I have this ongoing problem. I look at some random piece of metal, plastic or some such and see something waiting to be made from it. Problem is, I often don’t have the other pieces required – because I had no idea that they were required.
Sometimes a year or more passes between the acquisition of a seed and its germination. The other pieces just aren’t there yet, or are lurking in one of the kitty litter buckets which surround me – or in one of the plastic cabinets (all repurposed from a former life – some not mine) or the shelves stacked with those shoe-sized plastic boxes you can get for 99 cents at a million places – or the bins full of big metal pieces, or big plastic pieces, or electronic circuit boards, or camera parts, or expired cellphones and ancient iPods, etc.
Often I ransack my shop, looking through everything – or nearly everything – looking for that one thing (maybe two) which are exactly what the “inspiring” piece of junk wants. It’s being an artistic matchmaker, or dating coach, or maybe just spinning the wheel of fortune and seeing where the damn thing stops.
And it’s not always sure that I’ve read it right. Many times the seemingly destined connection does not work out – literally the pieces do not fit together. True that I have a habit of dragging out the Dremel, cutoff tool, angle grinder, and 16 oz ball peen hammer in coordination with the nice big shop vise made of very heavy iron.
“Measure twice, cut once” – where is the fun in that? Adam Savage’s workshop has a motto: ‘Measure once, cut twice‘ – now that’s my way of thinking. Cut it until it fits. Grind it until it fits. Sand it until it fits. File it until it fits. And if you remove a bit too much metal or plastic, just call the ragged gaps one of your signature artistic marks.
Shouter to Dead Parrots 