Ruben Bolling, Cartoonist

Cool Tools Show 302: Ruben Bolling

Our guest this week is Ruben Bolling. Ruben is the author of Tom the Dancing Bug, the weekly comic strip that appears on websites and newspapers across the country, and premiers every week on BoingBoing. The comic is a Herblock Prize winner, an RFK Journalism Award winner, and was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in 2019 and 2021. You can Ruben on Twitter @rubenbolling.

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Show notes:

LITENERGY Portable Tracing LED Copy Board Light Box ($20)
Any artist can find a light box useful. You can draw something on paper and then you put it on the light box and put the final paper you’re going to use. I use very heavy Bristol board. You put that on top of it, turn the light on, and then you can see through the paper. It’s a way of tracing with a light underneath. I’ve always had this clunky light box for years. It was given to me as a present when I first started cartooning. And it must be like four inches thick with an actual light bulb inside. Obviously, I do each drawing, but at least I have an outline for where the head is going to go and the arms and everything, because I didn’t want to pencil it and then draw it. It just saved me a lot of time when I was doing this. So this thing has been just a real lifesaver for me. It’s a tool I have become very dependent on.

uni Kuru Toga Advance Rotating Mechanical Pencil ($7)
A mechanical pencil that I use with blue led for penciling my comic, the uni Kuru Toga Advance, and then for inking, I use Sakura Pigma pens. For decades, when I started, my drawing procedure was to draw with a very hard lead pencil and then ink over that with a rapidograph ink pen and then erase the pencil so that what I ended up with was exactly what the comic would be, what it would look like. And a few years ago, I went to a gallery show of the work of Chris Ware, he’s like this great cartoonist whose work I just love. I saw that he uses non-photo blue pencil and then inks over that as part of it and then leaves the blue pencil in the original, and it comes out in their reproduction process. So I decided, “Well, this is the way a real cartoonist works.” And so I just suddenly switched, inspired or copying him, I switched to this mechanical pencil with blue lead and micron pens.

Sakura Pigma 30062 Micron Blister Card Ink Pen Set ($12)
The pens are just fantastic. There’s so much easier than rapidographs. They’re just a marker and they’re cheap. And the minute they lose their boldness, you just chuck them. I scan it into my computer and then I can remove the blue, there’s a process to remove all of any color, and then I’m left with the the black inking. And then I start the coloring process on the computer, another manipulation I do on the computer.

AllTrails app
AllTrails is an app that I found over this summer. This app is great for hikes. It shows all the trails in your vicinity and has very useful maps for each one. And unlike most online comics, the user comments for these are actually really helpful with really good tips. So before you start your hike, you can like find out tips about what you want to do, and what you don’t; some problems you may run into. We just got back from our first trip in the pandemic and we went to Arizona and we did a lot of hiking there. And we used this app on the hikes there. And there was one hike that was really hard to stay on the trail. I’m terrible at that. If I come to a spot, I never know which way the trail goes until I realize until I’m in the middle of a bush or something, then I have to backtrack and try to find the trail. But you know, on this one hike, we miraculously had cell service the whole way in the middle of nowhere. So if we took a wrong step, I’d see it on the map that our little blue dot was moving away from the trail and within steps, we’d get back on the trail. AllTrails may not be the most natural way to do this, but it really, it saved us.

Check out TOM THE DANCING BUG, WITHOUT THE BAD ONES:

31 years in the making, this book collects the top, most popular, most talked-about, most important, most Tom-the-Dancing-Bug comics in Tom the Dancing Bug’s history. Imagine the thrill of reading and owning the award-winning and award-losing comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug, distilled into one handsome tome containing only its scientifically determined very, very, VERY* best.
*VERY!!!

Any Shaped Hole with a Regular Drill?

Gareth's Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales - Issue #101

Are you building any cool haunts or elaborate costumes for Halloween? If so, please send me pictures and I may run them in the coming weeks.

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As always, if you have tips, tool recommendations, favorite maker jargon/slang, or feedback, please share with me.

Any Shaped Hole with a Regular Drill?

Here’s some fascinating proto-CNC cutting from the 19th century. The parser (or passer) drill was a bow-type drill, held against your belly, that used a template to cut a shape into wood (for things like inlay work). In this Pask Makes video, he forges his own parser drill and tests it out on several template designs (that he also fashioned). I especially appreciate that he uses simple tools (blow torch, belt sander, anvil) to create the drill. And the resulting drill bit, which can be chucked into any electric drill, works beautifully.

The parser drill profile.

Tip Reminder: Tape for Holding Small Parts

Here’s an oldie but goodie. When you’re disassembling many small pieces of hardware, use the sticky side of a wide piece of painter’s tape to hold the parts securely on your bench. You can even organize and label them to make reassembly easier. And don’t forget the trick of sticking wide painter’s tape to your benchtop to act as a disposable palette when mixing epoxies. [Image from the Acme Tools’ Instagram]

App for Nesting Vector Files

Via Donald Bell’s Maker Update, I learned of SVGnest, an open-source, browser-based app for figuring out how many parts you can fit onto a sheet of material for laser- and CNC cutting. It can set shapes within shapes and you can even adjust for the kerfing width between objects.

Protecting SD Cards for Use in Raspberry Pi

On Andreas Spiess’ YouTube channel, the ever-clever Swede Swiss looks at options for protecting SD cards used in Raspberry Pi computers. SD cards are a cheap and common storage solution, but they’re not really designed for constant write cycles. Also, the cards can be corrupted if the Pi loses power and is not properly shut down. To overcome these issues, Andreas looks at several solutions and the option of using an SSD (solid-state drive) instead.

