SteamPunk Lamp

[Paul B]

My wife said to put them both in the art show and just post that one is for sale, you pick.
The bases on both of them came from the same 100 year old oak tree that I have a slab of. I have about 8 more feet of it.
I am excited to start this porcupine fish as it will be completely different, but I think much harder to build. I am still designing and have many sketches.
It seems many of my lamps are spoken for because my Daughter keeps telling me she knows people who want them. She knows a lot of very rich people and people in show business. People that everyone knows but I don't want to say who they are.
I would love to get one of these pieces in a place where people could see it. I am going to feel bad when they go as I have an attachment to all of them. But not enough room.
I also want to get back to taking proper care of my fish. They miss me

 

[Paul B]

I started building a steampunk porcupine fish. I am not sure how this will come out. I also ordered another 1920's telephone call box exactly like this one.
But I am not sure exactly what I am going to build out of it as nothing hit me yet.

 

[erk]

I have the same attachment to the bowls I turn, but the way I see it, I'd prefer others to enjoy them. That is why I give them away as gifts. I keep the failures though. Need them as reminders of my mistakes.

 

[Paul B]

I do have plenty of things around my house that I built including all the failures. (and I have a lot of those) I sometimes re design them into something else. I want to keep one or two of these lamps and one copper fish, the rest will go to the show. I will be giving some away and the rest sold. Some of them cost me almost $200.00 to build. This new phone box I ordered cost a little over $100.00 just for the box. That gauge was probably $40 0r $50.00.
The stupid antique wire on them is $10.00. I think the big tube was 8 or 9 bucks. There is a metal electrical box inside al of them to make them legal and safe because you can't just put wires in wood. Especially 100 year old wood.

 

[Paul B]

 

[themcnertney]

I WANT THEM ALL!!!

 

[Paul B]

Thanks. I realize that video has a cluttered background but my Daughter needed to see some of them.
I am building a porcupine fish but I am a little sketchy on the design and I have another antique telephone calling box that hopefully will be something.
I hope they sell at this art show because I am running out of room.
I was also commissioned to build steam punk sconces for someone but that will have to wait until the winter

 

[Paul B]

I just finished another lamp made out of a 1910 telephone call box. The red handle turns it on, the tube lights up red and the brass thing on the back right is a vintage lawn sprinkler.

They keep moving the art show back so I will be selling some of these soon. Yesterday I got a call from my town and they want me to display them at an 800 persons Veterans event at a park on a beach here on Long Island. It should be fun.

 

[Paul B]

Porcupine fish about half completed.

 

[Paul B]

Porcupine fish is done.

He has 4 brass teeth not shown in this picture.

 

[Paul B]

This guy is finished, And I love him. He is not plugged in here which make his eyes light up green like mine I changed his stand

 

[garethwood]

Wow paul! ive been reading your posts and picking your brains over dos and donts with my tank the past yr or so amd your knowledge of sw has been invaluable : ) Now i find out your also a talented inventor and designer! Man tell me your crap at sport or socialy awkward or something? come on please dont make me hate you with jelousy lol!!
Great work mate : )

 

[Paul B]

I am crap at sports and the only sport I like is SCUBA diving. I am not socially awkward as far as I know and still have many friends that we see all the time from high school. We are going out on my boat today with some of them. But sports I suck at and I can't play a musical instrument and can't sing a note. I try very hard to paint a decent picture but I am pretty sure I am no good at that unless it is Sesame Street or a Supermodel. How about that!

I don't think I can even dive any more because I have some degenerated disks in my back and need an operation. So I may even suck at that. Today someone is coming over here and I am giving him all of my dive gear. I also can't grow hair.

There are many people on these forums that hate me and they almost told me so. I sometimes come off as a know it all as my wife sometimes tells me. I guess I have to work on the way that I try to convey information so you can say I have a bunch of faults so you don't have to be jealous.
But if I do come off that way or say something stupid, I would appreciate it if you would tell me so. I never get mad, especially on a fish forum or if no one is shooting at me.

 

[Giraffe0621]

I am crap at sports and the only sport I like is SCUBA diving. I am not socially awkward as far as I know and still have many friends that we see all the time from high school. We are going out on my boat today with some of them. But sports I suck at and I can't play a musical instrument and can't sing a note. I try very hard to paint a decent picture but I am pretty sure I am no good at that unless it is Sesame Street or a Supermodel. How about that!

I don't think I can even dive any more because I have some degenerated disks in my back and need an operation. So I may even suck at that. Today someone is coming over here and I am giving him all of my dive gear. I also can't grow hair.

There are many people on these forums that hate me and they almost told me so. I sometimes come off as a know it all as my wife sometimes tells me. I guess I have to work on the way that I try to convey information so you can say I have a bunch of faults so you don't have to be jealous.
But if I do come off that way or say something stupid, I would appreciate it if you would tell me so. I never get mad, especially on a fish forum or if no one is shooting at me.

Perhaps a ridiculous thought after working overnight, but has anyone ever told you that the way you write, the cadence, the tinge of sarcasm and flavor of humor, is reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut. He's one of my favorite authors, so please, take that as the compliment it was intended as [emoji51]

 

[Paul B]

Giraffe0621 (if that is your real name ) Good Morning and Thank you. I do read a lot but I never heard of Kurt Vonnegut. I read all of Nelson DeMills books and I even know him as he was in Viet Nam when I was there and he lives near me, But in a Much Much larger home
Besides him I, read a lot of science and science fiction. I like to write (as you can tell because I tend to get wordy so you don't have to read the rest of this as you may get tired) and I like to speak, if no one is around I may speak to myself, but I never answer myself as that would be silly. I have spoken at a quite a few functions, Veterans things, fish things, radio etc but never at a Supermodel convention although I did work a couple of Victoria Secret photo shoots. I tried to "help" put their wings on, but I couldn't reach their shoulders as they are all like 9' tall.

