By Hand and Eye

...lden section, for instance, and the shelf spacing came from an exercise on page 131 of the book. Far from being restrictive, I found the principles in Walker and Tolpin’s book liberating. I now had a starting point for any design project. For modern folks it’s difficult to imagine working without a ruler. Walker and Toplin explain, Instead of asking, “How high is this base dimension in inches?” pre-industrial artisans would have asked, “How tall i...

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Make a Rain Barrel

...nstorms. I put this rain barrel together as a test and because I was tired of looking a blue drum that sat in the backyard for a year giving our patio a methamphetamine lab vibe. Again, for complete instructions and a list of parts visit Chenkin’s ehow page or, if you’re not adept at perusing the isles of the local hardware store, buy a kit from him through Aquabarrel. [Editors note: due to spamming (are rain barrel enthusiasts really that excited...

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Saturday Tweets: Architectural Screw-Ups, Road Diets and Pet Dragons

A page of architectural screw-ups https://t.co/o31OCzt5h8 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) January 20, 2018 Go ahead tell me again why road diets are so bad for LA https://t.co/ZlBMWkX9nA pic.twitter.com/siVYC8yZH1 — Alissa Walker (@awalkerinLA) January 15, 2018 New #DIY video on how to make maple syrup with file cabinet evaproator #maplesyrup https://t.co/MJfr3wv5jM — Eric Rochow (@GardenForkTV) January 15, 2018 Delightful site curates New York Times...

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Black Widow or False Black Widow?

...e kind of dangerous, either. This is not reassuring. But then on the handy page Frequently Encountered Spiders in California, I learned about the False black widow. Another European invasive, this spider seems to be displacing our native black widows in urban areas. This spider is roughly the same size and shape as a black widow, but is brown with a faint purple sheen. I like this false black widow option a lot. The false widows don’t have a dange...

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