Watch Your Step
Several lifetimes ago, I was a manager in a hammock-weaving shop. One of the other managers was absolutely obsessed with efficiency. At the time, his constant examination of every footstep, arm gesture, and repetitive motion seemed over-the-top and compulsive. But I’ve never forgotten the basic idea he harped on: to be mindful of the steps you take, the order and location of tools and materials around you, and your execution of the task at hand – always asking yourself: “Is this the best way to do this?” This was also the guy who used to say “Work the cube,” meaning to consider and utilize the full volume of a give workspace. I’ve never forgotten that, either.

Doodling on a Theme

In a recent video, Bill Mullaney of the YouTube channel, Bill Making Stuff, offered up some useful advice on what he does when he wants to spark and sustain his creativity. In talking about the joys of keeping a sketchbook, he offers a fun drawing exercise. He creates a grid across two pages and starts anywhere on that grid by doodling a creature or object (he likes drawing robots). After doodling the first robot, he picks some aspect of it that he particularly likes and carries that over to the next square. Drawing the second bot, he carries a favorite part of that into a third square, and so on, until the entire grid is full. Wonderful idea. Cool Tools‘ Mark Frauenfelder does similar doodling on a theme.

Noteable Quotables

“Don’t fight forces, use them.” – Buckminster Fuller

“Let glue dry!” – Laura Kampf

(Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here. — editors)

Twin Line Flossers

Two parallel lines of floss

I hate flossing. Or at least I used to. The options out there were all mediocre at best:

–floss, both standard, and dental tape hurts my fingers

–the wand that you add floss to doesn’t keep the floss tight (Reach Access Flosser)

–the pre-flossed plastic handles have the same issue: floss gets loose after a while.

–I tried Brush Picks as someone else on Cool Tools has suggested. They were better but didn’t actually work as well as floss.

Then my brother-in-law introduced me to Plackers. They took the same idea of the pre-flossed plastic handles, and just ran the floss twice. With this arrangement, the floss doesn’t droop, get loose, or anything — and I can easily floss. My dentist is shocked at how good my teeth look when I come in. These things rock.

G7th Capo

Best guitar capo

This is the best capo on Earth. The unique one-way cam lets you adjust tension in tiny increments with a squeeze. Unlike every other capo I’ve used, it can apply enough tension to cleanly fret the string without bending it sharp. Works on acoustic and electric instruments equally well. The build and finish quality are absolutely superb. The G7th capo is a brilliant piece of gear for the discerning guitarist.

(This is a Cool Tools Favorite from 2005 — editors)

What’s in my gym bag? — Jordan Calhoun

What’s in my … ? issue #125

Sign up here to get What’s in my bag? a week early in your inbox.

Jordan Calhoun is Editor-in-Chief at Lifehacker and host of the podcast, The Upgrade. A Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, he holds a B.A. in Sociology and Criminal Justice, B.S. in Psychology, and an M.P.A. in Public Policy. His memoir, Piccolo Is Black, is available for pre-order in December. He lives in New York City.

During the worst of the pandemic, my gym bag was obsolete. Even when gyms re-opened, it took a while before my office building did, so my thoughtfully-packed bag collected dust in a corner of my closet. Now that life is a little closer to normal though, my gym bag has made its grand return.

Aside from the obvious gym clothes and shoes, here are 4 things I keep in my gym bag at all times: a jump rope, GRID foam roller, shower slippers with a toiletries kit, and wireless headphones.

GRID foam roller and jump rope

Skipping Rope with Ball Bearings ($9)
Some gyms have jump ropes you can borrow, but it’s great to have my own to avoid worrying about having the right rope length. I’m 6’2″, so shorter ropes just don’t work for me. (If you’re wondering how to find the right jump rope length, just hold the handles in your hands and step one foot right in the middle of your rope. The handles should come right up to your armpits.)

TriggerPoint GRID Foam Roller ($35)
Most gyms have foam rollers, but they’re often the softer ones that are made entirely of foam. The GRID foam roller has a solid core and is a great upgrade once the softer foam rollers start to feel boring.

Toiletry bag, headphones and slides

Adidas Adissage Slides ($30)
I keep a dedicated pair of Adidas Adissage slides in my gym bag for showering at the gym, along with a toiletries kit that has most of what you’d expect: soap, face wash, deodorant, lotion, and so on. I always keep extra pairs of socks and extra hair ties, too.

Insignia Noise Canceling Over-The-Ear Headphones ($50)
Lastly, a personal must-have at the gym is wireless headphones. I don’t spend a lot of money on fancy ones — these $50 Insignia over-the-ear noise-cancelling headphones have been perfect for me and have been working great for years.

(What's in your ...? We want to hear about unusual and unusually useful items that you have in your desk, bag, closet, fridge or where ever you keep things. It can be anything really: work bag, pantry shelf, beauty drawer, toolbox, etc. Start by sending an email to [email protected] with a photo of the things in your chosen space (you can use your phone). If you get a reply from us, fill out the form. We’ll pay you $50 if we run your submission in our What’s in my ...? newsletter and blog. — editors)

Spectacular pop-up books/Tiny speaker/Computer cleaning tools

Recomendo Shorts #15

Recomendos:

Beauty & the Beast: A Pop-up Book of the Classic Fairy Tale
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs : The Definitive Pop-Up
dodocool Wireless Speaker Mini Portable Bluetooth Speakers
OXO Good Grips Keyboard & Screen Deep Clean
OXO Good Grips Sweep & Swipe Laptop Cleaner

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What’s in my gym bag? — Jordan Calhoun