tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22324069661726176672024-03-12T20:14:40.537-07:00Code & CraftsSithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-32772006407202865252021-04-22T07:24:00.001-07:002021-04-22T07:25:07.461-07:00Assembling a teeny tiny 240 page book<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2xOH4wKXZf5UWjkdZdJDntDuQ1sD-uSnz2IzZiyTcD_ZNeid9nG-BnDEZboYj4p_3OGMSzE5VHLIG9x3sSYu5O3376QIcABjIkpINveSA63WPm9bLN69gP9kbODjg0rEblc9_lzD7AME/s1045/start_sewing_2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1045" data-original-width="837" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2xOH4wKXZf5UWjkdZdJDntDuQ1sD-uSnz2IzZiyTcD_ZNeid9nG-BnDEZboYj4p_3OGMSzE5VHLIG9x3sSYu5O3376QIcABjIkpINveSA63WPm9bLN69gP9kbODjg0rEblc9_lzD7AME/w320-h400/start_sewing_2.jpg" width="320" /><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Interested in trying your hand at tiny bookbinding or a fan of old French poetry? I’m in love with my mini books and want to share them with you! While I enjoy my fancy cased & trimmed copy this version is <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">very</i> accessible to anyone who is curious. </p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 15px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Supplies</span>:</p><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 15px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 35px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">the text [<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uy7-YvonRAgEYQ3OLWuAWtxRuArSueba/view?usp=sharing" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PDF link via Google Drive</a></span>]</li><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 35px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">2 pages, front and back</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">print flipping “on the short side”</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">I print at “HQ 1200 DPI” settings but probably not needed</li></ul><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">3 sewing needles </li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">thread (I work with 3 strands of embroidery floss) </li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">scissors</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">T-pin or awl or tapestry needle (for hole punching)</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">Scrap paper (ideally firm, card-stock like) for guides</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">bone folder or some sort of straight edge to help make crisp folds</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">(optional) small rings to make hang-able</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">cover materials (could be easily substituted with chip board or thick cardboard)</li><ul style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 35px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">thin balsa wood</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">balsa wood saw (I normally use this to cut holes in my signatures)</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">tiny drill</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">(optional) ink/stain to fancy that wood up</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: circle; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; vertical-align: baseline;">sand paper (100 grit for basic smoothing, 220 if you want to touch it up)</li></ul></ul><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDafQsQ6mihhC9dOqsajv4zkZZQP8vhzYN8pCCGt3FX4nOlX9pypLRmw7Th0WxLU6DAlJ4taNQ7iII3rnCHYzdeaH1rt66T97cdA3Ubk5LcNDcCnXQ15Yj0NulRspmBZz127JVEzERkjU/s1551/process.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="1551" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDafQsQ6mihhC9dOqsajv4zkZZQP8vhzYN8pCCGt3FX4nOlX9pypLRmw7Th0WxLU6DAlJ4taNQ7iII3rnCHYzdeaH1rt66T97cdA3Ubk5LcNDcCnXQ15Yj0NulRspmBZz127JVEzERkjU/w400-h183/process.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="media-holder media-holder-draggable media-holder-hr" contenteditable="false" draggable="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; cursor: grab; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px -20px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 20px; position: relative; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><hr class="tmblr-truncated" data-label="Keep reading" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 15px auto; max-width: none; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: auto;" /><div class="media-button icon_close media-killer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: #ff492f; border-radius: 50%; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 73, 47); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; right: -11px; text-align: center; top: -7px; transform: scale(0); transition: transform 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.175, 0.885, 0.32, 1.275) 0s, opacity 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.165, 0.84, 0.44, 1) 0s; user-select: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 21px;"></div></div><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 15px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Print Text</span> - make sure it’s flipped “on the short side” -- if you don’t the pages will be “upside down” on the opposite side of the sheet. I scale up to fill printed page, but that’s not needed, it’ll gain you just a little bit of extra room. Be careful not to lose the markings depending on your printer/paper size!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjIAyWFyIVVSNbArGU8D0eVddiKvZzOTDqph045FVH6ccQrc1HI8Khc38E3bkC5ZJbaatHiMhIkyZOtPUG6bjbVDZFPcrtXQUiwrdq_2vgOSGeaAJn7NVPVWx7JPZhbeDLAdchIZvcPA/s1262/cut.jpg" style="display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjIAyWFyIVVSNbArGU8D0eVddiKvZzOTDqph045FVH6ccQrc1HI8Khc38E3bkC5ZJbaatHiMhIkyZOtPUG6bjbVDZFPcrtXQUiwrdq_2vgOSGeaAJn7NVPVWx7JPZhbeDLAdchIZvcPA/s320/cut.jpg" width="320" /></a></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cut Text </span>- There’s very thin lines dividing each signature row. Cut carefully! Would definitely recommend cutting by hand. Pick one side of the paper and use that as the guide for all your cutting (there may be some skew front/back due to printer variance) <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMeIW6WeiUA6nvam6-80nAj70XGH5wzmCOQ3v6D1wm_U653j_x5rxgr4NsMKHi8BN4Ffd1bW81V6K-BIjDAyfJjoTQaiQUUPdzxhjsjlv-NvDQv_zXsJ6_Vp8lAyWgMxDtmcJeCJNLNUU/s760/align.jpg" style="display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="760" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMeIW6WeiUA6nvam6-80nAj70XGH5wzmCOQ3v6D1wm_U653j_x5rxgr4NsMKHi8BN4Ffd1bW81V6K-BIjDAyfJjoTQaiQUUPdzxhjsjlv-NvDQv_zXsJ6_Vp8lAyWgMxDtmcJeCJNLNUU/s320/align.jpg" width="320" /></a></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fold Signature </span>- there are very tiny marks at the page edges and in the center of a folio. Some markings may have been trimmed off in step 2- don’t worry. Check the top/bottom/front/back for alignment markers. </li><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">There will be very minor overhand on the start/end of each row</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Look for the pair of pages with consecutive numbers (should be on the left hand side of the signature. Don’t see it? Turn signature over and check again. These will be the “top” of the zig-zag.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Each “fold” of the zig-zag is 2 tiny pages (a folio)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0WkCvKHOLNY3wQIbCbKlwP_Fa5iM7FzepwJandpplzRPbG-2vHEB4P88k2PFu3KKVq_qPXYETkPiub7jM9k0QFdnYWydUgIVc50DxCA69Ehq9I58cBNx1SfLvkvwO_ClNBAsjEwnpho/s794/pinch.jpg" style="display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0WkCvKHOLNY3wQIbCbKlwP_Fa5iM7FzepwJandpplzRPbG-2vHEB4P88k2PFu3KKVq_qPXYETkPiub7jM9k0QFdnYWydUgIVc50DxCA69Ehq9I58cBNx1SfLvkvwO_ClNBAsjEwnpho/s320/pinch.jpg" width="320" /></a></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Make sure you’re checking/enforcing horizontal alignment. Line marks up left-right with the tiny ticks then lightly “pinch” the signature top and bottom around center of folio to make sure it’s level as you crease the fold. Optimize for “level” folds, then optimize for centering the tick-marks.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Bone down” all your creases after you’re done zig-zag folding (take a bone folder or something with a hard level edge and rub the folds to make them crisp-- just like origami)<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" /></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fold folio in half (the consecutive pages should be the center of the fold) and bone down the spine<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="638" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmfXcNeJ5UKVHNSslM6Bia7ZRgRfr3xg43Iaa070NUDhffpsBt1nGPvYhh8pRWSkmXFPgVM1haGPkwkbSXC88G5Wzp2_s9lfech_e7MXkVatXtno4d3kLq_uWh7iW-ib-afkq4TFHBEI/s320/punch.jpg" style="color: #0000ee; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; text-align: center;" /></li></ol><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Punch Holes</span> - in this step you’ll be punching holes in the center fold of each folio. (Normally I cut them with a balsa saw blade but these are too tiny/finicky)</li><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">take your scrap paper (junk mail is a great source for this) and cut it to the about the size of a signature. It should be wider than the signature (extend past the folded pages’ edges) but exactly the same height! </li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mark the HEAD and make sure it’s always at the top when punching. Mark & poke 3 holes in it. Center one and then... you know... one above and one below that. Don’t punch them too close to the edge or each other! </li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tuck the guide inside each signature and punch those holes all the way through the signature. I put some scrap cardboard behind it to help but sometimes I just hold it in my hand and punch w/ no backing</li></ol><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Prep Cover </span>- this is where variants can some in- I prefer to sew on a single cord for the necklaces or if I’m putting it in a case but this book is coptic-like/exposed spine so focusing on that</li><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Figure out your final signature size- how much are you willing to trim off the ends? This depends on how neat your folding/printing went. Make another guide from scrap paper. This should be the same height as the signatures but shorter than the folded pages’ width- it should be the width of what you want the final page to be.