box vox

Can Cars: 2 types

On left: this photo of Stephen Hooper’s “Canvertible” car is from Sweet n' Sour’s Flickr Photostream; On right: Sandy Sanderson’s “Buggy”

Following the threads of vehicular packaging (and other beverage can vehicles)... Here are two types of aluminum can car:

1. The Canvertible by NJ-based art car guy, Stephen Hooper (AKA: Hoop). His Canvertible is a Fiat 850 decorated with aluminum cans, and although he has a penchant for gold and silver spray paint, some of the original beverage branding does show through in spots.

Mr. Hooper, who goes by the name Hoop, is an artist who uses cars as canvas, making what he considers a public art form. He refuses to give his age, but when a garbage collector who stopped to gawk at his works guessed 45, he allowed that it was not a bad estimate. He has created dozens of car-based artworks over the last 15 years, sometimes putting the same vehicle through several incarnations.

The consistent threads in his works are imagination, recyclable materials and contact cement. Beyond that, every creation is one of a kind, and usually relates to more traditional artwork he is doing at the time...

...Although he used to work in studios in Manhattan, on 14th Street and Prince Street, Mr. Hooper returned a few years ago to the Clifton house he grew up in when his mother had a stroke and needed care.

His vehicles, unusual in any setting, seem all the more surprising on his prototypical suburban New Jersey street.

Artist Takes the Ordinary For an Extraordinary Spin
By Roberta Zeff
The New York Times, Sunday, October 22, 2000

2. Buggy is a model of a beach buggy made by New Zealand-based Sandy Sanderson from 30 Waikato Beer cans. For Sanderson, the beverage branding is a key feature of his “can cars.”

When I was 40 years old I started to play the electric bass and joined a local band for more than 12 years. This led me to change from model aeroplanes to designing and building electric stringed instruments. It had been my intention to retire from teaching and carry on full time as a luthier.

Unfortunately, I had an accident on the bike that shattered my left wrist. This required reconstructive surgery, 4 plates, 8 screws, and a bone graft off the hip, to fix it. The great news is that I can still ride the bike and do stuff like that. The not so great news is that I have lost the sensitivity, fine control, and strength that was there previously. No more working with woodworking power tools! No more sensitive bass riffs!

While I was off work recovering from the accident I picked up the drawing instruments and started taking a serious look at the Coruba and Cola cans that I had held back from the recycler. I have seen pictures of some very fine model aircraft made from drinks cans but they had the plain aluminum from the inside of the cans on the outside of the model. This defeats the purpose of using the drinks can as far as I am concerned. You want everyone who looks to be able to see instantly what your basic resource was. Celebrate the fact, don't hide it!

from Sanderson’s Can Car website

(Photos of each artist and more of their work, after the fold...)

Trash Tracking & Landfill Packaging

Upper left photo from M.I.T.’s Senseable City Laboratory site; bottom left and right photos by Kevin P. Casey for The New York Times

“... once the product has been used up, and the package is empty, it becomes suddenly visible once more. This time, though, it is trash that must be discarded or recycled. This instant of disposal is the time when people are most aware of packages. It is a negative moment, like the end of a love affair, and what’s left seems to be a horrid waste.”

Thomas Hines, The Total package

The moment of packaging disposal may be a downer for the consumer, but after the garbage and recycling trucks pull away from the curb, those “suddenly visible” packages become invisible once more. What happens next is something that many people wonder about.

Elizabeth Royte, in her book, Garbageland, did the environmental sleuth-work of trying to track down exactly where her family’s garbage came to rest, after it left the curb.

Trash Tracking
Now, in yesterday’s NY Times, I see that researchers have begun using electronic tracking devices attached to individual pieces of trash to learn more about the fate of of what we discard into our municipal waste streams:

Through the project, overseen by M.I.T.’s Senseable City Laboratory, 3,000 common pieces of garbage, mostly from Seattle, are to be tracked through the waste disposal system over the next three months. The researchers will display the routes in real time online and in exhibitions opening at the Architectural League of New York on Thursday and the Seattle Public Library on Saturday...

Brett Stav, a senior planning and development specialist for the Seattle Public Utilities, which collects about 2,100 tons of trash and recyclables a day, said that aside from the help with logistics, he saw “tremendous educational value” in the experiment.

