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I got a phenomenal response to my request for input on this newsletter. Thanks to all who messaged me. Turns out, an overwhelming number of you like the newsletter the way it is and simply offered encouragement. I also got several excellent suggestions for new features which I’ll be rolling out in the coming weeks. Keep those cards and letters coming!
How to Restore Yellowed Clear Plastic
In this quick Tested video, Adam Savage sets out to restore the lid of a gorgeous vintage Nagra IV-S audio recorder he recently acquired. The machine is in surprisingly good condition, but the clear plastic cover was scratched and badly yellowed. Doing research, he found many recommendations for using 12% hydrogen peroxide. He tried it with partial success. He discovered that finishing it up with plastic polishing compound returned it to something close it is original glory.
Making a Cheap, Simple Air Cleaner for a Small Shop
In this I Build It video, John shows how he made a simple and inexpensive air cleaner for his small woodshop. The air cleaner was made from little more than a small fan, a piece of duct piping, some scrap ply, and a several shop vac air filters. I love the way it can be expanded (with additional filters) via a threaded rod that holds the filters in place.
IKEA Wrenches on Your Pegboard
I just discovered a use for all of those hex wrenches that come with IKEA and other flat-pack furniture. They make perfect pegboard pegs!
Oil Can!
The tin man in dire need of maintenance.
The other day, while oiling a squeaky hinge with some lithium grease, I flashed on my granddad. A consummate tinkerer and inventor, Gramps was obsessed with maintenance. He frequently had his spring-bottom oiler in hand, blue shop rag tangling from his back pocket, going around the house, the yard, his backyard workshop, the car, lovingly maintaining the machinery of his life. I decided in that moment to try and be better at doing the same. Moments later, on Twitter, I saw this Kurt Vonnegut quote: “Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.” Exactly. OIL CAN!
Maker Slang
Slang, jargon, and technical terms for the realms of making things.
Crown pulley – A pulley designwhere the center has a larger diameter than the outer edges, thus a “crown.” Perhaps counter-intuitively, the belt on the pulley will always seek the area of highest tension, returning it to the crown. Via Maker Update.
Promptcrafting – In AI art, it’s all about the quality of the prompts you craft. The better your invocation, the better the magic that gets returned.
Rewilding your attention – Writer Clive Thompson has been promoting the creative benefits of exposing yourself to the novel, the offbeat, the serendipitous. Look beyond what the online algorithms feed you – rewild your attention!
Shop Talk
As stated in the intro, I received many fabulous emails from you, dear readers. Here is one from Paul Cryan. Look for some tips from Paul in a coming issue!
“Thanks for doing all you do. Your tip books [Ed: Vol 1, Vol 2.] are great and I’m really enjoying the newsletter. I bought and devoured both of your books, in Kindle and PDF formats. I refer to them often and having the search function (via either the Kindle app or iBooks, respectively) is really handy. Every few days, I find myself looking at objects in new ways and going back to your references. This past Friday, I didn’t have a clamp within getting-up-from-my-chair distance at my office desk, so I ended up using a pair of pliers and a rubber band to hold together a plastic part I was gluing. Thanks for putting that seed in my head.
“The only problem I have with the weekly newsletter is that it gives me way too many things to think about and try per unit of time!
“With your tips books, I’ve got months to read through them and try things out. This week, I experimented with the lanolin mineral oil mixture to rustproof tools out of your latest tips book and it seems to hold much more promise than Johnson’s Paste Wax for keeping my old restored Shopsmiths looking and working great. I still need to test whether the stickiness can be buffed sufficiently off the power-tool surfaces to avoid particles grabbing, but so far so good. And who doesn’t like that faint smell of ungulates on their metal? 😉
“With the newsletter, I’m interested in just about everything you cover, which leads me to a weekly frenzy of investigation and implementation. Within the past month I’ve upgraded our broken sink strainers to the OXO type (love them), picked up a Williams ratcheting screwdriver (my new favorite ‘good enough’ tool), and bought Fat Boy pencils and FastCap markers that have me wondering how I didn’t know about these things before. And now I’m browsing saw blades!”
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Coloring DC: Batman: Mad Love Featuring Harley Quinn by Paul Dini (author) and Bruce Timm (illustrator) DC Comics 2016, 7.5 x 11.5 x 0.4 inches (softcover)
Over the past few decades the dynamic duo of legacy comic book companies, Marvel and DC, have introduced hundreds of new characters. Most have failed to catch on (sorry, Adam-X, the X-Treme!), and while recently many new characters have garnered acclaim and small cadres of devoted fans, the new Ms. Marvel and Prez have yet to become the next Wolverine.
