How About Orange

A farewell to orange

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Fri, 16 May 2014 21:09:00 +0000

Dear friends, the time has come. This blog is going into retirement. I'm packing it a suitcase stuffed with coral golf shirts, pumpkin plaid shorts, and tangerine tube socks and sending it off to hit golf balls in the sunny land of old blogs that had a good run.

If you know me in real life, you know I've been talking about finishing up this project for... oh, a couple of years now. Blogging has always been just a hobby for me, and I've avoided turning it into a full-time business with big collaborations, brand partnerships, and sponsored everythings. I never even bought a real domain name. I love graphic design, my bread and butter, and it has become too demanding to run this blog and get my client work done, which is always my first priority.

But I'm not disappearing. All the old posts will remain, plus we will stay internet friends. Here's where to find me:

How About Orange Facebook page (because I can't quit cold turkey, and will likely post more frequently there. Click "Get Notifications" under the Like tab.)
Me on Instagram
Me on Twitter
Me on Pinterest
My graphic design site blog
My graphic design Facebook page
The Oscar bingo mailing list (yes, I am still making Oscar bingo every year!)

Thank you, everyone, for your friendship, comments, and company for the last 7 1/2 years. God bless you and keep you, and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

Amen.

Goodbye.

Um, leaving now. Okay. Right. Done. The end.

New work for Renaissance Ribbons

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Thu, 15 May 2014 23:04:00 +0000

A fun surprise came in the mail today— a box of my latest designs for Renaissance Ribbons. I had a catalog of options they picked from, and then they requested a few color changes and a new design to add to the bunch, school buses. It's lots of fun working with those folks; they are delightful.

The tickets are my favorite. I amused myself by making the numbers tiny jokes that nobody is ever going to notice. 8675309. 5882300.

The stamps are fun.

And this zigzag stuff makes me happy.

These are now posted in the Renaissance Ribbons wholesale site for shops to order, and they'll appear on Renaissance's retail site in several weeks where you can buy them by the yard.

Various projects on my list

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Wed, 14 May 2014 20:41:00 +0000

I've got an unending list of small projects for the house. So fun! It's like my own personal playground in there. Here's a sampling.

See that clear acrylic table in front of the couch in my office area? It's part of a set of 3 cheap nesting tables I got on eBay. I picked them because I liked how they didn't look bulky and I can rearrange them all the time. The problem: I keep running into them because they're clear and I'm a klutz. So I plan to draw some sort of design on them with a white Sharpie paint pen.

It could look cool, right? Here's an example of something related: the Timber Table from Gus Modern. (Photo from Gus.)

Next. A confession: I created an art forgery. I had a Rifle Paper calendar sitting around and decided that something flowery and patterned just like that would be precisely the thing to add to our patterned dining room. Except no Rifle prints come in 2 ft by 3 ft, so I painted one. Er, as artists like to say, "it's an homage to" Anna Bond? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

I don't know what came over me since I don't even LIKE really flowery things that much. The room made me do it. I'm having second thoughts and maybe I'll put something else there. Not flowery. More modern. Either that, or this canvas needs a frame. On the to-do list: solve this problem.

And then I have this parrot fabric. I'm thinking it could go on the folding chairs we'll pull up to the table when we have extra guests. I could spray paint the frames and reupholster the seats; people can sit on the parrots. OR I could decoupage them onto a tray and set a vase of greenery on those birds.

Those are three projects from my list of 500.

Illustrated wallpapers for Apple devices

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Mon, 12 May 2014 20:22:00 +0000

Lagom, a company that creates contemporary paper products and gifts, makes some of their art available as wallpapers for iPads and iPhones. Find a selection of illustrated goodies free for the downloading right here!

Noisli soothing noise generator

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Fri, 09 May 2014 19:30:00 +0000

When you're trying to work without distraction but need a little background noise, or you're struggling to relax and fall asleep, you might like Noisli. It's a website and app that lets you pick different sounds to play, including rain, a fan, white noise, crickets, and more. Play multiple sounds at the same time if you want to get crazy. The coffee shop is the best— freelancers feeling lonely at their desks can just turn on a background hum of people talking and dishes clattering. Instant fake human contact. Try it out.