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Using the guide, cut out your covers to that exact size (error larger). Balsa wood & saw wasn’t instantaneous but totally doable. Just be patient (< 5min of sawing?) </li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Drill holes (or punch if you can) at the correct heights (use initial guide you made). Two holes per signature hole are required- put them near the edge/near each other but no so close that your material will split/crack/be weak. Use best judgement. </li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">(optional/hindsight) I didn’t do this, but if you can-- put a small divot at the furthest-from-spine hole on the inside for the knot to rest in.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">(optional) stain/color/paint/decorate your cover<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" /></li></ol><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Start Sewing</span> - select your thread. You need 3 needles, threaded with the same amount of floss. To calculate use the formula “height of signatures” x “number of signatures + 1″ - for this sewing there’s already extra built into that. The next steps need be applied to each of the 3 signature rows<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwxoBqmWmtP4tMIWPDXSXztLSx5aetPKf0OOCznERX56UCZVd5-klRpSs_FaDf0bnpeWsel6Ly8DAMocgA74Y0_RW4vC3ULADCUg2Z-ohwQYe2uk9rS9C0SP1AJ3DRvPTu-AtPXYqCbA/s855/cover_details.jpg" style="display: inline; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="684" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwxoBqmWmtP4tMIWPDXSXztLSx5aetPKf0OOCznERX56UCZVd5-klRpSs_FaDf0bnpeWsel6Ly8DAMocgA74Y0_RW4vC3ULADCUg2Z-ohwQYe2uk9rS9C0SP1AJ3DRvPTu-AtPXYqCbA/s320/cover_details.jpg" /></a></li><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Put a knot at the end of the thread and run it through the back cover in the furthest-from-spine hole, going from “inside” to “outside” of cover.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Loop back and come in from the closest-to-spine hole, going from “outside” to “inside” of cover.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Make a loop, you’re going to need to keep this loose and will tighten it later. Exit the same hole you just came through, going from “inside” to “outside” (if you pull too hard, the loop will just pop out and you’ll have to go back to step 6.2).</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">From the “outside” of the cover, bring the needle around the spine-edge of the cover and go through the loop you just made.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tighten everything.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">You are now read to sew signatures </li></ol><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sew a Signature</span> - each signature is the same until you reach the front cover<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XqYFOdQECy4Y_VMD2n76OW-OwpNyDWb0AngM9pjhV62pMk0hvfII45e4lpDkifxljmAnnyz4-PmHU7sbNr1D6j7VrFifte7GIw-c15bAjFm-Xk2IJ086_sqRjPlrBQxSklwEnql8TTs/s679/trim.jpg" style="display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="679" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XqYFOdQECy4Y_VMD2n76OW-OwpNyDWb0AngM9pjhV62pMk0hvfII45e4lpDkifxljmAnnyz4-PmHU7sbNr1D6j7VrFifte7GIw-c15bAjFm-Xk2IJ086_sqRjPlrBQxSklwEnql8TTs/s320/trim.jpg" width="320" /></a></li><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trim left & right edge of signature using the guide you made in step 5.1 using scissors (you’re cutting through 5 sheets in one go- hard but not impossible). This separates all the pages and is done at the last moment to try and make things easy for sewing. You could do this after assembling the book if you’d like.</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Run all the needles through the holes they correspond to going from outside of signature to inside of signature.<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="794" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMl-_ml8RmyBv39dn9UL-mcgdWwp-9L-DpMQZmQ8xQFQia8osqsQDnvuuMchE-1vzhnq67-NUNaYL62VkrGghcb3U7rX2WGQq1a-F3Sd5_OY0-1DcfW1dyn5qkKfAULp6X9Hwvg40LZak/s320/sewing.jpg" style="color: #0000ee; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; text-align: center;" /></li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Each needle exists the signature in the following order. This requires tension (the signature should be flush against the text block) and precision. High dexterity step, see photo above for advice on how to hold it.</li><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Top thread goes out through middle hole</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Middle thread goes out through bottom hole</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bottom thread goes out through top hole</li></ol><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tighten all the threads, make sure it’s snug, and then bone down the spine again as best you can now that it’s part of the text block</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">(optional) If you wanted to add rings, sew them in between signatures 5-6, 6-7, and 7-8. </li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">(optional/hindsight) I forgot to “kettle” my stitches- you could do so here if you know how but I’m not going into details<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0fdsbC6aBayahiolAUK9zAoihX1uJL13wXiesmKCJ7dzU85DzS_fNdSyuCbI_tGDxfvMUBfdS3ZisT0i6Fhu4tDUbM5MRTrs6OT9GinCknHHbQ3Qh7qiN4iSyxznszjZYRCY0L_-T94/s985/gather.jpg" style="display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="985" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0fdsbC6aBayahiolAUK9zAoihX1uJL13wXiesmKCJ7dzU85DzS_fNdSyuCbI_tGDxfvMUBfdS3ZisT0i6Fhu4tDUbM5MRTrs6OT9GinCknHHbQ3Qh7qiN4iSyxznszjZYRCY0L_-T94/s320/gather.jpg" width="320" /></a></li></ol><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Finish / Cover </span>- the short of it is “do everything you did in step 6, but backwards”. Each thread is finished the same way:</li><ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 38px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">go from the “outside” to the “inside” of the closest-to-spine hole on the front cover</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">loop around the thread going from the signature to the cover</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">go back out the same hole you just came in through ( “inside” to “outside” of cover )</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Come in through the furthest-from-spine hole ( “outside” to “inside” of cover )</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nudge and jostle everything so that it’s as tight as possible</li><li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tie a knot & cut the thread! (wait to do this step on all the threads at the same time)</li></ol></ol><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 15px 0px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 15px 0px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 15px 0px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 15px 0px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 15px 0px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">You’re done! </p></div>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-50246248466143949522019-02-13T19:23:00.000-08:002019-02-13T19:23:15.771-08:00Printing PDFs for tiny booksIt's great being a programmer, would highly recommend it. So many things one can do when you leverage the power of scripting. The skillset helps you everything. For example, even with book binding! Say I totally, hypothetically, have <a href="https://monoskop.org/images/1/14/Foucault_Michel_Madness_and_Civilization_A_History_of_Insanity_in_the_Age_of_Reason.pdf">some random PDF</a> that you'd like to turn into a tiny book. Cool! How so?
<p>
<b>STEP 1: PDF JAM!</b>
<p>
The key to all of this is the <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/staff/academic-research/firth/software/pdfjam/">pdfjam</a> tool written by others far more talented than myself. That alone will let you craft your book, if you want to do it manually. Go to the linked page, follow the instructions, download & install it.
<p>
<b>STEP 2: Grab my terrible script(s)</b>
<p>
I have 2 sizes I like for my books... Both scripts print signatures that are 4 sheets to a signature, 8 pages folded, 16 pages front & back. Hopefully that make sense.
<p>
Option 1 is a 2x2 layout (so each page is 1/4th the sheet of paper) that can fold & nestle neatly. I like this and often don't cut the top pages apart until later. Often I'll wait till I sand/trim the top to separate the pages... Unfortunately I often find this to be "too big" for my tastes. But it's probably the easiest/most legible. [<a href="https://gist.github.com/sithel/9ef7d09e20c888859d5ba8d78ad834f5">script</a>].
<p>
Option 2 is a 4x4 layout (so that's a full signature per page) and really requires a tabloid size sheet of paper (11x17). I run my font really tiny, I suspect this is probably too small for most folks. The books I print this way are laid out specifically to be small, your average PDF wont be legible with this, even on tabloid. [<a href="https://gist.github.com/sithel/d8905a57fe48db25ebec5d736810936e">script</a>].
