1/25/2010

Cars Roll Down - Video!

Remember how I mentioned ages ago that I was shooting a video? Well that sucker is finished and up for the world to see! Giant thanks to Craig Wenaweser for directing it. He lended a professionalism that The Heated has not yet seen. It's like a real video. Also, giant thanks to Regina for recording the song. It's great when your friends make you better than you would have been on your own... like twenty times better, I'd say. Statistically, that seems about right.

Cars Roll Down - Performance Version on Vimeo.

1/11/2010

My New Desk

At long last, I'm unveiling the desk I made in last semester's furniture class. The surface is plywood topped with hardboard. Here's how I made it. First, I found a table with rounded corners that I liked and made a template of the curve by placing a sheet of paper over it and tracing it with a pencil. Then I used that template to mark the corners on my piece of plywood and hardboard, making sure to leave the hardboard 1/4" larger than the plywood. Then I sanded the corners to shape (on a disc sander... not by hand) and filed them until they were smooth. Then I glued the hardboard to the plywood, leaving a little bit of overhang on all sides. The odds that I would have gotten these two pieces exactly the same size and shape in the rounded corners would have been slim. By leaving the hardboard slightly oversize, I was able to use a router fitted with a trim bit to cut the hardboard flush with the edges of the plywood.





It took a long time to find the legs I had in mind. The idea was to recreate the institutional looking desks from high school in a modern style. These fit the bill perfectly as they had that classic, tapered leg design but come in black. Plus, the quality for how much they cost is outstanding. Steel, baby. They were very easy to place and screw in... or they probably were. Due to time constraints, my teacher had to do that part for me. Thank you, teacher John!


The pieces holding the keyboard tray are held in place by glue and dowels. The only thing I wish I'd done differently is to use nicer slides. I used some cheap, Ikea slides (made by Hafele) that came from my old desk, which I found on the street. I can always change those out later though. Then I sanded that sucker down, carefully and thoroughly. It's always tempting to rush through the finishing but I really took my time on this one. I put about seven coats for polyurethane finish on it. I went through two spray cans before I realized that I should have just bought the big can to brush on the polyurethane. So, four coats of spray and three coats brushed on. It shines. Oh, how it shines.
My next problem was dealing with the crazy tangle of cords behind the desk I have a fair amount of recording equipment so things get complicated. I came up with this pegboard-with-a-cleat solution. All in all, consider me pleased.


1/03/2010

Game Plan 2010

Oh hello friends. It's been a while so you may be wondering what I've been up to since we last spoke. Mostly, I've been ironing. No, really. Ironing. You see, those darn tea towels went off this holiday season and I literally worked on them before and after my regular (read: better paying) job. My wholesale sales expanded drastically. My etsy store was on fire. Plus, I did two craft fairs. One was a small affair in Oakland that was very sweet (plus I cleaned up... money wise). The other was slightly larger. Again, there was monetary success.

I learned quite a bit and while I had a few disastrous print runs, I learned that I can screen print like hell and I'm even starting to enjoy it. Now I need to learn QuickBooks. Which brings me to my New Year's Resolutions.

1) Tighten my professional game. Yes, I can screen print. But can I do basic accounting? Do I have a business plan? No! I don't. But I will

2) Release another album. I've got the songs. Recording them will be the goal.

3) Steal my camera back from my wife so that I can update my blog more often. Seriously, she's had it for years now. And she broke it. Twice! I keep fixing it, hoping that it will make it until we can buy her a new camera.

I haven't really been thinking about a specific theme to call these resolutions. Um, how about Get Professional 2010? Too boring? Ok, ok. How about Get Ace? That's an informal synonym for professional, you know. I like it. Get Ace.

On Another Note (Get it? Musical note?): I tried to put a band together. Lord help me, I tried. I posted ads online and auditioned people. I emailed so very many more people. I tracked down people that didn't leave contact info. And did I get anyone? No. Nope. Not one. Some things came down to chemistry not quite coming to fruition. Other reasons included new jobs in far away locations and just plain flakiness. Us musician are kind of famous for that. For whatever reason, it wasn't the right time and I'm backing off for now. I can rock a stage all by my lonesome, yes I can. So for now, that's how it is.