About the show
We (Taylor Hokanson and Rob Ray) assign ourselves (and a guest) a new creative challenge every two weeks. We then talk about our discoveries, problems, solutions, failures and successes and.... try to steer clear of catastrophic shop accidents.
Opposable Thumbs on social media
Episode List
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Episode 44: Making Things Flat
November 7th, 2018 | 1 hr 1 min
anvil, art, bend, boys, challenge, chicago, creativity, flat bush zombies, flat earth, forge, forged by steel, frohawk two feathers, hairpin, legs, lesson plan, los angeles, making, organization, painting, poetry, rats, shelving, steel, students, teaching, zuhitsu
F. Douglas Brown is our guest this episode! Los Angeles in tha house!
“Making Things Flat” is our challenge this episode! Thanks to Mathew Lippincott for the challenge!
Rob makes things flat and makes things rat!
Doug took the flatness and folded it up into an complex sphere of ideation speaking and listening.
Taylor heats it up and makes it round so he can make it flat!
We also talk about evil chaos, ekphrasis poetry, Frederick Douglass and re-dad-ing. And we have to give a shout out the Mr. Brown's 7th Period Poetry Class!
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik Kantar, Walter Kitundu, Federico Tobon, Kelly Martin, Luke Noonan, Mike Tully, Adam Mayer, David Bellhorn, Tim Sway and Charlene McBride! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 43: Precision
October 23rd, 2018 | 1 hr 6 mins
airpup, art, balloons, challenge, chemex, chicago, coffee, composting, creativity, dirigibles, flat, futel, hackerspace, ham radio, kites, libraries, los angeles, making, plumbing codes, pour over, pumping station one, quinn dunki, reflow, regulationpunk, regulations, rework, soldering, telcos, telephony, tindie, toilets
Mathew Lippincott is our guest this episode! Portland in tha house! “Precision” is our challenge this episode! Thanks Quinn Dunki for sending us the challenge!
Taylor puts the work and flow into rework and reflow. Mathew folds, unfolds and beholds! Rob's morning ritual goes exactly as planned. Exactly... As... Planned... We also talk about Mathew's encounters as a volunteer operator for the Futel telco network and AirPup, his latest amazing dirigible project.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik Kantar, Walter Kitundu, Federico Tobon, Kelly Martin, Luke Noonan, Mike Tully, Adam Mayer, David Bellhorn, Tim Sway and Charlene McBride! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 42: Build a working camera and take a photo with it
October 9th, 2018 | 1 hr 12 mins
abom79, adam booth, appleii, art, boiler, brass, camera, challenge, chicago, computational photography, controller, creativity, external combustion engines, fpga, hardware, instagram, kansasfest, knot tying, lathe, lidar, los angeles, machining, making, man on wire, neato, old time steam powered machine shop, photography, pinhole, robots, roomba, software, steam engines, threadcutting, urinals, vacuum, xv11
Quinn Dunki is our guest this episode! Los Angeles in tha house! "Build a working camera and take a photo with it" is our challenge this episode! Thanks Arturo Romo for sending us the challenge!
Rob goes for broke and then goes for broke again.... and... ends up broke. Quinn brings tha heat in order to freeze a moment in our lives. Taylor risks being arrested capturing photographic psychedelia but perseverance and Metallica gets him through. We also talk about amazing wire walker and interventionist Philippe Petit.
Quinn gave us our next challenge at the end of the episode and you can hear the fear in Rob's voice.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 41: Hate
September 26th, 2018 | 1 hr 1 min
arbys, art, challenge, chicago, cloud, creativity, film, flash art, hate, hereditary, high school, los angeles, making, meat, nazis, nest cam, pneumatic tubes, sailor jerry, skinheads, smart home, style, tattoos, wemo, wyze
No guest this episode! Just Rob and Taylor making it to Episode 41!!!
"Hate" is our challenge this episode!