<p>
I'm just going to assume whoever is reading this is on a Mac because I can't help you with your Windows... but save the script (as a .sh file) and then make sure you can execute it. All this is going to happen on the terminal so... I hope you know how to work with that. I tend to choose "chmod 755 my_script_name.sh" to give it the correct permissions.
<p>
The script is going to ask for the PDF file name and how many pages it has. It'll then create a directory named "output_small" and dump all the individual (2 sided) pages created. If there was already a directory there, that'll get nuked. I wrote a terrible script and it can't handle page counts that don't line up with its exact layout so.... there's a very good chance it'll barf at the very end. It spews content onto the terminal and that last command will probably fail and you'll need to tweak it manually and execute it.... (Terrible, I know) Here's an example:
<p>
<blockquote>
<div id="" style="overflow-x:scroll;background:white;width:600px;white-space: nowrap;font-size:10px">
<pre><code>
19:48 ~/directory/of/stuff>
19:48 ~/directory/of/stuff>chmod 755 ./small_book_pdf_jam.sh
19:49 ~/directory/of/stuff>./small_book_pdf_jam.sh
PDF file name:
jbic.pdf
PDF page count:
466
... looking at the following file:
-rw-r--r--@ 1 sithel staff 1404186 Jan 26 16:22 jbic.pdf
Checking...
You will have 14 blank page(s) at the end
There will be 15 signatures
Dumping all old content from the directory 'output_small'
----
pdfjam: This is pdfjam version 2.08.
pdfjam: Reading any site-wide or user-specific defaults...
(none found)
pdfjam: Effective call for this run of pdfjam:
/Library/TeX/texbin/pdfjam --suffix rotated180 --angle '180' --fitpaper 'true' --outfile output_small/temp_flipped.pdf -- jbic.pdf -
pdfjam: Calling pdflatex...
pdfjam: Finished. Output was to 'output_small/temp_flipped.pdf'.
Signature : 1 of 15
pdfjam --nup 4x4 output_small/temp_flipped.pdf '1,16,17,32' output_small/temp.pdf '4,13,20,29' output_small/temp_flipped.pdf '5,12,21,28' output_small/temp.pdf '8,9,24,25' output_small/temp_flipped.pdf '31,18,15,2' output_small/temp.pdf '30,19,14,3' output_small/temp_flipped.pdf '27,22,11,6' output_small/temp.pdf '26,23,10,7' --outfile output_small/temp_sig_0.pdf
----
.... goes like this for a while, successfully, UNTIL!!!
----
pdfjam: This is pdfjam version 2.08.
pdfjam: Reading any site-wide or user-specific defaults...
(none found)
pdfjam: Effective call for this run of pdfjam:
/Library/TeX/texbin/pdfjam --nup '4x4' --outfile output_small/temp_sig_448.pdf -- output_small/temp_flipped.pdf 449,464,465,480 output_small/temp.pdf 452,461,468,477 output_small/temp_flipped.pdf 453,460,469,476 output_small/temp.pdf 456,457,472,473 output_small/temp_flipped.pdf 479,466,463,450 output_small/temp.pdf 478,467,462,451 output_small/temp_flipped.pdf 475,470,459,454 output_small/temp.pdf 474,471,458,455
pdfjam: Calling pdflatex...
pdfjam: FAILED.
The call to 'pdflatex' resulted in an error.
If '--no-tidy' was used, you can examine the
log file at
/var/tmp/pdfjam-sk2QxI/a.log
to try to diagnose the problem.
pdfjam ERROR: Output file not written
19:50 ~/directory/of/stuff>
</div>
</code></pre></blockquote>
<p>
You gotta' take that last command and then put {} for each invalid page number... given that I only have 466 of them it'd then look like: <b><code>/Library/TeX/texbin/pdfjam --nup '4x4' --outfile output_small/temp_sig_448.pdf -- output_small/temp_flipped.pdf 449,464,465,{} output_small/temp.pdf 452,461,4{},{} output_small/temp_flipped.pdf 453,460,{},{} output_small/temp.pdf 456,457,{},{} output_small/temp_flipped.pdf {},466,463,450 output_small/temp.pdf {},467,462,451 output_small/temp_flipped.pdf {},{},459,454 output_small/temp.pdf {},{},458,455 </code></b> (Gross, I know. Very embarrassing)
<p>
Now that you've got those signatures you can just print each file out individually OR you can pull one smaller script and run that to glue them together [<a href="https://gist.github.com/sithel/fcabd3a4553c514bbed84bdc8a3e1fd5">script</a>]. Just does some basic math for you and sticks 'em into one file called 'book.pdf' in that same directory.
<p>
See... it's... not <i>that</i> bad... I printed several books this way. There's a whole 'nother step where you wrestle with your printer quality, paper quality, text legibility and all that... but that's for another day. Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-15339690626745950662017-03-29T00:00:00.000-07:002017-03-29T00:00:37.016-07:00Catchup Post... I keep meaning to circle back and do a really nice fancy write-up like post about my Bookhead series. Really pull together the sketches and ideas and construction process... and I keep not. There's also the fantastic Intercon Q to review and reflect upon and that's over a month past... It's now almost April of 2017 and my last post was September 2016... Better something than nothing at some point...
<p>
I remain very crafty. I've switched most my posting to <a href="https://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> though where I feel I can just drop a cellphone photo and little description. This blog is what I make it, I could totally switch to doing that here... but I have hopes of a bit more long-form content here. <a href="https://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/">My Tumblr</a> is just the snapshots of progress... So what progress?
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/33713845015/in/dateposted-public/" title="Bookhead 1"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2927/33713845015_da0e825a32_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="Bookhead 1"></a> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/32900435513/in/dateposted-public/" title="Bookhead 1"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3724/32900435513_88af6dd9e4_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="Bookhead 1"></a></center>
<p>
<b>October</b>. There was a lot of time and effort spent on/at work. I had the initial idea of the Bookheads and quickly made the first and second. Knew what I wanted for the third but it took several months to finally wrap that up. Also participated in a Dali themed cooking event and worked on but never finished a Halloween costume idea.
<p>
<b>November</b>. I turned 33. I started on the 3rd Bookhead before getting distracted with life. Family reunion in Mexico, lots of tabletop gaming, first time hosting Thanksgiving. Being happy and social.
<p>
<b>December</b>. OMG, so flipping over-booked! Completed class 3 of 4 in the bookbinding series with the Center for the Book. Became obsessed with The Expanse series (book and tv show). Social life and games of the tabletop and board variety.
<p>
<b>January</b>. So much crafting. Started the month with a couple more tiny books and then spent the rest of it working on a series of glow-in-the-dark cyberpunk masks for Intercon Q. The masks consumed a lot of time. There was also the Edwardian Ball and being social. I love my friends.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/32871429184/in/dateposted-public/" title="Intercon Q rule book"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2813/32871429184_8d913e314c_q.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="Intercon Q rule book"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/32871428864/in/dateposted-public/" title="Intercon Q rule book"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2835/32871428864_70550a85df_q.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="Intercon Q rule book"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/32900435953/in/dateposted-public/" title="Intercon Q rule book"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3792/32900435953_426985b32b_q.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="Intercon Q rule book"></a></center>
<p>
<b>February</b>. Intercon Q! It was awesome! It was so much! I'm still processing/thinking about it. And then to celebrate being done with that and returning to SF and having free time Adam and I went on a hike... and I promptly got poison oak. Real bad. Real bad. I've mentally blocked out the 2nd half of the month, it was so bad. But I also finished the third Bookhead when I wasn't suffering too much. But so much suffering.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/32900436633/in/dateposted-public/" title="Bookhead 3"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3940/32900436633_a250e982fe_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="Bookhead 3"></a></centeR>
<b>March</b>. I've become obsessed with OpenGL ES for some reason. I'm really, really bad at it. I bound a book for the spec and am trying to read it but that's not improving anything. I'm attempting to improve my Android skills outside of work. I'm less happy at work. I'm really happy with my bookbinding and recreational Android programming. I started taking an Improve class with friends.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/33713844065/in/dateposted-public/" title="OpenGL ES 3.0 Spec"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2844/33713844065_8a09b49091_q.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="OpenGL ES 3.0 Spec"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/33713843325/in/dateposted-public/" title="OpenGL ES 3.0 Spec"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2868/33713843325_109b472be7_q.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="OpenGL ES 3.0 Spec"></a><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/32900434903/in/dateposted-public/" title="OpenGL ES 3.0 Spec"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2857/32900434903_4f81cc1066_q.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="OpenGL ES 3.0 Spec"></a></center>
<p>
Soon it will be April.
