Adventures in building, repairing and crafting various things that strike my fancy, from books to the internets! Come in and see projects I am working on, and take some inspiration to try something new.
Over the holidays, I made my first piece of wooden furniture: A red oak corner desk for my room. I learned quite a few things along the way, destroyed a few drill bits, and now have polyurethane drops on my junker shoes.
A few lessons I can share:
Smoking drill bits are bad
Red Oak is hard!
Measuring twice sometimes doesn't work
Eyeballing sometimes does
Everyone should own a miter box.
Here is the beasty, somewhat from start to finish.
A few problems did crop up - one of the legs is not straight by 5-10 degrees, and the mitered joints on the runners are not all flush. But all in all, I am satisfied considering this is my first real woodworking project.
While waiting on a few people to get back to me at work, I found myself with about 20 minutes of downtime. So I used the remnants of a late night coffee run to construct a catapault of stir sticks, straws, tape and a spoon.
The range is about 3-4 feet with a Hersey's Kiss, and the arm has a tendency to fly off as you launch anything. But now I can threaten my coworkers from behind the dubious safety of rickety siege weaponry!
Over the holidays I decided to learn how to bind books. It turns out to be great fun, and rather relaxing. And you can drink while doing it! I started with some open stitched (coptic) bindings. After deciding that I do not have the sewing skill to actually bind those tight enough to be useful, I moved on to a simple covered binding. This has given much better results!
I have bound about 10 or so books so far, to various degrees of success. As gifts, hand made books work really well, and since you can put one together in a night after some practice, I highly recommend it.
Here are some examples of what I have put together. (These are gifts, no copyrighted materials have been sold to anyone, if any lawyers come read this!)
Look closely, and you can exactly what I was drinking while making this book.
This begins my attempt to restore my father's 1968 Honda CL 350. Oliver was loaded onto the back of a truck today, and should be arriving here in (not currently so sunny) Los Angeles next week.
This is the end of one project, and the start of a new one. Over the last decade or so I have tried to convince pops to fix the bike, let me fix the bike, fix it together, etc. Last summer I delivered a challenge: get the bike running in 6 months, or hand it over to me! He failed on his end, and now I get a crack at it.
Just finished up moving over the weekend. I am happy to say I am much better at it than I used to be. Everything I owned was moved in 4 hours, and perfectly fit into the back of a 10' U-Haul. Yay! I think I have graduated to college level moving-truck tetris, but I haven't gone cross country in a truck yet, and I think that is the real test.
As you can imagine, moving put a bit of a damper on everything else. I have two reviews slated: Andrew Bird's new albume and an old Muse record. Hope to have those up this weekend.
"Grand" is an album by Brooklyn Duo Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino. Creative naming, huh? You can find them here. This record is a fun little shot of joy to the ears. Matt provides vocalss in a sort of awkward, faux british accent and plays the keyboard. Kim smile, bounces a lot, and plays the drums. If the White Stripes are the epitome of grungy minimalist blues-rock, Matt & Kim are the polar opposite: happy, fun and just looking to have a good time.
The album is short, about 30 minutes for 11 songs. You'll recognize the first track "Daylight" from the Bacardi commercial with a guy walking through eras of bars to finally get his drink. The song and the ad match up almost perfectly. This random guy just wants a drink, and the song just wants to make some fun noise. The rest of the songs are all short little bursts that will get your foot tapping and head bobbing. There is nothing groundbreaking to be found, but the earworm quotient is very high, and the record makes a for a great pick me up when you want to have some bubbly pop.
The best way to review this album comes from my friends. Over the last week 3 different people have either heard this in my car or on my computer, and they all had the same response. First the head quirks a little as the beat sinks in, then a smile cracks the lips. After the song ends, you are left thinking "I don't know why, but that is really growing on me."
In an effort to not become that guy who only listens to the same 20 records he got in high school, I am starting New Music Weekends! (how original is that!). The format is simple: At least one new album each weekend that I have never bought before, and have not had a chance to really sit down and give a good listen to. Sometime during the following week I'll put up my review and give the next album.
If you have suggestions, please let me know. iTunes will be my method of choice, but sorting through the chaff can be tiring...
I've decided to turn internet browsing into actual creation! After years of looking at all the great things people have created, it's time to make some items of my own.
