Descending Ashtray

I have to apologize for not posting anything lately but our digital camera died on us recently. We are in the process of getting another one soon. This is a bad time because we had some pretty good costumes for Halloween and we did not even take any pictures! Brandy went as a “Private Eye”. I painted her belly to look like a giant eyeball and she wore a Sherlock Holmes costume and I went as a burglar who juggled flaming torches! It was fun, and maybe a good picture turned out from the party we went to on Saturday night.

I recently helped Tony modify and install a seventeen foot long church pew in the bar area of his restaurant. It looks really good but we have been having some problems with it cracking. Probably because the wood is very old and brittle and we had to do some tweaking to get it to fit properly. We are going to have to put some braces along the back and screw it from behind to pull it together.

I have also been working on newer house lately, helping out with some elaborate window treatments and newel posts. It is challenging but very rewarding work. I will post pictures of these things very soon. We also have to do something for the DA anniversary!

Well, now that things have settled down post-Labyrinth, I’ve been eager to get out to the shop and start a new project. Well, as it turned out, I ended up spending a bunch of time yesterday working on an old one. I have a habit of picking things up and putting them away in cycles. I last worked on this piece about 6 months ago.

In doing some thinking about this piece, and my work in general, I have had an idea lately of creating a totem-pole-inspired carved sculpture. There is an element of passed time, and organic devolution about my work that I am interested in presenting - something ancient and traditional in nature could help tell the story of the 5×5 world I imagine. I want the real totem to be larger than this piece, but I think this one will be a good study in seeing how tool marks can add to the overall structure of a piece. I’m very pleased with their effect now.

I also have some ideas about gouache paint I want to try out on something small - another good use for this piece. Stay tuned for that. At any rate, it was so nice to spend the day out there with music on and no power tool hum. Just me and the wood chips. I like looking at the tools all laid out like this.

As a totally-unrelated aside, I forgot to purchase tickets for this weekend’s Bonnie Prince Billy shows here in Portland, and now all three dates are sold out. I have looked on eBay and posted on Craigslist, but it seems none are to be found … if anyone can get me two tickets, I will pay handsomely in cash, art, beer or some combination thereof. Essentially, I refused to pay the $6 Ticketmaster fee (on a $15 ticket!!!), thinking I’d just go to the venue and cut out the man. Well, I did, but they were closed, and I never made it back. Stupid, stupid me. Can you help?

Well, we did not win “Best of Show” at last night’s awards ceremony. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t win the big prize (especially since the organizers told me it was extremely close), but I am very happy with how things turned out, the fun I had building it with the team, and especially how much people seemed to enjoy playing it.

We did win an award that I think is easily second best, namely “Hole I’d Most Like to Take Home.” Everyone loved playing Labyrinth, the lines were huge, the smiles great, laughter loud.

If you would like to take home Labyrinth, I am entertaining offers! Send them to dave at daveselden dot com with the subject line “I want Labyrinth!”

Who won best in show? The Wieden and Kennedy hole featuring the broken whale. While it only worked 15% of the time, I do think it was a great, ambitious idea and very nice to look at. People loved it.

Second Story won “Best Technical Achievement” for their “Putt-Vision” that integrated video games and mini golf with a joystick/ball that controlled an on-screen ball. After ours, their entry was my favorite.

I will post some video shortly showing the Labyrinth in action.

Finally, it’s done. After a really long weekend in the shop (almost 24 hours in 2 days!), the large-scale version of Brio’s Labyrinth Game As Mini Golf Hole is complete. I had to take a picture of both together to show the sense of scale - our version is more than 5 times the size!

Tonight, Bruce, Andrew and I loaded it into my old truck (1970 F250) and Bruce’s new one (2006 Tacoma) and headed off to Holocene. I was so amped to get there and put it all together, I could barely force myself to stop for gas on the way. But, I’ve been down that road before … and it’s a long walk.

Finally, we arrived, and put it together. It assembled beautifully, which was a real relief. Several other teams were struggling to put theirs together, but all that planning paid off, taking no more than 30 minutes or so for us to get things assembled and dialed in.

Then, it was time for some testing. Everyone took a turn, including a lot of other teams’ players. I think it’s going to be a big hit.

We were anxiously awaiting Nate’s arrival, as he had successfully navigated the course twice before the knobs were put on. He wasn’t able to do so tonight, but he put up a valiant effort, making it about halfway through on one attempt. I think with a smoother ball he will be able to do it. The only golf balls I have are brand new precision Titleists, and the dimples are too defined, so the ball frequently gets stuck on a single dimple and is difficult to get it rolling again.

Tomorrow night is opening night, with an artists’ preview from 6-8 PM, and the course opening at 9 PM to the general public. Admission is $6, 21+. Prizes are to be awarded for Best Action, Most Artistic, Greatest Technical Achievement, Hole I Most Want To Take Home With Me, and the coveted Best in Show. Prizes are awarded based on votes from attendees, so please come out and vote for the Minotards (that’s us):

The Minotards are:

• Andrew Hay
• Bruce Kehe
• Tyler Bechtel
• Dan Painter
• Nate Currie
• and me, Dave Selden

A very special thanks to Tyler, who showed up in the final hours to provide much-needed enthusiasm and moral support, plus some extra paintbrushes from the dollar store.

Tomorrow, I hope to post some video of the Labyrinth in action, but it may be Wednesday before I get to it.

This Old House magazine has posted two galleries full of “worst practices” (I, II) in remodeling/home repair projects. I found some of them laugh-out-loud funny, and others all too true. My friend Dan had a virtual garden similar to this one growing in his gutters a couple of years ago.

I’ve spent all weekend applying finishing touches to the Labyrinth. I will post more photos tonight or tomorrow, but it’s been too much work to post! Here’s about 45 minutes worth of this weekend’s work compressed to 2.5 minutes. Enjoy.