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Testing the posting.....

2/8/2021

I have been trying to post f a while now, but it has not been working. Now hat the Aardman course is starting, I wat to try to get my blog working again. ife has been busy and dealing with joint issues, so fixing thishas ot been priority. When you only have so many spoons, you have to do what you can and let some things go.

So this is the first time it has even let me type anything in here, so I am going to assume this is going to post. Maybe

There would be a lot to say here, so I am just goin to sum up and then pic dump.

I got the Jazza Scultpure box. There are some cool tools I want to play with, as well as Monster Clay and Cosclay. I have had a chance to play with someof the tools and the Cosclay. I must admit the reason I wanted to get this box was to get a sample of the Coscaly to see if I can animate with it.

Coscaly is a polymer clay that is a bit rubberized so it is more flexible after baking then say Sculpey. I haven’t seen much about it on line. Many stop mo animators have just dismissed it out of hand. I think they are thinking of it as a whole puppet material, rather than a smaller bits material. It is definitely too stiff for whole puppet animation, but I was able to successfully make and animate a hand and an earthworm. I intend to remake Wade’s hands in Cosclay. I am putting pictures of the worm in the pic dump. Her name is Edna Wormdo. I have started building a subterrainian living room for her too. I am pretty happy with how she turned out. I did a few versions to determine what the best thickness is for animation.

I also got some new resin molds and have been playing with those. I will include some pics in the dump.

Ok, I think that is all I have in me for now. If this does actually post successfully I will udate more later....

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Teeeeeny tiiiiny cord.....

10/6/2019

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It has been a while....again. I have been sick and busy and tired. I have been coming home and sleeping after my night shift. I think I am starting to get over the flu, so sleeping is not as prevelant. But still. I got Aoifa ready for the con, and Talleg mostly ready. I wore Aoifa on Friday. Her corset burst within the first 20 minutes though. I did get some pictures with that one, thank goodness. Saturday of Rose City I wore the Tardis dress, which is waaay too big for me now. That was meet The Doctor day. I was feeling a bit run down. My face was itchy and my nose was runny. Thought I was just experiencing allergies and overexcitement. I met some friends as we did the signing with #9 and the photo op. We said for the Christopher Eccelston/ Billy Piper panel. At that point I was so exhausted I knew I couldn’t stay for the costume contest. Which I am very sad I missed. By the time I got home, my body was achey and I had a fever of 103. Flu. I had the flu. I missed the rest of the con. I did not get a chance to wear my Talleg cosplay. I did not get to test out my makeup fixer spray in a real life situation. I spent a lot of money to have to miss about half the con. That makes me sad.

And since then, I have been recovering. Sleeping a ton. I still have to work, so I have been working nights then sleeping all day. I have pics of the one day I went. I will do photo dump at the end of this post.

Saturday of this week there was an SCA event called Honor Feast. I have been wanting to go back to the SCA for a couple of years, but without an income and without a car it was hard. Now I have both. No social connections anymore, but I now have an income and transportation. So I pushed past my social anxiety and went. It was fun. I am glad I went. I needed a project to take with me, so instead of sitting there awkwardly alone in my chair I could be buy with something. I decided to try to make reeallly teeeeeny cording. Usually I do cording via kumohimo. But when you are talking tiny threads, that method tends to break your threads. So I decided to do a lucet. I have maybe played with a lucet once. I didn’t have one. Didn’t really have the ability to get one at 2am before the vent. So I attempted to make myself one. I have basswood all over the place because of the stop mo sets I build with it. I must have gotten a bad batch or maybe they are too old or dry, cause they kept cracking to pieces. That is an issue. So I thought about it a bit, and remembered I have 5 crappy dollar tree forks that I never use for eating because the tines bend too easily. If I bent down a couple of the tines, would it work for a lucet? Unsure of which tines would be best, I tried 3 ways: 1 with the first 2 tines curled down, 1 with the middle 2 curled down, and 1 with every other tine curled down. The one with the two middle curled down, it is fine for larger cord and thicker yarn. It is a bit difficult with thinner threads, though. The one with the first 2 curled down worked great for the single thread cord, but was hard to manipulate with anything like doily crochet thread weight. So really all 3 have their place. I have done some ok cords now. Next I need to learn how to make flat cording and how to make multicolor cords.

Ok...pic dump!

Before makeup.....

Da Kitteh is hepping....

After makeup....

Post makeup, pre cloak....

End of day 1 makeup. Held up ok...

Cosplay fail point....D’oh!

Photo op pic. I will get this digitized eventually....