<p>
I think the major take aways here are that I still really enjoy my bookbinding activities. I'm attempting to flex it as an art form and incorporate it into more things. I'm on a programming uptick but on a sketching downturn. Gaming (board/tabletop) remains important to me (I've started winning Race for the Galaxy finally! After yeeeears of playing) but I play less. My social circle has become predominantly female and I think this makes me happier. I'm feeling older these days but I'm also feeling more productive/focused in my crafts.
<p>
My Bookheads, silly and simple and only three as they are, represent a major milestone to me in that they're my first "set" or "series" of something creative I've actually seen through. Something "artistic vision"-y. I had an initial concept that I executed on and they came out approximately as planned. My set of 5 masks are also important to me for the same reason- though my satisfaction with them is not as strong.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/33557630442/in/dateposted-public/" title="Bookheads 2 & 3"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2892/33557630442_dd749ef8c2.jpg" width="500" height="388" alt="Bookheads 2 & 3"></a></center>
<p>
While I don't exactly have another specific series planned, I do have several one-off projects in mind that I'm hopeful for. The short term goals are a book bug, some sort of graphical Android multiplayer game over Bluetooth, and maybe a circular story that crosses itself and is specific to is printing/binding.
<p>
Hopefully I'll post again before another 6 months pass... Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-58022953171855020852016-09-10T22:59:00.000-07:002016-09-10T22:59:26.291-07:00Feeling Bullish About Bookbinding<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/28975117093/in/dateposted-public/" title="Why not make bookcloth on Saturday?"><img src="https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8649/28975117093_e17dc10fd2.jpg" width="500" height="292" alt="Why not make bookcloth on Saturday?"></a></center>
<p>
Why not make my own bookcloth? I asked myself this last weekend and realized there was no good reason not to. A pinch of Googling told me the basics- you get some tissue paper, you use some normal fabric, and you have a piece of glass to glue onto to provide a flat/smooth surface. Boom. That's it. Why had I not thought to try sooner?
<p>
Backing up a bit, let me just say I've been on a book arts kick. There was <a href="http://code-n-crafts.blogspot.com/2015/11/completed-book-binding.html">a series of books I bound</a> a while ago, and then a couple classes I took at the <a href="https://www.sfcb.org/">San Francisco Center for the Book</a>. And then I did a collaborative project with local <a href="http://www.kellymorgen.com/">Kelly</a> and Sarah on the East Coast. We took Suko transcripts from yet another game and turn them into a book for her (vaguely coinciding with her birthday). Alas, my photos of the amazing leatherwork provided by Sarah were so horrible I can't bring myself to post them. Will get better shots from Suko and post them later. Extremely beautiful final product, primarily due to Sarah's elaborate leather cover.
<p>
That weekend I decided I'd get around to binding my copy of the book. I'm quite fond of the quote from Contact: "Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" I'd sent Sarah two copies of the book and she returned the unused one when she shipped back the final product. For this binding I opted for a safe, normal binding. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. Just a solid case for my copy of the book.
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/29564396706/in/dateposted-public/" title="A modest binding"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8037/29564396706_9e789fbcb2_n.jpg" width="235" height="320" alt="A modest binding"></a>
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/29598521375/in/dateposted-public/" title="Adding to my library"><img src="https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8012/29598521375_4a14abd375_n.jpg" width="320" height="268" alt="Adding to my library"></a>
</center>
<p>
It turned out reasonably well, given that the spine was quite poorly done. I'm definitely learning. Still learning. Much learning to do. Which means much more binding required. Practice makes perfect. So in addition to binding the Academie book I bound a basic blank notebook. I used exceptionally thick card stock in order to get a reasonable spine width without too many pages. The actual book contents were bound a couple weeks ago. A couple weeks ago I also went to the Center for the Book and cleaned up the Academie book, trimmed the blank pages, and cut the covers.
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It was only this last weekend that I decided to tie everything together. Since my blank pages were shiny, I decided I needed some shiny cover to go with it. I found this random piece of shiny/magical looking paper at the bottom of a drawer (from my letter writing itch) and realized neither the grey nor the red book cloth I had on hand would compliment it. Rather than give up or settle, I realized my fantastic collection of fabrics (from my quilting itch) could save me. And they did. I whipped up just the right amount of perfect book cloth and bound the book.
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/29564394876/in/dateposted-public/" title="Mermaid book"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8389/29564394876_2c91d9d401_n.jpg" width="320" height="186" alt="Mermaid book"></a>
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Of course I had just the perfect blue ribbon laying around (from my now constant visits to the local candy store). My hoarding habit pays off! Anyway, it came together nicely. I've had more than one person remark that it's like a mermaid book. My only sadness is that the spine/book cloth got a smudge on it the day I brought it into work to show folks. It lacks that pristine new look now and so I sadly don't think I can sell it on Etsy... not sure what to do with it... but am happy I made it!
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/28975117603/in/dateposted-public/" title="Everything shines"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8096/28975117603_ca50175543_m.jpg" width="240" height="211" alt="Everything shines"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/29564399886/in/dateposted-public/" title="Odd highlights"><img src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7501/29564399886_cb88c1ba31_m.jpg" width="235" height="240" alt="Odd highlights"></a>
</center>
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Funny how if the light hits it right it looks quite green.... other times it looks a lovely blue.
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Spent this Saturday binding yet another book. Will post photos of it later. So happy with this latest bout of crafting. Off to go try and write more prose now for yet another mini book idea... Am definitely looking for more things and reasons to bind something. So if you've got any material you'd like turned into a book, let me know!
Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-91756126209506040992016-08-07T19:14:00.000-07:002016-08-07T19:59:33.845-07:00All this writingLife has gone on. The burning wreck that was April bleeding into May has receded into the distance and with the turn taken in June, moving to a lovely new home, I can't even see it in the rear view mirror of life any more. Out of sight, out of mind. So with all of that out of mind I've new things and thoughts rushing in to fill the vacated space.
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<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28220470234/in/dateposted-public/" title="Old self portrait & new project pieces"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8753/28220470234_4629bdb61a.jpg" width="438" height="500" alt="Old self portrait & new project pieces"></a></center>
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Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts. A pile of pennies, each individually rather worthless but collected and marveled at none the less by myself like a child with a tiny allowance. Am unsure what to do with them. What does one do with non-actionable ideas and pondered upon questions? I write them down frantically and it makes me happy. My red notebook brings me joy when I simply lay my finger tips upon it. I feel like I'd like to clean up and share my rambling musings in some form but am unsure how to best do so or if it's even a good idea.
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28220469424/in/dateposted-public/" title="Cisco era sketches"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8161/28220469424_8d6ce5e27b_n.jpg" width="280" height="320" alt="Cisco era sketches"></a>
</center>
<p>
But the important thing is that I've already recorded them for myself and in the end that is the only audience I can truly hope or expect to please or perform for. For some reason I thought these ramblings were a new phase, an exciting swell of new ways of thinking... But that's only because my memory is poor and my periods of actual Rebeccian archeology infrequent.
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28220471954/in/dateposted-public/" title="Cisco era notes"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8777/28220471954_0f0775b9cd_n.jpg" width="280" height="320" alt="Cisco era notes"></a>
</center>
<p>
The move required me to fully uproot and transplant myself somewhere else, somewhere smaller and so I was forced to dig up and turn over the top layer of sediment and creation cruft. The churn kicked up many (all?) old sketchbooks and loose leaf doodles and assorted desperately collected gaming detritus. I had the thought today to perhaps prune some of the notebooks- plucking out the "good" sketches and discarding the rest- assuming many blank pages between them. Instead I got a kick to the heart and a rush of memories.
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<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28222804483/in/dateposted-public/" title="Cisco era notes"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8079/28222804483_b1d2e11844_n.jpg" width="280" height="320" alt="Cisco era notes"></a></center>
<p>
I flipped through two spirals from my time at Cisco, the pages covered in incomprehensible notes about FPGAs and clock signals and truly wandering sketches. I looked into my own youthful gaze, captured in scribbled pen during an evening ride home. The damn things are like paper pensieves.
