I'm becoming my own client...

Lately I've been struggling with my creative workflow... tools to integrate everything into something relatively seamless and easy to use.  The consultant side of me recognizes a common phenomenon: I'm trying to tackle too much at once and, in so doing, getting lost in the weeds.  Since I'm oddly perfectionistic about technology, I can literally spend weeks contemplating this stuff.  It must stop! Just as I might advise a client, I need to stop trying to "solve the world" and start implementing smaller changes, even if the first "release" is lacking some bells and whistles.

So here's the plan: basic, mostly manual integration of my photography (Lightroom, Flickr), this blog, Facebook, and Twitter:

• Photography: Process all photography through Lightroom, upload to Flickr with either Uploadr or Jeff Friedl's plugin.
• While you were working: Edit posts here in blogger, use Flickr blogging tools to integrate photos
• Twitter/Facebook: Share photos and/or blog posts using Blogger and Flickr's tweeting tools; let Twitter update Facebook automatically
• Buzz: I'm sort of indifferent to Buzz, but it will come automatically through Blogger, so... awesome.

That's already a lot of different tools (I can imagine wanderingfancies being a bit disgusted) but it suits roughly what I want... and I'll refine later, rather than staying stuck in the weeds.

Here's a first shot at using Flickr slideshows and a static photo - comment if you have ideas on how to make this process easier!

Some Pizza:

A Slideshow:

Details down the aisle

Between great weather and nice fall lighting, I've been lucky with my camera lately - wanted to post a few of my better pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Two of these are from a friend's wedding.  Now, I'm far from a wedding photographer - the truly great wedding photographer has a combination of persistence, talent, focus, and willingness to jump in the middle of a scene that I think eludes most of us.  That said, I have fun taking pictures at a wedding, especially when they capture something some of the details that aren't in the spotlight... potentially the photographers themselves.

The rest are a smattering of pictures I had fun taking... hope you enjoy!

Our virtual home

I spent this past summer in London, on a 4 month hiatus from Chicago and from having any sort of permanent residence.  With all of my worldly belongings either in storage or in my rolling trunk, the summer was very streamlined!

With just my computer in lieu of my toolbox, I spent a lot of time polishing 3D CAD skills, plus learning the basics of photo-realistic rendering.  Over time, my growing homesickness and developing inventory of virtual furniture coalesced into a new project: modeling and rendering all of our furniture, then the new apartment in which it would soon reside.  I'm not sure how many hours this took, but it was many - all in all, the project spread over weeks (in between work days, of course).

The end results are below, including a couple of side-by-sides with the actual apartment as it exists today.  What you can immediately see is that details make all the difference; the pictures of our real apartment have a lived in feel - decorations, cards, flowers - that would have taken much, much more time to achieve in CAD.  That said, the furniture is pretty realistic, and perhaps best of all the model made for a VERY easy move, since we already knew where all the furniture went!

All of these models were made in SketchUp and rendered using SUPodium.  Also, thanks to wanderingfancies.blogspot.com, from which I stole the "real" pictures in the side-by-sides... you can see the full details of the move in here: http://wanderingfancies.blogspot.com/2010/09/transformation.html

At least one view I won't be able to get in the real world!

Sandals that go against the grain

Yet another project I've been meaning to post for some time now... this time a natural extension of my interest in using materials for unconventional purposes.  If you've ever skateboarded, you've experienced the strength and flexibility of sandwiched hardwood veneer.  It's a great material, and versatile since you can shape it in so many ways.  For some reason or another, I got fixated on this idea as it applies to sandals... could you make wooden sandals?  Would they be even remotely usable or comfortable?

I was pretty sure the answer to the second question was "no", but curiosity got the best of me.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the process, but step-by-step it went something like this:

1. Mold my feet - for this, I stood in plaster of Paris for about 45 minutes, then used a paper pulp molding compound to make a model
2. Modify the mold - I didn't want the wood to hug my feet too closely, so modified the mold to have smoother curves and to have a gentle slope at the edges
3. Cut hardwood veneer blanks - these followed the general shape of the sandals, making sure to alternate the direction of the wood grain to add some strength
4. Sandwich the veneer blanks with wood glue, then vacuum-press them onto the mold
5. Once glue is set, remove the sandal beds, trim them to size, and finish them
6. Cut leather soles from sole blanks; glue onto the wooden beds, again with the vacuum press
7. Sew and attach leatherette thongs

I'm actually really happy with the results - not exactly the most usable footwear though.  Nonetheless, they spark conversation and are really fun to wear around.  At some point I'll return to these, as a few design tweaks would make them much more wearable (notably some sort of articulation at the mid-foot to make them less "slappy").  Let me know what you think!

