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Design Inspiration for the Inventive Mind..

October 7, 2018 By Zog

Pastels on the Plaza 2018

Pastel Autumn tree

I was, unfortunately, unable to get back to Pastels on the Plaza in the evening to get some good pictures of finished artwork, so this year I’ll be focusing a bit more on the in-progress works. I did the above pastel, as usual, for local landscaper Genevieve Schmidt.

When I arrived at the plaza at 8AM it was wet from the night’s rains. After picking up my pastels and choosing a square in a location that seemed promising, I settled in to get to work. It seems like every year, the supposedly 3’x6′ and 3’x’3′ squares get smaller and smaller, this year by about 25%. I’ve learned to bring a tape measure. It’s not so much an issue of them being too small, although that further limits what can be done, but it can throw a wrench in well laid plans to find yourself with a whole different aspect ratio than you expected. I was hoping to put my lettering down the sides to frame things and give me a taller end result and keep me from sitting on the lettering while I worked, but the square was too narrow, so I reluctantly went with left and bottom.

My mom was here to work with me again this year, and I was grateful for her assistance. There’s space for someone both above and below the square, so I highly recommend bringing a friend. It’s also a good idea to bring brushes, regardless of whether you plan on working wet, because sometimes the weather doesn’t give you the option. The day dried out once the sun came out, but starting in a wet square was nice. I learned on my first year that it makes things easier to get an initial layer of pastel down and blended wet, and that it’s important to go over everything before it dries out, or else it’s really obvious where the division between wet and dry pastel happened.

Holly Yashi 2018

Leah Vaughn, working on behalf of Holly Yashi Jewelry, warded off the changing of the seasons with this summery likeness. I never would have considered trying to do herringbone. I can barely even draw a crisp line under these conditions, much less keep my lights and darks separate.

Alibi 2018

The artist who does The Alibi every year is consistently excellent. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see it finished, and so far, I seem to be the only one giving the event much coverage. I like her use of color here, and there are a lot of challenges doing this kind of thing. Faces are hard,  more than usual due to rough surface and colors that don’t like to blend in expected ways. She even managed to draw in glasses. I’ve never done anything as crisp as that logo she does every year, and that square is twice the size of mine.

pastel portraitPlaza work in progressThese two were doing some high level work too. A big portrait, done quickly, and this other complicated work that I would have liked to see when it was completed. Working in outline over white is tough. Mistakes show, and I don’t see any.

Plaza DragonThe girls working on this dragon were doing the event for the first time. They did a great job, and I hope to see them back in future years.

A few more that caught my eye:

Pastel Plaza Pastel elphants Primal pastel emerald tiger Sea serpent Om Shala pastel Vote you can do it PBS passtel

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas, Reviews Tagged With: Art, Design Inspiration, Pastels on the Plaza, Review

October 9, 2017 By Zog

Pastels on the Plaza 2017 – Arcata

Pastels on the Plaza is my favorite of Arcata’s yearly events, and this year was above average. The weather was pleasant, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the event, the music, and the farmer’s market.

This was my tenth year doing the event, and as always, I was doing a square for the best landscape designer on the north coast, Genevieve Schmidt.

I like to use the event as an excuse to try out new ideas and tools. For several years now, I’ve been wanting to try something more impressionist, and this year, I finally just dove in and went for it. I ditched my usual tame color palette and my small blending tools in favor of using every color in the box, and a full size, 8″ bench brush as my paint brush. My mom also drove half way across the state to help me out and was instrumental every step of the way, not least by doing all of my lettering so I could focus on other things.

Pastels on the Plaza 2017

I didn’t push things in the foreground quite as much as I had intended because the navy and purple pastels were a bit too drab and crumbly.

When a business donates to Northcoast Children’s Services, the get either a 3×3′ square or 3×6′ (usually actually 3×5′) landscape. I really wanted to do something in a portrait orientation, so I moved the text area from the bottom to the sides, and I think it worked out well. I continued the black border a bit at top and bottom, which really framed it and took it out of the fray.

