2015 Keep Making Stuff Monthly Challenge

[Troy Burch]

I'd like to see everyone do all 12 but I know life happens - materials/$$, family, jobs. Skip some if you have to and come back when you can.

Thank you, If it gets to be a problem let me know and I'll step out.

[leatherwytch]

I am going to try to give this a shot in spite of all the stuff I need to get done for comicon.

[thefanninator]

Do you want to apply a schedule to the projects? Such as:

"Pattern posted by the 5th of the month, all competing entries completed by the 20th, and voting/judging by the end of the month?"

I'm not trying to take over your challenges, but merely trying to provide some insight from previous iterations. I would also suggest that there be a 'window' for Q&A in case anyone participating doesn't understand part of the construction methods.

If I can help out on these, let me know - here or PM, and I'll be happy to do so.

The pattern should be posted on the 1st of the month. The idea is to use one of tboyce's patterns in the Patterns & Templates forum. There are a bunch there so take a look at them, print them out... we just won't know which one will be chosen until the 1st. Some will finish before others - participants can post up their finished projects early if they like.

Ask questions throughout the month if you run into trouble. I guess the 25th should be the deadline so we can choose the favorite and have them choose the next pattern to post up by the 1st.

We could choose 2 a month, one easy for beginners and one for those who need more of a challenge. Or should we just progress from easy to hard?

What happened in previous iterations?

Edited December 31, 2014 by thefanninator

[TwinOaks]

In previous challenges, there was initially mass confusion, a groundswell of ' can I join in?' questions, and the decisions of what to make

were SWAGs. There was a lot more enthusiasm than planning (my bad!) for the long term 'lesson plan', so your decision to use Tom's patterns is a good one. It will keep participants on the same page.

The challenges I started were more oriented to learn the tools, than to do projects, so end results were often drastically varied.

For 'difficulty levels' I think it'd still be better to just have one project/month depending on difficulty. The lessons start at one point and build skills. If it's something simple (change purse) then have two options; something complicated (purse) then only that pattern. That was one of my challenge failures- too much variety to stay focused on the tool. My vote is as you said- easy to hard. Old hands can use the opportunity to show what experience has taught them, and then be the 'teacher's assistant' during Q&A.

Be prepared for a drop off in participation, as some folks will get their feelings hurt others will just 'run out of time'. A rank beginner won't produce the same quality as someone with 20+ yrs experience, so limit/discourage 'ringers' from showing off (too much). Beginners may be intimidated into not participating if 'competing' with a pro or semi-pro. This is where 'winner chooses' can go wrong- if the same person 'wins' consistently, then the plan for the challenge gets altered.

Thanks for taking the lead on this, I feel it's one of the best ways to help our member base.

[Hi Im Joe]

We could always limit the winner to two picks. After that if they keep winning the runner up could pick the next pattern?

[byggyns]

I like the Idea. I also think that the coordinator should be the one who choses the next pattern- that way there is consistency of project flow.

It would also be helpful to those of us with less experience if there were a step-by-step build along available. The winner from the previous month has to do a photo or video build along for the next project- to be published after that winner is selected. This would provide a detailed reference guide for any new leatherworker visiting the site. It would also cut down on construction related questions as the year progresses. People will start to grasp the construction concepts after seeing so many different projects and how they get assembled.

[thefanninator]

The real reason I wanted to start this isn't to create your best piece ever or be voted favorite so you can choose the next pattern.

I heard this story once...

http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/000216

"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."

I also got the idea from a local Austin musician who sends out a word or phrase to other invited songwriters. They have a week to write, record and return the song. If they don't they are removed from the email list....

This website offers a lot of information and you can spend hours, days and months "theorizing about perfection"... but the point is to always be making something. Have no fear! Heck make 10 of every project each month ... mess up, stain over it, unstitch it and stitch it again... put it in the throw away box and come back to it a year later and cut it up and make something else... I have some really ugly stuff from the first year but I kept going. To the new people - you will make ugly stuff... but keep going.

I don't want anyone to have to put a video tutorial up, who has time? If you really want to, go for it. But I think tboyce's patterns are pretty explanatory.

I also wanted to use the patterns submitted by tboyce to show our appreciation for his willingness to share.

I know my time will be limited because my wife is due with our first any day now, that's why I made it a monthly challenge. I had originally thought about making it a weekly or bi-weekly challenge.

I will post the first pattern tomorrow - January 1, 2015 @ 9AM Central time in this thread.

Have fun!

Edited January 1, 2015 by thefanninator

[Troy Burch]

Thank you for keeping it simple. Troy

[thefanninator]

Happy New Year!

The January project will be tboyce's Vertical Wallet. The pattern is found here:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=59704

PDF on Post #4 will need a large format printer.

PDF on Post # 13 is uses a standard printer.

Be creative and have fun!

[Bob Blea]

Cool! I may actually start working on it this morning! Thank you for doing this.