Tellico Turnings Sign

So while in Tennessee with my father, I told him I’d make him some signs for his shop.   This was the first time I had ever attempted to do something like this and it took me the better part of 4 days working a couple hours a night to get one done.

Sign Template

I created a template in photoshop that I thought would look nice based on discussions I had with dad while up there with intent of creating a sign wider than it was tall that would hang over the door of the shop.

The sign would be made up of three 1/4″ thick plywood panels.  Each outer panel would have the lettering cut out via the scroll saw and the inner panel would be stained dark and then sandwiched between the outers in order to give the final appearance.

I made one side “clean” and professional looking (or rather as professional as I could with my meager skills), and one side more of an “art” look to it where I intentionally over sanded some of it just to get a unique look.  The edges are routed and rounded over and the sign as a whole is sanded smooth.

I don’t know if I like the “art” side.. I mean it doesn’t look horrible and it does have that unique scrubbed and hard used look I was going for, but I used too much glue when putting the sign together and it shows..  lesson learned..

The sign is 20″ wide by 12″ tall by 3/4″ thick and all in all not too bad if I do say so myself.

Tellico Turnings Shop

This last week I got to spend some quality time with the folks in Tennessee and more specifically time alone with my father (which I haven’t gotten to do in years) at his new store.  It was pretty great!

Dad has finally opened his shop at the Turkey Creek Market in Tennessee (Booth R&S 20!) and will hopefully be a bazillionare in short order..

He had contacted me a while back about doing this and I was fairly excited about it with him but I had a different vision of what I thought the store should look like.   I had a some what more sterile and professional business notion in mind and I’m really glad that they didn’t go that route.

Instead the store is a warm and inviting one that presents the goods in an orderly but not overly professional manner that is probably far more appealing to people than anything I could have come up with.. (Leave the designing to the designers I guess.. Its good to know what I’m not good at..heh)

The pens and calls table

He has just the right amount of space with the right number of items out presented in an organized and uncluttered way that I think really does a good job of showing off the various pieces.

The market is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday each week from roughly 9am to 6pm each day except Sunday which I believe was 10 to 5.   Plus all the vendors around you are actually quite nice, friendly and even helpful. More over, the environment for the vendors is one that actually promotes helping one another as opposed to infighting or backstabbing which is really nice.

It’s unfortunate that his first weekend wasn’t a stellar one.  He made rent which is all that really matters but it would be nice if he had sold more his first weekend out if for no other reason than to inspire and excite..

Peppermills and Stuff

Probably completely unrealistic for him to do better than he did considering it was;

a) his first weekend there and no one knew where he was,
b) between pay days so no one had money,
c) between major holidays so no one had a “reason” to buy things,
d) there was a major dinosaur exhibit in town which kept the crowd down, and
e) a large format gun show which also that kept the crowd down.. etc..

All that working against him and he still made enough sales to pay for itself..  So I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.. I just really wanted him to sell out! hah

For me it was a disappointment but he’s an old hat at doing markets and having a booth selling stuff and so he knows that it can be feast or famine.. he didn’t seem put out by it at all..

The crowd Friday was admittedly dismal which apparently is very common there.. Saturday and Sunday however had a lot of folks coming through and just about all of them picked up stuff and took cards which is a great sign for his future there..

Wine table & Lamps

My only concern at this point is that his stuff is actually too nice for the venue and that people might think of the market more as a “flea market” than an actual hand crafted goods marketplace..   Only time will tell here and we probably don’t need to do any second guessing at this early stage based on a single weekend..

More over I think it will take a couple weeks to figure out what works and what doesn’t work and then adjust accordingly.  More than likely he’s going to have to start adding a lot of less expensive stock that will sit next to the really nice stuff just to draw folks in..

After all, selling 10x $5 items is just as good as selling a single $50 item..   Certainly a lot less fun to make but you gotta make stuff that sells..

Dad in the background

After only a few days I had to return home and get back to work.. Apparently my boss wants me to actually “earn” my living.. psh.. slave driver I tell ya..

I made the 1000 mile drive straight from East TN to Central Texas in under 16 hours and had a seriously sore backside to prove it..  I also had a SUV full of wood and project ideas, as well as plans to make some signage for the shop.

