate was, sadly, not flat enough]
    angle iron cut to size for bottom and middle bowl
    steel bought for most of the structure
  
We're still re-thinking the recirculation.  This is *not* a trivial problem.  The three options right now are, 1) digging a well for submersible pumps, 2) using in-line pumps and running hoses from a well for a suction hose, out to the outer wall where the pump is housed, then back into the fountain, and 3) instead of the spouts overflowing into the basin area around the fountain, they overflow into 6 basins piped together, and use submersible pumps.  Ug.  None are ideal.  All are quite complicated.  At last discussion, we were leaning towards basins.  [Submersible pumps reduce the 12V complication [$300 power supply, $100 of batteries], since Allen could find cheap/free sump pumps, but they're 12V..]
  
Also, how to pump the water to all the fish and Egeria's crown.  We were talking about having a separate pump for these.  This brings the tally of pumps to *5*.  Five.  Three for the fountain, 1 for the filter, and now another one for the fish and Egeria.  That's a *lot*!  Again, no real clear, good solutions there.  [Allen and I are sleeping on these problems...]
  
The lines tally this way [at worst]:  3 water lines to the fountain, 1 water line to Egeria and fish, 3 naphtha lines to the fountain, 1 naphtha line to the Egeria bust, 3 propane lines for the fish, 1 propane line for Egeria's crown.  That's a lot of piping!!  All of the piping has to be fire-proof as well, since a fuel leak is a slight possibility.  It would be horrible if there was a leak, it caught fire, and all the tubing was plastic!  Esp. the fuel lines, which would burst and cause a *real* problem!!!  Copper piping and tubing is expensive, however...
  
What else?  Well, I can't remember.  I'm still pretty tired.  I wanted to sleep all day, but woke up at 8am thinking about Egeria, as usual...
  
Kiki
  

Kiki has asked me to put the call for people to come help unload the
bowls tomorrow evening (Monday) between 8 and 9 - not this evening.
Kiki asks that people show up at 8 because they will be shooting for
arrival then, but they may be a little late.
  
Kiki's going to stay up in Sacto again tonight so they can make more progress
on the supports and other bits.
  
There was LOTS of progress yesterday on the planning/design of the support
structure for the bowls.  The three of us worked through all of the
details of the design down to the last bolt ;)  We're going with a support
structure that will fully support itself without the bowls.  The support
legs are gone, and the bowls aren't sandwiched in anywhere.  They're clamped
down at their edge by a tight fitting ring.  You'll have to see the drawings
to get a better idea of how it works.
  
Allen started working on the bottom plate and lower support last night.  Kiki
started rounding the top bowl lip and forming the spouts last night.
  
Today work continues...
  
Tomorrow the bowls come back.
  
Sweet!
  
--
sparky

Hello all,  I'm sending this for Kiki and Scott who are en route right now.
  
Egeria is on its way up to Sacramento for the weekend, and you should be too.
  
Come on up and help out on Sunday, it'll be great work.  You can even crash on one of Allen Denault's many couches Saturday night so you're fresh and ready to start on Sunday morning (for you morning people.)  
  
When?   From 10 - 6 Sunday.  Yep, this Sunday.
  
Directions:
  
Take 80 (turns into 50) follow signs toward S. Lake Tahoe
Use Business 80 toward Reno
Take the Arden West off-ramp (stay to the left before the off-ramp)
Left on Del Paso
Right on Edgewater (1 block down)
Right on Arden Way
Turn into Open Gate
  
Confused?   Call Allen 916-600-0689!   
  
(Hey, I know, I'm amazing with directions - come on by.)
  
Julie

From: "Douglas Smith"
To: "Majo no Kiki"
Subject: RE: SHIPRAISING Container links
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 11:46:04 -0700
  
Interesting... I like the format. Here's an interesting one for you:
http://www.rudimentsofwisdom.com/pages/monuments.htm I didn't know that it's formed out of copper sheets... (Statue of Liberty).
  
Kinda puts it all into perspective... :)
  
Kiki -- I wonder how they annealed all that!!!???

http://www.burningideas.com/firefall/egeria/pics/103_0724/07240044.JPG
  
Just threw up a quick pic.  This will go away when I edit the pics and add them to a gallery of pics.  This is an exciting pic, and the last three days have been great!  Only a few people showed up to help out, but we made a lot of progress!  As you can see!  The bottom bowl is almost done pounding, just the center needs to be annealed and pounded.
  
