12/08/2010

It's Coming!

And I'll be there.

12/03/2010

Market SF

I was really excited last night to be able to stop working at 9:00 pm. What I'm trying to say is that I've been busy and I should have told you about this sooner but if you're in the mission on Saturday and in the mood to shop and possible drink at the same time, get thee to Market SF and do just that. I'll be there with my dish towels  (oh, and I have a sale happening right now: 10% off if you use the code HOLIDAY2010 at checkout) and Jenny will be there with all her this humble abode awesomeness.

11/30/2010

Off The Line

I've been trying to squeeze some new products into The Heated's line up. I'm considering prints, as you can see below. I also got the most beautiful tote bags in the mail yesterday. They're made in San Francisco from organic cotton so that's rad. It's great to integrate the buying local ethos into my supply chain so smoothly. You'll have a chance to check them out soon.



11/16/2010

Craft Night!

Have I mentioned that I'm hosting a gathering of local crafters next week? The Heated is playing a show at Mojito (1337 Grant Avenue, San Francisco) next week (Tuesday, November 23rd) and my set is really long (9:30 pm - 12:00 am). My special guest, drummer Zarah Gamaldi (founder of Crafters Local 415), suggested that we make it a craft night so that people can get some work done and get to know other local crafty types while we play. The show is free, parking is plentiful and we'll have the space set up so you can get some work done. You'll also have a chance to win a screen printed tea towel. So, that's cool.

Note: I realized that I put the cross street as Grant and Vallejo when Mojito is in fact, on Grant. The cross streets are GREEN and Vallejo. My bad.

11/15/2010

The Apartment Tree

Maybe I've already talked about the notebook I keep, or rather, notebooks as I'm now on my third one. I started keeping a notebook with me to write down all the things I need to get done, along with ideas on things I'd like to do someday. Mostly, these notebooks are big to-do lists but I also like to doodle and write down my dreams sometimes. I've found it tremendously useful to have a place where I can put things so I won't forget them. But you do have to remember to go back through them from time to time. Recently I went back through one from last year and was struck by the fact that not only did I remember to do this but that I hit the nail on the head with my little sketch. This is a new design I'm unveiling for the holidays and I call it "Apartment Tree".

note: As I was writing this blog post, I realized that my intention last year was not to design a dish towel but rather to actually make miniature trees! Maybe next year.

Last year's notebook reads, "Maybe next holiday season, you could make little 'Apartment Trees'?"

On the left is a folded dish towel that I created this holiday season.

11/12/2010

Press Performance

It's important to keep your equipment in good repair so I recently gave my printing press a tune-up. I scraped all the old adhesive, lint and ink off of it then I applied a fresh coat of adhesive. You could use a spray adhesive while you're screen printing but I hate spray adhesive. It's toxic and it can mess up your screens if any of the airborne adhesive drifts on to them. Plus it irritated my allergies. I prefer to use a spreadable adhesive called Table Tac. I also cleaned the hinges with some steel wool and then got some candle wax up in there to keep them from rusting. It's damp in that back room.

So shiny and fresh!

I wish I had a before shot of the press but I don't. Here it is all cleaned up.

I put these felt strips on the ends of the screen to keep the screen from resting on the press itself. This way the screen only comes into contact with the material I'm printing when I apply pressure with my squeegee. That helps with getting a sharper print. Raising the screen a little is called "offsetting".

Um... I used to forget to offset all the time but not anymore.

I also used to forget to lint roll, but not anymore.

I was making some green ink. Custom color!

My wife said the dishes pile looked pretty nice. I agreed and took a picture.

Here are towels waiting to be printed. The clothespins mark the center of the towel It's quite a pile I've got stacked up.

11/10/2010

Better Homes & Gardens

In early November, I started selling red Party Birds out of nowhere. Months earlier I had sent a red Party Bird to Better Homes & Gardens so I was hoping that was it. A customer on Etsy confirmed that it was indeed featured in Better Homes & Gardens but when I went to the store, they only had the October issue and it wasn't in there. 
     Then my brother called and said that he receives a subscription (he totally tried to pawn this fact off as his grandmother-in-law's fault, by the way) and I wasn't in the November issue. So, I contacted that nice Etsy customer and she let me know it was in a special interest publication titled Food Gifts. It looks great! I couldn't be happier with the way they presented it. Also of note is the fact that there is a bacon creation in the glass pan. Yum.



11/07/2010

Me Play Drums

I found this old blog post that I never got around to editing. It probably had something to do with me playing drums. That seems as good a segue as any to tell you that I have a new song out called "The Flood Building". Yet, there is no snare drum in "The Flood Building". But there are shakers so... close enough?



11/04/2010

Yeah, that Dwell!

The most exciting thing happened a few days ago. The Heated's very own Design Advice towel was chosen as the "Product of the Day" by Dwell magazine. Here's a picture of what that looked like and here's Dwell's website

10/12/2010

The Union

The latest song from The Heated is out now. It's a song about a lot of things but I would say that the main theme is that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do in order to make it. I think that's called growing up or something.

