Motion Picture: The German

The German from Nick Ryan on Vimeo.

A fine example of Motion Picture making. Please enjoy and if you like what you see go on over to Nick Ryan's Vimeo site for more of his magic making. I am a fan for sure.

Hope your week is going well and only gets better.
We are in the single digits till Christmas! The month is almost over, wait, the year is almost over!!!

Well back to it...

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Something to think about...

I find that my attention span is very short. I really get into something and go head-over-heels for it, almost to a point of obsessiveness. Then over time, mostly a very short period of time, something else comes along and it is total abandonment of the previous interest. I find this very frustrating but also very fascinating. As I have talked with others I have come to a realization that a lot of "creatives" find they are in the same boat. Fortuitously for me I have found that there has emerged a pattern of sorts. Whatever the interest of the moment that has been tossed aside I come back around later on and re-light the flame of passion for that interest.

The big fallout from this pattern of thought and drive is that I have never developed a strong skill for one particular thing. I am a generalist not an expert. I am not sure this is necessarily a bad thing though. Growing up many of my friends were all into one thing and one thing only, but my Dad always told me to be willing to try new things and explore possibilities. I like that....

Well back to it...
Hope you have a great week!

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Button Options

A collections of buttons that caught my fancy a while back while digging through my collection of old buttons that have been picked up over the years...
Wood, Metal, Coconut, Shell, Plastic, and Bone.
A little self portrait in pen and ink for sum fun.

Hope your week is going in the right direction and that your projects are coming together.
Back to it...
>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Cheers,
'MrRay'

sorry...

sorry blogger world I have been busy with the 9-5, the family and well anytime I hook up the intronet I find myself doing... tumblr.
Not mention this and yes even this.
I will be back soon.
Hope your week has been a good one and that the weekend is super swell.
But now, Back to it...

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Wooden iPhone 5

Working on a few projects right now and one of them involves the I phone 5, which I do not currently have in my possession. Not sure when or if ever...

So like most things around here if I don't have it might as well make it, and make it out of wood. Jumped on the 'ol intro-net thing surfed around for a few and gots me the dimensions of the #5 and went to town on some old wooden fencing. A little elbow grease and we have a fine example of a modern convenience without all of the convenience and technologies. No calls, no web surf'n, no instagram. just wood.

More on the purpose later.
Well back to it... Hope your week has been productive and positive....
 If you are back east "god's speed" and we have you in our thoughts and wish you well.
>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
 Cheers,
'MrRay'

A little toon to welcome in the weekend. Enjoy.

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Let's Do Some Wax'n

In having a go with a few projects and ideas involving fairly common goods it is sometimes a challenge to come up with items that are unique, have a voice, and stand apart while still being able to move about nicely in, out, and around the "crowd".

It is while dabbling in the is idea that the though occurred to me recently to have a little mess about with fabric and wax. Now this is not anything new by any means, but the end use is part of the overall story telling that I think might be quite fun when all said and done. More on that on a later date...

It has been a while since I have done any kind of Process post up. So figured share a bit on some building of a bar of wax for rubbing into some fabrics with.

 Materials needed:
-2 Pots: 1 that fits loosely inside the other to do a little double boiler action. (You don't want to melt wax directly over an open flame it could end very badly with flames and such) Or if doing a small batch could use an old soup can inside a pot.
-Water: to boil in mentioned pot.
-Stove Top: how else you going to boil the water?
-Wax: paraffin and Bee's
-Coconut Oil (optional): Smells nice and for my projects fits in with the whole story thing mentioned above. Also it helps keep the wax soft and pliable for use and adds a little bit "grease" for end use.
-Container or Mold: Use to poor the melted wax into to set up as the bar. I used an old 32oz. plastic yogurt container. 
-Food/Kitchen Scale: To measure out the right amount of wax to mix together. If you don't have one, no worries this is not chem. class it does not need to be perfect.
-Wood or Metal Spoon: To stir the wax as it melts.

Recipe:
2 part Parraffin
1 part Bee's
A few heaping Table Spoons or 1 part Coconut oil (optional)

Bash up your wax into small chunks and measure it out into your smaller pot or soup can. My blend for this round, 8oz. Paraffin / 4oz. Bee's.

Put a shallow amount of water in the larger pot and place the smaller pot / soup can  with the wax chunks into the pot and fire up the burner on the stove.

Low to Medium heat a n bring to a soft boil (not rolling just a few bubbles) As the water is warming up the chunks of wax will start to soften and melt down as well. Once the wax starts to melt you can begin to stir to help melt down the wax.

Once all the wax is melted and in a liquid form remove from heat and add the Coconut Oil by stirring it into the liquid wax until dissolved completely.

Remove small pot or can from the larger pot with togs or oven mit (caution HOT) and poor liquid wax into mold or plastic container and let set for a few hours or over night.

Once fully set, and if you are using a plastic container, like the yogurt container, you need to work the edges to loosen it up and it should, after some working it a bit, pop out. Now youz got a nice bar of wax for some fabric waxing fun.

Stay tuned for the next post, Elbow Grease and hot iron fun...

Back to it.

