@JamesAkers@expressional.social
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

JamesAkers

@JamesAkers@expressional.social

Artist/ sculptor working with glass, neon, electronics and other materials. Interested in unsustainability, commercialism, short attention spans, the ad tech industry and developing my dev skills.

Currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Message me and I may respond.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

Ceramics class! I got my sister's mug back, plus two marbled mugs

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online I miss kiln openings. Like Christmas day!

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

I went to a ceramics museum today. Here are some of my favorite pieces. Yes, that sock is ceramic. I have no idea how they did it.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online gosh these are great! I like the pseudo letters an patterns on the led displays.

Makes me wanna make little holes in the ceramic, then epoxy in little nuts for the screws to thread into.

stefan, to Portal
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online avatar

"Conceived as a testament to the power of art to transcend physical barriers."

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/09/style/art-installation-dublin-new-york-scli-intl/

Kind of a fun idea. Here are all the Portal locations: https://www.portals.org/portals

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@stefan technical solutions eh? Is that moderators in an office in Africa staring at the portal remotely and dragging black boxes over booties?

Maybe it would be nice to have a water fountain in front of it so people can't just hold their phones up to the camera?

Wraithe, to random
@Wraithe@mastodon.social avatar

So let me get this straight; Elon Musk just laid off the head of & pretty much entire group of the SINGLE greatest advantage Tesla has over any competitor?
The Supercharger network?

The thing that I’ve heard people gush about for years?

Masterful stroke, sir (as Musk lops own head off)

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@Wraithe no that there are no more non compete agreements, wouldn't all of those skilled engineers be free to go work for a competitor? Say, Mercedes? Rivian?

JamesAkers, to art
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

I finally got a chance to photograph this Soul Selling Timer!

I made it during such a whirlwind of travel last year, it showed in Wyoming at the Nicholayson Museum before I got a chance to show it. Now there is an NYC show that I may submit it to- but I think I am traveling again during the show opening.

This piece is designed to be a production timer with my and Life priorities on top and big tech shaped priorities on the bottom. The neon is all hand made, and the short term, rough and etching is on the outside, protecting and enshittifying the inside.

I bent everything with top notch materials, and cut rate, down and dirty production methods. Tiny!

I gotta spruce up the code on the flip digits. I think one or two of em got a lil taste of the 5kv coming off of the gotta swap those out too. I find the idea of gamifying for profit to be similarly dystopian and utopic.

ART LOVE and MONEY life priorities spin around the timer stop and start button.
DATA DRIVEN with a GM of Google and Meta as well as a view of the timer. The neon usually blinks and spins, but with the slow shutter of the camera, you can see all of them on at once.
I have to be AD FUELED through the usual big tech channels or no one will see me. Ali blue as she still agrees with their privacy policies and is often my link to the drama going on at the ol commercial sites that I enjoy not participating in these days.

North, to random
@North@chaos.social avatar

New vacuum system controller is finally assembled. This time, I went two layers of PCBs and used 3D printed masks to isolate the LEDs. What a glow up.

The rear side of the front PCB with several unmasked areas surrounded by a plastic baffle
Front of the assembled panel with rainbow LED test code running
Side profile of assembly

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@North what's your vacuum system going to if you don't mind me asking ? :)

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@North woah, great video! That oxygen concentrator should be helpful for working with the borosilicate!

Not sure if you have heard of these resources, but Wayne makes neat plasma art stuff and recently wrote a book on the matter...

https://strattman.com/books/

And my buddy Percy is starting to accumulate quite the resource for plasma tinkerers. I think his gas prices are the best around.

Gosh your diode is amazing! Well done on those tungsten seals! Welch 1402s are true workhorse pumps and pneumatic valves are fancy! - nice vacuum system!

