Shipping Container Pipe Dream

Raw and gravity-defying

I've really been digging shipping container construction lately. I like the aesthetic, industrial and sort of a la Brooklyn / Williamsburg artist warehouse lofts when it was still all rough, before the developers got ahold of it.

Actually made of shipping pallets and trailer homes, respectively.

I really like the aesthetic of the buildings by Infiniski, a company operating out of Spain and Chile. Their whole focus is on the re-use of materials... containers, pallets, etc. I love the way they maintain the aesthetic influence of the original material. Probably my favorite is their "Forest House" on their site (which is all flash, so I can't pull the image). Go look at it!

I also like Lot-Ek's CHK (Container Home Kit). Scalable and flexible, with lofts and catwalks to boot.

Lot-Ek's Puma Building. The front is very similar to their CHK design.

And I really love what Canadian Designer Kieth Dewey has done with his Zigloo home. He really maintained the industrial elements, even using chain link in the interior and salvaging stairs from another industrial building. Plus, he has an extensive photo gallery of various phases of building.

The Zigloo's front steps

Despite the quantity of imagery available, there seems to be very little in the way of how-to information. Shed and Shelter has a pretty good list of companies who actually do things related to shipping container (or ISBU: Intermodal Steel Building Units) construction, rather than individuals or small groups who have done one-time projects or experiments. I just found out Google Sketchup has a whole section on container housing. I'll probably be browsing that a lot...

But of course, lack of information hasn't kept me from designing my own dream studio made out of containers. Nowhere to put it yet, but hush, reality. Dream a little dream with me...

Way to go, paper!

(Via Facebook --> Craftzine --> All About Papercutting)

(Via Zuzutop) Totally worth a click the the original article to see all of the amazing paper awesomeness!

Sneak Peek!

Just a little sneak peek of something I've been working on for Phaedra Paperie...



January's coming along nicely. Some successful printing, a few wedding orders in the works, frequent lattes, and a new laptop in the mail. No complaints!

January Goals

December wasn't such a great month for getting things done...

• Finish HSC painting! Still not quite done. But close.
  
  
• Continue not wasting my life away in front of the computer. Good so far.
  
  
• There are a couple of local galleries whose submission period is during January, so I need to get my packet ready to go. I always 'mean' to submit, but let my procrastination/fear/anxiety get the best of me. Not this year. (Oh please, oh please.) Didn't do it, but I'm going to, I promise.
  
  
• I have a stack of artist registry forms. Once I've got packets together for galleries, it's not much more work to submit to some artist registries. My official goal will be getting 6 of the 8 I've printed out actually sent. Didn't do that either. May or may not do it.
  
  
• I promised some people prints of my work forever ago and never followed through. Get those ordered/sent so they'll get them in time for Christmas. Did it. So at least I feel like less of a jerk.
  
  
• I'm going to be teaching a class (through Paper Zone) on screenprinting wedding invitations in January after the Portland Bridal Show, so I need to fully outline the class syllabus and handouts. I can finish them in early January, but the hard work will need to be done before the last minute. Did it somewhat. Still needs finishing, but very do-able.
  
  
• Photograph Valentine cards. Prepare publicity email(s). Nope. Gets moved to January.
  
  
• Create mural proposal or OSU Engineering department. (Not sure this is going to happen; it will definitely have to take a backseat to the HSC painting.) Didn't happen. I'm ok with that.
  

Most of this month's goals are unfinished things from last month.

• Submit to galleries that have January submission dates.



• Send image of HSC painting to client. Discuss money, shipping, timelines, etc.



• Photograph valentines and get them out into the digital world.



• Make confirmations for Bridal Screenprinting class and finish syllabus/materials list.



• Get laptop repaired.



• Give my truck some love. An oil change, maybe a new turn signal light.



• Finish sewing projects for other people that I've had sitting around for way longer than is reasonable. Apologize for keeping them so long.