Leah Vaughn did the square next to me for Holly Yashi jewelry. I love how it came out. It manages to have a strong subject in the masterfully done hummingbird, and also fade smoothly into a whole different kind of design around the edges. The grey background really left a lot of open color palette for the rest, and probably saved a lot of frustration transitioning between foreground and background.Holly Yashi hummingbird pastel

Stencils seemed to be the innovation of the day all around the square. Getting perspective and spacing to look right can be really hard in this format, with the big horizontal space and ever changing lighting. I don’t think Casey Vaughn’s perforated paper method worked out as planned, but luckily, he’s got enough lettering skills to freehand it anyway. He was working on behalf of Pizza Gago, a local woodfired pizza maker.

Pizza Gago plaza

Due to some scheduling conflicts, I didn’t get to do my usual afternoon walkaround to see all the finished squares, so this year, we’ll go with more of a look at things in progress.

This guy was doing a fun square using a small brush and spray bottle. It’s a technique that didn’t work out for me when I tried it, but maybe I’ll have to revisit it. It seems like it helps to fill in the crevices and make solid color areas, which I could have used to get my black areas darker.

Unicorn sunglasses

Cafe Mokka is a great little local coffee shop with hot tubs and saunas. Their artist did an impressive job of  translating an iconic design, and getting an extremely smooth, crisp look on the concrete, which may not come through in the picture because it was in the dappled shade of tree branches.

Cafe mokka chat noir

I didn’t get to see the artist working on this piece for the Siren’s Song Tavern, but I think they must have perfected some kind of template technique.

Siren's Song

This lady really had her system worked out, with her muffin pan mortar and pestle, and Yuban water. They don’t really make tool sets for sidewalk pastel, so we have to come up with our own.

Mike Craghead did another big black and white of an awesome locomotive with Buster Keaton.

Mike Craghead pastel 2017

Though I must admit I mistook it for Bill Nye.Science guy

 

The Alibi has a great pastel every year. Their artist has an impressive ability to get their logo perfect with just a picture, a fistful of bushes, and a ruler.

Alibi pastel 2017

One last shot for a bit of context:

Arcata Pastels

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas, Reviews Tagged With: Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Pastels on the Plaza, Review

May 28, 2017 By Zog

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2017 Arcata

Despite the rainiest winter in my memory, the 2017 Kinetic Sculpture Race kicked off in Arcata on a calm, dry morning.

kinetic dragon 2017

This big red dragon was the most ambitious sculpture I saw this year.

kinetic rooster sculpture

This giant orange rooster had a ton of followers.

alchemy kinetic

Alchemy construction built something with stained glass windows on top.

Kinetic bus

This kinetic VW racer fit right in with its surroundings.

Soul train sculpture

This Soul Train picture doesn’t do the sculpture justice. It was disco ball shiny and metallic.

 

Santa reindeer bicycle

Santa with an airhorn.

kinetic walker sculpture

The individual racers really stepped up this year.

dragon support crew

kinetic metal thing

kinetic merry

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas, Reviews Tagged With: Arcata, Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Kinetic Sculpture Race, Review

February 5, 2017 By Zog

Safe Ceramic Frying Pan Coating

After a quick search for a safe ceramic frying pan coating turned into days of research and frustration, I decided that it was time to just put up an article with my findings and keep it updated to save you, and myself, the trouble of starting over from square one the next time a pan wears out.

There have been acronyms and trademarks aplenty in this search, and unfortunately, they are more often used to obscure the truth than to enlighten. Let’s see if we can peel back the obfuscation like old Teflon and get to some truth. Our goals here are to find a frying pan coating that doesn’t release anything notably unhealthy into our food or air, does a good job of cooking food, and doesn’t wear out quickly, more or less in that order.

