Because October is almost always slow for me – and in trying to raise a little extra money for the coming events – I’ve added a very special hand-embellished giclee to our Etsy store. In the far background is another airship. I’ve also added extra blooms and extra details to the main airship.
… Also … I am down to 9 of the numbered “the Rescue” giclees and two artists prints. Only 50+II full size giclees on canvas were made, only 50+II will ever be made – and they sold rather quickly for a while there. I’ll likely be sending a few to the coming conventions, holding one for myself, and maybe holding a a couple for shows and galleries… so.. very, very few. And one of them is also on Etsy.
One of the more painful and costly steps along the way to an art show or convention for us, and other artists we know, is most always framing.
It seems that artists and artisans anymore, can be some of the most heavily exploited tradesmen when it comes to tools and supplies …and frames are certainly no exception.
Art supplies tend to be priced for Warhol-famed artists, design agencies with multi-million dollar clients, or students who simply have to have these things, and will have to take out loans and grants accordingly; Frames are often priced for artists of Ryden renown, or remarkably wealthy art buyers – factor in huge percentages for art sales through galeries, and it is no wonder that the gallery owner lifestyle of nice cars and sipping champagne contrast so beautifully with those of the artists supported: which I suppose for most of us… well, I don’t know how you get by, but lets say “robbing liquor stores for brush money” as a rather broad example.
And since for any show or convention it is good – if not mandatory, to have hang-able art. Many of us artists need to get creative if we wish to account for a 40% cut on sale price, and frames, without demanding a “Just who does he think he is?” sort of price.
One route, of course, is to gallery-wrap, or museum wrap paintings and giclees in a way that makes for a nice display without the need of a frame. Add a touch of color or a reflected image to the overlap, and such things do really tend to look very nice… though modern by default. Gallery wrapping and museum wrapping is available as an option for ready canvas through most any art supply provider, and having giclees stretched these ways is an option with most decent giclee printer. Doing this one one’s own is moderately difficult for gallery wrap, and strenuous for museum wrap – but by no means impossible.
If however your works are already stretched and mounted, with staples down the sides, or if they are painted/drawn/engraved on boards or paper and absolutely need to be framed – there are still a few creative, inexpensive, and simple ways to go.
One of which – if your works will fit standard frame sizes, is to go on “50% off!” weeks (we like to call them “regular price weeks”) to Hobby Lobby or Michael’s and buy their pre-made frames. Another solution of course is to go to places such as Target and Walmart and browse, looking for discounted frames that can be redecorated and customized to look nice… perhaps even to become works of art in their own.
One problem I have found with many of the ready-made frames (and even many custom frames), something I particularly dislike, is that I find many of these frames are either plastic, or low-grade wood, either made to look like better wood by way of plastic/acrylic veneers or overlay, ornate clay designs painted or coated over, or by other means. The most standard being those which are low-grade wood with the clay and paint overlay, which tends to chip and break in shipping… if it isn’t already broken in this way at time of purchase. The ones at non-art stores tend to be plastic molding with a plastic wood-grain sheet ironed onto them… again… trying to avoid that.
So, yesterday, after browsing many ready made frames at all the aforementioned stores, not finding anything I liked at a reasonable price – and finding mostly overpriced junk, I decided to try to make my own.
The first step was a trip to the hardware store for lumber, where I purchased four 6’x4″x1″ pieces of wood.. having struck out on all avenues in looking for a source for the wood strips framing galleries use. I’ll have to try that some other day.
So… wood…
I’d like to say I went for the fine cherry, a nice fire maple, or something moderately exotic – but what I ended up going for was a compromise.
At Home Depot, I found their “exotic wood” be be very exotically priced. I am used to prices being high on hardware at woodcraft – but Woodcraft’s prices certainly beat (by light years) the wood prices at Home Depot. I will have to remember: Woodcraft for wood, Home Depot for hardware.. but, of course it was late at night when we went… So Home Depot was pretty much where we were going for the lumber.
