Witchger Projects

Katian's Apartment: Mezzanine Bed

2010-05-26T03:46:00.001-04:00

loft install 3
Originally uploaded by katian

My lab partner Adam came over one Saturday and helped me install this 4x8 platform for my yet be be acquired bed.

I was convinced that 2x3s and 5/8th inch ply would suffice for this project (esp as we always joke about over building everything) but am now a staunch 2x4 3/4inch overbuilding loyalist. screw sleek; sturdy sturdy sturdy!

With 2 cuts to the short end and a couple dozen screws this $46 install went up in about and hour. We made a little ladder from the scraps once neither of us could get up there.

It still needs a cross beam... and a mattress.

window installation

2010-05-26T03:32:00.003-04:00

window installation
Originally uploaded by katian

I dont have the greatest view out of my window by my desk. Its probably a good thing I dont stare out it the whole time. I also incidentally dont have a curtain and since this is also my bedroom I thought a little privacy was in order. I got some full page transparent peel and stick labels from the discount bin at bureau en gros (staples) and got all kinds of ideas. (think of all the things that need full page transparent labeling!!!)

I chose this picture (that I took of Bob in the library in Bath when he and Steph came to visit me last year) for the metawindow appeal and also because its simple looks good in b&w and I like the symmetry.

I used this thing Bob posted last year called the rasterbator (http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/) to see how it would look blown up but I didnt like the final look and decided to go with the original image in 8 sheets (rather that the 3x5 15 sheet one that would have filled the whole window) I just eyeballed it and cropped and saved each segment (yes Bob I was holding a ruler up to the screen you would burst a blood vessel in your eyeball no doubt but I dont have CS2 on my computer.) Its not perfect but it will do. ill get a pic in the daytime and post it up later.

In retrospect Id get this printed at the shop on acetate(overhead projector film 'paper') b/c I used almost a whole ink cartridge and b/c the peel and stick bubbles and will undoubtedly be a nightmare to remove.

Now I have massive plans for a photo emulsion etched 'stain'-glass window. Who had the photo emulsion glass etching stuff was that mom or Bobby? (someone etched a moon and stars on one of the cars back windows) Do you think you could do photo emulsion glass etching? I guess you just have frosted and clear there is no gradient of frost so itd have to be super contrast b&w photos.

Katian's Apartment: The 'study'

2010-05-26T03:17:00.001-04:00

study
Originally uploaded by katian

I found some yellow paint, not enough for the room but I got one wall out of it. Also I found this chair and painted it with the found paint. My desk is the same Kevin and Dad helped me build last fall from $5 laminate board from the scrap bin at home depot on an old folding table I inherited from Dad's old study. I'd like to get some boards (3 inch planks a foot long) or a shelf for my DV tapes which is why there is some blank wall space. I have my eye out for scrap wood or an old bottle holder.

Katian's Apartment: Kitchen paint

2010-05-26T03:06:00.001-04:00

cabinet paint 2
Originally uploaded by katian

I had a load of green paint left over from the gallon I found and used in the bathroom so I thought I'd paint the cabinets and wall in the kitchen. The former tenant painted the railing and one of the cupboard doors blue and the rest of the cupboards black (I don't think this girl was drawing with a full box of crayons the place was a wreck when I moved in)

Katian's New Apartment: Bathroom 'renovation'

2010-05-26T03:03:00.001-04:00

bathroom renovation
Originally uploaded by katian

I just moved into my very first all by myself apartment the night before my 28th birthday. The first thing I did was redo the disgusting bathroom. The former tenant had left it DISCUSTING. Ill spare you the details but I was throwing up in my mouth even on the third pass of cleaning it. All the tiles were falling off and mold and mildew was growing behind them. there was *years* (some of the old packaging had expiration dates) of accumulated gross and garbage under the tub and exposed dank subflooring. I called the landlord in the first day bc i couldnt believe he would have thought that was acceptable, his reaction was to phone the upstairs neighbor and tell them to put their shower curtain in when they took a shower. ha! Well if its going to be like that I figured I'd just take matters into my own hands. Luckily Ive been heavily trained in 'quick fix' itll do for a while style home reno and since I only plan to be here for a year I dont particularly care if the landlord doesnt want to take care of his property.

Now having rented this particualr apartment because it was so cheap the last thing I want to do is put money into it. So here is my $20 bathroom renovation supply kit

box of economy peel and stick tile from home depot: $15
can of green paint found on the street: $0
paint roller, scraper from dollarama: $2.50
gallon bleach, pharmaprix: $2.50

Step 1: Gut
First I pulled all the loose tile and falling in drywall from the walls and floor and drug all the gross crap from under and around the tub. The tiles just fell off for the most part. I had to scrap 2 of them off total. There was black mold behind some of them so this led me to the necessary step 2

Step 2: Bleach
I sprayed, soaked and scrubbed the entire room with bleach in 2 rounds.

Step 3: Paint
I scraped the dodgy wall and taped over the holes with masking tape then painted everything including where the tile was going to go (hoping to stop any future mold)

Step 4: Peel and Stick
I then followed the directions for the peel and stick tiles and applied them to the wall. I left the tile on the floor after discovering it was laid (partially) over other linoleum which was cemented to subflooring. The bottom layer of linoleum was also broken and missing in sections so I scratched it up with Ajax and steel wool and let it dry thoroughly then applied a third layer of linoleum (Yes this gave me a smug satisfaction like I was sticking it to the landlord even tho Ive undoubtedly raised the value of this place with $20 and an afternoon)

Finally, I took a blade to all the porcelain and mirrors and one final bleach down for good measure and I have a livable bathroom!

UPDATE: half the wall tiles have since fallen off in the 93 degree heat. so frustrating. I need to get some heavy duty tile glue.

Pantiltonantor 2.0

2009-07-09T13:56:00.006-04:00

The pantiltinator is an ongoing project which pans, tilts, shuttles, or in other ways moves a camera, most likely for a timelapse application. (pan-tilt-inator)

Pantiltinator 1.0 was a device which would produce a circular pan. It was used for the "Cut your Hair" ukulele cover video on youtube. HERE!!!!

Pantiltinator 2.0 was a device which raised the camera from 2 feet off the ground to about 11 feet off the ground. Although neither a pan or tilt, the name is still used. It was used for the "War on War" timelapse sidewalk caulk ukulele cover video. HERE!!!!

Important Supplies:
Pantiltinator 1.0:
-Wheel hub with bearing
-3/4" PVC arm
-bucket to hang weights
-mini tripod to tape to the other end

Pantiltinator 2.0:
-12 foot board (wanted to go 16 feet, but the board looked scary high)
-other 2x4's
-packaging tape
-sliders
-wooden pulley, and metal pulleys
-string and spring(bungee)

Electronics for Both
-stepper motor (from all-electronics)
-arduino (from sparkfun)
-stepper motor driver (from sparkfun)

Links to Pantiltinator 2.0 photos
ByrnnB's
Katians
Bob's
Bliss

Link to Pantiltinator 1.0 photos
Kevin

S-10 O2 Sensor

2009-06-09T10:29:00.002-04:00

After the "service engine soon" light came on in the S-10 and finding the P0139 code with the scan gauge, the O2 sensor was replaced.

The old one was removed and the new one was spliced on using the included kit.

S-10 Alternator

2009-06-05T17:32:00.002-04:00

We changed the alternator in the truck.

Process: As the Chilton book says:

Remove negative battery cable.
Remove alternative.
Install new alternator.

Link to the photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinwitchger/sets/72157619215108541/

Coop coop

2009-05-29T16:58:00.000-04:00

Bob made a coop!

Round and Round you go!

2009-05-22T16:49:00.000-04:00

Kate and I did yet another video.

Process: Dad and I made a device that rotated the camera around a point... very slowly around a point. I then screwed it to the living room ceiling with four 3" drywall screws and had Kate cut my hair under it while it was running.

Photos of the device:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinwitchger/sets/72157619025976363/

Process con'd: Kate and I then recorded a song that had to do with cutting hair (which was acutally harder to find than I expected). Then we recorded our heads and kate decided that creepy floating heads were better than heads on a white wall. I agree.

Youtube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWAcEviGHUs

Bucket Planters

2009-05-10T16:44:00.000-04:00

We made some bucket planters for Mom for Mother's day.

Process: We took some old blue bucket halfs and cut a plywood base for them, painted, filled with dirt, and planted some tomates, peppers, and herbs.

Link to the photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwitch80/sets/72157618003188385/

Strawberry Beer

2009-05-09T16:46:00.000-04:00

Bob made some strawberry beer for Kate's Birthday.

