“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.”
— Gandhi
Hi! Welcome to Active Art. This website is a space to share some of my product designs, art, YouTube videos, and POD designs (print on demand). I will be adding and updating things over time so don’t be a stranger and come on by to visit now and then.
At the top of the page, you will find a listing of different pages that are dedicated to different projects. The blog will feature a variety of topics and discussions about art, the process of developing a product, and other related topics. Please join the discussion!
My grandfather had an office in the basement of his home. It was a serious space with everyhting in its place. Everything had a function. I remember wandering in one day and seeing this picture taped to the wall. It made an impression.
I have been a delivery driver, salesman, manager, business owner, soldier, drug dealer, addict, lecturer, preacher, Sunday school teacher, photographer, painter, poet, digital designer, mechanic, webmaster, reporter, newspaper editor, home owner, renter, homeless, poor, rich, and bankrupt.
I have walked barefoot in fields of horses, worn wingtips in marble halls, tasted cold water from a mountain stream, guzzled spirits at the tables of friends, slept alone on the cold ground of construction sites.
I have smelled like an onion, and walked like a duck, and once, even cleaned my house.
From the Amazon listing for his book Last Words:
Even trying to be as honest and whole as I can, only parts of me can be perceived by you. The best I can hope for is to be entertaining and in some macabre way, sincere. But then, when did sincerity ever make a thing true? That part is up to you.
The last poem in his last published book, Without Anguish:
The Length and Depth of a Garden Sigh
Dawn comes like a gunshot through the trees,
light springs through trembling leaves of darkness.
Sun, the hill burner, is on his way from the stars as
birds ricochet through thickets, whistling for a way
of difference between endure and persevere.
,
I feel as drunk as chronic drifts of azaleas, walking
among bushed mountain laurel where, to
too many, I have become defined by symptoms;
they hover like catcher mitts around home plate
while I stagger and sway from the weight of age.
,
The grass is a soft file wearing me down
from ground up – a convincing to exhaust
my thickness upon earth while singing
my narrow psalms throughout the gardens.
Let no voice interrupt my soundless sound.
,
Pain is mine, not suffering, a little stayed by pills
flagging inflammations; but always the edge
of vertigo and fear of falling into flower beds
breaking the brittle bones of age into debris
of erosion with a fuselage of ‘How Are Yous.’
,
Do we, the humbled, ever regret or forget
our time as King of the Mountain, how
little it meant; how unimportant it became?
Does anyone remember laughter,
the difference between grin and grimace?
,
It is no one’s burden but mine to carry
the changing within the flesh cocoon –
What is linguistically possible to interpret
from this babbling devastation within –
and does it saying really matter?
,
Sometimes I snap at pain like an angry dog –
stand apart, a thorny Bush with a broke-stem rose
still holding on to a head of dreams, looking
for the guidance of fireflies through a dark garden,
I occasionally design forms to try to improve workflow for a company. Today, I designed one for the home. I will add both the form and a Zazzle link so you can customize and order on different products if you prefer.
Especially if you spend time home alone, having key information posted where emergency services can find it can be lifesaving. Consider posting power of attorney paperwork as well. You can fold them both in an envelope and use a couple of magnets on the fridge. If you have a DNR/DNI, and want it to be honored, you may wish to have that somewhere conspicuous as well. They are not going to search your files before starting CPR.
I have been meaning to do this for awhile but then saw a TikTok from a lady that cares for her 90+ year old family member. She spoke about the information, like medications, that EMS asked her for.
Amazon’s new inbound placement fees will have my inventory staying at zero unless they change.
I have held back criticizing Amazon for issues that I have had with them. I probably should have seen this coming, but they had long broken me from actively managing and striving to better my business on their platform.
I invented and patented the Chair Cane because of my experience with 3 patients, in just a few months, having falls and injuries from bedside commodes. My hope was to sell or license the idea to a company. Failing to do that, I contracted a manufacturer and the first, and last shipment, was sitting at port March 2020. Not the best time to have a low priority item sitting at port, unless you like waiting.
In order to sell a new item that never existed, Amazon required that I have a business acoount and that I have a trademark. Trademarks can take a long time to have in hand. They generously offered up a program that connects you to lawyers (that likely pay fees for the privalge) that will help with trademark applications. If you use a lawyer through their program, Amazon will let you go ahead and list.
Finally! I had an Amazon listing up and running. I started spending marketing money with Amazon and Facebook. Sales started to pick up. Then they died.. Without notice, Amazon had suspended sales. I forget why this first time but after a week or two, it was back up. Yes! Excitement again, hurdle overcome. I waited this time to spend on marketing, only doing some low budget things inside Amazon.
12/11/2020 sales ranking in bedside commode category “top 100”
I lowered the price and there were some sales. After awhile, I decided to ramp up the marketing efforts again. I was following closely this time and was able to shut down the ads quickly once I noticed Amazon had stopped sales again. I worked with Amazon support trying to figure out why. It seemed like their algorythm had decided that my product had hazardous materials.
Amazon support seemed incapable of telling me why my product of two aluminium sticks and two pieces of rubber was hazardous. I changed the listing description to make sure words that could be misread by an algorythm were taken out. For example: I had paid for third party testing of the product and thought that maybe terminology about the testing may make it seem like it had hazardous materials. I waited a week or so and when it wasn’t reinstated, I tried just deleting all but the most basic description. Still nothing.
