Leather Bird Scares
In an effort to keep birds from flying into the windows of our cabin, I’ve made several distinctive bird-scare silhouette from thick leather dyed black.
The Quickly Darkening Dusk
The quickly darkening dusk, one hour after sunset, descends upon me. Tall dry grasses in the field sway and shimmer in the rising moonlight. Fallen leaves rattle in the chilly breeze. Tree branches twist and dance. Looking up, black silhouettes encircle the grey disk of sky hanging over The Great Valley. Golden lights from the...
New Sculpture: Forest Home
I finished a new “sculpture” today. Okay, it’s mostly just a log I found in the river and which had been cut down by a beaver.
Brigham Pipes
A new pipe arrived in the mail today: a Brigham Pipes Chinook 426 from smokingpipes.com. It looks very fine and is my second Brigham. My first Brigham (and first pipe ever) is a Voyageur 136. Both are picture in the attached photo gallery. And now for the painful process (or the exciting one depending on...
Leather Tobacco Pouch: White Wizard
Pipes and leather were meant to go together. Since I started collecting, I’ve been making leather tobacco pouches as companion pieces for each of my pipes. Each one follows a theme correlated to the style of pipe. This evening I finished a new leather tobacco pouch as a companion to my Gandolf replica Lord of...
Base Camp X: Artemis Axe Supports Breast Cancer Research
Canadian boutique axe maker, Base Camp X, are donating $100 to Breast Cancer Research for each Artemis axe sold.
Earth, Air, Water, and Fire
This evening, I finished making a series of leather bracelets I’m calling “Earth, Air, Water, and Fire”. The bracelets, 1″ x 9″ x 3/32″, are hand-tooled with graphic designs, each representing a different natural element. They are hand-painted and finished with a light antique gel. They close with a snap. P.s., lately I’ve been lighting...
Zen and the Art of T-shirts
On-line printing services are just a click away and make it way too easy to have your personal designs reproduced on just about any article you desire.
New Pipe: Troll Mallet
In my previous post I wrote about a new series of pipes I have been thinking about. The idea is simple: The Design Process According to the hilarious Norwegian film, Troll Hunter, the combination of concrete and charcoal is irresistible to trolls. My first sketch resembled two dirty rocks. Trolls are not very bright, so...
Making My First Pipe
In a previous post I admitted my new guilty pleasure — pipes. Besides the taste and smell of pipe tobacco, and the romance of smoking a pipe, I am also drawn to the aesthetics of the pipe shape for it’s own sake. Last weekend I made my very first pipe. I recently watched the Lord...
Getting Weird
I’ve always considered myself a bit of an asocial eccentric. I hate crowds. I like being alone in the woods. And I like objects that are utilitarian but well made: wooden canoe paddles, axes, and now pipes.
Design Is Not A Product
As in a Japanese garden, aesthetic and experiential beauty are found in harmony, rather than in singularity.
Innovation Is Scary
The recently released beta 4.3 version of Apple’s iOS for iPhone and iPad contains references to a feature called “Find My Friends.” According to MacRumors, “the obvious interpretation is that Apple may be looking to offer a location-based friend-finding service like Loopt and Google Latitude.” When I read this news I thought “that’s cool.” When...