We talk about gamifying meat popsicles for the big cats and Taylor gives two thumbs up to the new film Hereditary.
Taylor adopts his least favorite style and rocks it! Rob gets a smart home device. He also lets us know how dumb he was when he was in high school. This episode is one embarrassment after another for Rob.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 40: Oceanic
September 13th, 2018 | 55 mins 1 sec
60-40, 80-20, aluminum, art, challenge, cherry switches, chicago, cnc, creativity, design, drexciya, foucault, los angeles, lps, making, microwaves, mind mapping, motor controller, plywood, records, repairs, t-slots
No guest this episode! Just Rob and Taylor making it to Episode 40!!!
Oceanic is our challenge this episode! Thank you to previous guest Matthew Shenoda for the challenge!Also, every 10 episodes we ask our previous guests to call in and let us know what they're up to. We're so excited by the calls! Many thanks to Andy Birkey, Charlene McBride, Cedric Tai, Kelly Marie Martin, Molly Allis, Ranjit Bhatnagar, and Tim Sway!
Rob makes a map from (and for?) the mind. And it spins at 33RPM. Taylor goes wild and knocks down so many problems! It's pretty oceanically epic.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 39: Overkill
August 27th, 2018 | 1 hr 9 mins
african, art, challenge, chemex, chicago, coffee, creativity, egypt, figure, iron, korn, los angeles, making, materials, nevada, poet, poetry, polycarbonate, popcorn, poseable, road trip, straightening, tactical, utah
Matthew Shenoda is our guest this episode! Providence, Rhode Island in tha house!
We finally have a poet on the podcast! Huzzah! We speak with Matthew about the craft of poetry and also hear from him about the African Poetry Book Fund, a really cool organization he cofounded that publishes 3 to 4 books a year and works with Akashic books to publish an African poetry box set!
Ask Taylor about the Big Bang. Matthew is born again hard-boiled. Rob goes the distance to get a pose-able figure.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 38: Eavesdropping
August 14th, 2018 | 1 hr 4 mins
argentina, art, art books, artist books, bank card, blaster, buenos aires, challenge, charcoal rubbing, chicago, cooking, creativity, ear hustle, fat man, grandfather's axe, han solo, immersion blenders, immigrant, improvisation, john coster mullen, language, little boy, los angeles, making, mapping, mcmaster-carr, military facility, mystery, nigel poor, overkill, patton oswalt, popeyes, seven eleven, shop, signage, star wars, streets, taiwan, the oatmeal, theseus's paradox, true crime, turning, urn, utilities, ventra, wood, zodiac killer
Kate Conlon is our guest this episode! Chicago in tha house!
Rob rubs Buenos Aires the right way.
Kate takes all of us on a nefarious and wild ride (or is it a drive?) across Chicago. Taylor yearns to put the urn in turn.You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 37: Not My Style
July 31st, 2018 | 1 hr 9 mins
am radio, anger, art, artmaking, challenge, change, chicago, collaboration, color, creativity, design, ear hustle, hope, los angeles, making, photography, prison, radio, solitude, time, trucks, web design
Nigel Poor is our guest this episode! San Francisco in tha house!
We speak with Nigel about her teaching, photography and her artmaking projects at San Quentin State Prison. Nigel also co-hosts the podcast Ear Hustle with Earlonne Woods who co-founded the podcast with fellow inmate Antwan Williams.
Taylor cops Nigel's style. Nigel leaves listening to chance and gets earfuls of anger. Rob goes from rock crawler to kissyface.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 36: Resistance
July 19th, 2018 | 1 hr 5 mins
3d printing, abolish ice, adobe illustrator, andy birkey, blitz city diy, breyer, broforce, cardboard, coachella, defense distributed, drawing, drugs, freedom of speech, ghost gunner, gitbook, global inheritance, glowforge, guns, hitmen, illustration, ipad pro, jenkem, laser cutting, leds, machining, more practice, practice, shaper origin, steamrollers, style, uv resin, wacom
Jarrett Quon is our guest this episode! Los Angeles in tha house!
