Bench Making

The table was a free-cycle find we came across on a bike ride about two months ago. It could not be a nicer fit for the new deck... a long and deep, sturdy table with fitted pipe legs, and heavy wood planks. It looks great! Since the deck was built with making events in mind, we want to keep it both open and inviting, with space for gathering and doing projects, but without crowding ourselves. This is why Alex suggested we don't look for chairs to add to the table. It would be too many pieces of furniture to buy, and to deal with. Then Natalie thought of benches... two pieces of furniture that could seat many visitors, and be easily tucked out of the way when not needed. They could be versatile! The idea stuck, and Geoff, William, Alex, and Max got to work on a design, and making!

To compliment the style of the table, Geoff looked for steel pipes to make legs for the bench, and he was happy to find Brooklyn Pipe. Actually, he started at our local hardware store, but the limited selection is what made him do a wider search. Some of the pieces had to be painted, so we could make them look a little more uniform. Technically, it's a bit mismatched, but that kind of suits are aesthetic anyway! I won't get too detailed in describing all of this. They made measurements, came up with a configuration, and then called Natalie over to decide on a paint color, and she went with Nocturne Blue, by Behr; same as our picnic table (maybe?)

William painted the 2"x8", 8' boards. It's Nocturne Blue. But. Maybe not. Our Nocturne Blue looks nothing like it shows on the website. Nothing. And it doesn't even match the other picnic table we were looking at when we chose to paint the benches blue, too. What the heck? It's not a disaster, but I suspect we will be going over the benches, someday, with a more subdued blue.

Using pipes like this is something new for us, and we like it. We are thinking of using the extra parts to make shelves, maybe for the blacksmith shop.

Now we have two benches, and seating for ten, or more. They are very stable, and have a nice, deep seat. We will be able to use them at the table, or pull them away for sitting around the perimeter of the deck... versatile, like we said, and that's good for us. When we can get back to hosting making events, this new space and accomodations is going to be really nice, like an extension of our shop. We look forward to all the making, playing, and sharing we will be able to enjoy.

Make Light :: Start Fires

Light... let's always support, love, and care for one another, and always make light.

{The news this morning is sickening, yet again, and so I push myself to look beyond the grief, sadness, frustration, anger and darkness, to seek light, celebrate the strength of constructive, kind, inspiring, creative, beneficial activities. And from a post my friend, Carol, shared, this Billy Crystal quote, resonates even more... "Build bridges between people, not walls."}

We are preparing for the North County Mini Maker Faire... and it's like a beautiful, and wild mania around BOoM Town! We want to bring our best to share with the Faire, to inspire, to enjoy. We have almost as many works in progress, as old favorites. And we have many, many old favorites that need tune-ups, repairs, and updates, too. Honestly, it's probably more than we can complete, but we are trying, and we like to savor and celebrate the process, the journey, as much at the destination. Yesterday we were fully engaged with old, and new making, and loving it...

We collect and gather supplies from thrift shops, from curbs and dumpsters, from our awesome cousins' market! Recently, my uncle lent me his truck so Alex and I could haul home all the wood pallets my cousins shared with us. Now we have great wood to salvage for sculpting, and constructing. This day, the wood is being disassembled, cut, planed, sanded and stained to make a box. What's the box for? The box is for an interactive Makey Makey garden!





The making Alex and James were doing, was inspiration for the making Maria and jumped into! All of this sawdust sent me into the house to look for wax. We discovered some really clever and effective fire starters back in the day, when we were camping at El Capitan State Beach, and so Maria and I decided to start our own cottage industry.

Fire Starters...

Supplies...

A double boiler
Tiny paper cups
Wax
Wood shavings




Our wax is from beeswax sheets we crafted with years ago. I raided our candle drawer and decided it was time to repurpose some of these old beauties. We pulled out the wicks, which we decided to cut up and use with the fire starters. (They don't need wicks, but we like the idea of not wasting them, and maybe they will prove to be an improvement.) Tiny paper cups are from a restaurant supply store, and can be fun and useful for a little baking, too.

