December 6 – Make.I should mention briefly that this blog is going to be kickstarted by participation in Reverb10, a way to reflect on the past year. This is my 6th entry in that project, and I'm glad to be writing here now!
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?
(Author: Gretchen Rubin)
My previous blog was noted for it's verbosity, and I can't promise anything different this time. I've been sitting on this prompt for about three days now, mainly because of the second part that deals with unfinished projects. I was going to list just a few, but I decided it would be healthier for me to make the list as complete as possible and to also answer "what's holding you back?" on each. Why I haven't finished my projects isn't going to be so interesting for readers, but hopefully the range of them will.
The last things I made were a Beef Bourguignon (have to let google spell that every time), and the materials I used were meat, vegetables, and a crock pot. And some Burgundy wine. Which was foul in a glass.
On the actual construction side of things I helped my father replace the drain field in our front yard which was mainly accomplished with shovels and hard work, but did require a little creativity in crafting junctions into the pipelines.
Now the Fun part!
Do I ever have things I want to make. I started off trying to go in chronological order, and then reverse of that, but it's not going to be a clean list. There's two ways you might interpret this. You might think I have a real problem finishing what I start, but there's plenty of things I've finished too. You might also think that I just have a lot of ideas, which use to be the case, and I hope continues.
About four years ago I got a really cool board game for Christmas. I love board games, the more obscure the better, but this one is prized because of it's cool physical components. The game is called Dread Pirate and is published by Front Porch Classics. Basically four players move metal sailing ships around a cloth map to try and collect gems and gold coins, sailing with, or sometimes against the wind, and firing upon one another in a last man standing or richest pirate wins scenario. I thought this was so fun that I wanted to expand the concept to accommodate eight friends at once so I conceived a new board. I bought four additional colors of "gem stones" which are really those glass decorating beads, occasionally referred to as dragons tears. I found small pewter ships that were uniquely different than the ones included in the game to serve as pawns, and I even tried my clumsy hand at sewing some new loot bags, as they play an important role in the game. The biggest effort though, was visiting an actual fabric store to buy some natural muslin, and cutting a square yard to serve as a new map, I took iced tea bags and stained out new islands onto my "map". I figured I just needed to take some colored pencils and perhaps a fabric sealant to it, draw a grid over the map, and I'd be set. Unfortunately, one key element came into play, the map was actually too large for the table. At that point I packed everything away and the various elements of Dread Pirate (8) haven't come together. (I still think it would be so awesome to have 2v2v2v2 teams or 4v4, or a 6 player map...)
Speaking of board game projects, just before my apartment building burned, consequentially flooding my bedroom with debris and fire control water, I had purchased an expensive adventure board game called Descent. It's basically a board game version of Dungeons and Dragons style adventure where players explore the depths for the mystery and rewards of treasure. By shear luck the game board itself and all of the other cardboard components were still wrapped in sealed plastic, but the rules and the box itself were ruined. So it's been my idea ever since to fashion some kind of cool box for the game, or to convert another box into a new home, and to print out the PDF of the rules readily available on the developer's website. Here just a little time and a reason to make the effort are all I need, but I have other games that are similar and the friends that enjoy playing them have almost all moved to other cities now, so they go unplayed. I figured if I liked how it turned out, I might even put other games into stylish boxes, so they could be decorative, not just filling space in a closet.
On a more recent note, I thought I might make a new Christmas mix CD for friends for Christmas. I really enjoy Christmas music, and I had two that I really enjoyed making in years past. People still say thanks around the Holidays. I've got about four or five great arrangements already downloaded, this one really just needs time and a list of people I'd like to send music to.
When I first went off to College, I was in the marching band, and as part of the opening week of band practice (band camp) a cool theatrical story about the band's history played out each night. It's once of the best traditions at the school although only celebrated by a small portion. As a result I got an idea in my head for a rain coat to wear around campus. I bought black fabric for it, something that could shed water, and enough of it for my height. (That was my first trip to a fabric store actually, at least alone as an adult) I bought a sewing pattern online, but never put it to the fabric and cut it out, and consequentially didn't make the cloak. In retrospect, I'm kind of glad, because even with the planned pegasus on the front, I would have been a HUGE dork walking around campus with a cloak (only if it was raining, or night time...) But it's a good indicator of how high my self-confidence was at the time. Still have the fabric stored somewhere. Along with some suit fabric that was on sale, when I bought fabric to make fraternity banner to take to tail gates, that never got made either because we just paid for the nylon flag. Along those lines, I once used sand bags, vice grips, and clamps to fashion a shield blank out of pressed laminate plywood, with the intention of using left over fraternity spraypaint to make a replica of the fraternal crest (mostly because it's beautiful and I had not only drank the cool-ade, but pioneered at least two new flavors myself). The curvy plywood is in a shed somewhere, uncut, unpolished, unpainted, and unloved. I doubt I will ever revisit it.
