People don't usually take their kids out for trick or treat in my neighborhood. But I almost always hang a bucket of candy on the door until 9pm. I used to leave it out overnight for teens but a couple of years back the little shits stole the pumpkin and my carabineer! I didn't hang anything during the thick of the pandemic but figured Id do something this year. I realized after we got back from our walk that I didn't have a bucket. So I grabbed my @krinknyc black ink and slapped a ghost face onto a recycled protein shake tub and wrapped some rope around the top. Tomorrow night this puppy will hang off my door. Glad to get back to it.

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One of these things is noooooooo like the otherrrrrrrr. Sometimes when working with middle schoolers you make earrings in group as an example of if you have the right tools you can make anything including tiny rubber chicken earrings that make the kids laugh and laugh and laugh but also shows them that with a will, a power drill, and some jewelry findings and of course miniature rubber chickens you can easily make a pair of hilarious earrings. #makersgonnamake #maker #rubberchickensarefunny #whyarerubberchickensfunny #arttherapy #hilarious #art

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Examplesssssss brainzzzzzz

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The most purple of purples. The dark blue purple of the frame makes the magenta purple POP. I gotta say this feels like it might be a touch overboard but I want this to be over the top with anodized purple and shades of purple. I gotta see what else I can get with purple. Not that the front is done I'm thinking about the drive train. I think I want to go 2x9 or 2x10. #pedalpower #makersgonnamake #bikelife #makeitmine #purplebike #saveoldbikes #retrorestoration #retromod

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I took these off and put the purples on and ... Then cleaned and shined these up... Then put them right back on the bike. The v brakes just don't look good on the bike. Not sure if it's the purple or what but I just didn't like them. So these went back on. I need to get some fresh koolstop for them. Wonder if I can get those in purple? I'll get pics of the delightfully purple handlebar. It is tooooooo perfectly purple. It's so extra and I love it. Picked up some grips for the short term. But the rubber on my retro gripshifts is rotted out. So I looked for replacement rubber and the are OG gripshifts and replacement rubber doesn't exist. You can get replacement rubber for sram gripshifts... Sram also makes high-end grip shifts... I'm debating if I want to keep the gripshifts on here or go for trigger shifting. I haven't decided yet. #maker #bikelike #pedalpower #retrobuild #restorationbike also I kinda love the look of the cantilever brakes.

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All the crud is off them and they polish up nice!!! About to apply grease and oil in the appropriate spots then put them on the bike. Can't wait #pedalpower #bikelife #restomod #restorationbike #makersgonnamake

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I should have posted about this before I did it, but last night I taught a rubberstamp carving workshop at NAGLY in Salem,MA! If I do say so myself it went great a great group of youth carved stamps from erasers. We played Soup, Salad, or Sandwich and it got people talking. Everyone walked away with a few stamps! Also if you live in the north shore... Don't look for large erasers at any Dollar Trees. I cleaned them out. #artist #teachingartist #printplay #arttherapy

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I knew that the anodized purple was going to be pinkish and not match the purple paint and here is the difference. I think they compliment one another and I suspect that once on the bike it'll be finnneeee. I already slapped the stem on and it looks great buuuutttt the current handle bars aren't 31.8 as expected they are smaller. Soooo the next upgrade is forced to a new set of handle bars. . The rule for this project is that anything added must be purple or silver. Since purple handle bars are pretty much none existent I'm going with silver bars with a rise. I was considering gravel style bars but I don't like bullhorns so nope. I'm a flat or rise bar lover.Im thinking a moto style rise will give my old back the gentle rise I need.so adventure bike for me. #retrorestoration #pedalpower #bikelife #purplepeopleeater #bikelike

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Daaaamn that purple tho. These brakes will go on the bike. The purple and chrome look great. The @molotowheadquarters chrome paint marker flooded that metal and looks fantastic. I do see a few spots I'll touch up tonight but the colors looked great. I think I need to polish up that aluminum that holds the spring. It's a bit rough feeling and I think a little buffing wheel and compound love will shine it up perfect. I might leave these stealth instead of looking for the logo stickers. Unless @tektro_official can tell me where I can get some labels for them. Anyway, I'm stoked about these and I think I'll pair them with purple or silver cable housing. Not sure which will look the most extra. #makeitmine #makersgonnamake #pedalpower #bikelife #rimbrakesarediscbrakes #mountainbiking

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A little before and after of these tektro brakes. Basic v brakes. They had a bit of putting and rust, the rust was remover from the brake with Lysol rust and lime toilet cleaner. Worked well. The brakes were then sanded down with some sandpaper. Wiped down with alcohol, then painted... With @sharpie oil paint markers. 2 coats and they look dope. The chrome areas were derusted and coated with some @molotowheadquarters chrome paint pen. Some pics of that tomorrow. But the whole thing looks great. Now I need to find some @tektro_official labels. These are going on the project bike once I get some koolstop pads in my grubby little paws. I am considering if I should spray this with some top coat or not. I probably should for longevity but part of me just wants to get them on the bike... As an aside... The slightly scuffed paint took the paint marker the best the area where I went down to bare metal... Not so much. #makersgonnamake #makeitmine #pedalpower #bikelife #retrorestoration #retrobike #90smountainbike

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Rust removal with Lysol Lime and Rust... Toilet bowl cleaner. I had looked at Evaporust at harbor freight and it was $$$. So I held off and decided to steel wool the rust off the parts with some white vinegar. Then my wife picked up some new toilet cleaner. This is the stuff. It cleaner the rust off but left a golden hue. I'm going to leave the parts that were very rust in here for the day and then scrub them when it get home. If stuff had surface rust or staining, like some of these aluminum parts, it's gone. Also there were.some areas where 2 different metals joined up and it caused a white salty feeling material to appear. That's all gone. Anyway. All of these parts are tektro v brake parts and will go on the project bike. They are going to get scuffed up and smooooothed out then painted purple to match the bike. (There are some bolts to an old stem that I'm going to scuff up and reuse on the saved biked. That's also going to get painted.) #toiletbowlcleaner #makersgonnamake #makergonnatry #pedalpower #makeitmine

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I'm calling this biked saved from the scrapyard. It's just a Walmart genesis saracino, a $300~ ish bike. I picked it up for $20 for a learning experience and possible parts. I stead I got myself fixated on the idea of saving it and making it ridable again. It arrived with a busted up derailleur and hanger. We'll, that meant that the rear of the bike was shot. The derailleur hanger in these bikes is foolishly integrated into the frame. . . So I cut the damaged part off and mated a hanger off an older Trek parts bike I had laying around. It was a fair amount of work of careful grinding and sanding to remove a small amount of material at a time..in the end it worked. I used an old Shimano altera 7 speed derailleur and it barely has enough swing to make it up and over the last gear but it does. The shifting isn't super smooth but it does okay especially in the lower gears. . I had planned on selling it, but I think I'll use it for awhile... It might end up as a canvas for some oil based paint markers. #pedalpower #makersgonnamake #bikelife #recycledstuff #wrenching #fixdamagedthings #fixitdontbuyit

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Screen shot from a video I took of my short ride this AM. Working my way up in miles and time.

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Testing ng a variety of fine liners on this surface. The best are the brush pens. The surface MUST be sanded or the paint scrapes off. A light touch is needed on unsanded surfaces. I went a little too rough with the surface on this. Gotta smooth the surface a bit and I think gesso is the way to go with this. Anyway. I like the effect and the warm glaze works best.

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Satin egg colored paint on sanded plastic pieces. Then coated in some antiquing glaze in a variety of shades. Also testing some tinted gesso on sanded plastics. Possible fauxshaw project. Saw some from an artist on here and thought the idea was killer- the plastic object is immortalized with the person and patterns used. Patterned after scrimshaw work. #artist #arttherapy #arttools #art #maker #recycle

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I know it's not a GOOD derailleur but it is in decent shape even with the scuff. This was also on the parts bike I bought ages ago. It didn't have as much crud as the hub I just cleaned and rebuilt. It is also a very strange derailleur the jockey wheels are huge compared to other derailleurs I've used. Anyway, it is cleaned and ready to be used. I do not plan to use it on my update to my old MTB. Anyway, it was good to get it cleaned and off the parts bike. Now I've got to grab the front derailleur and clean that too. #pedalpower #fixitdontbuyit #wrenching #makersgonnamake #maker

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Here's the Laces of Lynn sculpture that is in that spot where the trashy grassy square used to be. @recedebo

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A few years back I picked up some bike parts and parts bikes. This Shimano Parrallax hyperglide hub was on one of the bikes. It didn't feel good and it was covered in some hard gritty stuff. I think it was hardened grease and tar and road grime. I've never seen anything like it. It was a beast to get the cassette off and then clean off the hardened grease and grit. The spokes are also covered in the crud. I'm going to get some soap and degreaser in them and bag them overnight to get it off. This hub will accept a 10 speed cassette and possibly up to an 11 or even 12 speed... This will be the wheel I use on my MTB update. So I ripped this down, removed all the bearings- the reason it felt like trash was because it was missing a bearing. I removed any of the bearings that were damaged and replaced them with some from my stash. I lubed with some good grease and then put the whole thing back together again. Now it sounds great and feels pretty smooth. I hope to eventually update the bike to have disk brakes but can't afford a new wheel set quite yet. Even the cheapest on the zone are almost $200. Then I'd have to get brakes to go with it and we'll I'd be looking at spending close to $400 and I don't have that. There are some budget options that could bring the total down by a lot but for now I'm keeping my rim brakes. #pedalpower #makersgonnamake #bikelife #wrenching

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End of an era. Yesterday I peeled my Shetland park sticker off my window and replaced it with one for my "new" job. Weird. Also good byyyyeeeee.

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A little recycling and bookbinding wisdom. Measure measure enjoy. It's how it works. #measuremeasureenjoy #makersgonnamake #maker #bookbinding #makingbooks #recycle #fixdamagedthings

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Give your Chicken Flingers a spa day with some soapy water. Rinse and hang dry for more.chicken flingin' fun.

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First upgrade for my old MTB a new charge spoon saddle.way more comfortable than my last saddle. To get the right pitch I had to reverse the post. #pedalpower #mountainbiking #bikepacking

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