Arrow iPad case

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Thu, 08 May 2014 22:09:00 +0000

Alex has taken over my old iPad case, so Mum sewed me a new one from Orchid Arrows. The pattern is Erin Erickson's Gadget Guard, and I love it. Nicely padded with Soft & Stable, but not bulky. A perfect fit for my antique iPad.

The pleated pocket on the front can hold a charging cord, pens, small notebook, cash, love letters, or photos of your hamster.

The pattern has options for putting the zippers on the long or short side, leaving the pocket off, and sizing it for any device up to one inch thick.

Of course I requested orange zippers to go with the purply-pink arrows, but the turquoise zips Mum put on her own case with the navy background look almost as fabulous.

P.S. I just learned that Erin's patterns are all 25% off through ~~Sunday, May 11~~. Correction: Monday, May 12. Go shopping!

Origami elephant desktop wallpaper

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Tue, 06 May 2014 21:40:00 +0000

I made myself a new desktop wallpaper from an elephant I folded awhile back. I don't know where the actual elephant is anymore, but his likeness is now on my monitor. Should you need an orange paper elephant for your desktop, download him here (1920x1080 px).

To fold your own elephant, follow the instructions at at Origami Spirit.

Freshie & Zero modern jewelry

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Mon, 05 May 2014 17:45:00 +0000

I'm not a huge jewelry person, but I love the simple, modern earrings and necklaces at Freshie & Zero— they're "made with love and a hammer in Nashville, TN." Beth Lawrence, the jewelry artist behind these handmade beauties, is a How About Orange fan and wrote in to share her work. As she says, these pieces are great for accenting any orange outfit without taking away from it.

So true. Though you likely dress in orange every day of the week, I bet the designs will even work on those very few occasions in which you can't. Like funerals and family portraits where you must all wear white shirts and khakis to humor your mother-in-law. Shop here!

P.S. This is not a sponsored post. I just like these.

Designs for Cloud9 Fabrics

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Fri, 02 May 2014 17:26:00 +0000

I'm excited to report that I have a fabric collection coming out with Cloud9 Fabrics this fall! And get this: it will be printed on barkcloth. So retro. So cool. If you're not sure what that is, read this TrueUp post or go to a thrift store, locate some tropical print curtains from the 50s, and feel them. They're probably barkcloth. You can use it for upholstery, curtains, pillows, bags, and all the usual home dec projects. And shoes.

Better start combing vintage stores and Craigslist right now, looking for the perfect Danish teak chair you can reupholster. If you're in Cincinnati, you and I may end up in a fist fight over them. Fair warning.

Recently I had the privilege of working with Cloud9 on their new identity, which involved a redesign of their existing logo and the addition of a mark for Cloud9 Collective, their new designer label for patterns created by the hive of artists and designers they admire.

To get your geometric fabric fix in the meantime, grab a bit of my Arrow print from The Needle Shop. It would make a sweet messenger bag or fun accent chair.

Fabric sighting: Under the Weather bags

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 16:47:00 +0000

I just spotted these cool Commuter Bags in a couple of my Outside Oslo prints; the red one is Sticks and the gray one is Frond. Great lining colors! Find these and other accessories for cyclists here at Under the Weather, based in Ontario.

African/Dutch wax print fabrics

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 21:39:00 +0000

While browsing Etsy for artwork, I got distracted scrolling through African wax print fabrics. The fabric I put on the parlor lamps was a wax print. These textiles have a fascinating history; read more here. These were some of my favorite prints:
Above: Left; right.

Left; right.

Left; right.

Geometric lamp shade with tape

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 19:19:00 +0000

After swapping out this dining room light fixture for this one I love, our room got a lot dimmer. We needed extra lighting in a corner, so we bought a shelf floor lamp at Target. It was looking a little Asian, though, which is not part of the plan. So to distract myself from that, and since we're going pattern crazy in this room, I decided to give it a little sumthin' sumthin.' There are more than enough swirly lines in there already, so I made geometric shapes with this 3M 1/8" vinyl tape.

It's repositionable and removable for when I get tired of it.

I'm really pleased with how good it looks. You wouldn't even know it's tape until you put your nose right up there to inspect it.

