General Creativity

[RoboMat]

Anybody know how to thumbnail a photo? I've tried the thumbnail BBCode and [img_thumb] which usually works for other sites but none of those did. Halp, I don't want to post a 1667x1233 image 

 

Use

[img=YOURURLHERE]

... it resizes the image automatically.

[Pixel Bombs]

Thanks RoboMat <3

 

[Rathlord]

I'm pretty sure [thumbnail ] works or [thumb ] or some such.

[Pixel Bombs]

It might have but whenever I went into preview post it didn't look like it worked.

[EnigmaGrey]

I'm pretty sure [thumbnail ] works or [thumb ] or some such.

They done broked, sir.

On the plus, this board does resize images.

[Pixel Bombs]

A friend asked me to do a stylized depiction of the character Carlos from the podcast "Night Vale".

 

I think I did alright.

 

[Pixel Bombs]

First major piece in like 5 months. Feels really good to get back into the groove of things.

 

It's obviously a WIP so her left eye isn't finished along with her hair and shoulders.

 

[Rathlord]

That's kind of unnerving in its current state Pixel. Looks like it will be great when finished, though.

[Pixel Bombs]

That's kind of unnerving in its current state Pixel. Looks like it will be great when finished, though.

With the eyes right? Yeah it does look a little... freaky. But yeah, heavy WIP, a few more hours needs to spent before it looks like a normal person. lol

[harakka]

My fiancee brought me a knife blade from somewhere a year or so back, late this summer I figured I'd finally do something with it.

Here's a gallery with a bunch of in-progress shots. First time ever I've done anything like this so I'm pretty happy about how it turned out.

[Pixel Bombs]

My fiancee brought me a knife blade from somewhere a year or so back, late this summer I figured I'd finally do something with it.

Here's a gallery with a bunch of in-progress shots. First time ever I've done anything like this so I'm pretty happy about how it turned out.

Wow. I like it a lot. I was always fascinated with sculpting. How long did it take?

[Rathlord]

Looks fantastic, Harakka. I love stuff carved from antler. Do you do any scrimshaw, or just the carving?

 

The only thing that would concern me from a utilitarian point of view is the weight balance. Is the knife still balanced functionally, or is it meant as more of a decorative piece?

[harakka]

ow. I like it a lot. I was always fascinated with sculpting. How long did it take?

It was pretty quick, maybe three or so hours with sandpaper and a knife, with some small Dremel work.

Looks fantastic, Harakka. I love stuff carved from antler. Do you do any scrimshaw, or just the carving?

 

The only thing that would concern me from a utilitarian point of view is the weight balance. Is the knife still balanced functionally, or is it meant as more of a decorative piece?

I've never worked with bone before so I've not done any scrimshaw. I don't intend to work on the handle further either, but I do have rest of the antlers still and I don't really know what to do with them, so... who knows?

 

The balance point is close to the index finger position, just by luck though, I didn't put any effort into it being so. My other puukko-type knife is similarly balanced, although this one's a bit more blade heavy.

 

I hope this'll be a functional tool, but in part it depends on how good the random market purchase blade is. I don't use a knife often either, as I currently don't live anywhere with decent woods nearby or anything so I don't get to doo much outdoorsy stuff. I haven't really given the blade a final sharpening as I hope to make a leather sheath too. Never worked with leather either so we'll see how it goes.

[Rathlord]

Leather can be a real bitch.

 

The problems with commercial knives are usually how they mount to the handle- most blades can hold up to light duty use without too many problems other than needing sharpening quite often. As long as your mounting job is good it should be just fine. I favor slimmer handles (from a functional standpoint), myself, but I'm probably not in a majority there.

[Pixel Bombs]

A little update. Hopefully its not unsettling anymore. 

 

[VamyreLord]

This is a poem I wrote 2 years ago, I figured I would share it here. I'm excited to know your interpretations of the "story\scene" at hand.