Pine being cheap and sub-quality wood, I looked to avoid that route – but in the good wood section I found what is called “select pine” – which is not quite gold-grade heartwood pine, but certainly not shabby construction-grade pine. It is nice and heavy, very dense actually, with a really fine grain and very tiny knots. I was rather surprised by how sturdy and dense it was, and at $4.19 a 6 foot piece – I decided to give it a try (and having tried it, I am actually quite happy with it).
[Edit] Having returned, and taking a closer look at Home Depot’s stock, I also found some really nice Maple there for about $1.40 a linear foot – still more expensive than the pine, about twice the price but certainly not bad. I also found cherry and red oak shelf capping for around $1 a foot, which I plan to use in future projects in place of the moulding below.
Molding
I also grabbed some decorative wood strips from Home Depot (sort of like above, but not the same design)… rounded and decorative on one side, flat on another. My plan is to use these to make the frames a touch more ornate. The price wasn’t bad.. $2.16.. Oh? Not “per piece” .. that’s a linear foot? Okay… I bought one six foot section. Also in my arsenal is some brass chain at Hobby Lobby (clearance priced)… about 120 inches of it. Home Depot had wood appliques – but their prices on those were ridiculous – I am supposing they were trying to get as much as possible out of cabinet makers. The things are incredibly cheap by comparison at Michaels… I’ll have to go there tomorrow, as they didn’t have them at Hobby Lobby and I wasn’t about to pay the Home Depot price for them.
Wood Applique
So… first step: Cutting the wood
So… first step… measuring the wood.
These artworks are 5×7 inches. So, I want the inside of my frame to be about 1/8 of in inch smaller than that. Typically I’ll sit there and figure up the best mathematical formulae to get the perfect result – but diving right in, I simply measured 1/8 of an inch in, and used my 45-degree plastic triangle to mark where the first 45 degree cut would intersect that drawn line. I measured 6 + 3/4 (7 inches minus two times 1/8 of an inch) of an inch along that line, marked that point, and used the triangle to draw a line where the next cut would go.
From there I carefully and precisely made the first cut on the table saw, using my 45-degree angle-guide. Then I carefully and precisely made my second cut. From there it was just a matter of sliding forward my 45-degree guide, placing one edge against the (stopped) table saw blade, and lining up the straight guide to the end of that piece. After this I could just cut, flip the wood over, cut, and flip the wood over, making perfectly identical trapezoidal wooden pieces… my 7-inch sides.
Table Saw: The same 45 degree jig and same position as the very first cut. The difference is the piece is flipped and moved to the guide in order to reflect the opposite angle, and the achieve the right length. This can also be done with a miter box, but the table saw really makes it go much faster. Table Saw Guide - My clamp keeps the wood from popping/leaning up, or sliding along the guide.
After cutting the first two, just in case my angle guide was not entirely accurate, I matched up corners on the cut pieces, and checked them with my triangle, to make sure they were squaring up. They weren’t. So I made an adjustment of half a degree – and used these pieces over and over again until the angle was perfect.
One of the cut pieces. Remember - Trapezoid, not parallelogram. No adjustments need to be made to the guide for this, just flip the wood. Also note my sleeves... not recommended for anyone without a death wish. Loose sleeves, long sleeves, are not the best attire for workshops.
I made 18 of these long sides, saving the first two ‘test pieces’ for use in making the shorter sides, since they were shorter after all the test angling.
Then I made the 5-inch sides, in the same manner as above, until I 18 of those as well.
After this, I needed to make it so that the artwork could rest inside the frame, meaning that 1/8 inch recess (rabbet) planned for needed to be carved into the inside dimensions along the back of the frame-to-be. This is a good time to have a router (and a router table is all the better).
