The Prologue The Prologue

Look at that setup of Die Hard prints. Mounting putty behind the prints, on the corners and the sides, with brass thumb tacks going into the wall, not through the print, but just to the side of it, over the mounting putty to keep it from peeling off of the wall. It wanted to be something awesome, it was trying, but it was just making a fool of itself on that boring, beige wall.

How barbaric...

That display was plastered just above, and to the left of my TV. I spent the length of a pretty mediocre movie putting them up on the wall, and then later on, a decent TV show adding to it. It's a system I had invented in high school with my movie posters and art prints. It worked just fine for the prints, despite the obnoxious look of the brass tacks, but never really worked on the giant movie posters. Those still always fell to the ground.

While I was never really happy with the look, I liked how I could collage my collection. And, I have to give the system credit, it led to a journey I had no idea I was about to embark on.

During my long stint writing, if I ever had a problem with my story, or hit a mental block, I'd just take a nap. My brain would tackle the problem during the nap, and I'd usually wake up with a fresh perspective on it. That's what happened here. I was relaxing, ready to take a nap before work, and thinking about my display, the challenge of a way to show my pictures off better. When I woke, I had a flash of inspiration. That night at work I started sketching out ideas. Surely something like this had to exist already, my mind told me. My logic reminded me that I had spent a long time online looking for a solution, and none had revealed themselves yet. Maybe I was on to something.

I'm not one to just stand still. If I have an idea, I run with it, and this was no exception. I started working on the design, drawing it out on graph paper, trying to find ways for how it would connect to the wall. I had already ruled out using generic vinyl top loaders for my artwork, they would want to sag for bigger pictures, and they weren't archival safe, anyway. I wanted to preserve my prints, not risk ruining them.

During my youth I spent much time building with Legos. In fact, I still had a giant tub of them. It was time to put them too good use. They gave me the modular ability that I needed to start testing the design out physically. Through that process I tried incorporating the Lego features, since the patent for them had long since expired.

After many sketches I felt like I had a viable product, but I didn't know what to do about it. While in Phoenix, Trina and I stopped at comic con and got to chat with a small company who dealt in 3D printing. They could help me with the design, but I'd need to provide files. And either I could sent over the schematics and pay them to design it, or I could learn a 3D CAD software. Never one to shy away from learning something new, I got software to work with and an afternoon later I was developing the pieces to send to the 3D printing company. Now I just needed a name for my product. Something better than just calling it a poster holder.

Look at that setup of Die Hard prints. Mounting putty behind the prints, on the corners and the sides, with brass thumb tacks going into the wall, not through the print, but just to the side of it, over the mounting putty to keep it from peeling off of the wall. It wanted to be something awesome, it was trying, but it was just making a fool of itself on that boring, beige wall.

How barbaric...

That display was plastered just above, and to the left of my TV. I spent the length of a pretty mediocre movie putting them up on the wall, and then later on, a decent TV show adding to it. It's a system I had invented in high school with my movie posters and art prints. It worked just fine for the prints, despite the obnoxious look of the brass tacks, but never really worked on the giant movie posters. Those still always fell to the ground.

While I was never really happy with the look, I liked how I could collage my collection. And, I have to give the system credit, it led to a journey I had no idea I was about to embark on.

During my long stint writing, if I ever had a problem with my story, or hit a mental block, I'd just take a nap. My brain would tackle the problem during the nap, and I'd usually wake up with a fresh perspective on it. That's what happened here. I was relaxing, ready to take a nap before work, and thinking about my display, the challenge of a way to show my pictures off better. When I woke, I had a flash of inspiration. That night at work I started sketching out ideas. Surely something like this had to exist already, my mind told me. My logic reminded me that I had spent a long time online looking for a solution, and none had revealed themselves yet. Maybe I was on to something.

I'm not one to just stand still. If I have an idea, I run with it, and this was no exception. I started working on the design, drawing it out on graph paper, trying to find ways for how it would connect to the wall. I had already ruled out using generic vinyl top loaders for my artwork, they would want to sag for bigger pictures, and they weren't archival safe, anyway. I wanted to preserve my prints, not risk ruining them.

During my youth I spent much time building with Legos. In fact, I still had a giant tub of them. It was time to put them too good use. They gave me the modular ability that I needed to start testing the design out physically. Through that process I tried incorporating the Lego features, since the patent for them had long since expired.

After many sketches I felt like I had a viable product, but I didn't know what to do about it. While in Phoenix, Trina and I stopped at comic con and got to chat with a small company who dealt in 3D printing. They could help me with the design, but I'd need to provide files. And either I could sent over the schematics and pay them to design it, or I could learn a 3D CAD software. Never one to shy away from learning something new, I got software to work with and an afternoon later I was developing the pieces to send to the 3D printing company. Now I just needed a name for my product. Something better than just calling it a poster holder.