 

Swords and spears clashed

Women became easy prey

Villages burnt and pillaged

Lust and sodomy overstay

 

Necromancers arose ferociously

Black desires within

Bats shrieking endlessly

Hunting for blood and skin

 

Prey upon the weak

Blood is vital and scarce

The night is long and bleak

Flee with immortal force

 

Intense hungry souls

Eager for mortal cries

Their voice echo and tolls

Grim with furious eyes

[Cl0nec0mmand0]

          -------------------====+====-------------------                              {_| |_}                            /| _|_|_ |\                           ( |/_____\| )                        |--`/_/  |  \_\'--|                    ____   //( ) |    \\   ____                   | ++ |==|\___/ \___/|==| ++ |                    \__/   |  ___ ___  |   \__/                          __\/oo X []\/__                         || [\__/_\__/] ||                        ~~~~           ~~~~  -AK                ______  _____    ___  ___  _________                 | |__)  | |     | |  | |   | |___                 | |__)  | |_-|  | ```' |   | |_____                ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~ _________ _____ _____ ___  ___ ____  ___ _______  _________ _______ |_/| |\_|  | |___| |  | |  | |  ||\.. ||  | | \ \  | |___    | |__ )    | |     | |---| |  | ```' |  || `'\||  | |_/ /  | |_____  | |``|\_   ~~~~~   ~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~~  ~~~~  ~~~ ~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~  ~~~~

FEAR ME

   ||      <>                            ||                            <>                                        |                                       ||            BIG        _____               __         <>      (^)))^ BOOM!  BOOM!/((  )\       BOOM!((  )))            (     ( ) ---- (__()__))          (() ) ))           (  (  (   )     ||  |||____|------    \  (/   ___     (__\     /__)      |__|||  |     |---|---|||___|   |___-----|||||  |  ||.  |   |       |     |||                |||||      |__|||  |     |---|---|||___|   |___-----|||||  |  ||.  |   |       |     |||                |||||  -Alex .K __________________________________________________________

my art is nuke after this hour or so of work i bid you a

 

☆。★。☆。★

。☆。*。☆。

★。＼｜／。★

GOOD NIGHT

★。／｜＼。★

。☆。*。☆。

☆。 ★。☆。★

kill....me.......

[harakka]

Back in September (press page up a couple of times) I made a knife. Now I found a piece of scrap leather and figured I might as well try to make a sheath too, so time to necro this thread back into shape!

 

Gallery of the process is here.

 

The process happened as follows:

This was my first time ever doing anything from leather, every part of the process was a learning experience. Since the piece was scrap I didn't get to choose the quality, it was fairly thin and the flesh side was very "hairy," as can perhaps be seen in the first picture. No matter, I didn't do this to win beauty contests.

 

The leather was measured using the knife as a template and leaving some play. The leather was cut with scissors, which probably tells you something about how thin it is. There's a welt glued inside the outer seam (visible in 1st pic), to keep the knife edge from cutting into the stitchings.

 

The seam was glued with general purpose contact glue. I then marked places for the stiches using a fork to get the even spaces, and pre-drilled the holes. My old battery drill actually gave up the ghost in the process. Even with thin leather, pushing a needle through 3 layers would not have been a fun job, so drilling the holes first was essential. The stitching itself was done with an excellent sewing awl, Speedy Stitcher, which makes sewing lock stitch incredibly easy. I used the thread which came with the awl, a pre-waxed extremely strong synthetic thread. The belt loop was also sewn in the same manner, before all the other stuff took place.

 

After the sheath was put together, it was time to wet form it. I figured I couldn't harden thin leather like this too much without making it brittle, so I just soaked it in warm water for a bit, squeezed excess water out and placed the knife, carefully wrapped in multiple layers of clingwrap, into the sheath. Using a butter knife I molded the leather around the knife's form, especially around the fingerguard, because leather pressing on it is the only thing that keeps the knife in the sheath. I let the sheath sit like that overnight, took the knife out, placed a cardboard wedge in the belt loop and in the space where the blade would normally go, and put it on top of a low-power lamp to dry.