*If you do not have a router, which I am sure a lot of you may not, I would recommend starting with decorative beading (the sort of trim that, in a house, runs along a floor or a ceiling… available at most lumber stores). From there you can just build a simple square and square-edged frame for your work, with the inside of this being the exact size of your artwork (n0 need for a rabbet), but use the measuring and cutting steps above on the trim. The trim can be assembled on top of the box frame, glued, pressed, and clamped for a very nice look and sturdy frame. Those are the basics… I’ll go over that particular method in more detail, but it will have to wait for another post*
Router and Router table - I set up two guides for this one. One to set how far back towards the bit the wood piece can go, one to keep it down to the table (while at the same time to keep my fingers away from the bit)
I used a router bit which has a curved into flat bevel, called an “ogee”. The flat edges would hold the artwork well, and the rounded surface would allow for the least amount of surface contact on the art side of the artwork.
common router bits and their profilesRouted edge - better than a rabeted edge, because the curve keeps more of the art's surface away from the frame itself, which prevents a rubbing on the art surface.
I also used this same decorative “Ogee” bevel on the inside front as well. As a bonus, being the same on the inside dimension front to back, I could choose which side looked the best (according to the smoothness of the cut, the look of the grain, dents and dings, etc.) .
Having chosen which side would face front, I then took to beveling the Outer Edge on front side, giving it a smoothed and decorative face on the front (inside dimension and outside), but leaving the back flat and flush. For several of my frames, I also made the back outer edge beveled as well, giving the frames a nice rounded edge.
Three routed edges - two on the inside near the artwork (against my thumb), one on the front and outside of the frame. The fourth edge is left plain so it can be flush with the wall.
Once I had all my pieces done, I quickly sanded off all frayed edges and burs from my cuts, so the frayed ends would not get in the way of the next step: gluing.
A stack of frame pieces, ready to debur, glue, and press.
Glue, actually holds more securely than nails or screws, if done properly, and of course keeps unsightly nails and screws from your frames. Such also negates the risk of splitting your pieces with such fasteners during the construction process.. which would be a terrible waste of all the work done up to now. There are special fasteners for framing (to be used later), but the glue is most important.. and will make that fastener step much easier if you choose to use fasteners.
I used a four-point box clamp for this. It makes jobs like framing, assembling stretcher bars for canvases, making boxes/cabinets, all go much more smoothly with these sort of clamps. If you don’t have them, I’d recommend using two (preferable four) bar clamps or pole clamps for this step.
4-way clamp around the frame, glue at each edge. The pressure pushed glue deep into the end grain, giving the frames a very strong and sturdy bond.
Put glue along the ends of each piece, in thin streams, but try to cover most of the ends, and try as best you can to get the very edges of each end. Clamp them together, make sure all pieces line up square and even. Un-clamp and re-clamp if necessary… Such is much better than letting it dry uneven and having to redo this step or sand things down.
Let the frame sit this way for at least a half hour (preferably longer) before moving it. If it has only been sitting a half hour, remove move it carefully and then leave it be. You will however get better results if you leave each frame clamped for an hour or more. I plan to use 3/8 corrugated fasteners on each corner – they aren’t completely necessary, but they give a bit of added peace of mind to neurotic people such as me.
corrugated fastenerNot-so-finished product. Staining and other decoration yet to be done, as well as the addition of the hanging hardware. The artwork is not secure yet btw; It is just there for the photo.
Next steps – added (wood) decoration, staining, added decoration (metal), placing the artwork, hardware (for hanging).
Cybraphon is the latest project from Edinburgh-based artist collective FOUND (Ziggy Campbell, Simon Kirby and Tommy Perman).
Cybraphon is a collection of musical instruments, a robotic nickelodeon, played by wheels and by mechanical arms, an intricate assembly of clockwork parts and instruments, electronically powered, and controlled through MIDI and DMX.
Though not powered by steam, and not controlled by music cylinders, it is still an incredible piece of work, and an equally incredible work of art.
You can read more about this machine, hear more songs, and see more pictures and videos at http://cybraphon.com/
“There is in every true woman’s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.”
-Washington Irving
Conversations between Bethalynne and I, regarding “Depression Punk” began about a year and a half ago – though until recently, I never really managed to consider these concept so seriously. Such conversations were typically a source of amusement, just silly banter and rampant conceptualizing – most often fueled by late nights and spoiled grain.