We talk about the fallacy of "talent" and the hard-workin fun-work of practice and learning and practicing some more.
Rob wears his arm out drilling holes. Jarrett asks what a swimming pool, BBQ grill, and water bottle have in common. Taylor hones his routing and printing skillz! Oh, and ABOLISH ICE.
We also talk to Jarrett about his experiences with the Glowforge laser cutter.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 35: Macro
July 4th, 2018 | 1 hr 3 mins
3d printing, adobe illustrator, against me, arduino, art, autosaw, challenge, chicago, clip art, cnc, creativity, education, electronics, empowerment, fixing, green day, hotmail, illustration, jobs, keyboard, los angeles, macro, maker, making, micropython, national archives, neopixels, onshape, plywood, printing, quarter-life crisis, raven rock mountain complex, reddadsteve, right to repair, shields, steamroller, the interruptors, thingaverse, youtube
Liz Clark of Blitz City DIY is our guest this week! Massachusetts in tha house!
Rob and Taylor talk to Liz about quarter-life crises, YouTube Lyfe, and strategies for encouraging people to dive into something new. We also talk about some new music we're diggin, thingaverse, neopixel variants and Liz's upcoming Tinkerboard book!
Taylor's CNC printmaking work goes to 11. Liz turns micropython into macro-awesomeness. Rob mails a letter of bad feelings.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Blondihacks, Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 34: Opposable Thumbs (yep, that's the challenge!)
June 19th, 2018 | 1 hr 10 mins
acrylic, aliexpress, art, attiny85, autodesk, bobby duke arts, buddhism, catholicism, challenge, chicago, circuit diagrams, cool tools podcast, creativity, eagle, electronics, framing, gothic architecture, izzy swan, jimmy diresta, los angeles, making, podcast, ray wylie hubbard, reclaimed audio, religion, seeedstudios, shaper origin, tablesaw, thumbs, todbot, woodworking
Andy Birkey is our guest this week! Central Illinois in tha house! We learn a lot from Andy about gothic woodworking, church furniture design and working with clients. We also hear from Andy about buddhism and working to get rid of anger.
Thanks to Nik Kantar for giving us our listener-contributed challenge! Rob goes for a semi-murdered-out... something... and then gets in a pickle. Andy shines some light on Opposable Thumbs. We're dying to know the tales Andy's compound miter saw could tell... Taylor let's the Eaaaagle's sooooooar.... Like they've never soared... before.... from rocky coast...
We also couldn't help but ask Andy about his experiences with the Shaper Origin handheld CNC router.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.comProps to Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 33: Bending Time
June 4th, 2018 | 1 hr 55 secs
3d printing, ambergris, art, challenge, chicago, cnc, community, creativity, fever ray, ghosts, los angeles, making, nine inch nails, nose, papa loves mambo, perfume, political art, sister sledge, survival research labs, tv art, weezer
No guest this week! Just Taylor and Rob talking about cigarette butt-flavored gummi bears, ambergris, the power of community, and how we first got into technology and art.
We also discuss being rigorous about our creative practice. It's hard!
Taylor creates some very surreal and spooky environments! Trent Reznor eat your heart out!
Rob is a tape loop. Rob is a tape loop. Rob is a tape loop. Rob is a tape loop. Rob is a tape loop.We crossed the 20,000 downloads mark!!!!! YEEEAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 32: Mechanical Breakfast
May 23rd, 2018 | 1 hr 7 mins
art, axidraw, brain waves, challenge, chicago, crafting, creativity, cricut, deflated currency, dura lar, evil mad scientists, fraud, high flow acrylic paint, hyperlapse, la croix, los angeles, making, owls, patterns, photography, radio shack, the silver bullet
Charlene McBride is our guest this week! Seattle in tha house! YESSSSS!!!