Unfortunately, there's a Firetown meeting tonight, so I won't be back until later to work, but if you have time during the day either today and/or tomorrow, I'd appreciate the help.
  
I've been helping pound on this bowl for three days straight now, and last night I was pretty exhausted from it...  My wrists were giving me a little trouble too.  I'd really rather focus on welding, if possible.  I need to get the middle bowl as done as possible before this weekend.
  
Also, Allen is coming friday to load up the bowls and take them to Sac'to for the weekend to work on the supports.  We need hands to help load into the truck friday evening around 6pm.  Can you all come by?
  
We could use some people to come to Sac'to on sunday and help build the supports.  Please let me know if you can come out and help!  We need the people!  It will involve plasma cutting and welding -- we will teach you to weld!  You can stay saturday night if you like and we'll make it a small party! :)
  
Summary:
  
Thurs, fri daytime: ANNEALING AND POUNDING THE BOTTOM BOWL
friday evening, 6pm: HELP LOADING
sunday, Sac'to: HELP BUILDING THE SUPPORTS
    [learn to weld! learn to plasma cut!]
  
Please, please, please help with this big push of work!  It will be a rewarding weekend, with lots getting done!  But we need YOU!
  
Kiki
  
PS I will buy beer and food if folks tell me what beer to buy. :)

I keep writing a summary to my friend Julie instead of here. :)  But here's the pertinent parts:
  
>Got a good bit of work done tonight!  And I swindled Scott into doing a lot  
>of welding on the middle bowl.  He got pretty much the whole bowl wall  
>tacked in [meaning a short weld every foot or so -- not a complete weld, but  
>now going and finishing will be far easier!]  This was a great thing!
>
>Also did a lot of annealing.  We ran out of acetylene last night and I  
>refilled the tank today.  We used about 1/4 of it tonight!  Egads!  And the  
>bowl still has a lot of annealing to go!  Gaaaa!  Scott suggested renting a  
>giant tank for two weeks.  They don't usually do that, but maybe they would  
>be nice to me...
>
>The welder I've been borrowing has been acting up, so we took it in today.   
>The guy in the shop was a real character and we ended up staying there for  
>about 2 hours chatting!  This is actually good, since he says they get all  
>the welders that "fall off the truck" and are damaged.  They sell them  
>really really cheap, and when I'm ready to buy a bigger welder, they'll let  
>me get one of them!  He also had an add-on for the little welder I got on  
>eBay.  It's a "snap-arc" which helps the weld get started initially.
>
>Welding 101: Electricity doesn't travel well through air, but it does  
>through plasma -- a lightning bolt is plasma, for instance, in fact, *all*  
>electrical sparks are plasma.  So to start the arc, you have to somehow  
>start the bolt of electricity.  The old yucky way is to scratch the tip on  
>the metal [so the arc can travel through a shorter bit of air], but this  
>leaves some of the tip behind and can make the weld weak.  The newer way is  
>"high frequency start" which uses a super energetic pulse of electricity to  
>zap the metal, which initiates a plasma arc, and the welder backs down to  
>low frequency again and off you go!  Not really sure how "snap-start" works,  
>but it's a nice add-on that we wanted to get anyway, and he's going to give  
>us a good deal on it!  Yay!
>
>BTW, I sunburned a strip on my arm from welding...  The electric arc that's  
>used to weld with gives off *super* high UV!  That's why welding helmets are  
>nearly too dark to see through.  You have to carefully protect your eyes.   
>From all the horrible welding I did on sunday, apparently my sleeve was up  
>and the arc shined on a small strip of my arm and "sun"-burned it.  It still  
>hurts.  I'd "sun"-burned my neck last week since the welding helmet I have  
>doesn't go all the way down and I was lazy and didn't wear a full welding  
>jacket.  [We have two in the shop, neither of which are mine, and both Scott  
>and Teiwaz were using theirs...]
>
>The UV of an arc welder is so bright you can actually get a "sun"-burn  
>*through* a white t-shirt!!!  Horrible, horrible for your eyes.
>
  
Kiki

Allen is working on the support structures, and wants all the bowls completed and up in Sac'to this weekend!  Eeks!
  
I've been exhausted and slept far too late both yesterday and today.  ug.  But I needed it.  I'll be working hard every day all day this week, so come on by to help if you can!
  
I'm looking for a couple people who want to help on sunday in Sac'to.  Let me know if you're interested in joining us!  It'll be plasma cutting, which is fun!  And probably some welding too!
  
Working working!
  
