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| The Gypsy Junker Cabin- built by Derek "Deek" Diedricksen- almost ENTIRELY from roadside junk (except the plastic roofing). Something like this was intended as an idea jump-off point for homeless shelters. |
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As for the real-deal info you might need......
As we've mentioned already, our 2011 Relaxshacks.com Hands-On, Tiny Shelter/House Workshop is SOLD OUT, but we've yet to really post the flow of what we're calling a "One death-wish paced day of tiny house, construction, and thrift/salvage obsession".
So, finally, here's the loose rough-schedule for our workshop (as always, things are subject to change, and we have to be flexible)..... First Off, JUST ANNOUNCED- EACH attendee will be receiving a copy of "Compact Cabins"- a bestselling cabin-plan book from Gerald Rowan! Its a $20 book- and incredible, with 62 small house and cabin plans within. You'll ALSO get the mini-book on Adirondack Pallet Chair construction from Repurposedgoods.com! And more to come....
WHEN: Sat, July 9th- Rain Or Shine....we'll mega-tent the whole thing if we have to.... 8 am to 10pm culminating in a cocktail/wind-up/bonfire on the premises (weather pending).
8:00 AM- 9:00 AM Check In/Coffee/Donuts Meet N' Greet- and on display will be Deek's extensive collection of tiny housing design books- some rare (as long as it isn't raining). This will give our attendees a chance to peruse through many books first hand (there's nothing worse than buying a book online upon arrival finding out that its nothing like you thought it'd be). We'll perhaps set up a few of our home-built solar cookers at this point, and some from solarovens.net as well.
9:00 AM- Deek will give a tour of the micro-cabins on the premises (most featured in "Tiny Yellow House" TV, The NY Times, PBS) and point out many of their salvage-built incorporations, and the ideas behind them. Attendees will be welcome to paw through and go inside each of these structures, while we talk about how they were built, why, and how recycled materials were used.
On hand will most likely be- THE HICKSHAW, THE GYPSY JUNKER, THE BOXY LADY (as Seen at Maker Faire 2010 in NYC (A best in show prize winner/editor's choice)), and possibly THE WEDGIE (a micro-shelter base-model), and THE GOTTAGIDDAWAY (a micro-shelter/small prototype for a pre-fab homeless shelter) -unless any of these are stuck on display elsewhere.
Deek will also take all on a tour of his materials collection and explain as to how certain salvaged items can be put to use and will be incorporated into future projects. The tips/tricks of the trade in terms of salvaging (Deek's road kit) will be shown and talked about too....
UPDATE- it looks like our LARGEST cabin/treehouse (in its prefabricated state) "THE WOLFE'S DEN" will also be on hand- before we drive it out to NY for re-assembling up in a tree.
10:00 AM- Environmental Engineer and Harvard Grad, Dustin "Dr. Demolition" Diedricksen will talk about his experiences in his own small house (featured on CBS news) and give a demonstration on pallet speed-deconstruction and general salvage-harvesting tips (some of the materials of which will be used in the project later in the day). A pallet deck chair from our Make Magazine/TV episode will also be on display, and other uses for pallet wood (and methods to do so) will be talked about. Each attendee will also get a free booklet of pallet-wood adirondack plans from Shelton Davis over at REPURPOSEDGOODS.com - based out of Atlanta.
We'll also showcase/explain our composting toilet set-up- and show the unit that was featured on our RelaxshacksDOTcom youtube channel....and yeah, its what you'll be using- my house is too tiny to accommodate the in and out of 20 or more people all day.
11:00 Alex Pino of TinyHouseTalk.com (coming up here from FL- to speak, report on, and film some of this all day event) will give a presentation on the tiny housing scene and mobile living/codes, and the problems that small home builders/owners face- and ways in which we can overcome some of those hurdles/spacial tips, etc. He'll also talk about his future small house construction aspirations and plans...his career as a full time tiny house addict, and more....
11:30 to12:00- Deek will give a short demonstration on Redneck Windows- building and incorporating salvaged-material, home built windows into your shed, houses, cabin, hunting camp. etc. This, alongside, many other speaking segments, might be filmed for "Tiny Yellow House" TV- which YOU will be part of!
12:00/12:15- 1:00/1:15 (Lunch guest/speaker) MIMI ZEIGER- Author of "Tiny Houses" and "Micro-Green" will be coming out from NYC to talk to us about her work in the tiny housing field, her reporting for Readymade, Dwell, and many other architectural magazines- and her newest tiny house design book. Its a Qn'A session with a woman well versed in the scene.
1:00 or so- to 5:30- After a quick intro on "Tools We Can't Live Without", we'll get crackin' on some hands-on building, and swing some hammers towards constructing our micro-shelter (A VERY affordable ultra-micro-shelter/camp design) and a mini-book of plans, materials lists, sketches, descriptions and more will be given to each attendee as well. "QUICK CAMPS n' LEG CRAMPS" is the name of this mini-book/brainstorm-idea pack, which I really haven't sold or released anywhere else yet (it was up for a very short time in '09)- for workshop attendees ONLY! So that's book #3 you'll be handed- all yours to keep.
This group project will incorporate some outside-the-box design, in conjunction with the usage of many tool and concepts that you'll later be able to employ while building your own structure down the road- all on a micro-scale- so we can attempt to finish the entire project in such a short amount of time. Alternative roofing ideas/examples will be talked about and shown too....
Its a large group, so we'll all have to take turns with the hands-on aspect of things, especially coordination-wise, but even as onlookers, you'll learn a good deal. Space pending. we might have a secondary project/tour in the works, if we split the group up.
If we have time, we'll also touch-upon tricks of the trade, in terms of effective time, money, and labor savors while building your own home, or shelter down the road...
Times (as with all)- get pretty flexible from here on out....
5:30 pm- we take a dinner break (food included)- while TRISTAN CHAMBERS and LIBBY REINISH, builders of THE WHITTLED DOWN CARAVAN (which they recently drove across the entire US!) talk about their project, design, origins, and travels. We'll also get to tour inside this incredible structure as an open-house (we might also be filming for "Tiny Yellow House" as an on-camera interview session conducted by Deek). Please no eating inside their gorgeous caravan! DEF. bring your camera.
6:00/6:30 or so to 9:00- we continue working on our project and finish as much of it as we can! We better bust butt, as Alex Pino of Tinyhousetalk might be the first victim to spend a night in this newly built mini-shelter/tiny house! YOUR work on this might appear both on "Tiny Yellow House" TV on youtube, and on Alex's channel as well I believe- and certainly on a couple blogs.
9:00- 10:00 Laid back BONFIRE and discussion wrap up....
10:00- We all fall into unconsciousness from exhaustion! Session ends....we all part ways, half in comas.
ALSO ON DISPLAY TO SEE DURING SIGN-IN AND BETWEEN SEGMENTS (weather and time pending as we have WAY TOO MUCH crammed into this day already......
-"The $3.00 Hammock- from an unaired RelaxshacksDOTcom episode) - perfect for space saving in tiny houses.
-A Simple, homemade, folding, solar shower rig....also great for seasonal vacation camps.
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Note: As we're filming many parts of this workshop for tens of thousands of people to later see, we're also looking for sponsors to help us cover the costs, materials, crew, food, etc- that all go along with hosting such an event. In turn, you or your co/product will be showcased in these videos, and you'll be exposed to many, many people... kidcedar at gmail dot com if interested.
-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen
