NiP suggests: the arm

i spend a little too much time reading blogs. and by 'reading' i mean 'looking at pictures on.' one of my favorites is the arm. it is a ceramic/pottery centric blog that switches seamlessly back and forth between the projects of the author and small vignettes of other objects, makers and places. definitely worth skimming the archives for inspirations on form form and color. you should probably go look at it.

seconds

i talked a while back about how i really like working on the lathe. but i didn't mention that now i have a bunch of wooden bowls of varying quality all over the house. and how many fruit bowls can one house handle? two at the most. and now that i've really started honing in my style and my technique, it is time to do a little spring cleaning.

so now is your chance to get a handmade bowl on the cheap!

first is this one: (note: dibs have been called)

locally milled urban soft maple with blue milkpaint interior and beeswax finish. this is a second for a couple of reasons: the exterior has some sanding flaws- not terrible, but not great either; the form is a little on the heavy side and not really my 'style.' note that the milkpaint is crackly. that's part of the charm. dated 2010.

then there's this one:

light walnut of unknown providence with beeswax finish. this is the first lidded vessel i have made and the form seems a little dated to me. the exterior bottom is less finished than i would like and there are some sanding flaws esp. on the lid. dated 2011.

either can be yours for $15. and if you live within the diamond shape formed by oakland, walnut creek, richmond and napa, i'll deliver. (if you don't live there, we can work out shipping). drop me a line!

if this works, expect more in the future. and remember, wooden vessels don't hold liquids.

slacks!

i totally made some slacks. they are wool and they are great. they are great because nice wool slacks are like pajamas that you wear all day.

anyway, the pattern is from the burda website. i chose burda because they seem to make nice patterns for somewhat fitted and stylish men's clothes. as opposed to the other three pattern companies that seem to think men only wear pajamas, boxers and vests (dang old pattern companies). i also chose this pattern because i was intrigued by the download and print it yourself set up and the $4 price tag. trouble is that printing a three foot wide, yard and a half long image at kinko's isn't cheap. in fact it is expensive enough that i am embarrassed to say anything more about it.  but i now have access to the pattern as a pdf, which is rather reassuring as paper does tend to deteriorate after you stick a bunch of pins in it.

i started out with a muslin- basically a quick, half-assed mock up, which was a great plan because, though my waist suggests the smallest size, my womanly hips desire a little more room. i added to the pattern (and referred to the pdf quite a bit to see how the pattern changed from one size to the next) and scaled up the underwhelming front pockets while i was at it. (in that first photo you can see the little taped on additions.)

and then i made them out of wool suiting:

a picture of my crotch

as i mentioned above, burda patterns are nicely drafted and, even with my modifications, all the pieces fit together perfectly. that is, when i could figure out exactly how they fit together. see, burda is a company out of germany (i think) and instead of hiring a translator to translate the instructions, they lock a monkey in a room with a german-english dictionary and an ibm selectric and see what comes out. this usually isn't too big an issue because you can mostly get by on the pictures. but then you get to a really complicated part, like the zipper. and as you struggle to comprehend, you realize that the monkey was really phoning it in for that step. or maybe drunk. the harder the task, the less sense the instructions make.








but i more or less figured it out.

a picture of my butt

i will certainly use this pattern again, though probably with heavier modifications. all the pockets, even the ones i enlarged, are still depressingly small and the back pocket buttons really cut in to the usable space. the belt loops could also use more careful placement (and maybe a couple extra loops while we're at it). i will probably also include a fifth pocket as that is where i carry my little pocket knife. oh, and i'm planning to use this pattern for a new pair of shorts. summer rapidly approaches.

brass buttons

as i mentioned in the last post, i made some wool slacks last week. and as we all know, slacks need buttons. and as you may remember from the manifesto of this blog, i couldn't just buy them. but wood buttons are so last year. so i went with brass:

for some reason, you can work brass like wood. weird. anyway, after drilling the holes (three, i have decided, is the standard for my buttons because why shouldn't it be?) i was able to cut the disks on the bandsaw (using the same pine board and screws mount as seen above) and round them out with the stationary disk sander (using my fingers and trying not to exfoliate them right off). i softened the edges with a fine bastard file and evened out the surface with some 400 grit paper.

in the end, a wildly inefficient and fun way to make a button.

more about the pants themselves later in the week.

the sewing machine

i was planning a nice long piece about my sewing machine and sewing machines in general in preparation for an upcoming post about my first pair of pants. but really, what is there to tell?

here's what i've learned:

1. buy an old one: old machines were built to be used by people who actually did a lot of sewing. they were built with precision and designed to last. if for no other reason, a used machine will be really cheap.
2. buy a heavy one: more metal means less plastic means a stronger machine. with a little effort, i've gotten my 1970's singer touch and sew to sew through multiple layers of webbing.
3. a tune up will set you back, but could be worth it: i ended up spending more to have my machine tuned than i did to buy it. i'm still not sure if that was the best idea, but it sure does run smooth.

i would try to explain how a sewing machine works, as the mechanism is pretty simple, but it takes some serious visuals to get the point across. enter one of my dad's favorite television programs: the secret life of machines. ok, it's one of my favorites, too.

remember to watch the second and third parts. and consider watching the episode about the telephone and the one about the internal combustion engine. they're all great.

(edit: i just found that this picture exists of my old sewing machine, the one i lugged to seattle but was not willing to lug back.)

messenger bag

remember those buttons i made a while back? well, they have finally been applied to this messenger bag that i made for my friend sarah. a large part of the (laughably long) delay on this project was finding a supplier for the metal strap hardware. most online suppliers require minimum orders in the hundreds as they are set up to work with producers, while most fabric stores, even nice ones like stonemountain and britex have very limited, very overpriced and somewhat sad selections. the solution was a retailer out of oregon called strapworks. still, that only got me the brass slides.

i ended up fabricating this little hook out of a scrap of sheet brass. it acts as a quick connector for the secondary strap that keeps the bag on your back when riding a bike.

more, including pictures of a cat, below!