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Closed – Photo 52 Project [Week 35]

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I went to Chicago again for Labor day weekend. There is no shortage of beautiful things to photograph there. On Sunday, I captured some great photos of adorable children playing in Crown Fountain, passionate musicians at the Chicago Jazz Festival, and a lot of wonderful architecture. That night, I went out alone to get a picture of the clock on the Chicago board of trade building, but on the way I saw a man in a wheelchair.

His head was down, parallel with the sidewalk below him. He was tucked into the most private corner he could find, facing inward like boy taking his punishment. He was sound asleep so I took my pictures a fast as I could and kept my distance as not to disturb him. It must be agonizing to have to sleep outside in a city where weekend murders can climb to double digits on a regular basis. I swear I have never hear a louder shutter from a camera before. I couldn’t have been in position more than 10 seconds before scurrying away to the comfort and safety of my 4 star hotel. While I slept comfortably, high above any problems below, he would stay there all night, vulnerable to whatever fate the city wanted to conjure up for him.

The next morning, I woke naturally, rested and refreshed. Upon venturing out again, this poor man was around the corner, not 30 feet from the spot he had just called home the night before. He was missing both legs from the knee down. The man was collecting money in a cup on the ground and I didn’t even throw a nickel. I walked past and tried not to make eye contact with the man who unknowing would be the subject of “Week 35 in Ryan’s photo 52 project.”

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Torch – Photo 52 Project [Week 33]

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Oh, Pinterest. Pinterest. Pinterest. Pinterest. Pinterest and my girlfriend are to thank for this weeks picture and project. It started when I saw that we had an empty bottle of Knob Creek Bourbon. I saved the bottle a while back and today I decided to do something with it but needed ideas. Mari Ann went right to Pinterest like a prospector to gold and found we could turn it into either a light or a torch. The light involved wiring and cutting glass so I opted for the torch. Also, it would only cost me $3 so it was nice and cheap.

All you need for this simple project is:

Wash and remove any labels or plastic from the liquor bottle so you are left with just glass. The opening on a standard bottle should be about 1/2″ in diameter. Freeze the coupling to shrink it just a bit and then immediately fit it about half way into the opening of the bottle. Heating the glass opening will help the copper to expand faster when it touches the glass. It should just hold itself in with friction. You should not have to force the copper coupler in. Use the copper cap to snuff out the flames. A bonus addition would be to drill a hold near the bottom of the cap and tie a little bit of twine to it an the neck of the bottle to keep the parts together and enhance the look.

With this project, I heated the glass opening with my gas grill and I ended up cracking the opposite side a little so I need to heat it less and not bang it on my grill grates next time. If you want the copper to have an aged look like in the picture, throw it on a grill on high heat for a few minutes.

If you noticed, the picture is of a Disaronno bottle and not Knob Creek. After noticing that the coupler would not quite fit in the opening I thought, “I’ll heat it up and that way it will be soft and I can gingerly hammer it in.” I got the coupler really hot on on my grill (I know I need to get a torch) and started to put it in. At first it worked ok but the fit was tight. I kept seating it farther down until the side cracked and my project was spoiled. Not wanting to come up empty handed, I played musical booze and emptied our last shot of tequila into my belly and the last half of the bottle of Disaronno into the tequila bottle. Now, our liquor cabinet is booby trapped with almond flavored “tequila.”