I give it a thumbs up!

Link to the photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwitch80/sets/72157618003586057/

what are fight parties anyway?

2009-05-09T16:33:00.000-04:00

5 second fight party is a ridiculous sequel to the 5 second party series.

Process: This video involved walking around all parts of Raleigh and setting up the camera, operated by Bonnie, and acting out a slow motion fight sequence. Then a ridiculous song was recorded, involving lots of screaming and distortion. Finally, it was mixed in Final Cut. Waste of time you say???... i think not.

The video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbhlsPLFzv8
Recording fight party song: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katian/sets/72157617809916912/

Bob's Fence

2009-04-25T16:55:00.000-04:00

Happy B-day bob. Here is a fence. A red fence.

Process: Kate found some great fencing for free on craigslist. thank you craigslist. We then made some frames out of 1x2 and painted it with some on clearance red paint.

Light weight, modular fencing... and most importantly red.

Link to Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinwitchger/sets/72157619025951753/

Bob is planting

2009-04-22T16:47:00.000-04:00

Bob has planted many things in his garden. maybe he will tell you what.

links to photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwitch80/sets/72157618003783533/

He even had the tree trimmed so more light could get to his plants:

link to photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwitch80/sets/72157618297938440/

Bob's Garden

2009-04-19T16:42:00.000-04:00

Bob did some gardening.

Here are some links to the double digging and tilling photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwitch80/sets/72157616928326925/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katian/sets/72157616861816203/

Tuning Pianos

2009-03-08T18:21:00.002-04:00

Tuned the pianos. And bob's new piano.

Process: Using the trial of piano tuner 1.7 and a tuning hammer, the piano were tuned. I learned you must tune them several times if they are way off... and tuning a piano takes a long time.

WitchgerProjects Make-a-Day Lent 2009

2009-02-23T21:48:00.007-05:00

Lent is time for reflection and repentance. It is wasteful to be lazy and bored when we have so many resources, time, youth and creativity at hand. We are taking this opportunity to recenter our approach to daily life as one which is mindful and creative and hopefully to inspire ourselves for the future.

With this project each of us will take the time to make something start to finish each day and reflect on the process of making, how to make things what is good about making things. We will share our photos and reflections here and use this forum to support and encourage each other for the next 40 days.

Happy Windows

2009-02-18T22:45:00.006-05:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brynnb/sets/72157614041613323/

If we suddenly hit the Powerball jackpot my first act (well, after helping my kids erase their student loans) would be to hire a tribe of artisans to work on every aspect of my house. I’d want everything stain-glassed, wood-worked and ceramitized. But since we do not have the wherewithal to become patrons of the arts, we must make do.
The celestory windows over the closet in our bedroom have been a source of irritation for a long time. We’d gotten into the terrible habit of parking junk up there (suitcases, the big bowls from Bob and Steph’s wedding we didn’t know what to do with, Bob’s hatboxes, a Rubbermaid tub or two of off-season clothes). It looked junky from the inside, and even worse, you could see it from outside when our lights were on.
I decided to do a faux stained glass treatment.

Bob cut me four pieces of Plexi-glass the exact size of the panes of glass (or as we like to say in the Witchger household “more-or-less” the size of the panes).

I drew up a pattern–an homage to Frank Lloyd Wright–and marked each section as to whether I wanted it clear, textured or milky-white.

Leaving the plexi-glass on the pattern I first cut away the protective plastic in the areas I wanted frosted and peeled it off, using the remaining plastic as a masque and spray painted those with aerosol stained-glass paint. When that had dried I pulled off the rest of the protective plastic and “drew” on the fake leading which I’d purchased in plastic squeeze bottles and let that dry overnight.

The next day I filled in each secton according to the opacity I’d assigned it and let it dry for 48 hours.

Bob then installed the panes right over the old glass using glazing points. When we get tired of them we can just take them down. But right now I like how they look, especially when the sun streams in late in the afternoon. I think this will be the motivation we need to keep the junk from gathering up there again. Now the only question is where do we put it all if Kate needs to use her old room again?

Lessons learned:
This can’t be rushed--a fan pushes the stained glass paint to one side so that you get a leeward effect.
The paint needs to dry absolutely flat-it has a high viscosity, but after hours it will run and if you don’t catch it in time it will overrun the “leading”.

Supplies:
Thin Plexi-glass
Fake “leading” for stained glass from the craft store
Stained glass “paint” in clear and frosted
Elmer’s glue (the cheaper the better, I used three bottles that were 25¢ each during the back-to-school sales) for the white milky sections.
Glazing points
A screwdriver for pushing the glazing points into the molding

S-10 Clutch

2009-01-26T15:43:00.004-05:00

Gallery link:

We replaced the clutch in the family S-10. If you remember, we already replaced the master cylinder, but that didn't solve the problem. The clutch gave out and we had to push it into the drive in order to work on it.

Bob, Dad and I took two days and replaced the clutch.

WITCH-GEAR:

Craftsman sockets (broke a universal joint, lifetime warranty!)
Universal 3/8" drive joints (tight spots around the transmission)
18mm allen (made out of a bolt, an 18mm wrench and tape)
Jack
Jack stands (bricks)
Straps
ratcheting come-along
3 cameras

SAWZALLS: 4.5

TIME: 8 hours the first day, 4 hours the second

WHAT I LEARNED:

Replacing the clutch in this truck is a lot of work. The tolerances around the transmission are tight so removing it and getting it back in is tricky.

s-10 clutch, chevy s-10, s10, s-10, Chevrolet s-10, Chevrolet s10, clutch master cylinder

Handmade Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T18:41:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas 2008 from The Witchgers!

2008-12-18T03:01:00.005-05:00

This is our Witchger Projects Family Christmas Card for 2008.

Merry Christmas '08 from Katian Witchger on Vimeo.

Project breakdown

1. Sound

Kevin laid out all the tracks and arranged the vocals and Bob and I recorded over this master our vocals and ukulele parts, Kevin added guitar (he said the doobie brothers doesn’t make sense on ukulele?!) drums and his vocals. Kevin takes it away and magically comes back with mp3 on a thumb drive. (this is my favorite kind of technical process)

2. Stops

A. Dress sets. Mom and Steph took a break form our Craft-Day-Tuesday to help cut out the rock star outfits.

B. Take pictures. Kevin and Bonnie minutely adjust the figurines while Kate occasionally gives unintelligible direction and makes grand manic gestures regarding not so subtle visual metaphors while taking a picture every 5-10 seconds (regardless of whether or not there is a hand still in the shot or if I have the camera focused or set correctly)

3. Motion

A. Upload all pictures into iphoto (I now officially do not like the iSoftware) this was done every 200-300 photos as I originally thought I was going to do this in a nice big file until the computer started crashing it up crash style) then

B. export each scenes pictures into folders.

C. Open each scenes photos in ‘open image sequence’ in quicktime pro. originally at 15fps but as the night grew longer it was clear 10fps would suffice (which is why the field and fountain moor and mountain scenes come a bit too early…) and save image sequence

D. import saved image sequences into iMovie (Dad has the old version 7 still on this iMac, last time I was home I tried 8 unsucessfully and remembered 7, quite generously and some may say incorrectly, as a beautiful and functional program.) Sort imported clips in timeline

4. Family Photo

The original idea for the family photo was to have it look as if the photo was a reflection in the disco ball and we were all there making this stop motion (in stop motion) and then coalescing into more or less a family photo pose. The gist was: Id have the camera taking a picture into the mirror, Kevin would be processing it on his computer, Bob would be adding the music track with his ukulele, Steph making the costumes with her craft gear and mom and dad trying to get us to take a break for the proper Christmas card (this is usually how the Christmas card picture taking manifests in our household more or less) My attempt to draw-out and relate this idea to dad was evidently insufficient as he decided the tripod was too low at this angle and the poses were not right and carried on orchestrating the family photo as per his usual ways. I did atleast get him to test out his cameras stop motion function so that’s something…

5. Finalize

After importing all image sequences into final cut attempt to get an avi file of our family photo shoot off dads camera. import and convert 7 times in various programs while the computer crashes 2-3 times.

finalization part 2: realize how very very little you can do in iMovie, import individual frames in photoshop attempt to export inset layered image of disco-ball macrolens (cropped in iphoto) shot with frame by frame family photo shoot only to be stumped by how one might access the frame by frame of an avi file after creating first frame.

finalization part 3: return to iPhoto duplicate and crop set of test photos export, open as image sequence in quicktime pro, (crash computer, repeat) save, import into iMovie. import discoball still from final section of orginal animation into iMovie set for 2sec duration attempt to layer, unsuccessfully with last image sequence.

finalization part 4: Adjust frame rates using Quicktime outputs from final disco ball zoom, (crash computer) import and attempt slow cross fade between family photo image sequence and 6fps discoball section. fail to find a way to adjust the cross fade duration.

finalization part 2:00AM. start over in iMovie, import all scene sequences in a row along with converted family movie, throw in the limited cross fade option between the final zoom in of the discoball mirror and the family photo video, add pre-mastered audio track and text box. export as mp4.

