Practical Art

[Byron Kinnaman]

As part of my job I'm called on every year or two to produce a work of art. I just finished one such work and thought I'd show off a bit.


[ATTACH][/ATTACH]


This is a PC board for the next generation of IR thermometers. The actual size is .6" x 1.6".

Now it's your turn to show off a bit with any artistic item you're created.

[steven jones]

i built/restored this about 9 years ago when i need an entertainment center for my home stereo...
i found it out on the side of the road with holes in it & a empty beer keg stuffed inside... it had a tapper coming out the front, & a drain hole on the side... it had been a beer fridge in a garage until the motor died...
i removed the motor, insulation, icebox, etc... then sanded, primered, & avocado paint... it also has a fan in back to keep components cool if the door is shut... also wired so the 15w light comes on when opened, but bulb burned out ...
it has an inside door panel, but i had to take it off to accommodate my roomate's computer...
--- steven

[Palmer M]

Byron, that circuit board really is artistic! I used an IR thermometer when I was a frozen food buyer for one
of the Whole Foods stores. I never stopped to think what was inside it. They are marvelous devices.

Steven, great re-use of the old fridge!

Here's another view of my first product, which isn't actually that practical. This took about a week to draw all
the parts, and it takes the laser about 40 minutes to cut it all out (there's about 140 parts, before you count
the individual rows of shingles).

(See the "What's your occupation?" thread for more info.)

P

[Gina D.]

is that a ....

Pinto Wagon?????

[Byron Kinnaman]

is that a ....

Pinto Wagon?????

Only an ex-Pinto owner would know.

[Palmer M]

THANK YOU GINA!
I know it would be more appropriate to put an old Model T or something in there, but all my good stuff was stolen
about three weeks ago. Not only is that a Pinto wagon, it's the surfer version with the porthole window...and it's in
puke green! The other car is, of course, an AMC Pacer Coupe.
Thanks for catching the humor! All my future photos will have something weird like that in them...glad someone caught
it so quickly! I think the next product will have a subtle bear attack happening in the background.
P

[james kent]

I just finished building my second mountain dulcimer.
Added a carved head and foot and individual string adjusters.

[Byron Kinnaman]

James, those are cool.

[Bonnie]

Such neat photos and talent. James, that some dulcimer. The carving is beautiful. Do you play, also?

[HaroldB]

Don't know what to call it, maybe a table center piece, a cheese server, whatever, but it used to be a slab of walnut headed for the fireplace.





And then there's one of my latest furniture projects, an oak bedside nightstand.





Harold

[kconley]

I took an old closet in our Livingroom & made it a new home for the Macaws... Put in a window, cut down the bi-fold doors for storage underneath.. Red cage gates & side are an old chip display from a store that closed... Total cost of project $250 & the macaws love their new home.....

[Joy A]

Here's some of my things I've made and am making.

The watch can either be hung on the wall or used on a desk. It's made out of Bocote and Oak. The face is 3" wide, the strap is 2" wide and it's 14" long.

The napkin holder is Oak and Walnut. The golf bag cutting board is maple.

The US Map is 1/4" plywood with small rhinestones attached, velco on the back to hang in my Scamp on the carpeted walls. I made Canada too, but having both the US & Canada was just a little too much for my Scamps little walls. You know I did it to scale and Canada is actually a little larger than the US.

[DanPatWork]

I'm not sure if this is what Byron had in mind when he called for "Practical Art" but here's a couple of pics from some work we did when we were trying to make a business of our hand made nets. We decided rather than run a business and work full time jobs we'd just scale back to doing the nets as a Hobby for now. I made the net frames and my wife would hand tie the net bags.

The first is a picture of one of the nets we made as a give away for a youth raffle.




The second picture is a picture of the "twin" to the previous that we gave away for raffle at the Spring Creek Festival that was held in Castle Rock WI in 2005.




The third pic is a shot of the second net in use. This picture was taken by the new owner of the net, a great photographer by the name of Steve Gassman. Hopefully I didn't butcher his name.

[james kent]

First you eat the chocolates or cookies and then you can play the tunes. Sounds much like a banjo.

[Gina D.]

ooooh, James, would you like to come work for me? I can put you in charge of necks.. of course, I can do body prep :-P

[james kent]

Body prepping

[Frederick L. Simson]

Now it's your turn to show off a bit with any artistic item you're created.

Robert is a Potter. He has a studio here at the house, and likes to make practical pieces... cups, bowls, vases, etc...
He made this for our Fiber Stream:



We call it an Elephant's Foot. I asked him to "throw" a vase-like container that was wider at the bottom than at the top. I then placed an Awning Arm Anchor inside and set it in Plaster-of-Paris.

We use a pair of them to support our awning while camping.

[james kent]

Nice!
And a couple of cool comfortable chairs too.
Are they out of your tow?

[Frederick L. Simson]

Nice!
And a couple of cool comfortable chairs too.
Are they out of your tow?

Honda Odyssey 2nd row Seat Mod

[Connie M.]

We made guitars in our machine shop. Dave used engine-turning techniques for the finish, and used aircraft grade aluminum for tone quality and sustain.