Here’s what I’m doing now:
DoNight is an Art & DIY group doing collaborative projects and organizing classes on topics like Metal Casting, Street Puppets, Fabric Dyeing, and Letterpress Printing.
Be sure to check out our 13′ tall Giant Mark Twain puppet…!
Its all on DoNight.org
Friday we had our first shoot in what will potentially be a series of short videos for CLW. We set up in the CLW building and shot Tom L playing a bit of piano and talking for what will be a three minute video about who he is, what he believes and how he got there.
Shooting with me were Nathanial Bluedorn (Camera) and Hans Bluedorn (Sound and Editing) from over at ChristianFilmMakers.org
I’ll see a rough cut as soon as Hans lets me know it’s ready. The final video will be available on the CLW website.
I’ve lost exact count but I think I’m up to 19 slide projectors now. Not all of them are the carousel type. Some are unique single slide projectors, a couple have long throw lenses from Buhl and a few are fitted with wide angle lenses, some are for specific slides or purposes, and some are just too cool to not have. The rest are Kodak or Telex Carousel type projectors. Some have high output lamp units and these are really nice for projecting shows with a lot of ambient light.
This one came in a nice case and included some extra goodies. Lamps, nice manual, a remote extension and remote.
I took a sculpture class this semester and it has been even more fun than I expected. I took it primarily to be able to use the art studios at U Iowa and also to learn some new things.
This assignment was a self portrait sculpture. The piece was to be in a characteristic pose that told something about us. I asked my brother for poses that I often make – he didn’t even think one second, but jumped up and stuck his head forward, opened his eyes really wide, stretched his hands out and said excitedly, “You know what I was thinking?” So that is the pose I used.
The materials we had to use were chicken wire for an armature and paper mache for the skin – yes I said paper mache, careful there…I can see you rolling your eyes even over the internet. While paper mache was possibly not my first choice of material, I could see right away that this was going to be a fun project because it was a chance to improve my molding skills.
At the end of the project we had a little in-class critique. While explaining my ideas, I struck the same pose as my project. One girl made me laugh because, when I made the same pose, she kind of did a double take and said it was too creepy how similar I looked to my sculpture!
Thanks Ethan, Anna, and Camden for showing up late to help me make that plaster negative of my face.
The hands and face are cast in wax from plaster molds.
I was really happy because I got to use my molding skills and use some new materials. The project also turned out ok and it got some good attention from students and faculty- that always feels nice.
I was making some parts on a wood lathe a little while ago and discovered again how much fun working on a lathe is. Some of my brothers and sisters were having fun with it too so we decided to hold a lathe project competition. Originally my youngest sister said she would participate only if I agreed NOT to enter the competition. Eventually she relented though and I got to enter a piece as well.
My entry was a hickory oak bowl. It is about 2” deep and 4.5” wide. 
John’s entry was a one piece candle holder. He made it for a friend so as soon as the competition was over he gave it away.
(John’s construction photos)
Sarah surprised us all and created this lamp for her entry.
The photos show that my little sister had nothing to fear from my entry. Her lamp was clearly the most challenging in design and it was finished as well or better than the other entries
Winning entry:
Sarah’s Lamp
Prize: bag of Hershey’s Chocolate
My brother and I had not used our forge for several years and we were anxious to light it up again. Earlier on we had used it in a corner of the machine shed but the forge and workbench had been dismantled and stored since then. It took about a day of cleaning out manure and spreading it on the fields before before we could set up the forge.
In the past we used coal from various sources but it was mostly power plant coal or other fairly dirty grades. This time I bought some blacksmith coal from a supplier in MN and brought it down to Iowa. This coal was very nice to work with because it was so much cleaner and produced a lot fewer clinkers than any coal we used previously.
I produced a curtain hardware set. It has wall hooks with curled hooks and a twisted section across the top. The curtain rod ends are split with curls pointing up and down.
I made it for Emily’s apartment in Minneapolis, MN and it will cover a window with this view. It should look pretty nice with a linen or similar curtain material. Maybe Emily will send a photo when it is mounted and the curtain hung?
Sometime in the late ’90s my family began having a Thanksgiving Day costume party. No one really remembers why this tradition started but it became a fixture of thanksgiving at my parents house.
While eating Thanksgiving dinner we ask yes/no questions to figure out who the characters are. You don’t have to just sit and let the questions come though. People usually stay in character during the whole meal, using any mannerisms the character would be known by.
There is only one rule: You are not supposed to put your costume together before thanksgiving day. But I do suspect that some secret planning is going on in advance:-) If there was a second rule it would say that you cannot be disqualified for planning ahead…as long as it is in secret.
This year had some very creative characters. A group photo is at the bottom.
Click photos for larger versions. (about50-70k)
Detective Poirot
Thursday - Not the Daniel Defoe character, Thursday is related to the other days of the week.
Samuel in ten years
Clarence -Our Norwegian grandfather
Huckleberry Finn
Jack Nicholson
The constellation Orion
The Secret Service guy who carries the football for the president
Custers Last Stand – Custer was hoping we would ask what was up with the music stand. Then ‘he’ could say “oh, that’s my last one” 
Enjoy.
Maybe someday I will find photos from past years and try to put them up as well.
New Project posted! Watch the birth of a Tandem Bicycle from the ashes of two old mtb’s on the new Tandem Bicycle project page. Tons of photos and witty description explain how we cut up some old mountian bikes and weld them back together as a tandem. Do you hear angels singing?
