My sculpture is leaning a little to the left. As I pile the pennies onto the sculpture, I position them with meaning. Quadrants: left lower is negative, right upper is positive, right lower is falling, left upper is rising. The rising quadrant has the most pennies so far, and I think that’s a good way … read more Day 100: Copper river
Category: Pennies
The Weight of My Days: the pennies and their history and meaning, the sculpture I’m making from 16,072 pennies. How to build something big from something small
Day 94: Seven days, seven books
As I’m nearing the 100-day mark, I figured it was time to get organized. I came up with seven categories of posts on this site, but each one is really the baseline (or maybe bass line) of a book. So I’m calling them Books. The left-hand column is where you can find this bookshelf on any page of the site … read more Day 94: Seven days, seven books
Day 87: Spend a penny
You really have to watch what you say to the British. You think that you speak English and they speak English, which is mostly true, but every so often you can really get tripped up. The word “penny” is theirs, by the way, something else the newly independent Americans borrowed from their former masters. We … read more Day 87: Spend a penny
Day 41: The bag mark
It’s a rare day that I don’t have a bruise somewhere on my body. Usually on my legs, but sometimes on my arms or hands. No, I don’t have a Vitamin C deficiency, and no, I’m not being beaten. I just run into things – short tables, counter edges – or they fall on me, … read more Day 41: The bag mark
Day 22: A penny from the Empire State Building
There are no end to urban myths, and so naturally there is one about pennies: ‘A tourist tossed a penny from the top of the Empire State Building to make a wish, and killed someone on the sidewalk below.’ This article explains why such a small object can’t kill you. (Note the inaccuracy – the article … read more Day 22: A penny from the Empire State Building
Day 21: The Materials
This sculpture isn’t very tall yet, but I’m planning for the day that it is. I can’t just place and stack the pennies. I had to do some research and experimentation to figure out how to make them stick together permanently. After scouring through many websites of hobbyists, jewelers, and others who work with metal, I came … read more Day 21: The Materials
Day 20: Is it art?
How will I make this pile of pennies a work of art, rather than just … a pile of pennies? This is a question that bothers me. Most days, I’m pretty liberal in my definition of art, but other times I roll my eyes at some of the puffy, BS artist statements that elevate unskilled … read more Day 20: Is it art?
Day 19: The word of the law
In a previous post, I speculated that I might possibly be an outlaw for using $162 in pennies to create a sculpture. Today I decided to get to the bottom of this, and I did what few people bother to do on such questions: I dug up the actual law and read it. Although there … read more Day 19: The word of the law
Day XX: Saving
Day XX: Making change
When I was young, the ability to make change and count it back to the customer was a standard skill expected of waitresses and cashiers.