DesignYouMake E-craftbook presenting the ‘download and make’ JW oo5 Neo Tramp Art lampshade. The NeoTramp Art lampshade is about love and commitment, it is a simple and repetitive process that takes ages to make.

The E-craftbook presents the inspiration, technique, simple making step by step guide and hanging directions.

JW oo5. Neo Tramp Art Shade.

The NeoTramp Art lampshade is about love and commitment, it is a simple and repetitive process that takes ages to make.

The process is simple to master and can be quickly demonstrated to a friend. So the making of this lamp can be done with the help of some friends, who may have thought they were just popping around for coffee.

The E-craftbook, JW oo5 NeoTramp Art lampshade, presents the directions about how to make a ‘Trunk Folding Press Tool’ for use to manufacture tubes from postcards. It also includes directions for hanging the lamp using fishing wire, plus some unsubstantiated misconceptions about original Tramp Art by Jeremy Walton. Adding to the gossip and hearsay, where misconceptions become truths.

You are looking at about 20 hours making time, so relax and enjoy.

Traditional Tramp Art

The technique is based on the ideology behind Traditional Tramp Art, the use of readily available materials and tools that are freely available today. It also requires the Tramp Art techniques of repetition, dedication and love. Making the shade is a celebration, so the fact they take ages to make is a bonus, why rush a good thing.

Example screen shots from the 24 page JW oo5 Neo Tramp Art Lampshade E-craftbook

Includes: 24 page pdf with: inspiration, technique, simple making step by step guide and tips.

Materials:

• Post cards.
• Wood Glue.
• Fishing wire.

Tools and Techniques:

• Scissors.
• Clothes pegs.

$6 Download and make

Text Extracts

‘Design is knowledge, Craftsmanship is a state of mind.’

It is not an intention of mine to find ways to recycle materials, as waste materials should be recycled in larger quantities and used again in industry. But when you see these materials used, an appreciation of their beauty and value as a usable material is gained. This helps people to appreciate a little more of what they normally discard as waste.

I want to include people in the process, to inspire people to make things themselves and subsequently appreciate such home-made craftsmanship. Through making things themselves, people will better appreciate, materials and the craftsmanship of other objects. That’s my theory.

Inspiration

The Copenhagen office workers lamp  The original KKA (København Kontor Arbejdere) lamp started out in 2007 and was inspired by experience with the square structure of the milk carton ‘Water Drop’ wall Display. This, coupled with the big issue of the time, office workers suffering with stress, lead to the idea of developing a lampshade that could relieve stress and allow for smuggling office supplies out of the office, under the guise of being a healthy office worker. Due to the lamp taking ages to make, development of the lamp was slow and eventually narrowed down to the current use of postcards, thus losing the office stockroom connection and taking on a coffee house direction, as this is where the free postcards are found. Along with the aforementioned office workers.  Inspiration is a starting point and that is generally how it came about, but did not end up, for the time being.

Technique

Traditional Tramp Art

The technique is based on the ideology behind Traditional Tramp Art, the use of readily available materials and tools that are freely available today.

It also requires the Tramp Art techniques of repetition, dedication and love. Making the shade is a celebration, so the fact they take ages to make is a bonus, why rush a good thing.

The trunk folding press.

A simple tool that clamps sheet metal firmly in position and then, with the help of pivotal leverage, creates a controlled straight fold.

This trunk tooling press principal will be used on a mini scale. In part 2 we shall make our own ‘Mini Trunk Folding Press’, made of card. We then use this tool to fold more cards, these are in fact almost identical to the ‘Mini Trunk Folding Press’.

Seen from an industrial view point, we shall first make one ‘Mini Trunk Folding Press’ that will help make many ‘Mini Trunk Folding Press’ tools. The whole lamp is made of ‘Mini Trunk Folding Press’ tools, made to the rhythm of industry.

Handmade Wall Display by Jeremy Walton, 2009. E-craftbook jw 003

These wall displays use the e-craftbook jw 003 (Soon available to download and make. Or these need a home for slightly more than $10.)

Exhibited at:

Copenhagen Culture Night 2009.

Made Personally by Jeremy Walton. Mooment shop.

Lampshade made as part of the Made personally exhibition at Mooment shop. This lampshade uses the e-craftbook jw 006 (available to down load and make your own at designyoumake.com, just $10. Or this one needs a home for slightly more than $10.)

My subject for this shade is an Iceberg. I done some in-depth study of icebergs (couple of photos on google images) The diamond shade lends itself to the form of the iceberg and I collected papers that are white, pure white and super white for above the water line. For below the water line and deeper inside the iceberg, I collected blue paper, milk cartons and the monthly Map magazine by architect David Garcia.

