Taliesin: Home of Love and Loss

Originally published August 9, 2013 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

The cover of “Building Taliesin” is a 1911 photo of the entrance to the
 construction site of Taliesin (“Building Taliesin,” Utah State Historical
 Society). In the corner are portraits of Frank Lloyd Wright (ca. 1906)
and Mamah Bouton Borthwick (ca. 1914). (“Building Taliesin,”
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

 One hundred years ago, a great love story was flourishing in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The brilliant architect Frank Lloyd Wright was in love with Mamah (MAY-mah) Borthwick and living with her at Taliesin—the country home he designed for them both in the rolling green hills he visited as a child. Wright acquired the land in 1911, while living with Borthwick in Tuscany. When they moved to Taliesin later in the year, Wright was 44 and married; Borthwick was 42 and divorced. Both had abandoned their spouses and children two years earlier to be together.

Although Wright has been recognized as the greatest American architect, it’s difficult to ignore the tragic story of this ghost of a woman he loved but could not marry (his wife would not consent to a divorce). Although Mamah Borthwick moved to Taliesin before its completion and lived there for three years, and although there was ample documentation of Taliesin’s construction, there are no clear photographs of her there. It was almost as if she had never been there, and much later, Wright himself refers to her presence only obliquely in his autobiography.

The book’s back cover shows Taliesin as it looks today, 

overlooking the Jones Valley in Spring Green, Wisconsin. 

(Craig Wilson, Kite Arial Photography)

Accomplished in her own right, Borthwick had a master’s degree in teaching, was fluent in French and German, and worked as a translator for the feminist writer Ellen Key. She also kept house for Wright and cooked for the craftsmen on site at Taliesin. However, her life was tragically cut short in August 1914, while Wright was working in Chicago. One summer afternoon, while Borthwick and her two visiting young children were having lunch on the living room porch, a disgruntled and crazed employee of Wright’s appeared and savagely bludgeoned the three to death with an axe. He murdered four other workers on the premises, and set Taliesin on fire before being captured.

“Building Taliesin—Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home of Love and Loss” by Ron McCrea sheds new light on the relationship that scandalized the public and threatened to derail Wright’s growing success as an architect. Illustrated with large period photographs—many of which are being published for the first time—McCrea’s account also explores how the building of Taliesin began a whole new chapter in Wright’s professional life as a designer of great buildings.

Two carpenters work in the space that would be Wright’s drafting
studio in Taliesin I. The view looks west from the front office. A plaster
 model of Wright’s Larkin building (Buffalo, NY, 1902) sits on the
 crossbeam above. The partial wall separates the drafting area from the
 sitting room of the workmen’s suite, which also includes a bunkroom and
 bath.  (“Building Taliesin,” Utah State Historical Society) (small photo)

Although America was at first scandalized by his relationship with Mamah Borthwick, Wright’s career survived and eventually advanced from an innovative architect of single-family homes to a world-renowned builder of not only homes, but also hotels, churches, schools, skyscrapers and museums. Wright also designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass.

Although Taliesin was often referred to in the press as a bungalow, it was quite expansive with three wings that included living quarters, an office, drafting studio and farm buildings. The home was positioned on the brow of a hill so that it would appear as though it arose naturally from the landscape. Wright used Taliesin as a way to explore his notion of organic architecture—creating a home that was in harmony with its surroundings, fit the needs of its occupants, and used local products such as limestone and sand from the river to evoke the natural features in the surrounding landscape.

Three stonemasons pose proudly after cementing in place
 the plaque that announces “Frank Lloyd Wright / Architect” at
 the gateway to Taliesin. (photo by Taylor A. Woolley around 1912,
 found by author McCrea in the Utah Historical Society collections
(“Building Taliesin,” Utah State Historical Society)

What I really enjoyed about “Building Taliesin” was the sense I got of Frank Lloyd Wright as both a devoted partner and an evolving architect. He helped Mamah Borthwick get her book translations published and defended her feminist ideals, including her right to leave her husband and children in search of happiness and fulfillment. McCrea reports that five days after she was killed, Wright wrote an open letter to his neighbors, thanking them for their kindness, but also firing “a parting shot at married critics: ‘You wives with your certificates of loving—pray that you may love as much and be loved as well as Mamah Borthwick!’”

McCrea also puts into perspective the work Wright accomplished during his years with Borthwick at Taliesin. “Beginning with Taliesin, Wright produced some of his finest architecture. His masterworks, like Taliesin, were self-contained worlds: the walled Midway Gardens concert garden in Chicago; the enclosed Imperial Hotel plan for Tokyo; and the Coonley Playhouse, a small gem of a progressive school.” The years, 1911-1914, “were years in which the couple, in the prime of life, secured their home and pursed their dreams. Wright spread his wings in Europe and Asia and returned to Chicago trailing clouds of glory.”

