Eye-Catching Car

I haven’t worked on the car for awhile. It’s been raining a lot here in Austin, but I guess the car breaking down before Vegas has impacted my work ethic.

The car and I just got back from a trip to Oklahoma for my great-grandmother’s 95th birthday. That’s the first time my family has seen the car in person. My grandfather thinks I have a lot of time on my hands. It’s funny because his mother made a lot of art work that was essentially the same thing I’m doing. Only her’s were usually different color seeds glued onto wood and mine is eyes on metal. One of my second cousins (my mom’s cousin, so that should be my second cousin, right?), said the car was eye-catching.

After the birthday party in Sterling, we went to “the big city” for a few days. While in Lawton, the car got a lot of attention with several people clicking photos on their cell phones.

On the road

The car is fixed (and has been for awhile.) Thanks to Sara, who took these photos from our office window.

Googly meltdown

The googly-eyed car had a meltdown on Friday night. It’s currently sitting at Groovy Automotive and I’m waiting for them to call with an estimate. We were supposed to have left on a road trip at about 5 a.m. today. That trip may have to be canceled.

If I had had my camera with me last night I could have captured some of the fun.

I would have taken a photo of the Autozone dude who gave us the phone number of an after hours (wink, wink) mechanic who works at some auto dealer. The dude then proceeded to talk about how he is eating squirrels because he has no money.

I would have taken a photo of the very nice man and his family who tried to help us start the car even though his tools were in his other vehicle. This man apologized more than once for leaving us alone while we waited for the tow truck even though it was way after 10 p.m.

I would have taken a photo of the googly-eyed car being lifted onto the back of the wrecker and of the tow truck driver and his dog Sheba, a scuffy, shaved dog with a lion’s mane haircut who goes with him on all his trips to “keep the bad guys away.”

More photos

I finally got more photos up on flickr.

CARgos

Thanks to Maury, Todd and Link for the cool glow in the dark eyes!

Total eyes for project: 18,625

Here’s another potential car name, this one from Hoyt. "From the Greek myth of Argus (sometimes spelled Argos) Panoptes — the hundred eyed giant. He was killed by Hermes while guarding Io from Zeus. So, it looks like you have a 'CArgos' or a 'CARgos.' You probably shouldn't park it next to a Mercury!"

Your car is looking at me

I didn't get a lot done this weekend. It kept raining when I was trying to work.

Someone said "Your car is looking at me" but I can't remember the circumstances now.

Douglas Rushkoff was in Austin last week for a KLRU event at the Paramount. My car was parked in front of the theater so I could load up some of KLRU’s stuff to take back to the station. Rushkoff saw it and came over for a closer look. He told me not to be driving the car when I’m 70 because then I’d just be the crazy old lady with the eye car.

The Eyes of Texas

Thanks to theK for the birthday gift of 283 eyes. While theK, Beth and I were surveying the car before our Happy Hour, an older man came up and said "What is this? The eyes of Texas?"

Total eyes for project: 18,125

Also thanks to Vince for his donation. I bought glue with the birthday cash.

I am programmed at 33 to perform childishly

Kurt Vonnegut died on my 33rd birthday. For all I know, he really died on April 11. But for me, Kurt Vonnegut left my world on April 12, 2007. My 33rd birthday.

For weeks, I had been trying to decide what to put on the hood of my car. I could just do random eyes like the rest of the car, but I thought the hood deserved more ... a design that meant something real to me. And about a week ago, I decided it would be the asshole drawing from Breakfast of Champions. For anyone unfamiliar with it, it looks like a giant asterisk so it’s family safe, but it’s something that symbolizes a lot more to me.

Last weekend, the weather was so bad I did not get out the glue. Instead I continued my rereading of Vonnegut’s work that began when I picked up Breakfast of Champions to make sure I got the number of lines right on the design.

I do not go to work on my birthday (if I can help it). I took today off with the hope that the weather would be clear so I could work on my car. This morning I woke up to beautiful weather. I was excited to get to work. Excited to celebrate my birthday doing something I love. Then I heard that Vonnegut had died. He died on the day I planned to put a large googly-eyed replica of his asshole drawing on the hood of my car.

So it goes.

rainy days

The bad weather prevented me from working on the car at all this weekend. Now the car is on a trip without me. I'm hoping for good weather once it gets back. It's so close to being done that I'm anxious to work on it again.

The eyes have it

Another four hour day. Lots of chats with neighbors. Really bad sunburn even though I used a lot of sun screen. Special thanks to the self-proclaimed most amazing person in the world for going out and buying me glue when I ran out of it.

One of my neighbors rode up on her scooter and said "What are you going to call her? The eyes have it?"

One side down, one to go

I worked for about four hours Saturday and finished the passenger side of the car. I learned that I can talk on the phone and work on the car at the same time. Thanks to Steakfinger for helping me test my abilities. Yeah multi-tasking!

You can see everywhere

I spent close to four hours working on the car Saturday and it is now symmetrical again.

The beautiful weather meant a lot of my neighbors were out so I met several new people as I worked. One of my blind neighbors felt the car while waiting for his ride. I love the texture myself, so I suggested it as a way to explain what I was doing. Many drivers stopped to ask me questions, as I was working in one of the main cab/passenger drop areas for my apartment complex. One said that I should be safer while driving since all the eyes on my car will make it so that I can see everywhere.

That's a Fancy Car

I've gotten a lot of questions recently about how I wash the car. The car has been through a drive-thru car wash and came out unharmed (although I didn’t stay under the drier for the entire time). I always wash the car before I start gluing eyes and normally, I just go to a self-serve car wash to clean it.



I didn’t get many eyes on the car today. I had planned to make the passenger side match the driver’s side today, but it started sprinkling. I continued gluing for awhile, but it soon started raining too much to keep the glue dry. Maybe with daylight savings time, maybe there will be enough light after work for me to focus on the car a little each day.

After my failed work attempt. I went to lunch at Phil’s Ice House. When I was leaving a family that had been at Amy’s Ice Cream was looking at the car. The mom asked if it was OK for them to touch the car. One of the little girls said “This is a fancy car. I like fancy things.”

Daily Texan

My office is next to the office of the Daily Texan (the University of Texas' newspaper) and yesterday after work Katherine Fan saw my car and talked to me for a few minutes while Garrett Traya took photos of the car. I went into work this morning to find this looking out from the newsstand.


Such a great photo and write up. I think Katherine does a good job of describing what it's like to see the car in person. The story begins:
"When other drivers began yelling at April Burcham a couple of days ago, she was afraid she had cut someone off. It turned out they just wanted to compliment her car, and with good reason. Burcham's red Ford Escort seems to be covered in bubbles. Upon closer look, they morph into googly eyes. Dozens and dozens of colorful plastic eyes, commonly used for dolls, line the driver's side and trunk of her car. Some of the plastic eyes retain moisture from the air, catching even more light depending on the angles of the sunlight."

Vandalism2

I'm not sure if someone was writing their name or if this is just random symbols. This appeared on the car sometime between Saturday and Tuesday. This image also shows how dirty the car is. Any glue residue attracts a lot of dust.