Homebrewing-Step 3

2008-10-27T12:06:00.002-04:00

Homebrewing-Step 2

2008-10-24T13:04:00.001-04:00

New Favorite Old Favorite Jacket by Salvage Jobs by Mom TM

2008-10-17T06:41:00.006-04:00

I purchased this jacket when I was in high school round about age 16 from a thrift store in Cary. (whoa... I have articles of clothing over a decade old) It was my favorite jacket for along time and made it with me to college where one of the pockets was ripped off in some kind of biking fiasco I believe. Recently my mother fixed the pocket and embroidered a beautiful tree with bluebird on the back of it for me. It is now officially my new favorite old favorite jacket and will heretofore have all my favorite jackets embroidered with various things courtesy of mom. (So long as I stay pathetically unemployed and all alone on the other side of the world I feel certain I can guilt her into many many more elaborate craft projects dedicated to me! A small price to pay for fashion.)

She forgot to take pictures of the masterpiece for our blog so I will post some below or possibly above if I can figure out how to embed a flickr album.

Ill let mom add all the painstaking details on the equipment, hours of labor etc.

Homebrewing-Step 1

2008-10-13T14:41:00.007-04:00

Our best imitation of 'Best Imitation of Myself'

2008-09-29T16:16:00.034-04:00

Witchger Kids: The Transatlantic Recordings Best Imitation of Myself from Katian Witchger on Vimeo.

PROJECT PROCESS RUNDOWN:
The song:
This is the second in what will undoubtedly be a long-running* series of ukulele-driven-online-musical-collaborations which Kev, Bob (maybe someday Steph!) and I are recording for fun! (I think we need an official name... any suggestions?)
I suggested this particular cover via a video message wherein I played it fabulously (I'll say as you can't see that one) replete with the wrong chords; Kevin fixed it (with harder chords) and arranged it. He then sent the files to Bob and me with our specific parts separated on a reference track; we each used this track to play both our parts and I later used it to sync everything. (He gave me too many high parts despite clearly proving to him in the original video I could not handle them.) We each shot our parts in photobooth (originally Kevin shot via his digital camera but we had problems with timing. -we thought it might be because his camera captures in a different frame rate which has to be converted in order for me to be able to read the file... they are right for the beginning then they slowly slip out of synch. maybe that was the problem...it certainly could not be owed to poor musicianship!-atleast not on the boys' part.-)
I had a lot of problems syncing in final cut so we each sent Kevin mp3s of our parts which he mixed/mastered etc. in order to send me back one final consolidated track. I still had trouble syncing but that was mainly due to my impatience. Because I had to render such a high quality frame rate in order to actually see anything and all the different clips were different formats, it took overnight to render each time. (Laurie suggested converting them all to one format which would have been smart.- however, he suggested this to me when I had more or less completed the edit and the amount of time it would have taken to reformat the 12 separate videos, reimport them and redit would have taken far more time and energy than simply waiting for a ridiculously long render. I will however do this in the future. )
At first we transferred files using yousendit.com, but the free transfer size was too small to avoid grungy compression, so we later switched to uploading then downloading from vimeo, which uses up your weekly allotment but allows you a better quality image (to which you can then apply filters in order to make it look like a worse quality image; and then wait for the huge high-quality low-quality filtered file to render...its a 'better' low-quality, you see).

The video:
The video idea is pretty self explanatory I hope, it was inspired by: the discovery of the 'bad tv' effect** in final cut; my long running obsessions with 1)degeneration and 2)infinite regression; and the obscene number of soon-to-be obsolete 'tellys' you can find on the street in London since the announcement of the digital switchover.
After we each shot our individual parts via photobooth, I then shot the backdrop image in one take, while playing the song in the background for timing. If I'd given it a bit more thought, I wouldn't have had my remote-control-hand overlap the tv screens ...physics eludes me in states of excitement.
Also, I didn't notice my laptop auto-sleeping in the middle of the video which is why the video goes to full screen at some point...I did attempt to animate an arrow icon to move across the screen and click on the enlarge button in vimeo but I could only get an arrow picture with white background and it looked ridiculous; Bob never responded to my request for a possibly impossible virtual arrow object with a transparent background...I thought you could do it in photoshop but I didn't have access or know how to do this.

The set: I took a picture of what my video camera was seeing, put it into word (thats right word; Laurie has since gotten photoshop to work; thanks Laurie). I overlapped the pictures then took screenshots of these pictures and overlapped them repeatedly until a final screenshot which I uploaded to vimeo in a dummy file and then loaded into my webbrowser; once I finished the first edit of the video I exported it and layered the image of the first export over the computer screen, twice. For the record I'm totally okay with being such a geek.

WITCH-GEAR:

Our 3 respective computers with photobooth/webcams,
Our 3 ukuleles (Kevin made his ukulele!)
I also used my zoom H2 for my audio
Canon HV20
Reused tape
Canon Rebel SLR
Word
Final Cut Pro (with bad tv effect)

SAWZALLS: 3.5

TIME:

10 minutes to record and send the original call
However long it took Kevin to figure the right chords, arrange the song and record the reference track
However long it took us each to record our two parts (I had to redo my vocals so it took total about 30minutes over 2 days for me)
30 Min to shoot/log background footage
About 3 hours edit (not counting waiting in between for rendering)
Approximately 473,000 hours render & export over 17 weeks. ok maybe more like 20 hours over a week and a half

WHAT I LEARNED:***

Despite honestly believing I have gained infinitely more patience in the past 2 years, I am still kind of impatient and that's okay with me.
Things are the most exciting in my mind right before I start them.
My lack of technical understanding/ability will not ever stop me; even when maybe it should.
When editing ANYTHING from different computers/capturing devices I HEREBY PROMISE TO CONVERT EVERYTHING INTO THE SAME FORMAT BEFORE IMPORTING INTO THE PROJECT.
I look A LOT like my brothers.
Even though this is kind of frustrating and I'm not particularly good at any part of it, it is still enormously fun and I'll probably never be able to stop doing things like this even when sometimes they turn out mediocre.

***WHAT I REALIZED FROM CONSTRUCTING A LIST OF WHAT I LEARNED:
1.1 Learning to be patient is ultimately a long, aggressively boring waste of time with which I'm just not patient enough to deal. While I'm stuck spending all this time 'learning to be patient' I could just learn how to do technical things correctly, then I wouldn't need to be patient. Everything would work and/or if it didn't I would understand why and be able to fix it and/or be smart enough to realize it is unfixable and then set it on fire immediately and do a crazy dance on its still warm ashes. NO PATIENCE! ONLY CRAZY FIRE DANCING!
2.1 So long as I have access to such excitement it doesn't really matter when/where it is.
3.1 If my lack of technical understanding stopped me, I'd never get any more technical understanding.
4.1 Laurie is generally right when it comes to issues of: conversion, rendering, archiving, online banking, when the recycling goes out and german women.
5.1 I'm just now, at 26, realizing/understanding the visual ramifications of genetic procreation. I owe this realization to two main factors: 1) Since moving to London, I spend more time looking at myself at the same time as I look at my family because our primary source of interaction is via skype video chat and 2) I have only recently known non-family 'peers' who have begun procreating; seeing their new procreations has somehow unlocked this 'rosetta stone of resemblance'; its not simply shapes/colors/combination of physical features (people often look similar but don't look related); its a weird language of genetic resemblance that has like**** its own grammar and rules and exceptions... I find this unbelievably weird and do not understand why other people do not think this is unbelievably weird. I think if I ever have kids I will just stare at them for 18 years and say 'weird.' ....it is weird.
6.1 Concepts are far more important to me than their technical realizations. 6.2 I respect and work best with those who respectfully***** hold the opposite view. 6.3 i have the greatest brothers in the world.

------

*unless Kate manages to find herself some employment; if youd like to employ Kate you can reach her pretty much anytime, anyday at the computer doing silly things like this while looking for a job.

