The Naked Silo

I dreamed up the Small Pond Shipyard for my fanciful scratch-built sci-fi airship creations (which still only exist in sketch/Photoshop mock-up form (and boxes in my closet) for now), but more and more ideas kept coming ( this wind turbine , for example, will be part of a rather elaborate diorama I'll be working on this winter). But the Puppet Wagon was a sleeper surprise, to be sure. [Really, though, I don't know why I was so eager to build this right away since I was planning to slowly develop my modelling skills with simpler builds first and the work my way up to more complicated projects.] Not all parts were used/needed. Most of these ideas have come from watching modelling videos online, and when I saw a review of this sweet little Japanese "Ramen Shop" food truck by Aoshima (right-side drive!), my brain started making jokes about customizing it to the weird food truck ideas I'd been posting on Facebook. But the more I thought about what the co...

"A logo doesn't sell, it identifies. A logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it means is more important than what it looks like."  – Paul Rand  On New Year's Day this year my wife, Krista Dalby , came up with the notion to accompany an NGO to Ghana and take shadow puppetry and art supplies to the kids in small villages there, but it wasn't until late spring when she was having serious fundraisers and was deep in prep for this project that I first heard the phrase "puppets without borders" and I immediately knew I had to get graphically involved.  I had planned to start my concept doodles after I got home from my projectionist shift at The Regent Theatre one night, but inspiration struck while I was still in the projection booth, some Hollywood blockbuster flickering in the background, and all I had at hand was an envelope a...