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<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28220482014/in/dateposted-public/" title="Very old TODO list"><img src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8062/28220482014_0d7fbc188d_n.jpg" width="280" height="320" alt="Very old TODO list"></a></center>
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Another smaller spiral had skinny lists of TODOs and interview notes from yet another job transition. Perhaps I could have done away with that one but it was so small and such a quaint little snapshot of crafting efforts that I tucked it back on the shelf. The next was filled with scribbled text- first pages of prose I have no real recollection of writing (but written with the correct tempo and chalked full enough of alliteration that I could identify it as my own). Then were angry rants and silly musings that felt like a grip about my throat. Those feelings forgotten suddenly back and filling me with indignation or rage or that (now less frequent) strong feeling of distance and alienation.
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28220473394/in/dateposted-public/" title="I have no memory of this"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8742/28220473394_0f105f67dd_m.jpg" width="210" height="240" alt="I have no memory of this"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28222805513/in/dateposted-public/" title="Angry rant I remember"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8868/28222805513_6f9913f809_m.jpg" width="210" height="240" alt="Angry rant I remember"></a>
</center>
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Finally (flipping backwards as I do and often write) I hit the block of notes for and drafts of letters sent to friends. Dear This. Dear That. Names I still know and message. Names I miss. Names I no longer reflect upon. I didn't read them (I hate dwelling on my written letters once sent- one of the primary reasons I prefer physical to electronic mail) but my eyes couldn't help picking out phrases here and there. Reading backwards I tried to guess (some times with a sense of dread) what name would be at the start. I put that book back on the shelf and declared myself too emotionally exhausted to dare peek into another.
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28222803143/in/dateposted-public/" title="Cisco era sketches"><img src="https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8311/28222803143_2df8844820.jpg" width="438" height="500" alt="Cisco era sketches"></a>
</center>
<p>
Later. Surely later. I enjoy writing things out by hand in order to think. Surely knowing that they will sit there patiently to return to, legible to me no matter how scribbled, is part of the reason I do so. I think so. I think. I think I need to think a bit more about it later... now onto chicken bones.
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/28220475294/in/dateposted-public/" title="Always be writing"><img src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8684/28220475294_996fce8873.jpg" width="438" height="500" alt="Always be writing"></a>
</center>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-28459473440562418122016-03-06T23:06:00.000-08:002016-03-06T23:18:48.382-08:00Small magnetic single throw double pole circuitBack when I was a wee lass I saw Jurassic Park and knew then I wanted to get into computers so that I could create special effects. When I was a bit older we were visiting San Francisco and I went on an Aliens themed "3D" ride around Fisherman's Wharf (or maybe it was in Seattle?) Anyway, I remember being blown away by the experience of the seats moving and air hissing and decided I wanted to do computer stuff that would effect the real world. Fast forward a couple more years and I was at UW, majoring in Computer Engineering with a focus on embedded systems. Fast forward a few more after that and I'm a web dev tinkering with JavaScript... whoops. Might have miss-stepped somewhere along the way... but my love of computers is sound.
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I have an inkling of knowledge on how to do things In The Real World but it's pretty weak. Turns out EE is hard and intimidating. But my interest remains strong. This, combined with my experiences doing several <a href="http://realescapegame.com/">Escape Room</a> games and the delight I had playing in a friend's Harry Potter puzzle LARP has lead me to the obvious conclusion that I should organize my own escape game.
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<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/25577576085/in/dateposted-public/" title="Settling in to craft"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1634/25577576085_3520b7cac6.jpg" width="500" height="283" alt="Settling in to craft"></a></center>
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Happily we got a lot of rain this weekend here in San Francisco. Not only does it help the drought problem, it allowed me to stay inside most of the weekend coding and crafting. And boy howdy is there a lot of coding and crafting to be done for this project.
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A majority of the project is computer systems/pure code which I've been chipping away at, but some elements are hardware related and I've certainly been avoiding working on them. I enjoy it! But... it's hard. Thankfully I made actual progress on one portion but also wound up scrapping a different portion after repeated failure. Lets focus on the positive though!
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<b>If there's a chance you'll be playing in the game (you know who you might be, my so few Readers), I'd recommend not reading the rest of this post.</b>
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/25458993372/in/dateposted-public/" title="Not even half of what I needed"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1676/25458993372_55d62d97a8_q.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="Not even half of what I needed"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/25210036849/in/dateposted-public/" title="Failed ideas"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1449/25210036849_85eb0dea77_m.jpg" width="240" height="154" alt="Failed ideas"></a>
</center>
<P>
The goal: Have a surface that players can place an object on. The object has several magnets embedded in it, which activate switches below the surface when aligned correctly. The switches are attached to an Arduino which informs the computer, which informs the game server, which then has an effect on the game.
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Turns out the end portion of it- the Arduino talking to the server is suuuuuper easy given the <a href="http://playground.arduino.cc/Interfacing/Python">pySerial</a> library. So the question here is about the circuit. Magnetic switches in a small space. Not difficult, right?
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First attempt: run a wire to a bent paperclip, tape the wire to the hidden "floor" below, and use the wire as a hinge. Have the "surface" above be wrapped in tin foil and ground that. Now the wire runs to an Arduino pin in `INPUT_PULLUP` mode. Boom! Done! Success! When the magnet moves above the paperclip, the paperclip jumps up and grounds itself against the "surface" above and you've got a closed circuit!
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Problem: There's only a couple pins on the Arduino and I'd like there be be a number of sensors so that different configurations can be recorded. That means each sensor circuit needs to ground 2 pins so I can have more unique combinations (That's multiplexing... right? Maybe?)
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Next attempt: ... somehow close 2 circuits with a single paperclip's movement rather than just 1 circuit.
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Problem(s): The paperclips I bent all had a single point of contact where the magnet was. The wire hinge was a bit too ridged/constricting to allow smaller pieces to rise and fall. I tried many different shapes and sizes and padding/fringe along the top of the paperclip that contacted the surface above. The signal was finicky, rarely closing both circuits.
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<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/25458995302/in/dateposted-public/" title="Not really "success," but acceptable"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1658/25458995302_013338e2ed.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Not really "success," but acceptable"></a></center>
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eventually... "success!" (the signal is still a bit finicky, but good enough to go forward for now)
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The solution? Have lots and lots of craft items laying around your house... No, really. The solution? <b>conductive thread & copper tape</b>
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<b>Conductive Thread</b> : something needs to hold the paperclip to the "floor", allow it to pivot, and make sure it's connected to the circuit. Wire hinges were proving to be too ridged along with folded tape or aluminum foil. Enter the ever magical conductive thread. Taking two strands and tying them to the paper clip solved this problem. The clip was bent to be flat along the bottom, one strand tied to each corner, then the strands taped down with masking tape. It was a smooth hinge and a reliable connection. I wrapped the floor with aluminum foil and grounded it so that each paper clip is grounded via it's conductive thread tie downs.
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<b>Copper Tape</b> : originally acquired for stained glass purposes, it's great. One side sticky, one side copper & conductive. Note that the sticky side is not conductive (sadly). I used this to mark out the traces on the bottom of the surface, where the paperclip would connect to. The tape is already pretty thin but I was able to cut it in half and place very close to each other- like laying out a sticker circuit board. I cut the paperclip to be U shaped, anchoring it to the floor at the bottom of the U. Now when the clip jumps up towards the magnet and closes the circuit, it has 2 little points contacting the 2 different traces (rather than one broad one).
<p>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-7259299362660255262016-01-27T23:41:00.000-08:002016-01-27T23:41:43.625-08:00Gaming CraftI like gaming. The social aspect is fun, yes, and story telling, but it's this whole crafting/art project portion that really hooks me.
<p>
As I've aged I'm finding it a little harder to just make things willy nilly without thought as to why or for what purpose. I've tucked about as many little monsters about the house as Adam will let me. I've given ones to many friends and all family members. Why make more things? Well, making things is FUN! But... why? That's where gaming comes in. Now I'm making not just "something" but rather a prop or an accessory. A visual aid for something that involves more people than just me. Purpose.
