Lamp

i've been wanting a lamp above my desk for some time. i've online shopped, and went to ikea before deciding that in order to get what i wanted i'd have to do it myself. so i headed to the thrift store to purchase what is usually the most expensive part of the lamp, the shade. $1.25 later i had this bad boy. of course, i bungee'd it to the back of my bike cause i'm green and all that jazz.


i purchased a socket with a pull chain (the rage now seems to be in-line-switches) but for what i wanted, that was not ideal. the center gold ring is the lampshade holder, and the extra pull chain with white nub was also purchased. these things cost me approx $20. not pictured is the 20 foot long extension cord, i also purchased for $14.


a little dremel action for this lampshade holder to fit perfectly.


viola lampshade will be held (the white piece is the lampshade mount.


here we are assembled.


and it's not a real job unless something breaks in the process.


better be more weary of that cord on the hook when measuring the ideal lamp height.


no humans were injured in the making of this hanging lamp.


lights on!


lights off!


i'm ready for my closeup mr camera man.

hype

i love the hypemachine. hands down it is the one website where i can spend the most time. for most that prize goes to facebook, or some other social networking aka check out your friend's friends webpage. not me, not in 2010. this is not an ode to hypemachine or a facebook bash, this is me sharing my excitement about hypem's latest "greats of 2010".

they have created a list of the most blogged about artists, albums, and songs for 2010. but. and this is a big but. for the top 50 songs, they went one step further and had 5 different artists make 20-30 minute mixes featuring their selection of the full list of the top 50 songs of 2010. and you can download them here. currently i'm jammin' to the clock opera mix. and of course, all 5 are available for download.

believe the hype[machine]!

nye 2010

this video captures what i was doing and with whom as 2010 ended.




2010 was a good year. heck, any year i'm alive is a good year when you put it in perspective -and i sure like dancing with my friends.

coasters

dad got a lathe recently for his woodshop. for those who aren't woodshop saavy, a lathe spins wood. when the wood is spinning, different speeds and tools can be used to cut and shape the wood. think of table legs, or those posts that hold up the bannister on your stairs -done on a lathe.

i went one step further, and fancier for my 1st attempt. i took pieces of scrap and glued them together before heading to the lathe. yellow heart, mahogany, and oak. using one solid piece of wood would have been simpler, but i don't think the final product would have been as nice. you be the judge.



i used plenty of glue, and clamped the scraps together. then let it sit over night. i had to use plenty of clamps to assure there were no air pockets.



a day later, the clamps came off and so did the corners. you want the wood as circular as possible before it hits the lathe. these corners are taken off thanks to our bandsaw.



then onto the lathe. at first we used centers, two pins at the opposite flat sides of our cylinder to hold the axis. we spun it on low speed and started to round out the piece.



after a bit of work, it started to resemble a smooth cylinder. this is when we mounted a metal coupling on one side. this coupling is yet another way to spin the wood, though this time you have clear access to not only the long side of the piece, also the short side (face). this comes in handy later.



here is what it looks like when cutting the coasters from the cylinder.



and lastly, some sanding and a few coats of varnish complete our coasters! this is the coasters sitting face down. i cut a groove on the outside lip of the top face which isn't pictured here. drinks will not leave wet spots or ruin my tabletops ever again!