Heavy Duty Incorporated

Check out this crazy jack-o-latern made by Lumenlab. They used one of their robot kits and some free graphics tools to make it happen. You too could be carving pumpkins the modern way! Lumenlab is bringing digital making to the masses. See the post at Lumenlab.com, complete with video.

So, Mary and I went to High Point Market today. (Promo video) High Point, NC is the furniture capital of the world. The Market is a semi-annual event with thousands of exhibitors and zillions of visitors. I’ve been wanting to go forever. Lumenlab got invites a long while back and I keep registering, but not going. This time we did it. I’m not sure what to think about it. There were a lot of fashionistas in black and a very international crowd. I heard more languages than I could keep track of. I kept thinking that we should be here some day but now I’m not so sure. We spent what little time we had in the main buildings. I have to believe that the most interesting stuff is at the smaller locations spread around downtown. We picked up some interesting trade mags and a handful of cards. “Please wear your badges at all times.”

Photography inside is totally verboten. I got a couple lame pics of the main building. It has it’s own bus terminal because there are so many people being shuttled in from the various park and ride lots.

One of the more interesting things I saw was the Natuzzi building. I’m not saying I like it, just that it’s interesting. I think you can see from this pic that the building looks like ship on one side, complete with a single large porthole, and a bridge or gangway over some water. It seems that just about every major furniture manufacturer has some sort of permanent presence in High Point. We’ll have to go back in the spring and spend more time. (Click for a larger image.)

I’ve been stressing about this year’s card since before we even mailed last year’s. The Human Candy Cane from last year was our best so far. If anyone out there has any ideas for a card this year, and you’re not going to use them for your own card, please let me have them.

Now, when I say “stressing” that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the process, we do. But we’ve had creator’s block for a good while and time is getting tight. All that said, we have one concept that I’m excited about. But it will certainly be the most logistically challenging card to produce yet. I’m going to start running some tests in the next week or so. Fingers crossed.

Peruse the previous cards

Cut out one for yourself. For my latest exercise in vanity I made these “business” cards. To me they’re an homage to the great artist Ed Kienholz. Kienlholz was part of the “Cool School” art scene in 1950s Los Angeles. Some “experts” say Kienholz was doing the more-famous Rauschenberg’s “combines” before Rauschenberg himself. Ed was a renaissance handy man who made a living early in his career doing all sorts jobs from plumbing to carpentry. He had a pickup truck with “Ed Kienholz – Expert” painted on the doors. If he never made a piece of “art” in his life I would still consider this a masterpiece. I’ve displayed similar verbiage in a similar way on these cards. With my steelworker roots I can’t help feeling a kinship with the man.

I had them made at Zazzle, and I’ve always been happy with their service. That said, I’ve found that it can be tough to get the color to match on their “indestructible” card stock. Despite my choice of material I wanted the cards to appear worn and roughed up, like an old work truck. I found some brushes for Photoshop that made this effect pretty easy to achieve at Ubersuper. For darker colored areas I inverted the effect to make the wear areas lighter. Seemed to make sense. I like how the crease turned out, but I think some of scuffs and dirt are maybe a too little subtle.

Take a look at the late great Ed Kienholz doing who knows what atop the “expert” pickup. Genius.

For more experiments in vanity there’s this self-portrait I made for an avatar to use on Flickr, etc.

And by “hard way” I mean this: This tree house is supported only by the tree. Sure, there’s a ladder there in the middle, but that’s not structural. I had read in a book about tree houses that a proper tree house did not have any posts in the ground supporting it. All tree, all the time. I built this at our last house, for my kids. Even though we didn’t have many tree options, and that it wouldn’t be that high, I was determined to build the real deal, not some simple elevated “tree fort” that only used the tree as another post in the ground. Here’s to the hard way!

I would go into the details (you know I would) if I could remember much about it. There are some great resources online. You’ll surely find them once you start looking. Keepin’ it real in Asheville.

T

I’m ready to put the chocolate and peanut butter together! I’ve been thinking of ways to make wall tiles out of MDF or thin Baltic Birch plywood. The tiles could be various sizes from 12″ or 16″ squares to similar size rectangles, with graphic designs or patterns printed on their faces. They could be attached to a wall with either a mastic or a Velcro-type product if you’re non-committal. You can use tiles individually or in small groups as art, or as a type of “wallpaper.” Once the production process was sorted we could apply a Threadless.com-type model. Don’t get me started on that piece because I’ll never shut up.

Dan Bleier Studio makes tiles like this that are coated with resin and they look pretty sweet. But you’re limited to a handful of designs, and at $110 per square foot with a minimum of 30 SF they’re probably too spendy for most of us.

Board Pusher allows anyone to design graphics for skateboards to make and sell your own custom deck. Whatever production process or manufacturer they’re using for these custom-on-demand boards seems like it would be just the ticket for the wall tiles. I’ve contacted them to see if they will share some info to help a brother out. I’m hoping they’ll get back to me soon because I need all the help I can get.

(Click for big)

My mother, Jenny Sigler, made this crocheted and felted purse for my SIL, Kellie. Jenny/Mom crocheted this purse without a pattern, because she is a complete and total risk taker! Then, she felted it by washing it in very hot water. I know nothing about this “felting” but she says the object will shrink by about a third, and that it makes the weave (sorry if that’s the wrong word) of the yarn somewhat obscured. To finish it off she added some grosgrain ribbon to the strap so it wouldn’t stretch out. “Who dares, wins” and I think this purse turned out super-nice.

More by Mom

When Mary and I got married, almost 18 years ago, we had our wedding bands custom made by goldsmith Eason Price. Eason died a little too young earlier this year. When I called him about making these I told him that we had some general ideas about what we wanted and that we were getting our inspiration from an old book about Celtic art. He said “Yeah, I have that book. Come on down to the shop and we’ll talk about it.” I didn’t believe he actually had the book, because I hadn’t even mentioned the title, so I brought our copy with me. Sure enough, Eason had the exact same book: Celtic Art – The Methods of Construction by George Bain.

We picked out a bird-like creature we liked and Eason added a simple knot pattern. He made some sketches, we approved them, and after getting our sizes he went to work. He used white gold. We wanted platinum but at the time it was almost twice as expensive and way out of our budget. Eason put black enamel in all of the carved lines. I remember asking if the enamel would last. He assured me it would, but he didn’t know the ring and I were about to spend the next eight years working in a shipyard as a steelworker. All the enamel is long gone. I’m just happy to still have the finger.

Here’s the page with the birds we liked:

And the book, “lavishly illustrated with line drawings and photographs”:

Nomadic Furniture by Hennessey and Papanek is a fantastic book. I’ve had it so long I can’t remember where I got it. I also have volume 2, and I believe I got that from Alibris. The first book came out in 1973, so it’s got that crunchy style DIY flavor, right down to the hand-written text in ALL CAPS, even the page numbers are hand-written.

From the cover: “How to build and where to buy lightweight furniture that folds, inflates, knocks down, or is disposable and can be recycled. — With many easy to follow illustrations.” I think that sums it up pretty well. Obviously, the shopping sources are pretty stale. But many of the ideas are timeless, a few even have the potential to be stylish. Maybe the most timeless, and practical, information included is in the section “On Human Measurement.” The authors list some ergonomic starting points for chairs, tables and more. Click any of three thumbnails that follow for much larger images.

If you’re itching to make your own nomadic DIY furniture check out this cardboard chair. If you’re feeling really creative maybe you can try to make it out of sheet metal, or a flexible plastic. That probably wouldn’t be consistent with the recycling and nomadic ethos of this book, but it might be badass. Click it to big it.

Let me know in the comments if you like this stuff and I’ll post more projects from these two books.

Eleven year old (almost 12) renaissance man Mars Sigler has embraced a new medium: handmade monster toys. He is calling this product line “Monster Buddies.” The fellow pictured here is named “Marky” and he is the second original, sounds better than “number two,” in a series Master Sigler has dubbed “Locker Buddies.” Toys in the “Locker Buddy” line are small enough to fit into a school locker.

Mars learned his pattern making and sewing skills from his mother, but the creative concepts are all his. Always innovative, Mars opted with “Marky” to put the seams on display, essentially turning the toy inside out, even though the fabric isn’t. The light blue element below the simple line mouth is actually fabric drool.

In an interview today Mars revealed that he intends to produce more “Monster Buddies” and begin selling them in various outlets in the near future. Master Sigler said at this time he has no plans to sell the first two “Monster Buddy” creations.