2016 is Here and I Have a List
Late 2015 dropped a few hairy cockroaches into my codpiece, and set me back a season.
I'm not one to let things get me down for long, but the one thing I do have issue dealing with is my own sense of urgency. When I get on a creative roll, it's stifling to those around me and I apologize for that.
No, not really, sorry.
I left a descent roll in Hawaii a couple years ago because I had to face the fact that the tech industry just wasn't a challenge. It felt good turning Microsoft down, because I knew I "did it" and wanted more. That opportunity wouldn't have happened if I didn't work for it, and been nudged by a shitty (illegal, proven) expulsion from my former employer there. I did manage to get to know some of the warmest, fun and loving people ever though. Fuck the corporate shit. Walking one end of the island to the other left me bored shitless because, well, that was it. I love the food (oh gods the food!), the people, and sometimes the weather.
Therein lies the problem: I'm a person that by design, needs to work with my hands. Brain exercises come with the package, and the tech industry just used a small part of what I need to work with every day to feel satisfied, more like a hobby that eventually its so easy and second nature that you feel like a cheap whore turning tricks without any second thought involved.
For decades, I did everything from woodworking to leather work, metal fabrication to stonework. I grew up under a tradesman father so gathering new skills just came naturally. I've been back in my element since I came back and landed on the East(ish) coast here. That said, on to 2016.
My primary drive, my foundry work. I began doing casting back in the early 90's and did very well with it, and lived comfortably off it for many years. Like any other thing I do, it had to evolve and I had to do new things. Around 2000 I was made an offer to manage in the leather industry and did that, setting aside the foundry work because I had become disenchanted by the steady stream of foreign imports and cheapening of the craft by what I call "Paperback Pagans" slapping "Celtic" and "Norse" on anything and attaching undocumented hoakiness to an otherwise, already colorful and element rich medium.
So, my first order of business was to start from scratch and build a new foundry to include the ability to work with bronze, silver, gold, and even iron and steel. Its all part of the progression, and been coming along nicely. I've even been designing some method and equipment that's "out of the box" in thought while also putting things together conventionally. Ive been documenting the progress but for proprietary reasons some of it I cant release to the public just yet. Really folks, it's almost there. Weather has been an issue and considering the 60-70 degree week ahead it looks like Im finally able to get rolling again.
I also did my trademarking on a concept that involves a project born back in/around 2007 - including finishing a book (perhaps a series). This all comes together well because a good portion of my initial offerings in this genre are given a firm base for the castings I want to do and allows me to have a good deal of creative control until its established too.
I've done my own websites for years now, and been an active developer for Facebook, as a means for advertisement for my work, hobby, and creative expression. Historic Origins Studios is the mixture of all those and the community feature side is what I call a gift back- I took some of the best things I found in community forums and a social media gig like Facebook and rolled those features into a package for my site that I hope, people will enjoy. It's also a way for me to keep folk up to date on what I'm doing. Elemental Humanity is a pet project for the long term, mainly a commentary, back to the basics type of medium that allows me to touch on more than just the crafts.
The gates are partially open for now, so feel free to hop on my sites and go for a ride with me. I code, maintain and administrate them all myself and get what you can out of them, contribute if you wish (Like me you may end up hating Facebook even more after seeing what Ive put together) and enjoy them. Yes, to see and use alot of the community features requires signing up, and thats because I can weed out any potential problem folk who are up to no good anyways- spammers, bots, and hooligans. Hope to see you join and use the fruits of my work.
So, the list, in the rough:
1) Finish the Foundry Equipment
Refine the waste oil (eco friendly!) furnace burners with the new mod I made (done)
Burnout Kilns (Almost, oil burnouts are done, finishing an electric kiln for investment)
Super-Secret Secondary Prototype furnaces. (really excited about this) - Almost finished.
2) Prototypes and Models for Casting
I have a stack ready for wax injection, but about a million to go. This will never end.
Celtic,Viking,Steampunk and Asian-Fusion.
The Steampunk stuff I'm really REALLY excited about, I'm introducing stuff that's just plain cool and definitely not seen before. My design books are overflowing. Earlier in 2015 I decided to kick it up a notch that leaves the general crowd in the dust and finish my 3D school curriculum- allowing me to sculpt designs that "spitting bubble gum" just can't match. This is where the method to my rounded out tech knowledge madness pays off. In the words of Ron Perlman, "Try to keep up with that motherfuckers".
3) Finish THE book and get it to the publisher.
Details, details.
4) Open up the communities on both Historic Origins and Elemental Humanity.
Kinda what I'm doing here now. (laughs)
5) Re-open the store, online and semi-brick and mortar.
Online is coded and ready to go, I just have to put things in it by making the stuff.
That's the short list. Second date you get a little tongue and more insight.
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