Ochen K.

Minneapolis Paper Cut

ochenk — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:08:46 +0000

This is a paper cut of the streets of Minneapolis. I tried to make it as accurate as possible. Every street is there, every dead end, every park, every lake, everything within the city borders. It’s cut out of a single 14-by-24 inch piece of card stock.

Midwest Brigadoon

ochenk — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:19:39 +0000

So I made a movie. It’s called Midwest Brigadoon. It’s about the Minnesota State Fair. It was shot before, during, and after the 2010 Fair. It’s about 25 minutes long, is non-narrated, and has a score written and performed by Leslie Ball. Here’s the trailer:

If you’re interested in more info on the film, check out the website for Midwest Brigadoon.

Monle

ochenk — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:20:57 +0000

So I’ve made an iPhone app. It’s meant for making radio stories, but can be used for music or sound design. Here’s the official description:

Monle is a four track, non-linear audio editor for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can record new audio, import prerecorded audio, cut it up, rearrange it, add fades, set volumes, zoom in and out, mix everything down, share audio with other applications, and send the audio wherever you want.

More info at: MonleApp.com.

It’ll be available in the iTunes App store early April.

Gingerbread House ’09

ochenk — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:29:23 +0000

As much as I enjoyed it last time, it’s taken me a few years to find another December night available to try again. But 2009 appears to be the year.

This is the simple, understated (I hope), design I came up with this year. It was just tricky enough with the compound-pitch roof to make it interesting to work out.

It’ll live inside for the week. Then on New Year’s day, we’ll take it out to the chickens and let them go Godzilla all over it.

Merry Christmas!

The Invisible Clock

ochenk — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:00:56 +0000

So I made a clock. It’s a pendulum clock made of clear acrylic and nested brass tubes. The design of the gear train, escapement mechanism, and housing is original. As such, I’m sure it’s not as refined as it could be. It’s missing things like a ratchet system. There’s a weight, but it’s not in the images. All that said, it does actually work (woot!!!) and is reasonably accurate. Of course, because it’s made out of clear acrylic, you have to be pretty close to it to actually read the time – which cracks me up to no end!

Nobody Likes A Mess

ochenk — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:33:32 +0000

I draw a bit. It gets a little obsess’y sometimes. Here’s a gallery.

IKEA hack

ochenk — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:30:22 +0000

I needed a laundry hamper. IKEA trip! But looking around, they only had crappy metal, bright plastic hampers, or ugly-ass rattan things. I did find a few things that were close, so I hacked ‘em together. Here’s how:

So I got two items, a small VACKER shelving unit and a NATURLIG laundry basket. The VACKER had the type of framing that I wanted and the NATURLIG had a nice canvas bag.

Step 1: Tear up the instructions.

So problem number 1: I was going to use the shelves as a front and back. The top and bottom of the VACKER are supposed to go as shown, but the top and bottom and shelves weren’t square, which meant that for the shelves to fit …

…they’d have to go like so. But, the rails of the front going perpendicular to the ground while the rails of the sides going parallel to the ground didn’t look so hot to me.

Everything works if you turn the top and bottom 90 degrees, but you’ll have to drill all new holes. Not a problem.

Here’s a little tip on lining up new holes. Just drill through the first piece and insert the screw so it just pokes out. Put the two pieces together how you want them, and squeeze them together.

Now the second piece has a mark where you drill. (This seems obvious, but I’m amazed how often I’m working with folks who hadn’t learned this.)

Sides together.

Front and back together. The original unit had a top, bottom, and two shelves, which meant I had one shelf left over, perfect for a lid.

The lid was just hinged with two screws, but we needed a stop for the front. The unit came with a few dowels for the shelves, so might as well use them. I placed the lid in the flat position, and drilled where the dowel needed to go.

Dowel hanging out.

And seems to hold just fine. But it’s bigger than it needs to be.

Cut that mofo in half.

Fill the holes with glue and put each half in, cut side in, so it looks all professional like.

Open up the NATURLIG and pull out the canvas bag. (We assembled the NATURLIG sans bag and are using it for recycling.)

Tuck it in under the lid stops in the front…

…and take the tiny bit of slack in the back.

Badda bing, badda boom, you got yourself a hamper that doesn’t look like ass.

Took about 30 minutes.

Gimme That Beat

ochenk — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:36:42 +0000

I had a need for a probability drumbeat generator, but couldn’t find one, so I created one.

What exactly is that? Well, if you know what a step sequencer is, it’s like that, except instead of toggling a hit on and off, you give it a probability of triggering.

I don’t know if anyone else will find it useful, but I do. Hit me up if you get any use out of it.

My 2007 Annual Report

ochenk — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:13:04 +0000

In 2007, I got a little OCD and started tracking things like bottles of water and candy bars consumed, phone conversations, meals, etc. At the end of it, I put together a little annual report of my year, printed up about 100 copies, and sent them out as my 2007 holiday card.

Here are the spreads of that booklet:

La Ciel et la Terre

ochenk — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:53:26 +0000

I worked for a while in France some years ago. I was in the north, in Rheims, and when I had a few days off, I went to visit friends in Montélimar, in the south. The change in landscape between northern and southern France is remarkable. I took a bunch of photos on the train ride down. On the way back up, I turned some of those photos into a little chap book that I printed and sent to friends as an extended postcard.

Here are spreads from that book: