INV/ALT design blog

Teabag INVention/ALTeration

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:42:00 +0000

A new semester starts on Tuesday, and I'm grateful for the long winter break - 4 weeks - because I think I've finally come down from the stress of fall semester, and I'm ready to start again. This past fall was the most difficult semester yet, and it leaves me apprehensive about the year and a half I have left. The workload was overwhelming and the schedule wrecked me, physically and emotionally; I finally hit rock-bottom, and I know that the pace and schedule I kept is not something I want to do again. (Zach would say I hit rock-bottom a few semesters before, when he got up in the morning and found me sleeping face-down on the floor with bits of bass wood stuck to my face, and an empty ice cream pint container in the trash can beside me. I know that was not my lowest point, because at least I fit in time to sleep!)

The good news is that I don't think it can get any worse than last semester, and I'm hoping that I can learn from the difficulties to navigate the remainder of my time at school with some balance (and even grace?). I'm very pleased with the skills I learned and the work that I produced, and I'm looking forward to sharing some of it once I process everything.

The reason for this post was not to share my MTV Real World confessional, but because I am excited about my new tea-drinking habit. I know I can't blame my blood clot at midterms on the constant stream of shitty front-desk coffee that fueled me last semester, but it was definitely a factor in my demise.

I'm really enjoying rediscovering some specialty loose tea that friends gave me a year ago for my birthday. I never quite knew how to brew it, since it was loose and I didn't have any of the loose tea paraphernalia. The other day I was reading through a book my mother-in-law gave us for Christmas, Real Simple's "869 new uses for old things," and the coffee filter re-use ideas inspired me to fold up some loose tea in a coffee filter and use a binder clip to hold it on the side of my mug. I'm not sure if I've seen this somewhere before and the book just jogged my memory, but I love the simplicity of materials and straightforwardness of the system. Many of the ideas in the book I won't or can't use, but I love reading through it as a collection of exercises in seeing everyday materials in a totally different way.

This would be the principal point in my design manifesto if I had one, whether I'd written it today or years ago when I started this blog (and ran my business).

It might not seem like much, but it was the little bit of basic, practical creativity that I've been yearning for lately. And getting to make the little teabags is a project that still captivates me, so I'm hoping that drinking tea becomes a healthy habit that helps me navigate through school a little more gracefully (or at least less jittery).

My Dad is Awesome

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 06:11:00 +0000

I haven't posted here in a while, but I wanted to interrupt my blog silence with a quick note about how freaking awesome my dad is. You may remember that he's the oldest member of a college marching band, The Pride of West Virginia (People Magazine article here), and this is his 11th season playing with the band (not counting his years in undergrad).

In August, my dad played Trumpet Voluntary as Zach and I walked down the aisle at our wedding, and nailed every note, despite his father-of-the-bride jitters. And now his latest gig is with High Street Jazz, a mish-mash of student musicians that busks on the main drag in our hometown of Morgantown, WV (I heard they also played briefly at a coffee shop before being kicked out - badass!).

They set out an instrument case, Lar kicks in a $2 bill, and they play for fun and a little money, which they put back into their instruments. I'm told the tuba was bought at a sale and painted silver by a car repair shop, then my mother painted "High Street Jazz" onto the bell. There are more photos at my mom's flickr here (and I'll credit the photographer once I find out who took these awesome photos!)

So, as you can tell, my dad totally kicks ass. Lar, I hope I'm doing what I love and having as much fun as you are when I hit 70, too!

Poor Woman's Patio

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:33:00 +0000

The semester's winding down, but during rare breaks I've been dumpster diving for concrete pieces and gradually digging out the mess of nasty weeds in the backyard. Today I finished a partial patio in the backyard, which I made completely from free concrete and stone, and which will hopefully keep the enormous weeds from coming back.

Here's the corner of yard with the dead weeds last fall. They were green and lush in the summer when they filled the whole corner. The dogs even had a tunnel system through them.