PTFE

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, Teflon. For preventing food from sticking, it can’t be beat. The problem arises when it gets hot. Teflon is a fluorocarbon thermoplastic polymer made of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which, above 392 °F,  begins to releases all manner of harmful acronyms. When the temperature gets above 500 °F, it starts to really come apart to a point where the fumes alone can be lethal to birds and both acutely and chronically harmful to you. These temperatures aren’t even all that hot when it comes to cooking. Keep in mind that we aren’t talking about the average temperature of your food, but the high temperature of the surface of your pan. This is well below the smoke point of many cooking oils, so this could be occurring before the point where you’ve even burnt your food.

PTFE ScanPan

 

If you’re willing to risk low level acronym exposure, and are willing to have a frying pan that you use only for sticky low temperature foods, the best nonstick pan I’ve found is the ScanPan. They’ve done their best to minimize problems from scratching and overheating, but it is still made of PTFE.

Second guess yourself

When shopping through sites like amazon, keep in mind that the sellers and reviewers there are generally not the original manufacturers. This is important from a litigation perspective, since they can mislead you about the actual content of the product, and the manufacturer is unlikely to jump in to enlighten you that the product is actually not as good as a third party advertised.

While all of the other acronyms you will run into while looking into nonstick pans are likely real things of real concern, they are generally things that PTFE degrades to when heated, so stay focused. Don’t assume a pan is safe until you’ve been to the manufacturer website and seen them make the claim that it is PTFE free. The ScanPan above is a great example. To read the amazon sales page and reviews, you would think it’s PTFE free, but check their own website and you see that it is coated with “a specially formulated PTFE that works in conjunction with SCANPAN’s patented ceramic titanium surface technology. Details are proprietary to SCANPAN.”

Something else to note from the above quote is that we see the terms PTFE and ceramic thrown around in the same coating. Ceramic doesn’t mean safe. Ceramic doesn’t mean PTFE free. A ceramic is any nonmetallic solid that remains hard when heated, which is a term so vague that you could apply it to just about any frying pan coating. Conversely, nonstick doesn’t mean Teflon, it just means that things don’t stick to it. What the base pan is made of rarely matters beyond heat conduction or compatibility with induction cooktops. Aluminum is standard. I’ve yet to find a stainless, copper, or titanium nonstick pan that is convincingly non-PTFE, though there are some from Chinese companies with poorly documented claims of safe ceramic coatings.

Once you think you’ve found the pan of your dreams, please, take another moment to think about what assumptions you may be making. Go to the manufacturer’s website. Find where it’s made. Make sure they’ve explicitly stated whatever it is that you find important in their product.

Safe Ceramic Nonstick

Lets look at those frying pan coatings that go out of their way to advertise themselves as safe ceramic and PTFE free. So far I’ve found four ceramic coatings that are used by a variety of brands. They are Thermolon, Ecolon, Greblon, and Stonetec. These are all trademarks for various proprietary processes. They won’t tell us what’s in them, but they assure us they’re safe ceramic. You can click the category headers below to see a selection of the better frying pans made with each coating.

Ecolon

Ecolon is a ceramic-glass reinforced Nylon 6 coating applied with a sol-gel process. Glass reinforced nylon 6 is sometimes used for flame resistance. I wouldn’t say that nylon is especially scary as plastics go. Your toothbrush is probably made of it. It’s got good abrasion resistance, and doesn’t seem to be made with anything especially nasty. It does release hydrogen cyanide when burned, which, while deadly, is more of an acute risk than chronic. I’m still not sure I’m on board with cooking in a nylon frying pan.
Ecolon frying pan

It sure makes for a nice looking pan though. Yes, it’s faceted, inside and out. This is the NeoFlam Carat, lined with Greblon ceramic. It states on the manufacturer website that it doesn’t contain PTFE, which is great so long as you don’t mind cooking in nylon. Made in Korea.

Thermolon

The people who make the Thermolon coating took to the web to combat some misinformation about their coating composition and stated that, “Thermolon has an elemental composition of oxygen(O), silicon(Si), carbon(C), aluminum(Al) and titanium(Ti). ” If that is truly all that is in it, then it should be pretty safe. Ceramic could still conceivably be unsafe within that boundary, but not likely. Thermolon also has a pdf that goes to great lengths to tell us very little about their coating, but does confirm that it is PTFE free, and a list of some test results, though they don’t specify which of their many formulations was tested. Their website says all of the Thermolon coatings are PTFE-free.