All in all it was a great trip and one I’ll likely make again in the future.

I really like Tennessee and one of these days will likely move there more permanently..  For now I’m stuck in Texas though… Y’all.

The trip was really great and it was fun to hang out with the folks but it really made me realize that my home is where ever my wife is.. sappy, but true.

Latest Image

I have always been a very artsy-craftsy¹ person as I thoroughly enjoy making things.  I like working with my hands and creating something from nothing.   I’ve made leather and steel armor for the SCA, bows and crossbows and a mandolin that actually doesn’t sound half bad.  I’ve done some wood turning and created all manner of pens, peppermills and even a rolling pin and I have even tried my hand at making furniture — I’m not bad at it!   For whatever reason I seem to have a knack for crafting.

So in my time, I have worked with wood, steel, leather, plastic and various resins and agates..  The thing I have noticed is that no matter what I craft, I always seem to come back to wood.    There’s something about wood that I am not sure I can put to words;  It’s just easy to work with in that it’s forgiving, versatile and beautiful.

The problem is no matter what I have made with wood (and there has been a lot) not any particular piece or style has ever really “grabbed me” as something I really enjoyed and wanted to do a lot of.

My father is an avid wood turner who cranks out pens, bowls and other awesome stuff that he sells at his own little shop and I have to admit, that’s really inspiring..  He’s making a living by turning a hunk of nothing, into something beautiful that other folks want!  That’s cool as hell.

I tried my hand at turning for a while and it is fun but I don’t know that it’s “the thing” for me.  I like putting  a randomly shaped block or log of wood on the mandrel and shaping it into something new, but you’re somewhat limited in what you can make..   I thought turning pens was fun, but those pen kits are expensive and the more I think about it the more I want to create something entirely out of wood without having to rely on some pre-made mass produced (over priced) internal kit..    I think it’s one of the main reasons my father has gone to making bowls instead of the pen kits or even pepper mills..  He’s creating something entirely unique that’s 100% his own without any outside help.. (except tooling which doesn’t count!)

So I have been pondering for a while what I could make that would excite me and be that thing that I enjoyed doing in my spare time..   I did enjoy the Mandolin experiment but the more I worked on it the more I realized that it wasn’t for me..  I think it’s a good augment skill, sort of like turning, but not as a mainstay.  Plus it’s really hard to be a maker of instruments, that you don’t play.  I have a nice mandolin and I plink around on it sometimes but I will never be a good mando player.   I don’t think I have the time or patience..

The thing that I took from the mandolin though is that I enjoy making something that is both meticulous in nature and functional.  With a mandolin (or any instrument) you have to pay very close attention to minor details or the instrument will sound bad.  I like that.  It speaks to my special form of brain damage, but what can you do.

So I was pondering what I wanted to do craft-hobby wise and I remember having a book on wooden clocks that has been on my shelf collecting dust for a couple years.  I started reading it (the first time I had actually cracked the book open) and realized that “hey I can totally do this.”   I started doing some research and came across two master craftsmen who are as inspirational as they come;  Clayton Boyer and David C. Roy.

Clayton makes clocks that are both functional and beautiful.  He puts a lot of attention to detail in his creations and thus generates some amazing works.  Of all of his clocks I very much like the workings of his marble strike clock ² it’s mechanical and meticulous nature appeals to me.    Being able to make something like this is one of my ultimate goals. (video)

David makes breath-taking kinetic sculptures that are mesmerizing to behold.. His style really seems unique on the internet and his wood working skills are second to none.   All of his sculptures are extremely high quality and it’s clear to me that this is a labor of love for him, not just a day job.   His sculptures vary in style, size, scope and ability so it’s hard to boil them down to one I like best.. but if I were pressed I’d probably say I like his shimmer sculpture ³ the best primarily because it was the first one I saw that turned me on to the rest of his art, so that first stunned viewing has really stuck with me.. (video)

So armed with a book of clock plans, some plans I ordered from Clayton, and with the inspirational works of Clayton, David and my father too look at — I decided I want to make clocks with an ultimate goal of combining both the functionality of clocks with the raw artful beauty of kinetic sculptures.  If they can do it, so can I.