Frank Lloyd Wright did survive the loss of Mamah Borthwick, and went on to build highly original homes and buildings that would earn him the reputation of the avatar of American architecture. Two of his greatest designs are the three-story Falling Water House, in Bear Creek, Pennsylvania, which takes the harmony between building and landscape to the limit, allowing nature to enter the interior; and the spiraling Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue in New York City, probably one of his most recognized masterpieces.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan.

Frank Lloyd Wright completed hundreds of buildings all over the United States, the majority of which are still standing, and 54 of which can be visiting and toured. The nearest to us in Northern California are the Hanna House at Stanford University and the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. I was lucky enough to see Wright’s work last month in New York: the living room of the Francis W. Little summer home “Northome” (built 1911-14), which was dismantled and installed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A complete list of public sites can be found at http://www.franklloydwright.org/about/public-sites.html, which includes Taliesin I, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The three famous windows from the Coonley Playhouse (a progressive school built in 1911 on the grounds of the Coonley estate in Riverside, Illinois) show several patterns Wright used of balloons, confetti, and an American flag. Solid, bright colors and simple geometric Forms were something new for Wright after he returned from Europe. (photo by Tina Baine, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Bamboo—the superhero of plants

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, August 16, 2013

Bamboo Giant Nursery is located on 31 acres on Freedom Blvd. in Aptos.
With over 15 acres planted in bamboo, it is one of the largest displays
 of timber bamboo in North America.

What plant produces the most oxygen and consumes more carbon dioxide than any other plant,  has a tensile strength greater than steel, can be harvested without destroying itself, and comes in over 1500 species, some of which can grow up to 4 FEET PER DAY?

You guessed it—it’s bamboo—the invincible, superhero of plants, able to do so much more than your average piece of lumber. Bamboo is so mighty and resilient, it survived the1945 atomic bomb drop in Hiroshima, Japan and was the first plant to re-grow after the blast.

Known for its strength and versatility, bamboo is used worldwide to make food, medicine, textiles, furniture, housing, and many other useful products. And, for the curious craftsperson, gardener and environmentalist, sustainably harvested bamboo poles are available at many home improvement stores, garden centers and nurseries.

Michael Kanner shows Sarah Hoole, 2 1/2, and her mother
 Jennifer Riley, how to drill the finger holes for a bamboo
flute at the Los Gatos Fiesta de Artes Fair last Sunday.
 For the two day fair, Kanner helped about 70 children
 make their own flutes, and will also be teaching at the
 Bamboo Giant Arts and Crafts fair.  He has been a programmer
of world music at KUSP for 30 years and is a member of the
 American Bamboo Society.

One Santa Cruz musician who understands the versatility of bamboo is Michael Kanner, who’s been making traditional Japanese shakuhachi flutes from bamboo for over 45 years. Kanner loves to share his techniques with children whenever he has the opportunity. He shows them how to mark the finger holes using a prototype as a guide, and burn the holes using a hot inverted drill bit with a wooden handle. After they sand the holes, clean the shaft, and decorate the end with feathers and beads, Kanner provides instructions for playing and caring for their instrument.

Another bamboo fan, local cycling entrepreneur, Craig Calfee, made his first bamboo bike as a gimmick for a trade show. Calfee’s workshop in La Selva Beach assembles some of the most advanced carbon fiber racing bicycles in the world. But he also directs a project called Bamboosero, which supports micro-manufacturers of bamboo bike frames in developing countries. The assembled frames are shipped back to Calfee’s workshop for inspection and hardware.

Brano Meres found an article describing a bamboo frame built by Craig
 Calfee and was determined to build one, using a method he developed
 from building a carbon  frame.  He provides instructions for building a
 bamboo bicycle frame on instructables.com, and writes that the most
difficult part was finding quality bamboo rods.

Promoting the beauty of bamboo, fine artist Carolyn Fitz of Scotts Valley, is well-known for her bamboo graphics. Fitz has traveled to Japan and China and has been sharing her passion for calligraphy and ink painting for over 25 years. Her sumi-e workshops explore a traditional style of Japanese ink painting using a bamboo brush. Fitz created the logo for Bamboo Giant—a bamboo nursery on Freedom Blvd. in Aptos which specializes in bamboo consulting, design, delivery, installation, fencing and furniture, and has over 50 different species of bamboo growing on 15 planted acres.

All three of these bamboo enthusiasts will be on hand at Bamboo Giant this weekend for what promises to be the ideal introduction to the possibilities of bamboo. The two-day arts and crafts fair will have bamboo-related workshops, crafts, products, face and nail painting, as well as live music, a raffle and barbecue, and an opportunity to wander through bamboo-forested trails and learn more about bamboo.

A basket I made from bamboo chopsticks.