The root system is a crazy web across the whole area, and I dug up hundreds of nasty clumps like this:

Here's the strip once I tore out the dead dry stalks, before digging

My rag-tag collection of concrete and cinder blocks that I've been collecting:

and the final "patio":

I left 2-foot aisles around the washer pit (I made washer pits for Zach's birthday last month! He got the first cupper!), which I'll plant with some sort of vine-y ground cover. Next weekend, when all my finals are done, I'll plant my square foot garden in the big wooden box. I bought a bunch of heirloom seedlings at a neighborhood sale yesterday, and even planted a bunch of seedlings inside last week. I'm still shocked that they're sprouting, which is silly because that was the whole point. But I didn't screw it up yet! Exciting!

It's still looking pretty shoddy back there, but I think it'll come together!

Dumpster Diving!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:53:00 +0000

My main non-school project is making something out of the backyard. I'm sick of cleaning off the dogs every time it rains and the backyard turns into a mud pit. Plus we'll have myriad family and friends over this summer (Zach's graduation, projecting movies onto the garage, Pearson's going-away party, and, um, our WEDDING :) , and I want to have a reasonably nice space to entertain.

We're in a rental though, so I hope to spend next-to-nothing to clean the place up. Note my stealth pose as I scout wood scraps with which to build planters for my vegetable garden. Pro!

Also, I spotted some big concrete slabs in a dumpster a few blocks from home, and the super nice neighbor loaded them into my trunk with a tractor.

Four things:
1. I need a truck.
2. I need a tractor.
3. OK, I only want these things.
4. But they would be super helpful to have in my dumpster diving kit.

Patio Swing, AKA, I-Told-You-So Swing

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Last July I dragged this gem out of the alley and into the garage:

and, naturally, Z was not pleased. I mean, look at this thing:

Not exactly something you'd want to sit on. Lawn swing needed some love, so I stripped it, admired its good bones, and then it sat in the garage for 8 months.

And then! Spring Break! I found 300' of seatbelt webbing on ebay for $40:

and wove the shit out of the seat:

It broke my heart to cut the webbing, so I decided to weave the whole thing in one piece (minus the weird places at the front where the frame didn't extend far enough). Which turned out to be a nightmare, but once I got started it was more of a personal issue than a practical one. And for some reason, it worked in the end.

TA-DA!

And then it snowed 7" the next day. Not to worry, the webbing recovered nicely and is back to its handsome, super-comfy self.

One of my favorite dumpster diving projects! And I've got about 80' of webbing left... any ideas for cool projects?

P.S. Zach... I told you so :)
P.P.S. Sorry you have to put up with me storing shit in the garage for months (years) on end.

All the pics from this before & after project are on flickr.

hey there, long time no see

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:59:00 +0000

I've been busy on all sorts of projects, but most of them are school projects, and it just hasn't felt right to update this space with grad school assignments. So here are some things I've done in my "spare" time (aka procrastination time) in the last few months...

In January, Shannon, Saffron, and I made concrete planters. Shannon was inspired by my last blog post about making concrete planters for materials testing, so we mixed up a few batches at my place. Notice it's pitch black through the blinds in the background; we started at like 2, thinking it would take just a few hours. I think they left around 10 pm. We mixed the concrete in a big plastic bin on the side patio, which was covered with a frozen sheet of ice, smarties that we are. Saffron was such a trooper:

First batch was two tall planters, the shorty with a large planting space and the tall one with a smaller hole. Plastic tubes added for drainage (wondering if this will work adequately?).

My favorite is this rectangle planter we made by lining a gridded plastic basket from the $1 store with a plastic bag, and filling with concrete. Next version should have drainage holes, and I'd like to make an actual mold that would put the pillow-y grid on the top instead of the bottom:

(gridded basket in the background)

Lastly, we finished the concrete crafty event with some vegan marshmallows (not pictured) and HA (sugar-coated sweet fruit rope from the asian food market?):

All the photos of our concrete-mixing adventures are over on flickr.

