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.

We Are Making Arts

No one has seen the dining table, for weeks! We've been making art.

Alex is applying glaze to the ceramic forms he made. With this fine point stylus he discovered in a classroom locker, he can add elaborate illustrations and details to the sculpture he is making.

Back in November, Alex was sculpting the forms that he's glazing, now.

And in November I was busy, too, designing shapes to make little shelves. William offered to take my drawings, and add them to software for operating our CNC router, Frankenrouter. It sounds simple, but it's a lot of work, and he adds his own attentive consideration to the process, including layout, formatting, scale, and measurements. I feel so lucky to have his thoughtful skills and own artistic perceptions to help me get things done.

Then comes taking what William finished, and loading it into Mastercam... a notoriously fickle, yet indispensable operating system for CNC milling and routing. Now we have three artists and makers on my little project. I never underestimate the time and frustration some of my brilliant ideas can command! Fortunately, Geoff relishes a bit of tinkering and puzzle solving. His unique skills are always in demand, and much appreciated.

Maria, Emma, Amira, and Sarah~

When we celebrated Maria's birthday, it didn't take much more than paper and markers to make the party fun. Artfully so.

I love this collaborative, engaged activity... how it evolves and is interactive, but also spontaneous. Sometimes, art can be private and personal, need it's own space, but there is something energizing and stimulating about sharing space, too. The exchange affords opportunity for developing new skills, new ideas.

Thanks to William and Geoff, my little shelves are cut, and glued, and now, I sand. And sand. And sand. I actually enjoy this part.

And this part, too! Painting my cat shelf with a chalkboard surface paint! These little shelves are for holding tiny things, and are completely inspired by the ones I saw in Lauren's home. Of course, I slipped in another New England mention... the goodness has become ingrained in me!

Besides sculpting and ceramics, Alex is painting, drawing, working on his life drawing. And I would love to post more on this, but, to quote myself, "Sometimes, art can be private and personal, need it's own space." For now, just this peek.

Just before her birthday, Maria turned a corner of her room into a gallery, with her own work, and friends'.

Taking Flight :: Making Masks

Benevolent Order of Makers is proud to share these excerpts from the Utah Ballet production of Hansel and Gretel, featuring the crow masks designed, developed, and built by Alex Van Valkenberg.


The order was for masks that were form fitting, stable, but comfortable enough to wear while dancing, and with beaks that could not only open and close, but also pick up breadcrumb props in a ballet. Fortunately, for Alex, he knows a very good ballet dancer, and he consulted with Bambi about measurements, and other specifications and recommendations she had. Most manufactured masks are either very small, like for a child, or rather large, for bigger adults. These masks were specifically measured and scaled with the proportions of a ballerina's size kept in mind. Maria and Bambi were helpful models and testers for this purpose. During testing it became apparent that air holes for ventilation were necessary, the elastic bands were modified for improved fit and function. But these details were what followed the elaborate process of making the basic mask forms...

Everything began with Alex's research, and drawings. He took his concepts into the computer and fine tuned them in Autodesk Mudbox. What he made were designs for a wood mold. The wood mold was cut using our homemade CNC router, Frankenrouter. This picture shows the two layers being glued together.

Here the face mask is being sanded and prepared to be put into a vacuum former.

This is the ABS vacuum formed face mask, and Alex is cutting it out for finishing.

Each part of the beak was made in the same way as the face portion, but in separate parts, both due to the limitations of the router, and the vacuum former, and so that they could function with the design to open and close.



A total of fourteen crow masks were made for the Utah Ballet.

Here they are, about to be shipped. In Utah, they were finished with details by the costume department.

We see this not only as a job well done by Alex, but as the culmination of years of study, practice, experimentation, and artful design by Alex. His diligent pursuit of engineering, from concept art to completion of robots for competition, and art for public enjoyment has been practiced with creative imagination, as well as an instinctive understanding of mechanics and engineering.

Alex, congratulations on the successful completion of this custom order. It's a pleasure to see both your art and your engineering skills applied to such a clever and beautifully finished product. Your career is taking flight! Bravo!

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.