May 2013
33 posts
5 tags
Re:Boot! - Epilogue
Heh! Someone finally planted the Maple. Rah’s had it since before she wrote up her thesis proposal: bought it at the Japanese Gardens during a sale near her birthday. She’s carried it in a pot with her through two years and four apartments.
May 20, 5:34pm So after all that, your writer worked a full day. It was the most relaxing day I’ve ever had on the job. I had the...
3 tags
Re:boot - Return to Portland
I don’t know what time it is.[[MORE]] We made it back to Brooklyn, hungry and feeling the edges of our bravado beginning to crack. We went back to Mega-bites, where the waitress remembered us, looked us both up and down, and returned to our table with coffee and milk.
Guh. Look at that glorious spread. <3 Rah fed me, so I called the taxi. We found where Pratt Institute keeps its...
5 tags
Re:Boot! - The Exhibit
2:57pm
The exhibit is complete and the Convention is open! [[MORE]]
Carolyn got the video and the sound to work properly, and so the big flatscreen showed off the video and poster gallery of all the other affiliated schools and projects being represented in this exhibit. The orange house facade is Anna and Amanda’s project: They were part of the Emily Carr University design school in...
5 tags
Re:Boot! - Convention day
May 18, 7:43am
“Rah?”
“Mm?” She’s already wide awake, dressed for the convention, cream-gold and black skirt and strappy shoes and a black and white sash, and trying to eat something in spite of not being that hungry just yet. I’ve just sat up from a dream about painting fish and I’m currently sizing up my day. We have an airplane hanger full of people, a cab ride, a new...
3 tags
Re:Boot! - So, Two Introverts walk into New...
(This photo dedicated to Martin French, Head of PNCA’s Illustration Department. We both immediately thought of you when we passed by.)
11:22pm - Deb peeked in around the time I finished the prior post to ask us what our plans were. Dinner as a group was still nebulous and Team Fishboot was both quite done for the day…and had yet to really explore New York. And here we were, in the...
5 tags
Re:Boot! - They grow up so fast.
3:24pm
The Boot is officially finished and ready for its debut. Lots of pictures taken of the final product and the functionality of its interior stove and sink below the cut. [[MORE]]
Final paint designs of the front door…
Back windows,
Flank one,
and flank the other. It’s a bright, eye-catching little wagon welcoming onlookers into a booth filled with exciting ideas and...
4 tags
PNCA :: Untitled Magazine →
10:10 am Brief Update before heading out again. Bootstrap homes is live on our school blog, Untitled… …And we’re not going to starve. (furthermore, we’re probably not going to have to live out of a Boot ourselves when we get home!) THANK YOU RAH’S PARENTS. <3
5 tags
Re:Boot - Well-slept at Last
May 17, 8:53 am Yesterday, I kept minutes on twitter, but I was not able to blog. We were very busy setting up, or we were very busy…sleeping. We got back home around 7pm New York time, showered, crashed, woke up at like, five in the morning, crashed some more. This morning, we feel a little more like human beings again. In lieu of being able to write about it, I took some pictures of...
5 tags
Re:Boot! - From the Desk of the Shambling Undead
May 16, 2013. 8:53am
Rah is made of sterner stuff than I. We crawled into bed at about 3:30, and about 30 minutes ago she hauled herself back out of it and back down to the studio. She asked me if I was coming with, and I would have gone but sleep paralysis hung on for another thirty minutes. I only just now got my body to move again. Food tea and studio, and when I’m there I can post the...
3 tags
Re:Boot STILL AT IT
2:40am Yes we bed happens but this had to Uh
Axels arranged. Everything which is not on the fish already goes on later today. Rah is pumping tires. Why is Rah pumping tires. I can no longer take pictures because the entire world is out of batteries. Rah. Raaaah. As your official sanity buddy I insist that we rotate ourselves into a landscape format. Rah? Rah? Oh thank god. Good luck Anna. You...
5 tags
Re:Boot! FISH!
1:14 am, May 16, 2013 Exhausted. Everything left to do is after we sleep. I’mma let the pictures do the rest of the talking. [[MORE]]
Back view.
Side.
Other side.
Top.
Front door.
Fiiiiiish. We’re gonna put windows in. Handles on. The details of the sink, stove, wheels, and fins happen tomorrow. We’re tired, we’re broke. But the thing is at least 90%...
4 tags
Re:Boot - Happy Accidents
8:20pm So I was helping Rah touch up painting the Fish’s butt and mouth, when I suddenly…
RAH. RAH STOP PAINTING AND COME LOOK AT THIS 8D [[MORE]]
ACCIDENTAL STAINED GLASS CEILING!!!!
We can barely wait to break out the gold and copper accent paints. Rah is currently making some bold decisions with the gray paint on the gills.
