Adam Savage: My obsession with objects and the stories they tell

翻译人员: lin qiang 校对人员: Zachary Lin Zhao

About four years ago, the New Yorker published an article

大概四年前，《纽约客》刊登了一篇文章

about a cache of dodo bones that was found

说在毛里求斯岛上的一个矿坑里

in a pit on the island of Mauritius.

发现了许多埋藏的渡渡鸟遗骨

Now, the island of Mauritius is a small island

毛里求斯岛位于印度洋

off the east coast of Madagascar

在马达加斯加海岸的东边

in the Indian Ocean, and it is the place

渡渡鸟在那里被发现

where the dodo bird was discovered

也在那里灭绝

and extinguished, all within about 150 years.

这一过程仅仅用了150年的时间

Everyone was very excited about this archaeological find,

这次考古发现让每个人欢呼雀跃

because it meant that they might finally be able

因为这意味着人们终于有机会

to assemble a single dodo skeleton.

组装出单只渡渡鸟的完整骨架

See, while museums all over the world

尽管世界上有很多博物馆

have dodo skeletons in their collection, nobody --

收藏有渡渡鸟的骨架

not even the actual Natural History Museum

但即使是毛里求斯岛的自然历史博物馆

on the island of Mauritius -- has a skeleton that's made

也没有一具骨架标本

from the bones of a single dodo.

是由单只渡渡鸟遗体制成的

Well, this isn't exactly true.

呃，其实这么不完全准确

The fact is, is that the British Museum

事实上，在大英博物馆

had a complete specimen of a dodo in their collection

直到18世纪

up until the 18th century --

还收藏有一副完整的渡渡鸟标本

it was actually mummified, skin and all --

实际上这是个保有皮肤的完整的木乃伊标本

but in a fit of space-saving zeal,

但是为了满足节省空间的热情

they actually cut off the head and they cut off the feet

他们竟把头和脚都切下来

and they burned the rest in a bonfire.

然后把其它的部分丢进篝火烧掉了

If you go look at their website today,

现在如果你登陆他们的网站

they'll actually list these specimens, saying,

会看到他们列出了这些标本

the rest was lost in a fire.

并说其它部分在火灾中丢失了

Not quite the whole truth. Anyway.

不管怎么说，跟事实很接近了

The frontispiece of this article was this photo,

文章的第一页便是这张图片

and I'm one of the people that thinks that Tina Brown

我觉得蒂娜·布朗很了不起

was great for bringing photos to the New Yorker,

他为《纽约客》提供了许多图片

because this photo completely rocked my world.

而这张图片彻底震撼了我的世界

I became obsessed with the object --

我被它完全迷住了

not just the beautiful photograph itself,

不仅仅因为美丽的图片本身

and the color, the shallow depth of field, the detail that's visible,

还有它的颜色、薄薄的触摸感、可见的细节

the wire you can see on the beak there

你能看到鸟喙上的金属线

that the conservator used to put this skeleton together --

那是用来连接起整个骨架的

there's an entire story here.

这整个就是一个故事

And I thought to myself,

我自己在想

wouldn't it be great

如果能有个属于自己的渡渡鸟骨架

if I had my own dodo skeleton?

该有多棒

(Laughter)

（笑）

I want to point out here at this point that

好，此刻我想指出的一点是

I've spent my life obsessed

我的整个人生

by objects and the stories that they tell,

都在迷恋着事物，极其背后的故事

and this was the very latest one.

这是最近的一个

So I began looking around for --

所以我开始四处寻找

to see if anyone sold a kit,

看是否有人出售一套

some kind of model that I could get,

类似模型的给我

and I found lots of reference material, lots of lovely pictures.

我找到大量的参考材料和精美的图片

No dice: no dodo skeleton for me. But the damage had been done.

不行，没有找到渡渡鸟骨架。但错误已经铸成

I had saved a few hundred photos of dodo skeletons

在我的“创造性项目”文件夹里

into my "Creative Projects" folder --

我已经保存了几百张渡渡鸟骨架的图片

it's a repository for my brain, everything that I could possibly be interested in.

