A Golden Age for Projects

Hey, friends! I had a couple of creative irons in the fire this week, so this might be a little shorter than usual. Either way, let’s get into it!

In the video below, Mark Smith of Smyth Performance says,

This is the golden age of being someone who fixes things.

He explains that he recently purchased a plasma cutter for only $68—a necessary tool for any car guy that used to cost hundreds of dollars. He says perfectly drivable used cars are available for only a few thousand dollars.

He further explains that if something is wrong with that car and you don’t know how to fix it, there are multiple YouTube tutorials that walk you through every step.

Interestingly, he points out that despite tools and knowledge being more freely available than ever before, fewer and fewer people are doing this sort of thing, which means that if you are one of these people, you’re somewhat rare.

Watch the full video below:

I love this whole video, and even if you’re not much of a car guy, his point is equally valid in other creative spaces. Tools, resources, and the information on how to do almost anything are amazingly accessible.

A lot of the time here, I discuss creativity in terms more aligned with the fine arts or divergent creative thinking, where expression and possibility are more openly explored, but that’s not the only type of creativity. Convergent creative thinking, or working within constraints, asking yourself, “How could this work?” instead of “What could this be?” is a form of creativity that should, in my opinion, be equally celebrated.

Both are rooted in curiosity, and my hope, as a father and teacher, is to inspire my kids and students to be curious in either creative way to take advantage of this golden era.

Mark is a great reminder of that.

I’m not done with Mark yet.

His company, Smyth Performance, sells kits that let you convert new VW Beetles (albeit 20-year-old new Beetles) into super rad pickup trucks. Basically, you buy a used Beetle for a few grand, cut the back half completely off, and bolt on an aluminum pickup bed and fiberglass fenders.

Check out a picture of it below:

I remember learning about kits like these as a kid. My dad told me about them when I was little, and my local library had a picture book about these 70s-era car guys who turned old-school VW Beetles into dune buggies, wild-looking race cars, and faux DeLoreans. Even as a kid, it bothered me that this segment of car culture disappeared, but I guess as cars became more complicated with sensors, fuel injectors, tight engine bays, and overly burdensome safety protocols, people stopped doing wild things to their cars.

Or so I thought. It turns out Mark Smith is bringing it back.

When my boys are a little older, I would love to take on a project like this!

I found a great post on Threads from a guy named Mohamed. It’s simple and awesome. I’ve shared a screenshot of it below. You can see the original here.

I love when creative people geek out over little things, and it’s hard for me to imagine something littler to geek out over than the color white, and while this is something I’ve never given much thought to, I have to admit, each of these whites is better than regular old white.

And if you thought that was cool, just wait until you see his follow-up: Better blacks than black:

I know this reads as sarcastic, but I actually love this!

For a while, I’ve wanted to implement the Japanese woodworking finishing technique known as Shou Sugi Ban, in which you burn the outer layer of wood, wire-brush the soot away, and coat it in finishing oil.

Last weekend I actually did. Take a look at the gallery below to see:

I also made a short video of the results below. I can’t wait to finish the build and hear what this thing sounds like!

I wasn’t totally sure how to go about this, but like Mark Smith said in the first section, I figured it out online.

Okay, that’s about it for this week! Have a great weekend!

One of my goals is to foster a greater sense of community with this newsletter. As such, I’d love to know what creative things you are up to and to feature them here.

Drop me a line via email or in the comments below to let me know what you have cooking. Can’t wait to hear about it.

Until next time,

—Mike