A CLOTHESPIN DEER HEAD

I've been stumped on a project I am working on, so I decided to go on a bit of a tangent and do a small structural study on an everyday clothespin. It's such a nifty concept when you think about it. It's made of two wooden pieces that pivot like a seesaw around a metal spring. The force in the spring causes the wood pieces to act in compression, which gives it a gripping force that is able to hold up objects that are many times its own weight. It's no wonder we've been using it since the 1800s!

When combined with other clothespins, this simple object yields an endless amount of shapes and types of connections; forming curves, lines, corners, depth and height.  I decided to see how far this could go and used it to create a deer head.  It would be interesting to see if there was a way to use this concept for a structural system in a building!

oh and p.s.: a post about the structural properties of another everyday object: an egg

MY FIRST ESTATE SALE FIND

Man oh man, for people living in LA- has it been hot or what? 108/109 in our parts last week!

We took these photos while Taylor and I were checking out estate sales around Mulholland Drive. (Estate sale, as in buying people's used things, not buying estates (for thrifting noobs like me who might have needed that clarification!))  It's such a pretty area! The views are spectacular!

 I've never been big on craigslist, flea markets, garage sales etc... but decided to give it a try.   I'm looking forward to going with Frances when she's feeling better, so she can teach me her ways! I was skeptical I'd find anything I liked, but I ended up getting this huge frame. It doesn't show very well in the picture, but it's really big- almost up to my shoulders in height! I painted the backboard with chalkboard paint, and drew some flowers inspired by the tall flowers we saw while walking around in the first picture.

For now I have it sitting in our apartment to add some color, but I think I want to eventually get around to starting over and drawing a big calendar on the chalkboard and hanging over my desk where I can also pin inspiration and pictures on. That's the beauty of chalkboards right? Erasing and starting over- an indecisive person's dream!

PACK YOUR SANDWICH IN A COLOR BLOCKED LUNCHBOX

PAINT IT:



FOLD IT:


MAKE IT:






WRAP IT:


PACK IT:


GO!