Thursday, September 16, 2010

Day 30. The Last Day!

We are at the end of the Gateway project, it's been a full month of work and it was totally worth it, the wall looks great, not to mention the school (good one Citnalta!), it's really one of the nicest high schools I've seen.

We gather on our Greenpoint stoop to head out for our final day, thank you good people of Cup on Norman for providing us with awesome coffee

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We literally finish as school lets out for the day, pretty cool

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Here are some detail pics of the artwork

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It's pretty hard getting the entire wall in one photo, but here are some attempts

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Here's the lettering for the sign!

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We pack up all our tools

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And say goodbye to our friends

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Ya'll know we love Frank, but he and his crew made this installation so enjoyable for us, they really are a great bunch of people and we hope to see them again one day. A-Team rules and there's no two ways about it. Thanks guys.

High 5 guys! We did it!

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Bye bye, until next time

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Day 29

Today was freezing! Rainy and windy and cold, this is our last full day of work and we had the pleasure of Sarah Morris's company once again and she came with her son Orson.

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Mike and Orson plan the future of mosaics

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We are basically just cleaning up the grout lines and polishing the tiles and making them perfect, it's really nitpicky, but kinda fun

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Goodbye favourite security guard!

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Our final day, day 30 is next! Crazy!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Day 28

We are so close being done grouting, our scaffoldings are really close together

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Guess what this is going to spell?

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ok, see you on Day 29!

Day 27

Guess what? More grouting.

The asphalt (ass-falt or ash-falt?) guys came back, they are painting the yard gray, which should look pretty good with the colour of the building. They look really cool when they paint it too.

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Speaking of painting, they are painting the red fence black, which is a really good call, it's going to make the colours of the mosaic pop out even more

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Just in case you forgot, here's what the wall looks like (now with the new gray asphalt)

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Day 26

We're still grouting and it's still boring, so here's our water hose!

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Every night we tie up the fence with this industrial twist ties to keep the hooligans away from our stuff

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Takin' out the trash

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Back of the car from left to right: Our cooler, work boots, the doughnut, the chip bag

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Drive home

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Day 25

OK, so now, all we do is GROUT, every minute of every day. We're using a urethane grout so that the mosaic is extra resilient in any kind of weather, but this also means it's really difficult to apply. It's not really any fun at all and it's ALL we do! But, I can show other stuff, cuz all the pictures are starting to look the same, we are even wearing the same clothes...don't tell Fashion Week.

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So, the deli we go to for lunch, has an awesome buffet and look what they had today!! What a cool dep.

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We live eat and breathe this wall

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Mike especially!

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Look, it's a Pollock

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Nope, just the asphalt guys drop sheet thingy, they just paved the front yard

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ok, day 26 coming up!

Day 24

The school opened today! We saw tons of kids, they all spoke smarter than us.

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The mosaic isn't quite done, but it's getting there

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It was Saskia and Valentina's last day with us, so we went for a wonderful dinner at El Almacen in Williamsburg, bye Saskia and Valentina, see ya guys soon.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Day 23

Things are getting intense! We have to finish asap and school starts the next day.

Look at the wall, looks so full!

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See this mess? We have to clean it ALL up tonight cuz Bloomberg is apparently coming for the grand opening of the school

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We take up the masonite and all that stuff and clean as well as we can, until the sun sets

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Frank bought his daughter a car today (edit: she bought her own!)! So that's Frank's ride on the right and his daughter's Excavator on the left!

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OK, more bloggity bloggity later

Day 22

This was a day off!! No pictures, we went into the city and shopped, had beers and ate dumplings and went home! A perfect New York day.

Lou Reed is from Long Island btw! Mario, one of the foreman's on the site taught me that.

Day 21

Today is kind of an odds and ends day since most of the installing is finished, people are grouting, fixing, peeling and doing nit picky perfectionist stuff.

Here's Mortar Mike looking through extra tile so we can cut new little pieces for anything that got lost in shipping or Emily ate by accident (they are easily confused with Skittles)

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Stuff, stuff, stuff, so much stuff everywhere!

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workin'!

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OK, I'm going to do the other days in separate posts, cuz some people are confused.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Day 20

Wow, it's Day 20! It's Labour Day Saturday, but the work site was buzzing, with last minute stuff, probably making the school look extra nice for the Mayor's visit on Wednesday.

Here is today's busy schedule

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Emily is a fixing maniac, cool colours too

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Here is what we have left to install

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Look at all we've done, remember this?

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Valentina is installing the top edge

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Looking good Valentina!

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This is it, the final round to install

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Final tile, no more squatting 300 a times or sponging tiles or unpacking boxes or troweling or cleaning or removing shims!

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OK, well we're off to work again and Monday is a holiday even for us labourers, so we'll be back shortly with the next chapter of Tiles of our Lives.