Kiki
  
PS In case you haven't heard, Scott got laid off last week. :(
  
  

Please come by in the evenings this week and pound if you can.  We need to get this bowl pounded, preferably by this weekend!  If people can come by and pound, that frees me up to weld and finish the middle bowl which *has* to be done by this weekend.
  
Pounding is intense and lots of fun!
  
This bowl is both harder and easier than the others.  It's harder since hte copper is thicker, but it's easier since it's the same depth -- so overall it's *shallower*.
  
We did some good pounding last night!  Annealing was very difficult because of the thickness!  I'll be annealing more tonight!
  
Hope to see you this week!
  
Kiki  
  

So I just ordered 3 barrels of naphtha from Berry-Hinckley in Sparks NV.  [Yes, I realized the irony of buying fuel in "Sparks". :) ]
  
They said that you can transport under 1000 pounds of fuel without a commercial license.  3 barrels goes over that, however, but 2 doesn't.
  
I called Interstate Oil and they said they might be able to transport it.
  
So that might be taken care of.  Still some stuff I have to follow up on [B-H thinks I ordered kerosene, to which I replied, with a little smile, "no I didn't, it has the same flashpoint as gasoline." :) So we're still tracking down what exactly I ordered before.]
  
Anyway, the ball is rolling on fuel.
  
Richard, I'm thinking we'll need 2 barrels of kerosene for the torches, if we switch to that.  This can be ordered relatively last minute, but it seems a safe bet we'd use more than one for 6 torches all night all week.
  
I'm still planning to use propane for the fishes and crown for a variety of safety and logistic reasons too long and boring to state here... :)
  
Kiki

I was thinking about the weight.  And I realized that the fountain weighs about as much as an SUV.  And an SUV would stand rather well on 1'x2' plates [which we have many of for-free.]  Also, a car jack is much like the support legs we want to build, which can hold up part of a truck.
  
So I'm far less worried about weight.
  
I had a gut-feeling that we were okay with the six 2" wide pipe struts, but now I really feel good about it.  It's really not so much weight in the end, esp. distributed over that much support.
  
Anyway, I'm feeling better about it and think it will do well.
  
Kiki

Well, welded more tonight and got all the bottoms of the seams done!  This leaves only the "creamy centers" to weld!  Meaning, the easy, standing or sitting parts of the seams.
  
The top was no-fun since I had to stand on a chair, on some pallets, on some sawhorses...
  
The bottoms were no fun since I had to crawl on my knees...
  
I couldn't help it, though.  I welded one of the creamy centers... :)
  
The bottom bowl will *definitely* be ready to pound this weekend!
  
Kiki

I finally got some good welding in today!
  
Debbie's letter to me, saying, "will the bottom bowl be ready to pound this weekend?" has gotten the fire under me to just do it!
  
After some discussion with Scott about the logistics of where to weld it -- because once you weld those heavy pieces together, it becomes an even *heavier* piece! -- I moved the pieces back to standing, set up a platform, and welded all the tall bits.  All that's left to weld on the piecing is the lower bits.  And even that I started on -- I welded one of the three welds from the waist down to the bottom -- so all that's left with that one is the creamy center. :)  I started another one waist down, but decided to pack up and go home instead.  And then there's one more.
  
So getting the bottom bowl ready to pound is certainly quite doable!
  
What's left?
  
Welding the creamy centers, building the pounding platform, carefully laying the entire sheet down on the pounding platform -- a tricky trick requiring many strong people! -- and doing a back weld.  Most of this can probably be done saturday if enough people show up.  Doing the back weld will be tricky, however, since a TIG uses a foot petal...  I have a finger control but it's more tricky than I anticipated.  But for back welding it's probably fine.  Oh, and also annealing the copper.  Can probably be done while still standing.  This is going to take a hell of a lot of acetylene...ug.
  
BTW, I set the welder to 155 amps and maxed the pedal all the way down, so reset it to 180 amps.  This is horrendous!  Stainless steel is 15 amps.  Am I going to die if I lick this thing while it's on?? :)
  
Over 150 amps.  Wow.  Egads.  Wow...
  
Kiki
  
PS The welder I bought on eBay is 150 amps max.

We got a lot done today!  I was a tad anxious since I still had a lot to do before I had lots of work for everyone, but I think folks generally stayed busy for most of the day.  *Whew!*
  
We finished pounding the middle bowl!  YAY!!!  This was a big goal and we needed to get it done!
  
