Order Among Chaos
The bitch about resetting a workshop is not in the work itself. That part can be tedious, sure, but it’s rewarding to see something come back to life after having fallen into disrepair.
No, the real problem is that, when the reset is happening, you can’t really work in it. Which means it stops being a workshop for a while. Yes, it has been a disaster for way too long, and I did have to clear away junk and clean space in order to get anything done. But I could still get things done, albeit with extra steps involved.
The problem gets way worse when the place is blown up.
In cleaning the workshop thoroughly, things need to get worse before they get better. And man are they worse right now. But if I can’t scratch the itch to make some stuff, I’ll never keep the momentum I need to pull this shop back together.
We need a small project. A quick win. Something I can bust out in very little time using very few tools and almost no space.
Enter: the air plants.
I’m not certain if I’ve ever seen these before. Apparently these plants require so little water to survive, they don’t even need a root system. You soak them in water once each week, and that’s it. Meaning you can keep them in just about any kind of vase or vessel, because not only does it not need to hold water, it doesn’t even need to hold soil.
I came across these while at a local plant shop with some friends, and couldn’t resist adding some greenery to my (very messy) desk. Initially, I had intended to just 3d print something and call it a day (I’ve never printed a vase that didn’t leak water, so this seemed like a good fit). But when searching for a quick win in the shop, I realized that any hunk of scrap wood I could bore a hole in would become an instant vase.
Simple. Quick. Exactly what I wanted.
Scraps were selected. Holes were bored with forstner bits. Interesting shapes were cut with the bandsaw. Bonus Points: all the tools I needed were on one mobile workstation that had yet to be cleaned or excessively cluttered, making for as little hassle as possible.
Just show up with an idea, and get to work. That’s the reason to keep a shop clean. That’s what I’m working toward. That’s what I needed a taste of to keep me going.
With a little hand sanding and a coat of Odie’s Oil, I was left with these cuties, which I suspect I’ll be enjoying for a long time.
The whole thing took about an hour from start to finish. That’s the way life should be.
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