Of course when these discussions began, we had our sites set on the finer things in life: The extravagance of steam culture had us bright eyed dreaming of all the wondrous things we could make to wear, decorate with, perhaps even display and sell. We drempt aloud of wondrous things made of fine woven fabrics, intricate machines and devices made of brass gears and parts encased in fine ornate hardwood shells, castings in silver and on brass, and huge monumental artworks so complex and weird that they might be new wonders of the world. The things we would make, the things we would do, and the places we would go dressed to the nines in ornate brass, tweed, and brown leather; Whole worlds of arts and craftsmanship were opening up to us – our only limits being time and focus.
… Though I could hardly focus on anything at the time, barely getting any rest between stuffing prints into boxes and tubes; I was overwhelmed, stressed, and enthused by the sudden and unexpected popularity of my site and my works. We were still poor as we had began, and had a way to go before building a solid footing with our then fortunate circumstances. We found ourselves so incredibly in demand that I had an impossible time choosing from the avenues that were open before us.
One weekend night, we found that the television was becoming all-too heavily dominated by stressed stock brokers and stock owners, failing corporations and other other such things not concerning struggling near-homeless artist renters — In this – we non-stock-owners/non-homeowners had to flip around for a while to find anything remotely interesting to relax to… anything that did not have to do with AIG or that credit stuff we with no credit had little worry over.
For some god-awful reason we found ourselves up late at night staring wide-eyed and zombified at the 80’s Robin Williams train wreck that was called “Popeye”, a deliciously terrible and ill-advised film based upon the adventures of the spinach-munching pipe smoking depression-era pugilistic hero of… of… well, someone had to have watched these cartoons… perhaps even on purpose.
Somehow, after an hour or so of watching, we found that we were still able to form words, and combine them into sentences; Discussion ensued, and that led us to indirectly this depression punk topic via our starting topic… “Hill Punk”
Hill Punk, we decided, would be a subculture where bands played on clay jugs, rubber bands and washboards, wherein the most fashionable would be those wearing the most ragged and worn wooden barrels, those with the most interesting objects tangled within their soup-crusted beards, and the finest art consisted of the most hideously perfect rusty pipes and cloth tape, held together by twine and thrice-darned stockings. Women would don hair nets over tightly-pulled bob-tailed she-mullets, kids would wear burlap sacks patched with cigar ribbons, accented by sling-shots and chewing tobacco tins.
Figuring that this might possibly conceived as politically incorrect and insensitive by many a fine and upstanding person with Appalachian roots, we thought that this should concept should cover more regions than just the one, and should stem also into the cities and burbs.
This caused up to branch into a more Oliver Twist aspect of steam culture: One encouraging the wearing of rag-tag garments bound by hastily-stitched patchwork, torn gloves and battered hats powdered and blemished by coal and by soot – decorated with pins and necklaces of broken finery and salvaged machines – deviating from the lavishly steampunk culture to a culture of salvaged things and frugal sensibilities.
Gone are the days of stripping the finest wood from the most beautiful forests, and gone are the days of fine ivory canes, expensive perfumes made from plentiful sea mammals. No longer is it in good taste to rest one’s argyle-socked feet upon an intricate, rare, and expensive conversation piece from the depths of deepest and darkest Borneo. No longer is it safe or tasteful to boastfully cover oneself in brilliant jewels and precious metal at gatherings or when in the public eye. Expeditions to far away lands for science and discovery are near-impossible to finance. Among the wealthy, conversations surrounding the proper storage of kitchen grease, preservation of furniture, and the hand-washing of doilies have come to be the most fashionable topics of conversation, hosted in a small cluster of open rooms – the rest of these mansions sealed off for preservation of firewood and limited household staff.
Children in over-sized hand-me downs play games with toys made of salvaged and irreparable devices, things found in junk yards and gutters. They make jewelry from anything salvaged and shiny. For added flair, they wear pocket watches which neither work, nor retain any valuable parts. They make toys and pieces of art from things once functional, interesting and inspiring in appearance only – imagination fueling purpose and function.
