[UPDATE 10/21/2021 -After 2018 I started posting my updates on my Patreon page, and so I'm filling in the back-logs for this project retroactively so the whole story is in both places. You can also read all of these posts with their original photo formatting here]

January 31st, 2020

Hello wonderful patrons! This month I've been hard at work getting the Metabolizer ready for the Portland Winter Light Festival! 

My goal for the Metabolizer has always been a fully open-source waste-to-everything system that can turn trash into useful things, like electricity, warmth, hot water, 3D printed objects, and good vibes.

This installation will be my first attempt at actually doing that! And since it's winter, a pretty essential part of that installation is making a canopy that can shelter the Metabolizer from wind and rain.

So this month I spent your money buying the material to build a prototype of a universal canopy system I've been working on for a while. The panels in the picture above are light, cheap, and can be configured in a lot of different ways to make different shapes.

They're cut out of coroplast sheets, which are widely available and made out of Polypropylene, which means I can recycle the off-cuts and feed them to the Trash Printer. 

I was up late last night cutting out the panels on my friends GIGANTIC laser cutter. Each panel takes about 3 minutes, and I have about 150 panels....soooo... I still have some more to do.

But if you're in Portland, come check out the Metabolizer at the Portland Winter Light Festival, February 6, 7, and 8, just south of OMSI, and you can see them for yourself!

Thanks as always for your support, and stay tuned to see how it all comes out!