>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Messing with some Grfx layouts. I think it is kind of too clean. Guess need to mess about with actually hand drawing it instead.

Hope your week has been treating you well and your projects are coming along. If not, well, get cracking!
Back to it...

>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Tumblr...ing

First it was ok just to have a little blog to post up some thoughts and show a few things in the works. Then came the myspace and the facebook and the twitter and somewhere along the way there was tumblr and now the pintrest. Yes I have a pintrest. Yes I sometime only use myspace for music... well now I have joined in on the Spotify. Yes Facebook is up but not updated like it should be. Somewhere along the line I missed out on the Tumblr gig as I thought "why I have a blog" but for some strange reason I just randomly set up an account last month. Oh yeah because to post Instagram images that everyone can see outside of the silly little app they let you link up to Tumblr. Man this Tumblr thing is addicting in a strange "not sure why" kind of way. I find that I have posted up over 100 images from my camera to the random inspo images stolen from other sites on the web this month alone. I have no idea why it is any different than other blog hosting sites other than images and random quotes are all the rage over there. And I guess part of the reason I like it is it does what I was doing for a minute with the weekenders, post an image and you click on the image and it links you to the original, like a visual link list. Well that is if all of the other Tumblr kids are willing to add that little link....

 Anyway just wanted to let you know that REDCROW has a Tumblr and if you want to follow along why just come on over and click that follow button up in the right hand corner.

This does not mean that this here little ol' blog spot will be left alone.... just it might not be updated as much cause I am human and that means lazy...

Well back to it... Thanks for visiting.

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Tipi Build: Pole Shaping

Been using the old draw knife to shave down the planks into poles. Time is against me here. The great thing is once done they look kind of cool all hand shaped and what-not. More images coming soon.
 Back to it...
 Cheers,
'MrRay'

A well done moving image presentation.
Good stuff.
Enjoy.
 Cheers, 'MrRay'

From the Garage: 1st Boardy

As mentioned a few weeks back, have been working on a build a little Tipi. Since we find ourselves currently residing in a city by the sea and far far away from any form of a lodge pole pines I have resorted to to ripping and hand shaping all of the poles for the Tipi frame.
*Side note: this way of obtaining poles is so NOT recommended! (more on this and the details of the Tipi build later)

While digging around the looking for my draw knife to help with the pole shaping I stumbled upon one of my old suit cases tucked away on a shelf.

Within the case I found my first pair of canvas Board Shorts that I built for a runway show I participated in a few years back while still living up in The Great Pacific Northwest.  It uses canvas that I hand block printed from a block that I carved.

 Front

 Back.

 Detail of the solid pocket with painted wooden button closure.

 Block Print Detail

As we get back into the swing of things with REDCROW there are a few ideas in works that tie back to this very item. Of course there will be updates with the goodies as they are put into play.

Well, a new week is upon us and is ours to grasp. Go build something and have a good one.
Back to it...

>>>--"keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

In The Works.

Playing around with the pencil, scissors, and paper hacking out some new ideas...
More on this later.

Made it to the middle now it is on the down! Weekend fast approching.
Hope your builds are coming along nicely.

Back to it...
>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Make Do...

I don't know why we do not have any paper clips in our place of residence but I searched High and Low and can't even find one holding other papers together to steel...
So why not make one?
Snip and bend...
Back to it.

Hope your week is shaping up to be a fine one.
Back to it...
>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Mark Your Calendars.

Should be some good times. Looking forward to it.

>>>--"Keep On Crow'N"--->

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Something To Think About...

"Get rid of the 'Should's' in life and try to do what you want to do- not what you feel like you ought to do."

Lisa Neimeth, as found in an interview here.

A little tune to send you off for the weekend. Hope the week was good and your "Weekender" even better. >>>--"Keep on Crow'N---> Cheers, 'MrRay'

Something to Think About

“Be bright. Your eyes have become dirty.”

Yohji Yamamoto as found in interview with WWD.

Moving Images: Paths of Hate

PATHS OF HATE long trailer from Platige Image on Vimeo.

I love stumbling around the ol intro-net you can fall into some very interesting things.
One a recent stumble ended up here which led me to the above film trailer. I like aviation, especial WWII and older and I quite enjoy animation. The combination of the 2 is rare and something that is open and free for all is even rarer. Check out the web site for the film where you can download the whole film and enjoy!
 Back to it...

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Corn On The Beach...

Yes it is where I currently call home, and where my children have spent most of their young lives, but I am not a total fan of SoCal and do not plan to live here forever... But it is times like theses where we join together with some good folks, fill up a large pot with some of the Pacific Oceans best. Boil it for an hour or so

and drop in a grip load of fresh California Sweet Corn that puts a smile on the face worms the belly and keeps me content to terry here a little longer.

Well summer has come and is almost gone.
Hope you have had a good one and if you have not had an opportunity to get out and enjoy any of it best be getting to it....

Cheers,
'MrRay'

It Has Been a While...