For crafters and builders, Bamboo Giant sells raw canes harvested onsite and imported kiln-dried bamboo. For ideas and inspiration, you can see fencing and garden structures made from bamboo, plus a full range of bamboo products for sale, including birdfeeders, ladders, chimes, bird cages, floor mats, easels, tables and chairs.

“The Craft & Art of Bamboo” by Carol Stangler provides good details on planting, harvesting, cutting, preserving, and attaching bamboo, as well as instructions for making 30 different projects, from water features, to furnishings, to fencing, to gates and railings. Bamboo fencing is especially lovely in the garden, and can vary in color, style and effect depending upon the species and diameter of bamboo used.

In her book, Stangler notes that bamboo’s popularity has increase in recent years. “Once seen as an unwelcome invasive, it is now hailed for its eco-friendly properties. ‘Rapidly renewable’ describes its spectacular growth rate: bamboo reaches 80 percent of its full height, diameter and leaf canopy in only two months!” Bamboo is actually a giant perennial grass, and its dynamic growth is anchored and nourished by a shallow, underground network of rhizomes.

In Bali last May, I saw this platform constructed from large-diameter bamboo,
at a  foot bridge construction site, used for holding tool and materials.
 I thought the way of joining the poles was really unique.

Left on its own, bamboo will multiply rapidly, a challenge for those with limited space or close neighbors. To contain bamboo, the roots must be surrounded by a 3-foot-deep high-density plastic barrier. Healthy bamboo requires regular maintenance such as removing unwanted shoots in the spring, harvesting mature culms (stems) annually, and removing dead and dying culms.

Bamboo is ready for harvesting in about four to seven year, when the culm is dark or dull green. Use a coarse-tooth pruning saw to cut the culm as close to the ground as possible. Remove branches with a machete or loppers. Cut lengths needed for your project or store long lengths out of the weather and off the ground. Annual cleaning and sealing greatly increases the life and appearance of bamboo structures

In addition to Stangler’s book and others, the Internet is also a good source of bamboo projects. One website, blog.greenearthbamboo.com/bamboo/bamboo-crafts/ has a long list of projects including how to make a cutting board, tree house, raft, compost bin, birdhouse or candles from bamboo.

Instuctables.com offers a wide variety of step-by-step bamboo projects with photos, including:

·         15 minute bamboo easel

·         Bamboo bike frame adapted from Craig Calfee’s original design

·         Japanese bamboo stilts

·         Bamboo chaise lounge chair padded with wine bottle corks

And of course pintrest.com has photos for an inspiring assortment large bamboo creations, including beds, walls, ceilings, and bridges.

A bamboo chair made in Indonesia.

Living more creatively

in the kitchen and beyond

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel July 12, 2013

Rachel Santos makes her classic bucket bags from woven strips

 of upcycled rubber bicycle inner-tubes. Santos defines

 “upcycling” as the process of converting end-of-life products into new, 

valuable products without using lots of energy.

The brilliant writer Michael Pollan, famous for making Americans rethink their relationship to the land and the food they eat, spoke at Santa Cruz High School last month about his new book “Cooked: a natural history of transformation.” There are no recipes in this book about cooking. Rather, Pollan explores the act of cooking at home, because, he writes, it’s “the most important thing an ordinary person can do to help reform the American food system, to make it healthier and more sustainable.”

Pollan told the sold-out Santa Cruz crowd that the average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food preparation and another four minutes cleaning up, which is less than half of what his mother (and mine) spent cooking and cleaning up in the 1960s. With Americans watching 34 hours of television a week, and 8 in 10 Americans watching the vast assortment of cooking shows, Pollan suggests that a great many Americans are spending considerably more time watching images of cooking on television than they are cooking themselves.

Of course what Pollan is also suggesting is that living healthier and more sustainably is also dependent upon our willingness to live more creatively. If creativity is a three step process—from concept, to planning, to production—we’ve missed out completely when we merely watch others cook. What’s more, we’ve willingly traded the smell, taste and health benefits of delicious home cooking for a passive bit of entertainment.

So, it’s all the more amazing when you discover people who don’t fit the reality-TV-watching demographic, who spend their time creating things that promote sustainability and self-sufficiency and do it without a recipe before them—who spend time imagining, engineering, and then executing, and who aren’t afraid to learn through trial and error.

Held last month at the School of Visual Arts Theatre

 in New York City, the Independent Handbag Designer

 Awards recognizes and discovers new designer talent

 and creativity across an array of handbag categories. 

Rachel Santos, of Dante Robles Design in Aromas, won

 in the Timberland Best Green Handbag category, for her

 classic bucket bag made from sustainable, recycled materials.