Concrete Samples

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:07:00 +0000

The semester's not over, but I'm officially on Thanksgiving break so I'll take some time over the next week to update this space with some of my projects from the last three months.

We made concrete samples a few weeks ago for a class in Building Materials and Technology - one standard concrete test, and one with a bonus ingredient. They were strength tested at a lab today, but I was late and couldn't figure out how to get in :( so I'll update when I hear how the zip-ties and pink paint held up. We had to write a paper summarizing the project, and I thought it would be fitting to also compose a tribute video. It was going to be a music video with an 80's hair band song, but I didn't want to block out the intimate conversation and subtle moments. Also, I couldn't decide on which Loverboy song to use.

Virgin Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:26:00 +0000

This week is/was orientation and a skills workshop for architecture studio. Here's how the studio looks on day 1. I'm looking forward to when it looks more like this.

PKND 6 recap

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:08:00 +0000

PechaKucha Night volume 6 was 3 weeks ago so I figure now is as good a time as any to post these pictures. It was a fantastic event; eight Denver designers plus one out-of-towner presented to the 300+ people who camped out in Buntport Theater's parking lot. The keg ran out before sunset but at least there wasn't a lightning storm or tornado. Basically, it was awesome.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I took these pictures with my iPhone, so once it got dark I let the legit photographer take over. Randall Bellows III took phenomenal photos of each presenter and did our audience shot at the end... will update with those soon.

PechaKucha Night Denver volume 7 will be on October 20 at Buntport Theater. Details on that event to come!

Flipbooks of my Favorite Places Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:23:00 +0000

Genius Locii flipbooks in action!

A digital film of an analog flipbook of a digital film. How meta is that?

I catalogued my process of making the flipbooks on flickr and there is a recap of the "Looking for Locii" exhibit on the Museum's website. Plus, my last post gives every mind-numbing detail of the making of the flipbooks. It's just like How It's Made, only not really.

This sixth and final exhibition for the DCM is a cross-city challenge between citizens of Denver and San Francisco. It's a pop-up museum that has (so far) appeared in Mod Livin', the Denver Art Museum, and the CTA architecture office (my summer volunteering gig) on the Santa Fe art walk. Next month the exhibit it heads to SF to pop-up around that city for a few weeks, and then it will be gone. I am pretty sure it is just going to evaporate.

I think I failed to mention that I was the only person to complete all the community challenges at the DCM. To honor my star participation I was awarded the prestigious golden pickle!

I'm fairly certain that it's the only trophy I have ever received in my life. That's what happens when you take art classes in school instead of playing sports...

DCM creative challenge recap:

Missing Map

Mummify Me

My Little Mania

Bottled Up

Wonder Room

Looking for Locii

Flipbooks of my Favorite Places

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:40:00 +0000

The DCM's final community challenge was to identify a space in the city that has a distinct atmosphere or spirit, or Genius Locii, and then make a tribute to it in a small box provided by the museum. Every day I fall more in love with the new neighborhood we recently moved to, so I decided to make a little flipbook shrine to the Berkeley Park hood. The best part about living here is that I am within walking distance of three of my favorite places: a dog park, coffee shop, and hardware store. So I filmed a walk around the neighborhood with my sidekick, Meyer.

We started at home, the point at the top right, then we walked counterclockwise to the Berkeley dog park, over to Tenn St. coffee, down to Tennyson Hardware, and then back home. It ended up being an hour-long walk split into four separate legs, so each flipbook is a 10-20 minute video reduced to 60-80 pages.

