The Draft Staff
Spending time out in nature really inspires the internal MacGyver to make do with what's available, to innovate a bit and build a perfect little world that supports my every whim.
One of my recent innovations is "The Draft Staff," a sort of wizard's staff for artists (correction: this artist).
While developing the aesthetic for the Pinyon Pine Series, I was sitting in my comfy car seat, looking through the windshield at the vast landscapes beneath Mt. Whitney and the rolling peaks of the White Mountains. It was a good situation, sitting and sketching comfortably in my car, but once it was time to stare the pinyon pine directly in the...leaf...I realized I had a problem on hand.
I could grip my drawing board while I stand and sketch (meh); I could sit down in my camp chair and bend forward to study my subject (okay, but not ideal); or I could use some sort of stand. And instead of buying something pre-made, why not get crafty?
The Draft Staff version 1 certainly isn't perfect. I expect to iterate on it further (ideas discussed below). But it does serve my needs purdy darn well, and how janky it is!
The core element of The Draft Staff is a used trekking pole I picked up at Mammoth Gear Exchange in Bishop, and a strange plumbing piece, some Gorilla Tape, and Velcro I picked up at Ace Hardware.
The Draft Staff connection
Holding the board while The Draft Staff supports
The length of the trekking pole can be adjusted - an important aspect for the whole thing to work well - and it was necessary that I could easily remove the handle on the trekking pole to expose an even, plain surface to attach the plumbing feature, which really just serves as a transition between the pole and the flat (albeit tiny) surface the Velcro is attached to.
The plumbing feature is just some random combination of male and female PVC parts that happened to fit the top of the trekking pole nice and snug without pushing through.
I fastened the plumbing feature to the pole with several wraps of Gorilla tape and added Velcro to the bottom of my drawing board, right in the center.
I also added Velcro to the base of my primary pencils (Staedtler 3H, H, & F) and to my sharpener and added a strip of Velcro to the top of the board. All the utensils hang fast, and I'm happy. My kneaded eraser is malleable so I just mash it into the spring that holds down the paper pad.
The setup
My drawing tools: Staedtlers be Velcro’d
The whole thing cost $32 bucks or something around that. I have a bunch of left over tape and Velcro. Both are very useful to have on hand, so really it was even cheaper.
With the board sitting on the tiny Velcro, as long as the weight balances in the center and I'm holding the board with my left hand, it's quite reliable. I'm using very little effort to keep it up, and I can even balance the board further against my chest or bear a good amount of weight on the center of it.
The downside of the whole system is that it relies on interacting with it and holding it to remain upright. It's a start but it's not ideal, so the next version I have in mind is to build a sort of keeled boat - in concept…
I’m thinking about designing something that uses a sack full of dirt at the base to hold down a pole with legs, and to add a much more solid connection at the top to support the board, so I can step away from the drawing board and the whole thing can remain upright. Ideally I can lean it toward me and when I step away it will right itself, and can even stay upright on uneven ground... this is the dream.
Why not a tripod? Yeah, tripods work but they serve their share of frustrations: the legs are easily kicked out and tripped over, require a fair bit of adjustment on terrain, and if you put weight on them toward certain angles they're unstable. The cheap ones are usually super light and tip over at the slightest bump and the heavier duty tripods are necessarily more expensive because of material cost.
Plus it's just cool to wield something I made that also lends to making art. Sure my legs get a bit tired while I stand and sketch, but I also make up for that by stretching my legs apart, which tends to save me from needing to practice my (half) splits in the evenings.
As a result, I feel like a wizard - an art wizard - wielding a staff of unlimited potential (okay maybe I'm exaggerating that last part).
“None shall pass!”