Rachel Santos is one such person. A resident of Aromas, she recently traveled to New York City for the first time in her life, to become a winner in the 7^th Annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards. Attended by industry notables, the award ceremony honored winners in six categories, and Santos’s lovely woven bucket bag won the Timberland Best Green Handbag award, which requires the bag be made out of sustainable, recycled or organic materials.

She loves to ask others what they think her shiny black bags are made from, because the usual guess is leather. Folks are surprised when she tells them the leather is actually reclaimed bicycle inner-tubes. Her handbags don’t look, smell or feel like bicycle inner-tubes, because they’ve been utterly transformed.

To win such a prestigious award is all the more amazing when you learn that she began working with rubber as a textile only a year ago. But it seemed to be the perfect fit for a woman with a degree in environmental studies, a 15-year career working in open space preservation, and a family-nurtured talent for crafting. In her line of work especially, she is constantly considering end-of-life (EOL) materials and asking herself how they could be resurrected and given new life.

Besides handbags, Santos also uses the rubber and valves from spent

 inner-tubes to make bracelets.

After briefly working with EOL neoprene wetsuits, she switched to rubber inner-tubes from road and mountain bikes, since they were easier to stretch and weave, and very easy to come by. Every two months she stops by Specialized Bicycle Components in Morgan Hill, who hand over 4 or 5 boxes of spent inner-tubes they’ve collected for her.

“Initially I was just having fun,” she says about her handbag design. Then her husband, who has experience in marketing new products, was impressed with her design, and told her, “I think it has legs,” she remembers. He encouraged her “to go out in front of people and get their feedback.” And in the process, she learned that her design was something extraordinary.

In developing her handbags from scratch, she had to discover ways of working with an unfamiliar material. “You have to get used to the way it moves and feels,” she says. “You have to adapt to the material.” So she learned how to carefully cut open the tubes, wash off the inner coating of talc, allow the rubber smell to off-gas, and cut them into even strips. She tried various cutting methods until her husband developed a rotary cutting system.

With her woodworking skills, she created a loom for weaving panels of inner-tubes. She then invested in a Juki industrial sewing machine with a Teflon pressure foot, for sewing the woven rubber the panels into handbags. “I was experimenting, prototyping,” she says. “The Juki allowed me to do so much more.” She also incorporates other parts from inner-tubes, like the Presta valves, into her handbag designs. Besides her winning bucket bag, she’s created a clutch, a satchel and a cross-body handbag.

Santos would like to develop her inner-tube weaving into a line of clothing, and participate in the Fashion Art runway show in Santa Cruz, but for now she’ll concentrate on working with Timberland to reproducing her handbag for sale in their flagship stores across the county. “The fashion industry has started to reduce their carbon footprint,” says Santos, and she is pleased to be working with the outdoor clothing retailer, Timberland. “They have a consciousness of moving in that direction.” Timberland makes footwear and outerwear from recycled, organic and renewable materials, and even builds their stores in a sustainable way using repurposed and reclaimed materials.

The future looks pretty bright for Santos and her label “Dante Robles Design,” as she scrambles to market her handbags through social media and by making industry connections. “I met quite a few of the leaders of the handbag industry in New York, and some manufacturers,” she says. And “some of the other contestants in the competition want to collaborate with me in the future.” She’s also thrilled that her winning handbag will be featured in the September issue of InStyle Magazine and Bicycling Magazine.

The oak leaf, with its stem pointing upwards, is the perfect symbol for

 the upcycled materials Rachel Santos uses in her handbags.

“Dante Robles” is Latin for “enduring oaks,” and Santos has added an aluminum oak leaf to her bags with an upward-pointing arrow on the stem—the perfect symbol not only for the extended life of the upcycled materials she uses, but also for the upward trajectory of Santos’ career as a handbag maker. “[Winning this competition] has been a great launching pad,” she says.

Crafting in the digital era: Design your own fabric

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 28, 2013

 On a typical episode, the long-running competitive reality show “Project Runway” gives the remaining fashion designers a conceptual design challenge, then takes them off to shop in midtown Manhattan in a multi-level store (“Mood”) bulging with fabric. Famous for throwing curve balls, “Project Runway” has caught many a contender off guard by dispensing with the trip to Mood for one episode, and requiring them to design their own fabric, from which they are expected to create a winning look. The final results serve as proof that good fashion designers are not always good fabric designers, and many are so used to working with solids, they have no idea what to do with a print.

But for those of us who love to work with fabric, we watch this design-your-own-fabric episode with envy and wonder. What would it be like to have that much creative freedom and control? How much more would that curtain, quilt, dress or textile art we want to make become a truer expression of our creativity?

In this one-of-a-kind book-DVD package, 

celebrated fabric designer, illustrator, sewist, and

author Heather Ross shares reproducible artwork

 for her bestselling fabric prints and step-by-step 

instructions for designing your own fabric.