I just write the way I speak and my wife is always laughing or rolling her eyes. Of course sometimes she is yelling at me for something that I said that was "not quite right". 2 days ago we took some cousins on the boat to the Statue of Liberty and she said "I wanted to kill you, Do you know what you said? I didn't think it was a big deal and some people need to get thicker skin. I never mean to hurt anyone's feelings but sometimes when someone, like me, who probably talks too much says something, it doesn't come off right as it was probably supposed to come off as a joke or something. They laughed so I don't think I offended them or any dead relatives they have.

That's why there is so many problems in the country now. Everyone has a problem with some little thing someone said and they get their triggerfish all up in an octopus head lock. People sometimes say things without thinking about every possible thing that would offend someone and almost everyone is offended about something. I am not.
Like if I say I saw an ugly Yeti last week walking down the street, that may offend a monk in Tibet. I don't know, maybe all the Yeti's in Tibet are Supermodels and we can't tell because they are all hairy, who knows?

But Giraffe, thank you for posting. It is early and I am waiting for my wife to get up so we can start our day.

 

[Giraffe0621]

Giraffe0621 (if that is your real name ) Good Morning and Thank you. I do read a lot but I never heard of Kurt Vonnegut. I read all of Nelson DeMills books and I even know him as he was in Viet Nam when I was there and he lives near me, But in a Much Much larger home
Besides him I, read a lot of science and science fiction. I like to write (as you can tell because I tend to get wordy so you don't have to read the rest of this as you may get tired) and I like to speak, if no one is around I may speak to myself, but I never answer myself as that would be silly. I have spoken at a quite a few functions, Veterans things, fish things, radio etc but never at a Supermodel convention although I did work a couple of Victoria Secret photo shoots. I tried to "help" put their wings on, but I couldn't reach their shoulders as they are all like 9' tall.

I just write the way I speak and my wife is always laughing or rolling her eyes. Of course sometimes she is yelling at me for something that I said that was "not quite right". 2 days ago we took some cousins on the boat to the Statue of Liberty and she said "I wanted to kill you, Do you know what you said? I didn't think it was a big deal and some people need to get thicker skin. I never mean to hurt anyone's feelings but sometimes when someone, like me, who probably talks too much says something, it doesn't come off right as it was probably supposed to come off as a joke or something. They laughed so I don't think I offended them or any dead relatives they have.

That's why there is so many problems in the country now. Everyone has a problem with some little thing someone said and they get their triggerfish all up in an octopus head lock. People sometimes say things without thinking about every possible thing that would offend someone and almost everyone is offended about something. I am not.
Like if I say I saw an ugly Yeti last week walking down the street, that may offend a monk in Tibet. I don't know, maybe all the Yeti's in Tibet are Supermodels and we can't tell because they are all hairy, who knows?

But Giraffe, thank you for posting. It is early and I am waiting for my wife to get up so we can start our day.

My maiden name is very close to Giraffe, so it was a nickname growing up. The whole name wouldn't fit on sports jerseys, so my first coach just put Giraffe. At 5'5, the irony was not lost on me, even at 12

I'll check out Nelson DeMills, as I'm always looking for someone new. Vonnegut was an Army veteran and a POW in WWII. Perhaps the years in the service lead to both of your special senses of humor. Either way, I'll keep reading happily. Glad I found your posts in the first place when I was searching for info on pipefish

 

[Paul B]

Giraffe, If you read DeMille start with the "Gold Coast" then go to "Plum Island". He wrote that about the area near my home which is called the Gold Coast. Not my block of course but the shore of the Sound 5 miles from me.
Plum Island as you probably know is a tiny Island off Long Island where the Govt, did experiments with anthrax and other nerve poisons although they will say they were trying to cure ich.

Look him up as he wrote many books and I read them all. "A Lions Game" is about a terrorist that came here to kill the pilots who killed his family in the mid east, very good and I think "Men of Honor" which was about the main character going back to Viet Nam to clear his family's name. I liked that one because I know all the places he mentions in Nam as we were both near those places.

 

[hatfielj]

You must be retired LOL, great work! Looks like you know what you're doing. You should open an etsy store. You'd have some serious buyers.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks Hatfielj, I actually got a lot of the parts from Etsy. The antique telephone boxes all came from there.

 

[tcarter1936]

Giraffe, If you read DeMille start with the "Gold Coast" then go to "Plum Island". He wrote that about the area near my home which is called the Gold Coast. Not my block of course but the shore of the Sound 5 miles from me.
Plum Island as you probably know is a tiny Island off Long Island where the Govt, did experiments with anthrax and other nerve poisons although they will say they were trying to cure ich.

Look him up as he wrote many books and I read them all. "A Lions Game" is about a terrorist that came here to kill the pilots who killed his family in the mid east, very good and I think "Men of Honor" which was about the main character going back to Viet Nam to clear his family's name. I liked that one because I know all the places he mentions in Nam as we were both near those places.

Read all of demilles work great read!