The road starts here...

Sometimes we feel the urge to take a new path—to shake off what’s familiar and set a fresh course. Sometimes it happens effortlessly, without a second thought. Other times it’s a hard-won battle through countless challenges. And when we’re standing at the edge of something new and exciting, it can be tough to know where to even begin.

Often, the road doesn’t start on asphalt or dirt at all. It starts in your imagination.

Hi, my name is Blaise. I’m an artist, designer, and fabricator. In my work—professionally and personally—my task has always been to take the abstract and make it real. To start with an idea or a flash of inspiration and turn the immaterial into something you can touch. I guess that’s just a fancy way of saying: I make things.

But don’t get me wrong—there’s something deeper going on. I believe there’s a fundamental connection between our humanity and our ability to dream and build. It’s a connection worth preserving. For better or worse, I’ve always been pulled toward that intersection. I’m fascinated by how things are made, how we got here, and how the look and feel of objects shape the world around us.

More specifically, I’ve had a long-standing interest—okay, obsession—with two-wheeled, motor-driven machines. And that’s where this story begins.

I've wanted to tackle a custom bike build for a while now. Motorcycles have always had a grip on my imagination. They're a physical embodiment of freedom, grit, ingenuity, creativity, and engineering marvel. Just think about this—at one point in history, we were freezing cold, rubbing two sticks together to make fire. Now we've harnessed that same power in a shiny metal box and use it to rip around mountain roads for pure thrill-seeking pleasure. How absolutely, absurdly wonderful!

But … I could never pull the trigger. Something was always in the way. Eventually I realized I wasn't getting any younger and life wasn't getting any easier—so I might as well take the plunge. After a few weeks of marketplace searching, I found what I think is the perfect donor bike: a 1984 Suzuki GS 450. It's not a terribly exciting bike, but it's got good bones. It's raw, and that's exactly what I want—motor, seat, tank, and two wheels. Let's go!

So what's the plan for this project? Here's the creative brief I've come up with:

This project is my attempt to merge art and engineering by transforming a motorcycle into a working canvas for ideas, sketches, and handmade parts. I'll be designing and fabricating custom components while documenting the process in my sketchbook. Along the way, I'll share the wins, the mistakes, and the problem-solving that happens in between. By the end, the finished bike won't just be a machine I built—it'll be a visual story about creativity, craft, and the process of making something entirely your own.

I've never done a project like this before. I have a pretty good knack for fixing things and figuring out how they work, but it's going to be an uphill battle to get this old bike running and looking like something special.

I'm looking forward to sharing more about this project as it develops.

Your awesome, thanks for reading!

-Blaise

ps. Here’s a short teaser I put together of the bike so far.

DIY Welding Table Build

I think the challenge of maintaining a workshop can often be overlooked. Tools, cost of maintenance, general upkeep, and the headache of finding a suitable place to build up a workshop in the first place…it can be a lot! Over the last few years I have occupied 3 shop spaces including my current location, and in each move I was forced to make some tough decisions about what came with and what had to go. One of things that didn’t make the cut was my old welding table. It had served me well for a number of years but there were some things about it I never liked and I knew at some point I wanted to rebuild it. Well finally, after yet another recent move, I have finally gotten around to that nagging project list and crossed something off!

Here she is!

This newly rebuilt table features some of the same engineering as the first but in it, I tried to address some of the faults I made in the first go around. You’ll notice the table top is made up from 6 individual plates rather than one solid plate. In my original design the plates were spaced 2” apart allowing for the clamps to reach all parts of the table top. This was sort of a quick and easy way to design a table with a lot of capability. I also liked that the smaller individual plates allowed for easier set up and breakdown as one person. What ended up driving me crazy was how often tools or parts would fall through the open areas of the table! Later on I made the switch to fixture style clamps. I drilled holes in the plates and placed 2” bar stock in between to fill the gaps. In this design I omitted the gaps completely and smashed the plates side by side for a more seamless table top. I still have the ability to easily break down the table if needed. I also get some added benefit of the plates being somewhat modular. The plates might have specific holes drilled to mount different tools and I can switch the plates position on the table as needed. Pretty cool!

The table base in the first iteration was always a problem. I used 4” x 4” x 1/4” angle for the legs and even with some extra support welded in the table felt a bit wobbly with the heavy top on it. This time around I went for a really solid tube steel construction and this has proven to be the correct solution.

This table serves double and triple duty in my small workshop as the main workstation for whatever I’m doing, be it metalwork, woodwork, leather, or wrenching on vehicles, so additional storage for common use stuff and easy access to things like grinders and clamps was important.

In any metalshop it’s hard to think of a more important piece of equipment than the humble welding table. It’s the true heart of my work space and without a proper table it’s such a struggle to build anything. I’ve chosen to go the DIY route on this table to save money and because I love a good challenge. There is a feeling of great satisfaction in getting to build something you will be working with for years to come.

If you’re interested in building something like this for yourself, I’ve gone ahead and taken some of the headache out of the whole process by making the plans available for download. Head over to the PLANS section and download today! No fancy tools required!