**Why 'bad tv' is my favorite video filter of all the video filters.
1. It looks undeniably cool.
2. It is technologically programmed to do all the bad things that bad technology does when it fails, and you can control the level/mode/combination of failure. This intrigues me. (Of course, when given the option to control the level of badness I will inevitably err' on the side of 'extremely bad' as per my philosophy: if your going to fail, fail hard; FAIL LIKE YOU MEAN IT. -Kevin will think the result of this is cheesy and that I should have exercised some moderation; he will not be wrong.)

****I'm sure mom was already too happy with the metaphorical rosetta stone allusion so I had to throw a 'like' in there; I can't go inflating her english teacher expectations!

***** I am bolding and italicizing this as Laurie aggressively taunts me from the other room regarding my trouble with rendering and converting; he is now laughing maniacally and screaming something about m4v. It is not often that he has a valid point (even if it is too far after the fact to be useful) in the course of our working together so I suppose I should let him have his excited time and continue praddling righteously something about the merits of uniform conversion.

(The backdrop image is supposed to be in HD but I can't log HD footage for some reason. I have my camera output set to 'HDV 1080i', I have the camera connected straight into the back of the computer via firewire and am saving onto the internal hardrive; in Final Cut's import settings I'm selecting 'HD1080i60 firewire basic' and it wont recognize my camera. It says 'you are attempting to log from a DV device....' It will recognize it as NTSC 16:9 even though I shot it in HDV. I have only ever gotten this camera to log HD in 'apple intermediate codec' with a firewire800 cable on an old mavis lab computer which did this really weird thing where it was taking longer than real time play to log and would say '80% ...' '70%...' '60% logging' until it locked up and crashed. Although I have to celebrate that this is a step up from 'On the Roof' I'd like to sucessfully make the next one in HD.)

Painting the Kitchen Cabinets

2008-09-16T15:46:00.009-04:00

Building Sawhorses with Uncle Jeff

2008-09-16T15:36:00.007-04:00

Painting the Interior of the House

2008-09-16T15:10:00.011-04:00

Buying a House

2008-09-16T09:35:00.008-04:00

bunnies <3 robots

2008-09-07T20:01:00.010-04:00

so this weekend i tried my hand stopping motion to accompany kevin & i's FIRST transatlantic musical collaboration.

the following combines two super cool gifts given to me for my birthday this year by my family: 1) a zoom recording device which kevin and my parents got me and 2) a dymaxion airocean world map which bobby and stephanie found for me to temporarily satiate my cartographic obsession.

bunnies <3 robots from Katian Witchger on Vimeo.

the song
kev and i made this cover of daniel johnston's true love will find you in the end (hear original here) using indabamusic.com a site which supposedly allows you to upload and mix music online. sounds great right? well it could be im not sure we didnt exactly get it to work right. i, without thinking, uploaded my vocal and ukulele parts as one pre-mixed track (which i recorded in garage band via the zoom h2 recorder) and when kev went to mix in his parts he couldnt (as id balanced them wrong to cover up my inability to sing) so... i re-exported separate tracks and emailed them to him as mp3s which he then edited on his computer using protools. i was really really happy the day kev sent the mix; it was like magic to have his parts added. i know its not perfect but i think it sounds lovely.

the video
at 1:38 seconds this is the longest stop motion i will EVER attempt by myself. it is really messy and hard to follow in parts but i like how it turned out overall. for no other reason this was worth it for the better understanding of time i have gained... there was sort of a story, at least characters but it got a little muddled when i switched from 15 frames per second to 10 frames per second outputs.... originally i had planned everything by the frame to sync to the lyrics and piano on the basis of a rate of 15 frames per second. (some of the stuff right at the beginning is at a faster frame rate but overall it was too aggressive and didnt match the mood of the song) i have two 1 GB memory cards for my camera (kevins old canon rebel) and at medium size they hold just under 500 photos. i shot both cards and was, i thought, about half way done. i uploaded the photos and when i saw how fast it moved i had a play around and reduced the frame rate. i think it works better but i had to rejig 'the story' halfway through so as not to waste precious pictures.

basic process/time:
the song (30 minutes): i like this song so i learned it and happened to just have joined indaba because kevin had so i recorded it to see how the site worked.

1. the concept (2 minutes): there were two main catalysts for this 'concept' 1) i find a lot of crap around (read: on the street) most of which ends up organized in small boxes in my room. occasionally i need one of these small boxes and all the little bits get dumped in piles on my floor. 2) when we moved into our house in nunhead i bought some ancient blue tack from the corner shop down the street and since then, a constant, but rotating, 1/3 of the things on my walls are on the floor. the day i decided to try a stop motion for our song both a pile of small action figures and one of my maps were on the floor.... that'll do.
2. the story board (2 hours): i did a second by second story board and noted the lyrics or piano parts underneath each frame- which turned out to be a bit excessive; i only filled in every 3-4 but it was still helpful to see them all laid out)
3. the stops(5 hours): i then shot approx 1300 photos using my canon rebel on medium size setting
4. the motion (over night, 10 minutes): i imported all the photos into iphoto and opened using the 'open image sequence' function in quicktime pro, i used a 10 frames per second rate and saved the project in 3 files (each a memory card's worth of photos)
5. the edit (2 hours): i imported the 3 files and the mp3 from indaba into final cut and put it all together.

things i will do differently next time:
-FIND SOMEONE ELSE equally interested in hours of tedious minutiae to endure the production with me; kev ive got big plans for xmas break! i think even having someone else to move the figures would help dramatically with both how long it takes and the panning. (trying to move things then go back to the exact point in space only slightly to the left and frame the camera the same way is not really possible. i think having another person and holding your breath may be enough to fake it anyway.)
-lighting, i started playing around with the lighting during the 'step out into the light' bit and i wish id thought about it from the beginning... think i will do more light tricks and try to do a proper vertigo zoom pull (zooming in while panning out or vice versa) thing on the next go

time: approx 9 1/2 hours over 3 days

level of difficulty sawzalls rating: 4 out of 5

cost: no new costs on this project

witch-gear:
canon rebel, tripod
zoom h2
imac w/ garageband, iphoto, quicktime pro and final cut
stickers from stephanie <3>

Shelves and Dresser

2008-08-07T08:26:00.003-04:00

Shelves and Dresser

I needed some shelves and a dresser for my apartment, so I built some. I used 3/4" plywood because with a nice veneer, strips of oak made from hardwood flooring, some leftover jacobean stain and protected them with a satin polyurethane.

Time: long time

Cost: $300

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: Oak hardwood flooring and be used for many things. Edging plywood takes a long time.

Bike Overhaul (Step 2)

2008-07-16T12:37:00.004-04:00

The plan is to remove some high-quality components from an old mountain bike that someone donated to Steph (but is too small for her) and replace the cheap components on my mountain bike with them.

Time: 2 hours

Cost: $40 (for new cables and housings and new grips)

Witch-gear: Repair stand, torque wrench, headset wrenches, pedal wrench, bike chain tool, allen wrenches, socket set, needlenose pliers, dry degreaser, dry lubricant, synthetic grease

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: 1) Bike cable and housing are very hard to cut. I tried older pairs of metal shears and diagonal nose cutters, but the only tool that worked was the cutters on my newer pair of needlenose pliers. (Even then, they really had to be squeezed.) and 2) Before you grab your chain tool and pop any old pin out of the chain to remove it, research how your particular chain is supposed to be removed. I popped a pin all the way out of my bike's chain, only to discover when I tried to reconnect the chain that it wouldn't go back in. Turns out the pin was only supposed to be pushed through the outer plate enough to allow to inner plate to slide out. With the help of an assistant I was able to get the pin back in the outer plate, but it was really difficult.

Bike Overhaul (Step 1)

2008-07-11T09:03:00.006-04:00

The plan is to remove some high-quality components from an old mountain bike that someone donated to Steph (but is too small for her) and replace the cheap components on my mountain bike with them.

Time: 1 hour

Cost: $50 (for a set of specialty bike tools)

Witch-gear: Repair stand, crank puller, headset wrenches, bike chain tool, allen wrenches, socket set, diagonal nose cutters, large adjustable wrench, WD-40

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: Taking the components off of a bike requires several specialty tools. Performance Bike's Essential Tool Kit includes most of the things you'll need for a bike made in the past 10 years. The tools aren't of superior quality, but they get the job done, the price is better than even buying two or three of these tools separately, and I'm not going to use them that often anyway, so I consider it a good value.

Living Room Shades

2008-07-03T00:56:00.003-04:00

Living Room Shades

New shades for the living room. Oak flooring was cut, glued and clamped into blocks to mounts these on.

Time: 2 hours

Witch-gear: Table saw, drill, countersink

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What We Learned: Cheap oak flooring is awesome. It has lots of uses and doesn't look bad.

