BS: Pressing Issues

Subject: Pressing Issues
From: fogie
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 12:51 PM

Sitting chatting at a party Saturday night (what a social schedule I have ) I was amused by a very nice 65yr old woman whos son used to work with Charles Parker of Radio-Ballads fame . She has an artist lady friend who has made a big hit by collecting old brass instruments and getting a steam-roller to press them flat, and then arranging them as mobiles in foyers. I thought what a good idea, why dont I do something like that! anyone got any ideas I could steal?

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Genie
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 02:03 PM

fogie, there's a guy at Portland's Saturday Market who makes all sorts of stuff -- jewelry, mobiles, novelty gag items (like the arrown through the head)--from old silverware. You've probably seen that sort of stuff before, but you might put your own spin on it.

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Bert
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 11:51 PM

Seems a shame to treat poor old brass instruments like that when there's so many banjos and bagpipes and accordians around *GRIN*

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 11:53 PM

Make lamps out of them too......they sell well.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: DonMeixner
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 11:56 PM

You might set up a bikini waxing booth at a local beach. A potentially rewarding and useful service.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 12:58 AM

A totally different thing- but intriguing to me: Tonight at a grocery I saw one of those mylar birthday balloons standing on the floor grinning at me. Same-material legs were glued(?) on, with paper clips weighting it down. When I walked by it and then turned quickly and walked away it followed me in little jumps. Anybody for variations on this theme? (Not the following

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: fogie
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 04:36 AM

Don if I could find a beach .....come to think of it whats the point of waxing bikinis? Theres Snailbeach near the Stiperstones, now thats something that hasnt been wrapped yet, watch this space. Bert I think you're right about banjos, and they hardly need any pressing, but I think explosive expansion for accordeons would be best, and pretty. Ebbie I have a bad feeling about where you shop, it wasnt in the Chinese quarter was it? Remember how Gremlins starts.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 11:16 AM

Hmmmm Some of my post disappeared. What's that you said about gremlins, fogie?

The thought I finished with was that perhaps those mylar balloons could be designed as musical instruments, dancing and otherwise. Or as tutu-wearing little girls (or little boys?) I suspect this is just the beginning, so get in on the ground floor, folks!

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 12:04 PM

I always thought that designer air was a potential growth industry. Considering all the polution we have, you could go into a booth and breathe Rocky Mountain Air from Colorado, or on a cold winter's day, a little jamaican beach air. For those on a limited budget, there would always be the New Jersey Air booth. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 12:38 PM

It disappeared because you didn't close an html tag: <em>following</em.)

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 01:00 PM

Coulda swored I did, Malcolm...

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 02:34 PM

I reckon the bellows bits of accordions would make good Chinese lanterns and the buttons could convert into custom keyboards for computers if you could work out how to wire them up. I've got several in the house if you want to come and practice..... (don't tell Manitas....!)

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: GUEST,Arjay
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 02:58 PM

For a "pressing idea," how about carpeting and rugs made from patchwork roadkill?

Jerry R, the cheapest "designer air" would be from towns like Albany, OR, and Camas, WA (paper mill towns).

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 03:03 PM

Wind chimes out of penny whistles? Pierce the fipple and you could get a nice effect.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: GUEST,ozmacca
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 12:07 AM

I always wanted to print books on toilet rolls - one page per sheet. The roll-books would be sold in packs with random mixtures of genre and author, or in matched sets - War and Peace in a twelve roll presentation box. As everyone in the house would be reading a different book - and at different speeds - the public would have to buy more and more packs. There's a fortune there waiting for somebody...... AND IT'S MY IDEA - DO YOU HEAR!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:35 PM

Back to the drawing board, ozmacca... Paper towels, maybe but not the toilet tissue, please! (What if you mislaid your 'book' and someone else came along?)

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: GUEST,ozmacca
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 11:43 PM

Ah, but that's the whole point, Ebbie.... There would have to be a different book-roll for everybody in the house! So I'd sell more and more! And think of the spin-offs - personalised book-roll dispensers, lockable holders, multi-person display dispensers...... mind, it wouldn't be much good for people who like to go back and re-read bits.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Genie
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 02:30 AM

Actually, fo'ks, I've got a REAL product idea--something there's a real need for but, to my knowledge, no one makes.

I want a boom mike stand that's REALLY collapsible, one that collapses to 18" or less, the way some tripods do. That way, it could fit into an airplane overhead bin or on the back of a bicycle, etc. If it exists, please let me know where.

In a related vein, I'd like to have a rechargeable battery powered amp like the Fender Amp Can, but with a built-in telescoping boom mike stand or a built in wireless mic receiver and separate wireless mic. I.e., I'd like a small PA system that is really easy to transport, setup, use, and break down. Kind of like those pop-up tents that folks use for camping.

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: fogie
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 06:15 AM

I like the toilet roll idea, could they be made reusable? like terry nappies? yuk. I always want a strong but easily folded music stand, for the large books I use sight reading, as I also tote a tenor sax and the books round with me. Genie I think I saw a kareoke amp in a dixons catalogue, which might fit the lower end of your aspirations.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 06:35 AM

Ebbie: at the World Science Fiction Convention in The Hague (1990) there were parrot shaped, helium filled, bahloons. In the tech crew reday room, a few of these were allowed to fly free.
Initially, their strings were sufficient to counteract their willingness to 'settle' on the ceiling. As the gas slowly escaped, their strings were trimmed allowing them to stay almost at ceiling level. However, if you sat still for a few minutes, one would (almost certainly) come and settle down on your head or shoulder. (Presumably thro' convection currents set up by warm bodies, but heating air less than that already heated at the ceiling.)
It was great to watch the reactions of visitors coming in and sitting down for a drink.

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 10:54 AM

That's the ticket, Nigel! There is an involuntary response to those kinds of things, it seems. I remember, back about 1963, that I bought my little daughter perhaps the first battery-powered walking doll. The doll stood 18-20 inches high and to see that little determined strut reduced me to helpless laughter. Kind of wasted technology for children- they take that kind of thing for granted.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: DonD
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 12:58 PM

So here's the scenario: I'm sitting at the bar and all of a sudden a totally unexpected mylar parrot drops down and settles on my shoulder! Quick, where's a roll of that newfangled toilet paper? No, I don't care what story is on it!

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 01:21 PM

Can I get another copy? I hadn't finished my story and I'll be darned if I'll read it after that parrot has been wiped with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: GUEST,ozmacca
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 10:05 PM

Sorry madam, that story's out of print, but I can let you have Re-cyclopaedia Brittanica in the handy one hundred and seventy-two roll family pack. Just the thing for the anal-retentive.........

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 02:41 AM

paedia! LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 11:24 AM

Hey, it did it again! This is beginning to feel personal... Let me try it again: recyclopaedia.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 11:48 AM

There are a father and son in Southern California, piano tuners, (Bob and Bill Parson) who also collect old brass instruments.

In their spare time, they repair them, and then donate them to the music programs in inner city schools.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: fogie
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 12:01 PM

I think the ones that were being pressed were beyond salvage, otherwise I too would think recycling would be a far better option, like tools for self reliance for African countries.

Subject: RE: BS: Pressing Issues
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 02:53 PM

if "pet rocks" will sell, anything will!.

I know someone who does art/crafts using recycled CDs...zaps 'em in a microwave for a few seconds, then decorates and shapes them.