Each participant was given a small cardboard box to contain the representation of their Genius Locii, and I wanted to keep the flipbooks tethered to the box yet still accessible to viewers. In my BFA show in 2006 I used magnets to attach flipbooks to the side of a pedestal:

but since this is for a traveling exhibit that will pop-up around Denver and San Francisco I wanted to attach them more permanently. After lots of brainstorming (pulleys? rubber bands? mini slinkies!) I finally thought of using retractable name-badge lanyards. So I bound the flipbooks with zip-ties and looped the lanyard into the binding.

Here they are hooked into the box. More about the exhibit and a video of my flipbooks coming soon...

PKND extreme makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:57:00 +0000

I just finished updating the PechaKucha Night Denver website, oh, about an hour ago. It might not look like much, but it took some major time messing around with CSS and style sheets and FTP, etc. I basically know about 5% about each of those things, which made for some interesting all-nighters. I do love Indexhibit, the interface used to build the site, but I wish I knew more about customizing it all special-like. So here's what happened...

I added presenter backgrounds:

and a fancy About page with pictures of audiences from around the world:

and some video: Charles Carpenter's awesome video from PKND2:

and my stop-motion video of Jennifer Thies' aerial fabric dancing:

and the most exciting feature: a fancy contact form!

There's also a new facebook group to join our twitter feed.

It was a fun project; I learned a lot; I'm really glad it's over with.

PKN Denver vol SIX!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:45:00 +0000

PechaKucha Night volume 6 is coming up - July 21 - and the presenter line-up is insane. I am pretty much giddy with excitement.

the deets:
PechaKucha Night Denver vol. 6
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Buntport Theater
717 Lipan St. / Denver
doors 8 / starts 8:20
OUTSIDE - bring a blanket or chair!

the presenters:
Lawrence Argent (who doesn't love the big blue bear downtown?)

cypher13 (rad design team in Boulder)

Charles Carpenter (awesome videographer)

DoubleButter (local furniture makers)

Scott Lary (responsible for ADCD paper fashion show)
Bruce Mau (BRUCE MAU! Denver Biennial, designer, and author)
Ted Schultz (architect, sweet restaurant designs!)
Brandi Shigley (she runs Fashion Denver AND is extra awesome b/c she's in a band!)
Ravi Zupa (Westword Mastermind class of 2009!)

You may have noticed that I wrote Bruce Mau in bold and caps. He's our special out-of-town celebrity guest presenter. Go read his Incomplete Manifesto for Growth and then watch the In Good We Trust video. This is super exciting shit, people.

Also exciting is that we'll be projecting on the outside wall of the theater from Buntport's parking lot, so space shouldn't be a problem this time. Unless it rains, in which case we'll all be stuffed inside for another sweaty summer show :( Since we'll be outside be sure to bring a blanket or chair so you can get comfy!

If you're in Denver come check it out!! And please circulate the awesome flier (designed by rad Neil Sittler of stickflower design):

What do cats and knives have in common?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:36:00 +0000

They both need to keep their edges sharp!*

Now that the life update is out of the way, here are two little projects I did last month...

For the cat: I made a scratching post out of 1/2 of a flor tile, a piece of plywood, and some zip-ties.

He Sniffs!

He Scores!

He Smokes and Snores...

For the knives: I made a magnetic knife strip out of a piece of wood and some magnets, cork, and epoxy.

And then I extra nerded-out and documented the steps in a tutorial over on flickr :)

*(yikes. Did that really just happen?)

Six Week Summary

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:42:00 +0000

The last few weeks have been a bit of a time warp. Good, but blurry.

1. I ran a half marathon!

2. Z and I took the dogs to Durango. Great trip, great ride, great destination.

3. Z and I flew to Tucson to visit good friends and we had an amazing (simpler) time checking out bike shops and going camping. I am now inspired to learn to weld, make piñatas, build pedal-powered appliances, organize, and have babies.

4. In-between events 1-3, we sold belongings and moved across town. It was awful. Out of a half-dozen trips across town we only managed to lose one chair when we forgot to shut the truck gate. Overall? A miserable success.