What with the recent development of print-on-demand calendars, books, and tee-shirts, I should have suspected there might be a way to have your own fabric printed. I’ve actually been doing that for years on a small scale, running 8-1/2 x 11 pieces of freezer-paper-backed cotton fabric through my home printer. But a small piece of fabric obviously has its limitations. So now there is a way to create yards and yards of fabric, digitally printed with your own design. Welcome to the amazing world of print-on-demand fabric.

The book that clued me in to this exciting new opportunity, written by a former Santa Cruzan, is called, “Heather Ross Prints.” In the late 70s, Heather Ross moved from Vermont to Santa Cruz in fourth grade with her father and twin sister, Christie. They lived in family housing at UCSC while her father attended graduate school there, and the girls had plenty of opportunity to explore their new community. Heather, who learned to sew at a young age, remembers shopping at Harts Fabric. “I used to buy my own fabric when I was in junior high and I remember shopping for my Halloween Bride of Frankenstein outfit and a woman helping me there,” she says.

In 2011 Heather Ross teamed up with Walden

 Surfboards to create this Mermaid surfboard for girls.

Today Heather lives in New York City, and has become an author, illustrator and trend-setter in the designer fabric world, with her whimsical, childhood imagery. Playful caricatures of mermaids, unicorns, antique bird cages or long johns dance about in soft, retro hues making her style very recognizable and sought after. “Prints,” her latest book, is unusual because she actually shares her signature designs on an included DVD, which can be printed at home on paper for use in several projects. But what really makes the book worth buying is her willingness to walk you step by step through process of designing and having your own fabric printed.

“I really had to force myself as an adult to use a computer,” says Heather. “Digital fabric printing was a little funky at first, but now it’s possible to get a really beautiful fabric.” About her book she says, “What people needed was just some really clear instructions,” and that’s what her “How to Create Designs in Photoshop” chapter is all about.

Heather suggests that good fabric design starts with paper and pencil. She writes that that “a simple drawing will translate much better to a digital design than a realistic or heavily detailed one.” In addition, “Wonky proportions and a ‘flat’ or ‘naïve’ style make the best prints!” For those who do not want to start with a sketch, she also shows a method for creating designs using photos.

“Heather Ross Prints” provides instructions for turning

 her “Race Track” fabric into a toddler duvet.

  The fabric can be purchased on Spoonflower.com.

In her book, Heather demonstrates the process of turning a sketch into a print. From a pencil sketch of a donkey, she makes several photocopies, adds new pencil lines and ideas to create variations and connections, and then cuts them out to make a collage. The collage represents one block that will be repeated throughout the printed fabric, in a pattern of your choosing. The collage is scanned into Photoshop as a black and white image, cleaned up, and scaled to the finished size. Then she shows how to add spot color with various tools until she has finally created an amazing, fabric-ready image.

The finished block is then scanned and uploaded to an on-demand digital printing service, which can print on all sorts of fabric in quantities of your choosing. Heather uses Spoonflower, which prints swatches, fat quarters, and yards of fabric, plus wallpaper, peel-and-stick wall decals and wrapping paper. The website also has a fun “vote for the Design of the Week” feature, which is a great place to soak up inspiration and learn (or buy) from others. Another site, Fabric on Demand, specializes in custom fabric printing, and offers some fabrics, such as lycra/spandex, not available through Spoonflower.

Both websites are user friendly, offering several design layout options, step-by-step instructions, and examples. The process is not in expensive, though. On Spoonflower, for example, cotton fabric starts at $17.50 a yard, and their most expensive option, silk crepe de chine, is $38 a yard. But even at those prices, I think it would be absolutely thrilling to get that first glimpse of your very own design on fabric.

Heather, who still has close connections to Santa Cruz, recently talked with friend Matt Basile, the owner of Harts Fabric in Santa Cruz, at a recent quilt market in Portland, and mentioned that her sister, Christie Danner, who lives in Scotts Valley, has breast cancer. Basile offered to do a benefit at his store in Santa Cruz, and the event began to take shape.

Inspired by the wonderful murals on the streets in Santa Cruz,

 Heather Ross has hand-painted a sewing machine,

 donated for the auction by Harts Fabrics and Jacome.

The fundraiser they are hosting will take place Sunday, June 30, and will include both a raffle and an auction emceed by Heather herself, with donations by Harts Fabric, Martha Stewart, Amy Sedaris, Windham Fabrics, Walden Surfboards and many others. Heather will also make her newest flowery fabric line, Briar Rose, available before its wide release, which, Heather says, will appeal very much to quilters.

Heather’s twin sister, Christie Danner, who lives in Scotts Valley has been battling breast cancer for several months, and will start chemotherapy, July 1, the day after the benefit. “It’s a super aggressive type of cancer,” says Heather, “but they caught it early.” Christie is a mother of three and works full time as an advisor and intervention counselor at Scotts Valley High school. “She is the glue that binds my (somewhat functionally challenged) family together,” writes Heather on her blog. “She is never the person that asks for help, she is always the one who gives it.”