The Nest

Today will hopefully be a prolific blogging day, starting with something I've been meaning to get online for about 6 months. The project in question is my entry in the Chicago Rebuilding Exchange lighting design contest, which was hosted this past winter here in Chicago. The Rebuilding Exchange is a great organization whose mission is to divert used building materials from the waste stream and make them available to the public for re-use. The challenge was pretty open ended: build a light fixture using recycled materials in any way you like.

For my entry, I wanted to capture some of the purpose of the organization, as well as some of the organic feel that used and abused materials often acquire.  After bouncing around a few ideas, I decided to draw inspiration from an Eagle's nesting process, which seemed to be a great foil for what the Rebuilding Exchange is all about - finding materials and re-using them to build a home.

Idea in hand, it was time to visualize, which for me is typically a digital process.  I put together a few SketchUp models, two of which are shown below.  These are what I submitted as a project proposal, along with some prose around the intent of the project.  When I heard I'd been selected for the final round, the real fun began... building the thing.

An early model showing the bowl of the next

Very rough ideation on the wires and lights

First there was a bit of math to figure out the dimensions of each component... over 90 in all.  Cutting this many pieces of used hardwood flooring became quite a challenge - I owe a huge debt to a friend from work who offered her barn for use, as well as to Jaclyn for joining me in the freezing cold for about 6 hours of saw work!

Once everything was cut, we headed back to the city, where over a few days I planed and sanded each piece, then glued them into hexagons, and finally stacked them into the final product.  I was short on time, so perfect joinery was more or less abandoned... to good effect in the end, as it looked perfectly un-polished.  The "stain" came from about 24 hours of exposure to ammonia gas, which darkens oak naturally and had the unanticipated benefit of "aging" the brass light switch.  Finally, some bent wire cage as nesting material and used globe lights as eggs made the creation complete.

This was my first real design competition and it was amazing to see my work on display, and of course to be honored with the people's-choice award for best design!  If you ever have the chance to attend a Rebuilding Exchange event or anything similar, please go and support the cause as well as the artists and designers involved, it will definitely mean a lot to them.

I think there were 14 of these, each a different size

Mid-construction.  You can start to see the spiral shape forming

The nest was sealed in this bag for ammonia fumigation...

...which, along with some tung oil, gave the oak a nice dark color

Close up of the lights

At home in the makeshift photo studio

And finally on display at the show!

Hanging with Buster

Hanging out in Pittsburgh this weekend, I've immediately fallen for my buddy's dog Buster (full name: Buster Adam Shepler). He's about equal parts ears, sleep, and super long belly... great company working from home on Friday, and a great subject for some pics!

The starters to start...

In the UK this summer, I began to develop an unfortunate affectation, never more obvious than when a waiter asked if we'd have any starters to start and I responded... well, staaaarturs is perhaps a more accurate spelling of my bad british accent.

Seems only appropriate that my first post would be about the same - this time a few starters that we had tonight around the house. The salad is a vegetarian "ceviche" that I came up with as a fresh bite before dinner; a moscow mule perfectly complemented my creation!

Pear and Celery "Ceviche":
1 Celery Stalk, cut into Matchsticks
1 Ripe Pear, cubed
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Dash of Soy Sauce
Fresh Mint to Garnish

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, toss with lime juice and soy sauce, and place in the freezer to chill... couldn't be easier.

Moscow Mule:
1.5 oz Vodka
3 oz Ginger Beer (Ginger ale will do)
Barspoon of simple syrup or agave nectar
Wedge of lime
Fresh Mint Sprig

Combine the liquid ingredients, squeeze the lime, and stir with ice to chill. Add the mint sprig and enjoy!