My wood working tool collection isn’t vast, but I had all the major pieces of hardware I would need to proceed except for a scroll saw.  I researched a bunch of different saws and found that as with anything you can spend a little or a lot of one of these things..  I went ahead and ordered what I felt was a nice one, a Dewalt 20″ variable speed scroll saw.  Dewalt has always done right by me so I went for it.

I have never done any scroll saw work before so there was a bit of a learning curve but not too bad.. I printed out the MLT-13 Clock from the scrollsaw book I had, ordered and received some wood from woodcrafters and was off to the races..   The MLT-13 doesn’t seem overly complex as clocks go and I had the machine and plans before I got any of the plans from Clayton so I figured I’d start with it..

Faster on the scroll saw

The first gear I cut was the escape wheel and I did so on my bandsaw.  It was pretty rough and needed a lot of sanding and trimming in order to get it to look right.  Here you can see the second and EW finished being cut on the scroll saw once I received it.  It was much much easier to cut these things out on the scroll saw.

I tried using round blades for a while but I found they were really rough in their cut and it required a lot of time to sand and smooth the backs of gears to repair all the tear outs..  I have gone to using skiptooth blades for the bigger stuff and reverse tooth blades for the small fine work.

Gear Assembly and Light

It got to the point where I was basically going blind trying to see what it was I was doing..   My eyes aren’t what they used to be so I went ahead and purchased a magnifier / hobby light that I mounted to my work bench so that it would sit just above the saw..

The nice thing about this setup is that it both serves to magnify and light my work, as well as being eye protection.  I was concerned with vibration since that’s a heavy light and lens out on the end of a rather spindly arm, but the dewalt has virtually zero vibration so the light doesn’t move at all (except when I bump it which happens all the time..)

Gear Test Fit!

As of this picture you can see that I have all the major pieces cut out and am in the fitting process..  The only thing I have left to create at this point are the hands.

There is some minor binding between my gears that I need to work out, I foresee some serious time with sandpaper ahead of me, but even so they do turn nicely if not 100% smoothly.

Stain Color Choices

I have yet to get the pendulum, pallet and escape wheel assembly to actually ticking though.   I’m still in the process of getting the clutch working correctly..

The wife and I sat down and figured out the colors..  We are going to go for a walnut for the body pieces and a cherry for the gearing.  Not sure if I want to leave any of the gears “nude” or not.  Three colors might be a bit too much.

For my next trick, trying to capture the elusive tick!

Update: 17 Feb 2012

Recut Escape Wheel

I am almost getting a constant tick!

Here you can see my recut escape wheel on the left compared to the old one on the right.  I spent two days recutting this thing making sure it was as good as I could make it.

I cut out the pinion and glued on (not showed in the picture) and remounted the new wheel.. it works much better.. even though the differences are minute, it makes a huge difference.

I had to do some shaping on the pallets and I need to resand them as they are rough which is one problem, but some of my other gears are binding a tiny bit which means no constant tick.. but I get 8 to 10 “ticks” out of it before it catches or stops.

I also don’t have enough weight hanging off the bottom so I need to address that.. but I’m really excited.. it’s so close!

¹ It’s interesting to note that neither “artsy” nor “craftsy” are words according to Merriam Webster, but together they are a word.. Weird.

Marble Strike by Alain Saintagne

² A few words about Marble Strike by Clayton Boyer:   There are a number of different iterations of this clock on the net if you look around.  All of them are cool and I would love to eventually make one of these.  To me, this clock has that almost dystopian steam punk futuristic quality to it that is just too cool.  It is easily my favorite clock of all of Claytons creations and I hope to prove to him that I am worth of purchasing the plans.

Check out this version by Alaine Saintagne of France.  Tell me that’s not cool as hell!  Well done Alaine!  I could stare at this clock all day.. It’s just a masterpiece..

³ A few words about Shimmer by David C. Roy:  David has done a lot of different sculptures over the last 20+ years and the level of detail and precision he employs is nothing but impressive.  I like quite a few of his sculptures, some more than others but they are all very cool.   The thing that I like the most about shimmer though is how deceptively simple it is combined with how eye catching and even mesmerizing it is.   I wasn’t kidding when I said above that it was the first one I stumbled across and that initial viewing has really stuck with me..   Many of his other works are far more complex than this one, but to me the simplicity of this one is part of it’s beauty.   It’s really nothing more than a spring powered escape mechanism that powers a childs optical illusion rendered in wood.  Awesome!  Well done David.

