Standing in the most beautiful workshop I'd ever set foot in at nearly midnight, a famous sculptor once said to me: "Time means nothing to me."
Horrified, I could only think of how I exemplify the exact opposite of this mentality. My whole schtick in life is finding the intersection where the least amount of effort will produce the most amount of effect. In this way I make my living impersonating a "real" artist, and nobody is usually the wiser. Sometimes, however, when an aesthetic is compelling enough and simply cannot be cheated, it's time to put my nose to the grindstone and pay the toll that beauty requires.
Horrified, I could only think of how I exemplify the exact opposite of this mentality. My whole schtick in life is finding the intersection where the least amount of effort will produce the most amount of effect. In this way I make my living impersonating a "real" artist, and nobody is usually the wiser. Sometimes, however, when an aesthetic is compelling enough and simply cannot be cheated, it's time to put my nose to the grindstone and pay the toll that beauty requires.
The problem with replacing the shower pan in the Airstream is that it sits in an eccentric radius curved corner and there is just no simple way to build one and no aftermarket product available. A mortared and tiled pan just seemed like the wrong thing for a floor that would be bouncing down the highway, so after much consternation I came to the dismaying conclusion that wood was what I wanted to go with.
After planing down some de-nailed scrap boards and some left over cedar from the kayak shop, I built a couple jigs and fired up the table saw for 6 LONG hours, resulting in what can only be described as a testament to being somewhere on the autistic spectrum. When I was finally done at midnight I'd created a 72 inch circle of perfect staves, all of them tapering evenly from 1 1/4 inch square to just 1/16th inch square. I chose a fairly aggressive drain pitch of 1/2 inch per foot because I have my doubts that the trailer will always be sitting level when I bathe.
Even with all that work in, I was skeptical that I could get all of the now warping and twisting pieces actually glued together, but with the help of a friend, a big rock and 6 hours, we were able to finally get the circle complete. Two days later I trimmed it to the final shape, sanded it down, and flooded the entire thing with four thick layers of epoxy. Not the easiest thing I've ever made, but sometimes you just have to take the hard way.
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