Saturday, January 25, 2014

Zen And The Art Of Carving An Old Nickel Into A Portrait Of J.D. Wilkes Of The Dirt Daubers

Birth - Life - Death
Hand carved hobo style nickel for JD Wilkes of the Dirt Daubers

Life is all about what you put into it. That's it, plain and simple. If you slouch around and think the world is against you, well, chances are things might not go according to plan. If your wandering thoughts drift towards the abstract and your mind ventures into areas of science and meditative thought, maybe the rationalization of raw energy in its purest form, will light your candle. Within this latent power source of zero point energy, all the potential kinetic energy exists in the ether and it fascinates me to no end.

Is this chatter, just a brain spewing diatribe of random thoughts? Not in the least. What it is and what it boils down to is the realization that doing cool things and having a positive outlook will attract a similar mindset within the latent energy of others. Call it a zen philosophy or maybe just a positive outlook, either or, both are on the money.

From the many posts within this blog there are write ups on all things motors and music, along wtih a hodge podge of information focused on the DIY mindset and work ethic. Rusty Knuckles is not an individual or a singular concept, but rather a collective mindset of the do it yourselfer's who choose to dictate their place in the world, rather than be given directives about how to live.

In this capacity creating anything from scratches on paper in a notebook or a pure thought to pop into your mind is possible. For the photo above, I have been tinkering around with ideas for etching some coins and luckily enough J.D. Wilkes had noticed them and inquired about getting one. All the past coins I have created have just been skulls, but that would be too easy to do again as a gift. I knew for a dude as creative as him, I wanted to try a bit harder and produce something that would challenge my skills. So what the hell, why not go for a portrait and throw the lack of experience to the wind, along with any real engraving tools.

So here are these rambling thoughts in a nutshell. Create work that you enjoy and be humbled by life itself. By having a great attitude, ya never know who might show up knocking on your door to say hello. Life is too damn short for negative or jealous folks, as they are the inverse of zero point energy and create a true black hole. 

Rise above and conquer my friends as there is no second place.




An old Indian head nickel carved into a skull. Sense any sort of irony?
Large batch of Indian nickels scored from ebay ready for carving into new style coins