Fizzy Guitar!

Hi Folks,

It is indeed brutally cold this morning, with temps only in the low teens F today. Ouch, now that's cold!

I'm busy juggling projects as usual. The two upcoming kitchen items are proceeding at a rapid pace...get ready for a sticky experience ahead, hehe...I'm also nearly done with a couple of bead batches and the first of the little forks, so please stay tuned over the next week as much will be happening.

Today I have the rest of the new guitar picks done. The Fizzy Guitar follows the Air Guitar and Ventilator models in the Art Picks series...These have the same wide variety of anodizing effects, many with rich patinas, as well as a few plain ones in the mix. Very cool shape for all you perfie lovers out there, and they certainly provide a variety of grip points.

I'm also considering making a similar shape in a small batch of carbon fiber picks by the way, so that's a possibility for up the road. Please shoot me a note if you would like to see CF Fizzies.

These will run $35 plus shipping and it's not a big batch so I'll make it two per customer limit on them please, purchase link is below. Thank you so much as always, and stay warm this week! 

These are all gone, thank you folks!

As an aside, thanks to Donors Choose, a music teacher, Mr. Anderson, received three Casio keyboards for his classes and another music teacher got materials so that he can teach his students to read music. So thanks again for your purchase today as a portion of it is going to some great causes!

Ventilator Picks

Hi Everyone,

Brrr, getting cold out there as the bitter arctic air makes it's way to us. We're due for at least half a foot of snow tonight and then it will be quite cold for a few days. Typical winter for up this way actually even though the weathermen always try to make like it's an emergency. 

I'm back again with round two of the guitar pick project. The Ventilators are very cool looking and provide a terrific grip as well as several attachment points. Same wide range of color combos with these and a few plain ones as well...

The Ventilator picks will run $35 plus shipping. The batch is a little smaller so I'll make it a two per customer limit on them please. Thanks again for dropping by this week and hope your Tuesday is going great!


All gone, thank you so much!

Air Guitar Art Picks!

Happy Monday Everyone!

It's going to be super cold here this week. We're supposed to be getting a few days of below zero temperatures overnight so a few quite unpleasant days are ahead, after which temps will be more moderate. I'm already looking forward to spring, which isn't really all that far away.

I spent the weekend working on projects in the shop. I'm close to finished with several of them so will be trying to do more sales later this week.

Today I have the first wave of titanium guitar Art Picks done. Although still a beginning player, I couldn't resist having a go at designing some picks. After doing much research and trying many different examples of the currently available commercial designs, I came up with some ideas of my own. Those first picks were well received, and now I have three new designs that I think are even better. Even if you aren't a guitarist and are just a music fan, these would be nice worn as jewelry on a bead chain. Or you could treat them as an incentive, a promise to yourself, to some day start learning to play. They say that as we age that we should learn a new language or an instrument, and I don't know about you guys, but I would rather learn to play rock and roll than a foreign language!

The first batch of Art Picks is the "Air Guitar" and it features three generous openings to aid in grip. In addition to grip, the openings also allow for easy attachment to a clip or keys so you can keep these safe and ready for action...The picks are ever so slightly oversized and are made of thin .040 titanium, so roughly equivalent to the 1mm thickness commonly seen in standard heavy weight guitar picks. They have been tumbled for days so have a buttery smooth finish and rounded edges. Some have wild and unusual patinas from multiple anodizing sessions.

I used an older name stamp to create a very deep permanent mark but I should note that on items this thin, the name stamp does telegraph through to the back side, so expect to see a corresponding mark on the back side of the pick...there are no decorative stamps on these, just the name stamp, because hand stamping something this thin is very difficult and most of my decorative stamps simply don't work well for thinner material.

I have anodized these in a wide range of solid colors and color combinations. If you can't stand bright colors no worries, just drop me an email as I have kept a few back from each batch that are without anodizing for the vanilla lovers.

Art Picks will run $35 plus shipping and these are medium sized batches so I will make it a limit of 3 on them please. The next two batches will be coming along later this week, the Ventilator and Fizzy Guitar models...Have a great week and do stay bundled up!

Sold out in a Jumpin Jack Flash, thank you so much! :)

 

6 Flute PermaCorks!

Hey Everyone,

Happy weekend! Hope you're all doing well and getting through the cold weather months comfortably, wherever it is that you may be.

I'm back with another nifty offering today. This is the next generation version of the PermaCorks, this time in type III hard anodized clear aluminum for that great SF/military look. I especially like the way the red silicone o-ring gaskets stand out against it. Anyway, this next generation version features my now familiar fluted shape, a total of 6 flutes in all on these. The flutes offer a great grip and they look very cool too! If there is sufficient demand for these in stainless steel I will make some later this year...please give me a holler if you want to see a run in stainless.