Drawer pull

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 21:21:00 +0000

Happy Friday! I leave you with this photo of my ugly dresser drawer handle (it goes on this guy). The two hardware stores I stopped by last night didn't have any sleek, modern pulls that would fit the current holes (which are very large, and I'm not ambitious enough to try to fill them and drill new ones). So I'm stuck with the original "fancy" ones. The only gold/brass metallic spray paint I found, other than Krylon I don't like much, was Rustoleum's Universal Metallic in Pure Gold. It looks like this. Nope. I'll paint them some other color tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

UPDATE: Now they're navy. I'm calling it a day.

Painting the dresser

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 20:06:00 +0000

I've finally gotten around to painting the Craigslist mid-century Drexel Touraine dresser for the dining room. It looked like this before:

I primed it with Zinsser Cover-Stain oil based primer and then tried out Sherwin Williams ProClassic Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd Enamel. It's one of the new "hybrid" paints that acts like oil, but is actually water based. The paint store assured me it has great leveling properties so brush strokes will disappear, but that didn't prove to be the case for me. The surface looks quite brush-strokey despite my efforts to lay it down quickly and not over-brush it. It's driving me crazy, but maybe I'll forget about it once the dresser is in place in the dining room. I tried researching online whether I could add Floetrol to a water based alkyd to help it level and gave up in confusion— and, let's be honest— laziness.

I'm moving on.

I want to spray paint the hardware.

Should I make it look brassy? Pretend this statue lady's arm is a drawer handle.

Or let's get crazy: Hot pink.

Here's a hasty Photoshop mock-up with brass.

Here's a hasty Photoshop mock-up with pink. Heck, let's paint the fancy trim around the bottom, too.

But remember, it's going to live in this room with nutty fuchsia wallpaper. A vintage lamp with a sleek brass cylinder base will sit on top.

My gut tells me it would be pink overkill. After all, a respected colleague once informed me that restraint is the second rule of design. But man, that pink is FUN. Maybe in a room that wasn't already swathed in pink.

I was going to use the original hardware, but the mocked-up rectangles are making me want something simple, modern, and less fussy. I wonder if I could find something like that.

What to do, guys?

UPDATE: I couldn't find new drawer pulls, so I tried for a brass paint job and didn't like the spray paint I used. So they're navy.

Free fonts: Intro Condensed

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 21:16:00 +0000

The Black and Light versions of Intro Condensed are available for free here from Fontfabric. Personal and commercial use are fair game! These are two useful freebies, I guarantee it. Elegant, clean, and geometric. If you need more weights, buy up all their brothers and sisters and cousins at MyFonts.

Fabric sighting: store window

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 19:55:00 +0000

I stole this photo from The Needle Shop's Facebook page and shamelessly pasted it here. There's a rule that when you're excited to see your name on a store window, you have to show everyone you know and lots of people you don't.

The shop is promoting my mini home decor fabric collection, Arrow. The print is inspired by airport signage; I had travel on my mind. (I made Arrow a logo and marketing materials, too, just for fun.)

I expect there will be more Arrow sightings here in the next couple weeks since I can think of a few nifty projects people are working on— I'd love to share the before-and-afters, the tutorials, and finished products. They might inspire DIY projects of your own using your favorite fabrics. Onward and upward!

Easy origami egg holders

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 18:37:00 +0000

These easy origami egg cups are folded from 6" squares of origami paper. They took me just a minute or two each, and any decorative paper will work. You could whip up a bunch and put one at each place setting for Easter brunch. Coordinate the paper colors with a flower centerpiece and wrap the vase with a strip of matching paper. See how to make your own with this video tutorial by YouTube user 1petiteSorciere. Cute!

How to make a folding camp stool

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 18:12:00 +0000

Here's the guest tutorial I mentioned yesterday: a DIY folding stool made from scratch! This project uses more of my new Arrow fabric and makes a great side table, footrest, or portable seat. Here's LiEr to tell you how to make them.

- - - - - -
Hello! I am LiEr and I write a craft blog ikatbag that is part fabric, part cardboard and, occasionally, wood. Today, I am happy to be here sharing how to make these little wooden fold-up stools.

I made these stools in Jessica's new Arrow fabric for my three girls, in two sizes. The smaller one is for my 6-year-old and the two larger ones are for my almost-8 and almost-10-year old.

They also make good footrests for the director's chair in yesterday's post.

Though they are meant for kids, they can easily be sized up for adults, too. The dimensions in this tutorial are for the larger stool;

to make the smaller one,

follow the dimensions in the diagram below. The hardware for both stools are the same.

