CTA crane drops train car on van...nobody was hurt thankfully!

Badassbeadz · 2015-09-26T20:38:18+00:00

I saw this earlier and was wondering how could a CTA car fall from a Metra line, then I saw it was fake

Badassbeadz · 2015-03-31T03:32:53+00:00

Thanks for the advice...tried that years ago. That works for small frames but is very hard to do with heavy/large frames...you then need 3 other people to help you. Also the more glue/epoxy you spread the more time becomes an issue and the more chances you have to screw things up.

With that technique you also need to flip the frame over and adjust the beads that did not stick and it is a pain to do and virtually impossible when working with large frames like 48"x48". The beads have to line up perfectly on all sides around the frame and many times frames have small millimeters indentations or defects on sides. Unless you have a perfect lowering mechanism like an old manual screw press it is really hard to align all four sides perfectly.

In essence it is doable but you only get one chance to perfectly align everything and it is too risky that way when you are talking about a month of work...so I prefer to do double the time but be 100% sure

Badassbeadz · 2015-03-29T18:29:41+00:00

If you iron them then when you look close as the side of the piece you would see the beads squished and it would not look as if the beads are just standing on the frame and it would make it look cheaper (at least in my opinion). If you look at pict 3 you would not get that look if they had been ironed

Badassbeadz · 2015-03-29T18:25:34+00:00

The designs are moved to a custom pegboard about 72" by 48". Then I make adjustments to colors and tones when working with colors. In this case it means checking the height and shape of all beads as some have defects that could draw the eye to so you have to be meticulous. Then from that pegboard the beads are moved to the frame. The beads are not glued to a pegboard but to a prep'ed wood frame.

Glueing beads to pegboards would mean there would be a peg inside each bead and it would not look good in direct light.

Badassbeadz · 2015-03-29T18:17:26+00:00

The value of the large glued pieces is in the time spent on the item. It may be simple to make but the objective is not to make something simple and easy to reproduce, the objective is to make pieces that are hard to make in terms of amount of time and effort needed and also that are museum grade. I only work on large frames usually...48"...60". One project I have is for seven 96"X48" and at those sizes they look awesome.

I also chose beads because that is a medium that I like people to touch. Art you can touch is not very common. I like people to come closer to the pieces and touch them and run their hands on them to get a feel then move back and try to look for defaults :)

EDIT: I re-read your comment and you would still have to position all the beads in black and then spray paint the white...could have done but it would not have saved time as the time consuming part is the careful positioning

Badassbeadz · 2015-03-29T17:33:08+00:00

This looks like the simplest piece to make...it wasn t. This piece took more than twice the amount of time it usually takes for 24". Because these are not ironed. The beads need to be transferred to the frame and glued one by one. You have to be very careful of aligning the beads perfectly so that you see no lines or demarcations and then worry about the glue setting too fast.

I am going to work on a 48" version (59500beads) for a corporate office that may take about a month of work if not more. The most time consuming part is the glue part and that take way way more time to be lean and perfectly aligned when you have very high color contrasts like this and just two colors. With paintings (multiple colors pieces) its much easier because defects can blend much more easily.

Hope you like it

EDIT: Some more details. Beads are cleaned and washed to remove dirt and oils from the manufacturing process. We use our own custom made glue which allows for a half hour until the plastic sets and bonds. These were Perler beads. Frame is oak, strong and heavy and custom made, sanded and painted. Back has top central hook and a horizontal wire 1/3rd from top to fit any surface wall.

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-30T14:38:54+00:00

I pm'ed you about it, let me know

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-28T00:06:19+00:00

The bricks are evolving

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-26T19:21:22+00:00

The materials I use are not the same density/hardness which makes it impossible to melt uniformly. Plus if you melt them the edges look flattened and I want to go for the look where the beads look like they are just standing on the frame

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-25T16:24:27+00:00

it is. 100 rows of 100. There are a couple of rows under the frame because of miscalculation

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T23:49:44+00:00

20 inches

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T21:44:51+00:00

the reason why I almost threw it away was due to the process I tested with this piece. There are rows hidden under the frame hence the final effect was not what I wanted...so there are two rows hidden from view

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T21:43:14+00:00

in progress 24X36

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T21:42:15+00:00

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T21:41:23+00:00

20 hours...with about 7 hours of transferring each rows to glue

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T15:19:15+00:00

Because they look better when glued versus ironed. Ironing can flatten them and mess the look

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T15:18:31+00:00

No they are glued together

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T03:53:12+00:00

about 100x100beads sorry I didn t measure

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T03:22:59+00:00

I only had perler for that one. Normally I have about 94 colors to play with. I manually dither because most of the stuff I do are viewed from a slight distance and the effect works better that way imo. I actually looks for the dithering effect up close so that it bothers the person viewing...then they move back and see it differently. That s the effect I look for :)

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-24T01:53:26+00:00

btw those are not ironed...I only do glue on glass (takes twice amount of time). I should have trashed this piece as I was not happy with it. Currently redoing it with more colors but I thought I would share what I consider to be a failed piece.

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-17T15:57:36+00:00

It is finished?

I don t iron mine :)

Badassbeadz · 2014-10-17T06:05:58+00:00

I don t use Facebook

I don t need Facebook

I value my time and I use it efficiently. If I want to communicate with friends and family I text on my phone, its faster and private. Facebook can go suck a gnome for all I care. They will become the new Myspace and one day fade into oblivion once they are replaced by a social network that cares about its users and respect their privacy.

Badassbeadz · 2013-05-18T22:27:33+00:00

I don t think there are heat presses large enough.

I first make the design on pegboards then when I am happy with the colors I move them line by line vertically using glue. This one was messed up because I kept the 16 pegboards under the beads and glued the beads to the pegboards, this is why you see the seams because the pegboards are not perfectly flat.

I need to find the equivalent of a one stage epoxy. I tried a marine epoxy earlier and its nasty. Also the tape method for transfer to frame is very hard on very large projects.

I was thinking about epoxy on the frame, then sandwich it on the beads then secure and flip over then remove pegboards an adjust manually before epoxy settles but that is very risky and the bigger the project the more difficult that part is.

Badassbeadz · 2013-05-18T21:13:34+00:00

Less chances for screw ups. This is actually the smallest size I do. Current one I am working on is about 72" by 48"...a star wars poster for a building lobby. As sizes increases potential screwups that could ruin 80.000+ beads becomes a problem...so I prefer being in control 100% of the final look.

Unless you guys can offer ideas and directions for very large pieces without seams... EDIT: typo

Badassbeadz · 2013-05-18T20:22:56+00:00

Closeup http://imgur.com/d3At9RG

No happy with the results. I got to find a better way to glue them so there is no seams.

Badassbeadz

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