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If you ever wondered what the "Laboratory" looks like, I was doing a ton of cleaning and organizing this week, so it's actually fairly presentable and figured I'd do a quick video tour. I probably could have a done a tour the entire length of "What's He Building in There?" but I wasn't sure that folks would sit all the way through it... so I shortened it up.
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This rear entryway was my big project this last weekend. When we moved into our house, the kitchen was tiny and had no cupboard space. So we put a cabinet I had fixed up to use as a linen closet in the kitchen to use as a pantry. The landlord had our kitchen remodeled shortly after we moved in, but even with the extra cupboard space we decided that we wanted to keep the pantry. With 5 adults living in the house, we figured it would be helpful to have some extra storage space for canned & dry goods. There wasn’t a good place for it in the kitchen, but in the rear entryway it would fit in the “coat closet” which was just a nook with a hanger bar and a high shelf. This left us with a couple issues. There was no light in the rear entry way, and now no place to hang coats. Since I build both of those, I wanted to make a really rad industrial looking light and a rad coat rack made from bike parts and scrap metal pieces. Well I ended up using a light fixture that was given to me in a tub of scrap metal. It just seemed like the perfect light for that space. Even the colors matched.  I’ve made a few switch boxes. When I want to put up a light fixture that you’d normally wire into the wall, but I can’t wire into the wall (because I’m a renter), I add a power cord with a switch box that can be mounted to the wall. If you don’t mind some exposed cord or a switch box on (instead of in) the wall, you can put a light fixture just about anywhere like this.  In the rear entryway there is only one outlet that I use for the battery charger for my drill. Since I would be using that outlet for my light and I still wanted to plug in my charger, I added an outlet to the switch box. The only real issue with this was that the box I picked up at the thrift store to use for this purpose was quite brittle. It looked pretty sturdy, but the wood split really easily. The entire top broke apart when I tried to drill a hole for the outlet, so I had to make some alterations to the original plan. It didn’t go together as easily as I expected, but I got it figured out. I just ran a sturdy lamp cord from there to where the light would be, holding it to the wall and ceiling with wire clips. Then I attached and hung the light fixture. Voila! We now had light for our pantry and I still had a place to plug in my charger.  I really wanted to make some fancy coat racks, but it was just too easy to grab the hooks I’d salvaged from somewhere, screw them to the boards I’d salvaged from somewhere else and screw them to the wall. It kind of fits with the saying, “The cobbler’s kids have no shoes.” I always have all these ideas to make these fantastic things for our house, but when it comes time to actually build something for the house, I often end up making something pretty basic and utilitarian while I sell the coolest stuff I make.
 You know that old Tootsie Roll commercial where they're singing "Whatever it is I think I see, becomes a Tootsie Roll to me?" That popped into my head as I was building this lamp because everything I think I see becomes a lamp to me.
This is an tensioner pulley I found on the side of the road on my way to work one day. (That must have been a bad day for some poor motorist.) The first day I saw it, I left it there. The next day I thought, "Yep, that's a lamp." and swing my bike around to go back and get it. I tossed it in the front basket where it rattled around for the rest of the day. It sat on the railing in the shop for a few weeks because that center hole wasn't large enough to pass a 3/8" all thread pipe through. After walking past it enough times I got an idea last night that I had to try out. It was already late and I was getting tired, but I tested out the idea and it seemed like it was going to work, so I went to bed. I was up at the crack of dawn this morning when Jodi got up to go to work. Sometimes I think I might sleep for a little bit more after she gets up, but it doesn't usually work that way. I started thinking about the roast I wanted to get in the crock pot, and this lamp that I wanted to finish, and I was up making a cup of coffee a couple minutes after she walked out the door. After getting that roast in the crock pot... and believe me, you're gonna wish you were over for dinner tonight... I finally got some Iron Maiden playing and got to work on this lamp. I have to tell you, I have been listening to Iron Maiden for two days and I am kicking myself for not getting tickets to that show recently! I should have just bought the tickets and worried about money later. My plans changed a little from last night, but I got it all wrapped up in time to take a couple pictures and head off to my mind-numbing 9 to 5.  I have a little more room at Red Hot Art Festival 2017 than I usually do at a craft show, so I fixed up a card table that I dumpstered at one point. The top was shot, but frame and legs were still in fine condition, so I used the wood from some cupboards they took out of our kitchen when the landlord remodeled. They were made out of real wood, not particle board, but they sat outside in the elements too long to be usable for much. However, there was enough there to make a pretty sweet little table top. Plus the wood is sturdy enough, I should be able to attach a power strip to the underside for plugging in lamps.
 My friend Jake taught me a lot about birthday presents. Someday when I finish writing up my book of guidelines that I use to keep myself sane, one of them will be a variation on what he told me about gift giving. This is the knife I made him for his birthday. It’s made of 3 pieces. A knife blade from a box of kitchen impliments someone was throwing away, a piece of copper tubing left in my garage by the previous owner, and a chunk of EMT from a some pieces I dumpstered recently. Spent some time in the garage with a hammer, a grinder, and a file to put it all together into this.
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