Thermolon_diamond

 

 

The GreenPan line seems to be the most popular of the Thermolon coated pans. They’ve got a really nice looking pan made for Sur La Table that is 18/10 stainless with an aluminum core for even heating, and the newest Thermolon formulation, a diamond impregnated PTFE-free ceramic coating. They haven’t updated their documentation for the diamond coating, but I have found info on how diamond can be added to such a coating, so it’s credible. Here’s their video sales pitch. Made in China.

Stonetec

Stonetec skillet - WaxonWare

WaxonWare has developed a coating they’re calling Stonetec. Their site says it’s PTFE free, and made “overseas”, so assume your least favorite nation of origin.  The above pan has a Stonetec coated aluminum core. I’m posting it because it’s a reasonably major brand stating clearly that it’s PTFE free, but they aren’t giving us much more to go on.

Greblon

I’ve gone through my share of Greblon pans over the years, having owned 5 Green Earth frying pans. They wear out eventually, and now that I’m looking at things with eyes hardened by skepticism and betrayal, I notice that the Ozeri Green Earth website is terrible, and it’s just secondary sellers making claims about the composition of these Chinese made pans. Looking into the Greblon coating specifically, I see that there are six different Greblon formulations, four of which have PTFE. I can’t find much info on what is in the two non-PTFE formulations, so at this point we still know slightly more than nothing about them.

I’ve noticed a subset of Greblon pans that pretend they are made of granite. So far, every one I’ve looked into is just speckled PTFE Greblon, labeled as things like STONEHENGE.

At this point, I can’t even recommend a Greblon pan. I’m only finding one pan that specifies that it uses one of the non-PTFE formulations, and It’s just a claim by the amazon seller. I can’t find any sign of it on the parent company’s site. They appear to be sold by a German company, but made in China. Until we as consumers demand some transparency and accountability, sellers will continue to find deception more profitable than telling us what’s in their assuredly safe ceramic coatings.

Cast Iron

After reading about all these supposedly safe ceramic nonstick coatings, you’re probably about ready to try your hand at cast iron seasoning. Reading up on the subject left we with the impression that it is more superstition than science. My question here was the same as for finding a safe ceramic coating, what is the seasoned coating made of, and how safe is it?  After reading several forums on the same question, and the wikipedia article, I’d say the answer is: We don’t know, but it’s probably a lacquer, soap, or plastic by the time it’s done polymerizing. Sure, that’s better than PTFE or hydrogen cyanide, but it’s also a very fragile coating, and you’re likely to end up eating it in quantity.

Add to that, the iron from the pan ends up in the food in surprisingly massive quantities. That’s great if you’re anemic, but do a bit of research and you’ll find excessive iron buildup in the body being blamed for all sorts of problems in older men and post-menopausal women, from inflammation, to blood thickening/clotting, to accelerated aging from the free-radicals. Personally, I get more than I should already from meat and green vegetables.

Hard Anodized Coatings

ManPan hardcoat

One other coating of interest is hardcoat. A ManPan, from Lloyd’s Pans. PTFE free, oven safe, heat safe to 700°F, metal utensils encouraged, and made in the USA. They state all of this clearly on the manufacturer’s website. The pan is coated with hard anodized aluminum.

Aluminum gets a bit of a bad rap in the alternative health communities, but that doesn’t make sense to me. Aluminum is the most abundant metallic element on earth at 8.3% by mass, and it’s concentrated in the crust (where we live). We’ve evolved in a high aluminum environment, and it’s excreted by our kidneys. People eat aluminum hydroxide as an antacid. It’s in baking powder, beverage cans, and aluminum foil. Most of the pans above are made of aluminum under those coatings. Current guidelines say that you would need to eat something like 3 grams of aluminum a day to exceed your body’s ability to excrete it and have notable toxicity. The Alzheimer’s scare seems to have more to do with a breakdown in the brain’s cleaning system than with aluminum itself.