We'll be making the stools in two parts - the wooden frame and the fabric seat.

Part I: The Wooden Frame

I used lumber in two sizes - 2X2 for the side beams and 1x2 for the legs and cross bars. The thicker wood is sturdier, but the thinner legs folded more compactly for the kid-sized chairs. If I were making this in a larger size for an adult, I'd use 2X2 lumber for the entire frame.

This is the hardware I used:

(Note: you can just as well use skinny screws in place of the nails, but I didn't have those on hand.)

along with the associated tools:

Saw (hand or electric)
Drill, with the relevant drill bits
Hammer
Sandpaper
Screwdriver
Wrench/spanner for the hex bolts
Heavy-duty staple gun
Wood glue
Ruler, T-square, pencil

Step 1: Cut
Cut and sand lumber in the following lengths -

Of the 2x2:

Two 14" lengths for side beams

Of the 1x2:

Four 19" lengths for legs
One 11 3/8" length for cross bar
One 9 3/4" length for cross bar

Cut away one end of each of the four legs at a 45 degree angle.

Step 2: Drill
Drill holes in the legs as shown -
first, holes for the bolts, 9" from the flat ends.

Next, pre-drill holes for the screws, centrally (or as best you can) through the flat ends.

Also, pre-drill matching holes for the screws in the 14" side beams, as shown:

Step 3: Assemble the wider legs
Gather two legs, the 11 3/8" cross bar and the 14" side beam with the 12" screw spacing.

Using the measurements in the photo above, assemble the leg system according to the photo below. Apply wood glue to the surfaces in contact before inserting the nails or screws.

I found it helpful to partially hammer the nails in position through the legs before attaching the cross bar.

I also found it helpful to attach the cross bar first (the one with nails),

and then the side beam (the one with screws).

Step 4: Assemble the narrower legs
Gather the remaining pieces of lumber: two legs, the 9 3/4" cross bar and the 14" side beam with the 10.5" screw spacing. Assemble the narrower leg system in the same way as the wider one, noting that the cross bar is now 4" (not 3") above the pointed ends of the legs. This is to allow the two leg systems to nest within each other when the stool is folded closed.

Step 5: Assemble the frame
Nest the narrow set of legs in the wider, with the pointed ends in the correct configuration for the stool to stand squarely on the ground.

On each side, line up the bolt holes and insert bolt, washers and nut in the following sequence: (from top to bottom): bolt, washer, wider leg, washer, narrower leg, washer, nut.

Secure tightly with the nut on the bottom.

This is the finished frame. Leave to dry overnight, while you work on the fabric seat.

Part II: The Fabric Seat

Step 1: Cut
Cut out fabric as follows:

Top fabric: one rectangle 19.5" x 14.5" (mine was Arrow)
Bottom fabric: one rectangle 19.5" x 14.5"(mine was navy twill)
Inner canvas stabilizer: one rectangle 18.5" x 13.5" (mine was natural duckcloth/canvas)

Step 2: Pin and Sew
Assemble and pin a fabric sandwich as shown in the photo below.
First, centralize and pin the stabilizer to the WS of the top fabric so that there is a uniform 1/2" border all around.
Next, pin the bottom fabric to the top fabric so that their RS are together and their edges are aligned.

Using a 1/2" seam allowance, sew around the edge of (but not on) the canvas stabilizer, through both the top and bottom fabrics (red dashed line). Leave a large opening (about 10") along one of the long sides, for turning out.

Step 3: Topstitch

Clip the corners and turn the entire fabric sandwich RS out so that the canvas stabilizer is entirely enclosed. Manipulate its corners within the sandwich, if necessary, so that it lies flat and does not bunch up. Press all seams. Edge-stitch around (i.e. sew about 1/8" away from) the edge of the sandwich to flatten the seam. Topstitch an additional line about 1/4"-1/2" from the edgestitching, to securely "catch" the layer of stabilizer between the two outer fabrics.

The fabric seat is finished and ready for the frame. Note for non-sewers: if you had sized your frame accordingly, you could even skip the sewing altogether by using store-bought placemats!

With a heavy-duty staple gun, wrap the shorter side of the fabric seat over the side beams of the frame and staple the fabric to the wood.