那里就像我大脑的仓库，储藏着一切我可能感兴趣的东西

Any time I have an internet connection,

每一次连上互联网

there's a sluice of stuff moving into there,

就有无数的东西涌了进来

everything from beautiful rings to cockpit photos.

从漂亮的指环到驾驶室图片

The key that the Marquis du Lafayette sent to George Washington

拉法叶为庆祝攻陷巴士底狱

to celebrate the storming of the Bastille.

送给华盛顿的钥匙

Russian nuclear launch key:

俄罗斯核武器的发射钥匙

The one on the top is the picture of the one I found on eBay;

上面那张图片是我在eBay上找到的

the one on the bottom is the one I made for myself,

底下那张则是我自己制作的

because I couldn't afford the one on eBay.

因为我买不起eBay上的那张

Storm trooper costumes. Maps of Middle Earth --

纳粹的制服；中土世界的地图——我自己手绘的

that's one I hand-drew myself. There's the dodo skeleton folder.

那就是渡渡鸟骨架的文件夹

This folder has 17,000 photos --

里面有17000张图片

over 20 gigabytes of information --

超过20G的信息容量

and it's growing constantly.

而且还在不断增加

And one day, a couple of weeks later, it might have been

几个星期后的某一天，或许已经过了一年了

maybe a year later, I was in the art store with my kids,

我和孩子走进艺术商店想买些黏土材料

and I was buying some clay tools -- we were going to have a craft day.

我们准备过一个手工艺日

I bought some Super Sculpeys, some armature wire, some various materials.

我买了一些雕塑土，一些铁线支架和其他材料

And I looked down at this Sculpey, and I thought,

看着雕塑土我忽然想到

maybe,

也许

yeah, maybe I could make my own dodo skull.

也许我可以自己来做个渡渡鸟头骨

I should point out at this time -- I'm not a sculptor;

我得先说一下——我并不是个雕塑家

I'm a hard-edged model maker.

我只是一个硬边模型制作者

You give me a drawing, you give me a prop to replicate,

给我一张图纸，就给了我复制的动力

you give me a crane, scaffolding, parts from "Star Wars" --

给我一台起重机，脚手架，不给我看《星球大战》

especially parts from "Star Wars" --

尤其不能给我看《星球大战》

I can do this stuff all day long.

然后我就能一整天鼓捣这些玩意

It's exactly how I made my living for 15 years.

这就是我15年来如何谋生的

But you give me something like this --

但如果你给我这样的东西

my friend Mike Murnane sculpted this;

我的朋友迈克·默南做了这个雕塑

it's a maquette for "Star Wars, Episode Two" --

这是为《星球大战》第二部所做的初步模型

this is not my thing --

这不是我要做的

this is something other people do -- dragons, soft things.

这是给别的人做的——龙，一些软活

However, I felt like I had looked at enough photos of dodo skulls

但我觉得自己已经看了足够多的渡渡鸟骨架图片

to actually be able to

实际上已经能够理解它的解剖结构

understand the topology and perhaps replicate it --

或许也可以复制一个了

I mean, it couldn't be that difficult.

我是说，这并不是那么难

So, I started looking at the best photos I could find.

我开始看能找到的最好的那些图片

I grabbed all the reference,

我搜寻所有的参考资料

and I found this lovely piece of reference.

找到了这篇可爱的材料

This is someone selling this on eBay;

它是某人在eBay上出售的东西

it was clearly a woman’s hand, hopefully a woman's hand.

这是，明显是，很可能是一只女人的手

Assuming it was roughly the size of my wife's hand,

假设它的大小和我妻子的手差不多

I made some measurements of her thumb, and I scaled them out to the size of the skull.

我测量了她的拇指，然后把数据扩展到头骨大小

I blew it up to the actual size, and I began using that,

扩展到实际尺寸之后

along with all the other reference that I had, comparing it to it

我就开始把这些数据与其他的资料进行比较

as size reference for figuring out exactly how big the beak should be,

弄清楚鸟喙实际到底应该有多大

exactly how long, etc.