5. I started a non-internship / volunteering gig in an architecture office. I love it love it love it there. The office is beautifully built with old and new materials and there are old tools and machinery scattered around. It's fantastic.

6. Summer school started, I checked out a million books from the library, and now I read all day.

Things are good.

One Final Left...

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:45:00 +0000

My last final project is due in a few hours. That's why I'm up at 1:30 am, posting things to craigslist and putting the finishing touches on the stoop sale website (I'll add more stuff tomorrow).

Here is part of my final rendering project for my colored pencil drawing class. The assignment was to take a previous project and render it in colored pencil, using a painting as inspiration for colors and composition. I started with my benta plate prototypes from 2007:
Referenced Wary Meyers' Painting, "Lobsters Playing," for color and composition:

and ended up with this:

As a bonus, I accidentally dressed to match my assignment, something that the jurors did not let go unnoticed:

I really loved this drawing class. Working with colored pencils was challenging and humbling, and my favorite part (and what I'm hoping to continue doing) was keeping a sketchbook of drawings and color exercises.

My final Revit project is due tomorrow. After that, the fun starts - stoop sale on Saturday, 1/2 marathon on Sunday, then in the following two weeks we'll pack up the house, move across town, have dinner with friends, road-trip to Durango, and take a quick trip to Tucson to visit some friends. All before the end of May!

Oh! Tonight I won a $100 loaded credit card in a raffle at the Modern in Denver party at DWR! So now I'm debating what to splurge on. Suggestions?

procrastinating 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:16:00 +0000

I have two projects due this week. Two huge projects. So, just like last time, I'm taking plenty of breaks to partake in non-productive activities. Like french-braiding my bangs. And combining random ingredients from the fridge. And, again, making videos of the dogs. This time they're playing with each other, though, and it's all sorts of cute. I recorded this last week by putting my laptop on the floor, and figured today was the perfect day to edit it. It's not like I have anything else to do.

When Puppies Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:16:00 +0000

This is Pearson, puppy #4 that we will raise for Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. We picked him up last Sunday:

showed him off to our friends on Monday:

and by Wednesday morning I was over it:

I try to keep this blog "professional" to showcase my "projects" and "sophisticated endeavors," but it looks like it just took a nose-dive into "puppy cuteness" and "unnecessary quotation marks."

In other news, PechaKucha Night volume 5 was a complete success, with a solid group of presenters and another packed house at Buntport Theater. Photos from the event are here and here.

PechaKucha Night volume 5

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:36:00 +0000

Denver's 5th PechaKucha Night is on Tuesday!

If you're in the Denver area, we hope you'll be in the crowd!

"PechaKucha," which means chit-chat in Japanese, is a world-wide venue for creatives to share their work in 20 images for 20 seconds each. This edition will feature the work of local museum folk, bike guys, architects, artists, actors, and a food guru!

Seats have been filling up quickly, so get there by 8 to secure a chair. As always, the lovely Buntport theater will be hosting the event.

More info is available on PechaKucha Night's Global site

You can see previous presenters at the PechaKucha Night Denver site

And find photos of the event on flickr

Next Up: Alphabet Blocks

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Speaking of boners, I had so much fun making the Denver Building Blocks that I've got major wood on my mind.

Spoiler Alert: If you are one of my friends who has just had a baby, or is about to have a baby, this will blow the surprise.

1. Buy 1 1/2" cube blocks from Benny's Woodworks & Tools, LLC. Check.

2. Browse dafont.com for favorite fonts; download. Check.

3. Order more gocco bulbs and screens. Ugh.

4. Print patterned alphabet letters and cute wingdings on blocks.

5. Give (much overdue) gifts to my friends' children.

Results to follow. Eventually.

