Coat Patch

For my older brother. The fabric underneath was starting to release the down.

Mallet

Eh! The head is made of the remainder of the parking lot olive tree, complete with worm holes. It's very dense and resistant to splitting, so it's good for this. Mediocre materials aside, this mallet is the best I have felt for tapping things into alignment. Rubber/dead blow mallets are spongy and do not work with confidence. Steel damages the surface and is bouncy. Plastic is even bouncier. Lead makes a great mallet for non-organisms.

This one feels nice. I left the handle with the tooled finish for maximum caveman.

Pen Rolls

Too many pens. I sorted them at least, in this roll I made. I actually made four, and filled up two of them. Heavy canvas with a coarse cotton liner, brass grommets . The white fountain pen in the middle traced the pattern onto the fabric. Initially I bought the fountain pens just for pretentious letters, but they are such an improvement from sharpies, ballpoints, and tailor's chalk. Not just for writing. For me, mostly not for writing. Pattern tracing, marking permanently on fabric and paper, and fast/clean ruling. Two line widths in one, by using backside of nib. I probably wouldn't have the rapidograph set if FP's could trace around templates and curves more easily.

By the way, I use fountain pen ink in the rapidographs so they definitely won't clog. FP ink has some disadvantages, see the inconsistency in line darkness on the blog header due to graph lines on paper. If I cared, I would use india ink in the ruling pens. Proposition: show me that you can clog a ruling pen, and I'll show you a place very far from anything I own.

You can probably see the chalk lines that I didn't wash off. Ideally these will be covered with ink stains in ten years, so the chalk will be less of an issue then.

Below is a trash-pulled O-ring pick that I ground a smooth slightly dulled point on. It was for scribing paper and spearing my hand, but thanks to the heat-shrink cap it now is used primarily for scribing paper. This idea works very well, but I put a little silicone grease on the point so I can pull the heat shrink off after it has shrunk and cooled. Otherwise, it will probably stay stuck like it is intended to do.

And the complimentary pencil roll. Same fabrics, different color.

Meditation Pillow, L Running Hat

I made a meditation pillow for a family member. I think the fabric is Sunbrella, I don't know exactly since I get a lot of my fabric as gifts or cutoffs. The zipper is a 10mm Lenzip; pretty substantial to match the rest. There is an inner pillow made of bleached Muslin which retains the filling when the outside needs to be washed.

I used the sewing awl to stitch the zipper terminating pieces. They aren't going anywhere.

I also made a larger version of the running hat for another family member, with a crimson center piece. I am proud of the sewing; I don't think it could have been done much better.

I've been fixing more tools. No photos because it's not too interesting. Cement shear got a new motor armature, new bearings, grease, and brushes (custom made because the OEM part was discontinued). A compressor is getting some replacement parts and some pump tlc, and two cordless hand tools are being repaired.

I'm about to sew some 'skirts' for shop tables that my dad built, and a box joint jig for us. Slingshot supplies are coming soon, as well as some real drafting pens.

Beanie

Also made from bias-cut flannel.

The past two weeks I have built two sawhorses; overhauled a bandsaw, a contractor tablesaw, and a drill press, made a present; and started rebuilding a cement shear. The tablesaw the most intensive project. I replaced every bearing in it (6?), removed the rust, aligned the trunnions using an indicator, replaced missing bolts, fixed the lock on the fence, and re-wired the motor for 220v. The arbor bearings were a very tight 30-year-old press fit. I don't have a real press (Edit: I have a nice 'push-puller' now), but I do have these 1/2" threaded rods which were going to be part of cheap bench vises. Well greased, it still took about 30lbs of force on the end of the wrench to press the arbor off.

Running Hat

I made some running hats for my dad. The pattern is original, the general design isn't. They're made from bias-cut flannel. Mason charges $6000/hr for modeling. I only paid him $5500 so he looks like he just ate a slug.

If you hired him properly I'm sure he'd smile.

I've got a maker mark now; I've been putting it on things. It is inspired by (nearly copied from) Nichijou and all the people who say I am birdlike. I wish it was more original, but the straight lines and simple shape are perfect. I can put it on metals with a cold punch, on wood with chisels, and on cloth with some seriously permanent fountain pen ink:

If you're interested, I'll make you one for $20. Custom sizes and colors available on request. I also have another hat design that is taller and floppier; I'll post pictures of that soon.

Paper Tree, Pencil Pouch, Pusheen

Design of tree by Francesco Guarnieri. If you google it, it's called a 'Fir Tree', though it looks more like a spruce to me. Below is a pencil pouch I made for a friend.

She also likes Pusheen, so I made her a 2d paper version. Before I cut out the cat, I had to sketch the outline. The design is Claire Belton's.