How many hours do YOU have in your masterpiece?

[junglesmacks]

As I'm finishing up my 1360 LED costume project.. it's starting to hit me how many hours I actually have invested in this from start to finish. The shopping, the poking of LEDs through the fabric, the twisting, the soldering, the sewing, the testing, the re-sewing, the re-soldering, the re-twisting.. etc etc etc. All said and done, I'll be running right around 100 hours of solid work over the last 10 months, easy.

What about you? How much raw time do you have invested in your biggest playa art/clothing project?

[Turnip]

Well, I'm 23 years old.

[mazatta]

This year is rather light on the actual building, but fairly heavy on the preparation and planning, as this will be my first time. I definitely want to tackle a twisting, soldering, sewing project for my next burn, or even just 'cause.

[Bob]

Why do "you" put scare quotes around "masterpiece"?

[junglesmacks]

Why do "you" put scare quotes around "masterpiece"?

I'll let you fill in the blanks on that one.

[LEVLHED]

Hard to say how long The Frequency Re-alignment Device has in it since I've been threatening to do something like it for years. This picture was @ about maybe 8 or 10 hours of actual "work" I suppose. Still some more to go.

No, I will not tell you what it does...

[lemur]

i run a villages kitchen (230 people this year) on the playa which takes year round off-site planning to make happen..

First email i sent out to start 2011 planning was Jan 29th... It took over 6 months of recruiting people to fill up the ~70 work shifts. Along the way making sure all of the people with special food needs are taken care of (allergies/veges/etc..).. making sure the food makes it to the playa safely.. making sure the kitchen has all the gear it needs and is up to code.. and updating the perl script that we use to send out bulk reminders to villagers..

i dont keep track but it's surely 40+ hours devoted to sitting at a desk, or on the phone.. working on spreadsheets/budgets/equipmentneeds/recruiting volunteers/talking to volunteers/email/postoffice/etc. When finally on playa its 2 days of setup.. 8 days of cooking and 1-2days tear down.. 50-60 hours?

I wont be working with them on the playa and I guess it's not my project.. but I did get to see a lot of other peoples projects in the process of volunteering with DMV during application processing season this year. I had to have spent another 50-60 hours sitting on those conference calls looking at all the awesome mutant vehicles that will be on the playa this year..



nearly all of them very enjoyable hours

[jella]

I decided I needed a more interesting coat this year, I still love my giant fuzzy playa coat I made 2 years ago but wanted something more feminine...soooo
I spent months looking for just the right vintage pattern..stumbled across the fabric by accident at a garage sale (she did upholstery and wedding gowns ) made a life sized duct tape manequin to fit it to...sewed a muslin version. then....finally built up the nerve to cut into the real fabric for the coat. I would have to guess actual construction on the coat 30+ hrs I learned alot from it but cursed it in the wee hours of the morning

edit for spelling

[HandJamMasterC]

I've been working on our theme camp..........since I got home from the Burn, in 2009 !! I'm retired - only God knows how many hours I've put in this stuff I've been building ( and music mixes etc etc etc ).

[The CO]

About 80 into the evap system, another 6-10 into the swamp cooler. Camp planning, another 200.

[oneeyeddick]

I am still working on my masterpiece, I will be done with it when I am dead.

[AntiM]

Since my project involves hundreds of smaller projects, plus the infrastructure, I have NO idea. Hundreds of hours. And money for supplies? Yikes. Can't imagine what it would run if other people didn't participate.

[junglesmacks]

It always amazes me the amount of time and money we put in to a camping trip in the desert for a week. Wow.

[Fabricator]

I know the context of your question in this forum IS sincere. But I have to share; As creative artists showing in a public venue or gallery setting, sometimes you get that question "how long did that take you to make that?" and you just know the context is to devalue the work or reset the gauge for negotiating it's worth. Sometimes the reply deserves some snarky-ness.

My favorite answer is;
"39 years."
(i.e. my lifetime of creatively growing, trying, experimenting, learning, and then coming up with something kick ass.)

I'm an artist and though I am not formally bringing a project this year, I easily have over 80 hrs in design and preparation of my camp set-up, homemade shade structure etc. Sixty of those hours I definitely should have (being responsible to my family's income) put into paying work.

"So... your going to lose a week (or two, or three..) of income, and at the same time spend money on ticket, almost 5,000 miles of gas and food to attend BM, then come back not having made any $ out there? Hmmn."

Daydreaming and preparing for the upcoming week is such a distraction that the default culture can't rationalize doing.
It's AWESOME, in every sense of the word, to be able to attend something with 55,000 other people who DO "get it".
I shouldn't use other peoples timelines to gauge whether I'm being appropriate with my own time or not, but it does ease my conscious to see that others also obsess in preparing for one week in the desert. The emotional return/worth is exponential. The "time off", head clearing, creative charge, new experiences, creative motivators, seems worth it.

Well when i clicked "REPLY" I didn't intend to write more than the first couple sentences here. Appears as though I'm passive-aggressively speaking to the default culture that needs to understand it, and they won't even see these forums. OR...I'm trying speak justification to myself regarding where I'm putting my time.
"I'm good.. I'm good.. this is okay..." (repeat)
You all already know the affliction. I love it.
Can't wait.

[junglesmacks]

All too true, my friend. It's the obsessing and dreaming and creating and envisioning that gets me through the other 51 weeks of the year. It has become a year round hobby just like anything else...

You all already know the affliction. I love it.
Can't wait.

But.. WHAT DOES IT DO? Looks awesome..

Hard to say how long The Frequency Re-alignment Device has in it since I've been threatening to do something like it for years. This picture was @ about maybe 8 or 10 hours of actual "work" I suppose. Still some more to go.

No, I will not tell you what it does...