Ready For The Next Adventure

I'm all packed up and ready to roll. Well, almost. Just a few personal items to pack tomorrow morning. But otherwise all of the goodies and necessities are piled up in the garage and ready for loading into the truck. I am good to go. 11am tomorrow we are on the road.

Got the tree loaded up into the trailer last night. Boy, that felt good. I love getting my completed art outta my house. Here are some photos from last night.







It's been a crazy journey getting to this moment. I still can't believe that this time tomorrow I will be in Black Rock City. I am so excited and nervous all at the same time. But I am also really proud of myself. For making it this far.

I definitely had my moments of doubt throughout this whole process. There were some days I had absolutely no idea how this was all going to come together. Was this going to all work out? How on Earth was I going to pull this off? What in the world possessed me to do such a crazy thing as take a sculpture out to Burning Man when I had never even been before?

But here I am. Ready to go. And I feel really, really good. This is gonna be Awesome!

See you when I get back from the playa.

Song of the Day: "The Power" by Snap

The best song to get me pumped up. I've Got The Power! I'm so playing that on my drive out tomorrow.

Man-Made Vs. Nature-Made

Hey, guess what? I made a tree!

Right. You know that already. But I mean, I Made A Tree. And it's in my yard and here's the thing - It's Fooling Nature. Really. It's attracting all kinds of bees (mostly yellow jackets so I don't feel too bad about that). And hummingbirds, too. Can you imagine?

I'm sure that the bright colors are causing a lot of the confusion but I swear to you that the hummingbird went right up to one of the flowers. Okay, I felt bad about that. That's when I went back into the house. 'Cause, you know, those little buggers are really aggressive. I didn't want to get buzzed. Just in case he was mad at me.

I'm not feeling God-like or anything but it's powerful thinking I caused that to happen. Gotta be careful with that kind of power, though.

So anyway, the Bottle Cap Tree is hanging out in my front yard for a couple of days and, actually, it fits right in with the landscaping. Maybe that's where it will live when it comes back (hopefully in one piece) from Burning Man.

It's a really windy day here in our little valley and it's holding up extremely well. Not moving at all. Can't say so much for the maple tree it's next to. So, I figure, even though I'm sure the winds on the playa will cause it to move, I don't think it's gonna break. I hope. I hope. If it was having trouble dealing with the wind it's in right now, well, then I would be seriously Freaked. But it looks like everything is gonna be OK.

I think. Well, I'll find out for sure ten days from now!

Spam Philosophy of the Day: Cushion the painful effects of hard blows by keeping the enthusiasm going strong, even if doing so requires struggle.

Good advice for on the playa, if I take the part about the "hard blows" literally. You know, wind? It blows? Sometimes hard? Get it? Right. I'm off.

It Feels Like A Weight Has Been Lifted (Sorta)

As of yesterday, the Bottle Cap Tree is officially complete. It was pretty anti-climatic for me, though, as I was at work at the winery when it happened. Eric was the one who applied the last bottle cap, not me.

See, on Wednesday I worked on finishing the lighting and applying caps to the last branch (the one I decided to re-do). Only right before I finished the branch I ran out of silicone caulk. So, I had to run to the hardware store to get another tube. Meanwhile, my right hand and wrist was Killing Me - thanks to all of the hours of non-stop caulk gun use the week before. Eric kindly offered to finish it up for me. It was about 30 or so caps left to apply. So, without much fan-fare yesterday afternoon that's what he did. And with that, the tree was done.

Whew. I do feel a lot better now. Not so anxious or worried. Oh, don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of other worries. But having the tree finished (and, by the way, I Like It!) just makes me feel a little Lighter. Now all that is left is getting it there, installing it, having it not fall apart or some other catastrophe while it's on the playa (still my biggest fear) and taking it down. So, you know, lots left to fret about. Not to mention the fact that I leave two weeks from today and now need to start getting all my stuff together so that I can survive out in the desert for a week and a half in some semblance of comfort.

And, true confession time here, I am super insecure about the tree. I mean, yeah, I think it looks pretty cool, especially lit up at night. But c'mon, this is Burning Man. There is gonna be some radical, bitchin', amazing, flaming, enormous, innovative, outrageous, spectacular, fun, freaky stuff out there. How on earth can my little tree covered in bottle caps and used Christmas Tree lights hope to compete with that?! Oh My. I am so hyper-sensitive.