The finished stool, folded up

and ready for use!

Director's chair in Arrow

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 19:09:00 +0000

Here's a fun project using my new Arrow fabric— a director's chair upholstered by LiEr Teigland of Ikat Bag. LiEr took apart this second-hand chair, made a new seat and back rest, and put it back together again, with a twist:

The pattern is reversible and can be flipped at a moment's notice! Yes. She's smart like that. I wish I had her brain.

This chair is perfect for fabric lovers, since it can display prints nicely and the fabric can be swapped out. It's also perfect for managerial types, since you can tote it from room to room, sit in it, and direct your minions to do as you wish.

To see how LiEr executed this chair makeover, read about it here on her blog.

Then come back here tomorrow for a follow-up guest tutorial, because LiEr just couldn't leave well enough alone and had to go and invent another awesome project using Arrow.

Purchase the fabric here from The Needle Shop!

It's Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 22:44:00 +0000

Happy weekend, everybody. I'm hoping to plant some stuff in the dirt patch by our curb. And paint a dresser. And some art for our walls. Also clean and do laundry and read books and go to church and see friends and try a new restaurant and go for walks. I can do all those things, right? Wishing you a weekend impossibly full of good things, too.

(Awesome typographic desk calendar by Simone Massoni.)

How to make an industrial pipe floor lamp

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 20:43:00 +0000

I really have a thing for lamps. I roam thrift stores admiring them— the weirder, the better — and pause on catalog pages with cool fixtures. Today I'm happy to share a guest tutorial on how to make your own industrial-style floor lamp out of pipes. Set this baby in front of your exposed brick wall and sip a craft cocktail while you admire your handiwork. You built a lamp!

The how-to is by Matthew Lyons, self-proclaimed handyman and blogger for HomeDaddys.com. Here's what Matthew has to say:

- - - - -
Like most red-blooded Americans, I love industrial pipe lighting. There’s a certain derelict nostalgia about lamps and chandeliers made from old metal plumbing that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and manly inside. Unfortunately, that feeling isn’t shared by my wallet.

I’ve been lusting after an industrial pipe floor lamp for years now but the price tags people attach to these things are utterly ridiculous. The majority of multi-bulb floor-length pipe lamps available online or in stores sell for $400 - $1,000. As a guy on a lower middle-class income with a wife and a kid to support, I just can’t justify spending that kind of money on what amounts to a few lengths of pipe, some wire and a couple vintage light bulbs.

So, considering how simple these things are, I figured I could just build my own pipe lamp for half the cost of buying one. Having never wired anything before in my life, I was a little worried how this project would turn out. Surprisingly, though, it was super-easy to make. The entire lamp can be assembled by hand like some sort of awesome adult Erector Set. As I predicted, the wiring was by far the hardest part of the entire build – but even that took less than two hours and I didn’t even set the house on fire when I plugged it in. This made my wife very happy.

Here’s how you can build one of these awesome industrial pipe lamps for your own house or apartment or office or whatever dark corner of your life begs illumination.

The Materials

When planning out my DIY industrial pipe lamp, I decided that I wanted to go with a tree-style design with three bulbs, for no other reason than I saw something similar on Etsy and thought it looked cool.

I ended up purchasing all the plumbing for this project from Home Depot. Coincidentally, I ended up buying everything else from Home Depot as well. All in all the total bill was $180 – less than half of what a similar lamp would cost in-store.

You might be able to spend even less if you search for the parts online – it just seemed easier to me to get everything in one haul so that I could start building the lamp immediately. Here’s the shopping list:

The Structure

You’re probably going to want to get these lengths of pipe at a hardware store. Unless you really like ordering heavy things online, that is.

1x 36” Long ¾” Black Metal Pipe

2x 12” Long ¾” Black Metal Pipes

4x 8” Long ¾” Black Metal Pipes

3x 6” Long ¾” Black Metal Pipes

2x 5” Long ¾” Black Metal Pipes

1x 2” Long ¾” Black Metal Pipe

6x ¾” Black Metal Pipe Close Connectors

7x ¾” Black Metal Pipe Elbows - 90°

5x ¾” Galvanized Metal Pipe Tees

1x ¾” Galvanized Metal 4-Way Pipe Splitter

3x 1”-to-3/4” Black Metal Reducing Couplers

4x ¾” Galvanized Metal Pipe Floor Flanges

1x ¾” Black Metal Pipe Nut

I wanted to go all black metal with this project but Home Depot was out of the black versions of some of the connectors I needed. So I made do by getting the silver galvanized metal versions and spray painting them black in the back yard. The spray paint I used is listed in “Other Stuff.”