Ibanez Mandolin

I have always enjoyed wood working and have done a bit of wood turning in my time.   And as I have mentioned before (more than once), I have always wanted to play an instrument of some kind..   Recently it occurred to me that there was no reason I couldn’t combine these two activities..

To that end, I decided to try my hand at becoming a hobby luthier (a maker of stringed instruments) and make myself something to play..    I went back and forth considering all the options and decided that for my first instrument I’d like to make a Mandolin.  ( Dulcimer was a close second and I’ll likely make one of those in the future, as well as making a Viola if I can manage to do this with any proficiency.  )

So with that I purchased an inexpensive Ibanez Mandolin just to have an instrument to start learning on and use as a guide..  Since I have no experience what so ever, this instrument is what I will use to learn on and as a guide for what my instrument should sound like..  This wasn’t a very expensive instrument, and it sounds fine to me.   I’m sure the really expensive / nice mandolins that are out there sound better but at this point I simply don’t know the difference..   My end goal at this point is to make my home made mandolins sound as good as this one — better would be nice, but I just am not sure what that means yet.

This will be a hobby activity for me and I’ll very likely want to make more than one Mandolin, but first I need to attempt to make something that’s reasonably close just as a learning exercise.   Not the “finished” product by any stretch but rather the first “rough draft” instrument that I can screw up on without fear of anything lost other than my time..

Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Manual

I fished around on the internet for reading / instructional material as well as any kits and came across a very good book put out by Roger Siminoff (a man with “a little bit of experience” on the issue having been doing this forever) on the construction of an f-type bluegrass mandolin.  An excellent manual that basically walks you through the entire process one page at a time, complete with plans!   It’s a good purchase and I can highly recommend it..

Roger offers a really nice kit that seems to go with his book, but it costs over $500 and I just didn’t think that would be a good beginners project.  So I settled on getting an inexpensive Saga AM10 Mandolin Kit to experiment on which I got off ebay for less than $90..

Mandolin in Fixture

As kit’s go, I’d say this one is extremely rough, to the point of being bad, as very few of the parts matched up, even a little..  The instructions that came with it were meager at best, and very poor in most cases..  The strings it came with are worthless (the e string broke trying to bring it up to tension, I didn’t even get it close to tuned and it popped)..  The back didn’t fit the body at all, being undersized compared to the top and required a heck of a lot of work.. The neck didn’t fit the main body at all, again a lot of work..etc..

Bottomless Mandolin

I think a beginner woodworker would have had a very difficult time with this kit to be honest.. I have a lot of tools, experience and time with wood so it wasn’t too bad for me but even so I had to make a bunch of jigs and fixtures in order to get things to line up and work correctly.   But even with my best effort just due to how it was cut my neck isn’t correctly centered on the soundboard which will make stringing it interesting..   The tail piece is half an inch off center unfortunately which means the bridge is off center..etc..  I have no idea how that is going to affect the sound of the instrument but in all likelihood it won’t do it justice.

All things considered though, I’m actually happy with my results so far..  It’s taken me just shy of 3 weeks to get it all worked up and to the point of getting strings on it.  (Mostly working on the weekends and an hour or two in the evenings during the week when I could..

One string Mandolin

Today I added the very first string to the instrument and tuned it up just to see what it sounded like..  Shockingly it sounded like a D!  The instrument didn’t have any kind of odd barks or vibrations though it does sound slightly different than the Ibanez I purchased above.

I have added 4 other strings to it at this point and the difference in the sound is still there, but I simply am not articulate enough with sound and instrument theory to describe to you the difference.. it’s just slightly different.. Not better, not worse.. different.

Even so, I’m pretty happy so far with how things are going.

Reloading Press

I really enjoy shooting..  I always have..  In the military I would go to the range every weekend and throw some rounds down range just for the pure joy of it..  And while I would sometimes shoot my pistols, I prefer rifles..  I dunno what it is, but there is something very peaceful about the focus and presence of mind you need to effectively shoot a rifle..

I liked it because when shooting, all the cares of the day seemed to kinda slip away..  You had to focus on what you’re doing and not be distracted by anything in order to hit your target, especially at range..  I have missed it..