“There is this hidden world of trash, and there are ramifications to the choices that people make,” Mr. Stav said. “People just take their trash and put it on the curb and they forget about it and don’t think about all the time and energy and money put into disposing of it.”

Mireya Navarro
Following Trash and Recyclables on Their Journey
NY Times, September 16, 2009

(Liquid Soap bottle tracking map, landfill packaging song, and more, after the fold...)

Pull-Tabs & Pop Top Rings

1. Collection Container: Went to Reeds Beach last weekend and I noticed this cottage cheese container (upper left) nailed, chest-height, to a post in front of someone’s beach house. “What’s that for"” I wondered and peered into it. Beer can pull-tabs. Strange, since pull-tabs have, for some time, been designed to remain on the can. Here, the pull-tabs were being intentionally removed and saved. I noticed their recycling bag and, sure enough, it was full of beer cans, with the tabs torn off. But for what purpose are these pull-tabs being collected?

2. Pull-Tab Typology (upper right): In 1973 William Rathje’s began treating landfills as archeological digs. His “Garbage Project” used evolutionary changes in pull-tab design as a means of dating disposed object and establishing their “Dates of Deposition.”

The opening chapter of “Rubbish!” describes some of what came out of a hole drilled into the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island and is called “Yes, Wonderful Things” after Howard Carter’s answer when Lord George Edward Carnarvon asked him if he could see anything upon first peering into the antechamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

So a lot of what is observed in “Rubbish!” is an occasion for surprise and amusement. “Of all food that is thrown away (not just ‘waste’ but also inedible rinds and tops), potato peels account for a mighty 7 percent by weight — the largest single item in the fresh-food repertoire.” Yet it was the variety of detachable pop-top pull tabs that enabled Garbage Project researchers to construct an elaborate typology and to tease out data about beverage consumption even from samples of garbage that contained not a single can.

from the NY Times book review of “Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage” by William L. Rathje and Cullen Murphy

3. Craft: Lower left photo is from PopTopLady’s Flickr Photostream. (She has an Etsy store: here) It may be that the person pulling off and collecting the beer can pull-tabs, was doing so for craft reasons. Inventive crafters have found any number of uses for this particular recyclable resource.

San Francisco-based Escama Studio is another source of pull-tab purses, etc.

Apropos of what actually takes up space in a landfill, I appreciate their attempt to moderate their eco-claims...

We are not silly enough to think that keeping a few pop tabs out of the landfill is going to save the world; but we believe in our hearts that the true power comes from creating beautiful things out of trash. If one person opens their mind just a little tiny bit in the direction that not EVERYTHING needs to be created from scratch just to then be thrown away, a beautiful new bag has brightened the world.

4. Metal Detector Ad (lower right): this image is a detail of student entry in the Lüerzer’s Archive Awards. An ad for Bounty Hunter Metal Detectors (by Diego Contreras, art director & Allie Edwards, copywriter) envisions some of the sort of stuff that a metal detector might help you unearth. (Interesting to note that the pull-tabs, here, represent people.)

(One more image—relating to pull-tabs and the Lüerzer’s Archive Award, after the fold...)

Aerosol String Cans

On left: a flattened can of “Streamer String” I found in my neighborhood; on right: a vintage can of Wham-O “Silly String” available on eBay for $225.

Walking the dog this weekend, I found a crushed can of aerosol string on the street. This is one of those products that would not even be a product, except for the packaging. Can you imagine anyone buying this stuff pre-extruded on a roll? Like Pez candy, it’s all about the delivery method.

Not too great, graphically, although the multi-colored string-lines did catch my eye—(there in the gutter, by the fire hydrant on Van Duzer). With multi-colored type treatments like this, it seems like there’s always gonna be one color that’s too light for good contrast. (Like the “a” in eBay’s logo.) At any rate, it’s not featured here for its graphic design, but as a point of entry.

 Silly String (on the right) was the original aerosol string product. Invented by Leonard A. Fish and Robert P. Cox—(see their patent below)—who assigned the rights to Wham-O in 1972. Streamer String is one of the surviving, imitation brands.

(Silly String TV Commercial, after the fold...)