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/24035145163/in/dateposted-public/" title="D & D : Prep is fun"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1609/24035145163_7e22ba80c8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="D & D : Prep is fun"></a>
</center>
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Up until this point I've mostly been playing in games but 2016 is the year I dip my toe in trying to run them. Picked up the D&D 5e suite of books/rules and have run 2 little one-shot games for my friends. Wouldn't say they've been that successful but I've definitely enjoyed having friends over and having an excuse to think creatively. The first game involved a 2 level map where I drew the ground on graph paper and then had a tree branch level drawn with dry erase markers on a glass shelf (resting on several cardboard tube tree trunks). The second involved a dungeon map slowly revealed as people explored it.
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/24366405210/in/dateposted-public/" title="D & D : ready for that dungeon crawl"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1579/24366405210_ac4d3ef691.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="D & D : ready for that dungeon crawl"></a>
</center>
<p>
Turns out peeling off square by painful square of "fog of war" isn't super fun. Also, candy colored "fog of war" really doesn't add to the "dungeon crawl" vibe... The problem wasn't the taping down (that actually worked super well) but just the general scrabbling for a hold on tiny paper piece in order to pick up. One takeaway from it though was that drawing the map was a good exercise in thinking about the story and helping me build out an idea. Drawing is my best way of building a narrative- <a href="http://sithel.blogspot.com/2007/10/image-hand-skirt.html">something I've known for a while</a>.
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/24366457800/in/dateposted-public/" title="Rogue Trader : Homework"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1443/24366457800_7be3210a78.jpg" width="480" height="500" alt="Rogue Trader : Homework"></a>
</center>
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Another delightful gaming craft recently worked on was the Rogue Trader Yu'Vath Battlestation Assault Plan. Given a rather math-y description of a patrolling ships around a point of interest, friend Nate and I wrote a little simulator to help find the best approach. Mind you, this is for a game I'm not even in. Was thrilled to have a valid reason to use the <a href="http://threejs.org/">three.js</a> library again and limber up my mind, wrapping it around 3D math/space/modeling. Not sure how long Nate will host it for, but the simulation is up at <a href="http://eryri.org/rogue/index.html">this site right now</a>. [<a href="https://github.com/sithel/gaming_setup/tree/master/rogue_trader">code posted on Github</a>]
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<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/24294281169/in/dateposted-public/" title="Monsterhearts : The PCs"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1480/24294281169_f7f2726ed4.jpg" width="500" height="407" alt="Monsterhearts : The PCs"></a>
</center>
While not really a craft, I've found games (mine but especially others') to be an excellent source of sketching and art. Friend Kelly drew the characters from a game and then flattered me by asking to help with inking/coloring it. I appreciate that with her effort/interest/involvement I managed to overcome the wall of white space most my sketches hang in and provide the vaguest of something for background (drawing backgrounds being my majorly failed 2015 New Years resolution). Never mind the fact that it's mostly a munged photo I found on the Internet...
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I was going to follow this up with several more gaming sketches but alas this week's plot didn't get far enough...
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<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/24033798684/in/dateposted-public/" title="Named arrows fly better"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1611/24033798684_f9d99e45af.jpg" width="500" height="291" alt="Named arrows fly better"></a>
</center>
<p>
Along the gaming craft tangent: applying game content to other activities. Friend Suko and I continue our once-a-month shooting. I've marked my arrows with names of 4th Terminus characters and not only does it help me improve my aim/track my shot history but it also tells a story with every round. "Oh Hayley, once again going off target. Morgan, always flies true. Jayce, right where I send him and look at that- the Jaya arrow is snug up against him. Again." What I need to do now is figure out a better way to label the arrows. Right now I've scribbled the names on the nocks (over half of which need to be re-aligned) but the ink rubs off so easily there.... Anyway, the important take away is that once I named my arrows and could track which offset/corrections were needed for each I was able to hit the bullseye three times with the arrow named Jaya. Just saying. The other arrows need to start pulling their weight.
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In conclusion gaming is fun. Friends are great, telling stories with them is a fantastic way to pass the time, and using said content to overlay on other actives makes everything better.
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<br><br><br><br><br><p style="text-align:right">
<img style="padding: 0px;background: none;box-shadow: none;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uvCQ5Z0snq65z9rQsPyExl1KG9MXPCFBx2usZH4q3_yVqZGPQESpBCH8X2agjBEh5fPBREgteLOnKdGpwVExOS_R2VAK_fxcMf9BjCp7BWJK7mddqnDL6spvMUqb1jdjKDhrtkac00t682S1pKJoBQG1nbqky3dG2KKlqp25jBPtAbIlFzt-2GIShnp52qi1xgDXdKPHw6_WieJYICjD753k1oeGYamix2QLRi_fZKbhOk0clnowNXdikshZIQ5M6doAzgTjRRZIA3b0vsPXne1PpxmcCWIDfYMTbvowG_KsX4Ajw1YtutP7_Hr2YPMc_-ARfkmx300oiKzRmlFynwrJ5ct7OkUxQjy2zjvOmcP9ohnaTjHZ4o7iUjYVSv43RgntyzNVDhzATpAQjvDvaKXq6hHooaVE7ujzT5hGSteRf7pYEXELeqNUxYOrnd9H8skfxq9XmMQLg-ZhSueckGAIZ557IRO_a-Irj-aDcsi55NfdHQ5aazNZUtd58SXT9Xyiu9aWi40zTXwmO2UIEWsuJF7gK4dNol7HayIFPGU-mg-kXcFi1hwOZflIaAEDrMT0=w100">Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-88675433422889629962016-01-03T10:16:00.000-08:002016-01-03T10:16:27.028-08:00Drawing 2016Started the new year off right with an <b>intense</b> bout of sketching. On Friday I spent ~8 hours in front of the Cintiq and Saturday I followed up with a couple more.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/24152309795/in/dateposted-public/" title="Pride & Prejudice & Zombies"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5754/24152309795_defb68d79d.jpg" width="500" height="418" alt="Pride & Prejudice & Zombies"></a>
</center>
<p>
Drawing that much in one continuos flow felt great. The pictures themselves I don't know, but the feeling was fantastic. If I could draw like that more often I'm pretty sure I'd actually get better. Last night I had a vivid dream that I was still sketching, woke up partially and continued to feel it. "Gotta' make sure I save..." I remember thinking. This amuses me because it's the same sort of sleep processing feeling I get when I'm coming up to speed on a new programming language.
<p>
The main resolution last year that I completely bombed was "learn to draw landscapes" and it's definitely one I still want to try to tackle this year. And by landscapes I mostly just mean backgrounds, even the faintest of hints, for my sketches....
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/24044242962/in/dateposted-public/" title="Corvo- so weak!"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5694/24044242962_52bbdb1c11.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="Corvo- so weak!"></a>
</center>
<p>
Using Clip Studio Paint as my primary sketching app & then doing colors/fill in Photoshop is working out quite well. I'm in love with the smoothing CSP does to the lines and I love the sensitivity options on the Pen & Pencil tools. I'm often jumping to the Marquee tool to reposition/resize my sketching as I go and often toggle back to the Pen tool by accident for a couple of strokes when I actually wanted the Pencil tool (both toggle on the <code>P</code> key). This has given an interesting sort of pacing/cadence to the the line sketching. Light feathery lines (Pencil), correction (Marquee), a few bold strokes (Pen), repeat.
<p>
Still feeling quite restrained in what I'm drawing though. Only used a pinch of photo references for the non-human elements but all subjects/scenes were from gaming sessions. Descriptions I heard or read. None of the crazy emo feeling sketches that spill out from my pen when I reach down inside and try to personify what the fuck is going on in there. Maybe next time.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/23856669690/in/dateposted-public/" title="..."><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1704/23856669690_703a6d8998.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="..."></a>
</center>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-49728230461368002942015-11-29T11:27:00.000-08:002015-11-29T11:27:08.064-08:00A Quite Thanksgiving<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/23375392026/in/dateposted-public/" title="Indecision Pie"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/607/23375392026_f576102b4e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Indecision Pie"></a>
<p>
Thanksgiving this year was a medium sized gathering in the South Bay with friends. No family, mine being scattered about this year and all the girls lacking the freedom/time to travel. Alas. Looks like Christmas will also be Steckerless for the most part.