Ukulele

2008-07-03T00:51:00.003-04:00

Uke

A Ukulele kit for Kate's arrival home. Now we can all play. A kit from grizzly.com.

Time: 10 hours

Cost: $25

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: Rubber bands can make good clamps.

Room Bebuild #2

2008-07-03T00:38:00.003-04:00

Room Rebuild 2

Here is another room that we "rebuilt." It's my brother's old room and has now been converted into a guest room. While we didn't take the room down to the studs like the first Room Rebuild, replacing the ceiling, the lights, the floor and painting made this room look a lot better.

Time: 3 weekends

Cost: $500

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: 4 - T-8 bulb light fixtures are bright!, drop ceilings make a room feel like an office.

On the Roof

2008-06-21T14:17:00.008-04:00

The Witchger's do The Drifters 1963 classic Up On The Roof for Mother's Belated Mother's Day present.

On the Roof from Katian Witchger on Vimeo.

This project, despite kevins best efforts, was entered into with less planning than enthusiasm. (most of the little technical direction there was centered around how to get the double bass on the roof; which took about 3 minutes) needless to say it was an editors dream! because the metronome couldnt really be heard up on the roof a lot of our timing was off on top of not finishing the editing before recording the song. so there were some timing problems. luckily my father has taught me a golden rule which can be applied seamlessly to all endeavors. Split the difference! So I spliced and doubled a few frames on either side when the recording and video didnt match.

seamless.

special thanks to mom for catching my uke and resetting the metronome and bonnie for helping run the camera.

What we learned:
1. there is atleast one plausible reason to have a double bass on the roof
2. protools hasnt changed much
3. the old iMovie is better than the new iMovie
4. old technology still does the job.
5. 500 temporary tattoos for 1.99 is not a challenge

Witchgear:

TECHNICAL This project was all done on some ancient technical witchgear
*old Canon ZR500 MiniDV Camcorder (My new camera is in the shop for 6 WEEKS!!!)
*eMac G4 & iMovie4 (I've never really tried iMovie before but someone seems to have deleted the copy of FCP4 we had on the old eMac so I put it onto dads new macbook pro and gave the new iMovie a try... It is pretty HORRIBLE, I got a rough cut and exported to the eMac/old iMovie to fine cut it. It worked ok it is a little frustrating b/c it does things for you you dont necessarily want done but you have a little more control than you do with the new version. Id say if youre going to use iMovie use the old one.)
*kevs old G4 (w/ set-up) and protools 5(it only crashed once! a solid machine.)
*MXL 990 microphone/xlr cable (I can only assume kevin got on craigs list)
*cheap aluminum tripod (prob came free with something)

*our new witchgear could not go unused one of the 3 macbook pros in our house was used in the production of this music video...as a metronome. (it got hotter than fire)

MUSICAL
bob: lanakai concert uke (27th birthday present from steph)
kate: hula ukes tenor uke (25th birthday present to self)
kevin: 'uke's by kevin' soprano uke (kevin made this from a grizzly ukulele kit mom bought for him to make for her... I'm not sure she'll be getting it back)
dad: double bass

SET
roof
werner electro-master 6 foot fiberglass/aluminium ladder

2.5 sawzalls (this project wasnt too difficult just lots of steps all of which went pretty smoothly)

Free Mulch Day

2008-05-25T11:42:00.004-04:00

Mulch Day

Free mulch day does not happen often, but when it does we stop everything. The bathroom is not finished, Bobby's old room has been torn apart, I am in the middle of building some shelves and most of the cars have something wrong with them, but it's free mulch. We must get free mulch.

Time: 8 hours

Cost: $10 for an excavator to load the mulch. $8.50 in gas.

Witch-gear: s-10, trailer, shovels, lawn mower

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: The lawn mower needed to be fixed and as usual, I thought the carburetor needed to be clean out. After cleaning it thoroughly, and filling up with new gas, nothing. It turns out the spark wire was being clamped in the sheet metal and not in it's correct routing hole. It fired up first pull after the wire was feed correctly.

Magical Marxist Fire Uke for Yuk

2008-05-20T20:18:00.009-04:00

My friend Yuk has recently had surgery and his left hand is still recovering. As an avid guitarist, this rehabilitation process is especially frustrating for him. (Though I'm fairly certain that sentence is not constructed correctly, I will leave it like that for you mother :):))

I have convinced him to take up the uke as a stepping stone while he regains strength/control in his arm and dexterity in his fingers. (And, of course, because the ukulele is the greatest instrument of all time)

I figure he needs a special uke in this circumstance so ive tricked one out for him. This is no ordinary uke mind you. This is arguably the greatest singular object i have ever encountered in my entire life. It is downright magical. While walking with him to the park, on my birthday I found this ukulele...in the trash! (not just on the top of bin either, this was on the bottom of a pile of black bags. I caught the faintest glimpse of the outline of the bottom curve in my peripheral vision and, granted im always -at minimum, subconsciously- scavenging, amazingly spotted this buried treasure. before i knew what i was doing, the bag was ripped open and a beautiful new uke had emerged into my hands! it was magic.

seriously though i think that is the best birthday event of all time for anyone ever. a magpie like me magically discovering a buried ukulele on a beautiful casual walk ON THE DAY OF YOUR BIRTH down a random side street when you actually not only know how to play but are marginally obsessed with said novelty instrument!?!??! #1 birthday of all time (oh and also b/c my mom loves me and sent a load of candy to me)

at the time of discovery yuk would not touch it (and fair enough it didn't smell as lovely as it's existence was in theory) but a good disinfectant and a paint job later and he'll have no choice but to become proficient!

i decided to paint it like fire for no particular reason other than i like fire, it looks pretty cool to have a fiery instrument, stylistic fire is easy to paint and i had a lot of red paint.

also, i happened to have a screen cut to print karl marx, not so coincidentally, his favorite philosopher (thats a whole other project; will post later), so i printed that on the back too for good measure.

i present to you witchger project # 27:
the magical marxist fire uke

witch-gear:
*acrylic paint, brushes
*black permanent marker (wish a had a sharpie i bought some pound shop knock-offs; sharpies are worth the cost!)
*mod-podge!! for sealing and extra shine
*speedball screen, black permaset fabric paint (lauries old school id as a squeegy; dont waste the money on a squeegy!! old plastic credit-type cards work better anyway!)

2 sawzalls

what i learned:
*(and what i forgot but knew) SAND IT DOWN FIRST! i imagine the paint will peel off pretty easily, i should have sanded it down especially with acrylic craft paint, if i decide to go in to business novelty uke painting i will probably sand them down before painting)
*a clamp would have helped to avoid smudging
*again, sharpies...they are worth it
*buying things will never make you this happy!

Bike Gear Shifter

2008-05-04T22:00:00.002-04:00

bike gear shifter

Steph currently commutes to work on Kate's old Specialized hybrid bike. Since she started riding it, she's been complaining that it does not shift gears. (Apparently Kate always stayed in the same gear when she was riding it.) After months of telling her she just wasn't shifting properly, I tried riding the bike this weekend and found that, even though the shifter knob on the handlebar could be moved around, the rear derailleur was not responding at all! (Sorry, dear.) I assumed the cable was broken, but Steph and I eventually traced the problem all the way up to the shifter — a grip-style shifter that's ability to pull the cable was inhibited by a broken internal component.

Time: 2 hours

Cost: $40 for a new shifter

Witch-gear: Bike Repair Stand, Allen Wrenches, Screwdrivers, Wrenches

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: The cable inside a grip-style shifter is routed inside of it in a very complicated manner, thus the cable comes pre-installed in a grip-style shifter. Also, I learned how to adjust the derailleurs from "Bike Tutor" videos about the front and rear systems.

Stay Sharp

2008-04-24T15:27:00.007-04:00

Drill Doctor!

Uncle Jeff sent the Witchger boys a little present. After a short time a pile of old dull bits were ready to be used again. It even put a nice new tip on a broken bit! Thanks Jeff!

Time: 1 hour

Witch-gear: Drill Doctor!

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What We Learned: Sharping drill bits is easy. 118 degrees bits are the default on this machine. Be careful when trying to split the bits points.

S-10/Hyundai Door Handles

2008-04-17T09:27:00.002-04:00

S-10/Hyundai Door Handles

The past weekend, Kevin replaced the broken driver’s-side door latch on his truck and we took apart the left rear doordoor on Steph and I’s Hyundai to replace the broken outside handle.