Blog Love

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:54:00 +0000

I'm so flattered by the love that the design boner ladies sent me yesterday. I think I've read the post at least a dozen times now; don't worry, my ego hasn't become too inflated. :)

I'm also somewhat perplexed and extremely grateful for the online community that I've become a part of during the last several years. I now spend countless hours on the internet in virtual communication with people I've never (or barely) met; twitter is a party-line for texting conversations between friends and strangers; facebook has turned us all into stalkers; and mini-conversations occur in the depths of blog comment threads. But the friendships and connections I've made are very real, and I just want to say, 'Thank you, internet!"

Also, I just found myself on the Encyclopaedia Britannica Blog. Being associated with a million-page (well, in print) über reference guide is strangely satisfying.

I think that makes this the weekend of Boners and Britannica.

Denver Building Blocks

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:32:00 +0000

(Alert: this post has 15 links. If you're curious about which building is which, just go look at this picture, which has all the buildings identified. And then you can ignore the rest of the underlined text in the following post.)

My submission for Jaime's sixth - and final - exhibit, Wonder Room, at the Denver Community Museum: 9 replica blocks of some of Denver's most iconic Buildings, as decided by me:

Cash Register Building (Philip Johnson, 1983)

Museum of Contemporary Art (David Adjaye, 2007)

Colorado Convention Center (with Lawrence Argent's "I See What You Mean," aka Big Blue Bear, 2005)

Casa Bonita (built in 1974, with real cliff divers! and poisonous food)

Denver International Airport (completed by Fentress Architects of Denver, 2005)

Daniels & Fisher Tower (tallest building W of the Mississippi in 1910!)

Denver Art Museum, Frederic C. Hamilton Building (Daniel Libeskind, 2006)

Denver Community Museum (Temporary pop-up gallery curated by our very own Jaime Kopke, 2008-2009)

and of course the Rocky Mountains, built 3,980 million – 600 million years ago

I cut the shapes out of Aspen wood with a jigsaw:

then sanded and printed them with patterns with my gocco printer:

and then dropped them off at the gallery where viewers will be able to rearrange them and play city planner.

I had planned to include more buildings, like the Denver Public Library, Tom's Diner, and various buildings with enormous signs like the sausage factory and Sherwin Williams Paint signs in Five Points and Olingers Mortuary in the Highlands. But I can barely lift my arms above my head after wielding the jigsaw and sanding, hunched over in the freezing garage, for hours. So I'm glad I cut myself off. Time-wise, not finger-wise :)

procrastinating.

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:43:00 +0000

playing with Meyer
Originally uploaded by INV/ALT

I have a project due tomorrow. A huge project. So naturally I took a break to film myself playing with the dog. Because that's much more productive than actually doing my work.

Zach invented this game where you smack the toy down on the floor in front of the dog, and then pretend like you're going to get it, and Meyer gets all excited and gallops around the room. Usually he's more aggressive, but he plays gentler with me. Because I'm a sissy and he knows it.

Also - the new iMovie is awesome. So much easier to navigate than the old version, and I'm glad they brought back video effects.

Highlights from the Annoyance Allowance

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Here are a few of my favorite annoyances by Bree and me this week:

The “Spacious” House Posted On Craigslist Turns Out To Be Not So Roomy

Crap-Covered-Car

Refusal to Concede

And this one from tonight:
My Family Taunted Me With Ice Cream During The Video Chat

If you've got an annoyance that you'd like us to personally deliver to the universe, submit it to annoyanceallowance [at] yahoo.com

Design Commission FTW

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Schwab) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:23:00 +0000

Many excellent graphics were on display at the "Design the Modern Board" event at Design Within Reach tonight, but in my opinion Jay Dokken's submission publicly shamed them all:

Simple, elegant, and brilliantly fitting for the sponsor and venue, DWR. I'd love to see that on a K2 Snowboard. My only gripe is that my favorite design wasn't from someone in Colorado (something the Denver Egotist wouldn't be proud of either), but I still hope that Jay from Design Commission in Seattle lands the win.

**UPDATE: Jay hails from Colorado. Hooray!