<p>
My contribution to this year's meal was potatoes and pie. My much anticipated (by me) purple potatoes and coconut cream (aka vegan mashed potatoes) was an absolute dud this year. I blame the potatoes. The pie however went well. Earlier this year I had a pie crust near-fiasco... which is ridiculous now that I look back at it because I have/had a food processor. Used it for the first time to make pie crust and am never going back.
<p>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/23401532975/in/dateposted-public/" title="Indecision Pie Progress"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5771/23401532975_e3b56acce1.jpg" width="500" height="442" alt="Indecision Pie Progress"></a>
<p>
Adam made Pumpkin Pie to ensure a reasonable dessert was available. I couldn't top the <a href="http://code-n-crafts.blogspot.com/2011/11/venn-diagram-pie-26-pounds.html">Venn Diagram Pie</a> of years previous but thought hard to come up with something fun. Wound up with Indecision Pie. I used scrap aluminum (from <a href="http://code-n-crafts.blogspot.com/2012/04/little-failure-dash-of-winning.html">a project</a> waaaay back when) to create structural supports for some concentric circles. Blind baked the crust with only the inner circle for the first 12 min since that has the foil & pie weights portion. Removed foil & weights and added super-thin outer circle and cooked another 15 min. When it came out of the over I removed the inner support right away (no problem) but the outer support I left in place until I filled the apple section because it was likely to topple if left alone. Middle portion was left-over pumpkin pie and some raspberry filling ended up in the center.
<p>
In hind-sight go apple, raspberry, pumpkin next time. Apple & pumpkin: that's a no.
<p>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22774358673/in/dateposted-public/" title="Thanksgiving Tarot"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5624/22774358673_91009ca48a.jpg" width="500" height="469" alt="Thanksgiving Tarot"></a>
<p>
After dinner there was some tarot reading for some folks and one of the dogs. Amusing and silly. Sadly no one in attendance actually knows much about the cards so every step of the way required flipping back and forth through a book. There was also an <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22774360293/in/dateposted-public/">I Ching</a> reading/toss(?). There was also a walk. A fine tradition, that. I love the post-Thanksgiving meal walk, wherever it may be or go.
<p>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22774364403/in/dateposted-public/" title="Traditional Pumpkin & Tea"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/685/22774364403_f2a34e86f2.jpg" width="500" height="339" alt="Traditional Pumpkin & Tea"></a>
<p>
Many things to be thankful for this year. A year of changes for myself and many around me, most (all?) of them for the better. Lots and lots of new jobs, I gained a brother-in-law, there was another Dr. Stecker in the family (for about 2 weeks before she went and got married and took his name- ARRRrrrggg!) and if things All Go Well there will soon be another one (who will keep her title/name pairing). I am thankful that these job changes have been for the better. That I've been gaining family and not losing it. Relationships starting and deepening rather than fraying or ending. I retain my health and others appear to be doing well (except perhaps for the dear Grandmothers). In fact my health along several different axes is in a much better state now than it was this time a year ago. The world at large seems to be becoming more hostile and dark (though perhaps that's just my age tinting my world view) but I am thankful that my life appears to be trending the opposite direction. I'm meeting more people who I find enjoyable. I'm continuing to add to the "things I can do" pallet of possibilities.
<p>
Life is good.
Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-52627836551980355472015-11-02T10:23:00.000-08:002015-11-02T10:23:41.365-08:00Getting 8 pages from a US Letter pageThis is one of those things where I'm sure the answer is clearly posted somewhere on the Internet... and I just really couldn't find it. So I'm typing up my solution here in the hopes that the next person who looks for the answer can more easily find it.
<p>
<b>The problem was simple- I have a single piece of "normal" US Letter paper. I wanted to get 8 pages (4 per side) out of it. I also wanted the page to be part of a signature, which meant the layout of the pages wasn't just 1-4 on one side and 5-8 on the other. </b> What am I printing? I'm printing a PDF of N pages. It happened to be generated by LaTeX but that shouldn't matter for this really.
<p>
So, how? Easy- use two command line tools <code> pdf180 </code> and <code> pdfjam</code>. The <code> pdf180 </code> command is required to flip the pages upside down so that they're right-side up when you do the first fold (which will later be cut open). <code> pdfjam </code> is required to correctly tile 4 pages per side of the paper so they're in the right order when you do the second (spine) fold.
<p>
That means a simple, single page would look something like this:
<br>
<code>
# assuming what you want to print is named MY_STORY.pdf
<br>
pdf180 MY_STORY.pdf --outfile TEMP_FLIPPED.pdf
<br><br>
pdfjam --nup 2x2 TEMP_FLIPPED.pdf '1,8' MY_STORY.pdf '4,5' TEMP_FLIPPED.pdf '7,2' MY_STORY '6,3' --outfile LAID_OUT_STORY.pdf
</code>
<p>
You now have a nicely laid out <code>LAID_OUT_STORY.pdf</code> to print and a <code>TEMP_FLIPPED.pdf</code> file you can delete.
<p>
That's all cool... but what if you're trying to print, say, a 445 page document? And you want to use 4 pieces of paper per signature for a total of 32 pages, front and back? That requires... PROGRAMMING! So I wrote a script which you can find over at my GitHub repo: <code><a href="https://github.com/sithel/google-book-exporter/blob/master/signature_creator_32.sh">signature_creator_32.sh</a></code>. There's also the 2 pieces of paper/16 pages total, front and back variant: <code><a href="https://github.com/sithel/google-book-exporter/blob/master/signature_creator_16.sh">signature_creator_16.sh</a></code>. If I were a not-lazy programmer I'd have written a single script that could dynamically take how many pages per signature. Oh well.
<p>
<blockquote><b>Disclaimer:</b> the scripts don't handle missing pages at the end of your document. It does notify you if it's expecting blank pages, but what that really means is that it'll crash on the last <code> pdfjam</code> call. Just copy the command printed to the terminal and add in <code>{}</code>s instead of pages numbers that exceed your page limit. Again, if I were a not-lazy programmer I'd have written that in too, but bash scripting was... icky. </blockquote>
<p>
What this gets you is a new folder called <code>output</code> (careful! all content in existing <code>output</code> folder will get deleted!) filled with files <code>temp_sig_1.pdf</code>, <code>temp_sig_16.pdf</code>, <code>temp_sig_32.pdf</code>... etc, the number being the first page for that signature set.
<p>
So now you have as many files as you have signatures. That's obnoxious if you want to take a thumb drive to Office Max or something and have you print 3 copies of the book. So there's a second script called <code><a href="https://github.com/sithel/google-book-exporter/blob/master/glue.sh">glue.sh</a></code> that you can run and it'll reach into the <code>output</code> directory and squish all the temp signature files into one file called <code>book.pdf</code>. And that is what you print.
<p>
<blockquote><b>Warning:</b> if you go to the last page of the <code>book.pdf</code>, don't freak out that it doesn't have the last page of your original document! Remember, the signature is folded so the last printed pages will actually be some 6-12 away from the actual "end" of your book. I forgot this fact once and spent nearly 5 minutes having a heart attack thinking I had printed four copies of the wrong file.</blockquote>
<p>
Great! Now you have a stack of paper with your content printed on it! In the case of my 445 book that means 56 pages that need to be folded into 14 signatures.... and heaven forbid you get those pages out of order. Even with them being in order it takes a little bit of a mental warm up to ensure you fold them correctly. And so, here's an animated image and some basic steps to take in order to fold correctly:
<p>
<center><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/G5KA2-2UpkkzQ1Yv_dI97Zlda5OpcU2d4YHgDeK99DHlkPsadRQr8lE5GFOqgGJsag0-pbh5ednHaHGfD3RcGmJR3QJco3XNuv2lZQVf2ieqjpCqCWCJD4u845i0JQMC5Kn_i8Q1iB0JSt4d9s6bhaiJagnN8MJ83OiWE_RRoRyyEkEUb7l6a_B5w6jsC4dWMm5zBXObV3QdPdpfz4HHH_56O19jucoEjG8XzfSNlsBDwzfQez2tahsc6RQgpQo9RTuF8zsmj0os58Rg2A88jAupWMWWUhSujeHgd0Nv3vcKFP27eIusHbIUv1nOD9213rtsFnNwaWq1-98AoAmJB0ULYUCk3bf2gxuw_ZZTKSOwX-TDIbzOodcoqVDNuSMpSSxtHBZZf2YVPkRzh58x9rtJAw-HbCQqpR4DO7X7K-6NhLU_vyw8xB288issfgKlZOrQlhTXekF_m5fJWkH1LrRCMu2iVeHBZuKcD4Qy7COIPNXB1ZkuQD89Wc7vwKi-zLMpn5z1JovzqdaqOj6AsFVvoQguwEGhhYy8PzRFAhE=w476-h320-no"></center>
<p>
<ol>
<li>Ensure the lowest page number for the signature is in the upper left corner (upside down)
<li>Take page off of stack and place it "face" down, landscape. Lowest page number now lower right, face down in front of you.
