Month: June 2016

If you are reading this something went terribly wrong, I lost the printed version. 

Hello parents, teacher welcome. This is now my fourth student led conference and this time around ms Willemse asked us to do something rather different than previous slcs. Today I am going to be focusing on two projects instead of three. One I am extremely proud of and one where I could have improved on. 

An honourable mention for work I’m proud of is my experience without Hughes and Willemse blog post. I am proud of this and I think it’s pretty funny but I didn’t want to do half my SLC on it. If you haven’t read it yet I think you should. 

First up is my blue sky project. I am extremely proud of this project and the final product that came with it. It’s great to be able to work so hard on something that I am passionate about and be able to share it with lots of people. To me this is what flight is all about. This project obviously conveys a lot of effort but to hammer the nail home. The blog post I made is all about how you would make a sword. Even this is an understatement of the amount of work that went into it just ask my parents. Because I also had to make the forge to heat it up in. The growth shown by this project is not only a growth of character and skill but it opened my eyes to a key aspect in learning. That is making do with what you have no matter what. Even though my parents were very kind in spending the time and money they did there was still limitations and obstacles to overcome. This means I wasn’t only dealing with trail and error but also discovering new ways round a problem that I was having. For example to polish the blade I was using a file for most of it which took a lot of time so I tried using a sander and it worked although I did go through about have a roll of sand paper. 

Next up I just wanted to quickly mention podcast. I will be handing a final final final draft in on Thursday on top of the one I have in now just to add in some things I feel are missing and fixing my voiceover. 

So next up is great big, *cough*cough* I mean little big story. In particular number one while I could have improved on two I think over all it is pretty solid which is mainly due to my mum giving me the chance to interview Jane which was a great opportunity and the project would not have been the same without her. But my main focus is number one. I am not particularly proud of this one because I feel I didn’t dedicate enough time on it because I spent most of my after school time doing blue sky and what time I did give to LBS I gave to number two. I think this is a perfect example of not enough effort on my part and honestly it looks like something a none PLP student would do and hand in. If I had a time machine and went back to do it again I think I would have done a better job of hunting down someone to interview and put in more visual aids like I did in two. I would have also added another minute to it. The only thing I feel is good about it is all the cinematic shots of the trail and the time lapses. 

My goals since last SLC were to get my mark up which I have done and to become a better listener in classes like math and Spanish and I feel Spanish especially I have been handing in more projects and getting better on tests. I’m not sure how this will reflect on my report card but hopefully it shows. 

Any questions?

Here are some links.

Work I’m proud of

Honourable mention

Work needing improvement

Of all the apps and websites our teacher has sent us over the past two years my favourite and possibly most useful one has been great big story. This is a news app that’s very different from anything that I’ve seen before. They tells stories from all around the globe in short videos that are usually around 3 minutes long. It is a great app and I recommend you check it out, here is the link.

After showing the app to the class she asked us to make our own great big story as our next project. But instead of doing just one, we were tasked with making two. This I feel was the one downfall of this project. I feel that if we didn’t have to split our time doing two we could have perfected one.

Out of the two I did I think my second one is the better one as I had the pleasure to interview Jane an amazing women with a brain tumour. She had a great story to tell but unfortunately she did not want her interview posted on the internet. But I can show the first one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-jzQgR8kc&feature=youtu.be

​​ link

It’s a Friday morning everything is cold, my heart is racing. My head was filled with nothing but thoughts of where I was heading. As I approached the school I saw an empty flight room, chairs stacked, lights out and doors locked. I turn away from the cold classroom pushing memories once joyful out of my head, they contained nothing more than sour thoughts now. I couldn’t remember a time I was this depressed on a Friday. It was less than twenty four hours since ms Willemse and mr Hughes had abandoned us for the warm embrace of the south but we felt the emptiness already. It started with me, Harry, Tylo, Nolan, Elena, Mike and Griffin. As we were crowded into the back of the chill library by an unfamiliar voice belonging to an unfamiliar face it dawned on me that this was the beginning of the end. Despite all these signs the nail in the coffin was ms Willemse’s handwriting on the whiteboard it seemed rushed and it was smudged in places. Just as all hope seems lost and I begin to except the abyss, I hear: “Wanna freestyle guys?” 

This beginning was a foreboding one, the beginning of a week that would leave a taste of bitterness and regret in the mouths of those who stayed. 

The rapture of flight now seemed like a distant memory of a former life, what memories why did have were of an eternity of nothingness occupied occasionally with a freestyle verse. These were our only light in the dark, we clung to them like they were the only thing we had. 

On the third day of our new life word came from the other side. The words spoken from beyond the vale rang out like bell tolls over a lonely castle. At first it was hard to understand what the voice was saying for they used a word someone like me, an unchosen, would not know. I still hear the voice in my head, I try to curse it out but it remains haunting the halls and rooms of my mind. 

“Mr Hughes fell from a Segway and broke his leg. How will stay in the profaned city of Atlanta for some time to come.”

This news pierced my heart and sent me into a momentary trance broken only by a sarcastic remark and stifled laughs that in the silence seemed as loud as gunshots. I was left taken aback, shocked. Once the shock went away I was left with nothing except questions.

I got a lot of questions about how I made my sword and what kind of tools I used. So without further ado here is a recipe for a basic sword.
How to make a basic sword.
Materials:

Metal

Wood

Forge of some kind

Pommel

Hammer

Anvil

File/grinder/sander

Step 1
First you need to get the metal to the shape you want. You can do this by cutting or forging the metal. This will depend on what kind of metal you use. If you are using a ingot then you will have to forge it but if you started with a piece of metal that is roughly the right shape already then you can just cut it.

Step 2
Now you want to bevel the blade. This can be done by hand by heating up the middle piece by piece and hammering the edges. However this method takes a lot of skill and time. Another option is grind of file it down with your choose of tool. For this you can use an angle grinder, file, sander or belt grinder.
Step 3
Now it’s time to polish the blade. If you used the second method in the last all that you have to do is polish the middle. But if you used the first you will have to polish the whole blade with one of the tools mentioned in step 2.
Step 4
Forging the cross guard is a step with a lot of freedom but what I recommend is making it out of a cut piece of metal with holes drilled in it.
Step 5
Making the handle has a lot of variation in different techniques and styles. This step is purely your choice on how you go about it. This is the way I did it: I chiseled two pieces of wood so they would fit on the tang then I shaped it to a handle shape.

Step 6

Once you are pleased with your sword it is time to heat treat. You do this by heating up the whole blade until it is hot enough that a magnet no longer sticks to it. Once it is hot you plunge it into oil. Motor oil or peanut oil is best.

Step 7
Heat treating is fairly simple just heat the blade at about 425 degrees F until it’s golden brown. You can even do this In the oven if you wish.
Step 8
The pommel can be made of anything but metal is best suited as it is heavier. Forge or carve it to the shape you desire.
Step 9
Assemble the sword by slipping the cross guard and handle over the tang and screw or glue on the pommel to seal it all in.

here is a video of me doing it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEz-oFoH64