Good to see that lil' mesh before the turbo pump. Debris in there can get expensive!

https://taminglightning.net/store/

Lemme know if you find a source to buy the nitrocellulose for the phosphor binder. I have been chatting with a European bender (Tommy G.) to get their phosphor coat mix. I could make the nitrocellulose, but I would pay to not work with the acids.

alx, (edited ) to drawing
@alx@mastodon.design avatar

Bored at Heathrow drawing bored people for my boring sketching series “Waiting”

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@alx when I was in Italy they had a phrase- "Waiting is a lifestyle"

JamesAkers, to Texas
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

Not me grinning ear to ear! I spent all day today making a nice color version of the 3D Sun and woah its working!

Headed to Dallas, on Sunday and was gonna drop this off at a studio in Fort Worth for their fundraiser auction, but I think its too big for a carry on.

I will admit- its not as round as perfect as I want, but definitely getting there!

Excited to see it age in fully- should be nice an bright.

Two halves of the eclipsed springy sphere sitting on the table waiting to be welded.
After pumping checking its color for air leaks before adding the mercury. Hallelujah! No leaks! This is pre mercury.
Eclipse spring sphere sitting naturally while hooked up to the pump via its side tubulated mercury trap. I was able this time to bury the side tubulation inside the shape. I was afraid it would be tough to remove the mercury trap, but it was way easier than I thought it would be.

patrickworld, to random
@patrickworld@mastodon.online avatar

Caught this mthrfkr tryna escape

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@patrickworld ooo perfect ripeness! Enjoy

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

Beginning my long journey from El Monte to Santa Clarita via public transit.

It has started off well with a guy at the bus station complimenting my DIY bicycle headlight system.

"You make this? I like this. Very smart. Not easy to think so smart."

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online those crazy drivers. So emotional an fallible. Glad you're paying attention.

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online $1.75 is a deal compared to the $2.90 here in NYC. I hear others have it worse.

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online $2.90 to ride any of the MTA things bus or train. You can go as far as you want though, but yeah, biking is nice😄

JamesAkers, to rainbow
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

Kacie Lees was around yesterday when I was fixing this up and called it a croissant- with its flat side, I agree! Finally- I got one! I thought it was leaking again- but it cleaned up. The usual turquoise staining drifted to the pink this time on its way out.

This spiral uses scraps of the You Are Magic collaboration with Alicia Eggert. So its an Eclipsed Magic Rainbow Croissant! Yeah its a little sloppy, but I wanna make another with fun colors :)

A side, up close view of the bright side of the Eclipsed Magic Rainbow Croissant
an airy Rainbow Croissant. That peachy color looks pretty, but is a telltale sign of air- usually a leak. My heart sank when I saw this- thinking it was a leak in the purple- but hey, after 30 minutes it cleaned up- the cheap electrodes did their job and gettered (or grabbed) out the impurities
The Eclipsed Magic Rainbow Croissant being bombarded. You can see its side tubulated mercury trap and newspapers to see its temperature

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

One of my favorite classes of hack is modifying something to use batteries that are easier to find or last longer

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online Sooo good. It is frowned upon sometimes, but I am also a big fan of the battery to barrel jack or wall wart wired in hacks too. Making things rechargeable is nice as well. Well done :)

patrickworld, to random
@patrickworld@mastodon.online avatar

Held a plank for two hours today. This is the plank:

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@patrickworld I miss that show. Did you get any jawbreakers?

JamesAkers, to nyc
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

Next weekend (March 30th-31st) I will be teaching an all levels neon class with my friend Kacie Lees at Urbanglass!

If you want to bend luminous circles or big arches of light- then this "Bending the Total Eclipse" class is for you.

Here is a link if your interested-

https://urbanglass.org/classes/detail/bending-the-total-eclipse

I love making #neon #circles and with this #class I get to share a bunch of the tricks I use to make em.

#nyc #brooklyn #glass #light #sculpture #makeyourown #diy #craft #fire #eclipse #education #maker

A ring of different colors of light with a black plastic circle atop it. We have black plastic circles for the class.
A pink rainbow or "Pink-Boe" with five lines of various shades of pink and warm white atop a wooden table. The left side is warped so that it can fit onto a sculpture that I made a year ago.
A dramatic crescent moon design with the outside a yellow tube and the inside a dark blue tube hanging off of a messy paint dripped table.