The main reason I have missed it was due to cost, and distance..  Simply put there aren’t any ranges near where I live, and since my primary round is 7.92x57mm Mauser it can get a tad pricey..  Enter reloading..

I have wanted to get back into shooting something fearce and have been trolling several shooter forums trying to find a new inexpensive round that I can shoot that would afford me the accuracy I require in a cost effective manner..   A lot of people have suggested .223, .308 or even 6br.. But that would require a whole new rifle, not exactly a cheap solution..

So instead, I have started to reload my old used 8mm brass..  It’s so easy too!!  I have to admit I’m shocked at the simplicity of the process.. Plus the saves are about 50% a round..

Previously the el’cheapo stock ammo purchased off the intertubes went for about $1 a round or as much as $2.50 a round at the range — reloading my old brass comes in at $0.53 a round.. Yay!!    And the nice thing is I don’t have to buy a new rifle..

Having said that I would love to get a new rifle..hehe  For now I’m going to just keep reloading the 8mm stuff and shoot the guns I have, but I still like the idea of getting something else.. Plus I spent a good deal of time pouring over the Savage Arms website, and I must admit some of those guns made me drool a little..

But they are a tad pricey..  Plus I’m back to facing the chambering issue.. what should I get?  I’m sort of leaning towards a bench rest gun since the range I go to doesn’t allow for freestanding or prone shooting.. (They say its for insurance reasons..)

My friends suggest .223 and .308 because they are common rounds.. Of the two I’d be more likely to go .308 over .223 because its a traditional round that can be used for anything where as the .223 is more of a varmant round..  But the 6br (.243 basically) has a lot going for it too.. I dunno..

Right now it’s a moot point because of cost..  A good rifle to fire any of those rounds would cost $1500 new.. And that’s only half the cost.. without good optics you might as well be throwing rocks..   It’s insane how much a good scope can run you..

Oh well.. I’ll keep reloading my mauser and dream..

Electric Violin

So I had said previously that my musical talent ended pretty much at the ability to play the radio, and that I hated that..  I wrote that entry back in July of ’08 and I still hate it..

I have been looking around for ideas of what to play and am still undecided.. I have a nice piano so my investment there at this point would be only time, but I am not interested in it — it still doesn’t inspire me..  I still like the idea of the Chapman stick but the cost is just unreasonable and frankly the alternative is not as pretty (yes that matters) not to mention they have horrible business tactics which I don’t appreciate..

I thought about getting a guitar and may still do that as there’s a ton of info out there for free as well as an awesome assortment of equipment.. So baring anything else.. I’ll do that.. I can get a guitar on the cheap and I have 4 or 5 friends that have offered to loan me an instrument..

Having said that, of late a coworker of mine has gotten me interested in learning the violin or viola..   Plus I have done a lot of looking online and I have to admit they look fun..  The concept of an electric violin appeals to me.. hehe

I think I like the sound of the viola more than that of the violin but it seems to me that everything out there is aimed more at teaching you the violin, and then you convert that knowledge to the viola or the cello..  As I understand it the knowledge transfers quit easily and I wouldn’t be surprised if way back in history “Violin” translates to “small Viola”.. heh

What’s really funny is I like the idea of an electric violin the most.. Primarily because I know its something that I could build..  I know.. whacky.. but I’m a damn good carpenter and frankly they don’t look hard to build..  I have watched quite a few videos of them being made and to be honest, the only thing I need is the measurements..

Not sure how the sound is picked up though — it appears to be a crystal in the bridge which makes sense, since unlike an electric guitar there are no metal strings.. Beyond that making sure strings are correctly isolated and that the measurements are sound it seems easy..

I’m not going to rush out of build one of course.. I mean if you can’t play it what’s the point..

I have purchased several books and am reading up on the violin though as I think it’s something I’d like to start doing.. I have wasted enough of my life sans music, it’s time to start picking something up..  I found a place here in town that rents very nice violins for as low as $20-$30 a month and they have a looong list of instructors..

I have told the wife of the plans and she seemed opened to it..  Good thing too as I’m sure for a while its going to sound like I’m torturing a cat to death..  I also have looked into various forms of “muffles” for violins so that I don’t drive her completely insane..

More reading and video watching though to try to make sure it’s what I want to do..

On a side note;  I have watched a lot of YouTube video’s recently of people playing all manner of instruments and I’m just stunned and amazed at the varitey of talent there is out in the world..

Some of you are fantastic!  Some.. not so much.. heh..  Gotta take the good with the bad I suppose..

But it just amazes me the number of people who record themselves performing their art for others to watch and even critique.. (though to be honest you’re better off just closing the “text comments” and never ever reading them again.. It’s also stunning how completely rude people are considering folks are opening themselves up to constructive comments, not unhelpful bad-mouthing by someone who couldn’t even perform to the level they are bashing.)

Kelly Iverson (“The Lady”) and Mark Allen (“Doc Parsons”) are a fantastic example of people who love what they do and do it for our enjoyment.. they also show nicely that a well played guitar sounds wonderful with a well played violin.. Thanks guys, well done..

Some of the instruments are .. uh.. odd.. to say the least.. For example, the following is a nyckelharpa and a hurdy gurdy duo — Stick around for the whole thing:

Wasn’t that great?!  I mean two instruments that absolutely fill the space with sound.. I’m not sure another instrument would fit in there.. heh

I had never heard of a Nyckelharpa before but apparently it’s a traditional Swedish instrument from the 14th century.. Very cool.. There are a lot of youtube videos of people playing them and they are neat..  The hurdy gurdy is I have heard before in person and you really can’t appreciate it until you feel the buzz.. It’s a wildly expressive instrument.. It’s very cool that people not only still play these but are darn good at it..

There are a lot more examples too of folks willing to put themselves out there.. Kudos to you all.. Aint the internet cool.. =)

My lack of musical skills came gallingly apparent one year at Halloween when everyone in the company showed up playing some instrument or another — and I had nothing of the sort. One of the co-workers asked with complete honesty and earnest, “What instrument do you play?” as if it were a foregone conclusion that I had to play something..

My response was, “I can play the radio..” Which got a chuckle from everyone who heard it, but it left me a little hollow inside. I really do want to learn something I just am not sure what. Or rather, I wasn’t.

Firstly, why did the aspirations die? Well band in middle school was something we did to get the required credit and to avoid any sort of P.E. ~ I’m lazy and playing an instrument sounded a lot more fun that running laps around a track. And while it filled that need nicely, it really did nothing to foster musical desires or competency on my part and I largely didn’t enjoy it..

I think the primary reason for my lack of enthusiasm was that I wanted to play the saxophone, but was assigned the trombone. Back then the players had virtually NO choice.. Had I showed up with a sax of my own and could form the correct embouchure I’m sure I would have been a shoe in, but since we didn’t own a sax and I had no clue what an embouchure was; I wasn’t even remotely in the running for the job. I was handed a trombone and told to go sit down — I made do. But I didn’t like it.

I enjoyed the baritone more, but didn’t get to play it for long before they decided they needed me carrying the sousaphone around. That effectively ended my band career in my mind. I quit the band and spent the next 4 years swimming on the swim team.. Hey at least I wasn’t running laps ~ just swimming them. Low impact I tell ya! (trying to put a positive spin on it)

So whats changed? Well.. Nothing. I still don’t play anything and really would like to. It’s something that I want to get into as a hobby. Just something I can piddle around with.

Part of the issue is my other major hobby is software engineering — programming. I very much enjoy programming and it’s something I do often, but it’s also what I do for a living. And nothing will rob you of a hobby more than being forced to do it.

So I need a new hobby. My usual waste of time comes in the form of playing games, but that’s still massive amounts of time with ‘ass in chair’ really not expanding my horizons.. Playing games is fine and all but it doesn’t broaden the mind much. Entertaining, sure.. Growth educing, not so much..

So this has made me want to look at musical instruments again. I have always had a fondness for music and really would like to learn to make my own. When I listen to music I often imagine myself playing the instruments and what that must feel like..

I thought for a long time that I’d like to learn to play the piano, and even got one. I have a very nice Yamaha S90 piano that I really have never learned to use.

It’s an excellent piano with all manner of very nice bells and whistles, but for what ever reason it didn’t inspire me like I thought it would.