 All proceeds will help Christie (who is not eligible for district insurance, and is covered only by a high-deductible health policy) afford the mounting, non-covered costs associated with her cancer treatment. “The craft community is the most generous and heart-based community,” says Heather. “The response has been amazing.”

(All book photos provided by the publisher, Abrams Books, (Mark Gruen, photographer) except for photos of sewing machine provided by Heather Ross.  Surfboard photos also taken by Mark Gruen.)

Last month I joined a Sierra Club group on an overnight trip to
Hite Cove, outside Yosemite along the Merced River.
The wildflower displays were spectacular, and hikers
 brought varying amounts of equipment and conveniences
 (including salmon for dinner!) for the two day trip. 

Lighten up: MYOG*

 *Make your own gear

Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel May 3, 2013

As I write this, hundreds of hikers are gathering at Lake Moreno, in the dry grasslands of east San Diego County, readying themselves for the hike of a lifetime. After a weekend of camaraderie, psyching up and final preparations, they will be shuttled south to the Mexican border to begin the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)—a 2,663-mile-long trek that will take them all the way to Canada along the Sierra and Cascade ranges, with elevations ranging from sea-level to 13,153 feet. If they hike the entire trail in one year, they are deemed “thru-hikers”—a rare breed of human able to walk from dawn to dusk for up to six consecutive months with a loaded backpack, willing to suffer all the pains and deprivations inherent in the attempt.

Hiking the PCT takes months of planning and incredible dedication and stamina, and it’s estimated that only about 60% of those who attempt to thru-hike the PCT, actually succeed. For most of us, though, backpacking doesn’t need to be an extreme challenge to be satisfying. A week-long hike into the breathtaking splendors of the Sierras can provide durable memories. And even just a single night spent sleeping under the stars in the quiet wilderness can reawaken your senses and renew your spirit.

I recently began backpacking again after a 20-year child-rearing “vacation”—starting my first weekend hike with a 33-lb. pack—and, although I saw some beautiful backcountry and made some new friends, I quickly realized that my overall enjoyment of the experience had a direct correlation to the weight on my back. And so I began to learn from my fellow hikers and many backpacking resources (reinforced by my physical therapy co-pays) that carrying so much weight was old-school and counter-productive. They showed me not only how to find the lightest equipment, but more importantly, how to make it. By making your own gear, you’ll lighten your load, save money and backpack with gear that’s exactly right for you.

Ken Koval bought a sewing machine and became an adept
 gear designer, so he could make his own tarp tent, backpack,
 trekking poles and other customized backpacking equipment.

Step one: Bookmark these websites

1)      www.backpacking.net/makegear.html  The most comprehensive website for making your own gear (MYOG), Makegear provides plans and instructions for making a variety of backpacks, shelters, stoves, sleeping systems, cookware and accessories.

2)      www.questoutfitters.com  The place for raw materials, Questoutfitters sells fabric by the yard, down, foam, mesh, webbing, seam-sealer, fasteners, sewing supplies, replacement parts, patterns and instructions.

3)      www.backpackinglight.com  An online magazine and forum for ultralight backpacking enthusiasts, Backpackinglight teaches you the basics and beyond, and provide lots of updates on trends, gear, techniques, and technology.

Step Two: Concentrate on The Big Three

The heaviest items on my back were the backpack, my sleeping bag/pad, and my tent, each of which weighed around 6 lbs. or more. Luckily, technology has provided new materials which allow dramatic reductions in the weight of “the big three” to around 2 lbs. each.

1. The backpack

One way of reducing the weight of the backpack you already own is to perform surgery: cut out/off all the non-essentials, including the internal frame, and most belts, pockets, straps, stays, foam pads, webbing and cords. “Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips” by Mike Clelland (a great book that will make you rethink the word “essential”) provides a diagram of what to remove, replace or modify and how to do it.

Another option is to sew a frameless pack, which is essentially a large sack made from lightweight fabric (ideally silnylon, Dyneema or Cuben Fiber) with shoulder straps. Your sleeping pad functions as an internal frame. For frameless backpack patterns, instructions and materials, see the Step 2 bookmarks, www.mountainultralight.com, www.owfinc.com or www.backwoodsdaydreamer.com.

Many ultralight backpackers use a floorless tarp, instead of a tent, which can be held up by two trekking poles and stretched tight with stakes. Most tarps cover a larger area than a tent and so keep all your gear out of the elements, and even allow cooking in wet weather. Fellow backpacker Doak Jones introduced me to tarps on a group hike in March through the backcountry of Henry Coe State Park.

