It's Official!

("Mother Earth" bench outline) ("Day & Night Guitar" bench outline)

Hello everyone.I am very excited to share the great updates with you.Where shall we begin?...

Mary sketched out the FINAL bench designs, and I am very proud of them! I already mentioned the "Leaves" bench on the first blog, and that one is set. Below you will see the last two final designs.

"Mother Earth"

"Day & Night Guitar"

As a team, we decided that the "Mother Earth" bench will be placed between the "Leaves" bench and "Day & Night Guitar" bench because it is the only bench with armrests and it brings in the project together. I believe that the benches together will be outstanding and be appreciated more as a piece of artwork.

During the last week, we have been working on samples and gathering material because donations have been low. We attended the Annual Summer Sale at Pewabic Pottery last Saturday. Mary, Christine, Alhan, and I scattered throughout the large tent in search for the right tile. The sounds of tiles and ceramics clanking added even more of a rush as everyone who entered was on the same mission to collect their perfect pieces. Fortunately, we were able to gather a couple of boxes with a large variety of tiles, ranging from indescents to plain, and in a variety of blues, reds, yellows, and so on. Once we arrived back to Mary's garage, we sorted the tiles out by color and glaze.

Alhan and I came into the garage this morning to find the seating for the "Leaves" bench completed.Well, the mosaic part at least. Mary had been working on it the night before,and it came out wonderful. The seating design is on the left below. It is a wavy line that goes through the seat but with various tiles, differing in shape and in color hue. A line? Simple, but beautifully done. Christine, Alhan, and I began piecing together the seating for the "Mother Earth" bench. This design is on the right below. The seating has a leaf vine running throught the seat with a couple of leaves sticking out in the center sections.

Now that the designs have been established, Mr. Tony Martinez, from Disenos Ornamental Ironwork, will begin working on the metal framework. He informed us that they will be ready by the end of this week, so we are very excited to begin placing our pieces together.

If I'm not mistaking, that is all for now. Stay tune for the next update.

-Anahli

Decisions, Decisions

(Christine and Alhan finishing up the sample)

Hello once again!Over this past week in a half, we have made progress with the project...

After researching and traveling around the Vernor area, Mary selected a location for the three benches, at the Southwest Detroit Business Association(SDBA) property.However, after today's meeting,the three benches have a possibility in being installed together.The idea in installing the benches together did not appeal to everyone in the meeting.Some want to dispers the benches throughout the Vernor neighborhood,while others supported Mary's decision to keep them together.One member suggested that two of the benches could be installed at the SDBA property while the other will be at a different "ideal" location.Voting took place and ultimately, Mary will decide where the benches will be installed.

Now, on a better note, we are excited that we finally began working on some kind of mosaic.Over the last two days, we began working on a sample piece for the "Leaves" bench.Mary sketched out a leaf on a paper, and we began putting it together with the few pieces the have been donated.The pictures on the bottom are from day one.The sample was not planned beforehand, it was somewhat spontaneous.

(Day one of the mosaic sample)

Christine and Alhan finished the sample while I was updating this blog.Here is the finished sample.

We have received an update from Tony Martinez, who is the owner of Disenos Ornamental Artwork, of the "Leaves" framework. It will be ready by the end of next week, and then we can begin getting our hands to the real work!Mr. Martinez is still waiting for the other two bench sketches, which Mary will be handing in.

We are also happy to receive more material for the mosaic work,donated by Janet Locher, a resident from Southwest Detroit(thank you!).Feel free to donate any material you believe will serve us in our project.You can reach me here or Mary at marylaredo@gmail.com.

Until next time...

-Anahli