Six Flute PermaCorks will run $40 plus shipping and the link is below. No limit on these as the batch is pretty big. Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend ahead!

Sold out, thank you again everyone!

 

Vintage Steel Magnums

Hi Everyone,

Happy rainy Thursday from New England! It's a wet and gray day out there today, but at least the rain is warm and is clearing away the roads from the remains of the big snow and bitter temperatures that we had last weekend. It will turn colder again tonight which will make a thick crust on the snow that is left. That's good for the plants and the small creatures to help insulate them for the rest of the winter.

Things are moving along very well here. The details of my kitchen related project are finally all worked out and are starting production today. I will have much more info on that one by next week. Still working on the next Count Sporkula batch, the cute little Count Forkulas, and I expect to get them done within the next week or two. 5 Flute PermaCorks are now done and will be next up... And I'm nearly done with anodizing on the first batch of guitar picks...time to switch from production mode and start doing some sales, which is always a tricky balance since usually nothing else gets done if I'm doing a sale day.

Today I have a small batch of 303 Stainless Steel 5 Flute Magnum beads done. These have the 5 Atwood stamps, but as an experiment, I heated these one by one with a torch which blackened them. Then I gave them a series of tumbles to remove some of the color from the edges and give them an aged appearance. Finally, I gave them a hand rubbed oil finish. Very cool results.

The Vintage 303 Magnums will run $40 each plus shipping and it's a two per customer limit please as this is a fairly small batch.  Thanks for dropping by and hope your week has been going great!

Sold out, thank you!


**Sorry for the terrible pic, the light is just dreadful this morning!

    

Titanium MiniBars

Hi Folks,

We're heading into a cold and snowy weekend by the looks of it. So far this year we've managed to avoid any significant snow but now it looks like we're due for a foot or more. It's always nice for a day or two, but then the darn stuff tends to hang around and wear out it's welcome, lol...

I'm finally finishing up several more projects this week. I have a small batch of special 5 Flute Magnums coming, some HAIII PermaCorks with new 6 flute design and guitar picks. Currently I'm also trying to get something going for the kitchen! Two new nifty products are under development in that regard, more info on those in the weeks ahead and I think you all are going to really dig them. And a little mysterious "monster" project is also in the works. Eventually I'll even get back to grinding steel but I can only do so much at once here.

Today I have the first run of MiniBar tools done. These are 5/32 thick titanium, so not too thick yet still quite robust and easy to carry on the keys. They are 3 inches long which is a perfect size for a mini tool. Features include a 7/16 hex wrench and broad pry tip with V notch and deep side scallops. They are all stamped and I have contrast anodized this whole batch with a wide variety of color combinations...a steel version is also on the bench and will be coming in a few weeks.

The ti Mini Bars will run $70 plus shipping and it's a very modest size batch so one per customer please. The link to purchase is below. Thanks for stopping in today as always and hope you have a great weekend ahead.


Sold Out, thank you!

Further note: Just so you know, portions of your purchase today have already gone to several teachers across the country whose classrooms were in need of help... Scientific calculators were purchased for one Native American classroom in New Mexico, and several others in various states received books for their students in order to encourage reading. Those kind teachers already thanked me, but that thanks also extends to you. Check them out at donorschoose.org

Black HAIII PermaCorks

Happy 2019 Everyone! I hope your holidays were terrific.

Well I finally got done with all my end of year paperwork, inventory, taxes, etc. That's my least favorite part of working for myself and I never fail to underestimate how much time and energy it will take. But I'm past all that now and looking forward to getting new projects fired up again. There is much to come this winter and I have been slowly picking away at stuff over the past two weeks.

One fun project underway and coming up this month will be titanium guitar picks. I have taken up guitar this past fall and although still a beginner I could not help but play with some experimental designs for picks. I have three different super nifty shapes on the way shortly...

Also in the hopper are some fun new titanium Mini Pry Bars which are very close to finished. And, a steel version of those same Mini Bars is halfway done and on the bench right now so those will be heading to heat treat in a week or so. On the bench as well are new steel Mini Prybabies but I don't anticipate getting them finished for a month or more probably. Lots of other goodies are on the way too, some quite unexpected new drawings and concepts I think, so please stay tuned.

Today I finally have the black hard anodized aluminum PermaCorks done. I had wanted to release these right after Christmas but my supplier ran out of the proper size o-rings and it took forever to get them because of the holidays. Anyhow, finally they are finished and ready to go...a second newly designed PermaCork in AL will follow these and they will be on the way very soon too.

The Black HAIII PermaCorks will run $40 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for dropping by today and best wishes to everyone for a fantastic year ahead!


These are gone, thank you so much everyone!