2. The tent

Most ultralight (UL) backpackers use a floorless tarp, instead of a tent, which can be held up by two trekking poles and stretched tight with stakes. Most tarps cover a larger area than a tent and so keep all your gear out of the elements, and even allow cooking in wet weather. For a simple or a more complex-shaped tarp, see the Step 2 bookmarks, the “projects” tab at www.tarptent.com, or Google “BlackCat Tarp” or “MYOG Tarp.”

3. The Sleeping System

Unless cold temperatures are expected, many UL backpackers prefer to use a down quilt (which is like a sleeping bag without a zipper) and a bivy sack, which offer more flexibility and functionality than the sleeping bag/ground cover combo. The quilt keeps you warm, while the bivy sack is multi-purpose, with its waterproof bottom and breathable, water-resistant top. Besides keeping the quilt clean and dry, the bivy provides added warmth and is the stuff sack for the quilt. For instructions to make your own quilt, bivy, bag or hammock, see the Step 2 bookmarks or the “projects” tab at thru-hiker.com, www.sixmoondesigns.com, or www.backwoodsdaydreamer.com.

Backpacking in Henry Coe State Park,
Richard Roullard of Santa Cruz
rehydrates a homemade meal
using Esbit tabs for fuel.  He also
 uses a windscreen he made from flashing
that holds the pot above the flame. 

Step Three: Every Ounce Counts

Tip #16 of author Mike Clelland’s “153 amazing and inexpensive tips” is, “Never say ‘It’s only a couple of ounces.’” The ounces add up and if you’re serious about getting your pack lighter, a 2.4 oz. Cliff Bar won’t be on your checklist.  Here are a few more UL items easily made with online instructions, introduced to me by some local backpackers.

1. Cooking stove: My JetBoil (1.44 lbs. with fuel) boils water quickly, but Richard Roullard saves a lot of weight by using Esbit tabs (.54 oz. per tab) which take slightly longer. Richard has fashioned his own ventilated windscreen from aluminum flashing, which also supports his cooking pot above the flame.  Richard also uses a piece of inexpensive Tyvek (retrieved from a construction site) as a ground cloth.

There are many versions of the Fancy Feast
 alcohol stove, and instructions for making
 them are plentiful on the Web. Ken Koval’s
 double-wall stove is light and efficient,
 and uses pieces of coat hanger wire to
 support the pot above the flame.

Ken Koval showed me another UL cooking option—a double-walled alcohol stove he made from a sample-size saving cream can, a Fancy Feast cat food can, and some wire.  Relying on denatured alcohol is good for long trips because it’s easy to store and refill along the way.

2. Trekking poles and pot cozy: Ken has made some light, collapsible trekking poles from three sections of tent poles and pipe insulation covered in fabric for the grips. The points are salvaged from heavier trekking poles. A pot cozy saves on fuel by keeping your dinner hot while it simmers and rehydrates. Ken made his UL cozy from reflective insulation and metal FlexFix tape.

Ken Koval of Burlingame has developed some compact,
 lightweight meals that don’t require rehydrating or cooking,
  and so save on fuel, such as his spaghetti chips, barbecued
 chicken chips and kale chips. He says his chewy/crunchy kale chips are, “basically a smoothy with a little quinoa in it.”

3.  Dried food: Ken Koval—a backpacker and member of a group of “trail angels” who provide a carb-loaded spaghetti dinner in June to PCT hikers in the Sierras—has also developed some compact, lightweight meals for his own use, that don’t require rehydrating or cooking, and so save on fuel. “It’s hard to get nutrition on the trail,” says Ken, “and I don’t want to pay all that money [for purchased backpack food].” With a food dehydrator he makes high-protein, low sodium kale chips (kale, quinoa, bananas, strawberries), spaghetti chips (Prego, ground, turkey and oatmeal) and barbecued chicken chips (chicken, sweet potatoes, grains, and barbeque sauce). “When I go on my trip in June I’m not going to be cooking spaghetti—I’m going to be eating spaghetti chips. I’m pretty happy with my spaghetti chips,” says Ken with a smile. “I nibble on these and they get better and better.”

Sustainable Seating

Annie: repurposed shopping cart by Reestore Ltd., U.K.

 Originally published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, April 12, 2013

Words like “ecology” and “recycling” have become commonplace and a bit tired these days now that we’ve been separating out our paper and plastic for a good decade, and proudly carrying our reusable bags into even mainstream supermarkets. Popular new additions to the green vocabulary are “salvage” and “sustainability” which imply that new is not always better, even if it is recyclable, and that each of us has an individual responsibility to think beyond plastic and paper.

I wouldn’t argue that every old thing merits salvaging, or that “old” must mean vintage. Instead, we are being called to re-examine the ever-expanding contents of our closets, attics and garages and everywhere else we see unused stuff awaiting the landfill, and question whether these everyday objects have, in fact, reached the end of their useful lives.

