Update 3/22
WE ARE LIVE!  

I just want to throw out another huge THANK YOU!  to you all, and all your support of the last 12 years.   There are six different options in our fundraiser, 3 t-shirts 3 sweatshirt colors, and of course, if you wish to just donate and not purchase a shirt, you can do that too.  


When ordering, order a size up on the sweatshirts!   I found an XL was just a bit smaller than my normal XL hoodies last year.   T-shirts run true to size and long enough for us taller folks.   The shirts and hoodies are exactly the same product from last year.  Very soft, don't shrink in the wash, and fit really nicely.  I love them

I've tried to price these as low as we can and still raise a few funds.   We make about $5 per t-shirt and a little more on the sweatshirts. This is based on if we only sell 50.  I think we can do more, as we hit 237 last year, but every year is different. Last year we raised $3,110 dolllars!   ARFCOM is always so crazy generous!  

With each shirt sold, our cost lowers, once we sell past 50.   I should have that many orders from just the kids and staff here at PHS.  
https://www.customink.com/fundraising/phs-panther-art-2024-2nd-age-of-vikings-fundraiser

11 sold already, and $68 raised in donations!

Thank you!

I forgot to hit the "donation only" button that has to be hit after it goes "live".   For those who asked, I'm sorry about that....think I did the same last year.  

It's now active, so you can donate without purchasing anything.

Oh, and the "cool kids" all say, "Blue is the new Green."  

Shirt and donation.  I've got a closet full of these shirts!  

If only they offered a Hawaiian themed option.......  

Thanks again for all the years of support, the books, and donations!  

The glue will crack if bent really hard and you'll need to paint it again once hung to patch the bend it will remember if kinked.    I blame the application or thickness since I know this method works for holding fabric in a shape, I didn't think about having to move it out.

Got my shirt ordered, too, standard grey to match the other decade worth.

17 Shirts sold!   $110.00 in donations already!

I've got quite a list for the kids and staff already.......more than I thought they were going to buy.   I'll add that in next week.  Our Superintendent also already bought a shirt, as well as several other of our Admin Team for the district.

Remember to order 1 size up for hoodies.
https://www.customink.com/fundraising/phs-panther-art-2024-2nd-age-of-vikings-fundraiser

Today we had an absolutely phenomenal assembly.    Our speaker is the son of a Holocaust survivor, Andrew Laszlo.   His dad did not tell them about his experience till 50yrs after, and presented them with his memoir.   Our speaker, his son, Andrew Laszlo, walked the students through his dad's experience with an outstanding presentation.  Extremely moving.   It was a powerful story of survival, and being prepared at all times, and not looking at yourself as a victim.

Pretty incredible.   His book is on Amazon.   I ordered one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1977260608?tag=arfcom00-20
Our speaker had lunch with students and gave several smaller presentations to History classes.  The students were pretty impressed.    He hung around all afternoon, and I gave he and his wife a tour of the projects around the school.     He said he was going to make a donation to our projects.  

You guys are the best!   Appreciate it!

The goal seems kind of low.   Not that I can cover it but I think it's less than last year. Is there a separate goal for hoodies?

Goal set is low, but as we meet each goal(50, 100, 150, 200), costs go lower and we make more money with each additional sale.  

There is no benefit to setting it higher at the beginning.  

It just stresses me more for us to get there.   We have had similar goals the last few years.  

37 sold,    $462 Raised so far!

Outstanding 1st day!

Donation done. Another incredible project!

Thanks Fellas!!!

41 sold as of this morning and $550 raised!

https://www.customink.com/fundraising/phs-panther-art-2024-2nd-age-of-vikings-fundraiser

Thank you!!!   You've been crazy generous!

Sales were a little slow this morning, but we seem to be picking up speed this evening!

46 sold as of this evening and $710 raised!

https://www.customink.com/fundraising/phs-panther-art-2024-2nd-age-of-vikings-fundraiser

I see the goal was reached.  Now time to destroy the low number, so...  

Yup,  we are at 50 sold and $850 raised!!

I think ARFCOM can hit 100!

Update 3/25   Short week for us, we have Friday and Monday off......   gonna need to pick up the pace a bit.

T-shirt and Sweatshirt fundraiser is going great!  
We are at 53 Sold, and $910 raised so far!   Donations make up a huge amount of that!  Thank You!!!!
We've got 11 days to go, and I will be submitting the kids and staff orders this Thursday, so we will see a bump in the numbers there.  The kids are getting a discount on the shirts so they are more affordable and I will work with kids who can't come up with the funds.    
https://www.customink.com/fundraising/phs-panther-art-2024-2nd-age-of-vikings-fundraiser

Our mural work is getting some nice progress, as kids work to blend and create texture in the sky.


My team working on the stormy clouds is now back at work, so we will see more progress there this week.  They were working on the Viking Goddess portraits that will hang in "Valhalla".  




Speaking of Valhalla, we may need to move the original destination for that, as the wing covers most of where I wanted to see the Gods and Goddess portraits.   I'm thinking we may move them over to the left a bit, into the smoke from the abby fire, or just above it.   We want to add lights up in that area also.   We are still figuring that out.  


One of our smaller 3D printed dragons is now nesting in the cave below the castle.




The lungs for our large dragon are now a bit further along.   I'm going to pick up some fabric for them this week.


A few more pieces of decking need to be cut out, then we will start painting, and gluing them in.  We will also need to add an extension cord in there so we can have lights in the  bow wake.


The glue seems to be working well on our sail, but I was reminded by our Middle School Art teacher that we should probably hit it with some clear coat, as the Elmers is water soluble, and over time humidity may take it's toll on the shape.  Hmmm....yeah, probably right.  

