What a Week

I wanted to circle back to the tote bag I was planning to make from my last post, because not only did I actually make it, but the bag might honestly be one of my favorite things I’ve ever made. I’m ridiculously excited to share it. I’m doing a couple of photoshoots with friends this week to show it off properly, and I already have a making-of video filmed. I’m just waiting to get everything together, but that’ll be up for sale too — easily my most luxurious piece yet (I made whole batch of new wallets too. Photos are at the bottom of the post, and these and more will be available in the shop soon).

This week also brought fresh developments on the Bad Egg starter-motor front. The starter I ordered after the last Bad Egg post had the wrong number of teeth, and apparently the exact one I need (the 84/85 Spree starter with exactly 10 teeth) doesn’t exist anywhere in the known universe. So I did the only reasonable thing: I dove into the forums, had no luck, and then went even deeper… cold calling people in Facebook groups.

I eventually found a guy in Alabama selling several Sprees. He had his number listed, so I called to see if he had any starters lying around or if he knew anyone who did. He answered with the energy of a man whose phone has rung too many times in his life — a very “What do you want?” vibe — but then he kept saying things like, “I got enough parts to build a hundred of these old scooters whatever you need I’ll take care of you.” When I asked to buy one, he basically said, “No, I’ll just ship it to you, don’t worry about it.” Unfriendly and kind at the same time. Funky combo.

It was Thanksgiving, so he told me, “It’ll take a couple days, don’t get impatient, I gotta take care of my family first. But I gotchu.” Again: aggressively gruff, surprisingly generous.

Fast forward to after Thanksgiving… and it turns out he actually didn’t have any of the motors. HAHAHAHA. But he gave me the idea to Frankenstein the 11-tooth version together with the armature and 10 tooth part from mine, which is exactly what I’m going to try. I’ll make a video about that, and probably another one explaining how a starter motor actually works because it’s honestly a perfect example of a brushed DC motor and what an incredible inventions.

Other than that, this weekend I officially launched my art account and this site! So if you’re here reading this: thank you, and welcome.

QC