Greenhead Fly Traps

Like everyone else around here, we’ve outfitted our greenhead fly trap (above) with re-purposed packaging

On the rare occasions that we go away for the weekend, the place we usually go is to the marshlands of south Jersey on the Delaware bay. Reed’s Beach is a nature preserve and a critical stopover for migratory birds en route to arctic breeding grounds. (See Nature.org)

Because it’s a nature preserve, it cannot be developed any further. The houses on stilts and the trailers that were already there can stay, but no new construction is permitted.

For bird watchers this place is some kind of Mecca, and for a few weeks in May while the horseshoe crabs are spawning and the red knots & ruddy turnstones are feeding—(although not so much now as in the past)—the beach is closed to humans.

One regrettable feature of life in Reed’s Beach and similar wetlands communities, are the greenhead flies.

Adult flies mate on the open marsh. Within a few days and without seeking a blood meal, the female lays her first egg mass, consisting of 100 to 200 eggs. To produce additional egg masses, the female needs a blood meal...

Adult female greenheads move from the salt marsh to nearby wooded or open areas along the marsh edge to seek suitable blood sources. There they await and attack wildlife, livestock, and people that venture close enough for them to detect.

Females live for three to four weeks in the uplands before they become too weak to bite. Because of this long life, larger numbers of blood hungry flies build up in areas near salt marshes. The physical removal of large numbers of flies can reduce this buildup and thus decrease the greenhead fly problem locally.

The Greenhead and You
Elton Hansens and Stuart Race, Rutgers University

It was Elton Hansens and Stuart Race (quoted above) who designed the greenhead fly trap that we use. The original plans (below) call for a dark black box, open at the bottom with screen at the top into which a couple of hole with cone shapes guide the flies to the top —(they naturally tend to fly upwards towards-the-light)—where they are invariably imprisoned in packaging.

The original instructions mentions using “transparent shoe boxes” but as a DIY necessity, individuals here will use will just use whatever packaging is at hand: bottles, jars, takeout food containers, etc. One innovation that everyone seems to be onboard with: the neck of a PVC bottle makes a good cone and is easier than fashioning a cone from screening, as the original design stipulated.

(See some more examples, after the fold...)

Packaged Water Towers

The Brooks Catsup bottle water tower in Collinsville, Il.; The Campbells Soup can water tower in Shepparton, Victoria (Australia) from Chris Gregory’s Flickr Photostream; The Old Forester Bourbon bottle water tower in Louisville, KY from Agility Nut’s Flickr Photostream; The Dale Bros. Coffee can water tower in Fresno, CA from Matt (mistergoleta)’s Flickr Photostream; The Hoffman/Pabst bottle water tower (now demolished) in Newark, NJ via Roadside America web site; The Guaranteed Pure Milk Co. milk bottle water tower in Montreal from the Quebec Dairies web site.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Florida Water

Up until around 10th grade, I used to live in various parts of Florida. I therefore grew up with the story of Ponce De Leon and his futile quest for the Fountain of Youth. So when I saw this bottle of “Florida Water” (on the shelf at my local Rite Aid pharmacy), its references to Spanish explorers & Floridian history seemed vaguely familiar.

As I recall, most of the naturally-occurring water sources that I tasted while living in Florida, tasted like sulfur-water and—(judging by my current, non-youthful appearance)—those waters (apparently) must not have been the fountain of youth. Not that you’re supposed to drink this type of “Florida Water” I don’t think. [1] Although it does have an appetizingly citrus-like smell...

According to the company’s web site, the label was designed “by the famous French Designer, Du Maurier” and introduced to America in 1808.

The French designer they’re referring to, is actually George Du Maurier, French-born British author and cartoonist. Best known, perhaps, for writing Trilby, the novel that introduced the character, Svengali to the world. “Trilby” was the heroine of the story—the one who Svengali [2] hypnotizes and manipulates. The book was so wildly popular during Victorian times that a number of products were named after its heroine. Everything from brands of soap & toothpaste to trilby hats. There is even a town named Trilby in Florida [3]—(Trilby, Florida is a little to the west of Orlando).

Du Maurier’s self-portrait on left as a young man and in a photo a little while later, proving that for Du Maurier—(as with Ponce de Leon & me)—Florida Water turned out to be no fountain of youth.

Aside from Du Maurier’s “Florida Water” label which has been in use since 1808, he was also known to have created the artwork for at least one bottled water that you are actually supposed to drink.

(More pictures, after the jump...)

Roll Out the Ersatz Barrel

Left: a photo from the Stewart’s Beverages website; middle: a photo of Stewart’s sign in Vineland by Debra Jane Seltzer; right: our little brown jug of root beer

Recent high gas prices in the US may be putting the final nail in the coffin of American car culture (not to be confused with kustom kulture). So it was pleasantly nostalgic for us to pull over and have lunch at Stewart’s Old Fashioned Root Beer drive-in with tray service on Route 47 in Vineland, NJ. (Plus it was really hot and leaving two dogs in the car while we went in somewhere was not a good option.)

After root beer floats and a fast food lunch, the Mrs. asked the waitress about getting a larger quantity of root beer to go. While they didn’t have the prepackaged bottles we were expecting, what they did have was interesting. A brown plastic gallon jug, with a wooden texture meant to resemble a barrel. We had some concern whether draft soda from a soda fountain tap would stay carbonated, but it worked okay. (Although the pressure did make the bottom bulge out causing the jug to wobble around in the refrigerator like a Weeble.)

I'm noticing a lot of cross-referential packaging these days—(packages that are about other types of packages) Not only is their gallon jug a modern plastic pack made to resemble a ye old wooden barrel, their glass root beer bottle features an illustration of a glass mug made to resemble a ye old wooden barrel.

(See where the cars park after the jump...)

No-Ad®

During my visit to a Wal-Mart in South Jersey last week (to buy a Snicker’s bar) I also bought this. What’s with the No-Ad (not advertised) brand? It reminded me, at first, of the no-brand thing, but it’s not as if this label is designed to be decorative or unobtrusive in your home. Seems to be more of an ironically-branded generic brand. They don’t spend money on advertising so that they can charge you less.

I like orange and yellow for a suntan/sunscreen product. (When I was a kid, growing up in Florida, I used to use the orange crayon as a way of signifying suntan people.) I don’t love the graphic design, however. I’m thinking maybe they’re saving money there too.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

Alternative Exterminating & Graphics

We’re intrigued by this business on Route 47 in Cape May Courthouse, NJ. A heretofore unsuspected connection between pest control and graphic design? (See my post about Victor mouse traps). Or does the existence of such a business only serve to illustrate the importance of diversification?

Also curious about the name. Why “Alternative?” Alternative lifestyle? Alternative rock? (A secret reference to the rat-related lyric in Smashing Pumpkins’ Bullet with Butterfly Wings?)

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

The Alpaca Mouse

Last month, Debby and I discovered a small, mom and pop alpaca farm on Route 47 (south NJ) right next door to a produce stand that we often go to. Tish Carpinelli let us feed her animals out back and, since it was Debby’s birthday, she picked herself out a sweater from the little store, Absolutely Alpaca,  in back of their house. I had to have this handmade, catnip mouse, ostensibly for the cats at home, but really because I just like it. It’s made of a very dense “felt” that Tish somehow fashions from the fleece. I like how it’s so minimal (like a Joseph Beuys cat toy!) and at the same time kind of darkly reminiscent of an owl pellet, as if it might contain an actual mouse (or the remains, thereof). It also kind of calls to mind a “hair ball” which also seems very appropriate for cat toy. Now that I've photographed it, I may let one of those stupid cats play with it. Eventually. Possibly by Christmas time...

Ivins’ Famous Spiced Wafers

Discovered this seasonal, regional cookie item on a visit to South Jersey. Apparently it is a fall tradition around Philadelphia and the greater Delaware Valley area. (See related blog post.)

I admire how different this box is from other items in the same product category—(an Oreo package, for example)—no 3D edible typography here. Just plain old type being flat. Old fashioned design, but a bracing use of only 2 colors. I've always been a sucker for fluorescent orange.

We speculate that this obscure delicacy survives because of regional and seasonal recipes. (Much like Nilla Wafers, and Graham Crackers.) There is a recipe for a pie crust on the side which I am curious to sample.