Livingroom cushions

Ingredients:
2 x Ikea pillows ($2 each)
1 pair dollarstore pillow cases ($2)

Total cost: $6 for 2 cushions
Build time: About an hour

Step 1: Squish the stuffing to one side of the pillow, and sew a line across it to make a square. These cheap pillows feel understuffed, but they make decent 50cm x 50cm square pillows. It would probably be pretty easy to sew two perpendicular lines, to make smaller, puffier pillows.

Step 2: Cut off the excess material.

Step 3: Sew a line across the pillow case, inside out, to make a square. Leave approximately 6 inches of a hole to stuff the pillow through. I made the holes too small and ended up ripping some of the stitching. Either sew from one side and leave the hole at the other side, or sew 2 lines of stitching from either side, to leave the hole in the middle of the pillow's edge.

Step 4: Cut off the excess material, leaving about an inch excess, and turn the pillow case right-side-out.

Step 5: Stuff the pillow into the pillow case. The easiest way is to roll it tightly, the way that it comes packed in the store. Once it's in, pull the corners of the pillows to the corners of the pillow case, from inside. Fluff up the pillow and pull any clumps of stuffing out even across the pillow.

Step 6: Sew the hole shut, from the outside. Store-bought pillows will have the sewed-up hole in the middle of an edge, which looks nicer. To save time, I left the hole at the corner of the pillow.

Gainful Employment

It took about 7 months but I'm finally doing what I planned to way back then, and got a job that's not even remotely connected to making video games. I'm now working part time making jewelry, at Queen Bee Design.

Here are some of the things I worked on during training and my first day...

Wire Wrapping

Soldered Silver Clasps

Soldered and shaped Silver Rings

Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot

On Valentine's Day I attended the Johann Strauss Ball. There I played the role of cavalier to the illustrious debutante Vanessa, escorting her through her formal entrance into society.

From Johann Strauss Ball 2009 (album) I'm somewhere in the background there. As usual I didn't get many pictures of myself, but sometime I'll link to more.

After a 4-week crash course in the Viennese waltz and the polonaise, we performed several dances along with 15 other pairs. By all accounts we were magnificent.

I also had a chance to try some other ballroom styles. I hadn't danced a waltz or foxtrot since high school social dance class. 6 years ago while wandering in Paris I came upon a Tango sur les quais de Seine and was enchanted. For the first time that I can remember, I really wanted to dance. Yet in all the time since, I had never danced a tango until the ball. At least... I hope it passed for a tango! I may have to learn to dance properly, now.

Arctic Exploration

Michael: "Hasn't everything already sorta been discovered though, by like, Magellan and Cortez?"
Buster: "Oh yeah, yeah... Those guys did a pretty good job. But there's still... you know."


I left the path here and walked off into the wilderness. I followed a small creek westward along a valley, hoping to find its source (somewhere just off 102 ave, I suspected). As I trudged through the snow, stumbling on hidden rocks and through half-frozen puddles, crawling under and over fallen trees, I began to worry. What if I wandered out of the valley on the wrong side of a fence, trapped and displayed like an animal in a zoo? Passersby would turn away in vicarious embarrassment and whisper to each other "Don't make eye contact with that homeless man." What if I was greeted by the fuzz, waiting to cheese me for trespassing on public land? Worry made the work of pushing through trees hurried and exhausting. It was too late to go all the way back now. The trees were denser now and the way less passable. Darkness was coming, and with it: bitter cold. In a panic I abandoned the trek and climbed the hill to the top of the valley, back to safety.

I re-entered civilization here.


There exists still undiscovered wilderness in the heart of Edmonton...


... Paths ne'er walk'd before.


On the southern tip of St George's Crescent.

I walked on the frozen river, imagining what it might be like to fall through the ice, to cling desperately to the edge, but to then be swept under by the currents.

Dramatic!

Homemade Toys

A few months ago, I decided to not just make home-made Christmas gifts for the grown-ups in my family, but also to make toys for my nieces and nephews. I set up a toy workshop (a table) in the basement, bought myself a jig-saw (after trying to use only a rotary tool), and started makin' like an elf.

Building Blocks
First I worked on a set of interlocking building blocks. This is an idea I've had for awhile. The building shown uses all of the blocks, before floor and roof pieces were built. The blocks were cut and then fine-tuned to fit using the jig-saw.


Train Set
I originally planned to make a few larger train sets. I drew curve pieces on poplar using a compass, and then cut them out with the jigsaw. After cutting a ton of pieces I settled on making 2 sets of a figure-8 layout.

I drew tracks on each curve piece using the compass, scored the lines with a utility knife, and then carved out and chiseled the track using a mini screwdriver. These are completely inadequate tools for the job! It took much longer than anticipated, and so did creating the connector pieces; they were shaped with a rotary tool out of wooden stir sticks. In the end, I only got around to finishing enough pieces for a single loop of track.

Teddy Bear
I found a pattern and instructions online, modified and traced the pieces off my laptop screen, then cut and sewed the material. When I had finished the first leg, I was surprised by how well it had started turning out.

Later that night I had all the main parts done.

The next day I sewed some ears, attached everything together, sewed on some eyes that I stole off a shirt of mine (it had extra buttons on it), and stitched on a nose.

All the parts are on crooked but it still looks cute!

Doll House
I sketched some plans for a house, and then cut the pieces (jig-saw again of course) so that they fit together for support. As I built it, hallways and windows had to be repositioned to work around design flaws so it wouldn't break. I built a few pieces of furniture: a bed, table, fridge, and stove. The staircase was a total cop-out due to lack of time, and looks more like a ladder!

My Other "Shop"
The basement got pretty cold, so I started doing a lot of the work in my living room. By the end, it was a disaster.


"Finished"
Here's a group photo taken on Christmas Eve after sanding all the wooden pieces to avoid slivers. The finished building blocks have roof and floor pieces, and the train set has a locomotive.

These projects took most of December to do. Due to poor planning and procrastination, most of the work was done in the last few days before Christmas! The next time I do something like this, I'll have back-up plans instead of committing to ideas that turn out to be foolish, and I'll start earlier. But I'll probably do it again because it was a lot of fun.

Homemade Christmas Gifts - Candles

This year the family decided to make homemade gifts for each other. Having a little extra time on my hands (at least, until the week before Christmas), I went a bit nuts with it. All the grown-ups got molded candles, that I made with the help of a friend who really knows what he's doing (Thanks, Roger!).
The candles are made to be fairly transparent (more so than typical store-bought high-quality candles which tend to be too opaque) so they should look good when lit!

First Post

Welcome to the blog about my life and junk. Hi.