Creative

Beautiful Aleppo with your

generous people who welcomed

me into your homes, fed me dates

and tea as we laughed together.

 

My ancient Aleppo that I would wander

through in the early morning, safe and

secure, drinking coffee and eating sweets.

Having the right tools for a creative undertaking makes it easier to express yourself. You aren’t fighting to make the hammer take out a screw, or trying to get watercolors to stick to plastic.

One multi-purpose tool that is useful for all sorts of crafts, hobbies and projects is a Dremel rotary tool. They come in a few varieties, and there are a wide array of bits and attachments that can be found for just about any purpose you might have in mind.

If you’ve studied Japan, you’ve probably come across a wonderful book called the Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo. In it, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony is explained. What one learns is that there is art in tea, and the tea ceremony is a reflection of life and culture.

This is the opposite of Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. A tea ceremony tales a while, and allows the tea drinker to relax and focus. Each move is deliberate. There is a right way and a wrong way to do each step. Each utensil is special and handled with care. Everything is shown respect.

I’ve taken up Rolf’s challenge to create a puzzle. I haven’t hidden any prizes, but this could certainly be adapted to become a treasure-seeking endeavor in the future. Enjoy!

 

LSCMOS makes a square

BBMDEGHJWOWEPMLC are simply around

RO WB are varieties

and ACPMC also in pies can be found

Here’s a handy skill everyone should have – how to solder. Knowing how to use a soldering iron greatly expands your ability to make home repairs and build useful and interesting electronic devices.

This short video gives some tips and tricks for basic soldering of both wires and components.

You may not know of Thomas Heatherwick, but you may know some of his work.

He’s an architect and designer responsible for some of the more stunning new buildings and developments around the world. Heatherwick Studios has created everything from chairs that look like spinning tops and bridges that roll themselves up like a bug, to lush, tropical malls for deserts, garden bridges, and more. The Olympic torches in London? That was his studio.

His studio’s work gets attention. It’s a mixture of form and function, combined with new uses for materials, and simplicity. The projects are impressive and inspirational.

This is talk by Thomas Heatherwick at the Business of Design Week event in Hong Kong, talking about culture, design, and cities.

I’ve shown lots of examples of other people being creative – building, drawing, dancing, and so on. The hope is that it has given you some ideas about how to become more creative yourself.

Maybe we should take a step back, though, and talk again about creativity in a more general sense. Can we learn to be creative, or more creative?

This is a short overview video that talks about the sources of creativity, stages of creativity, and some of the more recent views of cognitive scientists on the matter.

Imagine you just bought a new house, perhaps on Cedar Street, and you want to play your drums night and day. It’s essential, after all, you need as much practice as possible to become better at playing. You need it!

How can you play whenever you like without disturbing your new neighbors?

Here are some creative ways to reduce the noise coming from your new home studio playhouse. These snazzy tips can apply to just about any noisy activity done inside while living in close proximity to others, but most are specific to drums.

Everyone can make sandcastles, and with a bit of practice and a few simple tools those sandcastles can be quite nice.

One of the best tools to have on hand is a straight edge. They are great for carving, packing, and shaping mounds of sand into walls, stairs, windows and doors.

In this first video, Jenny the Sand Castle Girl, an Australian sand castle making champion, shares some of her tips and tricks for making an enormous beach castle.

was going to treat you to plate spinning this week, but plate spinning requires the use of special plates made for the act, and it is unlikely you have them around the house. But you do probably have a hat nearby, and with it you can begin to learn some cool moves to impress your hat-admiring friends.

This guy has many videos to help jugglers get started (you can watch hom teach you to spin plates, too!). Here he walks through a handful of hat tricks.

I have a bunch of optical toys around, but I haven’t made any since I was a kid.

There are many ways to make a kaleidoscope. Some are quite fancy, made of metal or wood, with fine pieces of colored glass and precise mirrors. Others are quite simple, letting the user turn anything they look at into interesting patterns.

What was a homeless guy doing in Donald’s dressing room? Actually it was a suite, including a wet bar and jacuzzi: A place of comfort, off-stage. 

“How the hell did you get past Security!” demanded the Donald. 

“No one stopped me,” replied the homeless guy.  

Donald’s face turned red as a beet. “Someone’s going to pay for this,” he muttered. Spittle appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“Who the hell are you, and what do you want?” 

It is essential that all good citizens being to learn wall-making skills. Wall-making will be a growth industry in the coming years, from the wall to keep Americans out of Mexico, to the walls we will certainly need to keep us out of Canada and New Hampshire as well.

Who better to teach us these essential American skills than a foreigner! And let’s learn the Traditional Irish Dry Stone Wall method of putting the stones together.

I was reminded this week of a somewhat famous lecture by author Kurt Vonnegut on the shapes of stories. He creates graphs showing how stories can be plotted into diagrams, and that despite a diversity of tales out there, most stories follow some very simple story arcs.

Since giving his lecture, others have done similar analysis and studies of well-known and popular stories and their data basically backs up Vonnegut’s propositions. About six story arcs account for the majority of stories told.

Can you tell a tale using one of the common patterns? What happens if you break the pattern?

Summer is a great time for sitting outside with a piece of wood and a small knife, carving away at a leisurely pace and passing time.

It’s also not that difficult to make something useful, ornamental, or both. A few simple tips and tricks are all you’ll need to get going.

Saturday, after 19 years together, Lise and I got married.

In honor of the occasion, this weekend’s creativity column is simply a blank page. Who knows what it might bring?

Richard Feynman was a physicist (won a Nobel). 

He also played the Bongo Drums.

And, he loved Orange Juice.

Enjoy this little interlude:

We think we’re very clever. Always have. Even when we know we’re being dumb as lemmings we’re awash in self-admiration. It’s irksome, but we don’t speak of it, the risk is too large. Lately I had a moment like getting hit on the head, when all goes foggy, but then focus comes back extra clear. It was a low epiphany, not a thing to boast about. Almost reluctant to bring it up. Just wondering if I’m alone with this.

One of my favorite urban design features is a water fountain. Just about anything that sprays water or features interesting pools catches my eye and ear.

One of my favorite things to do when living in DC, for example, was to visit all the water effects along the mall on a hot day. There’s a first ladies’ grotto by the capital that is very cool and refreshing, the Canadian embassy and East Wing of the art museum feature fountains, there are reflecting pools, fountains at the Navy exhibit, and a pond at Freedom Plaza, to name but a few.

I’m a sucker for good topiary. It’s unreal and unusual, unnatural and often results in something quite amazing and lovely.

My first memories of topiary are, of course, the gardens at Walt Disney World. Disney has long employed master gardeners and encourages creative topiary work that shows off their characters and other fanciful creatures. There was a sea serpent made of multiple shrubs, for example, that seemed to be swimming near the entry to the Magic Kingdom. EPCOT, by the way, hosts an annual garden festival.

(Another not-as-fond memory is the topiary in the remake of The Shining.)