JamesAkers, to glass
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

Hey Brooklyn, having a flash studio sale at tomorrow (Friday the 22nd) as part of their Hot Glass Hangout.

My "mood board" is back alley deals and crappy cardboard signs. For two hours only (from 6-8PM) you can score great deals on "studio seconds" and others.
There will be some snacks an seltzers, but you can if you want.

Expect super cheap deals and some nicer things. Custom stuff available too- talk with me.

A giant pile of Seacrest tangles with 3D printed tube on tube supports. There will be some of these for sale. They make the room glow in rich turquoise.
A generic graphic detailing the studio sale. March 22nd, 6-8pm with James Corporan blowing glass. If you have never seen furnace glassblowing, its pretty neat!
ART LOVE MONEY tester in clear glass with a skeleton frame and neon fill. Side tubulated an all- it was a practice piece for the colored glass version I made the next day. I should sell this for a minumum of about $600, but maybe for 2 hours it will be less?

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

Ceramics class!

I got a couple pieces back from firing, including one with an experimental glaze (the triangular one), and my big piece went into the kiln

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online woah! That experimental glaze triangle looks really neat! Looks like a successful atmospheric firing!

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online ooo I am such a sucker for these! That texture in the dark clay! Well done! Looking like some sort of igneous rock

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online reminds me of the raku clay- extra sandy to hold up to the big temp changes. Way neat n' gritty!

Woah, love that idea of just vitrifing the clay itself as it's own glaze 😄

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online one ceramics teacher once told me that the clay was most "alive" when it was leather hard and most "dead" in the bisque and glaze is to make it more "alive" again.

I think your subverting those dead and alive rules with the fluxes on the surface. Always admired the atmospheric kiln users who go straight from greenware to finished in one firing

JamesAkers, to Letters
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

Saturday I bent all the letters in all the colors for this collaboration with Alicia Eggert. A little bigger than I remember them, but that is nice.

That turquoise wants to stain so much. I got it way hot and bombarded it about 6 times which seemed to help reduces the size of the stains. I think they didn't bake out the binder from the coating? None of the other colors had the staining.

Oh these colors do go quite well together :)

#neon #letters #sculpture #installation #collaboration

the letters, seen off here on the age in table. Its important that they are all white when they are off- so the installation is as boring and colorless as possible and people dont know what is what color
some staining seen in the turquoise "U". The mercury trap is still on, mercury still inside. I even pumped it upside down in hopes that gravity would pull the loosened up stains to the back of the letter. So strange, I have never really seen this in new glass.

nervous_jesse, to random
@nervous_jesse@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Our sculpture in the front yard is holding up well to the 40mph wind gusts we've been having

Gyroid sculpture gently swaying in the wind

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@nervous_jesse I like it's springyness! Better in the wind! Kinetic- but not too kinetic

MLE_online, (edited ) to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

I finally finished my DIY drill battery project.

It was mostly done a few weeks ago, but the BMS that I had ordered had too low of a current cutoff level. That meant that they were conditions in which the BMS mistook the load from the drill as a short and turned itself off as a protective measure.

I ordered a different BMS of the same form factor but with a higher current cutoff level (for a grand total of $1.64) and swapped it in today.

JamesAkers,
@JamesAkers@expressional.social avatar

@MLE_online A platform heel for the drill!

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • Leos
  • mdbf
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • osvaldo12
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • ngwrru68w68
  • InstantRegret
  • PowerRangers
  • kavyap
  • tsrsr
  • DreamBathrooms
  • tester
  • everett
  • hgfsjryuu7
  • khanakhh
  • GTA5RPClips
  • vwfavf
  • Durango
  • cubers
  • tacticalgear
  • ethstaker
  • cisconetworking
  • normalnudes
  • modclub
  • anitta
  • All magazines
    •