实际应该有多长，等等

And over a few hours, I eventually achieved

几小时后我终于搞清楚什么才是比较合理的渡渡鸟头骨

what was actually a pretty reasonable dodo skull. And I didn't mean to continue, I --

不过我没有继续下去

it's kind of like, you know, you can only clean a super messy room

这有点像在清理一个超乱的房间时

by picking up one thing at a time; you can't think about the totality.

你只能每次收拾一件东西，你不能想到所有的一切

I wasn't thinking about a dodo skeleton;

我当时没有想到渡渡鸟骨架

I just noticed that as I finished this skull,

我只注意到自己完成了这个头骨

the armature wire that I had been used to holding it up

用来固定的支架金属线

was sticking out of the back just where a spine would be.

从原本应该是脊柱的位置穿了出来

And one of the other things I'd been interested in and obsessed with over the years

多年来我一直感兴趣并着迷的另一种东西

is spines and skeletons, having collected a couple of hundred.

便是脊柱和骨架，我已经搜集了数百个

I actually understood the mechanics

实际上我已经足够了解椎骨的力学机制

of vertebrae enough to kind of start to imitate them.

似乎可以模仿一下了

And so button by button,

接着我就一步一步，一块椎骨接着一块椎骨

vertebrae by vertebrae, I built my way down.

自己鼓捣了起来

And actually, by the end of the day, I had a reasonable skull,

最后到那天结束，我已经有了个不错的头骨

a moderately good vertebrae and half of a pelvis.

一个恰到好处的脊椎和半个骨盆

And again, I kept on going, looking for more reference,

我继续寻找着更多的参考资料

every bit of reference I could find -- drawings, beautiful photos.

绘画、漂亮的图片，以及一切能找到的资料

This guy -- I love this guy! He put a dodo leg bones on a scanner

我爱这个家伙！他把渡渡鸟腿骨和尺子

with a ruler.

放到了扫描器里

This is the kind of accuracy that I wanted,

这就是我想要的“精确”

and I

每一块

replicated every last bone and put it in.

我复制了每一块骨头然后放进去

And after about six weeks,

大概过了六个星期

I finished, painted, mounted

我安装、上漆

my own dodo skeleton.

完成了属于我自己的渡渡鸟骨架

You can see that I even made a museum label for it

你能看到我还给它做了个博物馆标签

that includes a brief history of the dodo.

写上有关渡渡鸟历史的简短介绍

And TAP Plastics made me -- although I didn't photograph it --

而TAP塑料公司还做了个博物馆陈列橱窗给我

a museum vitrine.

我没拍下来

I don't have the room for this in my house,

我屋里没空间摆放这个东西

but I had to finish what I had started.

但我必须完成我已经开始的工作

And this actually represented kind of a sea change to me.

实际上，这代表了我的某种彻底的转变

Again, like I said, my life has been about

如我所说，我的生活都是关于

being fascinated by objects and the stories that they tell,

对事物及其背后的故事着迷

and also making them for myself, obtaining them,

还有为自己制作、获得这些东西

appreciating them and diving into them.

欣赏它们，沉浸其中

And in this folder, "Creative Projects,"

而在这个“创造性项目”文件夹里

there are tons of projects that I'm currently working on,

有许许多多我正在进行的项目

projects that I've already worked on, things that I might want to work on some day,

有的已经有所进展，有的将在未来某一天开始着手

and things that I may just want to find and buy and have

还有一些东西我只是想找到、买到

and look at and touch.

看一看，摸一摸

But now there was potentially this new category of things

现在还有了一类新的东西

that I could sculpt

我能够雕塑的东西

that was different, that I -- you know,

这很不一样

I have my own R2D2, but that's --

我有了自己的R2D2（星球大战里的机器人）

honestly, relative to sculpting, to me, that's easy.

说实话对我来说，跟雕刻比起来，这简单多了

And so I went back and looked through my "Creative Projects" folder,

因此我回头仔细审视了“创造性项目”文件夹

and I happened across the Maltese Falcon.

突然发现了《马耳他之鹰》

Now, this is funny for me:

很有意思

to fall in love with an object from a Hammett novel,

我爱上了汉密特小说里的一件东西

because if it's true that the world is divided into two types of people,

因为如果它存在，世界上的人就将分为两种类型

Chandler people and Hammett people, I am absolutely a Chandler person.