The diamond shade principal, followed on from the original Neo Tramp Art lamp shade, but i would say the diamond lamp shade is closer to being Neo Tramp Art, the diamond cut was inspired by the Tramp Art notch and layer technique. What pleases me with this lamp is that like Original tramp art the person making has freedom to express their own form and colour using the cut and layer technique. They are not restricted by a specific form decided by me. They have a process to work with and what they do with it is up to them.

Thank you to David Garcia for the Map map, which firstly, was the right sort of blue I needed and secondly, appropriately about Antarctica. So looking closely within the lamp, one can find small drawings of penguins, people dressed for arctic conditions, snow flakes and even photos of icebergs.

Exhibited at:

Copenhagen Culture Night 2009.

Made Personally by Jeremy Walton. Moomentshop.

Handmade wall display by Jeremy Walton, 2009. E-craftbook jw 002
Each quarter measurers 50 cm x 50 cm x 7 cm. 100 hundread units.

Wall Display using the DesignYouMake E-craftbook jw 002 available to down load and make yourself. (available soon). This is a wall display made up of a single unit that can be rotated to create a repeat pattern. Here I have printed the A5 cutout direct onto paper from a year account book, a Danish year account book, which is yellow and green.

Exhibited at:

Copenhagen Culture Night 2009.

Made Personally by Jeremy Walton. Moomentshop.

JW oo6. Diamond Shade. A lampshade of repetitive diamonds.

The E-craftbook, JW oo6 Diamond Shade, presents the directions about how to build the basic inner structure of the Diamond shade, plus tips and ideas on how to continue building the shade in a random or symmetrical way.

Also includes the all important templates and printable sheets that can be used to make the single diamonds from A4 coloured papers or waste paper and packaging.

Random or symmetrical?

You should decide this before starting. You can either sculpt your shade randomly, adding diamonds however you like, here and there. Or you can build the shade in a symmetrical fashion, where you repeat the same pattern. It is up to you what that pattern is.

The diamonds can be added in all sorts of ways, sometimes it might involve turning the diamond around and over several times to find out where it fits, but it will fit.

White, coloured or recycled?

You can shape the shade as you like and you can also use different colour paper. The yellow, orange and red shade used within the E-craftbook is the start of ‘Cannon Smoke’, an installation I made based on human cannonball acts. Various grey coloured paper will eventually be added for the smoke. (It was made  in a circus tent)

Use plain white paper or waste papers, such as old cereal boxes, milk cartons or magazine covers. It is also possible to use a small amount of thinner paper, but you need to make sure you are adding enough stiffness and strength to your structure. The outer edges can be thinner.
Example screen shots from the 29 page JW oo6 Diamond Shade E-craftbook

Includes: 29 page pdf with: inspiration, technique, simple making step by step guide and tips.

Including two printable pages:

• A4 printable template for making Diamonds from waste and large format paper.

• An A4 printable sheet that can be cut up into 7 diamonds.

Materials:

• Paper, recommend min. 160 grammes.
• Suitable Glue, staples or sticky tape.

Tools and Techniques:

• Cutting Knife  or scissors.
• Cut and paste.

$10 Download and make

‘Design is knowledge, Craftsmanship is a state of mind.’

‘JW oo6 Diamond Shade’ can be made from used milk cartons, cereal boxes, magazine covers or any found waste paper that is more than 160 grammes thick. It is not an intention of mine to find ways to recycle materials, as waste materials should be recycled in larger quantities and used again in industry.

But when you see these materials used, an appreciation of their beauty and value as a usable material is gained. This all helps people to appreciate a little more of what they normally discard as waste.

I want to include people in the process, to inspire people to make things themselves and subsequently appreciate such home-made craftsmanship.

Through making things themselves people will better appreciate, materials and craftsmanship of other objects.

Inspiration

It was after making a lampshade named ‘Neo Tramp Art’ at SoupaNatural, a soup bar in Copenhagen, that Nicolia and Kristian invited me to join their Circus tent, to make an installation during the Roskilde music festival.

Having always dreamed of joining the circus and feeling it about time to take my hobby explorations into a new realm, I joined the circus a ‘Silent Circus’ celebrating making.

The single diamond element came about from working with the square form of the milk carton and folding postcards into squares.

Traditional Tramp Art is created by cutting notches along the edge of wood and layering the thin layers of wood. The notches create small repetitive diamonds along the edge of the wood.

I find the love and dedication put into the traditional Tramp Art pieces charming and endearing. It was through experimenting with cutting square tubes that I worked out the ‘Diamond Cut’. Unlike the ‘JW oo5 Neo Tramp Art lamp shade’, the Diamond shade allows the maker more creative freedom with colour and form, similar to that of traditional Tramp Art. It also requires dedication and love.

Technique

Neo Tramp Art, cut and paste.

I would say the diamond is based on the ideology behind Traditional Tramp Art and made using available materials and tools that are freely available today.