5 tags
Re:Boot! D8 LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU
I CAN’T LOOK TELL ME WHEN IT’S OVER
5 tags
Re:Boot - WE'LL DO IT OURSELVES
6:54pm We could not, for love or money, find ourselves a bike hitch that fit our specifications in the four days we looked. So Rah went and made one here in the shop!
It’s basically a square metal rod with two carriage bolts on one end and two wire ring anchor points on the other. It’ll do! Back to painting orange scales on the back of the fishboot.
6 tags
Re:Boot! And somma this
6:10pm Four days into the project, and Rah and I are both officially broke. But that is a tale for later. On the bright side, we have everything we need, and all we have to do left is paint this beast. Group dinner will happen tomorrow, but some amazing soul ordered pizza in for everyone who has returned to the studio to finish their projects for ICFF, so Rah and I could recharge just a little....
4 tags
Re:Boot - Bit of this and that
2:07pm Back from materials run (a very successful one, as the art store down the block is closing and we scored 14$ worth of stuff for only 6$) and Rah has been fed. She’s now busy taping up the boot while we wait. Paint run hasn’t happened yet, but Deb should be back in about 20 minutes. We don’t know if the axel arrived yet, but Carolyn knows some people to call. No luck on...
5 tags
Re:Boot! - Fresh Fish is Back on the Menu!
11:04am
Our amendments to the projected plan for today are as follows: 1) Rah’s camera is just about out of batteries and I don’t know how long it will last. I’m tinkering with Rah’s phone and hoping I can borrow a camera from someone else if I can’t get it to work.. Ah, okay. This will work. It’s clunky but it will work. 2) Debera is adamant about the fish...
4 tags
Re:Boot - RESULT!
12:28, May 15, 2013
Rah made a thing and it is beautiful. She’ll finish with the roofing screws on the outside, we’ll pull up the tape, and then we’re going home for the night.[[MORE]]
It still needs its windows, wheels, bike hitch, handles, some supplies for the sink and oven, and its last coat of paint. The supply run will happen tomorrow. Resting happens first.
3 tags
Re:Boot! Coming together
11:20pm I went to Luigi’s pizza place across the street for Pizza: Carolyn had recommended it, and it would take less time and energy than cooking. When I came back, Rah had made a thing! And it was looking more and more like a thing!
[[MORE]]I was escorted into the studio by some curious campus cats, including a very handsome gent with a white handlebar moustache, tuxedo, and spats. He was...
3 tags
Rah's Sketchblog: Re:boot! Smooth Sailing. →
scloutier:
8:33pm Rah continued to work as I went to recombobulate. When I came back, the Boot had become remarkably Boot-shaped:
Rah’s in very good spirits. The drilling and screwing and caulking has been falling together fast.
These parts were put together as I wrote up the last post. Here’s…
4 tags
Re:Boot! The Stupid Unicorn Boot and other Tales
scloutier:
7:20pm Last night, Rah hit her biggest wall of frustration with the missing drill-bit. Today, I hit mine when we learned that the Boot must be colored in a bright and merry way, and therefore a clear design for the painting job must be made. I had misunderstood the conversation unfolding in front of me between Deberah and Rah as an official approval of the goldfish design she had...
6 tags
Re:Boot! Hashtags and convention details
3:51pm Deberah stopped in with Carolyn, and had some important announcements which will be important to keep in mind as we’re working. The booth space will be pretty small, but the Boot should fit nicely enough. We’ll have people tomorrow to help us paint the boot (and we’ve been told the painting part is mandatory, as one of the things which caught their attention most about the...
4 tags
Re:Boot Live from the Studio!
1:22pm
The studio has internet access! I can do these blogs live while staying out of Rah’s way + being close at hand when she needs someone to hold something steady. Noise canceling headsets are the greatest invention ever. While she drills I am going to go back to my prior posts and and put up pictures from the safety of my make-shift office nook. Let no-one say I don’t know how to...
4 tags
Re:Boot! Up and at 'em.
10:58am, May 14, 2013 I was awake long before I was willing to get out of bed, and while I pretended I was asleep I listened to Rah dutifully eat breakfast…go play bejeweled…put clothes on…stop halfway through and sit back down at her desk…play bejeweled…lie down for a bit…get back up and go wash out the chef Boyardee bowl she re-purposed as a cereal...
4 tags
Re:Boot! ...WELP
11:00pm We finally met Deberah, the master coordinator behind our presence in New York! After a cheerful talk, she went home like a sensible human being and we turned once again to the task at hand. Alas, the mistakes of the frustrated and fatigued which we had hoped to shake off during break arrived shortly after we resumed work, with reinforcements. We had not eaten, which I will count as the...
