iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 08/01/2026

I'm volunteering at the Sidney Art Gallery and Museum in Port Orchard today. Come say hi and check out the January show: "Winner's Circle" spotlighting the 2025 Helen Norris Open Art Show winners. #portorchard #kitsap #smaa

Wide shot of the art gallery. Old rustic wood floor with a faded area rug. An assortment of shelves and cases around the walls are full of a variety of art. Found object sculptures, fiber arts, pottery, etc. An equally diverse variety of art adorns the walls.

A poster hangs on a white wall. Primarily text with a large circle made of a variety of pinks and oranges. It reads "Sidney Art Gallery presents...
Winner's Circle 2026
Winnera from the 2025 Helen Norrris Open Art Show
Oil/Acrylic: Christine Hella Thompson
Photography: J. Louis King
Mixed Media: David Lewis
Drawing: Janette Stiles
Watercolor: Kim Spence
3d Media: Dan Spence
Winners unable to participate:
3d Media - Jessica Parker
Watercolor - Linda Carey

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 26/12/2025

I've started having collaborative scrap wood sculpture bonfires on the solstices. This most recent one was the tallest and most colorful so far.

An effigy about 20 feet/6 meters tall with a triangular head and crude outstretched claw-like hands made of random slats of wood, many painted pink, and a white cabinet in it's belly stands at dusk, engulfed in flames.

The aforementioned effigy earlier in the burn. We see the fire just beginning to catch in the lower layers. We can also see the pink slats adorned with white painted repeating curl patterns. Some say things like "feed me", "please", and "thank you". We also see the huge glorious... horns? antlers? atop the head made of a single sprawling, twisting tree branch.

A detail shot of the head of the effigy on the grass before hoisting into place. It has a triangular head made of pink slats, wears a maniacal grin, has a long triangular nose, and eyebrows of protruding nails. Around the head, we see tools and scraps of wood. Also a plastic shopping basket from Ace Hardware. I didn't steal it. It was in my basement when I moved into the house. But it is really useful.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 12/12/2025

A little while ago, I labeled and sorted everything in my bin of power supplies. It's been SO NICE to be able to find what I need quickly. #maker #homeshop #tinker #electronics

4 stacking open front plastic bins, each about a foot deep, 8 inches wide, and 6 inches tall, in a grungy basement shop. Each containing a mass of wires. and power supplies. From bottom to top, labeled "AC", "<12v", "12v", ">12v".

A caucasian hand holding up a power supply in front of the bins. On the power supply "12v 2A" is written in permanent marker.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 04/06/2025

I live making a weird adapter. Today, we have a 5.5mm barrel jack to PC fan connector. Now I can directly power a fan from an old 12v router power supply!

The adapter as described. Just 2 plugs sticking out of heat shrink. This view shows a close up of the barrel jack.

The adapter as described. Just 2 plugs sticking out of heat shrink. This view shows a close up of the 4 pin PC fan connector.

The adapter as described. Just 2 plugs sticking out of heat shrink. This view shows the overall adapter from the side.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 30/05/2025

I've completed my first week of the typewriter repair apprenticeship at Bremerton Typewriter Company! My desk is next to a giant window in a showroom full of beautiful old machines. Best job ever.

A desk covered in tools and typewriter parts in a room painted the color of terra cota. On the wall hangs a poster reading "Fight Fascism. Defend Democracy and the Constitution. Dissent is Patriotic." There's a huge window to the left off the desk.

Alternate view of the same room showing 2 large windows and shelves full of restored typewriters of all ages for sale.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 27/05/2025

But also, much like a Miyazaki movie, there is an ominous shadow of military industry nearby.

View from the water of a US naval shipyard.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 27/05/2025

Foot ferry between Port Orchard and Bremerton. This is the Carlisle II. She's the oldest Mosquito Fleet ferry still afloat! I made a model of her in Blender last year. I still gotta go back and finish up a couple details on that, but here's one of the test prints.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 27/05/2025

Today is my first day of work as a typewriter repair apprentice, and I'm commuting on a 108 year old ferry. I feel like I'm in a Miyazaki movie.

The 1917 ship the Carlisle II comes into port under clear blue skies and serene waters.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 23/05/2025

Measure twice, cut once. Realize you wrote down the measurement wrong and don't have enough material to make a new one. Glue cut piece back on. Secure it with dowels. Cut again. Like it never happened. 😎

Close up of the end of a board about 6 inches wide. There's a noticeable seam about 1/4 inch from the end of the board.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 22/05/2025

I thrifted this cheap ukulele that had nail polish spattered all over it. Now I'm sanding it down to bare wood to see if I can make it look nice. Never worked on or played an instrument, but hey why not. Full project log at farbolin.me/ukulele

The front of a cheap ukulele held outdoors over grass. The ukulele is blue with an ocean theme showing hammerhead sharks, sand, crabs, starfish, etc printed on the front of the body. The paint in the top right of the body has been partially sanded away, exposing the bare wood.