The Lighting

You can get all this stuff in the Lighting section of your local hardware store. Ask an associate to cut you some lamp wire off of one of the store reels – it’s a lot cheaper than buying a standard reel of the stuff.

1x 15 foot Lamp Power Cord (16 Gauge)

4x Keyless Phenolic Light Sockets

10 Feet of Lamp Wire (16 Gauge)

1x Package Winged Wire Connectors (Min, 2x #18 Gauge – Max, 3x #12 Gauge)

3x Feit Electric Original Vintage 60w Bulbs

The Other Stuff

You’re going to need more than just plumbing and wires to build your lamp. Chances are good you probably have some of this stuff lying around in your garage or basement but if you don’t, make sure to pick some up before you start.

1x Can Rustoleum Textured Black Spray Paint

Paper Towels (Lots of them)

Grease-Fighting Household Cleaner of Your Choice (I used Green Apple)

60-Grit Sandpaper

Painters Tape

Electrical Tape

Wire Cutters

A Small Philips Head Screwdriver

Instructions

Click images to view larger.

Prep Work

Every good project starts with good preparation. That said, here’s something I learned the hard way – these pipes are greasier than a southern politician during an election year. They will ruin your clothes, your pets and everything else that you love. Do yourself a favor and clean them off before you start to build the lamp. Soak a few paper towels in your household cleaner and wipe down every single piece of plumbing that you purchased. Vigorously. The cleaner might take off a bit of finish but it will also ensure that your new lamp doesn’t destroy the inside of your home.

Once your pipes are clean, take your 60-grit sandpaper and sand off any parts that still have those laser-printed labels on them. When that’s finished you should go ahead and do any of the spray painting you had planned. Sand everything you plan to paint so that you get a more even coat. Stuff the openings of each component with paper towels and seal them off with painter’s tape. This will protect your threads, which will ensure that you can still screw everything together after the paint is dry.

Once everything has been prepped, painted and dried you should be ready to put this sonovagun together.

Building the Base

Please Note: These pipes will not be used for actual plumbing. Therefore, they do not need to be locked down and watertight. Every time I use the phrases “attach” or “screw on,” I mean to hand tighten the pipes together. You do not need plumber’s putty. You do not need Loctite. Unless you have exceptionally poor arm strength, you do not even need grease. Just twist on the pipes each the way nature intended. That way the lamp can be adjusted however you please and can also be easily broken down in case you move or get evicted for being too awesome.

As seen in the picture above, start by attaching two 8” pipes to opposing sides of your four-way splitter. On the end of those pipes, screw on an elbow piece. On the end of those elbow pieces, screw on your two 5” pipes. On the end of those pipes, attach two of the floor flanges. This forms the “top” two legs of your base.

For the bottom two legs, start by attaching the 2” length of pipe to the lonely end of a pipe tee. Screw that on to the bottom of your four-way splitter. Then attach the other two 8” pipes, then two elbows, then two close connectors and then the last two flanges. Voila, you’ve got a nifty base for your lamp. Finally, use a close connector to attach a pipe tee lengthwise to the top of the 4-way splitter. This will be your “Power Tee,” and you will string your power cord up through the hole here.

Your base might be a little wobbly at first. That’s fine. Just adjust the tightness of your flanges until all four “feet” are firmly planted on the ground.

Building the Lamp Arms

Grab a pipe tee. Attach a 6” length of pipe to the lonely end of said pipe tee. Then attach an elbow. Then screw in a close connector. Then attach a reducing coupler. Congratulations, you have just built a lamp arm.

Now repeat this process two more times so that you’ve got three complete arms. It’s just as easy to do as it sounds.

Wiring the Lamp

Please Note: We’re going to be wiring our lights in parallel. Doing this makes the bulbs independent, so that if one goes out the other two will continue to function. Yes, this is the opposite of how Christmas lights are wired. In order to wire your bulbs in parallel, you need to connect positive wires to positive wires and neutral wires to neutral wires so that each polarity has its own direct path to power. Trust me, this is much simpler to do than it is to understand.

