It's the New Style; 4 and 3 and 2 and 1 . . .

I had a new stain color mixed to add to my collection. (It's a light orange that really isn't as nice as the green.) This time, I tried a stencil of my own, and had planned to print it with a dark cherry stain instead of the black acrylic you see here. It looked amazing, but when I lifted the stencil, I found the dark stain had soaked through the index paper I use for my stencils. (I still haven't found the right thickness acetate sheet.)

In order to salvage the box, I had to cover the entire piece with the darker stain. What I found was a happy accident. It looks so nice and even better in person! Using the black paint then, I have a subtle look that is part elegant - part edgy.

Here's a look at the second box. I was so excited to create it that I forgot to cut a grove in this one. I shopped the top one around at work and have found people to be interested. I'm searching for the right price to charge for a generic box, and for a box with a custom stencil I create based on the photo you supply. I've been working hard at creating more stencils and have 10 originals ready to go. I think I'm on the verge of something big!

Animal Box

A box I made for a friend rests atop a real-life pedestal in my backyard. I was inspired by the boxes I'm making for the Tunisian wedding. Incidentally, those are working out great, and I have perfected the use of stencils.

This box, unlike the wedding boxes, had mitered corners. This proved a bit trickier, as the cedar is too tall for my chop saw. Thankfully, I have a compound miter saw, and the head can be tilted at a 45 degree angle. Still, it's a bit of a hassle, and makes accuracy a touch harder.

The best part of all this is discovering how easy it is to have a custom stain mixed at Home Depot. It's a hair more expensive than the regular, but it will last a lifetime. I think I could get almost 100 boxes out of a tiny quart!

Be sure to always look in the Oops Basket for cheap paint. I happened to find the exact turquoise I need for the wedding boxes. 1 quart will run you a buck, whereas a gallon costs $5.00.

After finishing the stain, I quickly ran the completed box across the table saw on each side. Move the fence a bit; run it through again, and you've added a nice decorative element. It might be old-hat for veteran wood-workers, but I just discovered it!

I'll be constructing more of these, where I'll go for a more dilapidated look; possibly adding decoupage and stencils combined.

Tunisian Wedding

planter
Originally uploaded by misterbonkers

Something neat happened. It turns out that I popped up on a Google search for "table size planter boxes." Laura wrote me to ask if I could create some planter boxes for her Tunisian style wedding in June.

I made this box tonight to test out some stencil ideas. Keep in mind that I don't really go for the colors of the stencil, but it's a start.

As with out first Happening, I used cedar fence boards (very inexpensive.) But, this time I sanded them and even rounded all the edges. They look good in person.

I found a jpg of a Moroccan motif that was interesting. I brought it into Photoshop, traced the outlines and exported the paths to Illustrator. Using my Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter, I created the stencil. (The easy thing is, now that I have the file, I can cut a new stencil at any size in under a minute.)

stencil detail

After staining the box, I used the stencil twice; once with gold and then a second time with a deep orange. I'll be doing some trials to see what looks good, and I think I'll make them more uniformly spaced with cleaner edges.

stencil

Here's a look at the stencil itself. I finally got smart and started wearing gloves when I spray. The big advantage here, is that you're able to hold the stencil flat against the object without worry of spraying your fingers. Luckily, I have almost 100 pairs of surgical gloves I picked up at an estate sale years ago. I knew they would come in handy!

Electricity, Electricity!

electricbluebird
Originally uploaded by misterbonkers

This logo came together rather quickly for a seller on Etsy. She was looking for a trade - logo for a knit cap.

I have an old lamp with an art-deco looking plug. It was the natural solution for the electric part of this logo. I realize the blue bird's head is super simple, but I really am a lousy illustrator; so I went with it.

When I sent it to her excited to see it added to blanket and cap tags; I asked her if she wanted the eps file. She let me know that she was just using it to print out a coloring page for her child. Oh well.

Never did ask for that cap!

I'm Still Looking For . . .

stencil1
Originally uploaded by misterbonkers

This student chalk board was purchased from an estate sale and I must have more than 20 of them left. They're the perfect canvas for stenciling.

The stencil was created from a photo of a girl I met on Match.com. I actually met her and some friends at a karaoke bar in Glendale called the Winchester Room. The place is a hoot and left me with an awesome story. You'll have to ask me in person to get all the low-down. Highlights of my very own Twilight Zone episode:
• I wore a sticker that said "I'm Looking For:" with a picture of the girl on it. Awesome!
• She looked nothing like the sticker.
• I got slapped on the back while ordering a drink from the bar. I turned around and yelled, "Cowboy!!"
• I played doubles pool with Cowboy and his tweaker friend. They kicked our ass!
• As I'm sitting with the group of friends, I'm disoriented and confused. I finally realize that the friend I'm sitting next to had written me twice on Match, and I hadn't responded. I felt I was being set up for some bizarre retaliation. It was just the oddest coincidence, though. The friend was from OC and the girl was from the Valley.
• The girl left early. When I asked if everything was OK, she told me she was getting her taxes done early the next day. Nice one; Damn you Uncle Sam!!

I think this stencil kicks ass. I made her photo hi-contrast in Photoshop. Next, I went through, making sure there were no islands that would make printing difficult. The hair highlights and part of the eye were from a separate stencil. I'm still using Adobe Streamline to turn my TIFFs into vector art. (Is there another way? It sucks because I have to use System 9 when using Streamline.) My Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter was used to cut the stencil out of index paper. They've created an Adobe Illustrator plug-in that gets the job done nicely. I used blue masking tape to define the boundaries, tearing the edges to give a more organic look. I think it's very successful . . . well, not the date . . . just the final product.

Audio Samples

I buy cassette tapes whenever I see them at estates sales. Some are instructional; others are religious. The best are homemade ones that contain hidden treasures. I also buy the shitty $1.99 DVDs and sample from those as well. Check these out - use them in your project - enjoy them. Make it so! (The list of files will continue to grow.)

I Got Flamed at SoCalMtB.com and all I Got Was this Lousy T-Shirt

My brother, Dan, invited me on an overnight camping trip with people from SoCalMtB.com. These are the two logos I developed to highlight the event, and the group had t-shirts printed. We ended up using the top logo. Fairly simple design, but at least I got the mountains correct this time. I especially like the use of negative space in this logo. I really had never done anything like that before. Incidentally, this post's title was printed on the reverse of the shirt.

Great fun that weekend as we went on short rides and messed around the campfire with a great potluck dinner. On day two, we all went on a 14 mile downhill ride. Here's a pretty good look at the single track.

We shuttled back to the top, and later devoured an awesome fried chicken dinner in nearby Julian with their famous apple pie for dessert.

Dan and I have since hiked that trail twice. Once for an overnight back back last year.