The wicks go into the cups, along with wood shavings, or fine wood chips. Then we pour the melted wax into each cup, sealing the wood shavings, leaving the wick end exposed.


Our first batch of wax was all colors and looked like weak coffee. Then Maria decided to separate the colors, so we made yellow, blue, and orange fire starters.

Together, Maria and I made seventy-six fire starters. And we still have wax, and definitely plenty of wood shavings for more! Alex put together some logs, and we tested one out. The wick is handy for lighting the fire starter. With kindling around the fire starter, the slow burning wax and sawdust keep a consistent heat so the kindling can get the logs burning. It works like a charm!

Double boiler? Yes, a coffee can, squeezed for convenient pouring, works nicely.

Check out our blues!

Seventy-six! They smell good, too, with the pine shavings, and honey.

And while Maria and I were engrossed in our industry, James, Alex and William continued in theirs.


Geoff replaced ropes on the tent, and checked all the repairs and new dowels Alex used to repair the Viking tent (another victim of rough winter weather!) William and Alex painted details on the dragon heads. They look fantastic. Paul and I returned from an administrative meeting for the Maker Faire, pumped and inspired and so we got right back to work at actual Making.

Making doesn't have to be complicated, or brought to a Faire. It doesn't have to be technical, or documented. What I love the most about what we do, is that it brings us together, sometimes just two of us, or only our immediate family, but often with friends, and we find a higher purpose, learn, teach, grow, and feel inspired to achieve meaningful, purposeful, good things. Light is good. Smiles are good. Laughter is good. Making is good.

Make Halloween & Cosplay Fun

Halloween is just around the corner.

PaNiC!? Nope. Taking my own advice, because Halloween and dressing up, don't have to cause panic.

A dress-up holiday? A DIY extravaganza? Yes, and yes! We love to Cosplay... for Comic-Con, for Burning Man, for parties, for Monday-got-nothing-beter-to-do... make-believe and make-up can be fun all year, but Halloween is special.

This post is chock full of links to Ol'Halloweens Past and other dress-up occasions, lots of pictures and a few reminders to myself: Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best~

Of course not all simple ideas are simple to execute: Like being a bale of straw, for example. A box, some paint and glue, and straw. Even with spray adhesive, getting all of that straw to stick to the box was more difficult than expected. However... it did work, and would have been less traumatic if we weren't scrambling at the last minute to complete this costume.

In the end this was an excellent costume for a shy guy.

He could pop in and out of the scene at will. We added fallen leaves to the top, where he was wearing the cut out for his head as a hat. Arm hole flaps... and voila! Straw Bale.

The same year Max was a bale of straw, and Maria was a Pumpkin Princess, Alex was Dex, a character from a favorite movie. It's all about the goggles and the ray-gun. Accessories are everything when it comes to making a costume. And the shirt? Thrift shop. Anyone looking to fill out their costume and prop shop absolutely must haunt their local thrift stores. Start early, be open-minded. You never know when that weird shirt, or huge dress is going to be the perfect thing for your next costume.

To be Young Indiana Jones Max added an old binocular case, and a lantern. The safari hat was already on hand. The pumpkin costume? I made that for William's first Halloween, so that means it's been through 17 Halloweens by the time we see Maria wearing it, again. Children aren't always too particular, and I never feel disappointed when they ask to be a skeleton four years in a row.

This DIY costume reminds me of all kinds of essential ideas for Halloween success:

1. Let children follow through on their own ideas. Maybe you can do it "better," but Alex's expression has as much to do with his own accomplishments, as the prize basket he won for Scariest Costume at Legoland! He made his paper mâché armor, and painted his sweatshirt.
He's the Scorpion Knight, by the way.

2. Freezer Paper! If you don't have Alex's confidence for painting your own clothes, then look for Freezer Paper. You can achieve great stencil painting results with this crafting, and sewing, wonder resource. It sticks to fabric, and it peels right off. I use it to make pattern pieces, and for painting on fabric, it's indispensable.

You will love what you can do with Freezer Paper!

These blank masks are everywhere. Clear the dining table, lay down some newspaper, bring out paints and glue and glitter, and bolts?? Sure, why not.

