After cleaning up double blog posts, that appeared after I had made the blog disappear by trying to turn a plugin or two off and on, and then uploading a backup of posts in an attempt to fix my mistake, I realized I’ve been at this for five years now. Five? How’d that happen?

I’ve been totally neglecting this blog for some time now. Before the summer I think the posts dwindled down to barely anything, and now I have 5 posts in draft stages. Who know’s when I’ll have them ready.

I have been thinking about redesigning, changing focus, and rethinking this blog (I doubt that will ever stop), in light of what you can do on flickr, twitter and facebook – where a little effort actually gets some nearly immediate reward.
But, then again, I actually enjoy working at my own pace on the blog. I can’t tweet fast enough for the twittosphere, don’t gossip enough for facebookers, and once I get going I don’t like to be limited by a maximum number of characters in which I have to say something.

As the end of the year approaches there will be a few new things to tend to, and I suspect these might be the impetus to do more blabbing about stuff I find interesting. If there is time;)

Year Six should be interesting.

three oldies finally get professional help – being framed at a local framemaker’s.

This first one has a brown tint to the black frame, with an accent of red on the very edge. It brings out the browns and pinks quite well.

This has a white/blue grey sort of feel – bringing out the cold blue in the picture.

The last one has a darker frame – near black, also with a red edge, to bring ot the black and pinks.

The funny thing is we went in there thinking we’d get all threee framed exactly the same – in simple profiled oak. As we talked with the framester, we came to realise we could just as well do each painting justice and frame them individually, and have them still belong to the same “family”.

It was unexpected, and exciting feeling this world open up to us. Suddenly I felt a little grown-up, that maybe we had graduated from the IKEA frame section, to the world of custom framing. Suddenly I understood why folks who actually collect art have different frames for each piece. It wasn’t because the frames just came with the paintings when they were purchased – they belonged with them.

Interesting.

Now I don’t cringe seeing the unframed paintings on the wall. The look finished. I can keep my hands off them, and stop thinking what I could have done differently. Now – it’s too late.

Nice.

I came across “The Making of The Dunhill Double Document Case” this morning, on Selecticism, and was immediately struck by the tactile nature of this production. The sounds, in particular, are very good.

I know leather work is tactile, and cozy. My father’s friend, Flemming, still pounds out leather bags and belts – as far as I know. I remember getting one of his belts as a kid, and being happily struck by the smells in his cool, woody shop. They stayed in the belt. Decades later, while handing it down to my son, it still smelled like that first summer I had with it.

Watching this makes me want to pick up a similiar trade. Something tactile. Something where I’d need a workshop to do it. Something I could do that wouldn’t sound like “tappity-tap-tap-tap”, and more like “glonk, swish and woosh”.

That might not be why Dunhill made the film. I’m sure they want me to buy the bag, rather than yearn for my own workshop.

You win some, and you lose some=)

JC, from Poolga, asked if I would like to participate and send in some designs for their fantastic iPhone + iPod Touch wallpaper site – and I agreed super quick. It took me a while to actually get around to making them, and send them in – but now they’re up (and downloadable)!

Poolga
Poolga on Twitter
Poolga on Flickr

Recession Design is a collection of objects created using everyday DIY products that are processed and assembled using common utensils and accessories. Featuring a design that is clean but not banal, essential but not meager, the objects show how a good project can result in high-level design, even with the use of readily available materials and utensils

Sounds good to me. Check out those clothes hooks! And a desk:

recession design

This year I brought the Treearoo up from the basement, thinking it would be nice to get Tilja (15 months old) used to it now, and see how she reacts/interacts with it.

I’ve heard how parents worry about their kids mauling the xmas tree, and although I have seen how kids can be interested in the actual ornaments, I’ve never experienced a tree disaster myself.

This year I put the treearoo, and Tilja, to the test.

It was a very quick test.

I started off letting her help me screw the trunk into the base. That was fine, she enjoys a little work. As soon as I lifted it upright, the little monkey jumped on the base, grabbed the trunk with both hands, and began flaying it back and forth.

Now it looks like “Treearoo – the Charlie Brown edition”. “The Leaning Treearoo of Pisa”. Basically; it looks like it’s had it.

I dismantled it in a huff, Tilja got upset, and I figured that was it – no tree this time around.

After Tilja was put to bed for the night, I gave it another try, just to see how bad the damage was. It did indeed lean, but a few oversized washers could fix that. I decided to assemble the poor thing, and see how the little girl would react to it in the morning.

The next day, she looked at it, carefully touched the painted tips of some branches, and generally left it alone. It’s been there a few days now.

We’ve had her around two other trees over the holidays. Both were bigger than ours – the latest one was emourmous – and aside from an interest in a few select ornaments, she has treated the trees with respect. It’s not really even our doing. We say she should be careful – at the outset – but aside from that, she has been on her own interacting with them.

On the whole; trees + kids = ok

Treearoo Tip: assemble the thing yourself, while the kids are otherwise occupied.

the Treearoo page

My trusty Canon IXUS30 (on the right) has been a faithful companion for a few years now. It’s rugged, quick and is pretty good in evening light without a flash (I hate flashes – as my bevy of golden coloured photos on Flickr can attest to). I dropped it (in my messenger bag, when I crashed my tank (Swedish miitary bicycle) recently, and not until a few days later did I realise it had actually cracked open; and lost a few screws. I managed to trnsplant a screw from the bottom and close the casing on the side with it.. and it still works like it alwasy has.

