Making = Happiness

Yup, Christmas has been and gone, and I have what is really not at all a revelation to those who know me: I seriously dislike Christmas.  *Ahem* - "DISLIKE".  >:[]

I love food, but I loathe the acceptance of the "fat season", and everyone complaining about how much they over ate.  I take delight in giving, but I struggle with the obligatory compulsion to "organise" presents for the one day of the year.  Few people seem to get any enjoyment out of that.  In the weeks and days leading up to jolly gifting, all shopping areas are full of people who look anything other than jolly.  At least NZ doesn't see the consumer carnage like the violent stampedes overseas.  The Christmas carols blaring everywhere are enough of a horrendous torture, and one can only imagine the levels of therapy shop assistants require in the new year.

For me the only way to avoid morphing into Psychotic Santa is to use this opportunity to design and make.  The bliss of creating cancels out the dread of Christmas spirit, and instead of sulking in a corner, I hop about maniacally with my design brain in an ecstatic overdrive.  This time I finally managed to have a completely shopping free Xmas season  (screw you, defective current enomic model!), with a tiny exception of sourcing some mehanical parts for a project.  I feel an incredible sense of gratification over my completely DIY gift list.  ...Mmmmm DIY....  What fills me with even more delusional tree hugging bliss is that pretty much everything was created from scrap material.  My moral high-horse is a freakin oversized organic monster, and I'm not getting off it any time soon.

I must make a disclaimer that not all the projects are 100% my design and execution.  The making and some of the design of most projects were a joint effort between me and my extremely talented, workshop dwelling other half.

Project: free-standing bird feeder.
Materials: 6mm poplar plywood scraps, galvanised steel tube.
Constraints: make two of them and design around small offcuts.

Project: herb markers based on Skuff's design

Materials: scraps of 3mm clear acrylic, 4.5mm clear acrylic.

Constraints: make three sets that aren't entirely identical.

 

Project: wheelie dinosaur for a four year old with a dinosaur obsession - inspired by WoodMarvels

Materials: flawed 10mm poplar plywood, dowel.

Constraints: fit on the material scrap.

 

Project: modular wine rack - based on an earlier experiment.

Material:  mispressed 10mm MDF veneer - maple on one side and what looks like walnut on the other

Constraints: make two sets to fit onto the available redundant material

 

Project: owl pendant

Materials: scrap of 3mm bamboo plywood, stainless steel

Constraints: gift has to fit into a special little box

 

Project: jewellery tree

Materials: misengraved scrap of 3mm black acrylic, stainless steel, jarrah

Constaints: fit on the acrylic scrap

Project: Clock for the garage/workshop, so that some one knows when it's time to come up for dinner
Materials: stainless steel, flawed 10mm poplar plywood, misengraved 4mm technoply beech scrap.
Constaints: fit on available scrap material

Project: food for a foodie who has everything - jams and dehydrated fruit.

And then I may as well make some name tags to decorate the [reused] brown paper packaging.

Notes on individual project processes to follow soon!