same ol' shizzle, different dizzle.

Last week had an obvious lack of posting. To be honest, I was a little burned out from the constant crafting over the past couple of weeks. Finish this painting, frame that one, and that one, stained glass, spray paint this, cushions galore... I needed a g'damn break from being crafty. So I took a week off. I can't say that I'm back with a vengeance yet, or even with gusto. I'm tip-toeing back. I may retreat at some point and resort to the comfort of watching Wild Russia and How It's Made.

I still haven't been able to find a good balance when it comes to everything that I have on my plate. If there's anything I've learned from this blog (now 99 posts and counting), it's that urges come and go. My activities and schedule vary from week to week, and I won't really know if I'm excited about something until the moment is upon me. For example: I knew yesterday would be the perfect day to be outside. It doesn't get much better than sunny and 68 degrees. Unless it's 70 and sunny. I also knew that I had a shit-ton of soldering to do. Another thing I learned is that it's horrible to solder indoors. The fumes, while deliciously intoxicating, are extremely intoxicating and quite bad for your health. Was I excited to solder? Not really. Was I excited to be outside? Absolutely.

Exciting + Not So Exciting = Pleasurably Tolerable, if you ask me.

So, I spent a good two or three hours outside, finished soldering and earned a 5 star sunburn on my neck and shoulders. Don't let April fool you. It burns.

theme show.



In June, the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center is going to have a bike part art show to coincide with the ever-so-popular, Manayunk Bike Race. I myself, am SUPER PUMPED about a bike part show, and I couldn't wait to start thinking about what I could come up with the submit to the exhibit!

Snazzy, ay? I'm particularly excited about the merriment.

Last weekend, I started by cutting and sanding three panels of super thick, fine-a** quality plywood for my project and used a dark walnut stain to give it a rich, rustic look. (I'm noticing a whole triptych theme here, I'm wondering why it is I've been working in threes...) I really didn't think about the panels during the week: But on Friday, after learning about the impending weekend rain storm, I decided to go home and give it some much needed attention. No one likes to spray paint in the rain. Or at least, I don't.

I set up my bike-art-spray-paint-base-camp in the driveway so I didn't stank-out the birds in our backyard: We already have one cardinal that isn't so s-m-r-t, and I didn't want to affect future generations of birds from the fumes. One bird constantly flying into the window is quite enough, we don't need his baby-cardinals flying up to our cat thinking its a tree. ITS A TREE ITS A TREE ITS A TREE! Next, I took some of Lou's old mountain bike chain rings and started layering them on the panels. I had seven different spay paint shades, and began the process of spray... rearrange!... spray... rearrange! 

I just realized that this photo is of the same two panels repeated, instead of the three I actually completed. I'll have to take better photos and upload them later. See what fumes can do to you?!

Anywho, after about a billion layers of spray/rearrange, plus the period of pause and let dry, I covered each panel in a quick drying poly-acrylic to seal it all in and make it shiny and bright. I also started experimenting with the chain rings and spokes (not spokey-dokes, unfortunately... although, now that I think about it...) so I'll have to take a picture of that and post it, too. I'm not sure how to incorporate it all together, but I'm sure an afternoon of drinking ...I mean constant thinking. I mean drinking, should clear that up.

In other news, I'm cooking dinner tonight. I accidentally spilled a bunch of red pepper flakes into the olive oil I was simmering, and didn't think too much about it. I should have. I just tasted it, and it tastes like burning. Tasty. JUST BURNING.