Recently we upgraded Marie’s crappy Kodak to a Chocolate coloured Canon IXUS 80IS, which is much the same camera as the IXUS30, but has a few extra ISO settings, and takes huge photos. I’m not sure the quality is all that much better really- and still don’t really get the business with the MegaPixels – but I have noticed folks on Flickr have much better photos than I do, and they seem to be able to play around more freely than I can with my prettymuch-automatic, shoot-and-miss diddy.

Being a guy who draws, I haven’t had much use or interest in photography (especially since when I learned about photography we used a Kodak Brownie, shot black and white, and had to actually use a darkroom and chemicals… what a tedious process! Not to mention 9 times out of ten my shots were uselessly blurry – you wouldn’t believe the amount of film I wasted!).
With the digital camera, though, I’ve shot everything and anything I fancy. I don’t really think about it when I do it – which is what’s fun, I think. But it would be nice to have some quality photographs, now that I actually LIKE photographing.

Now I’m starting to think it’s time to get serious. SLR maybe? Any advice? Ed? Stevey? Chrissie? Geoff? Anyone?

Marie’s Mum came by today to hang with Tilja, while Marie and I took care of some practicalities around the apartment, she brought ice cream with her.
The ice creams – little waffle boats filled with vanilla ice cream and covered in caramel – came in a cardboard box, which unfolded easlily, and quicky became a test ground for Tilja to play with an IKEA pencil. It didn’t take long for her to drop the pencil and concentrate on eating her lunch while we ate our ice creams, so I picked it up and doodled a bit for her.

The cardboard is quite a fun surface to draw on- it gives and takes in irregular intervals- depending on which direction you move the pencil, and it’s rough – like good sketch paper. Very nice indeed.

When I was done doodling, I tried folding the box back in on itself, so the doodles ended up on the outside- and it looked pretty good. Not perfect, but there is potential there. A customized box for keepsakes?

One more bit of refuse saved from the trash bin!

The iPodaroo came into being a bit before the Treearoo. I had been bitten by the recycling bug, and being in a family of 4 – we go through a lot of toilet paper – I noticed we had stockpiles of toilet paper rolls being carried out to the recycling bin. “What if WE could reuse them?” I thought. One day I just looked at a roll, looked at the iPod, and figured the iPod could fit. I shoved it in a flattened roll; it fit.

A few adjustments: I cut a handy window so it would be easy to see what you were listening to (if you don’t normally always know what you are listening to; I sure don’t), and get a good grip on the iPod to take it out of the casing. It fits quite snuggly.

Of course, writing this now, I realise the case is only made for the iPodMini. That’s all I have. Some day I’ll get a bigger one.

Here’s the How To:

Staples
Scissors
Toilet Paper Roll (- sans paper)

Flatten the roll, staple one end shut.

Cut a window. This one is shaped like a thumb.

Boom! – done.

Pimp it with decorations of your liking.

Personlally, I just wrote a list on it, and tried sticking stickers on it.

Not so good.
A postit worked well as a label – but that’s on an earlier model.

Using it, I realized the window I had made to make it easier to see the display, was actually not protecting the screen at all. Then what’s the point of the case?! On the move, I turn the ipod around so it shows it’s steely backside instead. When I get to the office, turn it around again- and I can see what it’s playing. I usually just shuffle my music, and leave it be, so I don’t need to use the wheel at all. If I do, I take it out of the case;)

Recyclers aren’t lazy, you know.

To celebrate the holidays in 2007, I packed up the Treearoo, and took it with me on the train to Stockholm.

Once again, we decked it out in simple decorations (this time some cute ditties from IKEA), and placed all our goodies under it for Christmas.

We let it stand – looking pretty and not taking up that much room – until my sister Chrissie and her son Henry came to visit in mid january. Nice!

Before I took it to Stockholm, I got a comment on the Treearoo post from Sheryl, asking for more accurate instructions on how to make the tree, what sort of drill bits and lengths I used for the branches, etc. I managed to measure all these and update the post just before I left, and low and behold, she’d gone and made one herself. The first North American Treearoo:

“Ikea didn’t have your version of the base/bowl (no surprise there), but I found that the wooden bowl they’re selling in the US this year does the job nicely. I painted it a glossy red. The main dowel is the tallest they had at the hardware store–four feet (I don’t think you indicated how long yours is). The man at the hardware store cut the main branch dowels for me for $2. We don’t have an appropriate sawing set-up in our apartment (although we do have a small hacksaw) and it’s below-freezing winter weather outside now, so I took the easy way. I think the hardware-store guy was a little interested in my project, too, or else he was bored. Anyway, he spent a considerable amount of time sawing the dowels while I browsed the plumbing hardware. I used my Swiss Army knife to cut the tiniest dowels apart. I spent the most time on fitting the branch dowels into the holes I drilled. I got them to stay with some maneuvering.”

Sheryl’s a bit internet-shy, but she did say I could quote her using the above paragraph. I’m just going to add her last line aswell, since it made my holiday that much brighter and fun. Sorry Sheryl;)

“I want you to know how much happiness I have gained because last year you decided to make a tree out of dowels, write out how you did it, and post it on your blog.”

I like that she used what she had available, and pimped it out the way she wanted – au naturel !

Bookmark the Treearoo Set on Flickr!