I'm going to grab some kind of clearcoat down at the hardware store tomorrow.    I've got to grab a couple more extension cords for the ships, so I can grab it then.    Even a clear coat meant for wood probably would work pretty well.

Haven't had the music on for a few weeks.   It loses it's shine after a bit.

Custom Ink contacted me this morning and is working to clean up the artwork.    I hopefully will have proofs soon.  

We are at 55 sold, and $930 raised.

A water based polyurethane might work out pretty well.  That way the water base wouldn't severely conflict with the elmer's glue the way  any lacquer/spirit based coating would.   Some of the better water based stuff costs more than the spirit based, though, not by a whole lot, I don't  think you'd need more than a pint to cover it but a quart would be good to just have around for future uses where clear coat is a life saver for making different layers of stuff blend together with the same sheen/look so it appears more original/real.  Bonus is no hazardous or flammable fumes.  

For long term and "important" stuff I still prefer automotive activated clear coat but that gets spendy when you don't use it much as the activator cures like super glue if you don't keep it refrigerated.  I have a fridge just for all batteries, epoxy, clear coat activators, glue, and everything else that self-spoils with time or exposure to room (vacuum chamber those into a bag before putting in fridge).   Sucks when a $60 pint of clear coat activator turns into a rock after using it once 6 months ago and forgetting to put it in fridge.  Makes a special fridge seem cheap, especially when considering price of glue, much cheaper to buy super glue by the pint and just fill use bottles as needed and keep the "thin" in freezer and it pours about like thick after warming up to freezing (it cures from moisture in the air and heat really really speeds up the spoiling), then put unused back into vacuum bag  (food saver - $75 machine @amazon with $20 roll of continual vacuum bag tube on a roll) and back into freezer until next time.

On that note.....   All chemical reactions slow down exponentially with cool the same way heating them speeds it up.  Can't get to absolute zero but if there's near term (< 6 mo) use, I put in refrigerator and let it warm for an hour before use, otherwise freezer and put into fridge to slightly warm up before use a couple days ahead of time then back to room temp before use and then back into freezer.  It's a hassle but savings in replacement/new LiIon batteries, adhesives, clear coat activator (not the clear base, it doesn't cure without the clear  activator and good for a couple years if kept in cool basement only).  Those random things really change amount spent when combining no replacements after 2 years of care instead of dying in a month or a year the way room temp shelf life does.   Nothing worse you can do to a LiIon battery than to charge it and let it sit at room temp for 6 months, it self discharges and kills lifespan, I just keep them half charged in fridge and they warm up in 10 minutes enough to use while I plop one on charger after it warms up when I intend to use it.   $120 battery packs suck to replace every 2 years.

You are doing that already with each purchase of a shirt.   It lowers the cost per shirt, and the kids are getting a major discount.   All kids who want a shirt, will get one.  

57 sold and $950 raised as of this morning

https://www.customink.com/fundraising/phs-panther-art-2024-2nd-age-of-vikings-fundraiser

Update 3/26

ACT Test for Juniors today, and Senior Skip day ........not going to get a lot done today.  

Thought I'd share a couple "other" projects going on around us.    
An Art 1 student who is an accomplished welder......This is in her welding class.  Pretty cool.  She is also taking on building a new chain tensioner for the VH-60.  


A nice pheasant display from one of my advanced students who's put in a lot of work on our big projects over the last 4yrs.  She's working on sculpting the heart of our dragon right now in foam.


Woods workers are still working on our dragon heads.  The "Big One"  Getting a little nervous about this one getting done.


The smaller one with more carving on it.  We are also making yet another set of eyes for this one, as the last ones were too big.




The green dragon head that will go in one of our caves.


Lights arrived for our wakes yesterday.


This set will go in the head of our Dragon rider.


Dragon Riders dreads need to be thinned out a bit in the back as they were a little too dense.  An extension cord will run up to the back of his head for the lights.


Dragon heart being sculpted in foam.


Our Dragon's lungs getting much closer to ready for fabric that will cover them and create two different lungs.


Checking for fit, once again.   They have to slide in from the back, but they allow enough room to get our fancy angled drill in there to secure them to the spine.


I picked up some fabric at the store last night.   I know some of you will question my choice here, but I think the patterns will add to the overall results.....and if they don't, we can paint them.


We are still working on the paint on the skin of our dragon.   We are working with black, green, and a bit of dry brushed copper on top.   My artist thinks this looks best.  


Details on our castle made some major leaps yesterday.   First, the balconies......


2nd, the roof tops are getting rock mixed.   I think the texture is going to look pretty good, once we get some paint on these.






I just picked up extension cords for the ships, dragon rider, and Valhalla.   We will run them today inside the hull, out towards the wake lights.


Finally, more work on the mural yesterday.

+100.00 for fabric, polyacrylic, 4x extension cords, usb adaptors
______________________________________________________
Total as of 3/26/24                                  $3573.00  

Got a couple emails from Custom Ink and they are working on the artwork a bit.  They updated the pictures with the proofs thus far.    The front is perfect.  We need to work on the back a bit more.   I'm having them move the wake to in front of the ships wake, and the dragon needs better details.

Can you just get a $30 USB Power bank for each area since buying the little USB adapters is both expensive and they're really unreliable and fail at random on me, not sure which brand you're getting and am assuming they're to power the lights?

10 ports for $15 in various brands that have a bit more substance to them and could run USB extension cables to the various needs at a safe low voltage instead of 10VAC between displays, not sure how it is laid out though you you'd still need more than one, and the spotlights need 110 and..  Nevermind, it'd make a bigger hassle.