More Pics of Latest Work

Here's a few more pics

Latest Work

Here are some pics of my latest creation titled "In the beginning". It will be on ebay soon, maybe. There's some pretty intense work on this one. The clock is a real mechanical wind up alarm clock. I tore it apart, cut the face out and made the one you see so the internal gears are exposed. I mounted it on an antique lamp base and added a flexable goose neck with a 90 degree dog leg from 2 other lamps. The shade is made from a copper bowl from India and a cap from even yet another lamp. I mounted a green LED bulb inside the clock face so you can see the gears movements and I wired it with a second switch on the base to be used as a night light. It has a reproduction Edison bulb (not included when sold). The 5 gears around the outside are exploding from the slits they made in the brass body of the clock itself in tribute to the artist Roger Wood's artistic clock style from Klockwerks, because I admire his work. I hope you enjoy it.

New Hobby

In the last couple of months or so I've started a new hobby building steampunk lamps. Steampunk is a artistic subculture that's hard to describe.

Wikipedia says steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy.
Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art.

This technology includes such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld and China Mieville.

Other examples of steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of such technology as lighter-than-air airships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace's Analytical Engine.

I would simply say steampunk could be described either as a past that could have been, or a Victorian present.

Now that we've established what steampunk is, here's a few pictures of some of my lamps.

Random Thought

I know it's been a while since I last wrote on here, but no one reads it anyway. I just have to write a few questions I've had a couple of weeks ago to get them off my chest.

If a person accepted God's grace through the shed blood of Jesus Christ to only escape hell, then isn't that a selfish motive instead of a selfless one?

Doesn't that mean you're loving your (eternal) life more than you love God?

I guess only the individual and God knows a persons motives.

And what about this forgiveness thing?

Why is it that Christians enjoy and expect God to forgive them for their sins against Him but they can't forgive a brother or sister in the Lord?

Not that I'm perfect but I love God for what He has done for me not for what He can do for me, isn't that what it's supposed to be about?

OK that's enough.

Shalom

Sidewalk Chalk

I know this is going to sound utterly silly to some, but I love highway underpasses and sidewalk chalk. You see every time I drive over this one overpass or see a box of those big old pieces of colored chalk at the store, or even just remnants of a young artists work on a sidewalk my heart instantly swells up with joy.

Now before you think I have some sort of strange mental problem with chalk, allow me to explain why I love sidewalk chalk. We’ve all had experiences in our lives that we are reminded of when we smell, hear or see something that’s related to that particular experience and therein lies the reason why I love sidewalk chalk.

It’s been a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...no wait a minute, that’s been used somewhere...anyway, long ago when our children were young I had the idea and the opportunity to drive our daughter and our son, along with a box of sidewalk chalk out to this overpass a couple of miles east of our home town on 10 highway so they could create a little chalk art on a grand scale up under the bridge.

Now I didn’t tell them where we were going or what we were doing so it'd be a surprise when we got to the underpass between Eudora and Desoto. When we pulled up under the bridge with cars roaring by above us we got out and started creating our little hearts out.

And the thing is, I honestly don’t remember what we talked about, what the pictures looked like, how long we were there, or even what time of the day it was. All I can remember about that day is that we had a great time creating these murals out of chalk together.

Now being that these beautiful works of art were created out of chalk, the wind and the rain eventually eradicated and erased their existence, leaving behind only the awesome memory of this really great time I shared with my kids.

And the awesome thing is even though those murals are gone forever, the time I spent with my daughter and son that day will never be eradicated or erased from my memory. And so every time I see sidewalk chalk and every time I drive over Evening Star road on 10 highway I can’t help but smile and dream and wish for more sidewalk chalk moments.

But now they’re both grown, married and moved away. And my one wish for both my kids and for their spouses is that when they have children of their own that they take the time to create as many sidewalk chalk memories as humanly possible before their kids grow up.

Love Dad

Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy and too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians in Church — they are my best workers.

Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked — I can use them.

Blessed are the touchy, with a bit of luck they may stop going to church — they are my missionaries.

Blessed are those who are very religious but get on everyone’s nerves — they are mine forever.

Blessed are those who are bored with the minister's mannerisms and mistakes - for they get nothing out of service.

Blessed are the church members who expect to be invited to their own church - for they are a part of the problem instead of the solution.

Blessed are those who are easily offended - for they will soon get hurt or angry and quit.

Blessed are those who do not give their tithes to carry on God's work - for they are my helpers.

Blessed are those who profess to love God but hates his brother and sister - for they will be with me.

Blessed are the troublemakers — they shall be called my children.

Blessed are those who have no time to pray — they are easy prey for me.

Blessed are those who gossip — for they are my secret agents and they cause strife and divisions that please me.

Blessed are those critical of church leadership — for they shall inherit a place with me in my fate.

Blessed are the complainers — I’m all ears for them.

Blessed are you when you read this and think it is about other people and not yourself,
because I have you too.

"The Devils Beatitudes"

(something I found in my office while cleaning up years of hoarding)

deeply concerned

I am deeply concerned for the spiritual well being of Christ followers. The line between right and wrong, holiness and unholiness and sin or not sin seems to be widening. Now I was going to add "in my opinion" but I believe with every ounce of my soul that this is something that concerns God too. We are living in a time where Christ followers should be seeking God's guidance in life matters, habits and decisions but instead they seem to be compromising themselves by living spiritually compromising lives.

Now I'm not talking about us being legalist, I'm talking about living Godly lives. And when it comes to legalism we know that it's not what we do that gets us into heaven because we can't work or do anything to achieve that, Christ has done that for us. BUT if we truly love God then we will be more than willing to live by and obey His laws based on our love for Him. And it's just common sense that tells us that laws were NOT made to broken they were made to be followed and obeyed for the safety and well being of everyone involved. So even in our legal system today there are penalties and consequences for breaking laws. And the thing is with God's laws they will be judged not by our peers (who by the way are imperfect) but by God Himself who is perfect and sees and knows all things.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I am deeply concerned for the souls who live by what they believe to be true instead of by what the Word says is true.

Fervently Praying,
Ron