Boxes fashioned of glued gears, nails, tin cans and and soldered spoons open gateways to the lush and plentiful lands of Africa; Necklaces made of broken piggy banks and found brass are merely disguises for secreted magickal jewels, or perhaps serve as a key to an ancient and faraway treasure trove – the keyhole cleverly disguised as a crack in a crumbling wall somewhere within a crumbling and abandoned estate.
Meet “Depression Punk”, the somewhat less-fortunate sibling to the steampunk, dieselpunk, clockpunk movements, a symbol for our times – powered by innovative re-purposing, the crafting of interesting and intriguing things from things passed over, wherein form and function collide with outcomes decided by practicality and frugality – imagination stepping in wherever function is not essential.
It only recently occurred to me, that these things are around in mass, and every bit as wonderful as the purely steampunk things I love but cannot buy or afford to make. Where one might see a failed steampunk or clockpunk piece, I have begun to see a very successful and brilliant depression punk piece in its stead… and it is odd that this in only just now rubbing off on me… that I am finally seeing the trees through the forest.
One of my Bethalynne’s greatest traits, is the pure power of her imagination, the way she crafts and dreams child-like eyes, building intricate stories and expansive lore around everything she doodles or glues together.
And while I poo-poo ideas of mine because I haven’t the money for the perfectly-grained piece of cherry carved from the rarest knotted old-growth stump, or haven’t the resources to make electrodes spark from telescoping arms of brass and silver – she crafts beautiful and intriguing gateways to incredible and outlandish strange worlds from scrap jewelry and salvaged paper products…
It seems I could take a lesson from her in hese regards, and from those I admittedly once scoffed at – get with the times and shed the bonds of my extravagant ambitions by showing a bit of fiscal responsibility and empathy, exercising that resourcefulness and practicality forgotten by many of us during these previous years…
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.
These days, there is a lot of confusion surrounding what “Steampunk” means. I can’t say that I will clear that up much with this post, but hopefully it will stand as a good primer. Mostly I am just sharing my views here, for discussion’s sake, and perhaps to clarify my perceptions for those who might wonder where I stand on such things.
Some would argue that it is a literary movement above all, pertaining to a return to speculative fiction — imagining what our world would be like had we never invented the combustion engine, or the silicon chip, and the imagining of worlds and concepts still ripe for the picking… exploration, invention, imagination, all those traits most admired in what once was what it meant to be human… something pondered by many of us with a great deal of wonder, and longing.
To others it is a musical movement – as bands return to musical roots ranging from folkish Americana to neoclassical, and strange hybrids of everything in between.
There are also many who see it as a fashion movement as well, setting aside screen-printed tees and sweat-shop alternative apparel for hand-stitched and hand-woven finery, made of tweed, wool, cotton, and leather, mixing the classic and the classy with punk-rock accents, again re-imagining a fantastic reality where time periods and worlds intersect.
All three seem to center upon this principle: That we are tired of mass marketing and mass production, throwing cash at huge corporations in return for another of a million perfect plastic reproductions of the latest barely original fad concept – filling landfills with disposable art and fashion inkjet printed on substandard metal lunchboxes, or upon single-stitched polyester and polyvinyl garbage in the name of consumer whoredom.
… And then there is the art, which follows in these very same lines, wherein we step away from the lazy and uninspired.
With single-lined scribbles and kindergarten-class paper cutouts, Matisse showed us in his later years that lazy and greedy can make for collectible and desirable art; Warhol expanded upon this concept by giving us consumerist and commercially-driven uninspired drivel in place of art culture.
Both of which had a profound statement to make in doing so, to break the mold, and to show us that most anything could be considered ‘art’ and sell for a hefty price, especially where fools with deep pockets and self-proclaimed art connoisseurs were concerned.