Getting ready for the SCA feast.

First iteration of the fork lucet. Biggest issue loops kept slipping off.

To make it easier, I heated the tips with a candle for about 10 minutes then used needle nose pliers to tweak the tips outward. Worked well!

I got it pretty teeny.

This is with a single strand of DMC floss

I learned if you use a pin to help pull the loop over, be careful not to split your thread with the sharp end.

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Update with stuffs n Things

10/23/2018

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It has been a while again. I have been so busy trying to find a job I haven't had time to do much else.

I have lost a lot of wieght, as a consequence clothes fit me that did not before. Last summer I ordered a bunch of clothes online that were really really cheap, but despite being size 3x they didn't even remotely fit. They were more like 14-16, which is in the Large/Xlarge range. At this point things are starting to actually fit. This weekend is Kumoricon, and I haven't had time to do much cosplay building. I was just planning on going, playing DnD and taking cosplay pictures. But this jacket now sort of fits, and it is kind piratey....maybe? It had a really crappy zipper on it that wouldn't stay together even if I zipped it up without putting it on so there was no pull on it.

For some reason I didn't think of getting a pic before I started working on it. First I just cut off the zipper. Then I reinforced the button area. I have pinned all the buttons on, and sewed about 3 of them. I will then make loops to hook over the buttons. I have no idea what else I will do with it. What will I wear under it? Skirt? Pants? Will it easily lend itself to being turned into a cosplay for an existing character? I dunno. It is 3/4 length sleeves. I have a ton of silver buttons. Originally I was going to put buttons on both sides and lace it together. However I do not have enough of the same kind of buttons, so I decided to do the button loop thing. I have these pirate skull and crossbones buttons. Not enough for the sleeve cuff buttons, but that is ok. I will put dragon buttons on the sleeve cuffs. The color matches. Sort of. I also found a bunch of Halloween themed stuff I bought on sale last year. I have no idea what I will do with them yet, but I am sure I will think of something.

I need to get back to job hunting. If I come up with something cool I will post it.

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Excuses, Excuses

4/15/2014

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Another month has gone by. I suppose it is time to update this.

I have been working on audio, but I have a limited amount of time I can work on it, and I don't yet have anything I am willing to post. I will probably work some more on it tonight.

One of my favorite geek bands, Debs & Errol, were in the running for the CBC Searchlight. Errol wanted to do something with the #Votegeek hashtag, and called for fans to send him pictures of themselves with it. So I dusted off Wade and ran around town taking pictures. I also decided to take this as an excuse to actually build him a set. He needed furniture, big time. Everything I have is simply Liliputian compared to him. Here is one of the pics I took at Dutch Brothers. They are so awesome there.

Anyway...

So, anyway, I took a few days a built Wade a sofa and an end table and a coffee table. I sewed a cushion and crocheted a blanket to go on the back of the sofa. I painted a background. So now that I had all these things, of course I had to play around with them. The resulting videos are not great, but the set looks awesome. Needs more detail, like pictures, a window, a book shelf, etc. Otherwise I am happy with it. Here is the mess I call a video...

Dinosaurus from Barefoot Hallucination on Vimeo.

So, there ya go. This month hasn't been completely uneventful. As I play with Wade and what he can do I hope to have more test videos to post.

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Busy as a beav...er, bee

12/9/2012

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Well, it has been a very productive weekend. I haven't finished recording and posting stories yet, but it still has been very productive.

I spent several hours yesterday rewriting the story arc for the webseries. This is re-write number 3. Re-write because the direction it was going has changed so dramatically I had to go back and change the first few episodes and reconfigure the story arc. For some reason this time my characters are telling me where they want go with it, and it is not what I had in mind at all. However, it is truer to the characters themselves, so I guess I don't mind the rewrite. It is also necessitating the addition of more great characters, so I starting losing track of it all. And little jokes, story threads and character interactions are popping in, giving little touches to what was a good silly little story thing. It has become more than I meant it to be. I do not think it is bad. But it really isn't what I had in mind when I started this. it is tons better. I just hope I can make it fully to fruition.

One thing I noticed was I kept having to flip around through my notebooks to make sure I was referencing each character correctly, and not leaving dangling story threads through out. I found cheap foam board at the Dollar Tree, which I had planned to use for light bouncing. I decided that having everything easily accessible was a better idea.