We talk about La Croix, crafting, patterns, deflated currency, fraud, and illegal owl bartering and machine assisted creativity!
Taylor's juicy photography makes everything look like candy. Mmmmm... rosin core...
Charlene channels the alpha, beta and gamma. Rob reflects upon his poor drawing skills. Reflects... get it? Get it?You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke, Mike and Tim! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 31: Lateral Motion
May 10th, 2018 | 1 hr 3 mins
art, beard grooming, beer making, challenge, chicago, creativity, fostering, fusion 360, geographic coordinate conversion, gonzo journalism, green screens, leather, los angeles, making, paint, photoshop, quadrants, sextants, the attiny 85 microprocessor
No guest this week! Just Taylor and Rob going big and then going home and then maybe taking a nap or making a nice egg n' the hole.
A big thanks to Nhung Walsh for giving us our next challenge! You'll have to listen to find out what it is! Send us your challenge ideas to us at opposablepodcast@gmail.com or hit us up on Instagram at opposable_podcast. But they need to be a secret. Hrm. That seems like a problem. Hrm... Well... We're excited to see how you tackle that problem.
Johnny Depp shot Hunter S Thompson's ashes from cannon. Rob is sick again. We chat about green screens, beard grooming, beer making, Fusion 360, the ATtiny 85 microprocessor, and Generation X. Rob feels like the punk rock influence on culture is overestimated and also misguided. Taylor makes him feel better about it.
Taylor went full junk drawer this episode and made a surprisingly accurate instrument! Geographic coordinate conversion can be kinda off-putting at first but it gets quite interesting once you give it a chance!
Rob didn't read the directions and paid the price by spending hours doing a single task for very little result. But at least he got to put non-food items in the oven.
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Props to Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke and Mike! They're our top Patreon supporters! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs
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Episode 30: Prove Yourself Wrong
April 23rd, 2018 | 1 hr 14 mins
dovetails, electricity, flask, google, joinery, making, raspberry pi, sewing, totebags, walnut, woodworking
Tim Sway is our guest this week! Connecticut in tha house!
We get the juicy details from Tim about how he ended up making "The SqWAYre," his super cool measuring and marking tool. We also talk about the mighty power of high school art teachers (Thank you art teachers!).
It took Rob only four months to go from swearing he would never do something to doing it twice in one week. Don't look to Rob for guidance about self-control.
Tim lets fly but in a peaceful way. Except for those birds he's flipping. Those are pretty angsty.
Taylor dives into the Internet of Energy Wasting Things.
This is our 30th episode! Every 10 episodes we invite all of our previous guests to call in and let us know what they're up to so we're excited to share some of those with you! So be listening for those around the 55 minute mark.
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Episode 29: 10x Bigger
April 10th, 2018 | 1 hr 17 mins
bullets, cryo-electron microscopy, forks, haeckel, headphones, hepatitis, how-to, nutraloaf, science, skateboards, sun ra, supermax, t4, tamms, virus, youtube, zika
Rita Blaik is our guest this week! Los Angeles in tha house!
We kick things off with some discussion on design vs art and gender diversity in science. Then we dive into the projects!
Taylor the Chef cooked up some supermax treats to get your mouth watering on some nutraloaf! And he gets dinged in the cheek by a bullet fragment that can't be stopped.
Rita Blaik drops the cryo-electron microscopy science on us! And she shares the wonderful curiosities of Ernst Haeckel and Robert Hooke.
Rob tries to up the fidelity and weirdness on the video he made last week. And he talks about skateboarding... again...
You can check out our projects at http://projects.opposablepodcast.com
Apologies for a few audio quality nuances. It took some psychic surgery to get around some of Rob's microphone problems.
Props to Nik, Walter, Federico, Kelly, Luke and Mike! They're our top Patreon supporters! And Mike is great too! Join 'em at: https://www.patreon.com/opposablethumbs