I'd gotten a whole bunch of plywood from a scavenger guy who Snook knows.  So I've now got all the plywood we need for the tops of the basin area wall!  I'll still need some super-thin stuff for the inner and outer wall of the seat, but that reduced my costs by quite a bit!  Will moved all this plywood to a neat and tidy pile on the other side of the work area to make room for the bottom bowl.
  
We got out the copper for the bottom bowl, but Scott [who's going to do a good bit of the welding -- if not *all* of it!] decided he liked having the copper laying flat instead.  This is good in one way, because it'd be dangerous laying that copper down.  It's bad in one way, because since you have a foot pedal you can't easily crawl around on the copper to read the seam...  Also, it means you have to flip the whole copper piece to do the back welds...  [whereas, when you have it upright, you make the welds, then you lay it down, and then do the back welds.]   
  
John worked on cutting a big piece of curved steel I bought at Alco to make the ribs out of.  The steel is a bit thick, and it was very difficult.  Worse, it tore the tip apart!  It was frustrating...  So we'll have to get some new parts tomorrow to  
finish.  [The tips are meant to be replaced, so this isn't so bad.]  But it was so difficult, he got only one cut...  So we still have the other five to be cut.  We'll probably do this with acetylene.
  
On saturday, John and I talked some about the supports.  There's no clear solution to this one.  There's some solutions, but each one doesn't address something that's important...  We will talk more about it.
  
Things I wnted to get done which didn't get done -- hey, it was a *long* list!
  
back-weld the lip of the top bowl
    make the air hammer part [we're modifying an air hammer part]
    pound the lip of the top bowl and form the spouts
design and make the supports for the fishes
design and make the Egeria bust support
  
Other stuff:
  
Snook gave me a whole mess of small copper tubing and fittings!  This should come in handy with the fish mouthes -- both the water and fuel piping!
  
Richard asked if he could use kerosene for the lighting torches.  He says it will make much better tornados.  Sounds good to me!
  
Richard also bought some pounding hammers!  I'd been trying so hard to go on the cheap, I just went with free things, like the welding gas covers.  [These have worked well, however!  They need handles, though...]  I will admit, though, the wood hammer -- though it didn't have much weight -- left far nicer marks.  With a little shaping, these hammers would be the best!  Thanx Richard!
  
I should write more, but I'm about to collapse!
  
Nite!
  
Kiki

Myrrhia just sent some pics of her first fishy attempt!
  
Rather than repeat my reply here, here's the gallery section:
  
http://burningideas.com/firefall/egeria/gallery3_sculptures02.html#July 12
  
Or just go here:
  
http://burningideas.com/firefall/egeria/gallery3_sculptures02.html  And scroll down or click the link "first review".
  
Enjoy!
  
Kiki

Well, things have been rolling along!
    
This weekend, Loren finished the pounding frame for the middle bowl -- with little more than the wood frame and some plywood with a line on it.  Quite a bit of work he got done!  We all got the copper laid down and attached to the frame, but it was late by then and there was no time for pounding.
    
Monday, Steve Dartt and Doug Smith came over to pound.  The copper wasn't annealed enough, so we annealed it again, and then it was like *butter*!  We got a significant amount of pounding done, and hopefully I can get that finished tonight.  My goal is to get the middle bowl very close to done by the weekend.
    
Scott wants to weld copper.  And so he's taking on the task of working on the bottom bowl!  He can't do this without help, of course!  So if you can weld, talk to me or him.  Otherwise, I'll probably be the other welder.  But this will help free me up to do all the other things I need to attend to.
    
PANIC!  I've been in panic mode since July 1st.  Ug.  There's just so many things to do I can't hold it all in my head!  I have a lot of things to *arrange* for this month, and need to research it...  Many of them need to get done ASAP...  [Fuel delivery, propane tank rental and delivery, steel plate delivery, pond liner pickup, shipping truck or container...]
    
One thing I need to ask for is *drivers* to Reno for the week before the Event [meaning two weeks before the Burn -- I'm heading up there the 16th.]  My RSI is deeply affected by driving [more than typing, in fact!] and I'll need people to help me drive to pick up items.
    
Paving stones: the paving stones are out of my control.  I'm trying to think of solutions...  Buy bricks in Reno?  [Are bricks really expensive?]  Find 450 square feet of bricks to borrow?  Have a smaller area -- or even buckets -- the water spills over into?  I'm not really sure how to solve this one...
    
For me, the deadline is the end of this month, really.  Because we'll need August to pack, and have only two weeks to do it.  The stuff should probably head out to the playa earlier that I will -- like be packed and shipped the 14th.  Time is ticking!
    
Kiki

Modifications to the script and pages by Kiki.