Woo Hoo

Just got notified I was accepted into the 38th Annual "Toys Designed by Artists" at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock! See "Where You Can See My Work" section at the right for details.

This is the third or fourth time I've been selected for this show, always with ray guns.

The rings at the back are really disposable snap-together plastic party wine glass bottoms. The kind you buy in bulk for big parties.

I was cleaning out a basement wine and storage area when I saw these bases on a shelf. Bingo! There was the part I've been looking for to complete this ray gun. It has been sitting in parts on a table in my studio for some time.

The piece is really was made in four parts. Two separate sections of the main body were thrown on the wheel as was the back section. The grip was hand formed and is hollow.

When it was in the leather hard state (soft-ish), I carved and fitted the grip to the body assuring that it would balance. I always wanted to put this ray gun together with another, added component, but just couldn't find anything that worked until I saw those disposable wine bases.

Now, I'm on the look-out for anything glass or plastic that might have possibilities. Even considering snapping the base off a glass wine glass and using the top like the one in the September 5th post. The plastic top to the disposable glass didn't work out as well as the bases did. The Goop glue tended to cloud the glass. I'm sure a glass top would work much better.


Uh oh, I hear the siren hoarding call.  Every time I watch that program, I go clean out a drawer or something.

Experimental Lids

I am fascinated with lid design--thinking past the usual knob.  

This is a medium sized jar with an experimental handle and is just as easy to grasp as a knob, if not more convenient.

In this case, the idea might even be expanded to a lid/scoop design. But in order to do this, the base of the jar would have to be more straight sided to make room for a scoop to work. (Both the top and bottom would have to be designed to work together.)

So other forms should be considered. 

A bar works. 

Or reverse your thinking and consider a finger hole recessed into a built-up lid with a sealing solid base below the finger-space.  I've made these, although I don't have one to photograph at the moment. 

Or something that locks down with another element; a working two-part lid design.   

Another brain-teaser is figuring out how to make a screw-top lid-- Just a simple, run of the mill, screw-top jar like the ones you have around the house--from the cabinet or refrigerator. 

David Hendley (http://www.farmpots.com) wrote a thesis about making a tap and die for these lids. Go to the tab "Writings and Publications" to purchase a copy. He discusses tap and dies and includes pictures of an aluminum tap and die set once produced by Bluebird, but these are not currently available.* 

 Just thinking about it puts my brain in a twist.

*PS  If anyone has a Bluebird tap and die set for sale, please let me know.

Cookie Jar

So the idea here was to make a cookie jar with a domed lid and a knob that was separate from the lid.

The knob was to be formed and fired separately.

I made a 'cradle' for the shell so it would nest into the area where it joined the lid.

There is a hole in the top of the dome lid and a corresponding area in the shell where the two are connected with a small bolt.

The inside of the shell is solid with no indication a connection exists.

When both the lid and knob had been fired, I used good old Goop and closed the end of the bolt with a small nut.

The design is an homage to the nautical decorations on pieces I so admired at the Royal Worcester Factory Museum in the U.K.

And the jar is currently is at the Art Stop in Tacoma, WA.