The hard anodized aluminum coating on the ManPan should be around the hardness of the hardest steels, and stable enough to not notably come off while cooking. I’ve been considering trying one, but I’m a bit concerned about their topcoat. They don’t say what’s in it. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s something similar to Tufram. I don’t know what’s in that either, except that it’s a topcoat for aluminum with the properties they describe, and is FDA approved for use in food processing and cooking.

Stainless Steel

Stainless gets good marks for safety. I’ve been using a good 18/10 stainless for my other pots for many years without complaint. Stainless doesn’t heat evenly, so an aluminum core is a big plus and also cuts down the weight. Sticking can be a problem. The general consensus is that you should preheat the pan on low heat, and then expect the food to stick a bit and then release when things get going. These pans are chemically durable, so cook what you want in them, but be careful not to scratch them up with utensils or cleaning. I’m not convinced that mirror finish is a plus, but scratches definitely hurt functionality.

Cook's Standard

This one from Cook’s standard looks like a good combination of features and price.

I wish I could claim to have found a sure thing, safe ceramic coating after all of this. The Thermolon probably has the best claim at this point of being a safe ceramic. I’ve already updated the post to reflect a couple new additions, and I’ll continue to update this post as new products arrive. If you’ve got information that you think would contribute to the post or readers in search of a better pan, please comment below. I’ll be moderating the comments to keep things productive and will add to the post as needed.

Filed Under: Imperfection, Innovation, Reviews, Tools Tagged With: Innovation, Materials Science, Product Review, Review, Tool

October 3, 2016 By Zog

Pastels on the plaza 2016 Arcata

I’ve never understood why they pick the first week in October for Pastels on the Plaza. We inevitably have our first rain that week. While I’m sure some bureaucrat somewhere thought this would be a good way to make sure all of that unsightly artwork didn’t stick around, it also makes for a tense morning wondering if if we’re going to spend the whole morning sitting in a puddle getting rained on. Even a couple weeks earlier would be much better. This year our first big rain arrived the evening of the event, so if you didn’t show up to the event itself, you missed it.

Pastels on the plaza 2016 - sparrow and flowers

This year my mom came to help me, which was awesome. I like to get the creative work mostly done before I arrive. There’s enough chaos to think about on the plaza without having to come up with a plan too. We did this sketch of a bug’s eye view of a house sparrow and flowers. I like to have a central subject for some crowd appeal, and come up with a design that works well with both the pastel colors and the rough sidewalk. I was working for Genevieve Schmidt, a local landscaper. This one went quick and easy. Maybe next year I’ll have to challenge myself again.

Leah Vaughn Pastel flowers

 

I was sitting by Leah Vaughn, working for local jewelry company Holly Yashi. I like the fancy flowers and the way the two unblended background colors went together. The colors didn’t come through completely in the photo. The best weather for photographing the event is  bright overcast. We had alternating sun and shade all morning, and then sun for the end of the event.

Pizzagago pastel

Casey Vaughn did the square for Pizza Gago. Bricks and walls are always a good choice. They work well with the chalk pastel pigments and the roughness of the sidewalk.

Susan Devine - Pastel 2016

Susan Devine did this for the Morris Graves Foundation, and I think it’s her best one yet. All of the companies in the event are donating the money for the square to North Coast Children’s services, and the artists are donating their time. Combine it with live music and a farmer’s market, and you have a great event.

Priimal Decor - pastel

This one for Primal Decor was actually my favorite this year. Their artist always does an exceptional job. It isn’t complete in this picture, but when I came back later, it had been dulled down by the wind. As an artist, sometimes it’s just some little thing that catches my eye. There were other squares that arguably came out better in some overall sense, but there is something in the colors and textures on the face that I found really enviable. I’m going to have to spend a few minutes watching them work one of these years.

Ramones pastel

This still life for Ramones Bakery also impressed me. She was working wet, with brushes. It’s a common method, but not one I’ve employed unless it’s already raining. I tend to just make mud. It does make for a smooth and vibrant result though. I was most impressed with the gold border on the plate. I think a bit more black in the background would have brought things up a notch.