<a href="http://theheated.bandcamp.com/album/12-songs-project">12 Songs Project by The Heated</a>

Anyway, I'll let you in on a little secret. C'mon and get a little closer. A little closer. A little... oh, that's too close. Whoa. Ok, I shot video of the recording process behind this song and hope to have it released ASAP. ASAP may be a few weeks to a month. But I've really been wanting to show you all what goes in to this project. It's a lot of me making funny faces with headphones on.

10/01/2010

Trash Can Pannier

A few months ago, I started riding a bike. I mean, I've ridden bikes before but not in the last two decades. But all of a sudden, I had a new commute and I wanted to give biking a try. So far, I love it. Yes, the cars make me nervous at times. But since I am a safety nerd, I took a road-skills class offered through the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. It's free(!) so if you've wanted to start riding in the city, I highly recommend this course. The fewer jerk bicyclists we have blowing through stop signs during rush hour traffic, the better. It's made me a better rider and made me feel a lot more comfortable and safe riding on the streets of San Francisco.

Anyway, I'm a big believer in hand signals but found that trying to signal with a bag on my back was difficult. I take my lunch with me to work every day so not taking a bag is not an option. After brief research on panniers and how much they cost, I figured there must be something cheaper out there. I checked out some Instructables panniers and finally settled on a trash can pannier after coming across this guy's post. Most of the plans I looked at were for ones that can be removed easily. Since I live in a city where anything not bolted down can disappear, that was not an option so I used zip ties to keep it attached. Here's what's up.

Materials:
small plastic trash can
zip ties

Tools:
drill
snips (I'm sure that scissors would work too)
permanent marker

I found a small trash can at my local hardware store for less than five dollars. As I already owned the zip ties, that makes the total cost of this project less than five dollars. I am awesome.


I started by getting the location right, making sure that the trash can was far enough back that I wouldn't kick it while pedaling. I marked the points where it hits the rack with permanent marker.

Then I cut between the marked lines with my snips.

Once I got it snipped to my satisfaction, I marked where I wanted the zip ties to go through. They attach around the bike rack. I used two on the top and two along the side. I drilled on both sides of the lines, using a bit large enough for the zip ties to pass through.

When I fastened the trash can to the rack, I made sure that the part where the zip tie tightens was on the outside of the rack, not inside of the trash can. Once you cut the slack from zip ties it leaves a really sharp edge and that's the last thing you want inside your pannier.In fact, I sanded the edges of the cuts I made in the trash can too. I like it smooth, baby.

Make sure cut the slack once your zip ties have been fastened. You don't want anything interfering with your back wheel.

That's it.

Done and ready. When riding, the helmet is on my head, not in the basket. But now I have a handy place to store all of my safety gear.

I want to put one on the other side now. There's enough room for my shoulder bag (including lunch) and a bike lock in the pannier but not enough for my nicer work jacket. An additional pannier on the other side should be enough room. 

If you think I don't know that it's ugly as sin, you're wrong. But that's not the point. These puppies are light, functional and I have a hard time picturing someone wanting to steal them. Plus, I can put reflective tape on them and up the safety. I haven't made the covers for them yet. Once it starts raining, I'll get those together.

9/15/2010

Let Us Pray ...and Drink Coffee

I'm pretty damn excited about the show (Bike Church) I'm playing this weekend at Manifesto Bicycles for a few reasons. One good reason is that I used to work with one of the owners and am expecting to have an old work reunion of sorts. Also, you know I love playing with Winfred E. Eye. This may be the last show I play for a little while too.

It's not that I don't like playing live. In fact, I love it. But I've come to this realization lately that my friends can't come to the shows I play very often because we're adults with day jobs. It's hard to stay out late for me and for you. So, I'm going to shift my focus towards more daytime shows (like Bike Church!) and online video goodness. I'm still working on all the details but in the meantime, get your ass out to the East Bay and eat some brunch (Jon's Street Eats) while drinking half priced coffee from Sub Rosa, then go shopping at 1234 Go! Records.This shindig kicks off at 11:00 am.


9/08/2010

Leaving The House With The Burner On

Yes, this is the latest from The Heated. Uh... it's a little dark. People like getting depressed, right?
<a href="http://theheated.bandcamp.com/track/leaving-the-house-with-the-burner-on">Leaving The House With The Burner On by The Heated</a>

8/30/2010

Cheap Beer Taste Test

Earlier this year, Uptown Almanac (that's a local blog for people who think Mission Mission got too popular and sold out, man) ran a story about a cheap beer taste test. Clearly, the concept stuck with me and a few weeks ago, I held one of my own. The big winner? Tecate! The bowls on the table have salsa in them. You've got to have a palate cleanser, people.
     I doubt their party had these handy scoring sheets. Then again, I doubt their party had old nerds like me in attendance. Anyway, if you want a copy of the scoring sheet to hold a party of your own, hit me up. I really should edit them to have "meh" as the middle rating and "ewwww" as the lowest rating, which is what Foster's got from all of us. It's Australian for "skunky", mate.

8/23/2010

Not El Rio, El Rincon

I'm having this stupid anxiety that because I've been playing at El Rio so much that people will get confused and go there this Friday when really I'm playing at El Rincon. El Rincon was recently shut down for a few nights when a cop got shot in the foot out front (after the club had closed, it is worth noting). So that probably means cheap drink specials? It's on 16th at Harrison. You'll recognize the sign from when you go to that weird little shopping center near Potrero. See?
Anyway, I'm opening (9:00 pm and you know I don't do tardy) and The Better Maker is playing too along with some Portlanders. Those Portlanders know a thing or two about what makes music lovely so get your ass out for what promises to be a somewhat terrifying evening. I'm kidding. No one will get shot. Someone might get shots. Probably not me.

8/18/2010

Making. And Rocking.

The 3rd Annual Rock Make Festival is totally on this weekend. I will be there with my tea towels, ready to take the whole damn thing by storm. Hopefully not a literal storm. Anywho, my booth will be along 18th Street. There are going to be beer gardens and a ton of amazing bands. Here is an example of an amazing San Francisco band called Tartufi that also happens to organize the music aspect of this happening*. What they do is insane, both musically and organizationally. 

(*In San Francisco, we call them happenings. I'm kidding. Don't call it that.)



8/16/2010

The Middle Of The Night

I played a show last week at the always lovely El Rio. The sound on this recording came out pretty good. The room was quiet. I think I had their attention. Chalk one up for Cristina. Check out how the mural's toe on the wall was about to go up my nose. If you'd like to hear another version, you can go here: http://theheated.bandcamp.com/track/vigilance

8/06/2010

Ionosphere

I released a new song then forgot to put it on my blog again. Bad blogger, bad. Anyway, here's Ionosphere. The story behind this recording is that it was done in my sister-in-law's tiny camper while on vacation with a group of friends (luckily, my recording engineer was among them) along the coast of Northern California.
<a href="http://theheated.bandcamp.com/album/12-songs-project">Ionosphere by The Heated</a>

7/25/2010

Window Shopping

Check out what my friend Gitane (who makes these too!) saw while in Portland, OR. Those are my towels, just hanging out in Elsa & Sam's lovely shop. Exciting!

7/19/2010

...In Which The Heated Is Asked To Play With Two Remarkable Strangers From Texas

Look, with Renegade around the corner, time is a commodity that I am short on and I already wrote the dorky press release for this show when I listed it on so I'm going to just post that. Is that ok? You'll still show up, right? I'm headlining, people! 



Press Release: The email The Heated received from Golden Arrow Holy Face & Wols had the following subject. "...In Which The Heated Is Asked To Play With Two Remarkable Strangers From Texas." The Heated is based in San Francisco and the remarkable strangers, engaged in touring, received word from a friend in the area that The Heated is your go-to when looking for a bedroom folk companion on a bill at El Rio. It all came together and now you have the fortune of catching a great night of local and touring music at one of your favorite bars. But wait, that's not all. Opening the evening is Charles Sommer of The Cannery. All of this for only $4.00 at one of the best bars in town. 9:00 pm start time.

7/18/2010

Mama Buzz show with Tracy Minicucci

East Bay. Holler! Check out what's up, my friends across the bay. Free and all ages, so you can bring your baby or even your teenage child. Bring 'em if you got 'em. Mama Buzz Cafe. Saturday, August 7th. 8:00 pm.

7/15/2010

It Was Wild

That show at Wild Side West was almost the highlight of Pride Weekend but not quite. The highlight of Pride Weekend was the party that happened at my house after the Dyke March. The party happens every year because I live close enough to Dolores Park to walk and everyone needs to pee. I made fried chicken. It was delicious. Other than that and the Wild Side West show, I laid really low this Pride. What can I say? I'm an old lesbian or something. I stayed up until midnight. Party!

The Wild Side West show was really fun though. There's something about playing in the middle of a bar that just can't be matched. The bar was very receptive to both The Heated and Audrey Howard. Audrey pretty much always brings the house down because she plays hard rock guitar like a bad ass. I'm jealous of how hard she rocks. I'm so earnest and dorky and she's just cool. Sigh. Swoon. Anyway... 

 Oh, and wifey made me a tie. I guess I'm pimping her ties lately. Whatever. They make me swoon too.

7/12/2010

I've Been Ignoring You Again

It gets this way around big craft shows (Renegade Fair is coming!). The house is in complete disarray. There are towels strewn in the hallway (your brown owl is coming soon, my etsy orderer), the front room is crowded with wifey's ties and the kitchen... well, actually the kitchen is clean. Go us! We're actually constructing a complete new booth this time around and it's given me a chance to use my (finally) installed vise on my new workbench! Check it.

First, I had to build up the thickness of enough of the table to support the screws on the underside of the vise. If I had it to do over again, I would have extended this longer than I did. It's a little saggy in the middle. 

I glued it once.
Then added another layer. 

I attached the vise to the underside of the table and installed the legs.

Then I screwed a section of 2x4 into the wall to anchor the table to, for added stability.
Finally, it was standing. I put a coat of oil then wax on it. That's supposed to be good or something. I'm making stuff. I'll show it to you soon.