Hey, who says growing up can't be fun?

Today I reached another grand age.

Not old, but suffice to say, the 'middle' qualifier is a stretch to any with a command of basic maths.

Like, my sons.

However, bless 'em, they had been pestering me what I want for my Birthday for a week.

Thing is, I usually go and get what I need, and what I want seems a luxury these days, so it's not top of mind.

Then fate intervened last night. We were wandering around Morrisons, and there they were.

Yes, you are looking at 3 metal component construction sets. By FIA toys, of the UK.

Better still, guess how much? The two wee ones were a fiver, and the monster... £10. Bang on teen budgets.

And first impressions are... sweeeet.

I may not make the actual intended toys, but I now have a ton more stuff for my prototyping adventures.

There is no mention of Meccano, so I can only presume they are competitive.

Certainly the hole spacings are different, which is a pity, but the hole diameters are a good enough match to engage in some cross-over, which is a real plus (see pix - green and red 'old' Meccano, silver this new stuff).

The quality of metal is nowhere near comparable, but it will suffice for my needs, and beats plastic hands down.

The only critique I'd have is the box, which is pretty big for what's in it, and the foam liner tray, which is unnecessary.

But otherwise, my fun, and hopefully more productive avenues (major prototyping underway on some post RE:tie Junkk.com reuse projects), are assured.

And despite still being a big kid, I feel all grown up.

Thanks boys and missus... best prezzie I could have wished for.

Who knows, maybe even lure them from the XBox as I tinker? Well, a boy... man... old guy can dream.

It's alive, I tell you... ALIVE!

Just opened the post and... ta-da!... fresh from the Junkk studio the latest RE:tie prototype from those lovely folk at JIIC. No, it's not quite a work of art ready to grace your love's finger, but they do lots of other nifty stuff too!

I have a good feeling about this one. Thanks to British Library Inventor in Residence & mentor Mark Sheahan of Squeezeopen it addresses some moulding issues at manufacture, and I think there is definite potential for getting support from the greater accessibility support market.

Seeing it 'in the flesh' and using it with my big paws, I now realise it could be even smaller and still work, hence saving plastic. And the slot could be narrower for a tighter sideways fit on the tie as it pulls through, but then again we could use some 'give' and more hole means less plastic.

Certainly some shavings for savings yet. But now it is time to look at a short run in the actual material. Anyone know of a moulder who does not demand first born but might accept pints of blood?

RE:tie - another evolution

Well, things progress on RE:tie.

Working with JIIC at BCU, we now have the CAD rendering of its latest incarnation.

This solves some moulding issues, but at the same time enabled us mentor Mark Sheahan's input to incorporate what we hope will be a design aid for those who might have trouble gripping and tearing off tamper evident closures.

Oh, and it looks like it also uses just the same amount, and possible even less plastic to do the same job.

The prototype is en route as I type.

packaging news - Prototypes: Giving design an extra dimension - good piece to note!

I'm easily excited

And I feel like ending the day on a high.

Here's the latest RE:tie prototype, courtesy of the nice folk at the Jewellery Innovation Centre at BCU who are helping us with of product development.

This is not an evolution, but merely another alternative design, which we found was necessary to help our marketing following some feedback at the Caps & Closures Show, where a few nice production-type gurus suggested the flatter block orientation would work better in many hoppers and fast-moving lines. It's also less 'radical', so consumers will 'get' it as it's pretty much what they are used to... only with a hole. Hey, like I say... it didn't hurt the Polo mint.

OK, not so great as a chat up line, but we still like it lots! And as the first model is now getting noticed, and appreciated, as it does the rounds of some brands and retailers, here's hoping these new lovelies will keep the ball rolling in the right way!

A few thank you's

The ECOPACK '08 show at which Junkk.com exhibited and I was a speaker ended yesterday afternoon.

I intend to do a re:view, but frankly I am still struggling to get my head around where to start and on what since getting back in the wee small hours of last night.

I am just grabbing a breather between catching up on the 1000 emails in my in box in just 3 days (not a single spam, but mostly newsletters and press releases, and hence postponable, if not ignorable, but still requiring a lot of sifting for actual gold). Plus all the follow-up from the show, plus getting the stand out the car and stowed neatly for the next.

Oh, and a bunch of stuff on Junkk.com.

I really don't know where to start. But RE:tie must take priority, as this looks like our best shot at income, and if we can get a stream then we can look at getting in a few more bodies to help run this show, which is in danger of drowning in its own success by failing to serve the needs of all those who are interested in being a part, as either a user or business.

So before dashing back to all the priorities above and beyond this blog, I need to make a few thank-you's.

To Peter, a vastly expereinced F&B/FMCG marketing and sales guru who is keen to help me make RE:tie and Junkk.com realise their commercial potential, and who came to help me man the stand on both days even though he is is still just trying to understand the business enough to see if he can add value as our commercial front man. I truly hope that your belief will be more than rewarded. If the comments we had during the last two days are anything to go on, I trust you feel it will be.

To Frank and his team at BCU, who delivered the protoptypes (pictured - including a large demo version) in the nick of time, and without which we'd have been struggling to get the concept of the RE:tie across to the passing audiences. If a picture is worth a 1000 words, being able to take a cap off a bottle, peel a RE:tie off a cap, and then tie-up a bin-liner with it was about as clear a demo of the concept as one could have hoped.