“钱德勒”人和“汉密特”人，我绝对属于钱德勒人（钱德勒和汉密特均为美国侦探小说家）

But in this case,

不过这里与作者无关

it's not about the author, it's not about the book or the movie or the story,

与书或电影或故事无关

it's about the object in and of itself.

只与这件物品自身有关

And in this case, this object is --

在这里，这个物品

plays on a host of levels.

具有许多层的意义

First of all, there's the object in the world.

首先，是有这么个东西

This is the "Kniphausen Hawk."

这就是“Kniphausen Hawk”

It is a ceremonial pouring vessel

一个仪式用的浇筑模型

made around 1700 for a Swedish Count,

是1700年为一位瑞典伯爵所制作的

and it is very likely the object from which

它很可能就是汉密特

Hammett drew his inspiration for the Maltese Falcon.

写《马耳他之鹰》的灵感来源

Then there is the fictional bird, the one that Hammett created for the book.

因此就有了汉密特为小说所创作的鸟

Built out of words, it is the engine

由词汇制成

that drives the plot of his book and also the movie,

驱动着书的内容，以及电影情节的发展

in which another object is created:

故事中还创造了另一件东西

a prop that has to represent the thing that Hammett created out of words,

一个代表汉密特在书中所描述物品的道具

inspired by the Kniphausen Hawk, and this represents the falcon in the movie.

道具代表了电影中的猎鹰，其实还是受Kniphauser Hawk的启发

And then there is this fourth level, which is

然后就到了第四个层次

a whole new object in the world:

世界上又一个完全崭新的物品

the prop made for the movie, the representative of the thing,

为电影而做的这个道具

becomes, in its own right,

凭其本身

a whole other thing,

成为一个完全不一样的物品

a whole new object of desire.

一个完全的新的欲望象征

And so now it was time to do some research.

所以是时候做些研究了

I actually had done some research

实际上我在几年前已经做了一部分研究

a few years before -- it's why the folder was there.

所以才有个文件夹在那里

I'd bought a replica, a really crappy replica,

我还在eBay上买了一个“马耳他之鹰”的复制品

of the Maltese Falcon on eBay,

一个十分蹩脚的复制品

and had downloaded enough pictures to actually

我还下载了足够多的图片

have some reasonable reference.

作为适当的参考

But I discovered,

但在做了更多研究后

in researching further,

特别是需要精确参考的时候

really wanting precise reference, that

我发现

one of the original lead birds

一只原版的铅制雕塑

had been sold at Christie's in 1994,

1994年在克里斯蒂拍卖行被拍卖了

and so I contacted an antiquarian bookseller

所以我就联系了一位爱好古董的书商

who had the original Christie's catalogue,

他有克里斯蒂拍卖行目录的原稿

and in it I found this magnificent picture,

我从中找到了这张极好的图片

which included a size reference.

还附有尺寸参照

I was able to scan the picture, blow it up to exactly full size.

由此我便能扫描图片，将它放大到完整的尺寸

I found other reference. Avi [Ara] Chekmayan,

我还找到另一个参照，来自Avi [Ara] Chekmayan

a New Jersey editor, actually found this

新泽西的一位编辑

resin Maltese Falcon

是他于1991年在一个跳蚤市场上

at a flea market in 1991,

发现了这个树脂制的马耳他雄鹰

although it took him five years

因为争议很大

to authenticate this bird to

他总共花了五年时间

the auctioneers' specifications,

才验明这就是

because there was a lot of controversy about it.

拍卖商说明书描述的真品

It was made out of resin, which wasn't a common material for movie props

它是用树脂做的

about the time the movie was made.

这在当时并不是一种做电影道具的常见材料

It's funny to me that it took a while to authenticate it,

有意思的是，我花了好一会才鉴定它是真的

because I can see it compared to this thing,

当它和这一个比较

and I can tell you -- it's real, it's the real thing,

我能保证，这的的确确是真的

it's made from the exact same mold that this one is.