2016 has seen two major breakthroughs that may pave the way: Marvel’s Deadpool and DC’s Harley Quinn. Both were created in the 1990s and have suddenly become the superhero equivalent of rock stars, with T-shirts and tchotchkes available at every Target and Hot Topic in America. One of them even has their own make-up line (I’ll let you guess who). My dad in his 70s now knows these characters, which I find equally amusing and eye rolling.
Which brings us to coloring books. Okay, maybe not directly, but the ascension of Harley Quinn as a character and the recent popularity of coloring books for adults has created a perfect storm, and now we have Coloring DC – Batman: Mad Love Featuring Harley Quinn, a coloring book written and drawn by her creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. This oversized tome contains a few extra stories of DC heroines and villians on the undercard, but the prime material is a reprinting of the terrific Harley story Mad Love.
While she was originally created for Batman: The Animated Series, no story has defined her as much as Mad Love. Her origin as both a gymnast and psychiatrist is laid out, her love for the Joker in all its complicated (and icky) glory is explained, and most importantly it showcases her as a real character. She’s not a sidekick, she’s not the Joker’s girlfriend, she’s someone who’s been searching for something and now that she thinks she’s found it she’ll do anything (and kill anyone) to get it. Oh, and there are fights and piranhas and Batman being smart and everything else you could possible want in a Batman story. There’s a reason it won the Eisner Award (the comics’ equivalent of an Oscar) and is still being reprinted more than 20 years later. The story is fast-paced, funny, exciting, and disturbingly sweet. It’s the perfect Harley Quinn story and it’s fun to read.
One thing about Harley is that she can comfortably fit in a story for kids or adults, even if she sometimes sports lingerie (“It’s just her pajamas,” I told my nephew). Kids can enjoy Harley and the Joker’s antics and Batman’s heroics, while adults can read the story and understand the sadness and sickness that lies beneath it and makes the Batman world such an oddball creation. Plus with this version you get to color it!
I haven’t colored anything since I was maybe 10 so this was a new experience for me (my son is a year old and hasn’t quite developed enough Crayola patience), and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Even quickly scribbling in colors made me appreciate Timm’s smooth lines and minimalist artwork. He can define body language and convey attitude with the merest of curves. No line is wasted and no line would improve it. It’s amazing work and getting to savor the panels through coloring gave me even greater appreciation for the art of comics and the talent of Bruce Timm.
Even if you’ve read this story I highly recommend experiencing it a different way. There’s no racing from speech balloon to speech balloon, no jumping through panels to get to something that caught your eye as you turned the page. You can slowly pour through the book and experience what I think is easily one of the best Batman stories (plus you’ll soon realize how incredible the work of a comic book colorist can be and how much skill it takes). There’s no escaping Harley Quinn this year, so succumb to her charms, grab a box of crayons, and test your coloring mettle against a great story. You’ll have as much fun as Harley and Mr. J blowing something up for no good reason, I guarantee it. – Rob Trevino
DIGITAL PAINTING TECHNIQUES – ART TUTORIALS BY MANY DIFFERENT ARTISTS
Digital Painting Techniques: Masters Collection Vol. 1 by 3dtotal Focal Press 2016, 288 pages, 8.8 x 11.2 x 1 inches (softcover)
At first glance, Digital Painting Techniques appears to be a step-by-step tutorial book. It is … in a way. This isn’t a follow-along/how-to-draw book where you copy what you see. Rather, it introduces you to both the techniques and styles of many artists and the steps that they take to accomplish goals. It’s really more liberating this way – you’re free to work on any subject matter while still following along with the tutorials.
Digital Painting Techniques focuses on essential basics like creating custom brushes, speed painting, creating environments, nailing key human characteristics, integrating photography, and more. Some of the artists have even provided free resources (brushes, images, and artwork) that can be downloaded from the Focal Press website for free.
Filled with more than just great tutorials, the book is filled with inspirational artwork that will get your creative juices flowing. The only downside is that you will want to try to replicate the artwork, and then you will feel discouraged when it fails to meet the same quality as the original. For this reason, I highly recommend applying the methods and techniques to your own original creations. This book is for beginner and intermediate digital painters, and great works of art are not going to come pouring out of the computer right away. But, with some practice, you can be on your way to creating your own unique paintings and illustrations. – Robert Nava
Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair.Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.
The tin man in dire need of maintenance.