Sampleing up some new ideas for the i-Phone wallet.
Keep ya posted as the details get hammered out...
Til then,
>>>--"keep On Crow'N--->

Cheers,
'MrRay'

Build It from the Book Shelf: Tipi For The Wee Ones: Intro

The worst part of being employed as a Designer in this silly industry known as the Apparel Industry is the time when you have to put aside the creative, the exploration of ideas, the sketch books and hunker down and actually build the ideas that you have been working on into detailed pages, or tech packs. These documents are filled with mesurments, color call outs, trims, fabric codes and everything that you need to make a garment... You have to think and do repetative work. The brain hurts at the end of the very long day and the mind sometimes wanders in the middle of it all.....

It is on one of these wandering mind moments that I all of the sudden thought about this book.

This was on super heavy rotation when I was 6 or 7 until I was well into my High School days.
But as other interests crept into my life it was eventually placed upon the book shelf to begin a long rest of extended years until the day my mind wondered...
As I cracked the pages for the first time in maybe well over 10 years, my childhood came rushing back as I feasted upon each page. I admit that many of the projects within it's yellowed and worn printed papers look as if they may be fairly easy to accomplish and build in my older age. In my youth I spent most of my time with the book and my imagination only, rarely daring to take the risk in failing miserably in an attempt to build the projects found between its covers.

But what young and restless boy does not dream of having his own Tipi?

I have had the opportunity to only visit a few while partaking in the world of scouting and dreamed of one day having my own. I am older now living in a residence that offers me a small SoCal back yard and have a few wee ones of my own who might just get a kick out of having one to play in.

So I am about to take on the task of building a miniture Tipi. I plan on taking the instructions and pattern, of what seams simple and straight forward, for a full size 17'-24' Tipi,

cutting the measurements in half and with a little luck and some dedicated time I will have something to mess around with the Kids in.

We shall see.

Well time to get to it. Keep ya posted on how it goes.
Now go build someth'n.
Have a good weekend

>>>--"keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Lee Marvin, "Wandering Star" Paint Your Wagon, 1968

 A fine tune for the middle of the week. Enjoy.
Back to it...
Cheers, 'MrRay'

ESCAPE TO VICTORY - England vs Sweden in Kiev from Beija Films on Vimeo.

Stumbled upon this fine moving picture the other day. It comes following the steps of Paszport! – a limit release zine collaboration from the Rig Out and creative agency Mother London. The film fills the void following along with folks from England as they travel and gather together with like minded countrymen at the Euro Cup 2012. After watching their team lose on penalties in an unbearable and heartbreaking final, you may ask yourself why? Why would anyone would travel hundreds of miles to foreign lands, with the great possibility they (their chosen team) will not come away victorious?. View the above and it will may shed light onto your question. Like most things that become an obsession or passion it all can be traced back to goodtimes, no matter what the final result.

Back to it...
>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

From the Bookshelf: Nose Art

Picked up from the local library the book Nose Art: 80 years of aviation art. Sad to say that it was not worth even picking up from the local book borrowers. Kind of bummed on that. There was a few, very, very few, gems in the ruff with in this book. To save you from wasting your time looking through the book on your own....
Pulled a few to share.

Back to it...
>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Somethin' to Think About... Work

"Give everybody a dime's worth of work for their nickle."
          Nick Wooster. (interview in CODE magazine, issue 21. spring/summer 2012)

Back to it...
>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Trim The Fat

Spent the other day doing a little chop shop on a few pairs of trousers.
Make'n the old new again with a nice cleaned up fit.

Back to it and have a great week.

>>>--"Keep On Crow'N"--->

Cheers,
'MrRay'

In the Hands...

Found a while back and popped a shot with the 'ol mobile device.
It has been very busy but very good over here in REDCROW land.
Been building goods for a side project so there may not be a lot of regular content for a while. Plan to not totally disappear as we did earlier this year. That was no fun for anyone.

Well back to it...

>>>--"Keep On Crow'N--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Just like the text layout....
Let's have a good one!
Cheers,
'MrRay'

Ink on Paper

Been at work with a new project that is helping keep the lights on and the roof over the families head. It has been a busy week filled with a few super late nights but a good week for sure. It is always nice to look back and see that things are actually happening and progress is being made.

Also have been plugging away with some ideas for REDCROW as well, such as a new tag for some neck tie projects.

Well no rest for the weary... back to it.

>>>--"Keep On Crow'N"--->

Cheers,
'MrRay'

From the Video Valt: Twelve O'clock High

Been on this kick lately watching old films that are about the "War Birds" of WWII.
The most recently viewed film was Twelve O'clock High.
By the Movie Poster above it is kind of misleading as I am not quite sure what movie they were selling as it has nothing to do with "the women"...?  To find out about the actual story of the film click the link above.
What good is just watching a film and not taking advantage of the digital media that is at the ol finger tips? So here are a few stills that I shot while enjoying this classic flick. Side note, this film uses actual air footage that was shot on bombing raids on Germany by both American and German camera men.... There also is a lot of really great detail through out the film.

 

since we are sharing might as well add a great clip from the film.

Well the weekend is fast approaching.  I hope your week has been a good one and that your weekend is even better.
Back to it.

>>>--"Keep On Crow'N"--->
Cheers,
'MrRay'