Last month I participated in the National Novel Writing Month, and I was excited to try the Nudelkugeln recipe that one of their interns posted. I told myself that when I reached the 35k (of 50k) word mark I would pop one of these in the oven. But on the day I made 35k I spent an hour at the gym trying to rein in my waistline and despite the temptation I didn't make this rich dish. I probably will sometime, but in my mind now it stands as a temptation of gluttony, or an achievement in self restraint.
I have a few gift ideas, well a ton, but a few specific gift ideas that never really saw much progress. I bought the googly eyes from a craft store, and set aside a burlap sack to make a replica figurine of the animated character #9, but then the movie was only so-so and I decided it would make a pretty lame gift. Also, I tried to picture making the goggle things, or fake eye, or whatever is on his face and lost hope. I had thought I'd try that crayola fake-claydoh stuff for the body molding.
Some of my twitter friends in the UK knit. Probably because it's too cold for the buses and trains to run, or when it isn't, they can sit on the bus or train and knit, but I have it in my mind to try knitting. I think the internet could teach me, and I know there's some needles somewhere in this house. I think my concept of masculinity restrains me in this case, and the fact that I don't know what I would make even if I had the ability.
When I was 21 I went through a very sudden treatment for testicular cancer, most of my friends know, and if you are just a casual acquaintance you'll go "aww" and be over it by the time I reach this period. That's ok, I got through it, and enjoy using humor to diffuse awkwardness about it. It's a cancer that mainly strikes young white (males, obviously), if you don't get it by thirty you're pretty much safe for life. Anyway, afterward I really wanted to make a graphic t-shirt with a little inside joke to commemorate the recovery. The idea was to take a green t-shirt (bought one from old navy) roughly the color of a pool table, and then print out a 3D perspective pool ball, the yellow one ball, and iron it on. I got the transfer paper. I searched google images. I never got a "one ball" that I liked enough to make the shirt. The transfer paper got stained or folded, etc. The t-shirt became a sleep shirt and eventually a rag. This project would have happened if I had been better at photoshop or had the patience to not quit trying to learn it. Or if I had asked for help from a photoshop savvy friend. I'm really, really, really bad at asking for help.
I didn't finish the story from last year's NaNoWriMo, and I'm hoping to eventually return to it, and to finish this year's as well. Both Novels will eventually be finished, even if it takes ten years. This is just a setting time issue.
The third door on my pickup broke about a year ago. I took it all apart by hand (with help from my handy sister) and found the broken piece. I bought some JBWeld to fashion a replacement but it was dark by the time I got home from my quest to the home improvement store. That's the best excuse I can come up with. I put all the parts into the back seat of the pickup, and now they've rolled around for a year, confusing all the tabs, screws, bolts, and connections. Finishing will take at least twice as long as it would have before, but my car gets such terrible gas mileage I never drive it so that I'd need the back seat for passengers anyway. I did figure out that the thin plastic barrier under the door panel is intended to keep exhaust fumes out, not sound or cold. Whoops.
I'd mentioned gifts for friends. When one of my friends introduced me to the awesome and bizarre world that is the webcomic Questionable Content I thought I'd thank them with a drawing of the characters. Again, zero photoshop skills so it never went beyond the concept, but the idea was that the picture would come from the perspective of the TV set and each of the characters would be playing a Rock Band / Guitar Hero instrument that fit them, or some other household item modeling an instrument and having a great time. Still think this is a great idea. Not yet connected well enough with the artist to make it happen, but they would sell for him!
Another idea was a collage of photos, or one of those multiframe photos for a friend of mine who lives a very professional life. I think I gave him a framed photo before for his desk, but since he isn't married and has a great time when he visits, I thought I could print out some of the years of photos and get those sent as a gift. This one just keeps getting forgotten. I'll forget it tomorrow before noon and remember it again in two weeks.
It's not really a traditional "make" but I need to make more room on my hard drives. They all sit at about 80% full, and most of the stuff on them is crap from the internet, not original works or material that will go into original works (like cool photos for a digital album or instrumental music for presentations).
Those were the projects off the top of my head. I'm sure there are so many more I've forgotten or not even started. Taking the time to write them all out will either give me closure to let them go or remind me to finish them. However, it was worth the effort to point out one more thing. The thing I need to make most of all, updates to my resume. I haven't updated my resume in over a year, despite a number of accomplishments and jobs, and as such I haven't been looking for work. There are probably a lot of psychological things behind that, but it throws all of the above into interesting perspective, because I clearly have ideas, and unlike many, I actually have an abundance of time.
Which "makes" did you like? Do you have any similar projects waiting for motivation?
WOW! That's quite a to-do list! You better get started. You should probably start with the door of your truck!
ReplyDeleteIt's a rare event that I ever want to "make" anything. Mainly jewelry :-)