Humboldt Area Foundation

Erin, Jill, and Cat have been making my list for a while now with their excellent work for Humboldt Area Foundation.

And below are some others that caught my eye this year. You can click any of the pictures in this post to see a larger image.

20161001_150611

20161001_150755

20161001_150903

20161001_150910

20161001_151256

20161001_151304

20161001_115731

20161001_150554

 

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas, Reviews Tagged With: Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Pastels on the Plaza, Review

May 30, 2016 By Zog

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2016 – Arcata

Good weather caused a nice turnout for Kinetic Sculpture Race 2016. The race starts in Arcata at noon, every Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and continues through the sand dunes, and down Dead Man’s Drop. Saturday, it’s into the bay in Eureka, and on Sunday, racing to the finish line in Ferndale.Dragon kinetic

Dragonass. I remember a very similar dragon made of styrofoam from many years ago. I wonder if they used the same base?

Planet 9 sculpture

Planet 9, sponsored by Pierson’s Building Center. Move over Whirled Peas, there’s a new spinner in town and it’s awesome. The raised clouds casting shadows on the planet were an awesome touch. It spins slowly. I can’t explain the cats.steampunk shark

Lost Coast Brewery steampunk shark. We’ve seen it before, but that’s ok. It’s a crowd pleaser, despite being barely seaworthy.

kinetic mushrooms

Atomic Funguys. The Funguys really went all in on the neon this year.

Humdinger hummingbird sculpture

Humdinger. The pilot was playing a trumpet.

kinetic table

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. You can always tell who the race officials are by the number of bribes they have pinned to their shirts. Bringing a table along proved a convenient decision when a bureaucrat showed up with a stack of paperwork.possum sculptureP-awesome. This has to have been the most barked at sculpture in the race.

volcano sculpture

Lava Rocks. It looks like a comfortable place to sport a cool mohawk.

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Reviews Tagged With: Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Kinetic Sculpture Race, SteamPunk

October 3, 2015 By Zog

Pastels on the Plaza 2015 Arcata

Chicken portrait pastels on the plaza

Pastels on the Plaza might just be the most weather dependent event Arcata has. There’s nothing like sitting in the middle of the town square from dawn till midday at the edge of winter, drawing with colored powder. This year brought the dreaded wind. Everything is going along fine a few hours in and then a gust plows through the plaza and throws all your highlights across neighboring artwork, eliciting a collective groan.

This year, I did a portrait of Esther for Genevieve Schmidt Landscape. She was a sweet old hen. We had her for many years, and she was old when we got her. I stopped sketching at the point I realized that the wind was taking things away from me faster than I could add them. Despite the wind, or maybe because of it,  this was the fastest I’ve completed a pastel. I was 80% done in two hours, and then stuck around a while adding finishing touches.

Each year I try to add some sort of innovation to my process. This year it was a boxing glove on my off hand, so I wouldn’t have sore knuckles from leaning on concrete all morning. It worked great and will be back in my kit next year.

Holly Yashi floral pastel Leah Vaughn

Next to me on one side was Leah Vaughn, doing a large square for Holly Yashi jewelry. This is twice the size of mine, but I think it would feel like four times the work. I’m always impressed when someone finishes one.

20151003_133848

To my other side was Casey Vaughn with his epic square for Pizza Gago. The only way Pizza Gago could be any more awesome is if eagles really did deliver their pizzas.


The Alibi- Pastel 2015

The artist who does the Alibi is consistently excellent. I didn’t get a shot of the finished product because she was still working up near 2:00. She gets bonus points for not compromising her quality through adversity. If you click the picture to zoom in, you will see the toll the weather has taken. I’ve worked under that tree a few times. It’s great on the sunny days. Not so much in the wind or rain.

HAF pastels 2015

Humboldt Area Foundation is another one I’ve featured before. This one was signed Cat Erin and Jill. Whatever their division of labor was, the results came out awesome. Like the previous pastel, this is done with water and brushes. Whenever I’ve tried this, I’ve ended up with mud.