The back of a cheap ukulele held outdoors over grass. The ukulele is blue. Just over half of the paint on the back of the body has been sanded away, exposing the bare wood.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 22/05/2025

I've had the Kei truck for almost 2 years and finally took it on the ferry today. #keitruck #PNW

Here we see a rather dirty kei truck in the front row on a Washington State ferry facing the water under a bright blue partly cloudy sky.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 16/05/2025

Previously, I was using my 90s Nickelodeon "Blast Box", which looks cool as hell, but doesn't sound all that good.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 16/05/2025

Celebrating scoring this pristine Panasonic RX-CW43 at goodwill for $15 with @ajjtheband.bsky.social's "Disposable Everything"

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 05/05/2025

I've had the idea of hanging up a cheap canvas drop cloth and using it to play with spray paint for a while, and today I finally did it. It was super fun! I love a very physical art process. #spraypaint #graffiti

A blushing pink blob with big dewy eyes spray painted on a dirty canvas cloth hanging from the roof of a carport. It kinda looks like Morph from Treasure Planet.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 16/04/2025

I got a bunch of these shelves from a local garden center last year. Finally getting around to breaking down the last 2 taking up space in my shop. They're essentially just weird pallets. The garden center receives plant inventory on these and doesn't return them, so they sell them for $1 each.

An empty unfinished wooden shelf made of widely spaced slats. The shelf is about 4 feet wide and tall and 1.5 feet deep. It's sitting on a dirty concrete floor in front of a garage wall.

A bunch of wooden slats tucked into a white painted lumber rack.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 11/04/2025

Finally filled a hole in our vinyl collection that's been bugging me since I first started listening to records 5 years ago. #vinylrecords #pinkfloyd

A hand holding up the album sleeve for "Animals" by Pink Floyd in front of a white shelf containing many records. There are stickers and doodles on the shelf, including a pink worm tracing up the side and across the top front.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 06/04/2025

I've barely animated anything since college uhh... *checks watch* 15 years ago. (yikes) But I installed Animation Paper and made a fun little goopey blob! I'm so happy to find an easy software for just jumping in and doodling. Low friction tools make play so much easier! @animationpaper.com

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 05/04/2025

FLCL is one of my all time faves! I went pottery painting with some friends (at TBD Pottery in PO) a few months ago and saw that they had a Vespa pot (mug???). Of course, I knew exactly what needed to be done.

Front view of a ceramic pot shaped roughly like a motor scooter with a large round opening where the seat would be. It's glazed to look like the Vespa from FLCL.

Side view of a ceramic pot shaped roughly like a motor scooter with a large round opening where the seat would be. It's glazed to look like the Vespa from FLCL.

Rear view of a ceramic pot shaped roughly like a motor scooter with a large round opening where the seat would be. It's glazed to look like the Vespa from FLCL.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 02/04/2025

Well, I certainly got most of it! Still some stragglers around, and the lumber cart is getting pretty full and harder to move. But OH BOY is it nice to see the space get cleaner. No more giant messy wood pile!

The same 4'x6' wood cart from the previous post, but now it's bristling with different lengths and sizes of wood, metal, and random junk. "Progress, not perfection" is crudely spray painted on the front of the cart.

The cart has been pushed out from the wall to reveal the back side, full of different sizes of plywood. There's even more plywood up against the shop wall.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 02/04/2025

Working in the shop today. Trying to put all the miscellaneous materials I have cluttering up the space into this cart I made a while back.

A wooden cart approximately 4 feet by 6 feet made from 2x4s and plywood with 4 central shelves running the length, 4 bins on one long side, and a space to lean sheet goods on the other. The cart is spinning in stop motion while white paint spreads across the entire surface.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 29/03/2025

We have horrible tiles in our shower, but I keep seeing characters/faces/etc in a bunch of them. So here's a drawing of a fish based on what I see every time I look at this particular tile.

A weirdly colorful drawing of a tropical fish with huge lips in a brown paper sketchbook.

A tile in varying shades of tan that looks kind of like a tropical fish.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 22/03/2025

A friend won me this little guy in a claw game, and he happened to be nearby when I was doodling.

A scribbled sketch of the plastic toy shown in the second image using orange pen with purple spots and the eye drawn in black shown in a brown paper sketchbook held in one hand. Below the drawing is the date 3-16-25

A small blue plastic toy dinosaur with dark blue spots. Simplified, soft geometric style brontosaurus.

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Sean Farbolin @farbolin.me · 11/03/2025

Our car's alternator went out mid road trip. So while waiting for the mechanic to fix it, I sat in a park with a pocket knife and made this lil guy out of whatever I could find on the ground.

A sculpture of a long bodied 4 legged creature made out of a stick is shown "walking" on a fallen log in a grassy field. It's about 20cm long, has legs made of a tree nut resembling long thin acorns, "armor" on its back made of bark, and antennae made of a small split twig.

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