Time: 1 hour/each

Cost: $25/each

Witch-gear: Craftsman socket set, screwdrivers

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: Buy your replacement door handles on eBay. I’ve replaced an outside door handle on the Hyundai before, and paid $70 for it at the dealer. I got the same part on eBay for $25.

Speakers 2

2008-03-15T13:33:00.008-04:00

Speakers 2

Another set of speakers here. I really like building speakers, I can't help it. I built them pretty much the same way as these. This set of speakers are a 3-way setup with an active crossover, and they're red!

Time: 1 month

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Making a Cup of Coffee

2008-02-25T14:31:00.004-05:00

Hello my dearest family,
I regret my inability to post to our wonderful blog in/for quite some time, a regret that is in part owed to/by my full-time soul-destroying employment...sneaky modifiers; I'm really lost, I wish someone would have taught me these things...like an english-teacher/journalist/writer mother. Alas.

This project is one I have been practicing a lot over the past few months. (I have made approx 87 cups of coffee since coming back to work in January.) Free coffee is one of the few perks/perks of my job. And as dad had taught us all so well, if it is free, take it. Even if you don't want it, take it...& get a refill(s).

How to make a cup of instant 'white coffee'

Step 1: Add sugar and coffee grounds, approx 1 teaspoon each; equal amounts. I have found demerara brown sugar and douwe egberts gold instant coffee grounds to be the best available in mayfair. (I know, I know blasphemy with the 'instant' coffee. I baulked at first myself- despite my trademark pedestrian palate- but thats how they do it over here. I attribute this to the universal addiction/adoration to/of tea and the ubiquitous presence of the kettle -so ubiquitous in fact that the standard A/C power adapter cable is referred to as a 'kettle lead'-. Every one has a kettle so if you want the coffee option it has the comply with the existing technological infrastructure. Its really not that bad.

Step 2: Add milk. I have been told if you add the milk before the boiling water it will prevent the instant granules from burning. My vague understanding of science leaves enough doubt in my mind to allow this off-hand comment to alter my behavior; I'm still not entirely convinced but I figure the trade off (taking slightly longer for the granules to dissolve) is worth it. Reader's Note: I'm not sure if I should attribute this to being american, southern or from a 'frugal' upbringing but I always thought 'cream' meant anything which turns your coffee vaguely whitish. Cream is cream; milk is cream; that wierd mainly cocunut syrup gunk with hazelnut flavoring is cream; that gritty baby-formula derived coffee-mate powder is cream etc. This is not true over here. You dont say 'cream and sugar' unless you are incredibly posh and actually want pure cream in your coffee which is incidentally quite nauseating sort of like putting unsalted butter in your coffee. (If you take your coffee with any milk product is is called 'white coffee.')

Step 3: Rinse as much evil limescale from the kettle and fill with cold water. Again, Ive been told that adding cold water is better as less nasty evil things which lurk in the pipes are as likely to come out with cold water as they are with hot water. This seems reasonable. Ive half-read/heard other things too about something with oxygenation of water and the boiling process and temperatures...I'm not really sure any of the conclusions however this makes me even more confident about the cold water start as oxygen seems more often positive in contexts relating to human existence. Boil the cold water in kettle.

Step 4: Add boiling water to sugar/coffee/milk mixture and stir. Be sure the little mesh thing that keeps all the evil limescale in the kettle is firmly in place.

Step 5: Stir until all the little coffee bits disappear and the sugar is fully dissolved.

Step 5: Repeat 4-7 times a day.

S-10 Clutch Master Cylinder

2008-02-17T15:28:00.005-05:00

S-10 Clutch Master Cylinder

The S-10 was not going into gear. In fact we had to pull it out of the park spot to get it in to work on it because the clutch failed. We originally thought this was going to be a 3 sawzall project, but after finishing it, we realized it was much easier than expected. We replaced the master cylinder and bled the system. This may not solve to problem but it seems to work fine now.

Time: 4 hours

Cost: $55

Witch-gear: Craftsman socket set, wrenches, and pliers

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: They have designed quick disconnects in this car, so if we need to replace the clutch hydraulic line we have to go to the dealer for the parts and replace the master and slave cylinder and hose all together.

Bathroom Rebuild 2

2008-02-09T02:25:00.001-05:00

Bathroom Rebuild

Bathroom Rebuild 2

Months have gone by now and we are still working on the bathroom. We've been making lots of progress which you can see in the photos. We've been posting so many pictures that we went over the 500 photo limit in the first album. A second album named Bathroom Rebuild 2 has been created. Check it out.

Time: 1/2 year

Cost: O

Witch-gear: Purchases to make this project easier: Table saw, Tile saw, Paint sprayer

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: Plan Ahead.

SpokePOV

2008-02-09T02:18:00.002-05:00

SpokePOV

Project: I finally put together a present from my sister. Lots of soldering.

Witch-gear: Solder station

Time: 3 hours

What I learned: Soldering station are really nice. If you have to solder lots of connections, a solder station is definitely the way to go.

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Crate Mounting System/Repair Stand for Bike

2007-12-17T10:34:00.002-05:00

Now that I’m using a bike as a semi-primary vehicle, I needed: a) a way to attach a storage crate to the rear rack that was sturdy enough to handle a few bags of groceries, but easy to remove when I didn't require the carrying capacity or want the extra bulk (bungees weren't cutting it) and b) a means of holding the bike stably with the wheels a few feet in the air to perform maintenance and repair tasks on it.

For “problem a,” I decided to try drilling three strategically-placed holes in my rear rack and using three bolts with large fender washers and wingnuts to fasten the crate down when I need it. For “problem b,” I decided to build this PVC Bench-Top Stand.

Time: 5–6 hours (total)

Cost: ~$40.00 at Lowe’s and Ace (total)

Witch-gear: Cordless drill/various bits, Center punch, Hacksaw, Ratchet/driver set, PVC primer and cement

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: The crate solution is working great, but I’m not sold on this bench-top PVC repair stand. Though the feedback on Instructables was mostly positive, I’ve found the bending and wobbling to be a real problem whenever anything heavier than my super-light cyclocross bike is put on it. Also the 1/4" PVC recommended for the clamp barely makes it around the diameter of some of the bike frames I’ve used to test it (even with the foam insulation taken out of the middle).

Replacing a Tub Drain

2007-12-07T16:13:00.001-05:00

Bathroom Remodel

2007-11-26T16:55:00.001-05:00

Bathroom Rebuild

First came the dripping down in the laundry room when anyone took a shower upstairs--which Bob always blamed on everyone--Kate in particular--not closing the shower door properly. So on it dripped. Then came the dark spots in the hardwood floors in the front hall where water was wicking in from the bathroom wall. Then came the repeated black stains on the shower tiles and the squishy spot in the floor by the tub. It was definitely time for bathroom repairs. And why go halfway when you can strip something down to the studs? This will be LONG project...stay tuned.

Time: many, many hours over an indeterminate span of time.....?

Cost: One arm, one leg...perhaps a firstborn...

Witch-gear: All of it, and perhaps some "necessary" new purchases?

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: So far...that old tile and backer board is very heavy and hard to dispose of. That things always take MUCH longer than you anticipated they would. That you should plan BEFORE you start as some things may take weeks to track down or special order.

In Progress Treeskirt

2007-11-11T14:12:00.000-05:00

In Progress Tree Skirt

This treeskirt is a wedding gift for my good friends Megan and Brian. They got married April 22, 2006. -I guess I am a little behind. I've made this pattern once before for myself and since Megan liked it so much I wanted to make her one. I am off to a great start and am posting about my unfinished project to provide myself with the personal pressure to keep up and finish it. I would really like to have this to them in time to use this December. My dear Mum has promised to quilt it for me if I can make sure to have the piecework done by Thanksgiving. Wish me luck! I will post later with pictures of the completed project.

Time: I'll let you know once I am done.

Cost: a secret since it is a gift.

Witch-gear: cotton fabric, rotary cutter, clear quilting ruler, and a strong desire to have Megan & Brian put up a Christmas tree.

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: That progress speeds up rapidly when I just have everything set up and ready to go. I am sneaking in a little work here and there. For example, I can sew a little in the morning while I wait for my turn to use the shower.

The Handmade Market

2007-11-07T21:28:00.000-05:00

Handmade Market

The Handmade Market is put on to provide the triangle community with a chance to shop for goodies made with tender loving care by vendors from all over. I have participated several times before and it usually involves working on stuff right up to the last minute. My usual wares are handmade cards. I start out by first creating a series of collages. Next my dear husband scans the originals for me and we have prints made. I then sew each print on to a blank card with my sewing machine.

