Adventures of an Imperfect Man In Search of a Handmade Life
After several requests for information, here is my short list of inspirational sites found on the web. Culling the web for Vardo style so you don’t have to. I will try to morph this into it’s own page soon as a place to add more links as they become available.
MORE TO COME
I couldn’t help but post this… Found on TheRoadToGlamperland Facebook site. Built on a Morris Minor of all platforms. As they say, “why not?”
Spotted at the Oregon Country Faire
What can you even say? Click the pic for more info.
In searching for home-built campers, there were very few images on the web just a few years ago. Jay Nelson came up a few times over the years due to his ingenious building of structures onto existing vehicles, compact car, scooter, boat, and now a truck.
It’s my kind of work. Low budget, simple, and highly functional alternatives to the mainstream consumption.
But would I do this the the Vespa? Maybe.
Of course, my new truck is in sore need of a cool topper…
See more of Jay’s work on his site http://jaynelsonart.com/ or follow his blog on Tumblr.
I’m a big fan of Retro-Futuristic design. Maybe that’s why some of the better Steam Punk designs appeal to me. I don’t mean the stuff that’s just hot-gluing old watch gears onto some leather or carrying a toy ray-gun around in an old-western holster. I want art that can actually be part of our daily lives. To paraphrase a better writer than I, Life Should Be Art. However, it shouldn’t just look cool or pretty, our tools, houses, and transportation can be practical, well-engineered, and well-made. Things that are crafted by hand from good materials tend to be better thought out, have individual character, and have the quality of an heirloom.
Some mass-produced things are still pretty cool and it’s not always practical or affordable for us, in the modern rat-race, to make or have made, everything in our lives. In this direction, I have noticed quite a few Makers repurposing or redesigning their possessions. In other words, “hacking” the designs of others.
While looking for images of old scooters last night, I came across these amazing guys in Japan who took a pretty average-looking Honda scooter that looked like this:
and tore it down to the essentials before rebuilding it into this classy ride:
It is such a cool, yet realistic design, my first impression was that this was a 1930s or 40s scooter rebuilt.
Here’s another shot:
And it’s final color!
Click on the image above to have a look at their tear-down and build. There’s a lot of pages but it’s a well-documented process.
Its almost surreal. Somebody* is actually paying me money to drive the Vardo out to the Maker Faire in San Mateo next month. Even with my old clunker truck, the small travel award will more than pay for the trip and I’ve been wanting to attend the Faire for several years now anyway, so his is a perfect opportunity. If you are a maker, artisan, artist, or mad scientist, the Maker Faire is worth checking out. In their words its a: A two-day, family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.
On a personal front, I am busily working up the line drawings of the Vardo and hope to have high quality prints for sale at the Faire. Also, they will available via the web and purchasable for a small price via PayPal.
Hope to see you there.
*Esurance Road to Maker’s Faire ChallengeI wanted to put up photos of the travel shutters. As the windows face forward, they take a real beating on the road. After solving the issue of covering three sides, the construction was pretty simple. Being small, I was able to knock these together from scraps around the barn.
My appreciation for house trucks has grown immensely over the years. It’s not easy building a structure that is both light, strong, and wind-resistant. Caravans, house trucks, and RVs have to undergo the rigors of hurricane weather every time they hit the road and still be light enough to be pulled. If you are willing to get RV-type mileage from your vehicle you can convert an older RV, large truck, fire engine, or bus into a fine living platform. Starting from a link on Lloyd’ Blog I began looking at some very cool house truck conversions. These have been around all my life and I’m surprised I haven’t started one yet.
These Bedford Fire Engines make beautiful platforms.
The trucks below were featured on the Tiny House Talk web page.
I wouldn’t want to drive these in high winds but the interior spaces are great. Visit his Flikr page to see more interesting work. They look very practical and I appreciate the low-maintenance exteriors.
And finally, one of the most beautiful art car builds I have ever seen… The Decoliner. While on his website, its worth looking at his other projects as well, especiall the 1800 cubic inch, 1000 h.p. tank motor turned art/race car.
Take the chassis from an old RV, add a classic truck cab and a lot of beautiful design work and this is what can happen. This is my new dream car. Time to peruse Craig’s List to start looking for a chassis.
Over the weekend I had time to add a few, more recent, photos of the wagon to the Vardo page. There are many requests and I assume there are quite a few people out there building their own. Good luck to you all.
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 