I also tried several times to get help from seller support. The actions I did recieve: 1) down grading my account from business with monthly fees to a type of account with less privileges and pay per item sold, and 2) to certify my account to be able to sell hazerdous materials, like batteries. Unfortunately, I was unable to prove that my hazardous product was safe to sell becasue I had no documentation to prove that what didn’t exist was safe.
I gave support one last chance and the answer that came back that there was a product in France with the same product ID. It was a shaver and had a battery. Their proposed solution was that I list in France and get together with the other company and work on the product description. What??
The trademark application came back with an office action. The lawyer that I had, through the Amazon program, was really nice and thorough and explained my options and what he would recommend. Of course, I would need to pay him. His fees were were reasonable; however, with no end in sight to the product listing issue, I was not willing to sink more money into the trademark. He didn’t understand the listing issue either and thought it was strange. Not having a trademark and no longer being part of the special program, I have not made any changes to my account for fear that it would trigger a new account audit and Amazon would kick me out for noncompliance with listing requirements.
About six months later, I get an email from Amazon. There was a manual inventory audit and my product was found to not contain hazardous material. The listing was back up. I have been selling passively since that time. Sending in a box of inventory whenever I run out. I had tried to proactively restock when inventory was low, but Amazon would sell the new inventory first. Allowing the old inventory to sit and become subject to increased fees for aging inventory.
I have friends that have offered and even started to build a website that I can sell from but I do not have the energy or patience to deal with it. I was happy to pay Amazon fees to deal with returns and sales tax issues present when you sell in multiple states.
If you know anyone looking to buy or license a patent, let me know. Maybe Medline or Drive DeVilbiss can fill this need.
Most of us have heard someone mention an invention idea they once had and wished they had developed it. My first idea came when playing pickup games at the local basketball court. I thought there should be a sports clothing brand named “And One”. A couple of years later, there was a brand. The stories and the lost opportunities have always stayed in the back of mind. Each time I had what I thought was a good idea, I learned something about product development.
Working as a physical therapist, a couple of ideas have stuck around long enough to make an imprint but didn’t make it to the patent application stage. The first was a belt and pillow system that myself and a colleague created to provide lumbar distraction. It fit the limited resources and space we had and was effective. We joked about developing a product but never followed through on it. The main reason was that we rarely used it ourselves. The second idea was for an arch support that could be built into a shoe and the user could vary the amount of support. This idea made it all the way to a rough prototype and patent search. The search found a similar product that had a better design. That was enough to take the wind out of that sail.
New ideas come along in daily life as well. While playing around on a print on demand site, I thought “Diamond Life” would be fantastic for a baseball/softball gear company. This time, I applied for a trademark. I learned about trademarks and office actions on this adventure. Sometimes, hiring a lawyer who knows how to navigate the system, would be a key to success. I could have refiled but since the process takes so long and the products I had posted were not selling well, I moved on. I have developed prototypes of art equipment. I found one on Instagram. It had been improved on and developed already. It was more complicated and 2-3x the price point I had imagined, but I assumed they had a least a provisional patent that would have covered my idea. I did pursue the other idea as far as a self-completed provisional patent and approached a few companies with the idea. I received one response and it is was a very polite, no thank you. I contacted a local company to make it but after 3 months of them not even starting, I let it go.
The newly patented product I developed was driven by knowledge that it could actually help my patients. When I was tempted to not follow through, there was a sense of guilt. Because of that, I made choices that were likely not the best for someone developing a business but were made consciously, because I knew I would not regret the effort. People needed the option to have this tool. I knew it was for a niche inside a niche, but if it could help anyone, I needed to try.
In one year, I had 3 different patients fall while using a bedside commode. Each one had a story that involved them on the ground, BSC and its contents on them, and EMS coming to help. I am being intentionally vague but just know that you would never want to go through the trauma. In all three cases, getting a new, more stable BSC was not an option. One of the patients had a caregiver that was great at making things to adapt the environment. We tried to come up with a solution for their particular situation but circumstances changed before we were able. After a few months, I had an idea. I made a series of prototypes in the garage and thought that I had it. I researched and called a lawyer in town and made an appointment to discuss in detail. That weekend I fully tested the prototypes. It did not work in the slightest. In a bit of a panic, I came up with a new idea, prototype, drawings, and pictures before the Monday afternoon appointment.
Through the whole process of developing the product, finding a manufacturer, and having it up for sale, I have learned quite a bit; too often, the hard way. Early on, I reached out to a few durable medical equipment manufacturers. The one call back I received was amazing. The call was from a local company and he asked a few questions about the product. He quickly realized that it was not something that would fit in their product line or with their target customer base. That could have been the end of the conversation, but he took the time to ask a few more questions and provided some guidance on things that would help me move in the right direction. I am so thankful for that call and his time.
The Chair Cane has been for sale for awhile now. It is a passive listing for now. There was some difficulty with an algorithm on the platform thinking that it had a battery. I changed the description and reached out several times but was unable to resolve the issue. After six months of the listing being pulled, the inventory was manually inspected and the error corrected. For that and several other platform related reasons, I may just leave it passive for now. Who knows where this path is going but it is an adventure!
The picture book series is finally finished. Kayla may have more to do in the future, but this series is done. This last book was planned as two but as words hit the page, I realized that to extend the story to that length, it would need scenes that did not move the story forward. After the story was written, it felt done but I knew unless it was followed to publication, it would float over me as an unfinished project that I had made a commitment to myself to complete.
Active Art 