I have worked out a single unit that can be used as a three dimensional repeat pattern. It is basically the good old, cut and paste method.

The lampshades are made by a repetitive diamond that is cut and joined together, similar to the tramp art notch and layer technique.

It also requires the Tramp Art techniques of repetition, dedication and love. Making the shade is a celebration, so the fact they take ages to make is a bonus, why rush a good thing.

Best wishes and kind hellos – Jeremy

Installation by Jeremy Walton June 2009. Roskilde Festival

Going along with the Circus theme, I studied in detail (a couple of online photos) Cannon Smoke from human cannon ball acts. I attempted to recreate this using the lampshade diamonds made of craft paper, waste paper and good old milk cartons.

The majority was made on site using a cutting knife, a staple gun and with help thanks to my festive festival helpers. The result was a battle against the wind and humidity. some amount of smoke built up over the duration of the festival. I did manage to test and learn a lot about the diamond shade and the E-craftbook which presents how to make your own diamonds into smoke, candyfloss or what ever takes your fancy.

I started with an explosive centre, which aptly vanished late one night leaving a cloud of smoke.

Bang!

I don’t have many photos due to my camera having a battery life of about 5 minutes. I have filmed the development of the smoke and shall include that at some point.

The story of the human cannon ball. After 40 years in the business he had the accuracy to propel himself into a bathtub from 300 meters. One final night he over loaded his cannon and created a cloud of smoke that took eight days to clear. It was some years later that a silver sequined leotard was found two miles away in the local duck pond. Some people say he was attempting to out perform the new sensational trapeze artists, while others say, it was a perfect shot from two miles and a smoke screen to cover up his disappearance on the same night that the bakers wife left town.

JW 001 Wall Display ‘Making’ by Jeremy Walton 26th April 2009. Kl 12:00

Jeremy Walton and SoupaNatural have teamed up to create a special Sunday afternoon event, a ‘Making’.

Come along for Sunday soup and celebrate the process of making.

In groups there will be time for socialising over a pair of scissors and you should each manage to take home one completed unit of the JW 001 Wall Display by Jeremy Walton.

Ticket availability is limited and can be bought at www.DesignYouMake.com or at SoupaNatural, Guldbergsgade 7A, 2200 København N, +45 32 13 17 35.

Ticket price is Kr 150 and Includes:
Øko Kaffe eller The, Søndag Suppe, Øko Saft og JW 001 pdf E-craftbook.
Come with 9 clean Tetra Rex milk cartons and a pair of scissors.
Making commences at 12:00 and will take a couple of joyous hours.

An open event at SoupaNatural by Jeremy Walton, Thursday the 26th of March 2009

The Jungle will be at: SoupaNatural.Guldbergsgade 7a. near Skt. Hans torv, opposite Rust. Making commences from 9am and aims to be finished and hung up before 6pm.

I shall be making Neo Tramp Art, a lampshade following the soul and ideology of the 19th Century Tramp Art phenomenon. Using commonly found and readily available tools and materials, combined with self invented techniques, I shall be making design creations that rejoice commitment more than perfection.

The original Tramps lived, worked and moved between what they called Jungles. The making of Neo Tramp Art shall take place in a soup bar, which will act as the Jungle for the day.

In true Tramp Art fashion the technique and making of the lampshade is for sharing.

People visiting the jungle on the day will be welcome to help in the making of the shade and learn how they can make their own Neo Tramp Art. The final results and Ecraftbook will be available at www.designyoumake.com soon.

Some unsubstantiated misconceptions about original Tramp Art by Jeremy Walton.

Adding to the gossip and hearsay, where misconceptions become truths.

Tramp Art of the 19th century is an American phenomenon, but the techniques are said to originate from Germany and Scandinavia, introduced in the early 1860s by wandering apprentices (Wanderbuersons). While examples of their work can be found in America, I have yet to find any examples originating from Denmark. Not even a single knife notch.

Come on Denmark, I know that they have been overlooked or even deleted from Danish history, amidst the perfect hum of industry. Plucked out like weeds from amongst the clean roots of so called taste.

You can try all you like to pass the buck on to Germany or Norway, but these were folk of the wandering kind and they could not have travelled between Norway and Germany without spending some amount of time in between. (I have neither found reference to them in Germany or any part of Scandinavia, as of yet)

To disown these so called folk artists is a loss. These Tramps and Hobos have similarities with modern day designers and crafts people. They were trained Tinsmiths, Carpenters and Blacksmiths etc. They worked between different clients. Hobos sought commercial work more so than Tramps. Tramps would see any paid work as a means to finance their own personal creations. Tramps creations were of functional use, such as chairs, tables, boxes.