Start by cutting your wires. If you’re using my build, you will need a 30” length of lamp wire, a 26” length of lamp wire and two 14” lengths of lamp wire. No, this does not add up to ten feet – but isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Leftover wire is good to have in the unlikely event that you mess something up.

Feed the 30” length of wire from the highest lamp arm down through the top 12” pipe so that it terminates at the second lamp arm tee. Feed the 14” lengths of lamp wire through the other pipe arms.

Now, from the bottom, string your power cord through the side of your power tee, out the top of the tee and up through the 36” pipe so that it terminates at the first lamp arm tee.

String the 26” length of wire from the first lamp arm tee up through the bottom 12” tube to the second lamp arm tee. Now you should have two “junctions” of three different wires at your first and second lamp arm tees, respectively.

Pull the POSITIVE and NEUTRAL strands of each wire apart. In general, the ribbed strand of your wire is the NEUTRAL strand but you should check your packaging to make sure. Remember which strand is which, because it’s important.

Using your wire cutter, strip off about a quarter inch of insulation from each strand to expose a nice workable bit of bare wire.

At the first lamp tee, twist the exposed NEUTRAL ends of the power cord, the first lamp wire and the 26” connecting wire together. Then attach a winged connector and screw it on until it won’t go any further. It’s normal for your three wires to twist together during this process. Give the coupling a light tug to make sure everything is securely fastened together.

Repeat this coupling process for the POSITIVE ends of the power cord, first lamp wire and connecting wire.

Stuff your couplings into the first lamp tee. It will be a tight fit, so finagle them until you get both of those chunky wing nuts in there. Then attach the 36” pipe to the bottom of the lamp tee and the bottom 12” pipe to the top of the lamp tee.

At the second lamp tee, repeat the coupling process for the NEUTRAL strands the third lamp wire, second lamp wire and connecting wire. Find the ribbed strands, twist the bare ends together and screw on a winged connecter until it will go no further.

Repeat the coupling process again for the POSITIVE strands of the third lamp wire, second lamp wire and connecting wire.

Stuff your second set of connectors into the second lamp tee. Then attach the bottom 12” tube to the bottom of the lamp tee and the top 12” pipe to the top of the lamp tee.

Attach the third lamp tee to the top 12” pipe and screw on the nut cap on top of the tee. Voila! You’ve now got a fully wired lamp structure – except for the light sockets, of course.

The Light Sockets

Now that your lamp is fully wired, you just need to attach your light sockets to the strands of wire sticking out of each lamp arm.

Your light sockets should have silver and bronze-colored terminals on the bottom. The silver terminal is for the NEUTRAL strand of wire and the bronze terminal is for the POSITIVE strand of wire.

Start with the first lamp arm. Unscrew the silver screw on the socket until it’s just barely attached. Then feed the NEUTRAL strand up through that little safety arm ring thing at the bottom of the light socket and to the silver terminal.

Depending on what type of socket you have, you’ve got two choices here. If your socket has a gap under each terminal, you can shove the wire into that and then tighten the screw to mash the terminal plate down onto the wire. If you don’t have a “hole” to stick the wire, you can just place your wire on top of the terminal and then tighten the screw on top of it to hold the connection that way. Just make sure that as much of the wire is touching the terminal as possible when you do this, otherwise your lights may flicker.

When that’s done, repeat this process for the bronze terminal and POSITIVE strand of wire.

Congratulations, your socket is now wired! Now all you need to do is wrap electrical tape around the bottom of the socket to keep the connection secure and any exposed wire insulated against the metal of the lamp arm.

Then place the socket in the lamp arm and fasten it into place by using Loctite super glue to attach the socket to the metal and then wrapping electrical tape around the socket and the top of the metal coupler.

I know what you’re thinking and no, this isn’t the prettiest way to execute the assembly. Since I can’t afford to have custom parts made, though, it’s the best I could come up with and it looks pretty neat with the raw black pipe – plus it’s very safe. You can always cover the tape job up with a piece of PVC pipe that’s been spray painted to match the rest of your lamp, but I decided to go with the rough and rugged look here.

