Hmmm. 

Totally forgot about my blog. 

Sorry. 

Photo test. 

  
Nice. 

Sadly, there isn’t a new update this week for the conversion project.

[insert usual excuses here]

I should be able to make some legit movement again this weekend.

BUT!
Before I get back to work, I am making a pit-stop at Motor-City Comic Con.
I skipped last years con entirely, and even though the show had gotten kinda stale and expensive, I was surprised by how bummed I was by passing on it.
I guess I’m a creature of habit.

Thanks to a hook-up from a friend I’m hitting the Con floor again on Saturday.

Hell, I may even blog about the con.

I guess we’ll see.

Sorry ’bout phoning in a post so soon. I’ll try to not make a habit of it.

-Justin Z-

As you may have noticed, part one of this project didn’t have all that much in the way of progress.
It had to serve more of the “explain the project” purpose, and those of you that made it all the way through it will be nice and up-to-speed.

Those who didn’t read it yet, go do it now, we’ll wait for you.

Part 2 will cover insulating the interior, and figuring out a drain spout/hole.

A quick trip to Salvation Army and Home Depot resulted in this fly-ass pile of materials.

That insulation foam board was originally quite large but just under $10.00 (for the 1/2in thickness). The 2 pipe fittings were approx $1.50 each, and the book was only $.90 and that’s for a possible cosmetic option later-on.

A “pro” tip: the fine workers at Home Depot will help you a ton if you let them/ask them to.
In a situation like this one, where I wasn’t sure at all what I wanted to use, I decided to forgo waving down an orange apron and spent my time sifting through the pipe fittings ’till I found a solution I liked.

BUT, When it came to the foam, I approached the nearest orange blur and asked for help.

These sheets are 8ft long.
I drive a sunfire, and I wasn’t about to borrow a truck for this.

Luckily I had taken all of my measurements before venturing out, so I knew that if I asked them to cut it into roughly 2ft sections it would still handle my needs, as well as fit in my car.
I say “roughly 2ft” because the guy helping certainly me wasn’t going out of his way… Luckily I had a fair amount of play in the 2ft measurement.

These ended up being my best friends for a few hours:

A garage sale T-Square, a Sharpie, a tape measure, and an everyday run-of-the-mill box cutter.

Always try to at least START the cutting by measuring from a factory edge, it helps cut down on waste, as well as eliminates several needless cuts. (Those are going to happen a ton anyway.)

I decided I wanted the floor of the cooler to be one solid piece that spanned edge to edge… to edge.

I then spent an hour or two measuring and cutting the sides. I decided to make the short sides span edge to edge as well, that way the long edge pieces will help hold them in place.

Finishing all four sides meant it was time to move on to the drain hole.
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Let it be known that I used to be actively handy/crafty/makey.

Those days seem so long ago now…

This potentially rad-as-hell project will, hopefully, get me back in the swing of things.

I am lucky enough to live in a “rustic” loft in notorious downtown Flint Michigan.

I’ve been in this apartment for several years and I still occasionally find instances where the limits of one-room-living rear their annoying head.

One such instance involves entertaining, ice, and cold beverage storage.

You might be able to ramble over to the hall closet and grab the ol’ igloo cooler, sit it on the kitchen floor and call it good.

Well, fuck you.

I don’t have a spot for a neon colored plastic uni-tasker inside my 4 walls.

I need something that can be left out in the open when not in use and NOT look like I’m perpetually unpacking from a cook out.

Enter, the antique trunk to beer cooler conversion.

Now, I am pulling this project straight out of my ass, so it may fail miserably.

I am also chronicling it in “real time” so I’m not allowing myself mulligans between posts. You’re going to see the R&D as it happens (or doesn’t, I may completely lose interest).

The quick and dirty concept here is:
Refurb the trunk as needed to make it structurally sound.
Work in a drain spout.
Add a layer of foamboard insulation.
Cover that with fiberglass.
Style the whole thing as needed.
Test it out and hope the whole process wasn’t a damn waste of time.

On to part one, assessing the trunk.

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Pic plus a jump?

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Testing the ease of posting from the phone.

gonna be funking with the theme, and trying to flesh this badboy out a bit in the next few weeks.

I’ve got a few rare White Zombie records up for auction this week.

The proceeds of these auctions are going to pay to kick-start a few small projects for the next few months.

Tell your friends!

-Justin Z-

Here it is, the first “real” post since I decided to forward my domain to this wordpress.com blog.

Edits and upgrades to come as I have the time / knowledge.

I just needed a blogging outlet….gotta let this stuff outta my head.

So, look forward to some random observations, funky reviews , or just random pics of things I see in my travels.

-Justin Z-