Check out this experiment by my friend Amy Ruppel.  She took some laser samples Joe Mansfield made her for Project Chaboo and backfilled with white wax. So cool!

This is the lasering on her chaboo inlayed with laser cut felt.

Id like to experiment with backfilling cracks in wood with colored wax.  More on that coming soon….

Amy creates these paintings with paper, oils, and a beeswax/resin mixture.  The image above is from her state bird series where she painted every single state bird!  I love the concept.

Designer/artists extroardinare Amy Ruppel is doing a deer chaboo in a collaboration between myself, her, and Joe Mansfield.  She approached me with some drawings of using a cutout deer silhouette as the center spline of the chaboo and some hand cut felt placed on the chaboo.

Joe had told me about an idea last year of  inlaying lasercut felt perfectly into a laser cut recess so that the felt lays flush with the surface but we had never actually done it.  Realizing this technique would be perfect for Amy we headed to Joes laser shop to discuss.  Hes the best at doing weird and fun things with the laser!  Here are Amys drawings for her chaboo.

Project Chaboo is such a great excuse to do cool experimental things that we never get around too cause we’re too busy trying to make money.
radiusing the deer from Ken Tomita on Vimeo.

I had Amy make a template for me out of 1/4″ MDF.  I then used a straight bit with a bearing to copy that form onto 3/4″ baltic birch plywood.  Here I am radiusing Amy Ruppel’s deer with a 1/16″ roundover bit on the router table.

Amy taking off with her deer.  Bring it back please!

Amy steals the deer from Ken Tomita on Vimeo.

Deer adventure to be continued…

My friend Joe Mansfield runs a laser engraving company across the street from my shop.  Besides his mad skills with the laser he also has a great eye for photography.  He does the still photography for the Penny Jam project, a sweet video project featuring music videos of local bands in locales throughout portland.

Joe will be doing the portrait photography for us this weekend.  We will have portraits of the artists and their chaboos on the website and have them up at the show as well.  One of the Chaboo artists, Alisha Wessler came by the shop today to drop her chaboo off early.  We had a lot of fun taking pictures of her with her chaboo(s) outside the shop.  The chaboos she did were gorgeous and really interacted well with the original design.  Im very happy with the integration of my design and her style.  A great example of how succesful Project Chaboo can be!

Here are some pics of my shop mate, George Ramos who specializes in craftsman style cabinetry with his chaboo.  He is a bike fanatic and insisted that his bike be in the shot in the background.  Half joking I suggested he ride with it… and then we actually did it.  The setup was complicated: George rode at a slow speed and Alisha handed off the chaboo to him (like a baton relay) while he was in motion.  Then, he rode with the chaboo as Joe strafed taking pictures and i ran backwards with the mobile flash.  With four people’s coordinated movements we got some sweet action shots and managed to not get hit by any cars.  This is a great example how his style (craftsman) and person (bike freak) shine for Project Chaboo.

These portraits will feature the people behind the art.  I want this project to transcend the standard art show where we stand around and look at physical objects we have manipulated to create art.  Art to me is about the process, the journey, the people, just as much as the final result.  How each artist interacts with their chaboos and how they feel about the project will show in these portraits.  Not only will there be range in the artists styles of customizing the chaboo but there will be range in how they want to be portrayed with their creations.

The deeper i get into Project Chaboo I realize its all about the people.  The project involves collaboration, community, and collective energy but at the core its the participating artists.

There is a possibility that we will have Anna Campbell and Jamen Lee also photographing on Sunday.  Anna is doing the product shots for the project and Jamen likes to do experimental photographs with the many cameras he has in his vintage camera collection.  This weekend will be a lot of fun!

In no particular order here are the artists participating so far:

Alisha Wessler - illustration

Lauren Wessler - wood, paper mache

Jennifer Mercede - painting

Chris Haberman - painting

Sohaila Adela - illustration

Kelly Neidig - painting

Nell Warren - painting

Robin Kaplan - illustration

Dave Laubenthal -wood, metal

David Bertman -wood, metal

Kari Merkl - metal

Joel Wakeman - wood

Juno Lachman - glass

Eric Day - wood, metal, fiberglass

Todd Griffith - painting

Joe Mansfield - laser

George Ramos - wood

Mike Halvorson - wood

Paul Sykes - wood

Lindsay Holmes - recycled skateboards

Jess Hirsch - watercolor

APAK - illustration, painting

Erin Albin (appetite) - screenprinting/fabric

Brendan Budge - industrial design

Lisa Kuhnhausen - interior design/fashion

Jason Hernandez - wood

Sarah Bennet - wood, epoxy resin

Karl Ramentol - industrial design

Ken Tomita - wood, bamboo

Amy Ruppel- designer

Maren Jensen- illustration

Sara Huston - furniture design

Orange design.build - salvaged materials

Marshall Ryan - architecture

Ryan Thomson - architecture

Megan Scheminske - painting

Don Jensen - wood

David Butts - kinetic sculpture

Marc Riera - architecture

Ryah Radomski - furniture

John Paananen - interior architecture

Emily Steen - graphic design, environment design

Oluwaseyi (Shay) Sosanya - mechanical engineering

Tom Huang - furniture design

Ben Wood - furniture

Emily Knudsen - interior design

Corbin Keech - architecture

Jim Haas - furniture