Tramps being of the wandering kind were the net surfers of their day. Living in camps, known as Jungles, they would share and pass on news and thoughts. They would discuss politics, society and who has built the most impressive box. These people I would describe as being like trees, with their roots in passed on traditions and skills, a solid trunk of originality and independence continuously taking on new layers and lastly, the top bushy part, reaching out into many different facets of society, communicating and intertwining with others and absorbing. They were model designers a long time before the distraction of industry.

These Trampers are possibly the Great Great Grandfathers of sustainable design. They focused on objects of function and utility, developed new techniques, used available resources to good effect (most commonly being the reuse of wooden cigar boxes) and broke with tradition to create their own unique and individual designs.

Who knows in 200 years time America may choose to overlook the episode and principals of Raymond Lowery and delete that from the history hard disc.

“That? Here! No, we have never done anything like That! Not here”. Says the librarian.

Maybe it is true, maybe Denmark can’t lay any claim to these Great Great Grandfathers of design. It could be a German and most probably a Norwegian that developed the penknife carving technique while they were on the boat travelling to America. Yet, is that not an even better example of design ingenuity, which should not only be filed under folk art, but given a place in design history.

What is more, these two tramps on the boat came up with the ingenious marketing ploy of selling their technique as being all the rage in Germany and Scandinavia. It has taken over 200 years for that truth to be questioned.

I am loving these tramps even more.

Design by Jeremy Walton, 2007. DesignYouMake e-craftbook.

The first DesignYouMake E-craftbook is now complete and available as a download at DesignYouMake.com

Nine piece unit

The nine piece unit is made from milk or juice cartons of the ‘Tetra Pak’ variety. The wall display unit can be added to with more and more units.

The download consists of a production manual and nine templates to cut out. These are used to draw on the nine milk cartons that make up one unit. These units can then be duplicated and joined together, creating a larger wall display. With enough space for keeping as many of the the small memories that you might wish to keep.

Multiple units, multiple possibilities.

Once you have made one unit you can make further units and start attaching them together. Follow the same principal of taping the front corners of the cartons together, as explained in the instructions. When joining units together in this way, it is not entirely necessary to use tape on the sides.

The result is quite stunning, if I don’t say so myself. It started out with the Water Drop for the SE exhibition and wondering if I could use a technical 3d computer program to sculpt milk cartons?  It was a hunch, i did not know quite how it would look. The result has been more than satisfactory for me.

You don’t see something like this in shops, or if you did it would be unaffordable. Such an object would be almost impossible to manufacture in relation to what it is as a functional object.

The nine piece unit is a selected part from the original Water drop. The unit is symmetrical and can be rotated to join up with its diagonally opposite side. From this nine piece unit, develops a large relief pattern that can be as large as you like.

In contrast to the result it is reasonably simple to make, for anyone that can cut along a line. When it starts to combine with more units the relief pattern is very impressive.

‘Design is knowledge, craftsmanship is a state of mind.’

For me this object really helps to prove a point, the cutting does not have to be spot on, the milk cartons join together at the front and most discrepancies in cutting accuracy are pushed to the back, leaving the front edges to line up reasonably well.

It does take a bit of openness to appreciate homemade craftsmanship and you may have to step above what you are used to seeing in glossy magazines. This object actually makes all that quite easy to do. There will be some gaps and human differences, but these give each its own unique sense of life. Everyone who has been around my place and seen them are dumbfounded at how beautiful milk cartons actually are. They once thought that all of them big bin fillers where common everyday rubbish. When in fact, when clean, they are high-density card with a cleanable surface coating.

When i first started working with milk cartons I had an idea that the side edges should always end at the same width as wide sticky tape. So the milk carton graphics could be stylishly hidden by white or colored tape. But no, the various milk carton graphics are quite priceless, they tell a story of time and give originality to the object.

From having made quite a few of these now, I do favour being completely random with what milk carton graphic ends up where. A mixture tends to blend better than a repeated graphic, disrupted by a sudden change of graphic. It is hard to avoid the graphics changing unless, for some reason you buy a large amount of the same type of milk or juice cartons at once.  Milk carton graphics change quite often and soon become vintage and unavailable.

Do as you will, if you really can’t accept packaging graphics, then paint over the side edge.

The units can be attached to the wall or just stood on the floor or a large shelf as an object. You can also use it laid flat as a pot for keeping pens etc, but if you visit this site again soon (join up for reminders! and updates)  you might be able to download a new version, especially developed for acting as a pot or box.

Rumour has it, that a wall full of them would act as sound proofing. Probably for sound going out, rather than in? Try calculating roughly how many milk cartons you will need before getting any big ideas.  Send me a photo if you ever get anywhere near to filling a whole wall. It is designed in a way that you make it nine cartons at a time. Trust me, after making the ‘Water drop’  with near to 500 milk cartons, I know how much space empty milk cartons can take up. It also amazes me, how the danish landscape remains so flat.