都是从一个模子里出来的

In this one, because the auction was actually so controversial,

这一个，因为拍卖会实际上很有争议

Profiles in History, the auction house that sold this --

我记得Profiles in History拍卖行

I think in 1995 for about 100,000 dollars --

1995年时为它拍出了10万美金

they actually included -- you can see here on the bottom --

可以从底部看到

not just a front elevation, but also

他们不仅仅提供了正面图

a side, rear

还提供了侧面、背面

and other side elevation.

和其他角度的视图

So now, I had all the topology I needed

这样，我就有了所需的结构资料

to replicate the Maltese Falcon.

来复制马耳他之鹰

What do they do, how do you start something like that? I really don't know.

他们怎么做的，如何开始？我一无所知

So what I did was, again, like I did with the dodo skull,

所以这一次，我就跟做渡渡鸟头骨那样

I blew all my reference up to full size,

把参照材料放大到完整尺寸

and then I began cutting out the negatives and using

然后删去不合适的材料

those templates as shape references.

再利用那些模版作为形状参考

So I took Sculpey, and I built a big block of it,

接着我就用Sculpey雕塑土做了一个雏形

and I passed it through until, you know, I got the right profiles.

直到我获得正确的侧面图之后我才

And then slowly, feather by feather, detail by detail,

慢慢地，一根羽毛一根羽毛地

I worked out and achieved --

逐渐逐渐做出了想要的结果

working in front of the television and Super Sculpey --

——在电视前鼓捣雕塑土

here's me sitting next to my wife --

这是我坐在妻子旁边

it's the only picture I took of the entire process.

这也是整个过程中我拍的唯一一张照片

As I moved through, I achieved

到最后，我终于

a very reasonable facsimile of the Maltese Falcon.

做成了一个很不错的马耳他之鹰复制品

But again, I am not a sculptor,

但我仍然不是一个雕塑家

and so I don't know a lot of the tricks, like,

有好多技巧我都不知道

I don't know how my friend Mike gets beautiful, shiny surfaces with his Sculpey;

我不知道老友Mike做的雕塑表面为何既漂亮又光彩照人

I certainly wasn't able to get it.

我就是没办法做到

So, I went down to my shop,

所以我去到我的店里

and I molded it and I cast it in resin,

做了个模型，用树脂铸了一个

because in the resin, then, I could absolutely get the glass smooth finished.

因为用树脂做，我就绝对能进行玻璃光面精整

Now there's a lot of ways to fill and get yourself a nice smooth finish.

有很多填充和光面精整的方法

My preference is about 70 coats of this --

我喜欢的是用这种粗糙的黑色汽车底漆

matte black auto primer.

涂上大概70层

I spray it on for about three or four days, it drips to hell,

我喷了三四天，油漆滴个不停

but it allows me a really, really nice gentle sanding surface

不过得到的磨砂表面相当的不错

and I can get it glass-smooth.

我才可以对它做玻璃抛光

Oh, finishing up with triple-zero steel wool.

噢，最后以000#钢丝绒收尾

Now, the great thing about getting it to this point was that

现在，这件非同寻常的作品就出炉了

because in the movie, when they finally bring out the bird at the end,

因为在电影里，当他们最后把鸟拿出来的时候

and they place it on the table, they actually spin it.

他们把它放在桌上，旋转它

So I was able to actually

所以我可以利用

screen-shot and freeze-frame to make sure.

屏幕截图和停格显示来确定

And I'm following all the light kicks on this thing and making sure that as I'm holding the light

我按照电影里的灯光照射方式

in the same position, I'm getting the same type of reflection on it --

确保用同样位置的灯光照射能取得相同的反射光

that's the level of detail I'm going into this thing.

这就是我想达到的细节水平

I ended up with this: my Maltese Falcon.

最后我得到了这个：我的马耳他之鹰

And it's beautiful. And I can state with authority

它很漂亮。而且此时此刻我可以负责任地说

at this point in time, when I'd finished it,

当我完成这个作品时

of all of the replicas out there -- and there is a few --

在所有的复制品——其实也很少——中

this is by far the most accurate

它是最最精确

representation of the original Maltese Falcon

表现马耳他之鹰原件的

than anyone has sculpted. Now the original one, I should tell you,

而原件，我可以告诉你们

is sculpted by a guy named Fred Sexton.

