B.Light Design

When Jason and I finally decided to enter the ELE contest, we had about a week to do it. So the project was going to be a quick one and on the cheap. It turns out, I had just about everything I needed to make 3 robot heads in my apartment.

I put some time into two of the heads, the third one was basically just a white board, spray painted silver (not my best work).

The body was a wooden frame bolted to the back of an office chair. I sat backwards on the chair to operate the heads.

 

We even put a little site together for the good doctor.

Finished up a new lamp. An oak tree fell naturally at parent’s place in the Poconos. I took one of the logs and turned a small base.

I finished it with stain and tung oil. It was my first time using tung oil, I really liked the results. Lamp hardware is from Grand Brass.

Here is a video short I worked on with my friend Jason. We entered it into the Evil League of Evil application contest. It was low budget to say the least.

If you haven’t seen Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, this may not make much sense.

The bathroom cabinet is finished. I’m really happy with how it came out. My bathroom no longer has that “Michael Corleone leave the gun, take the cannoli” feel anymore.

I was surprised with how easy it all came together. Plywood and pocket screws are so choice, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking them up.

So I’ve been giving people sets of ping pong ball eyes, and asked them to send an email with pics of what they came up with. So far the results are great.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Face of the Month by Ben Heavy. I never even thought about using the eyes to attach to themselves through non-magnetic material. Well done.

Thanks for the idea Corban.

I love the Habitat articles in the Real Estate section of the New York Times. This Sunday had a cool article about an artist’s live/work space.

But what I really liked is the way he framed the piece on this wall. Using different sized frames, of the same design, to continue the tree branch drawing (at least I think it’s a drawing). What a great look, I’m going to have to rip this off.

Photo by Gabriele Stabile from the New York Times.

Just about every week, someone on my block throws out one of those ugly floor lamps. You know, that lamp you owned in college.

I’ve saved some from the dump from time to time (always making sure the neighborhood dogs haven’t gotten to them first), they’re great for parts. I’ve used the cords, sockets, and switches for some of the lamps I’ve built. But I have a lot of pipes from the base lying around.

So I cut some down, capped them with some turned pieces of scrap, and now I have this canister. But until I find a treasure map or need to deliver the antidote to a deadly nerve toxin, I have nothing to put in it.

I turned birch for the first time a few weeks ago. I didn’t have high hopes for it, never heard of anyone really turning it before. Long story short, birch is great. It has a really interesting grain and can be turned very thin when it’s green (so thin that it will crack if you drop it). And I’m pretty happy with how these small lamp shades turned out.

Photo taken by Bre Pettis

I went to the Cupcake Decorating Championship last night, part of Ignite NYC. It was a lot of fun, people came up with some great stuff. I went with a My Name is Earl cupcake, mostly because I had a circuit board that says “Hi, my name is Earl.” I think I ripped it out of a magazine or something.

Oak cracks, no two ways about it.

I knew the base would crack, hoped it wouldn’t, and now I’m telling myself that the cracks add character.

This lamp base has a shape similar to Jess’s Lamp. I’m thinking I’ll pair it with the stained glass lamp shade I’m still working on.