JoshPrime Makes Stuff

Hey Reader! This is a short post but a a super cool project! I want to bring your attention to Spiroglyphics . These books from last year have made their way into my sphere of awareness and I am having so much fun with them! They are a super cool coloring project that are striking and require only a basic skill in coloring. You start with an outline like this one - and simply color it in! It is so easy! There is a little challenge in keeping track of what is the inside of your spiral and what is the outside, but if you follow along carefully, it comes together fast! I really like trying to figure out what the picture is as I go. After doing the first half of the spiral, you can definitely see some eyes, but it isn't until the whole picture is filled in that the cute little cat emerges! I definitely see myself experimenting and doing more fun stuff with these. I tried one using four colors and got a really awesome multicolored bunny! I even happened to use Easter-ey co...

Hey Reader, I don't know if I have mentioned it in the last 20 minutes or so, but did you know I am from New Jersey? I try not to bring it up very often, but it is true. I hail from New Jersey like other amazing New Jerseyians like Dan Avidan of the GameGrumps . I miss some things about my time living in that state I never mention. You might be thinking: "Of course! You must miss your family and friends. You must miss your home and your pets." Those things are great and all, but I am here to talk about bagels. Bagels are a glorious and delicious thing. On the east coast, a good bagel can change your whole outlook on life. I have seen people change religions over a bagel with cream cheese. There are even web shorts about it. Here in California, finding a bagel worth the dough it is made out of is challenging. A good bagel should be crisp on the outside and dense on the inside. Terrible bagels are soft on the outside and airy on the inside. Why would I want a bagel...

Hey Reader! As I continue to work on smoothing walls downstairs, my mind wanders to other ways I can spend my time making and doing cool stuff. This idea actually started from not finding exactly what I wanted at a store. You know what they say: "Why pay $2 for something when you can spent $97 and make it yourself." Essentially, I want to get a bar cart for my house. I wouldn't characterize myself as a bar-hopper, but the idea of having one for guests is cool. All the bar carts I found were nice, but seemed awkwardly sized. Most were essentially short tables you are supposed to stack alcohol on. I don't have time to bend over and pick up bottles when I want to entertain guests. What do you take me for, furniture store? Really though, next time you are at a furniture store check out how low bar carts are. I feel like they want children to drink more than adults. Irresponsible. I did find one that was more of a cabinet, but then I wished it was just a little bigge...

Reader! I am finally starting to work on the downstairs! I didn't think this day would ever come and yet here we are. In case you haven't been keeping track the way  I have, I just bought my 11th bucket of joint compound. At 4 gallons a bucket, I have used approximately 44 gallons of joint compound to smooth my upstairs walls. I am sure I won't need 44 gallons for downstairs, there is a lot less surface area to worry about. It is so weird to think that there is going to be over 44 gallons of plaster on my walls. My square footage must have gone down. Also, at $15 dollars a bucket we are talking $165 - a far cry from the quote of $10,000 from the contractor! Even assuming it was $5,000 for just the upstairs. Lets not focus on upstairs because now we are downstairs. I have only done one coat across all the walls and team, it is so much easier. I have been struggling with the stairwell and hallway for so long, this feels like a cakewalk. I can whip around the room pretty...

Hey reader, I finally figured out how to get to the part of the ceiling I couldn't reach. I know you have been sleepless for weeks worried about how I was going to do it. In case you HAVEN'T (how rude), lets talk issues. The ladder is great and actually is capable of extending higher than my ceiling. However, that doesn't mean much considering there are steps in the stairwell (who knew). This means that the landing and the top of the stairs are the only two places the ladder can reasonably go (without having to build something to level out the steps [also I am really into talking in parenthesis this week. This is a double parenthesis!{obviously. Now its a triple!}]). I just got lost in my parenthesis nest. Don't worry, I left breadcrumbs to get me back to walls. After thinking about it a while, we came up with this idea of affixing a trowel to a pole to allow me to smooth from afar. It is a great idea, but it is not without problems. Firstly, there are not a lot...

Ok Reader, This post has been a long time coming. I had been saving my discussion of leather working for when I, you know, worked with leather. However, my whole life is currently consumed with wall smoothing drama. Until that is done my craft space can't be completed so my other projects are painfully put to the side. As you know, I have a real interest in getting into binding books.  I can't believe that blog post is from 2017. I can't believe I have been blogging since 2017. Granted it was November, but give me this moment. Anyway, I received an awesome gift a little while ago of a leather working starter kit. It is so cool and contains all the tools I have seen in book binding videos all over YouTube. I have become obsessed with the work of Martina over at NerdForge . She has been making leather bound books for a while, but her new series are elemental themed tomes of fire and air . She is doing really awesome work and I can't wait to see what is next. Ch...

Hey Reader, I fully expected the hallway to be so easy, but it has turned out to be really challenging. The ladder and ceiling drama is only part of the problem! The hallway upstairs is so narrow, that I am struggling to maneuver while I am carrying paint and other things. Today when I was working, I damaged the wall trying to move the ladder around. I spent so long making these walls smooth, and until they are sealed they are still pretty delicate. It is starting to feel like I am pushing a rock up a hill - or some other analogy. I refuse to be deterred though. That rock will be at the top of the damn hill. Is that the logical conclusion of that analogy? Whatever, the walls are going to be smooth. I painted the trim white and the ceiling white. I also got in the skylight and painted that white. I want to get some molding on that and give it a more finished look, but that is a project for after all the house is smooth. I sealed the hallway with two coats of magic paint, but t...