What are your projects for 2014?

[bm_cricket]

What are you doing to keep the next 10 months of your year a little more interesting? I really enjoy Burning Man. I'm pretty much obsessed. I know, none of you people are obsessed with Burning Man, I'm just some weird guy, ya know?

So, this year my projects are, in this order:
Repair and bring a commercial sized, propane powered espresso machine to Burning Man (and serve espresso each morning).
Build and bring an art structure out of scrap electronics and aluminum sheeting. (I've built "art" for Burning Man before)
Build an art car... This is a multi-year project. I've maintained and driven them on the playa, but never built one myself.

I'm about 25% of the way through the repair and restoration of the espresso machine.... I know that I'll complete that eventually.

So, what are you working on? Share with me!

[Elliot]

I need to refurbish the MV Lady Sophia, which was gifted to me in 2010. Photo shows Top Hat of Deviant Playground (in top hat) and Yours Truly (in pointy hat) during complicated beverage-sharing ceremony marking the transfer of custodianship.

Lady Sophia needs everything -- golf cart batteries, control electronics, tires, brake overhaul, suspension repair, etc. She also needs to be lengthened so she can carry more than two people.

So I would not need to be bored for a while. The problem, of course, is funding. But where there is a will, there is usually... a dead person.

Tidbit: Those tall rear wheels were built by Greg Barron, the man behind the gigantic MV sailing ship Monaco. If he only knew what became of two of his replica Penny Farthing wheels!

[bm_cricket]

Hi Elliot!!? I'm from Buddha Camp. You helped me fix my kick stand this year. You also enjoyed some body painting on one day with my camp and wife. Somehow I knew we would meet up again after the burn.

And it sounds like you really have your work cut out for you on that car! Yikes! It is pretty cool!!

[The CO]

Fine tuning on EVAP MK VIIb. Currently getting 1gal/hour.
Finish thermal siphon solar water heating assembly for the camp sink.
Making work vehicle match camps look.
Finish personal shade structure.
Design and build new structure for Rosie's Bar.

[VultureChow]

Crochet cougar skeleton
Crochet monkey hut
Burnable man puzzles for gifts
LED Backpack
Other assorted gifts

[fernley1]

5 gallon bucket cooler.
Hopefully, some kind of art in front of our camp, kinda waiting for next years theme.
And maybe, just maybe, an art car. Not to big, but nice, for others to enjoy.

[theCryptofishist]

This is a year for getting the fucking burn out of my head and heart. And I've got this moving project which will probably affect what ever it is I do do this year. The good news is that an art space is a priority, so future projects will be easier to manage.

[Elliot]

Hi Elliot!!? I'm from Buddha Camp. You helped me fix my kick stand this year. You also enjoyed some body painting on one day with my camp and wife. Somehow I knew we would meet up again after the burn.
...

You! YOU!!! How fabulous! Amazing! Several members of your camp treated me like a king -- you and Pam the most. You folks added a whole new dimension to Burning Man for me. We must keep in touch. Stand by for PM.

(Oh, and I have a big pedal car project going also, but that's "normal" -- I've used several of those in BRC before.)

[Elliot]

While I'm at it, these pedal cars ought to return to BRC. Tuning them up is not the project -- transporting them is. So this project is to turn my trailer into a double-decker.

[Savannah]

Hi Elliot!!? I'm from Buddha Camp. You helped me fix my kick stand this year. You also enjoyed some body painting on one day with my camp and wife. Somehow I knew we would meet up again after the burn.
...

You! YOU!!! How fabulous! Amazing! Several members of your camp treated me like a king -- you and Pam the most. You folks added a whole new dimension to Burning Man for me. We must keep in touch. Stand by for PM.

MARVELOUS. I love a missed connection!!



. . . Elliot, that "little" red roadster is adorable!

[Elliot]

...

. . . Elliot, that "little" red roadster is adorable!

Thank you! ...and unstoppable.



It has since become a four-seater, with four wheel drive.



And it definitely needs to return to the Playa, yes. But first it need the body stretched also. So that would be a good winter project.

