Bilderhoos's chief 'hoos elf, Kieran, has begun an interesting photography project: He is planning a trip to three beautiful national parks in the American Southwest in order to photograph them with his wet plate tintype camera. He'll be processing the photographs right there on location, in a portable darkroom of his own design.  Kieran is seeking funding for this project on Kickstarter, and his backers will receive original tintype images, 4" x 5", no two alike, of monuments and mountains and splendor of these parks: Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, and The Mojave Desert.  

Click here if you like unique art and want to back Kieran's project!

Three days ago Norman and Henry from next door learned that I have a Bilderhoos and that it lives on my back porch. They've built with it at every opportunity, and according to their Mom, they talk of little else.  Today Henry chose to build a pickup truck, which became a semi-truck, and ended up being some kind of lighthouse tower, with an imaginary glow to guide the sea monsters of Lake Michigan past our rocky shores. Anyway, this video is of the guys on Day 1, when their pal David came over. It contains a surprise. Enjoy!

Watch these kids immersed in passing in-on-with a Bilderhoos play set. We brought the set to a park and thus happened! Kids are drawn to these big wooden boards like a magnet is to steel. We are gearing up for Bilderhoos's July 6th launch (just 8 days away) with a wondrous online retail partner, @thegrommet . . . Excitement is growing! More info to come. We lucked out when we got the gifted photographer @keylowe to shoot this video. And @leahlavelle was on hand to add her own brand of charm to the day. See more photography by @keylowe at bilderhoos.com and while you're there, be among the first to own a bilderhoos -- buy one before your kids get too old for one!

A video posted by Bilderhoos Inc | build+play! (@bilderhoos) on Jun 28, 2015 at 6:18pm PDT

Keith Mokris (@keylowe) filmed and produced this little video for Instagram.

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We spent the day at Bixler play lot in Hyde Park, getting to know some of the kids and parents in the neighborhood.  We pulled in my daughter Leah and her fiance' Keith to help out and take photos and videos. Keith's photos are extraordinary, and we'll be posting some of them on this website soon.  Here's a sneak peak:

Parents of all the beautiful children who allowed us to take photos: Thank you! We have your emails and will be in touch. Your kids are all exquisite little reminders why we are working hard to get Bilderhoos play sets into places where more kids can play with them  From the little boy who walked around hugging a 1-zee board, to the little girl who wanted me to bring the play set to the park every day (how I wish I could!) ... I'm warmed by the whole bunch of 'em! 

 

Short, speedy, and meant to get kids started. Once kids can see how simple the concept it, they usually take it from there and come up with lots of ideas of their own.

Download this printable sheet for some build ideas. 

The stop-motion was shot in the shop in Olympia by Kieran and Sean, and narrated by me in iMovie on my computer in Chicago.