I have been making lots of things over the land using Kiawe tree branches. There are plenty of them on the land since it is a natural invasive species of tree. Just like the deers' population have to be kept in check from time to time.
I use the wood, mostly for large projects, like dining tables or handrails for stairs, or light fixtures or... well lots of projects.
At the end of those projects I keep the leftovers just in case, later on, I need a shim or something to fit just in the right place. This type of wood is incredibly hard to cut with traditional blades but surprisingly friendly to shape with chisels or other manual tools. You need to develop the experience to make that statement true of course but nonetheless, it is remarkably beautiful and makes deco material even without trying.
I read lots of comics during my downtime, I find it a source of inspiration for things completely unrelated to the subject of what I read or I simply sharpen my focus skills.
I eat very little to keep the fat in check but I health snack a lot to manage the craves and well... store some energy when working outside. Those Kiawe trees are seriously hard to harvest and heavy to move around.
After sunset, I grab some whiskey, almonds and lovely (thanks love!) cut fruit harvested from the land. I place the iPad on my lap and without making a mess, I snack while I read.
As you can imagine the gimmicks at play here, are not negligible and prone to mess up the touch screen.
I tried several stands from Amazon and the ones that are minimalistic don't stand at the occasional but rough whiff of wind. And frankly, they look to industrial for the tropical setting.
Therefore...
I grabbed a leftover piece of wood. I usually bring the phone with me to take pictures from the beginning to the end but this time it wasn't charged and the mojo flow of making this thing had already begun flowing so I couldn't wait for the electrons to do their job.
The initial piece was really-really rough 😱 but I built a gig that allows me to square even the most convoluted branch. Not, painlessly but it does the job in the end.
After making a square block of the most beautiful rims of the wood, I cut a triangle shape in the center and a half opening in the front. If I had brought out the go pro it would have been an awesome memory to share because somehow I figure out the geometry (blade inclination and height) just right without going over the intended cuts. I had tried before but failed so now I don't have a video to share nor something for myself to remember next time how I managed 🙈
I can't show you the process of how I did it but I can share the outcome and hopefully will inspire someone to follow similar steps for their own first world problem of the moment.
Sometimes I get asked "but why??!" implying why you have to trouble yourself with these kinds of projects. Just buy it on Amazon.
I don't pity who makes those comments because every statement is developed on the basis of personal experiences and the type of exposure those have to who surrounds them.
If you are a good guy and you live in a Trump town, watch only Fox News, your living room TV seats on of the old one. You may stand out from your own crowd but in the large scheme of things, your views are limited.
Did Picasso HAVE to create something that now is worth millions? And who said that is worth what? Did he trouble himself? I have been a maker since the very early stage of my life, the ability to craft seems to be incredibly useful in times when the world could go tits up any second and just with a sneeze. It also enabled us to significantly save over time from costly & poorly done jobs by wanna-be contractors.
Back to the project 😁
I created an outlet for the wire when the tablet is charging and a little curved shape tunnel for the folding of the cable so that I don't have to look at it while I read. I am not OCD, I am mentally neat 😎
The back that supports the table is flash straight 25 degrees angle and the front is lower with a rounded edge so that it doesn't cover the screen pixels but just the black rim of the model I have. My friend Steven just got a new iPad that has almost edge to edge screen view. Should I build him one for Christmas? Let us know through our Instagram account!
On the left side, I created a slight depth indentation for the Apple pen. Normally is attached to the device but it kind of ruins the symmetry, when it seats vertically so parked on that spot, seems to be hidden from the point of view and more belonging to the base.
I don't master those things, I am learning as I go, however, even if I would already master them, my objective is to not make those designs "precise". I like to leverage the "imperfections" or the natural creases of the wood because it makes every piece unique.
Some of the comics I purchase are best viewed in landscape mode but Marvel and DC tend to use more vertical layouts, I guess as to the historical design of the paper format. Therefore, I made sure to have enough depth at the bottom to hold the weight of the table securely.
I am very satisfied with the outcome. The next step now is to varnish it with some teak oil and sign it with fire in a corner. I am debating between using a thick hot iron or making my own cow branding tool. What do you think?!
One More Thing
When I showed up the final work to the WIF-I, she was very appreciative of the outcome but you could feel a sense of "how about me?!" vibe. Plus, at the moment she was sharing her appreciation she was stitching a component for my next project post (a fitness device). So I felt like
- This is very time consuming to do
- But she's awesome
- Yes, but I have to and harvest first which is HARD and messy
- She but she's super awesome...
After this Homer Simpson self discussion, I remembered that her iPad is hosted in a military-grade armor, atomic bomb-proof, shell which makes the whole geometry thing a nightmare because of the thickness and different edges angles.
Fortunately, I remembered having the first experiment of trying to build support for a project that Margot was making for her mom. The shape was close to what I had to do for my device. Therefore...
I grinded the surface using this disc attached to an angle grinder. Which did a really good job for the first-time usage.
Given the weight of her device because of the rock-solid shell. And the fact she uses the iPad as a second screen while working on her mac, which requires to have it at a graver angle, I had to add extra support in the back
It completely works as would have been ideal to have given her setup and usage.
And all that success calls for another comic slide 😅
That's all folks for this post. In the meanwhile as always, have a bLife moment, every day, at any time, and for absolutely no reason. 🤙🏽