是有一个名叫弗雷德·塞克斯顿的人雕塑的

This is where it gets weird.

事情的蹊跷就在这里

Fred Sexton was a friend of this guy, George Hodel.

弗雷德·塞克斯顿是这个乔治·胡德尔的朋友

Terrifying guy -- agreed by many to be the killer

可怕的家伙，许多人认为他就是

of the Black Dahlia.

“黑色大丽花”案中的杀手

Now, James Ellroy believes

现在，詹姆斯·艾尔罗伊相信

that Fred Sexton, the sculptor of the Maltese Falcon,

弗雷德·塞克斯顿，马耳他之鹰的雕塑者

killed James Elroy's mother.

杀死了他的母亲

I'll go you one stranger than that: In 1974,

还有更蹊跷的。1974年

during the production of a weird comedy sequel to "The Maltese Falcon,"

在“马耳他之鹰”的一部怪诞喜剧续集

called "The Black Bird," starring George Segal,

乔治·西格尔领衔主演的“黑鸟”的拍摄中

the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

洛杉矶县立艺术博物馆

had a plaster original of the Maltese Falcon --

拥有的一个马耳他之鹰石膏原件

one of the original six plasters, I think, made for the movie --

为电影拍摄所做的六个石膏原件之一

stolen out of the museum. A lot of people thought

被偷出了博物馆。许多人认为

it was a publicity stunt for the movie.

这只是电影方的作秀

John's Grill, which actually

John's Grill餐厅

is seen briefly in "The Maltese Falcon,"

在“马耳他之鹰”里短暂出现过

is still a viable San Francisco eatery,

至今仍然在旧金山营业

counted amongst its regular customers Elisha Cook,

伊莱沙·库克也曾是这家餐厅的顾客之一

who played Wilmer Cook in the movie,

他曾在影片中扮演威尔默·库克

and he gave them

他还将最早的“马耳他之鹰”石膏像之一

one of his original plasters of the Maltese Falcon.

赠送给了这家餐厅

And they had it in their cabinet for about 15 years,

在餐厅的橱柜里放了约15年之后

until it got stolen

在2007年1月

in January of 2007.

塑像被偷走了

It would seem that the object of desire

欲望的对象，似乎要反复消失多次之后

only comes into its own by disappearing repeatedly.

才能体现它本身的价值

So here I had this Falcon,

我现在有了这只“猎鹰”

and it was lovely. It looked really great,

它很可爱，看上去真的很不错

the light worked on it really well,

上面的光线也很好

it was better than anything that I could achieve

它比我能够实现和得到的任何东西

or obtain out in the world.

都要好

But there was a problem. And the problem was that:

但还有一个问题：

I wanted the entirety of the object,

我想要让它变得完整

I wanted the weight behind the object.

我要知道它确切的重量

This thing was made of resin and it was too light.

这个是用树脂做的，太轻了

There's this group online that I frequent.

这里有个我常常光顾的在线小组

It's a group of prop crazies just like me

上面都是些像我一样的道具狂人

called the Replica Props Forum, and it's people who trade,

叫道具复制品论坛，人们在上面交流

make and travel in information about movie props.

有关电影道具的制作、交易和推销等信息

And it turned out that one of the guys there,

我在上面找到了一个朋友

a friend of mine that I never actually met,

我们从未见面，由几次道具交易成了哥们

but befriended through some prop deals, was the manager of a local foundry.

他竟然是当地一家铸造厂的经理

He took my master Falcon pattern,

他用我的“猎鹰”原始模型

he actually did lost wax casting

用失蜡铸造法

in bronze for me,

铸了一个青铜的给我

and this is the bronze I got back.

这就是我带回来的青铜像

And this is, after some acid etching, the one that I ended up with.

经过酸蚀处理后我最终得到了这个

And this thing, it's deeply, deeply satisfying to me.

这个结果让我非常非常满意

Here, I'm going to put it out there,

过一会我将把它放到那儿

later on tonight, and

晚些时候

I want you to pick it up and handle it.