Acrylic craft paints are affordable (always print or clip a coupon before heading to Michael's or Joann's) and easy to use... these same paints work on clothes, and even rocks... ooh! I am thinking of the fun Halloween themes we could paint on rocks. They make glow-in-the-dark acrylic paints, too!

Painting masks is a fun party theme, too.

On our way to a party, and I had nothing to wear. My go-to costume is a hat and dramatic make-up... glam it up! Maria was tickled about her ensemble... tulle skirt (off the rack, of course) a hat, and her cat mask.

Hats, hats, hats... they're always making an appearance. A top hat, a bowler, and the witch's hat. All off the shelf, and easy to find. And there are those goggles, again. Alex added a flour sack to his regular, everyday attire, but with those black gloves, and the creepy puckers of the flour sack... he's scared up a great costume. No one will recognize Max the Gentleman Ghost. I never pass on white sheets when I see them in the secondhand shops. 2-4 dollars, and endless possibilities. Max's face was drawn on with a Sharpie pen, and holes cut out for his eyes.

A little soft focus around the edges, and the effect is completely haunting!

It's more than dressing up... the fun is in the play. Be sure to take pictures, look for props, and think about lighting... just before sunset is nice, because they aren't blinded by bright light, or lost in a mix of light and shadows.

Of course, dramatic lighting has its own effects! Mood, lighting, the natural seasonal touches of fall, any of these can make a costume more interesting.

When taking photographs, I try to keep my subject in mind. Mostly, this means: Ignore the background! Don't try to get the whole forest in the picture, if it means losing sight of your fairy! If I don't have a blank wall, then I at least try to be sure and get in close, and focus on the child.


You can sew without knowing much about sewing, or even without a machine. This was a dress I bought in 1998! Stretchy top and gauze skirt, and perfect for repurposing! I cut the short sleeves out, then tacked down tulle all around the neckline, with ribbon. Then I took apart flowers, and stitched them all over... just a needle pulling a thread! Around the waist is a wide ribbon with more tulle stitched to it... it ties, like an apron. Maria is wearing it with a head lei from the party store. It would work very nicely with a floral wreath, too, and this link will show you how to make one, easily!

Another way to top your fairy costume is with a flower cap. I made this one by taking a plain cap from a yardage store and then hot gluing rows of flower petals around... start at the bottom edge, and go to the top, so the petals overlap, then I covered a twist of wire in florist tape, to make a curling stem at the top. Any old hat can be refashioned with flowers, tulle, spiders, birds...

This vision was Maria's scheme... a seemingly innocent and frothy princess, but in her hat?

A murder of crows!

And her smile, all fangs! Chilling.

And easy... all thrift shop finds, and borrowed bits from the dress-up drawer. No sewing required!

Borrowing is a Halloween save! Max got his hands on a plague doctor's mask, and he punched in the point of the witch's hat, but the lovely, dark cloak was loaned to him by Lucas, who does know how to sew!

I've been trying to make all of this costuming and making look easy and stress-free, but sometimes we cannot help ourselves, and we go all out. Certainly William raised the bar when he introduced his reverently made gravestones.

And sometimes classic jack-o-lanterns deserve star treatment!

This post-link includes a few of our more ambitious Halloween getups, and it may not be tame enough for impressionable ones (like me). Suki made herself up as a zipper-faced beauty pageant contestant, Alex made himself a Clive Barker character. Elaborate and spooky, and very inspiring.

When it comes to costume success, it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to be special. We love thrift shops, repurposing, sharing and borrowing, altering, dramatic make-up, a unique hat, and making. It's even more fun to let your kids rummage through odds and ends and make their own character, rather than just laying down cash for something store-bought... and hey, the year Alex wanted to be Scooby-Do, we went for it! Scooby-Do has enjoyed repeated use over the years, so no regrets.

And sometimes a carved pumpkin on your head is all it takes to make Halloween fun!

And by all means, do get together with friends... themes are fun, company is fun!

If you can't think what to be, maybe you'd rather think about your other decorations...