Cork Chair: plywood, luan, gorilla glue, pins and 2,700 wine
bottle corks by Aaron Kramer of Urban Objects

We might need some inspiration and a new set of re-purposing goggles to envision the larger task before us. To that end, three recent books showcase reuse in a fascinating range of furniture, lighting, and household accessories, all of which will help make you see that broken lawnmower and rusted treadmill in your garage in a whole new way. To illustrate the point, I’ll narrow my focus to chairs—a piece of furniture we can hardly do without—and show how a chair of uncommonly good looks and clever construction can be made from the most unexpected of materials.

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse – Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew

By Garth Johnson

Crutch Stool: crutches, bicycle wheels, foam
insulation and bicycle innertubes
by Ryan 'Zieak' McFarland

Max: repurposed vintage cast-iron bath
by Reestore Ltd., U.K.

“1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse” enchants us with a padded armchair fashioned from a shopping cart, a stool made from three crutches and a bicycle wheel, and a loveseat carved from a clawfoot bathtub. Over 30 different examples of ingenious seating have been developed from materials you might not recognize without consulting the image directory in the back of the book. A sleek folding chair is made from salvaged white-oak wine barrels. A “Jet Set Lounge Chair” is made from eight skateboard decks and a metal frame. An armchair and ottoman are made from corrugated cardboard and glue.

This enormous collection of household products made by international designers from repurposed materials was put together by Garth Johnson, who admits, “it was hard to limit myself to 1,000.” There are so many ideas in this book you’ll begin to recognize the inherent salvagability in just about everything. Not only have literally tons of cast-offs escaped the cruel fate of the landfill, they’ve been magically transformed into something truly extraordinary, and quite often, beautiful.

Jet Set Loung Chair: skateboard decks with cushions and
metal frame by Gil Delapointe and Pierre Ander Senizergues

Upcycle! More than 100 upcycling ideas for furniture, lighting, products and accessories!

Published by Gingko Press

“Upcycle!” confirms that the term “recycling” is passé by asking, “Why just recycle when you can upcycle?” and defines upcycling as “converting an object into something of greater value without degrading the material with which it is made.” It also features designers from around the world, who transform hundreds of discarded items as pedestrian as a tire, a metal pie pan, a radiator, or a damaged upright piano, into stylish and functional ottomans, stools, lounges or chairs.

UpCycle Cabbage Chair by Oki Sato

One of my favorites is the “T-Shirt Chair” by Maria Westerberg, which gives new life to forty old t-shirts. One by one, the shirts are woven through a single sheet of bent metal grid into a cushy, reclining chair.

Another original is the “Heater Chair” by Boris Dennier. His rudimentary bending technique involves placing a cast iron radiator on two blocks and jumping on it. He then welds on legs reclaimed from old pieces of furniture and applies red enamel paint.

For those drawn to fiber arts, “Tis Knot Ottoman” is made from colorful heavy-duty nylon crocheted around used tires, which are rescued from tire shops or road-side ditches. Each style in the collection is named after a car popular in Australia, where the designer Cindy-Lee Davies lives, such as “Datsun” and “Gemini.” Another designer, Camilla Hounsell Halvorsen, makes a similar floor pouffe from large rubber innertubes wrapped with strips of scrap upholstery fabric.

Pallet Outdoor Loveseat by author Chris Gleason

Wood Pallet Projects – Cool and Easy-to-Make Projects for the Home and Garden

By Chris Gleason

Author Chris Gleason says that pallets have a unique “patina of experience.” They are weathered, distressed and aged and “beautiful in a way that shiny new things can never be.” He believes that incorporating “defects” such as nail holes, stains and the rough board texture can be desirable and appealing.

Pallet Chair by author Chris Gleason:
All of the wood used in this chair
came from a single pallet.

“Wood Pallet Projects” takes salvaged wooden pallets and provides lots of project ideas and instructions, including how to make a “simple meets sophisticated” chair and a backyard loveseat. Pallets are ubiquitous once you start looking for them—languishing in lots, resting behind buildings, and stacked at yard sales. (You can also buy pallets for cheap at Walker Street Pallet in Watsonville or for $2 at Last Chance Mercantile in Marina.)

Although a few of Gleason’s projects use pallets as-is, for most you’ll need a basic set of tools such as hand or power saws, a miter box, and a power sander, plus a hammer or crowbar, to deconstruct and reconstruct a pallet into furniture.

Remake Recap

These three books might help us re-envision what kind of chairs we want in or homes or yards and how their inclusion might transform our environments. Any one of these chairs might become a conversation piece and an invitation to reconsider responsible consumerism. Or they might inspire spring cleaning with an upcycled mind-set, rather than committing more waste to the landfill. Or, they might actually provide a comfortable place to sit, rest our feet, relax and smile.