So now, my walls look like this:

I just taped the foam board to the walls using packing tape. I will still be able to use the other side for lighting. I also am saving a few to put animation notes on. As crazy as it looks, it is actually helpful. I have never been in a writer's room, but after I did all this I realized this room now looks like pictures I have seen on the intertubes. So maybe I am on to something. Probably a lot less efficient, as it follows my logic not general conventions, but still. Sitting back and looking at it all I feel like I actually accomplished something. And I feel that much closer to this thing becoming a reality.

Also this weekend my friend drove me to the hardware store so I could purchase some supplies. I bought plywood, 1x1, 1-1/2x1/2, etc. I glued and nailed the boards together for a frame, then I glued and nailed the plywood to the top. Once it is dry I will have a base I can clamp to the table and attach a background.

Here are some pics:

So that's now done. I also purchased some small pieces of sheet metal. I am still figuring out what exactly I want to do with them. One of the ways I anchor my puppets is by using magnets. Unlike some, I put my magnets in the feet and use a metal base. Even if I feel the need to go the other way with my new puppets, a sheet metal base for the floor will give extra stability. I just haven't exactly decided how to execute it yet.

So that was my weekend. I still have a ton to do, but I feel like I am moving forward instead of stagnating.

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Progress....sort of

9/29/2012

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Well, yes, I have been working on my video. The one I am making completely (well, mostly) on my iPad. I have gotten some people to collaborate and help record voiceovers. I tried to do both voices myself and it sounded like the same person for both characters. I really need to learn how to do voices. Anyway, so now I have all the audio I need. Well, mostly. I may have to rewrite the script a bit, as I am having a hard time finding a particular soundbite that is integral to the plot. But anyway, I probably would be shooting today, but I got distracted. I have been dividing my time between this and a new project. Yesterday someone at work brought in a bunch of stuff she had cleaned out of her son's room. This was included in the bunch:

It is a little bitty baby guitar. At first I was going to just restring it as a guitar, as 2 of the strings were broken and I had my doubts about the remaining ones. Then I went to the uke store for strings for my soprano uke and the guy suggested I string it as a concert uke. It is exactly the same size and shape. The biggest differences being the part at the end that holds the strings and more tuning pegs. So, while I have been working on my video stuff, I turned that ugly orange thing into this:

It is kind of hard to see. The light also makes it look lighter than it is. But I painted it green with silver trim, and painted the bridge black with silver trim. I also had to glue a piece of wood under the metal string holder. I found out the hard way that the metal eats through nylon strings quickly. Like, within minutes of stringing it and while trying to tune it. If I didn't have my glasses on at the time I would have put my eye out. I have strung it like a concert uke, and with a low G instead of a high G. It is interesting to listen to. Definitely changes how my chords sound. The strings are still acclimating. It will take a bit before they stop stretching and settle in.

But yeah, I would paint a bit, then work on video while the paint was drying, then paint some more. I probably would be farther along on the video if I could just leave this thing alone. But I can't. It's my new toy.

Tonight I am tired of doing stuff, but tomorrow I will get to shooting and editing. My plan is to have it completely done by sundown tomorrow. That is the plan. We shall see what actually happens. :)

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This was a triumph...making a note here: huge success...

1/24/2012

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Finally! I knew if I put my brain to it I would find something that worked. It is still a teensy bit shakey, but I will use it anyway. After several false starts, this is the apparatus I ended up with:

Yes...that is balsa wood square doweling, the first attempt at the bookcase the other day, rubber shelf webbing and a packing peanut. I feel like fucking McGyver right now. One of these days I will have the money for tools so I can build more permanent solutions to these problems. For now.....it's McGyvering.

So here is how it turned out:

Not perfect, but good enough to use. :) Now on to scene 2. That one will be simple for camera angles...I can just place it on the set floor...but it will be a bear to figure out how to get them to move how I want.

For now, bed. Work early in the morning.

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Testing the posting.....

Teeeeeny tiiiiny cord.....

Before makeup.....

Da Kitteh is hepping....

After makeup....

Post makeup, pre cloak....

End of day 1 makeup. Held up ok...

Cosplay fail point....D’oh!

Photo op pic. I will get this digitized eventually....

Getting ready for the SCA feast.

First iteration of the fork lucet. Biggest issue loops kept slipping off.

To make it easier, I heated the tips with a candle for about 10 minutes then used needle nose pliers to tweak the tips outward. Worked well!

I got it pretty teeny.

This is with a single strand of DMC floss

I learned if you use a pin to help pull the loop over, be careful not to split your thread with the sharp end.

Update with stuffs n Things

Excuses, Excuses

Busy as a beav...er, bee

Progress....sort of

This was a triumph...making a note here: huge success...

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