Experiment with Nature » process

The Bucket Board

Steve Ebert — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 17:17:15 +0000

Brooklyn based artist, director, and all-around stuff-maker, Mac Premo, was tasked by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness for this past years’ Earth Hour (which occurred March 28th, 2015 at 8:30PM). The project asked him to take something already existing in the world (namely, trash) and re-purpose it into something useable and beneficial to daily life.

As a highly accomplished assemblage artist, Mac was already a pro at digging through dumpsters, and after reaching out to Encinitas, California-based skateboard company Sanford Shapes, they settled on creating skateboards out of discarded paint buckets. Using a process similar to the one we used in crafting our hand-made cruiser decks (LINK HERE), they pulled discarded buckets & wood, planed them down for pressing and routing, then finished the process with fine-sanding and drilling holes for mounting hardware. The results were pretty phenomenal – watch the well-made and entertaining video above, check out photos of the process and finished decks along with some of Mac’s other work below, and visit his portfolio HERE.

Cruiser Skateboard Decks

Steve Ebert — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 20:32:18 +0000

After hand-shaping and raffling off a custom axe at last year’s Agenda Show Long Beach, we knew it was going to be difficult to come up with something even more impressive for this year’s show. In the process of brainstorming and talking over a few options and ideas, someone threw out the possibility of making something out of the same materials we use for our glasses. After making snowboards at the beginning of winter last year (check out that post HERE) skateboards seemed like a logical next step. The problem arose, however, that we wouldn’t be able to use power tools in the middle of a bustling tradeshow. So we set out to explore the possibility of making a few decks almost entirely with hand-tools.

To start the process, we selected material combinations from some of our most popular sunglasses options, and designed a few different shapes of decks. The plies were then cut to shape on the laser and arranged for pressing.

Each ply was coated with glue and arranged to be molded by the form above. Once arranged, the plies were placed against the form and inserted into this vacuum bag, which is operated by a small, quiet generator and vacuum pump.

After the plies are pressed and dried, the resulting planks are then cut to shape using a coping saw and ready for finishing.

After a good amount of sanding, once the edges were rounded and smooth, the deck was ready to have the holes drilled. Using the holes cut on the laser as guides, we created the hardware holes using this old-time styled hand-drill.

Once that was done a light coat of shellac was applied to protect and beautify the decks, and they are ready for assembly. See below for a few shots of the finished product!

Our founder, Eric Singer, will be hand-shaping another deck during the two days of Agenda Long Beach, and then we will be raffling one of the beauties off! If you are planning on attending stop by booth No. F35 to check out the process in person and enter for your chance to win!

The Newspaper Collection

Steve Ebert — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 22:03:55 +0000

This project started as an experiment. An experiment in transformation, reconstruction, and repurposing. To try to return paper to something like its original state.

It took us over a year of experimentation, research, and development to settle on this proprietary technique, shown in the video above. Bad ideas, false starts, and near misses are all part of this process, but you eventually find that one thing that works. And that’s what this project represents: It’s the manifestation of an idea that was willed into existence. And it made for some pretty cool looking glasses too.

To make each pair of glasses, 1600 feet of newsprint is wound up into a 4-inch diameter “log” and these logs are then sawn into thin plies to reveal a unique, wood-like texture. The finished product is eyewear completely unique in appearance with dense lines, swirling grain, and just a hint of text.

See some detailed process images below and find out more about the collection here.

Newspaper plies freshly cut from the “log”.

Newspaper set in the self-aligning track.

A freshly rolled “log” drying.

Cutting the newsprint “log” in 1/8″ plies.

Frame fronts fresh from the CNC.

A pair of Canby Newspaper Selects being fitted with hinges.

The Shwood Eyewear Newspaper Collection comes in 3 iterations of our classic Canby shape.

The Canby Newspaper Select.

The Canby Newspaper & Walnut.

The Canby Acetate Newspaper.

The Canby Newspaper Select features temple inlays in addition to a full frame newspaper front.