Your oddest projects.

[Mike8560]

Mojo made a post that pronged  this.
What was you oddest project.
Me I was asked to make I think it was 6 panel for a rack storage building up
north for the winter they said what fabric theybwanted a polester mesh. They were about 20
feet wide by  50 feet tall or long with. 2" webbing around the edges with grommets to tie it on I still have some piece of this mesh   I like to use under seat and window Ect.
The. There was patio panel for a fishing resort in Honduras  South America. And  Air boat not long ago.

[kodydog]

I've been siting here trying to think of some of the odd jobs I have done. The thing is over the years I've learned its hard to make money on things you've never done before. So when someone asks me to do something unusual, like a hot tub cover, I'll either pass or price it so high they won't have me do it.

Last month some one asked if I could reupholster a camel saddle.

I guess the oddest thing I've upholstered was a midget car for a Shriner, but that's not all that unusual.

[sofadoc]

I'm with Kody. I'm not in the odd job business.
One of my long time customers wanted me to do a screwball job once. He kept saying "It will be a good challenge for you" (in his perkiest voice).
I kept making excuses, but when he kept insisting, I finally told him that I would prefer to pick my own challenges. Our long time relationship ended there.

A lot of people look at upholstery work and think "Wow, that looks like fun!".
While I do enjoy my work, I don't really look at it as "fun".
And when fun gets in the way of profit, it ceases to be fun for me.

The oddest job for me has probably been something "not all THAT odd", such as a mattress for a bassinet, or similar item.

I guess the oddest thing I've upholstered was a midget car for a Shriner, but that's not all that unusual.

Did you have to use an "itty-bitty" sewing machine? :D

[Mojo]

Sometimes I feel like the king of weird jobs. I think the reason behind it is because I look at all these little weird jobs as a challenge. I get slammed a couple times a year so I have a lot of idle time where I am bored and looking for something to do. That's about the time a buddy or a customer comes over and asks " Can you make this ? ". One thing about all these dumb projects, they have taught me how to pattern and sew since some have weird angles, curves, circles, etc. Some have been extremely hard to do.

Some of the things I have made for customers - Harley Davidson windshield cover. Motorcycle helmet storage bag. Engine guard fairings for motorcycles. Motorcycle storage covers. Tractor storage cover. Insulated cover for well equipment. Insulated cover for pool equipment. Ladder tip covers. RV mirror covers. Windshield wiper covers. RV stairwell carpet wraps. Mechanics roll ( padded roll up cover for laying down and working on ). Prayer cushions - 4 inch padded cushion used to kneel on while working on something saving your knees from the hard ground. ( After kneeling you pray you can stand back up again ). Numerous protective pouches for tools and computer equipment. Ladder buddies ( Textilene pouches used to hold tools which velcro wraps onto ladders ). Tire covers for RV's and boat trailers.

And many more items I have made from my own ideas or suggestions from customers. I have enjoyed making most of these but have cursed making a few of them. It is amazing some of the techniques you can learn while something small or weird. :)

Chris

[DBR1957]

For some reason in our area, if an odd job comes up I'm the one that people
suggest. Even other shops. One of these days I will learn to say NO!

I've made some unique things in my time, some I don't know if I can talk about.
The one that stands out though is a dog lift I made. A customer had an old black
labrador retriever that was always with him. He owned a trawler and it was
getting tougher for the dog to get on the boat and for the owner to lift him. He
asked me to make a harness so he could lift the dog up with the davit. So I made it and the owner was ecstatic. What he was most impressed with though is that I
thought to leave a special pocket to prevent pressure on the old dog's private
area.

A lot of word-of-mouth business came my way after that.

[206RB]

You have to develop a sixth sense, some of the smarter shops will turn down jobs that they will not make any profit on, and refer the customer to YOU!
Choose wisely, my Friends.
Mike

[206RB]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zb1qsVqjwg&feature=related

[bobbin]

A machine gun cover.
Helmet bags that fit into metal frames so they could stack a dozen of them inside and zip 'em in.
A sling for winching a dog into a very large sailboat!!! (great minds think alike DBR).
Miscellaneous canopies for rides at an amusement park, and also for a carnival company.

I agree, Mojo.  The more unusual things you undertake the better you become at assessing a project and then getting the work done efficiently.  It does teach you a lot.  The more you do them, the more skilled you you become at sniffing out the stinkers before you say yes!

[PDQ]

I can't go into any detail about this current oddity, but considering that this video is already in the public domain I can at least give you clue:  :-X

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BNfxvdRWTkQ#!

[Mike8560]

Not all od for me mojo I've done bike covers gee an ides for you I made myself once for a cruiser I had    I n exes storage somtimes so I made a duffle bag maybe 18" long a d 10" diameter the bag would roll up and on one round end j had a zipper so it would roll I to itsf a d the. Fold in half and zip looking like a fanny pack I. Then hung it on my downtubes or under the headlight when I did t need it.   

[PDQ]

In 1977 the firm I worked for were doing a lot work for Whitbread round the World (now called the volvo ocean race) challenger ADC Accutrac, skippered by Claire Francis. One of the projects, although not odd to make, was more odd in the way we went about making it, was a flag with the boats mascot sewn onto it. The boats mascot was a mermaid riding on the back of a dolphin whilst surfing the waves, and due to the lack of computer generated images back then it all had to be hand drawn, cut & sewn. Drawing the dolphin and waves were no problem but no one could draw the mermaid. Solution; get young PDQ (aged 16) to lay on the cloth as if he was riding on the already drawn dolphin, draw round him, then add breasts. :)

It worked like a charm, but it felt a bit odd and somewhat embarrassing (16yr old street cred) seeing a silhouette of myself (now with breasts) on the now flying flag as they set off around the world. :)

[Mojo]

Man Boobs at age 16 ? Yikes....... I didn't get mine till I hit 40. :)

Great story and thanks for the laugh PDQ.  ;D

Chris

[Mike8560]

Ya pdq that prety odd and the military whatever.  ...
Tops so far that's unusual for sure. 
I knew a guy here who had a shop in fl he made a sling/ streached for  carding dolphins.  For mate Marne labs.  Thebstory was in the marine fab mag   Then o moved here and met him
 

[gene]

I upholstered the inside of kitchen cabinets.

The Kind of Englands' thrown. Well, it was a thrown used in a play about the King of England, james the 1st, if I remember correctly.

The oddest project by far was 25 outdoor cushion covers where all the dimensions had combinations of only the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 in them.

I love your story, PDQ! LOL. I have followed intently the Whitbread and now the Volvo for many years.

gene

[Peppy]

We make all kinds of goofy things. It's a long cold winter, anything to keep busy.

We have a lot of stone quarries around us. They have giant saws as big as a room that move back and forth on large beams. The water and stone slurry need to be kept of the tracks. We build these bellows to keep the tracks dry




Theres two finished ones on the top right of the table, individual pieces unique to each saw on the lower left.

We make indoor playground equipment for a company. I designed this trampoline to their specs, the most complicated thing I've built. More than 50 pieces to each trampoline/pad set.



the pads zipper to the trampoline, then bolt inside a box.



We often make goofy pads for them


This was a prototype for a cow feed cover. Surprisingly the product never took off.

well, I guess it got 16 inches or so...

We were producing 'Phlebotomy Wedges' for a short time. Angled foam blocks to rest your arm on when donating blood. Also a failed product. If anyone needs a 100 or so Phlebotomy Wedges let me know. We've got a shelf full.