 

Next morning I got to investigate the result. I was positively pleased, as the sheath kept the knife in place quite well, and there was a clear form around the fingerguard and the bolster. This way the knife would stay in the sheath and also wouldn't dig too far into it, cutting the end open. Next up was cleaning up the edge seam. I cut a few larger overhanging bits with a knife, and then tried to sand the rest clean. However, because of the leather being very thin and hairy, it was pretty much impossible to sand it clean. I did the best I could, and then spent a while reading up on how I could burnish the edge properly with whatever stuff I had lying around.

 

I opted for rubbing beeswax into the exposed leather of the seam, and then heating it up with a lighter until it melted and was drawn via wicking action into the hairy leather of the seam. Once I couldn't get any more wax into it, I scraped the extras off, vigorously rubbed the edge with a piece of bone until it felt hard and smooth, and then did some final touchup with sandpaper and then buffed again with the bone.

 

I am very satisfied with the end result. Primarily because the sheath, while ugly, is functional. I can keep the knife in it and carry it about as needed. It isn't perfect by any means. It is likely the point will cut open the end of the sheath after some time, but I'm kind of looking forward to that, because then I get to make a new sheath that has a proper "box" for the blade. I also learned something new every step of the way, since I had never previously done anything with leather. I'm looking forward to making cases and sheaths and whatnot for all my small tools now.

 

If you read this far, thank you. Here's your reward:

 

 

 

[Rathlord]

Awesome Harakka. When you say "box," are you considering doing a wooden insert in the leather, or a plastic one? I've never made a sheath myself, but looks like quite a fun process. I have done some woodwork, so I think doing a custom box for the blade would probably be the easiest part for me, with the most trouble coming from the leatherworking. All in all, pretty damn awesome.

I wrote a short poem.

 

"Alas, this poem is over."

 

I favor short poems (not to mention, real poems), too. Have a Haiku I wrote long ago while facing writer's block with another project.

 

I chase round my muse,

"Fey creature, come back to me!"

Does naught but confuse.

[harakka]

Awesome Harakka. When you say "box," are you considering doing a wooden insert in the leather, or a plastic one? I've never made a sheath myself, but looks like quite a fun process. I have done some woodwork, so I think doing a custom box for the blade would probably be the easiest part for me, with the most trouble coming from the leatherworking. All in all, pretty damn awesome.

It'll be wood. I don't have means to work with plastic, but I have no trouble woodcarving with a knife.. Or a Dremel, or a sharpened spoon, if need be. After a bit of random googling I came across this forum post, which is pretty much exactly what I had in mind.

 

PS. I really have to recommend the Speedy Stitcher, or similar sewing awls. I'd use it for pretty much any sturdier material, not just leather. I've never sewn anything in my life by hand, but the tool is extremely simple, sturdy and does the stitching for me.

[Rathlord]

The speedy stitcher is pretty cool- I'm the opposite. I've never sewn anything not by hand, haha. Seems like it would be really useful for thicker stuff (like leather, obviously). I might have to pick one of those up sometime. That link was pretty nifty with the sheath.

 

I've got a medieval style dagger that I need a sheath for, though I'm not certain I'm ready for something so big yet. The blade is 9 inches and fairly thick. For a shorter knife I probably would have tried a single piece of wood and boring the hole, but for something this long I'd have to make it 2 pieces, which would be a bit harder. Now I'm a bit torn.

 

Edit: In the spirit of adding to the topic, have another Haiku I wrote years ago:

 

Pen, paper apart;

Separate they make nothing,

Together, make art.

[Flachzang]

From this:

to that:

Did I win?

[FreeJayFly]

... ' u ' I was wondering if there was an art thread that I could post to.

 

Also, @Flachzang: it certainly is a good improvement. * u *

 

Here are some things I'm working on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of it is for a webcomic that I have launching in another two weeks. There's only one thing in there that's completely unrelated... mostly because it's more Pokémon related...

[Pixel Bombs]

Oh this thread, lol. Well here is my current project:

 

Drawing my friend for her birthday. Almost done.

[Austin]

-snip-

Wow. You're a great artist man!