[trilobyte]

I'm giving this a nudge over to the Q&A board, since this discussion seems to be about playa projects and that's a better fit for general event preparation questions and discussions. You may also want to check out the Work In Progress thread, where people talk about and post on the progress of both on and off playa projects that they're working on throughout the year.

As for my own playa projects, they're still taking shape. There are a lot of possibilities for changing and modifying the Ziggurat installation I built for this year's event, and I'm also looking at the changes I want to make to the camp. We've got a pretty awesome setup, but I like to go through everything from layout and design to tweaks and improvements to the infrastructure.

[Divreon]

I'm writing short parables that can be told, about a wanderer in the desert. They are generally themed to teach related lessons to the ten principles, and any other good life lessons I want to share, As you hear more of them, you realize the identity of the wanderer in the tales, and the identity of the storyteller(Spoiler: as of now, they're the same character)

I'm trying to make sure that they are not too preachy, or if I go the preachy route, making sure they're over the top preachy. The idea is to give them the feel of arabian nights, mixed with the classic morality parables. I also want to make sure it's a story chain, so that if people are having fun after the first story, they can either take the hook at the end(and there's another story hook after each story) or ask questions which can lead into other stories. The underlying theme currently being a man abandons his life, and walks through the desert, only to find wisdom in an unexpected place.

The costume design is going to take me a bit, but if I can slim down a little(1-2% off my current weight which I can lose over the winter fairly easily) I can fit in an amazing robe that I already have. Then I can design a larger robe to fit over it for quick costume changes between stories.

As this is going to be my first burning man, I wanted something I can do without being pinned down to one place. No Schedule = Freedom

[bm_cricket]

I'm writing short parables that can be told, about a wanderer in the desert.

That sounds cool. Are you planning to tell all your stories yourself, or leave them throughout the desert for people to read. You could make (think, print on sticky paper) and give them to bars throughout the playa. That way people may read them while they sit at a bar, pondering their life decisions, drinking their sorrow away... And even better, you may get a following as people come across parts of your story again and again on the playa.

[Divreon]

I was thinking about telling the stories orally, but that's a VERY interesting twist...

If I could get bars to post them, that'd be great. I can have an entire extra layer of the story that you need to come across by chance.

I'm worried about the Moop factor, it's not nice to give people things that they need to get rid of at the end of the event. If I take a log of each piece and where I left it, and collect it at the end of the event, that could work. I can also make sure whatever I use is completely burnable. I can also include a note on the back giving the finder permission to take or burn this at their discretion(To get around the 'no burning others art' rule). If I want to make sure more of that story is read, as I drop off the stories, after the first, I can post where the next story is at, roughly, and people can do a scavenger hunt to find and read them all. I can share stories with many more people that way, and I'm still not pinned down to one spot.

Thanks!

[bm_cricket]

I'm worried about the Moop factor, it's not nice to give people things that they need to get rid of at the end of the event.

Thank you for worrying about the moop factor... But I spent many years in a playa bar and I promise that if you have a cool enough story and a cool enough sticker, many bars will let you attach your sticker to their bar. It will then become part of their bar and it will be a "cool gift" not a "really-god-damn-annoying-piece-of-shit". Maybe make the stickers into one-liners.

"The wanderer knew not what he aught not knot." -Self Reliance 10:4

[Divreon]

Something more like this(WARNING: Rough draft, stopped before spoilers)

Water as you all well know, is life to those foolish enough to trek through the desert. A traveler, as foolish as myself once once walked through the desert equally unprepared for what he would face. He thought he had what he needed, he thought he was brave enough, tough enough, and of course, handsome enough(Action: Raised eyebrow and smirk) to make it on his own. Sadly, no matter how handsome the man may have been, he was completely caught off guard by how little the desert cared for his looks. He was not used to being alone, for he was always surrounded by those who took care of him. He longed for quiet, and now the desert gave it to him.

He realized quickly that he was alone out there, but more importantly, that he had always been alone. It was strange that it took a walk into the middle of nowhere for him to realize a truth about himself, that no matter how many people surrounded him, he had no connection to them, that they only did what they did because it was their job, their responsibility.

It took him walking into the desert to learn that he was truly alone.

Obviously, that's meant to be read, and in costume, and it is missing many of the more subtle actions I'd naturally give when reading a story aloud. I love the written stories being part of it too though, so now I have yet more to write. Hooray!