4 tags
Re:Boot! The Warehouse Labyrinth
6:48 pm
On account of our abbreviated timetable, we are not ending our work-day here. We are taking a well-earned break and going back to finish the base. I am blowing bubbles and waiting for my tea to steep. Rah is playing bejeweled. Soap-bubbles are sheer poetry and a balm on the scuffed up edges of my thoughts. We have successfully collected all but four items on our materials list: one...
4 tags
Re:Boot! Steel Nipples, Strippers, and Flashing...
3:03 pm We have completed the Hardware store run. Rah and I are not mature adults and so the labeling system of the aisles kept us very entertained. Our ride and coordinator Carolyn met us there, waited very patiently for us to finish shopping, and navigated us smoothly out of the parking lot and through the packed streets of New York in her station wagon. Rah and I took advantage of our...
4 tags
Re:Boot! One does not simply Walk through the...
7:24 AM, May 13 2013.
I’m rather groggy this morning, and so I type to wake up as I wait for my morning tea. Rah has already been at the sugar cubes I see. It’s like watching a very sensible hummingbird who knows how to fold laundry. Last night I got Rah to write up what she intends to get done today. I will post it now for my own personal amusement later, when I write up what...
4 tags
Re:Boot! Live from NY
3:36 AM, May 12 2013.
The clock on my cellphone says 3:56, New York time. My poor laptop says it’s 12:57 am back in Portland, and so does my body. I’m sitting in front of an open word document, watching Rah play Bejeweled, and asking her what voice I should use this week while blogging about the bootstrap workshop we’re about to run. She tells me she’s been using a...
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
April 2013
1 post
3 tags
July 2012
2 posts
Addendum
The Problems With Boots, as catalogued by their maker, two months after completing the fourth Boot.
1) Even though they’re legal, parking enforcement tends to target them, because they’re clearly ‘homeless.’ I would need to talk to the City Council and clarify this with them, and possibly fight a legal battle to get parking enforcement to apply the laws evenly.
2)...
The two Boots that Sunnyside School raised money for can begin at any point. I could use some help getting building materials from Home Depot to Sunnyside playground. However!
I have some pretty hard news to share: I don’t think Bootstrap Homes is helping people enough or in the right ways. I still believe that community-sponsored, beautiful shelter can be a part of the solution to...
June 2012
1 post
My apologies
My apologies for the recent lack of posts. The two Boots at Sunnyside finished up well. They are now occupied and the kids raised enough money to build two more with all the trimmings. I am taking a well-earned vacation near Hermann, Missouri, where there is no internet unless I climb to the top of this hill to commune with the ticks. The hike itself is lovely, but the ticks have no concept of...
May 2012
9 posts
Hello Friend
I just wanted to share this little Oregonian event with you!
Thanks!
http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ssf/event/sunnyside-school-bootstrap-housing-fundraiser-external-submission/205314/2012-06-01
Matthew Heller (note from Sarah Cloutier: Oh yes! We’re doing a fundraiser! And it’s going to have music! It’ll be awesome! You should come!)
Today's Schedule
11:15 I have sunscreen. 11:17 I have forgotten all about my sunscreen. 4:13 I regret that.
The two Boots at Sunnyside are coming together quite nicely. Since we decided to build a mini storage Boot as well, Jan’s son had to run out and get more materials, and some of the kids didn’t get to work as much as they wanted today. I’ll be going back there this evening, most...
LOTS of stuff happening this week!
Build days at Sunnyside starting today, Open Engagement running Thursday-Sunday, and graduation ceremony and the start of the senior show on Sunday! But for now, here’s a news clip on my project that was on the Chinese National News and got picked up by Yahoo-China. http://tw.news.yahoo.com/video/lifestyle-19458046/title-29299011.html
dodyroller asked: thought you should know that the cute little trailer on our street (SE 26th) has a tow warning on it. It is parked right down the street from us and we love it. We don't want it to get towed.
April 2012
31 posts
A Thesis Presentation approaches. What do you do?
jumpingjacktrash:
the-real-seebs:
bootstraphomes:
I present all this to a board of senior faculty at 9:30 am Friday.
Wild Thesis Presentation appeared!
PNCA selected Rah. Go!
Rah used Pillowcase Chibi. It’s super effective!
Thesis Presentation used all-nighter. Rah became sleepy!
Rah is sleeping.
PNCA fed Rah an Alarm Clock. It woke up!
Thesis Presentation used How Is This Art? ...
A Thesis Presentation approaches. What do you do?
I fear it may be time for a new battery or a new camera. It only held its charge for two days. We’ll see if it works better when I don’t accidentally turn it on all the time by stuffing it in an enormous overfull backpack. In other news, the Channel 8 video is now on MSNBC, too! I’ve gotten one email from a person who saw that, and a couple teachers commenting on it. Very...