Time: many hours over several evenings after work

Cost: N/A

Witch-gear: bits of paper, stickers, pencils, paints, boxes of blank cards from Michaels, Kenmore sewing machine, Yes! paste, and a trusted x-acto kinfe.

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: I need to come prepared with enough cards to restock my suitcase as the day goes on. Luckily, there were lots of cards sold but by the end of the day this resulted in the table looking sadly empty. Also I should start working on stuff earlier.

Buick Tune-Up

2007-11-05T10:49:00.000-05:00

Buick Photos

Kevin and I helped our friend Brian change the spark plugs, wires, oil, and air filter on his 1986 Buick Century (Custom!)

Time: 3 hours

Cost: ~$40 at Advanced Auto and Autozone.

Witch-gear: Standard mechanics tools set, additional extenders and universal joints, torque wrench, dielectric tune-up grease, graphite grease

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What We Learned: As a general rule, it is not worth the time and effort needed to change the internal fuel filter on a 1986 Buick Century Custom.

Battery Pack Rebuild

2007-11-05T01:36:00.000-05:00

Battery Pack Rebuild 2 Photos

This Milwaukee cordless driver was at one time a very handy tool. When the battery pack lost its charge it wasn't as useful. New battery packs tend to be expensive and hard to find so I cracked this one open and put in a few new cells.

Time: 0.5 hours

Cost: $2.69 for two new 2600 mAH NiCd batteries

Witch-gear: 30W soldering iron

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

CD Dividers

2007-10-30T15:23:00.000-04:00

CD Dividers

I wanted to make some CD dividers for Steph and I's Ikea Billy bookshelf. They sell something just like this (sadly, it's not my clever idea), but I knew it would be quicker and cheaper to just make them here, rather than drive four hours to the nearest Ikea, or order them and pay for the shipping.

Time: 3 hours

Cost: $12.50 (half the cost of a full sheet of nice plywood) at Lowe's.

Witch-gear: 10" Tablesaw, Bandsaw, Drill Press with a 1/2" forstner bit

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: You cannot adjust the height of the third shelf on an Ikea Billy bookshelf. It is fixed in place (for stability, I'm guessing). I knew this at one time, because I put the self together, but I had forgotten and just made all three of the CD dividers an arbitrary height, figuring I'd adjust the shelves to fit. Turns out I should have measured the available space and divided it into thirds. I got the dividers home from the family workshop and found out 5/8" had to be taken off each unit for them to fit one-each on the top three shelves.

New Shop Light

2007-10-30T12:29:00.000-04:00

New Shop Light

Dad and I put up a new shop light to replace an old noisey one in Mom's study. The new one is nice and quiet.

Time: 0.5 hours

Cost: ~$30 at Lowes

Witch-gear: Drill

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What We Learned: T8 Bulbs are smaller, brighter, and quieter than the regular size T12 Bulbs.

Chevy S-10 Dent Repair

2007-10-28T19:52:00.000-04:00

Truck Dent Photos

I borrowed Kevin's truck to help a friend move this weekend, and accidentally scraped the front right corner against a fire hydrant while backing out of the parking space I'd "made" next to his apartment. It dented, and put some large scratches in, the metal bumper, as well as tearing the plastic guard and ripping part of it off of the truck. Rather than get angry, Kevin helped me repair the damage I'd caused....

Time: 1 hour

Cost: $12.89 (excluding NC sales tax) spent at Advanced Auto Parts

Witch-gear: TurtleWax Rubbing Compound, Permatex Permaoxy 1-Min. epoxy, Replacement Nylon Rivets, Duplicolor Scratch Fix Touch-Up Paint

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What We Learned: According to the touch-up paint catalog at Advanced Auto, the paint code on post-2000 GM vehicles is located on a sticker on the glove box door, proceeded by the letters "L" or "U." At least in our case, that was true. We called home, had mom go out to the truck and read off the letters/numbers on the sticker, and found the tube of paint that corresponded to the four-digit series after the "U." It was a perfect match.

Finishing Touches

2007-10-21T13:02:00.000-04:00

Finishing Up Photos

Project: We finished the handrail for the deck, put molding around the microwave, put in a shelf that fits behind a desk, built and installed a dog gate and built a second desk shelf.

Witch-gear: Tablesaw, chopsaw, drill, wood working tools

Time: Weekend

Expense: $50 $25 for plywood, $25 for 2X4s

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Two Ukes and a Double Bass

2007-10-15T18:47:00.000-04:00

One day this will be real.
Corrie and I have started an early-90s top forty cover band accompanied by Laurie on the double bass (he may be fully initiated if and when he proves his commitment)

Corrie-Ann Burton: vocalist, soprano ukulele
Katian Witchger: tenor ukulele
Lawrence Martin: double bass

So far our set list includes:

Loosing My Religion REM/Push it Real Good Salt and Pepa (Acoustic Remix)
I Saw The Sign, Ace of Base
No Rain Blind Melon
Whats Going On? Four Non-Blondes
Waterfalls TLC
Kiss From a Rose Seal

kate's first uke, a classy purple soprano from The Duke of Uke
I have since upgraded to a more official tenor with a real steel C string!

Suggestions for early 90s top40 covers welcome (preferably with easy chords; I'm still learning!)

48 Hour Film Project

2007-10-15T18:13:00.000-04:00

From 10pm this past Friday till 10pm this Sunday, my flatmates Laurie, Corrie and I stayed up for 48 hours straight conceiving, writing, storyboarding, shooting, logging, editing and producing (with a little micromanaging and arguing and writhing-on-the-floor thrown in for good measure) a 10 minute short entitled: 'Dollface' for the 2 Days Later Short Film Competition 2007.

Dollface from Katian Witchger on Vimeo.

Still image from 'Dollface' (yes, I exported the 16:9 image as .tiff and it squashed it; no, I don't know why; hyperlink to 'know just enough to get you into trouble')

The Challenge: Create a short (no more than 10 minutes) horror/suspense movie using 3 of 6: an axe, a dog, tarot cards, place of worship, a mirror, the line 'did you hear that?' from start to finish in 48 hours.

Link to final project: coming 'soon'
I attempted to upload a 135.5 MB Quicktime file but gave up after 2 hours. Any ideas?

Time: 48 Hours

Cost: 99p (for halloween axe from pound shop in Peckham)

Equipment/Tools Used: borrowed: sony z1 camera kit, macbook avec final cut; kate's: lacie harddrive; directional microphone, cables and tripod with grateful bows in kevs direction; two lamps (inherited from former flatmates); our 'beautiful abode' located in the heart of southeast london: and a substantial amount eyeliner.

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Shed Fix Up

2007-10-12T19:54:00.001-04:00

Shed Fix Up - Photos

Fixing up the shed in the back of Mom and Dad's house. Building shelves to hold 24 Rubbermaid Roughnecks (432 total gallons of junk storage!) Also, fixing the broken switch for the light fixture and adding another light on the far end of the shed.

Time: 3 hours

Cost: N/A

Equipment/Tools Used: Craftsman Chop Saw. Craftsman Circular Saw, 2 Dewalt Cordless Drills

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Trimming the Hedges

2007-10-05T18:34:00.000-04:00

This weekend Laurie and I trimmed the hedges in the front 'yard' to keep up with our dear neighbors Stan and Nora.

We also buried a trash bin full of compost which we had been accumulating since we moved into stave off the foxes...sorry I dont have a picture of that.

(Yeah its not really a project but I have to catch up with Kevin!)

Time: N/A

Cost: $0

Equipment/Tools Used: Shears and trimmers borrowed from our 83 year old kindly neighbor Stan

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Geo Prizm CV Axles

2007-09-29T21:17:00.000-04:00

Geo Prizm CV Axles Photos

The 94' Geo Prizm has been shuttering under acceleration. We attempted to fix it by changing the drivers side wheel bearing. This did not work. We then tried the CV axles and it solved the shuttering issue!

Time: 5 hours

Cost: N/A

Equipment/Tools: Craftsman Mechanics Set, Craftsman "wonder bar", 30mm axle Socket, Torque wrench

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

S-10 Truck Tune-Up

2007-09-20T20:53:00.000-04:00

S-10 Truck Tune-Up - Photos

We found a pretty good deal on a 2001 Chevy S-10, so now it is part of the Witchger fleet! It has a good 110,000 miles on it. (just ripe for the Witchger fleet) Spark plugs, wires, and fuel filter were changed.

Time: 4 hours

Cost: N/A

Equipment/Tools: Craftsman Mechanics Tools set

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Whate I learned: The spark plugs were very corroded and worn. The wires on this truck are routed in a complex path to the coils located behind the passenger side wheel. The fuel filter was messy so no pictures of that.