[bm_cricket]

Obviously, that's meant to be read, and in costume, and it is missing many of the more subtle actions I'd naturally give when reading a story aloud. I love the written stories being part of it too though, so now I have yet more to write. Hooray!

Very cool. My advice, if you do decide to "gift" them to places on the playa... Keep them short, sweet, and funny. I know that my old bar's attention span was totally sparkly and what a cool thing to do with an old tractor mounted bunny costume has breast holes and I like this drink what is it?

[unjonharley]

Project Being There.i like to watch

[bm_cricket]

Project Being There.i like to watch

Are you part of Camp Voyeur? Your gallery had the BEST peanuts last year!

(PS, this is a joke)

[Elliot]

Divreon, I like your idea. I'm thinking you could walk into bars and other groups, observe for a few seconds to make sure nothing else is going on, then simply start performing. I cannot imagine this not being enthusiastically received. A sheppard's crook, or a couple of stone tablets, night go well with your costume.

[unjonharley]

Project Being There.i like to watch

Are you part of Camp Voyeur? Your gallery had the BEST peanuts last year!

(PS, this is a joke)

Were you the one picking your nose

[Eric]

Divreon - make the parables funny, or over-the-top preachy. Go full tilt : read this site like crazy & get ideas or pull fabulous quotes like most of us do for sig-lines (you can fake "Book of Wisdom" attribute them like: Ratty, 9:27 or Unjon 27:6), get idea from other sites. The more extreme it is, the better received it will be - "serious", especially at bars, get boring fast. I would wait until you've been out there for a couple of days before doing it to make sure you get a feel for the event. You might even want to wait until year two - you may discover that once you're out there the first time, you don't want to do it because there's so much else going on. You may also decide you want to do it like crazy.

[maryanimal]

Building a shower stall that's also handicap accessible
A better kitchen set up
Monkey hut
A new plan for Taco Tuesday (This'll be easy)

that's all so far...

[Elorrum]

I'm seeing a little Ed Roth in this vehicle.

[AntiM]

My usual, art for the Home for Wayward Art. Plus bring the Library of art card albums, spruce up Fernando the MaleMan, gifts for the Gifting Box, and decoupage the camp loaner bike.

[bm_cricket]

Slow and steady wins the race. I've completely torn this machine down, cleaned, replaced rubber and Teflon, and rebuilt it. It works!

Hopefully I'll have the whole body figured out this week. Right now it's all back together but some of the chrome and brass body looks pretty sad. I'll try and clean it up a little more.

BTW, can anyone tell me if this electrical "math" is reasonable. I won't burn up in my sleep if I use a 250V 12A espresso machine on the same circuit as my 250V 40A electric oven that all runs to my 50A breaker. Right? I assume it will be okay because I will just be sure to never use all of the elements on my oven at the same time as my espresso machine. All the wires are 6AWG except my extension for the espresso machine, which is only 12 AWG (but plenty for the machine). If the espresso machine has a fault then the 12AWG line is a weak point in the system.... But I feel pretty confident that the machine works properly....

[BBadger]

BTW, can anyone tell me if this electrical "math" is reasonable. I won't burn up in my sleep if I use a 250V 12A espresso machine on the same circuit as my 250V 40A electric oven that all runs to my 50A breaker. Right? I assume it will be okay because I will just be sure to never use all of the elements on my oven at the same time as my espresso machine. All the wires are 6AWG except my extension for the espresso machine, which is only 12 AWG (but plenty for the machine). If the espresso machine has a fault then the 12AWG line is a weak point in the system.... But I feel pretty confident that the machine works properly....

Sounds reasonable, but in the end, even if you do manage to use both at the same time, the breaker should trip as it's supposed to.

[lucky420]

To take an old power chair and turn it into a mv...


Lots of ideas floating around in my head.

[bm_cricket]

Sounds reasonable, but in the end, even if you do manage to use both at the same time, the breaker should trip as it's supposed to.

Thanks for the reassurance. I know that it's just slightly out of "code" and isn't really following in "normal practices" or "common sense" but it worked today! MMmmmhhmmm, espresso.