I tried, and had a friend start to teach me but it just didn’t do anything for me. It was a bit daunting of course because of all the various buttons, dials and widgets but so long as you just focused on the piano keys themselves it was fine. It played nicely as far as I could tell but I really didn’t get much out of it. I certainly didn’t do it any justice and at this point its a shame the machine isn’t being better used. I don’t feel it was too hard for me, it just didn’t inspire me.

I still very much like the idea of learning to play the piano but it still doesn’t grip me like I thought it would. I think each person to their instrument and this one simply isn’t mine.

For a long time I wanted to learn to play the guitar and that still entertains me to some degree but no more so than the piano. I know several folks who play the guitar and even dated a woman many years ago who was into it.. Classical acoustic guitar sounded very warm and soulful and I think would be a lot of fun to play. I may still get one at some point, but it doesn’t really drag me away from my other hobbies right now.

I was digging around on the internet when I stumbled across the Chapman Stick being played by Rob Martino in his song “One Cloud” on You Tube.. Nice job Rob. Well done my friend.

This instrument has been around since the mid 70′s but is completely new to me. I never new it existed until recently (a couple months ago now). When I saw Rob playing it though I immediately recognized it as a “Baliset” which I thought was a completely fictional instrument played by Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stuart) in David Lynch’s move Dune.

This was a favorite movie of mine when I was a younger man and so I had seen the Baliset scene many times. So, I was stunned to find that the Baliset was a real instrument, sorta.

I’ve been looking into this for a couple months now and the chapman stick really kind of speaks to me. One thing I like about it is that, from everything I have read it is the perfect amalgamation of keyboard and guitar — in one.

I am going to keep looking into it, but I think I’d like to learn to play one. So far from what I have seen they are brutally expensive.. but I have a nice keyboard I can sell in order to get one, or atleast part way to one.

I have read a couple folks say that learning the guitar first is good, while others say because of the “free hands” tap method used to play it learning the guitar first is actually a hindrance.. I don’t know of course.. and comments are welcome..

I’m going to keep looking into it though.. I have nothing but time so this is no rush.. but I think I’d like to learn the stick. Getting setup with one might be the hard part.. but eventually..

If not the stick then something else.. I know that most of this is likely a pipedream, but I want to learn something.. I need to unplug a tad from all my gaming and programming ~ this seems a good direction..

One of the games I find myself playing is a space game which, to be fair, isn’t very good — in fact it’s bad. It’s just not a very good game, yet for some reason I find myself continuing to play it — as does a lot of other folks. It’s strangely popular. While playing at just about every turn I see things that could not only be done a little better, but done WAY better. Not just game play wise, but technically as well. Their HTML is bad, they clearly don’t understand CSS and their PHP is poorly written (from what I can tell.) So, this of course always lead me to the line of thinking that, why shouldn’t I try to make my own?

I have a lot of irons in the fire right now so it would happen after I get the WPMU thing up and working, but if they can make a popular game, and it’s in that condition — anything I make should be at least as popular.

I want to make a game, everyone knows that. I want to make a space game, most know that too. I already have some ideas as to the game itself, but the majority of the time my idea was to make a game in C/C++/Java or some other language than the one that I’m familiar with.

I think this outlines a colossal error in my thinking.. I’m a professional developer of web applications.. I consider myself to be an expert in php, javascript, xhtml, css, etc.. I should use those, since its what I know. It’s only a minor rewrite of my core ideas to make them come inline with a web based game.

The hard part will be figuring out the specifics.. I mean web based games by their very nature are turn based games so this is the paradigm you’re stuck with.. if I can adopt my ideas to a turn based game then we are good to go!

I’d love to see a Masters of Orion like game made into a web based game, but how would that work? That game has a definite start and end to it and it seems to me that most games that work that would would tend towards alienating your players every time the game “ends” and restarts..

I almost lean towards a persistent world where by the game doesn’t end, it just continues on.

I’ll have to ponder this.. I’m pretty keen on it.

I have been working on a lot of back story, history and game lore this time. I find it’s a lot easier to create game play ideas when you have some back story to work off of.

This marks the 5th implementation of this project. The others didnt’ fail, but rather taught me quite a lot and lead me to here. Every time I get a little closer and I’m starting to get excited. Formerly called “Galaxy Incorporated”, The Periphery will adopt most of the game play ideas I had down previously but with lore changes. I have finally answered the “WHY” question, and got some pretty neat ideas as to the history.

