A friend’s son is going to boot camp in a few days and will embark on a life changing event. I wanted to make a card with a few USMC saying, but realized he doesn’t know these just yet. In 1997 I made my way to Las Vegas after my active duty as a Marine was over. I still look back at how I learned to be excellent, The pain, the pride, the education, the failures and the restarts. The mindfulness to have persistence in everything challenging. So the quote in the inside of the card is something I believe to be true.

“Excellence is never an accident; it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities.”

Stay motivated!

Travel the Sea

By William Davison, Jr.

To travel on the mighty sea

Each wave, an adventure beckoning thee

To see the edge of a new universe

To let your heart be free

As you prepare for your adventure and stow your gear in its place

Look over the bow… lookout into the oceans vast space

Just like the great world mariners on duty,

Sea loving sailors that have gone before you

Be proud’n be bold… gaze out over its beauty

Gaze out over its boundless blue

The sway of these souls, ‘these Salty sailors of the sea’

They travel in good spirit, truly content and free

Happy existing on the rolling waters and warm comforting seas

Free spirits, some may say, but always at peace, when sailing with thee

Now tie the bowline knot well

Hold it tight as you sail, and when you return

Shall your spirit be lifted…

And your mast on an even keel

Sorting my LEGO bricks has been long and not too much fun. But building my favorite old kits has been awesome!

This LEGO kit 8865 The Technic Test Car was one of my largest and most complex kits. I was 14 years old, and I can still remember putting this one together. The head lights pop up, the seats recline and adjust, the transmission is functional and the 4 piston motor is detailed to let your imagination cruise down the street in a very awesome ride.

I saved this little guy from the trash… my old wooden bench was broken (for the third time) and I didn’t trust sitting on it anymore.  I took it all apart, cleaned, steel wooled all the rust and painted.

Using a silicon grease spray I cleaned off all the rubber steps, redid the seat cushion out of an old sweater and put it all back together.

Took about an hour.

Once it was all done, I think it will be a good addition to my work bench out in the garage when I work on my motorcycle and the cars. the really cool thing, the seat top pops up and it has two steps to reach items off my shelves.

All the metal that was chrome was painted and I left the Brown paint as it seemed to be in good condition.

I think he knows… I think he felt like it was just good byes.

It was a hard day… my puppy has gone to be a puppy somewhere else… but will surely give his beautiful life to the ones who will treasure him now.

I will see you later little puppy…

Styled after the $300 roomba robot vacuum, I built a LEGO RCX robot sweeper. I wanted to start working again with my LEGO technic sets and of course my many LEGO RCX kits. This was a good starting point and using ROBO Lab software I was able to program  the little robot quickly.

A few items that are not LEGO: The paper scoop that collects the dirt, dust and hair. The swiffer pad that i cut to allow the spinning wheels to act like a street sweeper in the front…these little guys push the debris into the scoop front…  the two switches on the left or right provide the bumper a way of resetting the course of the room sweeper.

To see the video: https://www.facebook.com/wdavisonjr/videos/10154940815985502/?l=1841782850449687756

You can go tot his link even if you don’t have faceybooky!

I think I need a few more tweeks to the code to really make it work perfect but for the most part a two hour build and a few trial runs and he does quite well on the wood floors.

So, of course i have waited too long to send out my holiday thank you cards and I had hoped to make something so great like my mom did for my thank you card. She got one of my match book cover wooden robots and she sent me a handmade thank you note made with stamps that looked like the robot I made her…. super nice and super creative!  So I sat down yesterday and started working on a few Sailor Jerry (spiced rum) label, thank you card.  They turned out pretty cool so I made a baker’s dozen! I found some smaller envelopes in my paper hoarding stash and … wow! No I have some cool thank you cards or notecards to send to all my family and friends!

So here ya go… a few photos of my custom cards! Enjoy, and if you want a set please let me know and I will make a few to send to you!

With a silver foil line below the tattoo sticker image, it really adds a bit of class.

The warm sun felt nice on my back as the photos that I took were in the late afternoon…. and my camera battery was dieing so i couldn’t use a flash… glad I didn’t! Thank you Sun… it is nice to know you have my back!

The one on the far right is one of my favorites, it has it all… the Ship, the sea, and the pretty lady!

This tattoo  is a logo on one of my favorite t-shirts… 

You can’t see it very well… but the label maker cam in handy printing out a “wdavisonjr.wordpress.com 2017” sticker that I attached to each one of the cards.

These are not really great for thank you cards, but for a quick note to family or friends, and for those who love vintage tattoo art, this is one card that will be a huge hit for me to send out!

This year for Christmas gifts for my mom and my sister I got an idea from one of my Make Magazine articles about an artist (Miami-based sculptor and illustrator Mike Rivamonte) who takes matchbooks and covers a wooden robot frame to assemble an interesting display item.

I knew I wanted mine to have a semi theme for each person i was making it for, so I downloaded many images from the internet to get just the right matchbooks.

Here is my assembly process and finished designs.

All images below are the property of William Davison. All Rights Reserved.
Images may not be used unless permission is given in writing from William Davison.

And I bought Poplar for the wood body. Used my old band saw from Ace!

and a drill press to drill all of the peg holes used to attach the head and arms.

I cut each piece and lightly sanded.

The pegs are soaked in stain.

Each one stood about 14 inches tall and both have arms and a head that is movable. if you look carefully at the edges of r the wood block i used a file to rough and cut the matchbook covers to give is a worn look. i left some areas of the wood uncovered and I like the more rustic look.

A quick spray with a poly clear coat to protect and seal, they were wrapped and shipped… just in time for the holidays. These robots where a very fun project and took a total of about 6 hours to complete. You can find these for sale from the original artist here: http://www.rivamonterobots.com/for-sale/

and the location of the make article: http://makezine.com/2016/09/12/these-matchbook-robot-sculptures-put-a-nostalgic-twist-on-sci-fi/

Have fun, be safe and until the next project… make it happen!

When the seasons change my attitude also changes… when my attitude changes so does my wanting to connect with each new day of the season… and of course fall is my favorite season. Feeling the crisp air in the morning, warming myself to the afternoon sun and waiting to light the fire pit right before sun sets with a roll of newspaper with a sprig of dried sage roll up inside. The fires soft glow and the smell reminds me of all of my wonderful memories of fall as a child. Halloween, carving pumpkins, decorating the the house for the tricker treaters. Fall leaves, dark red and bright yellow, slowing falling to the ground with my feet able to rustle through and crunch the dried leaves. But of course this also reminds me that I only have a few more weeks left before old man winter forces us inside and time inside means a blanket to warm yourself by.

This year I am making my gifts for family and close friends… I enjoy the time in my wood work shop. It is very organic and as I feel of the grain of the wood, the smell of stain, the fresh cut being sanded down to a smooth finish I am reminded of the maker who has taught me, inspired me and had a lot of patients to help me keep all of my fingers on my hands. My mom has every year created some pretty amazing gifts, cards and blankets. So, to try and make gifts this year I have now realized how each piece, each time you assemble something, you really are putting a small bit of love and a piece of your being into each small gift.

I will share my progress of the gifts I am making after Christmas (I don’t want to give away the surprise yet!). I have been taking photos along the way, so I should have a fun story to tell and a special gift to send. This Fall has been one I hope to look back fondly on and remember the time spent in my work shop and the feeling of pride of taking on the continued tradition of making a gift.