Jake's dad decided that, since I'm making a bike*, it would really only be logical for me to put a Brooks saddle on it. And then a package arrived in the mail from him. And it's a saddle with my name on it. How much cooler could it get?

Notice the copper rivets? COPPER RIVETS! On a bike seat!

*When I say I'm making a bike, what I mean is, I'm slowly buying, acquiring, receiving, and making pieces of a bike. Jake is slowly researching frame angles, tire sizes, and basket designs. Most likely, the actual fabrication of the bike won't happen until next semester, when I write a proposal and convince the school that it's a good idea for me to do an independent study in which I build a bicycle. Then I'll actually make it.

This weekend, Jake decided he wanted to paint his phone to match his blue bicycle. So I decided to paint mine to match... a ninja turtle?

I needed a tape measure for the studio. I managed to find one for 50 cents. I can't figure out why it was so cheap. Doesn't everyone want an elephant to do their measuring?

Here are a few more images from the raising and shaping process.

This is one of the middle stages of raising. It's somewhere between a flat circle of copper and a round cup. You can see all the hammer marks on the metal, but those get smoothed out (planished) later.

After the basic shape of the cup was made, I wanted to chase into the metal. In order to hammer on it without collapsing the entire cup, I used wax to support the form. It's a combo of microcrystalline wax and beeswax. I used it first on the outside, and then later filled the cup to support it from the inside. Because of the beeswax, it smells really good.

I needed a pot to melt the wax into, so I went to Ross and got this crazy thing. It was the cheapest one they had, and so stylish!

I made some chasing tools out of steel. Chasing is a method of stretching and compressing metal in order to shape it without removing or adding any material. I ground and polished the tips and then tempered them with an acetylene torch. The colors appear during the tempering process and indicate the hardness of the metal.

It's very scientific (molecular structures and all that stuff),

but basically I think it's beautiful.

Then I made my cup fit my hand perfectly. It feels so good.

A copper cup... this is after raising and planishing.

It still needs work on the rim and possibly some chasing.

Raspberry and brie tarts! They're wonton wrappers filled with brie, raspberry jam, and raspberries. The brie got all gooey and countered the sweetness of the jam.