And then there's all the nice folk who couldn't come to the show but wished us well, and especially those who did come to the stand and my seminar talks, and said such nice things about what we're trying to do and... more importantly... encouraged us that we look set to succeed in doing well with our site and the invention we're trying to market, that is the first real commercial embodiment of the Junkk.com philosophy of reuse in packaging, and preferably designed-in!

Oh, and Dave of Solarventi, who has kept this blog, and hence the Junkk.com front page, ticking over while I have been AWOL. And, as it transpires, may well be for a while yet as I look into the in-tray!

Bureaucrats - 200. Rainforests - Nil

And my brain into minus figures, if not near meltdown.

What I should be doing is getting cracking on filling this lot out. But all I can think of doing is taking a picture and blogging (yes, I need help. In more ways than one).

You are looking of stacks of up to a dozen pages, from A to O, though with a few letters rating subsets from (i) to (iv), so probably around 30 stacks in all.

It all started so well. I stumbled across some nice folk who liked what I was doing and offered to help with the prototypes of the RE:tie for the show next month. So I went up to Brum to see what they could do and explain what was needed; we communed, and lo... it was good.

And it's all ready to kick off. With precisely a month to go. But... just... a bit of paperwork.

I didn't pay much attention as it was just one Excel document, but when it came time to address it (OK, deadline) it just kept on printing... and printing. No first born required, nor pint of blood, but amounts and levels of data required that go back in the past and project into the future that I can barely grasp the relevance of for this task, yet alone imagine how I will aquire... or complete.... ever.

Even the lovely lady who sent it to me was sympathetic, for she is but an intermediary working for the University and hired just to handle their responsibilities with such paperwork, as demanded from 'above' by... now who is that? A blue square with a circle of golden stars at the bottom of each page (only part-funded by, mind. Lord help me if I get another set from another bunch later!). Layer upon layer of 'EU-what!' to 'help' them 'help' me get a prototype ready.

And I must do it as I have no choice now but to. I am committed.

But sadly, I do not seem to have the luxury of a lovely lady hired for the sole purpose of filling such forms out.

Nope, despite writing that, the monkey is still very much resting full square on my shoulders.

And so, with a heavy everything I must now turn to Form A (i).....

A game of two halves

I nick, and probably mis-requote the original, but it kind of sums up my day.

Mostly, I was in Birmingham, and using some mental athletics I soon hope to turn to the common good with a program addition to Junkk.com and/or tripsplitters, managed to combine two meetings.

The latter, from which I have just returned, was my first tentative step into the hairy world of Venture Capitalists and Business Angels. As I say... a step. It was not with anyone with whom I might end up working or is going to introduce me to all the right FMCG folk or wads of wonga, but rather a broker. Very nice chap, who gave me a fair and considered hearing. Thing is, I really had no idea how it went. I may never hear again (which I doubt, but it won't be the first time), or I may find myself on another roller-coaster. Quite disconcerting. There was so much I wanted to share and to ask, but it was just the pertinent facts, little reaction or feedback... and then wait for the call.

In contrast, my first appointment was a very different affair. I was meeting the Technical Manager and crew of the Jewellery Innovation Centre, part of Birmingham City University.

The purpose was to see what they could do for me to help with selling RE:tie, by way of prototyping.

I was there for a few hours, and had a ball. We toured every nook and cranny of the facility, and they have toys and skills you would not believe, to make just about anything out of just about anything. And they are keen to help if you qualify and the idea seems fun.

There were big boxes that housed lasers that burned away. And little boxes with inkjet layered powders that built up. The one that really blew me away was a hi-tech version of an ancient Chinese ivory carving craft whereby a lattice ball is created within another lattice ball. Only this fellow was a ball within a ball... times 6! They had things in metal, things in aluminium and things in plastic. From 40cm cubed down to the size of a pinhead, with angels dancing upon it... and a logo stencilled on their tushies.

What was quite funny, and I guess interesting, was when they showed me a tray of stunning creations (try a sailing ship with full rigging... the size of a fingernail), and the one I zeroed in on was a gorgeous structure composed of rows of rods, which I thought would make a stunning piece of stationery ware. Turns out it was a waste mould and was to be thrown out! I think they understood where my reuse mind was at once this happened.

Of course we went off topic and roamed all manner of other things they could do for the inventive mind, and I was keen to repay the commitment with anything I could offer in return.
Links all round and features at the show stand to start!

Because it's all looking good. They don't see any problem making not just a prototype but a fairly large number of demo pieces of the RE:tie for the March show. A few design challenges to sort out, but from the patent drawings through CAD-CAM to an on bottle-top mock-up or score.... to not just claim what RE:tie can do, but show it doing it to those who will hopefully be an audience with an imagination and chequebook to match.

Here's hoping.

It's just interesting that when it comes to these aspects I was in my element, but when it came to the related, necessary and highly complementary issues of taking business I go from being a Orca doing flips above the ocean to a beached whale gasping on the shore. So now, more than ever, I need that all too missing piece to my commercial structure. With luck, if this finance guy sees merit I may be en route, but I honestly have no reading.

But here's hoping.