Van Universal Joint

2007-09-20T20:39:00.000-04:00

Van Universal Joint - Photos

After years of loading the van with music equipment, plywood, cement, and other building supplies; and after one exciting trip to Michigan to pick up thousands of pounds of lead type and a printing press, the universal joint on the 88' E-150 began to fail causing a heavy vibration at high speeds. We took a few hours to fix it.

Time: 4 hours

Cost: N/A

Equipment/Tools: Craftsman mechanics socket set, clamp, and vise.

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

digital degeneration

2007-06-16T05:01:00.000-04:00

This project was initiated to realize the true potential of the digital copy's degeneration power. How quickly will a digital picture quality degenerate when copied using different digital dsplays and capturing methods?

Desktop Degeneration: This is a picture of dads computer of a picture of bobs work computer of a picture kevs computer of a picture of kates computer of a picture of kate on moms computer.

This is picture of kates computer of a picture of moms computer of a picture of kate.

This is a picture of kate.

Most extreme degeneration *Skype/Digital Camera Degeneration*:
This is a pic of a Kevin off the Skype video chat screen, emailed to him which he then opened took a picture off of his screen and showed me via skype off the back of his digital camera from which I then took a picture:

Volviendo: Documentary

2007-06-15T05:20:00.001-04:00

Volviendo [English Version] (2007) from Lawrence Martin on Vimeo.

This summer my flatmate Laurie began his dissertation project for his masters in documentary studies. A 30 minute piece he shot this spring in London and Chile, the documentary followed Vladimir Vega a Chilean exile who was forced to move to London over 30 years ago after he was imprisoned for his political action against Pinochet. Vlad read a news story about the youngest boy killed under Pinochet's rule, a 13 year old named Carlos Furinia who's body was discovered last year. Vladimir wrote a song in honor of the child and took it to Chile to play it for Carlos' surviving family. Laurie followed Vlad on this journey recording over 30 hours of footage.

This summer he and I spent 3 weeks in a classy climate controlled edit suite in the media studies department at Goldsmiths reworking a mountain of footage into what we hope became a complex story of exile.

This was my first stab at editing something I hadn't shot myself. I also discovered (what everyone already knew) that I like to be in control of things. Luckily I found a great editing partner who is quick with the technical side of things, knows what I mean when I say 'no, make it half a step earlier and switch the 3rd and 1st clips' and has it done just in time for me to say ' no, no the 2nd and 1st would be better' and does it all without protest or pause(and it doesnt even seem to phase him when I writhe on the floor when a cut doesn't work or do a victory dance when it does) Hopefully we will work on many more projects to come.

Time: N/A

Cost: N/A

Equipment: Sweet Suite G5 Mac with Avid and double screens; PAL monitor, Tape Deck, 30 hours footage on MiniDV (prelogged, binned and transcribed thanks to Laurie's super organization), 23 regular lattes

Level of Difficulty: (total project: 5 sawzalls) editing 3.5 sawzalls

Backyard Tilling

2007-05-16T15:40:00.000-04:00

Backyard Tilling Photos

Making our backyard look nice really doesn't seem to be possible, but here's another try to plant grass, smooth out the dirt, and create of uniform look to the backyard. The yard was tilled, raked, smoothed, and planted. Weeks after, the result was a uniform dirt yard. The grass and clover that was planted never took.

Time: 6 hours

Cost: $300 - This includes the used tiller, the seed and fertilizer, and the gas to exchange the broken craftsman rakes!

Equipment/Tools Used: Craftsman Tiller (Thank you craigslist!), rakes, shovels, seed

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Separation: Digital Short

2007-05-15T05:11:00.000-04:00

This was a digital short to test my new HD camera. I shot and edited it while feeling a little homesick one rainy afternoon out of the windows from Batavia Mews (grad student housing) and set it to Sorry, Kevin's Separation. Unfortunately I cant figure how to export the HD quicktime to a format small enough to upload to the web without squashing the aspect ratio. (insert 'Back Burner' link)

Time: N/A

Cost: N/A

Equipment/Tools Used: Canon HV20, tripod, LaCie Drive, Mac G5/Final Cut (MAVis Lab @ Goldmsmiths), MiniDV tape

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

(only because of the frustration of only being able to log 10 second clips of HD footage at a time before crashing the computer)

Playhouse Teardown

2007-05-09T15:49:00.000-04:00

Playhouse Teardown Photos

The playhouse that we built after moving to North Carolina we practically lived in as children. For almost 10 years it served as junk storage and began rotting. We took a few days, hired a dumpster, broke it down and said our goodbyes to our beloved playhouse.

Time: 2 days

Cost: $300 for dumpster

Equipment/Tools Used: Sawzall, hammers, sledges, and other demolition tools.

Level of Difficulty:

Garage Cleanup

2007-03-18T15:57:00.000-04:00

Garage Photos

I took a few days to clean up the garage area. Built and rebuilt shelves. Organized tools. It's nice and clean. I know this won't last.

Time: 10 hours

Cost: $0 Used all scrap wood and paint.

Equipment/Tools Used: Craftsman 10" Tablesaw, Dewalt drill, Craftsman air nailer, hammers and prybars

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Drill Battery

2007-03-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

Drill Battery Photos

I love the Dewalt XRP drills. I don't like that after 4 years the battery goes dead really fast and that the replacement batteries are $70. I bought some new cells and replaced them myself. They're not pretty, but neither is the drill after 4 years of abuse.

Time: 2 hours

Cost: $30 for new cells. Enough for 2 battery packs.

Equipment/Tools Used: Soldering Iron, screwdrivers

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Desk with Shelf

2007-01-07T16:06:00.000-05:00

Desk with Shelf Photos

I wanted more storage and I needed a desk so I decided to make a desk with an overhead shelf. I originally wanted this desk to have two deep shelves, but at 8 feet tall I really overestimated the height of my ceiling and the center of gravity a little to high and forward. The final shelf has one shelf capable of storing 3 roughneck rubber maids worth of junk!

Time: 2 hours

Expense: $20 of wood

Equipment/Tools Used: Dewalt drill, Craftsman Chopsaw

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Room Rebuild

2006-12-28T16:14:00.000-05:00

Room Rebuild Photos

Oh no, mold! After looking behind the wall and discovering mold in this room, we had to rebuild a large portion of this room. The drywall was removed and after sealing the bricks with waterproof cement and paint, we replaced some framing and put in new drywall, electrical outlets, lights, ceiling fan, ceiling tiles, and flooring. It's like a brand new room!

Time: 1 week

Cost: $1500

Equipment/Tools Used: RotoZip (new tool!), drill, hammers,... you name it!

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Computer Build

2006-12-18T16:22:00.000-05:00

Computer Build Photos

I wanted to build a computer. Christmas is a good time to do that! I did it just like everyone else does, I guess. Assembled a computer. Plug everything in and hope it's fast!

Time: 6 hours

Cost: $1400 for all computer parts

Equipment/Tools Used: Screwdrivers

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Speakers

2006-06-08T16:26:00.000-04:00

Speakers Photos

I wanted to do something that I thought Bob and Steph would both enjoy for a wedding present. They both like music... sooooo speakers. After researching different styles of speakers and different drivers, I decided to go with a design that was relatively compact, but also had a great range of frequencies. The cabinet for the speakers took a long time to figure out how to build and paint. The finish took two tries, but It turned out nice and shiny. The crossover was simple to assemble. They sound great too!

Time: 2 months

Equipment/Tools Used: Table saw, Router, drill, screwdriver, soldering iron, sandpaper

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

About the "Sawzall"

2006-06-01T20:20:00.000-04:00

In addition to being an awesome tool, capable of cutting through any material known to man, the "sawzall" is now a unit of measurement for the level of difficulty of a Witchger Project.

Taking into account the complexity of the procedure(s), technical know-how needed, and physical labor required, we will give each project a rating. "5" is the maximum number of sawzalls a project (that we'll undertake ourselves, anyway) can earn.

To give you a frame a reference:

• (1 sawzall)=building simple bookshelves, changing a car's oil

• (2 sawzalls)=assembling a computer, enclosing a yard with stakes and metal fencing

• (3 sawzalls)=building a china hutch from the "New Yankee Workshop" plans, reroofing a house (including replacing several sheets of the plywood)

• (4 sawzalls)=changing a car's clutch, installing an oak hardwood floor (including replacing parts of the subfloor)

• (5 sawzalls)=felling a 150-foot-tall tree in the backyard, rebuilding an entire car engine

Half scales are also used.