The Final Stretch

Now that your lamp is completely wired, socketed and secured, all that’s left to do is to attach the lamp structure to the base and then screw in some light bulbs and give that bad boy some juice. If you followed my directions, it should light up instantly.

Congratulations! You have just constructed your own piece of designer furniture for a fraction of what it would cost at the store. You will have to plug the lamp in manually to turn it on, but if you’re feeling enterprising then you can splice in a power switch using this tutorial from DIY Network. And now that you’re on a roll, feel free to experiment with new pipe lamps for your tabletop, your desk or to hang from your ceiling. With a little creativity and some basic electrical know-how, there’s no limit to what you can build.

Enjoy, you hip lighting monster you.

Matthew Lyons is a blogger for HomeDaddys.com. An Oregon native, he now lives in Eastern Texas with his wife and son. He enjoys playing guitar and the smell of fresh-cut cedar.

- - - - -
Update: Jessica here: Be sure to read the comments for some extra tips, including solutions that eliminate the electrical tape!

How to fix for backlit photos

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 18:11:00 +0000

A tip for Photoshop users: here's a nice action for brightening bad pictures, especially backlit photos with a blue or gray tint. It's the Sunshine Photoshop Actions set from Charmbox Studios. It contains six different actions for a variety of lighting effects. I bought it for $4.50 and it's been worth the money in time saved.

Kissed by the Sun is the most useful of this set, I think. Above is my fixed up photo.

Here's what it looked like before I ran the action:

Today I edited a few snapshots for a client. Here's the original image:

And here it is, sunnier:

I made a few minor tweaks after running the action to brighten the floor in the foreground, but the action got me pretty far.

If you're not familiar with an "action" in Photoshop, it's a series of pre-recorded steps. Instead of applying each step manually yourself (brighten, adjust levels, increase saturation, etc.), you simply click the "play" button in the Actions palette and they all happen in order instantly. A huge time-saver, and if the action is designed correctly, each adjustment layer is still editable so you can tweak effects as needed. For how to install a new action, see here. There are lots of freebies floating around the web, too. Anybody have some they swear by?

4/14/14 Update: You guys must have purchased a bunch of products, because I just got a note from Charm Box Studios. They'd like to offer a thank you! To get 30% off anything in the Charm Box Studios store, enter the code: CBS-loves-orange now through 4/30/14. One use per customer, no minimum purchase. Sweet.

How to make a decorative picture mat

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 22:55:00 +0000

I'm getting a huge kick out of this funny linocut of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. The portrait is an original print by Nick Morley; read more about Nick's work here.

If you've seen the TV show, you know Sherlock is right at home amongst wallpaper, so I decided his picture mat ought to be patterned. I used a sheet of Rifle Paper gift wrap I got at Poeme, a charming little stationery shop in Cincinnati.

Covering a mat with paper is simple. You can cut a piece of chipboard to size and cover it, or cover an existing mat— one that came with your picture frame or a plain one purchased separately.

You'll need fancy paper cut roughly 1/2" larger than the mat, spray adhesive, and a scissors or craft knife.

Spray the back of the paper with adhesive and center the mat on it. Cut out the excess paper in the center of the mat, leaving around 1/2" to wrap around the edges.

Make diagonal slits to the inside corners and trim the outer corners at a 45 degree angle. Don't trim right up to the edge of the mat; leave enough extra paper to equal the thickness of the mat board so no board is exposed when you wrap the corners.

Bend the tabs around the board, sticking them down.

Put the print, mat, and frame back together and hang.

Sherlock must reside in the parlor, of course, where he'll scowl at me every day and make me happy.

Pretty tech wallpapers for spring

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 19:43:00 +0000

Have you been to Design Love Fest lately? The collection of phone and desktop wallpapers keeps expanding. Grab something pretty and spring-like right here!

Quiz: Which celebrity designer gets you?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica Jones) — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 19:16:00 +0000

I've posted a million design-related quizzes over the years. Here's a new one: Which celebrity designer gets you? Take the quiz at PopSugar to determine who's the best match for your preferences based on pictures you choose. The best part is, Emily Henderson— one of the possible answers— wrote a blog post about how she took the quiz herself wondering if she'd end up with Emily Henderson as the answer, and how it would affect her mental health if she didn't. Hilarious. See her thought process here.

I got Jonathan Adler, which didn't surprise me in the least.