Wallace -pastel 2015

Here I was three squares away from Wallace and didn’t even notice or I would have stopped to say hello.

Craghead 2015 pastel

Never one to stay within the lines, Mike Craghead has been doing this near forever, and has consistently been one of the better squares. He was a couple squares down from me. The east side sets the bar high.

And some honorable mentions. There were several I just couldn’t get a good picture of due to crowds and shadows, so if you made an awesome square and it isn’t here, I’m sure that’s why.

Soul to soul

Garden Gate- pastels 2015

Heart Bead art

Pacific Buildere

Stacey Kett Acupuncture

Emerald City Laundry pastels

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Reviews Tagged With: Animals, Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Pastels on the Plaza, Review

May 25, 2015 By Zog

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2015 Arcata-Ferndale

Memorial Day once again brings the Kinetic Sculpture Race to Humboldt.

Traditionally, the race begins on the Arcata Plaza with the noon siren. Due to the dismantling of the fire house, the siren had to be carted in and manually started, which happened 15 minutes late, and the mishaps didn’t stop there.

There were a lot of racers dealing with new art or equipment, and some big newcomers.

Kinetic Elephant

This zombie pink elephant was exactly what I like to see in the race. It was original, attention grabbing, and gave the impression that an equal measure of attention had been given to both art and machine.

steampunk shark

 

I don’t say this often, but this steampunk shark was such a well polished design that I would welcome seeing it back without much alteration in future years. As much as I like to see new stuff, I hate to see something like this scrapped in the name of progress. The tophats of the riders even popped open to reveal shark teeth.

kinetic butterfly

I think this butterfly was the first catastrophic casualty. It only made it a few blocks before breaking down and calling it a day, which is unfortunate. Better luck next year.

Kinetic whale

This Blue whale skeleton was just shy of life size, and it was their first time on the course after traveling all the way from Sacramento. Things were looking good until they hit a crosswind that broke the head loose.

Whale restoration

The couple on the right are getting married at the finish line, so turning back was not an option. Half an hour later they had it back together and were back in the race, though they had to repeat the whole procedure again later.

Starship Voyager sculpture

 

These guys boldly went until about Dead Man’s Drop before they broke down and spent the night on the wrong side of the bridge.

Kinetic official

As always, Kinetic officials were everywhere, looking for infractions and heavily laden with bribes.

Borg costume

 

This Borg was apparently finding plenty of culture to assimilate.

 

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas Tagged With: Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Innovation, Kinetic Sculpture Race, SteamPunk

October 4, 2014 By Zog

Pastels on the Plaza 2014 Arcata

It was a scorching hot day in Arcata, and the sidewalk artists were out in force.

borage and honey  bee

A morning of wrestling with the lamp post that was right where I wanted to sit and squinting into the sun made me grateful I had planned my design out in advance. I went with a honey bee and borage flower for my sponsor, local landscaper Genevieve Schmidt. I thought it would be well suited to the chalk/pastel color palette. It took longer than I thought because I’m not the kind of artist that will be satisfied with a solid color out of the box, so I ended up blending everything anyway.

Leah Vaughn Holly Yashi pastel 2014

I always come home at the end of the day sore and tired and complaining that I didn’t get to stay longer and finish that last thing. Leah Vaughn, who did this square for Holly Yashi jewelry, takes this hard headed determination to  whole different level, doing a square twice the size, baby in tow, only scant weeks after giving birth.

Plaza whiskey pastel

There are a lot of things we think about in planning a pastel design for an event like this. The commentary of passers-by teaches us a lot about what people like to see. Mine was polarizing, with people either loving or hating bees. I like to do something that gets the kids excited. Local graphic designer Casey Vaughn did the above pastel for Plaza, which was a hit with the graybeards, but for whatever reason, today’s youth has little appreciation for a decanter of single malt whiskey. One of my favorites of the day. I kinda want to hang it up over my bar.