With these, came “Pop Art”… a movement wherein millions of people, out of some sense of financial masochism, shovel money into the pockets of those who make no effort at concealing that their art is all about taking money from others in return for nothing or next to nothing – wherein those who wish to be ‘chic’, create the ‘cutting edge’, with which to gouge their own eyes in order to blind themselves to the fact that the irony and novelty wore off some twenty years ago…
… or perhaps it is the irony within irony which holds the scene together. Pop culture these days seems to center upon the principle of raising those who should be at the bottom, to the very top, because seeing those who are less than we are in great esteem allows us to imagine that we might someday do the same. The worst local band is always the local favorite, the most addle-brained diseased wastes of flesh humanity has known – they dominate reality TV, the most stupid and inane stunts get the most plays on youtube, as talk of them dominates bandwidth on the internet. Ours has become a society wherein we worship disposable idols fashioned of regurgitated crap, as a means to raise ourselves, while lowering our own expectations for more comforting levels.
Steampunk art, like steampunk culture in general, is the opposite of this; Like steampunk fashion, steampunk literature, and steampunk music, a step backwards in time, to an era where effort, skill, and craftsmanship for an artist were more important than mass-friending sprees, media sensationalism, a pretty face behind the brush, and viral videos – Steampunk is all about the adventure and joy found in making, and the celebration of worthy, if not awesome individuals who are indeed quite a rare find in what they do, how well they do it.
I would like to say I am speaking solely of dedication to fine materials, surface preparation, the layering of paint, painstaking attention to detail – because such things would serve me… but though such things can be in the “spirit” of steampunk, the true steampunk works are a step above thinking in two dimensions, and further than simply fashioning the three-dimensional with stationary and psuedomechanical parts.
The true and iconic artists of this movement are those who build thrones of wood and brass with full functioning gizmos built within, giant unmovable unbelievably complex brass telescopes for their backyards, insanely complicated tool packs for their own workshops, custom cases for their self-made theremins, or huge metal treehouses, towering tesla coils for the masses to enjoy in public places — and much like anything truly steampunk:
…probably not for sale.
We all know Steampunk is a DIY culture, but the truest spirit of steampunk is not just DIY; It tends to be DIYFY (Do it yourself, for yourself), or DIYFE (Do it yourself, for everyone).
It isn’t “steampunk art”, if one would not not prefer to either keep it for themselves, or share it with the entire world — If it doesn’t hurt to see it go, if the amount of work put into it isn’t beyond whatever cash amount it might bring in today’s market.
Everything and anything else I would tend to consider simply “steampunk-inspired”… which is how I would class my paintings, drawings, and prints; Admittedly, I often tend to use the word “steampunk”, because “steampunk-inspired” is simply not a very good search term.
There are a lot of wondrous steampunk-inspired things on the web, and if you are on twitter and a member of any etsy or steampunk crowd, you probably see everything from Steampunk toe-rings to Steampunk toilet brushes offered about every half second – some of these things amazing, some not, most at least fascinating on some level – the best of these hand-made from the ground up.
It makes me think of the wonderfully, refreshingly horrid and grotesque ’90s incarnation of the gothic art movement, wherein the beauty in darkness was explored, grunge and grime were made pretty, which was quickly reduced to big eyed girls in stripey socks and clompy shoes decorating everything from lunch box purses to cheap perfume… made a franchise by mall stores and non-alternative bands and labels seeking to add themselves to the hype.
Instead of stripey sicks there are gears, instead of skulls, there are …gears. Some of these things made by those simply wanting to cash in in what they have miisconceived as a cash cow… but others are made by brilliant and wonderful artists with limited means, made for people with limited means — these days it is very hard to make the works we would like to make, and still make them available to others. The artists and crafters tend to be as limited in resources as the buyers are… and perhaps a better word than “Steampunk” would be “Depression Punk”… but let’s face it: No one wants to be reminded that we are in a depressed economy, and it certainly does not serve any artist or other seller to speak of such things in their sales pitch.
Actually I love seeing a great many of these things – and I see many, many shiny bits of brass and silver that I wish I could buy… and that they are handmade, admittedly is often “steampunk enough” for me. I can still feel better in the fact that I am going for items that are fairly unique, and works of art in their own, greatly so in comparison to possibly similar things sold in stores.
As for my own works… I do wish that I could make many of my works “true steampunk”, hiding gears and mechanical functions within the fabric and frames of my paintings – making them do something more than just looking pretty. But what would a steam-powered panting do, besides using steam power, gears, and cams to… sit there… as a painting does?
