#274

Hello, and whatcha know?
First order of business... pictures of my electric bike are a bit overdue, I think. So here 'tis.


Jo helped me wrap the battery up in canvas that I butchered from my old guitar gig bag, so that bag can continue to follow me on my adventures, even if I don't play in bands anymore.


It's sitting on what used to be our breadbox, which as you can imagine never saw too many adventures... unless you count making toast. I pretty much ride this thing everywhere now, which is greatly increasing my odds of kissing the pavement, so I'm thinking about getting some knee pads. A lot of cars misjudge my speed and pull out in front of me, since I now travel at twice the speed of your average middle-aged dude on a bike.
I'm still working on my music video. I needed to do some screen tests to try out my TV head, so I worked that footage into a little video for you.


I used a song fragment that I wrote and sped it up, the result of which is quite ridiculous. Jo says my song is catchy, which was a compliment the first time she said it. But she looks less and less pleased the more she finds herself singing it. Catchy like the flu, I guess.
And last but certainly not least, we've got some new designs listed on etsy, so if you're not too busy trying to erase my song from your head with a taser, stop by and check them out.

-Dylan

#273

Hi, all.
Since we have these cool paper dolls now, I thought I'd try my hand at a little animation using them. Maybe I got a little carried away. So if you're easily shocked or offended, this might not be for you.
I've been meaning to take some video of my electric bike to share with you as well, but my right hand is so cramped up now from working the computer mouse for this last little video that it will have to wait.
Hope you enjoy the video!


-Dylan

#272

Hi there.
Good to see ya.
There are drinks and chips on the table.

My son and I are back from our two week vacation at my parent's place in Satellite Beach, Florida. We had a glorious time. My brother and his wife and two girls were there as well. My nieces have extraordinary imaginations, so we played talking games for hours which usually started with "pretend this is a sword" and ended with me playing a southern belle.
"Girly, girly, girly, curly, curly curly."

My brother is in the Air Force, so we were able to rent a surfboard and an ocean kayak from Patrick Air Force base for next to nothing. Surfing with military prop planes and helicopters landing on the other side of the dune gave it an Apocalypse Now quality.
"Charlie don't surf!"

We came back on Jimmy's 16th birthday to a home in desperate need of an air conditioner in the window. I had it buried somewhere in the garage, so Jo had been living with the windows open, and getting to know our neighbors better as the smell of burnt coffee or the sounds of an argument drifted in the open windows.

-Dylan

#271

Hello, friends, family, framily and fiends.
I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but we'll be taking down all of our made to order pieces from our etsy shop at some point on Saturday, June 18th. They won't be gone forever, just for a couple of weeks while my son and I visit family in Florida. So if there is something that we have currently listed that you've had your eye on, better snatch it up before Saturday! Jo won't be coming to Florida with us since this trip combines both air travel and Florida in the summertime. . .two of Jo's favorites! Instead Jo will be here in the relatively cool air, I assume sobbing with loneliness and renaming the business Cart Without a Horse. Or is she the horse and I'm the cart? She will be working on some one-of-a-kind pieces while I'm gone that I've already sewn for her, so look for those in the coming weeks.

In other news, my electric bike kit is here! As soon as it arrived, I hooked everything up and just threw all of the components in my giant wire baskets. I wanted to make sure everything worked before I spent time making it look nice. So here's what it looked like for the first few days as I rode it around. . .


I want my son to be able to ride it too, but sharing my bike is not off to a good start. The one thing I told him to do was to turn it off before getting on or off the thing. Sure enough he forgot, and while dismounting it he twisted the throttle and popped a wheelie, sending the 16 pound $500 battery tumbling out of the basket onto the concrete. Lucky for him (and me) nothing was damaged.
So now I'm starting to set the bike up into its finished form. Jo helped me wrap the battery in some black canvas that I cut from an old bag that I used to carry my guitar stuff in around to gigs with me.


I love using materials that I have a history with. And lets not forget the bread box that I've cut the battery stand out of, which is shown here without the braces underneath that I still need to make.



So far I've explored several country roads nearby that were too hilly for me to tackle before. You don't even feel like you're going uphill with this hub motor doing most of the work. So if you've been thinking of getting one, you should do it! You don't have to get such an expensive battery if you plan on taking short trips. Just remember to turn it off before dismounting!

-Dylan

#270

I've been holding onto this little secret for a while, but I guess it's ok to talk about now since I just spotted this behind the scenes video on youtube. . .

Some of our art is going to be in a Canon commercial starring Ron Howard! You can spot one of our Paisley Cat at 1:18 of the video, Gerard the Goat at 2:26, and Katie Pillar on the desk by Ron Howard at 2:42. I think I spotted our witch too up on the shelf, but I didn't get a good look at it. The full length commercial, which isn't out yet, is being directed by Dante Ariola, who has done some amazing commercials in the past including the VW Black Beetle commercial that debuted during the Super Bowl.

Jo and I may just sit around the house working most of the time, but at least our creations get to go out and have adventures.

-Dylan