我希望你们拿起它，触摸它

You want to know

你就会知道

how obsessed I am. This project's only for me,

我有多着迷。这个项目是最适合我的

and yet I went so far as to buy on eBay

我还更进一步

a 1941 Chinese San Francisco-based newspaper,

到eBay上买了一份1941年旧金山出的中文报纸

in order so that the bird could properly be wrapped ...

这样“猎鹰”才能完全像电影里一样

like it is in the movie.

包装起来

(Laughter)

（笑）

Yeah, I know!

是的，没错！

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑）（掌声）

There you can see, it's weighing in at 27 and a half pounds.

看，它的重量是27.5磅

That's half the weight of my dog, Huxley.

我的狗“赫胥黎”体重的一半

But there's a problem.

不过还是有个问题

Now, here's the most recent progression of Falcons.

这是“猎鹰”系列最近的一些作品

On the far left is a piece of crap -- a replica I bought on eBay.

左边边上是我从eBay上买的一个复制品，做得很烂

There's my somewhat ruined Sculpey Falcon,

这里有我做的，有些损坏的猎鹰雕塑

because I had to get it back out of the mold. There's my first casting,

因为我要把它从模子里拿出来。有我最早铸造的模型

there's my master and there's my bronze.

还有我做的原始模型和青铜模型

There's a thing that happens when you mold and cast things,

在做模子和浇铸的时候

which is that every time you throw it into silicone and cast it in resin,

每一次你把它放到硅胶中，开始用树脂浇铸时

you lose a little bit of volume, you lose a little bit of size.

都会损失一小点体积

And when I held my bronze one up against my Sculpey one,

当我把青铜模型和雕塑土模型放在一起的时候

it was shorter by three-quarters of an inch.

我发现青铜模型小了快四分之一

Yeah, no, really, this was like aah --

是的，真的，这就像“啊啊……”

why didn't I remember this?

我为什么把这给忘了？

Why didn't I start and make it bigger?

为什么一开始我不把它做大一点？

So what do I do? I figure I have two options.

那么怎么办好？我发现我有两个选择

One, I can fire a freaking laser at it,

一，我可以用激光照一照

which I have already done,

这个已经做好的模型

to do a 3D scan -- there's a 3D scan of this Falcon.

对这个“猎鹰”做一个3维立体扫描

I had figured out the exact amount of shrinkage I achieved

我已经测出从蜡制模型到青铜模型

going from a wax master to a bronze master

之间“缩水”的确切值

and blown this up big enough to make

再把它放大到

a 3D lithography master of this,

足够做一个三维平版模型

which I will polish, then I will send to the mold maker

擦亮之后，我可以把它交给铸模的人

and then I will have it done in bronze. Or:

然后我就能得到青铜模型

There are several people who own originals,

或这，或许那些拥有原件的人

and I have been attempting to contact them and reach them,

我一直在试图联系他们

hoping that they will let me spend a few minutes

希望他们能让我花上几分钟

in the presence of one of the real birds, maybe to take a picture,

看一看其中的一个原件，或者拍个照

or even to pull out the hand-held laser scanner

甚至让我用手执式激光扫描仪来扫描一下

that I happen to own that fits inside a cereal box,

这个小仪器刚好能放进麦片盒里

and could maybe, without even touching their bird, I swear,

我发誓，甚至不用碰到他们的“猎鹰”

get a perfect 3D scan. And I'm even willing to sign pages

我就能得到完美的三维扫描图。我甚至想签文件

saying that I'll never let anyone else have it, except for me in my office, I promise.

保证我绝不会让它从我的办公室流出，落入别人手里

I'll give them one if they want it.

如果他们想要，我也可以送给他们一个

And then, maybe, then I'll achieve the end of this exercise.

然后，也许，这一切就告一段落了

But really, if we're all going to be honest with ourselves,

但事实上，如果我们诚实地面对自己

I have to admit that achieving the end of the exercise

我要说，完成这一番“功课”

was never the point of the exercise to begin with, was it.

所得到的远不仅仅是最初想要的结果而已

Thank you.

谢谢