April 10, 2008 - Desktop Still Life 1

It's cold, gray and raining. It's been that way all week. Almost worse than getting a bunch of snow. I was filling lamp orders and got distracted. Listening to a audio book called "Heart Shaped Box" about a heavy metal rock star who buys a ghost at an online auction. Strange.

This is a picture of my desk at the moment. An artist's studio in detail. The central object is a little sculpture I created a couple years ago. I think it was going to be a birthday gift for a friend but it never happened. Structure. Well, it's part of the landscape now. (there's another view below). It's amazing to me how inspirations come and go. Fleeting ideas. This one may lead to some variations.

On the right is a lamp I'll be sending out within the week. More lamps in the background. A few cherry dowel rods across the frame. Fake flowers. Over time you'll have a pretty good look at all the interesting nooks and crannies of my studio…and me probably. Have a great day.

April 4, 2008 - Worth a 1000 words

Check out the web site worth1000.com. If you're into image manipulation or just like to see the amazing things that can be done by very creative people you'll love this site. This is a "contest website" where people submit creative images in many categories, like "Vintage Ads", which gave participants 48 hours to create an ad for a modern product using vintage advertising motifs. There are many other categories and you can spend a lot of time going through the galleries. It looks like you can also sponsor a contest. The top image is a winner from the "Vintage Ad" contest. Below is an image from "Edible Architecture".

April 3, 2008 - In Memorial

Kiersten Joy Faulkner - 1970-2008

A sad and premature end to a life that once seemed so bright.

My thoughts and prayers to her family and friends.

March 30, 2008 - The Ultimate Lamp

Thought you might be interested in seeing what the French are doing for the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower.

It's seems there's been a competition to redesign the Eiffel Tower's public reception and access areas. Serero architect's won with this solution that will extend the top floor plate by grafting on a high performance carbon Kevlar structure. What do you think?

Spring is finally coming! In my first post I showed a photo of my neighborhood street back in February. Here's what it looks like today. We're all amazed at how wide the streets and sidewalks actually are. We've had snow on the ground since December 1st when we got hit hard by snow and ice. That same snow is at the bottom of all these piles, almost 4 months later and over 100 inches later.

March 00, 2008 - My birthday

Row Row Row your boat (your boat, not someone else's)

Gently down the stream (gently, down stream, not against it)

Merrily Merrily Merrily (be happy, enjoy it)

Life is but a dream (I'm beginning to get this)

It's my birthday and I was thinking over the last year. One of my favorite times was taking a trip to Washington Island in Wisconsin with some good friends. It was a magical trip. This is a "self portrait" that I took on Schoolhouse Beach. An amazing beach of smooth white stones. I got lost in the ever changing patterns of the water ripples on the stones. It was a wonderful place just to sit and dream. Today I'm looking forward to spending time with friends. Have a great day.

March 28, 2008 - A Custom Lamp

A friend of mine found an old lamp base, and quite a funky one at that, and asked me to make a custom shade for it. Actually it took some thought. This needed a more traditional shade construction. It needed a wire frame to make it work. I'd played a bit with this in the past, like once, but then I was never one to go the traditional route, and it seemed even more time consuming than the direction I had already gone. But here it was, a fabulous base and the opportunity to play. It took awhile but this is what I came up with.

I didn't want to do the traditional round shade so I ended up using the bullet shaped Bo shade and added a wire framework on the top and bottom. I had to wire in two round wire circles that I had gotten from a lamp part supplier. This was the tricky part and I wouldn't recommend the way I did it, but it worked. At any rate, if you find a funky base out there, maybe I can make a new lamp out it. Cheryl loved it by the way. 

February 20, 2008 - A quick studio tour

-14 degrees below zero tonight! One more degree lower and we break yet another record. These are records I have no desire to achieve. And you can't forget the total lunar eclipse tonight. The moon won't be completely blacked out but will have a red/orange color. It will reach it's peak around 9:01 pm CST.

Thought I'd give a short tour of my basement studio in my Madison bungalow. It's a very long room and 10 feet wide by almost 40 feet long. Actually the space is great for my one man shop. The top photo is my desk and display area. Once a year I open my studio for the Madison Open Studio Tour. Around 200 artists open their studios to the public. I try to display as many lamps as I have on hand.

The bottom photo is the opposite end of the room where I have my work table and parts storage. I also have an enclosed back porch which I use for my small wood shop. 

Stay warm. m.