I am still knee deep in the game treatment.. I figured before I had anything really tangible, I’d need a good plan of attack. Thus I have been writing quite a lengthy storyboard of the entire game. I am using a “BDUF” (Big Design Up Front) methodology, but keeping it flexible enough to change. I think it’d be more accurate to describe it as Big Ideas Up Front. Ideas can change, design can’t always change as easily.. heh

I have also changed my mind on the engine to be used. Previously I thought I would be using the Torque engine, but to be honest I don’t much care for it. It’s not the engine for me. The reasons are numerous, but I’ll just leave it at “Feh.”

My second choice of engine was to use the Multiverse engine, which is still a good engine but they couldn’t do a couple things I needed. Too bad really, nice bunch of guys.. (I think they have fixed some of their issues since I first looked at it, but its too late now.. heh )

I have decided to go with the C4 Engine, which impresses me at every level. And its written by one person! Which just appeals to me greatly. I have been playing with the engine and I really like what they are doing in it. I really can’t wait until I get some cutting edge art in there and see how it renders out.

Stay tuned!

111859672.0 – Humanity becomes dominate life form on planet

118068795.0 – Humanity defines it’s dominant religion

121721219.0 – Humanity starts Gregorian calendar

122378655.0 – Humanity has an industrial revolution

122436115.0 – Humanity begins space exploration

122454626.0 – Humanity receives first confirmed signals from the Lagoon Nebula

122464854.0 – Humanity has first contact with advanced alien race

122464854.3 – Humanity dies.

June 9, 2036 at 7:12pm Earth and Humanity is attacked and wiped out by an advanced alien race. Earth is left in ruin, unable to sustain life. Roughly one hundred thousand people were captured and taken as slaves – the exact number is unknown. The rest were left on the planet.. to die. Don’t you just hate Mondays?!

At 122655036.9**, what would have been February 21, 2557 at 7:27am, Humanity is given a new lease on life – I guess Mondays aren’t so bad after all..

Earth was attacked by the Arvidians, a powerful and technologically advanced race of long nosed bi-peds with an even more powerful enemy they refer to simply as “The Enemy”.

The Arvidians and the Enemy had been embroiled in a long and bloody interstellar war that was finally swinging in favor of the Enemy. The Arvidian Empire had far superior technology, but the Enemy had scale and numbers. The Enemy through sheer will and brute force had managed to beat the Arvidians off of the majority of their colonized worlds, destroy or take all of their systems and push them into the last corner of their galaxy. I believe you’re familiar with it – the Milky Way.

When the Arvidians swept through the Orion Arm of the Milky Way on their way “outward” to the tail end of the Perseus Arm, they destroyed everything in their path. Their logic was simple – if they couldn’t have it, then the Enemy wouldn’t either. Their plan was to create a vast expanse of dead space, with lifeless worlds that the Enemy couldn’t use, and wouldn’t want. Thus creating an immense buffer of destruction for protection.

In their interstellar flight, the Arvidians only came across one other “Semi-intelligent species”, Humanity. Keeping with their destroy everything policy, Humanity and Earth were doomed. Humanity was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The majority of Arvidians viewed Humans as beneath consideration – a curious little race to be pitied or scorned. Most Humans were killed outright; those that were taken, were taken as slaves. However a very small portion of them were taken more as pets. Still a slave, but looked upon fondly.

Over the course of the next 500 years the Arvidians opinion of Humans did little to improve, but it was becoming politically incorrect to “own” another intelligent being – even lowly Humans.

Humans were made free – to a limited extent.. The Arvidian Empire in its benevolence gave humans sub par ships built specifically for the humans, with the intent of giving the Enemy something else to worry about.

So, there you have it. We were free. So long as we perform meager tasks and assignments for the Arvidians they leave us mostly alone. Or you could just tell them off and set out on your own.. But with the Arvidians behind you, the Enemy in front of you, you don’t have much of a home.

That new home? A vast dead region of space with nothing but war torn worlds, vast fields of space debris and little prospects called; The Periphery.

** All dates in the game will be in basic julian plus 120M.