For the last few years I have been trying to end the year on a good note. I always try to do something creative that I can share with others, often family. I started this a few years ago when I made a barbecue sauce. I am never happy with barbecue sauces. They are usually too sweet or not tangy enough so I spent a year working on a sauce. I constantly tweaked it until I was happy with it. That Christmas I designed a label and called it Uncle Jerry’s Wild Hair BBQ. I spent hours drawing and redrawing pictures of rabbits and hares until I got it just right. I made up a huge batch, bottled them and gave them to friends and family as gifts. I kind of put myself out there for the first time. Up until that point I always doubted my own abilities and would keep my art and ideas to myself. Some of it is a confidence issue and some of it is an issue of trying to be humble. I think I value humility so much that sometimes I cannot acknowledge when I actually do something good or worthwhile. Maybe I’m just afraid of failure and putting myself out there will just prove what I have always believed for so long. Regardless, after hearing all the praise and the requests for more I can confirm my BBQ sauce is a hit. So every year I try to do something that is unique to me. Share something that I have created. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do this year until it struck me to create an ornament that could commemorate the joy this year has brought…
I turned this thing around so quick I surprised myself. I came up with the idea while driving. I initially thought of doing a dumpster on fire but that seemed a little to “on-the-nose” and as I was driving I looked over to a park and saw a Port-o-Potty. As soon as I got home I did a quick sketch. After the kids where in bed I got to work. I did the drawing, inking and high-res scan that night and got to work cleaning up the digital image. By the next morning I had my final production file ready. I stayed after work to get them all printed and cut.
Need a door?
Just over 24 hours after I conceived of the idea I had my limited run of 20 done. The next step took considerably longer. I had to design a box. The box took a couple days to settle on. I went through different styles and stocks. I made a couple flip-top boxes made of corrugated cardboard. I made one with a lift-off top that didn’t work as corrugated which lead me to work with a lighter chipboard. I then settled on a slipbox concept…
After building 3 prototypes I finally got all the measurements and proportions right. The final step was to print the final design and assemble them. I’m glad I decided to limit them to 20. The box assembly has been grueling. I have spent the last 5 nights working through them all. The good and bad thing about spending all that time doing mind-numbing construction is I have time to think about the project. I came up with a more suitable packing material and I even decided to do a special sticker to go along with the ornament. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.
I would love to send these to everyone but the shipping costs are kind of ridiculous so if you would like an ornament you have to let me know. Email (jerry@knitdogproductions.com) me to hit me up on Facebook or Twitter.