Slow going with the hammock

Things have slowed down a lot with the hammock since the summer ended.  My wife went back to work leaving me in charge of our son during the day, and work or school at night.  Every week I try to take a couple of hours in the evening to work on the hammock, but lately it's been every two weeks.

I've completely woven in the produce spools to one end.  I took the end pieces and put two narrow holes so the straps could be woven through to anchor the ends.  If I didn't do anything I would imagine that with time and use they would work themselves out of the weave.

I estimate that in three more sessions (setting up, working, then cleaning up) I'll be ready to string the rope through.  So close to done, but the good weather is slipping away.

Spring paper clip

I figured out how to make a clasp for one of the purses I made with the straps, and gave it to a friend who is leaving my work.  She's transferring to another location, but I thought it would be nice to give her one with some chocolates we brought back from Switzerland this summer.  I used a paperclip to do it.  Not a regular paperclip, but a spring type paperclip.  I had to investigate the name of the paperclip on google to know what to call it.  They're like alligator clips, but with a black triangle thing that opens and closes on the paper.  They're incredibly common but I don't think I ever knew the name for them.  My wife has some that are gold in color; I used a gold clip with an all pink purse.


I cut a horizontal slit on one side with the dremel, wide enough for a strap to fit through.  I wove it in near the top of the purse and removed one of the wires used to open the paper clip.  The purse still bulges open to either side of the clip, but it keeps it closed pretty well.

Hammock progress

One of the most useful things I learned from a college sculpture class was to make use of as many free materials as you can.  There were many things I could have learned from that class, but most of them had nothing to do with sculpture.  My mind was closed to such things then; I was quite confident in my own abilities, but had no sense of self.  Even I recognized this; I once said there was a two year turnaround between the things I did and my thinking how stupid they were.  In the moment I always thought I was doing the right thing, but two years later I would recognize what an idiot I was.  I'm not sure if this has changed any, but I do try to be more mindful of myself.  I can't begrudge the route I've taken to get where I am, but I do sometimes wish I had taken better advantage of those bygone days.

One of the materials that I have an abundance of from working at the grocery store are the plastic straps that come wrapped around some of the boxes.  The ones I've been collecting are about a centimeter wide and 3 to 4 feet long (to switch from metric to imperial mid-sentence).  They come in a variety of colors but most common are pink, green, and white.  I've been collecting them for a while and many of my coworkers save them for me.  The first thing I built was a reusable shopping bag by following instructions I found on youtube for basket weaving, but since then I've branched out to beer cozies, purse type things, a lizard man (still in progress), and I'm currently working on a hammock.

I mentioned a few projects I'm working on with the straps, but I've decided to focus my efforts on one project at a time because the materials and half finished sculptures/projects I've been accumulating are starting to pile up.  Every time I mention a new one to my wife she asks me when I'm going to finish the ones I already have going, especially since some of the stuff is blocking access to her closet.  

As of yesterday the hammock is over six feet long, about 6' 4".  The straps running the length of the hammock alternate pink and green, and the ones spanning the width are white.  Because the straps are not as long as the hammock, I've tried to stagger the straps to give the hammock strength.  They all have some overlap, but if all of them end in the same place they might get pulled apart when there's weight on the hammock.  I'm not sure this won't happen anyway, but I have faith in the strength of the weave.  

I'm planning on making it 7 feet long, which to me seems like a reasonable length for the average person.  I'm going to have to attach a rope to it with enough strength to hold a human both in the rope itself and in how the rope is attached.  I have an idea that uses another scavenged material from my work: small plastic spools from produce bags.  The thin plastic bags that people use for bananas and apples and other loose fruit come on little green spools or cylinders that I've been collecting for a long time now.  They're a little smaller than toilet paper rolls and made of plastic.  If I line them up and weave them into the ends I can run a rope through them to string the hammock up.  I'm going to have to learn how to splice and cut rope, but I'm hoping to be completely finished with it in the next week or two.

Repurpose everything

In my work I have access to many industrial castoffs, things that are a regular part of shipping and selling groceries but are not recycled by the recycling industry.  

I've been collecting materials and building whatever comes to mind from what is available to me, and this is my attempt to document some of those projects.  Not all of them get completed, and most only survive for a few days.  Some get crushed in a baling machine, leaving nothing but their memory (and some photos on my phone).

Maybe you can find some inspiration from what I've been doing, but I'll be happy if I can get a smile and an occasional kind word.  In our consumer culture it's important to note how many by-products we cast aside just to fulfill our basic needs, forget about the extravagances available in our society.  There are other ways to live; our culture and we as individuals need to start re-learning them.