Susan Devine 2014 pastel

Susan Devine did this dreamscape with stained glass bird for Barbara Rips.

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Here’s a view of the action. I’m sorry I didn’t find time to get more shots like this..

the alibi pastel

My favorite of the day was this spider with geometric web for The Alibi. This artist has been consistently excellent over the years.

Wallace pastels 2014

Jerry Lee Wallace is a personal favorite of mine every year. This one I would hang on my wall.

flatmo pastels 2014

It wouldn’t feel like Pastels on the Plaza without Duane Flatmo. As usual, this was huge, about four times the size of the average square, but it probably seems small to a guy who paints whole buildings.

Talisman jack o lantern art

Talisman beads had an interesting concept here, and executed it perfectly.

And there were hundreds of other artists on the plaza. Here’s a small exerpt:

ramones bakery pastel
garden gate pastel 2014

 

jitter bean pastel

pacific builders pastel

pastel elephant

 

trooper

 

Filed Under: Design Inspiration Tagged With: Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Pastels on the Plaza

May 25, 2014 By Zog

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2014

It was a beautiful Arcata day for the start of the annual Kinetic Grand Championship. Racers seemed to be focused on their machines this year. There wasn’t the usual fire-breathing spectacle, but there a lot of mid-sized machines, heavy on gears and muscle. Everyone made an effort to bring something at least a little new this time. Listening to the interviews with the judges, I definitely got the impression that they were looking for something novel as well as functional.

Kinetic sculpture shark

If I had to pick a favorite this year, I’d go with this shark. The lower jaw doesn’t have a center, so kids could stand in it to get their picture taken in the jaws.This is the first time I think an entry has been too seaworthy. It would have had a better look if it had rode a little lower in the water. It floated at about wheel level.

 

Star Trukkers kinetic This starship Enterprise lookalike was called Star Trukkers. It had a nice clean look and seemed to perform well.

 

Hell on Axles kinetic

Hell on axles was certainly vibrant.

 

Kinetic low rider

 

I don’t know anything about these guys, but I really like something about the design. It looked comfortable, something like pedalling around on a reclining couch. Normally, I would be concerned about being able to stop without just rolling around like a hamster in an out of control hamster wheel, but the low center of gravity and two person seating really makes this one seem stable and easy to control.

 

Kinetic sphinx

Race Like an Egyptian had, ahem, quite a prow on it. Didn’t do so hot when it hit water. Not the most streamlined float ever, but an entertaining entry.

 

Kinetic oyster

Blue Oyster Cult. I’m a bit puzzled, but googly eyes make everything better. Nice barnacles too.

 

Lost Coast Mutineers

Lost Coast Mutnineers. We’ve seen better pirate ships, but this one had the engineering to make it work well.

 

Kinetic Train

This thing needed some dry ice or something, but it looked good for how little there was to it. I’d be interested to see one of the big players run with this idea in metal and propane.

 

Kinetic Screw

I don’t know the story behind this one. I like it, but I wish they had used the screw for water propulsion, or at least had it spinning.

 

Crowd of Unknowing

They were calling this one Cloud of Unknowing. I’m going with Crowd of Unknowing. Supposedly the most drivers ever in one entry at a dozen. One of these years, someone is going to refit an old school bus with bicycle propulsion in all the seats and enter it in the race. It does seem like the ones with more people function pretty well, but I’ve been seeing an increase in the number of entries that have a bunch of people pedaling like mad to propel something at a fast walk.

Duane Flatmo Doomed Buggy

Here’s Duane Flatmo in his Doomed Buggy. Not his usual spectacular entry, but it’s always good to see him in the race. This one was a bit front heavy (I’ve seen the back wheel come off the ground a few times) and flipped over going down Dead Man’s Drop. Duane suffered only minor injuries and was right back in the pilot’s seat.

Thank you to all of the people who worked so hard for our entertainment. I look forward to next year.

Filed Under: Design Inspiration, Ideas Tagged With: Art, Design Inspiration, DIY, Kinetic Sculpture Race, Review

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