This week was finials so I had to do a lot of studying and work. Shakti and I finished up the earrings we were making and got the DTech Project Checklist complete. I think Zen is planning to retake product photos still so I do not know when those will be complete.

This week I finished the idea for the logo we need for the DTech lab. We are planning to CNC cut our house logo on a nice piece of wood. We plan on finishing the wood with a stain or oil, then painting the inside of the carved area to our desired colors and then filling the carved area with UV resin to make it stand out and look nice. We were considering using colored resin to fill in the logo but that presented a lot of problems with sanding and expense. It would have cost over $60 to do it that way. If we use UV resin we can be much more precise about where we put the resin and make sure that we clean off any excess before curing which will avoid the need for sanding or for adding more resin over everything. In essence it's a very complicated process and its confusing so using paint and UV resin would be the most successful.

This week I finished the production for my limited run earrings. I still have to get product photos done, finalize the quote calculator, and get it onto Shopify to completely finish this project. Two people from my house helped in the production. One helped me laser cut the pieces and the other helped by adding a clear coat to the earrings to protect the color. The earrings should be for sale on Shopify by next weekend.

Last week I also get the position of Lab Manager for DTech. I had to fill out a lot of paperwork so it wasn't finalized until Wednesday. There is a lot to do to clean up the lab next week and I am ready to work! I am excited to fix up the lab and make it so it can operate properly again since it is cluttered with stuff from before COVID. It should be up and running properly again by Thursday so we can get a few limited runs and jobs completed before winter break and have it nice when we return from winter break.

This week for DTech I began making a prototype of my belt rack and some earrings. I went into the lab and laser cut the begging pieces for my belt rack and was able to assemble them. I wasn't able to laser cut the other half of the pieces I need because there was no more wood. I think I might buy the wood just to finish up the prototype so I am able to start production for my limited run. I know a few people in my class who want to buy one so I want to start the production. I made these earrings with the laser cutter as well and I was going to put resin or epoxy inside the triangles but I wasn't able to find it anywhere in the lab so I will look again next class. I also wanted to lightly sand the earrings and maybe stain them before putting resin on it.

This week has been really hard for me because of family issues but it has made it harder to focus on my work. I have been able to get stuff done like cutting out half the pieces and designing and cutting these earrings, but I just feel drained now. I need to work on a few more things things this week before I go in to class next week such as creating a pdf files of a signature to laser cut. Luckily I have a school break to be able to do it so I just need to find the energy to do so. Wish me luck and have a good thanksgiving!

This week we talked about how the next quarter will be going and ideas for what we are going to produce. My house was coming up with a bunch of ideas so we are prepared when we start producing work. The only real issue right now is that if we have an idea there is no way of really starting the process to making it and putting it on shopify for a limited run due the the checklist and other aspects not being ready for us to start the process. They need to be updated because of the pandemic and the different things we have to go through now. Once everything was completed and ready I was thinking about submitting my design for a belt rack as a limited run product. I made this my freshman year with the laser cutter and it is the best thing I have ever made and it sits in my room today. I also know a lot of people who do taeknowdo and karate so I thought that this would be a cool limited run item to have since it has the colors of the belt engraved with it.

I've had a really rough week because of outside sources, but this week in DTech set out what we are doing and how exactly to achieve it. This made this next quarter feel easier to achieve and makes the plans efficient and the steps easy to complete.

Oh, also quick side note: I would like to acknowledge Mr. Miller in this photo wearing his iconic tiger button down. I miss having Mr. Miller as my teacher because he was able to push me past my limits and also is just fun. He got all excited once to have me listen to a song because it had my name in it and it made my day. I am super happy to have Li as my teacher this year as well because it expands the idea of DTech and makes our goals seem possible. Li is also super funny. This blog is meant to show you what DTech can achieve, but I think sometimes we forget to tell our readers about the type of family you get with this class because its not only your teachers and peers it is also people who only want the best for you and want to see you succeed. They push you just enough to get started, but not enough to walk with you the whole way because they know how important hard work and dedication is. They know if they helped you ever step of the way you wouldn't feel as proud of yourself as you should before creating something new and amazing.