Such is a concept I obsess over too often, and though I think of many good ways to do such things – the amount of work and materials needed vs. what people would be willing to pay for such things always proves to be an obstacle – as the intent of selling tends to ruin the concept from its very conception.
The spirit of Steampunk tends to die where commercialism steps in, as anything with ‘punk’ in the name well should; It also ceases to be where quality and craftsmanship take back seat – but saying something is “not Steampunk”, should never be a terrible thing, or seen as a terrible misdeed. Things can be incredible, beautiful, even awe-inspiring – and not be purely steampunk. Such things can even be liked by many of us, even embraced by the majority without the label needing to apply.
I am Myke Amend – and I make steampunk-inspired artwork, though I do hope and plan to be more of a maker and a tinkerer – as soon as I am able to… when materials and time are less of a luxury.
Just a few projects I am picking away at. If you want some step by step images on these, you can go to my flickr account (flickr.com/mykeamend)
1) Book with embedded faux bone seal/cameo. Materials: Brass, wood, polymer clay. I want to fill this with writings and drawings on skin, to give it a really eerie, creepy, “kids would be up all night for weeks if they ever entered the room they weren’t supposed to” feel. Human skin is out of the question, legalities and all – vellum will have to do, but such is out of my price range for the moment. I guess this will have to wait to be filled up.
2) Box with embedded faux bone seal/cameo. Materials: Brass, wood, polymer clay. To be filled with pulp metaphysical accouterments. This will hopefully be a very high end cabinet of curiousities piece or set of movie props when done.
3) Spring-shocked Goggles. Materials: Brass. Leather padding and straps to be added. Lenses to be added if/when I ever get myself to the optometrist.
The new Adventure Mission Generator is now online and running.
I added this mission generator last year to the Miskatonic Archive in order to make my days a bit more interesting, keep the ideas fresh, or at least somewhat random. It was still in its beta stage back then.
Apologies to those who were damaged or killed in the mechanical breakdowns and malfunctions caused September 8, 2008, I do hope you are feeling better for this glorious day of unveiling.
Adventure Mission Generator
New to this mission generator:
1) Lots
2) A static image with text in the image, instead of text upon a background, this makes it compatible with most everything – no more stylesheets in LJ throwing it off, no more codemuching in myspace to throw it off.
3) A different mission per each name per each day of the year. No more having to type different names to get better missions… just come back tomorrow, if you survive.
4) The image generated is permanent, in other words, it is not going to change on your profile the next day. Yes, this means you must come back to get another one, but it saves you from proudly displaying a neat mission, and looking silly when another less flattering one replaces it.
5) It is an excellent merging of various types of server-side and client side code – since I am amazing, I thought it would be fun to make something of my wide assortment of skills and languages.
6) I really do not get to say that often about myself. If there is one thing I am incredibly adept at, it is anything algorithmic – which there was a lot of in this exercise. No randoms – same mission per name per day. Test results posted on your pages remain the same, even if I reprogram everything here. Yay. I am happy with it.
Mysterious Aircraft carrier in lake seen near Shanghai via The RegisterGiant HeliCarrier as Illustrated within China Military Report
Still, these are not as impressive or elegant as the airborne aircraft carriers of history, such as the USS Macon or her sister ship the USS Akron, which, sadly, crashed off the coast of New Jersey on April 4th 1933, killing 73 crew and passengers.
Macon over ManhattanUSS Macon mockup presented as web advertising for the National Geographic Special: Flying Aircraft Carrier – Image copyright National Geographic Online.
New Steampunk Wallpaper: “The Antarctic Experiment” (Sepia antiqued variant of the original image), 1280 x 1024, from the series “Airships and Tentacles” – a Jules Verne and Hp Lovecraft Inspired series of explorers in dirigibles in precarious situations.
Click image below to download or view:
A color version of this, in 1280×1024 and in 1600×1200 is available at Ettadiem.com
Antarctic Experiment in Sepia (Thanks for the Ether)
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