Well, at this point right now I am slowly sinking into a comfortable acceptance that It Is What It Is. As long as I don't seriously injure someone or create any MOOP (matter out of place) then it's all good. If it looks like crap next to all the other killer art, well, not much I can do about it now. Might as well just Go With The Flow. The lambic I am drinking seems to be helping me develop this attitude.

So, as promised last week I have new images of the tree posted on my website. You can check it out here. Now I think I'm going to clean my house, something I've been neglecting a bit lately. But before I do, I'd like to thank some people who have, in one way or another (mostly by drinking a beer and not tossing the cap!), helped to make the Bottle Cap Tree happen. You all Rock!

Eric, Mom, Michelle, Kaly and Chris, Lori, Smith Ranch Studios, Krista, Jess, Madeline and everyone at Marble/marble, Eric B., Ann and John, Kari and Kevin, Sara and Keith and everyone else who has given me a bottle cap. Sorry if I've forgotten someone. Oh, and of course, Jasmine. Though she has no opposable thumbs and is thus unable to pry off a bottle cap and save it for me, I still feel the Love. Thanks Girl!

Movie Recommendation of the Day: "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"

Sure it's dumb humor and inconsistent at times but some parts are laugh-out-loud hilarious. And when you got a lot going on in your life, a little bit too much stress perhaps, some low-brow humor is just the ticket. Be sure to watch the extra Ricky and Cal Public Service Announcements and Commercials in the Extras.

An Overabundance Of Bottle Cap Riches

It is official: I am no longer collecting bottle caps. In fact, yesterday was the first time in five and a half years that I threw a bottle cap In The Garbage. Okay, that felt weird. I'm sure it's gonna feel weird for a while. But I tossed the bottle cap collecting container that previously lived next to the sink and that should help ease the transition.

I've been saving bottle caps for so long it's just second nature. However, I have more bottle caps now then I know what to do with. I certainly have way more caps then I need to cover the tree. Which is a good thing, a really good thing. Because I would much rather be sitting fat and happy with an overabundance of caps while I have three weeks before I leave for Burning Man then not have enough and am stressed and scrambling to find more.

Here is the official count of total bottle caps collected, as of yesterday, Friday, August 4th, 2007:

crown caps = 12,766

plastic and non-crown metal caps = 3,513

As of yesterday there are 3,560 crown and 308 plastic caps applied to the tree. And more are being added as I write this. Eric, bless his soul, is right now sitting outside applying bottle caps for me. I honestly could not be getting through all this without his help. After a day and a half of non-stop use of the silicone caulk gun my hand is shot and I need to give it a break for a couple of days. So, he helped out by covering a small branch yesterday and is currently tackling the lower mid-section of the tree. Also, I want to give a big shout out to my friend Michelle who came over on Thursday and spent most of the day doing a killer design on one of the larger branches. Those two have saved my hand.

I am hopefully that by Monday I will have finished covering the tree as well as the steel base that the tree stands on. It's getting close to the wire and I am getting nervous. In addition to finishing up the tree I need to start getting myself organized for the trip itself. I have a bunch of lists of stuff I need to bring in order to survive the desert for a week. It's a lot to do.

Also, I've been getting my mountain bike "playa ready". That is to say I have been decorating it so it looks cool and unique. Actually, anyone familiar with my artwork would recognize that this is definitely my bike. First, I took a bunch of my used clothing fabric strips and wrapped up the frame. Then I wrapped bottle caps around the spokes of my wheels. That looks really cool, actually. Though it makes my bike a lot heavier now. Next, I wrapped reflective tape around my bar ends and fluorescent tape (bright orange) around the rack on the back. The final step will be to wrap EL Wire around the frame so that I am super visible at night. Voila! It's Playafied. Good thing my bikes about 10 years old and not one I worry about getting trashed out there.

Anyway, it's all coming together. I think I can almost rest easy that we have all of the structural issues worked out and god willing the Bottle Cap Tree will stand up to whatever Black Rock Desert throws at me. I am, as best I can be, Ready. Bring It!

Image Teaser of the Day: I promise that I will have updated photos of the tree posted in my blog and on my website (http://www.kittygsculpture.com/bottlecaptree) by next week. Check it out.

For now, here is a couple of pictures of Jasmine. She's soooo cute!