# Artist Decides to Draw Everything in His Grandfather's Toolshed **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980 "2015-07-23T18:55:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/1 "2015-07-23T18:55:27Z")
By ‘everything’ I mean an estimated [10,000 items.](http://twistedsifter.com/2015/07/the-shed-project-by-lee-john-phillips/) Grandpa is gone and this is sort of a tribute to him. I like the idea and I like this guy’s drawings. I hope at some point maybe he’ll show some results of his grandfather’s tinkering. Here is his [website,](http://www.leejohnphillips.com/) with lots more drawings. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/2 "2015-07-24T01:01:35Z")
Reminds me of an exhibition I saw by a Chinese artist. His mother was a hoarder, due to living in extreme poverty, and he got all her stuff and laid it out in order. It was like a memorial tribute to her hard life. It was interesting, and obviously very emotional for him. Maybe the same for this guy, a way of processing grief. Found it. It was Song Dong’s exhibition [Waste Not](http://www.4a.com.au/waste-not/) ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/3 "2015-07-24T03:04:34Z")
That was nice. Thanks for sharing that, **Weedy.** ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/4 "2015-07-24T03:08:02Z")
Yeah, he’s got some personality to his sketches too ---
**Author:** ![XRaeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f14d63/32.png) [@XRaeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XRaeth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/5 "2015-07-24T06:22:30Z")
That be 100,000 items, you missed a 0. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/6 "2015-07-24T09:36:36Z")
You look at all those thousands of objects and collectively they seem like junk. But when you pull out a single item, you can consider how it once had individual value. Somehow a whole emerged that was not only less than the sum of its parts but less than each of the parts. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/7 "2015-07-24T12:15:47Z")
That’s a bit OCD. I like the holding lines\*, though, it makes them more than just a diagram. \*_Or whatever it is you call the bold stroked line around a thin lined illustration._ ---
**Author:** ![BundleOfStix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BundleOfStix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BundleOfStix)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/8 "2015-07-26T03:36:13Z")
Seeing this made my day - thanks for sharing it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/9 "2015-07-26T08:28:24Z")
I wonder if he’ll open a catalog store. I think 433 is the little insert screw I need. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/10 "2015-07-26T09:21:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You look at all those thousands of objects and collectively they seem like junk. But when you pull out a single item, you can consider how it once had individual value. Somehow a whole emerged that was not only less than the sum of its parts but less than each of the parts. Well, not necessarily, I’m sure the bulk of those objects are things like screws, nuts, bolts and nails… you only value those when you are working on something and realize you are missing the one you need. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/11 "2015-07-26T18:05:42Z")
> [@XRaeth](#): > > That be 100,000 items, you missed a 0. Oops, so I did. :smack: This has put me in mind of Pop’s best friend, who was a metal sculptor. He created a lot of weird and cool things that weren’t to everyone’s taste but if you got it, which many people did, then it was great. His workshop was an entire two-car garage plus a good-sized room in back and was utter chaos. Tools and machines, workbenches and shelves and cabinets were all covered with scraps of metal, smaller tools, and odd bits that might come in handy on a sculpture. Over all was generous layer of metal chips, dust and oily grime. He could tell you a story about nearly anything you picked up. It was a wonderful place to visit. A couple of years after he passed, his widow met a new fellow. Marriage followed in due course and they decided to downsize to a condo and get an RV, to boot. A scrap dealer was called in who gave her several hundred dollars for all the metal, and the machines and tools were sold in quick order, too. The sculptures that weren’t sold (including one that measures about 6.5 x 8 feet when assembled) are in storage. Sometimes, though, some get put on display around town when it can be arranged. We have one of his pieces, a commercial fishing boat he made for Pops for his birthday about ten years ago. Pops passed away last year so it now it resides with my sister and me. Each time I look at it, it reminds me of two men I admired so much. Sorry for getting maudlin but I do miss those guys. ---
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/12 "2015-07-26T18:33:50Z")
Just wanted to say thank you to Hopeful Crow, and to Weedy, for those stories. I really enjoyed them. Things that our grandparents and their grandparents used and valued are treasures no matter how simple. My brother and I are lucky to have many family keepsakes. One of my grandfather’s brothers was a tinsmith. We have a ladle he made for their well and a cup. Another brother carved several canes for a third brother who had a limp. My favorite cane is decorated with the names and dates of famous battles, an interest of the injured brother, written in bark with a background of smooth wood. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artist-decides-to-draw-everything-in-his-grandfathers-toolshed/725980/13 "2015-07-26T19:11:14Z")
I bought my house from a widower who had lived here about 70 years. There wasn’t much family and I bought the house as-is and pretty much fully intact. He was a tinkerer and had a very similar workshop. For example, there’s a drawer full of old keys. Another has nothing but fiber and plastic washers. Jars full of nails and screws (why are so many flat-head?!) are all over the place. There’s countless brackets, rings, knobs, valves, and other completely unidentifiable bits and pieces. Remember when windshield washer fluid came in steel bottles? I’ve got some. I couldn’t bear to throw them out and have found dozens of uses for this ‘junk’ around the house over the years.