This ramp is for sale! $1900
If you’re in the Asheville area, and want to save a ton of time and work, come check it out. It is incredibly well made, and designed to “knock down” for relocation. Moving it will not be a problem. See all the details below.
Here is how I built a mini ramp for skateboarding in my basement. It’s less of a “how-to” than a “how-I-did-it.” I built a number of ramps growing up. Also, I was a steelworker in a shipyard through my twenties so I have my own methods of working from that experience that may be helpful to some folks. Read the rest of this post »
Looking back, I get the feeling that more folks had the D-I-Y spirit in the 1970s than in any period since. Even as kids my friends and I were customizing our bikes. You know, choppers with homemade forks, swapping parts from other bikes, etc. Other than the lowrider crowd I can’t think I’ve seen a kid do that since then. Of course, the grown ups were getting down too. Mary’s mom once made a giant set of floor pillows that looked like a massive hamburger. Separate bun pillows, beef patty, lettuce, special sauce(?). Oh yeah, it’s true. I gotta find a pic of that. Anyhow, my mom is still getting down. Her most recent project is a set of baseball-themed school organizers for my son and a purse with a horse motif for my daughter. What the two sets have in common is that Mom went to the thrift store to find some old jeans to use for the fabric. Why? “Because kids like pockets.” I heard that. And that’s especially true when Mema uses pockets to make something original and handmade.
Everybody should be doing stuff like this. Go make something.
More by Mom
This is the first piece of furniture I ever made. I think I was about 20 years old, and it was a Christmas gift to my parents. I had found a large, rather straight log on their property and I knew I had to make something from it. At first I wanted to use it to make some sort modern totem pole, but that would require a lot of time and skill. I didn’t have much of either. I was determined to use that log though, and I was also looking forward to using a chainsaw for something other than yard work. So, I came up with this idea for a chair. I can’t remember why, but I wanted to design it to use knock down construction. (Probably due to years of Lego building.) I’m not sure if that made it easier or more difficult to build. There are some tricky miters for the various slots because the back and seat are not at a right angle, but for the most this is pretty primitive woodworking.
All the parts including: three log legs; plywood back, seat and arms; 2×4 cross braces.
Assembly is quick and easy.
One strange handmade chair ready for lounging.
Why can’t people spell our name?!? Whatever. What’s most important is Mars designed and made this car 100% by himself. Sure, he had some advising from the old man, but Mars did every bit of the cutting, sanding, drilling, paint spraying, axle polishing, and assembly his own bad self. How many of his competitors can say that? Just sayin’… He placed first in his age group, Webelos, and second in the entire pack. If only he would’ve changed out that one wobbly wheel…
(Click image to largenate)
Is a Potato Cannon art itself? Is it functional scuplture? Or, is it a prop in a form of performance art featuring torched, toasted and tossed tubers? I say it’s both. The combustive potato gun featured here is really a carbine, and not the standard long barrel PVC version. Also, it features knock-down construction that allows it to become even smaller, and stowed using very little space. With the exception of the spring latches, the entire gun is made of aluminum, with machined fittings and TIG welded joints. The end of the barrel has been chamfered, making it easy to core a potato and achieve a tight barrel fit. This vegetable weapon has recently been retired, but only after two beautiful long potato launches. Don’t try this at home.
Artist Mary Earle-Sigler has returned to her roots, fiber arts, with this quilt for her newest nephew, Ixa. The various fabric patterns pieced together in this work appear cheerful enough, individually. But in the context of this quilted blanket they seem to create a montage of land and sea combat. This reviewer believes the artist has depicted a raging battle for triangle supremacy. Amphibians versus fish. Who will rule the blanket? Based on the facial expressions of these gladiators (see detail in third pic below) the frogs will soon vanquish the fish.
This block print is of a 1924 Georgian Revival house that was recently bought and now inhabited by the Siglers. The artist Mary Earle-Sigler, who formerly signed her work as MC Earle, and early in her career MEARLE, has signed this piece with a concise “MES.” What is she trying to tell the viewer this new moniker? Does MES also serve as a terse, phonetic description of the state of the house?
A very limited number of prints were produced and then scattered across North America via the postal system. Most of these prints now reside with people previously unaware of the Siglers relocation, the reasons behind which are still unclear to even those close to them.
Mary Earle y’all, Mary Mary Earle y’all!
Larger, largest
In this piece regular thumbtacks have been used in their usual, intended way, stuck into cork bulletin boards, but with unexpected results. The Mona Lisa was used as the basis for these mosaics because it is very recognizable, as art, to most people (with money) in the industrialized world. It appears the artist’s intent is to call attention the latent, or potential beauty of mundane objects.
Each piece of the triptych uses a different zoom level, 1x, 3x and 6x. All of the panels use the same number of tacks to communicate an image. It’s possible the artist is trying to say “Context is really important” or maybe “Resolution is a funny thing.” Even though the third panel provides more detail in the face, it’s less obvious this is the Mona Lisa. The first, and coarser image with background, or full context, is more easily recognized as Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.
The highly ornate frame is an integral part of this piece. It has been severely burned, and then stabilized using space-age polymers. Statements the artist may be making with this frame:
- Beauty in the “every day” should be recognized, appreciated, even celebrated.
- Black is beautiful.
- Maarten Baas is brilliant.
- Smoke adds flavor.
- Nothing is too good to mess with.
Some details:
- Overall dimensions (including frame): 77.5″w x 43.5″h
- Resolution of each panel: 49×76
- Total number of thumbtacks: 11,172
- Approximate weight: Very heavy
Details: burnt frame, left eye of third panel
Triptych sans frame with guitar for scale reference.
Happy Father’s Day! Here’s something I couldn’t have made without my father. I did the work on this table, but he taught me how to weld and use almost every type of tool there is. Moreover, he is a living example that you can build anything you want if you can just get started. This was built in his garage, using his welding gear, torch, grinding tools, etc. around 1990. I was also hogging up a lot of shop space with scrap metal and steel I had ordered. Thanks Dad, for being you.
The table top is aluminum plate. This is another piece that has a connection to Peter Pittman. For a while that I knew him Peter was doing design work for some metal fab shop. He offered to take me in the shop on the weekend and let me pick out some scrap. I found this large piece of aluminum behind a jumbo shear. It was surely usable for some job, but after hesitating for a second Peter said I could snag it. He’s cool like that. And nobody was around to notice.
So, this construction was made to the dimensions of that first piece of plate. The frame below it is mostly half inch steel rod, painstakingly welded together on a jig I had made. Then, even more painstakingly, and painfully, the welds were ground flush. Never again! The only pictures I have of it are from a gallery show, on a contact sheet a friend gave me. Thanks again Pam Taylor.
Another Father’s Day note: Our good friends the Pelczarskis now have this table. AND their second child, Tatum, was just born a few days ago! With an infant and a toddler in the house it’s a good thing I made that table baby-proof with only four sharp metal corners.
This is a painting by my long lost friend Jeff Slay. Every few years I try to get back in touch with him, and then he gets lost again. Now, I’m not even sure where to start looking. Jeff is an interesting character and we spent a lot of time together when we were younger. Musician, biker, tattoo artist/collector, painter, golf nut (seriously), and at one point sophisticated CAD designer all describe Jeff.
He gave us this painting of three cows years ago and we’ve had it prominently displayed in every place we lived ever since. I took this pic just before I packed the painting to move it to our new house.
Jeff Slay, if you ever stumble upon this page please give me a shout.
