Formulation

Friend Frenzy

It is a blur. The past few weeks haven’t worked out the way I imagined at all, so we’ve decided to have a party and dance our troubles away. There will be bubbly things about. I will likely wear blue and manifest some sparkles into the evening. People will come to our home/studio/secret hide-out. We need it. The feeling of community, laughter, change of focus and to play in an atmosphere devoid of malevolence, with music, music, music, music. There has been entirely too much suffering and devastation in 2025 for too many good people. The threshold has been reached. At this point, it is a radical act to celebrate, to cultivate light, and to raise spirits above the darkness. We will be steadfast in our dedication to reducing suffering, our own included. The stench of crimes of hatred permeate the air we all breathe. Filthy greedy plots are unfolding like intricate origami, taking up more and more space in our consciousness. We must leave no room for hate in our hearts, we must fill ourselves and each other with light. I am determined to dance into the new year, to at very least start it with the right kind of energy.

Since I wrote last, I launched an available works page on my website to see if anyone out there might want to help me keep going in the right direction and buy some original artwork for their home or office — or as a gift. I’ve sold one of these works so far through promoting it gently on Instagram. If you happen to take a look at it, please take a moment to click on one of the images so you can see how I am using a fun app called Smartist to place pieces in suitable settings. It is very handy for finding the right type of setting for a piece and for keeping the scale of art works accurate. I seem to have to do a little self-promotion from time to time, to keep out of trouble, for which Instagram is usually the best option, but my heart is here on Substack with the people who, like me, love the words, the text, the language, the reading of thoughts, thoughts typically formulated for no reason other than the permitting of their formulation.

Meanwhile, the Honey Mushroom reprint is almost done printing in our enormous Big Rep printer in the studio. It is a printer the size of a small room. I could nap in there, if I were a napper. We redesigned the Honey Mushroom file to make it a much more durable sculpture and are printing it upside down this time and only in two parts instead of 5. There were so many caveats in the doing of this reprint, new software, new firmware, technical modifications that were supposedly going to make things smoother - but not so much. Classic technical SNAFUs, plus supply chain challenges, tarriffs, sourcing 100% upcycled 2.85mm crystal clear R-PET-G filament to print with is not as easy now. Plus everything changes with the temperature which has plummetted over the past couple weeks. Nevermind power outtages. All sorts of fun things to resolve. I’ve noticed that hairs turn white from this process. Imagine if other parts of our bodies did that — Oh, her hands just turned white overnight from the stress — like a pair of perpetual white gloves — or marble fingertips, so cool to the touch.

Shhh, 2023, detail, 3D printed post-industrial plastic, photograph by Marshall Coles. This view shows the original Honey Mushroom (the yellow, tall fellow, third from the right). It is still holding up just fine from what I understand, but it has a compromised seam towards the base which will inevitably fail over time given a mighty enough wind or vicious storm. The preemptive reprint will be done soon, but we will have to plant the new Honey Mushroom in the spring when the ground in Arlington is soft and loamy.

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK
To reduce your plastic (and carbon) footprint:

Cornstarch packing peanuts! (Do not eat them as tempting as it might be with the cost of groceries being so high as of late.) They dissolve completely in water and are 100% harmless, unlike their nasty polystyrene predecessors. These albino cheetos are worthy of much praise, though they do, unfortunately, usually come in giant plastic bags, but these giant bags can be reused for any number of applications. I’ve been packing and shipping a wee bit extra lately, in this holiday season, so with respect for the beauty of buying bulk, here is a massive bag courtesy of Grainger...