<li>Hamburger fold the page, left side atop right. You can verify correctness by ensuring page numbers are consecutive inside the fold. Lowest page number still face down. Press edge with bone folder.
<li>Set aside. Repeat steps 1-3. You can be certain things are aligned correctly when the page number offsets of lower top page are 4 apart. They increase 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, etc. Looking at the ones digit it's easy to follow the cycle -> 4,8,2,6,0,4
<li>On your 4th page stop. You'll know you're done with this signature set because after the hamburger fold in step 3 the to page should have consecutive pages. This is the middle of the signature.
<li>Use a knife to slice half the fold on each piece of paper- be consistent on which half you cut. Don't cut the rest of the fold until you're done with stitching the spine. If you're going to use a guillotine, just let it deal with the fold. Brace against something flat, fold, and press! Voilà! Now you have a signature!
</ol>
<p>
<br><br><br><br>
Final note: since I used LaTex, here is what my page geometry looked like for the original PDF generated:
<br>
<code>
\geometry{<br>
a5paper,<br>
% due to the folded nature of my printouts, and the <br>
% failure to scale the paper correctly the bottom <br>
% and non-bound margins have extra space. The top <br>
% and the bound margin are expected to be the <br>
% specified offsets here.<br>
bottom=4mm,<br>
left=2mm,<br>
right=2mm,<br>
top=20mm,<br>
bindingoffset=15mm,<br>
}
</code>
<p>
That's what I printed. And things looked great! And then I stitched my 14 signatures together and some skew crept in. And then I used the guillotine and came within a hair's width of losing content on the top and bottom. I didn't! But it was waaaay to close for comfort. Will definitely be adding 5mm to the top and bottom margins next time around.
<p>
Final final note: I used <code>\documentclass[10pt]{book}</code>, <code>\setlength{\parindent}{5mm}</code>, and <code>
\setlength{\parskip}{4mm}</code>. It's tiny, but legible. Definitely don't go smaller! A little larger would probably be nice but I couldn't afford to bump the book length any longer than it already was.Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-31555233615557443082015-11-01T10:27:00.000-08:002015-11-02T10:30:13.466-08:00Completed: Book bindingMy five editions of the first two volumes of 4th Terminus are done. An epic (for me) feat started just after I quit work (July 15th) and completed almost three months later (October 7th).
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22654316366/in/dateposted-public/" title="All of them done & paired"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/623/22654316366_7899289189_n.jpg" width="320" height="136" alt="All of them done & paired"></a>
</center>
<p>
Many many thanks to both friend Suko for her copy editing time & efforts and friend Scott for the inspiration & assistance on the binding project overall. Scott has been into book binding for many years and was good on his promise of helping me out when I finally found something I wanted to print & bind. Of course, I think original promise was to assist with "a book" rather than a printing run of ten at once. Luckily Scott is the right kind of nerd in all things and seemed to enjoy as much as I the challenges & differences unique to mass production.
<p>
No irrecoverable mistakes were made! Really, the only goof was that I should have affixed my end papers BEFORE I pasted on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Binding-Super-Cloth-18x30-Sheet/dp/B0007LS8G0/">crash</a>. Instead, I wound up hand trimming them and adding them in just before the covers went on. Smoother gluing of end papers to cover and better shoulder position/size would have helped things, but I assume I'll just get better at that with practice.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22057508394/in/dateposted-public/" title="Cut once, measure DEAR GOD ONE MORE TIME!"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/565/22057508394_1db17f16db_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Cut once, measure DEAR GOD ONE MORE TIME!"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22691442481/in/dateposted-public/" title="Dramatic differences + smudge"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5817/22691442481_c75f852432_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Dramatic differences + smudge"></a>
<br>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22059144163/in/dateposted-public/" title="All lined up"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/631/22059144163_22caf45a2a.jpg" width="500" height="297" alt="All lined up"></a>
</center>
<p>
The guillotine cutter was magical and made my lame hand-bound signatures transform into some professional looking content. It also left behind little black smudges on my beautiful white paper. Luckily Scott and I had already been discussing the idea of speckling the page edges- the smudges just made it a requirement. Purple & black were selected for reasons and did an excellent job of hiding the blemishes.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22691440141/in/dateposted-public/" title="Looks like official paperbacks"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5738/22691440141_8251a03d7c_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Looks like official paperbacks"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22057499574/in/dateposted-public/" title="Obfuscating those smudges"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/669/22057499574_8891b5014b_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Obfuscating those smudges"></a>
</center>
<p>
Scott bravely operated the foil heat machine, facing down a number of hiccups/problems. Turns out the foil and the book cloth don't mesh well. Maybe next time leather is needed? Regardless, all of the printings look great and really gave the books an old library book vibe. Which is good.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22666700452/in/dateposted-public/" title="Foil machine"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5656/22666700452_399f0145c5_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Foil machine"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22691463591/in/dateposted-public/" title="The best pair"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/707/22691463591_9c0f62d3de_m.jpg" width="240" height="167" alt="The best pair"></a>
</center>
<p>
Turns out mass-producing books takes TIME (especially when we're semi-figuring things out as we go) so after the cloth was printed & covers were cut, Scott and I parted ways as our time was up at the the <A href="https://sfcb.org/">Center for the Book</a>. Great place, that. Will be going back again for classes. Knowing what I know now, will be much faster/better prepared when renting equipment/space/time in the future. Anyway, it meant the cover construction and assembly happened at home, unsupervised. I think it went pretty well.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22654249806/in/dateposted-public/" title="Getting close"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5773/22654249806_06377cefe7_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Getting close"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22059133953/in/dateposted-public/" title="Covered cover"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5676/22059133953_5234c564fc_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Covered cover"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22691458891/in/dateposted-public/" title="The queue..."><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5707/22691458891_d525d34913.jpg" width="500" height="184" alt="The queue..."></a>
</center>
<p>
I wound up gluing most the covers on at the session in which I handed the books out. Time management. It's hard.
<p>
Knowing what I know now, I'd say the steps for the next run of books I do will be as follows:
<ul>
<li>Determine page size & pages per signature
<li><a href="https://github.com/sithel/google-book-exporter">Lay out book in LaTex</a>
<li><a href="http://code-n-crafts.blogspot.com/2015/11/getting-8-pages-from-us-letter-page.html">Print ALL the books at once (Office Max has different bulk prices, maxing out at $0.10 per page(side) when you hit 500 pages)
<li>Fold & stitch signatures</a>
<li>Fussy cut & glue end pages
<li>Glue crash
<li>Measure things! Have estimates!
<li>Rent space at the <a href="https://sfcb.org/">Center for the Book</a>
<ul>
<li>Trim pages on guillotine
<li>(optional)Splatter pages w/ inks
<li>Cut chipboard for covers on sheer
<li>(optional)Foil press title onto spine
</ul>
<li>Build up spine
<li>Assemble cover
<li>Hope really hard that you didn't fuck anything up
<li>Affix cover to book
</ul>
<p>
One of my main regrets was that I didn't take better photos throughout the process. My phone camera is pretty weak-sauce. Luckily friend Suko took some <i>excellent</i> photos of her books! (and if you follow either of us on other social medias, you're probably sick of seeing them over and over by now) Re-posting them here, with her permission, for prosperity:
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22492566450/in/dateposted-public/" title="Suko's copy"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/565/22492566450_5b1390ab37.jpg" width="331" height="500" alt="Suko's copy"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22680507375/in/dateposted-public/" title="An interior shot"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5687/22680507375_fbbb64324a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="An interior shot"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22680511655/in/dateposted-public/" title="Suko got the best endpapers"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/719/22680511655_a693cecd29.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="Suko got the best endpapers"></a>
</center>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-13883683493209597202015-10-18T11:12:00.000-07:002015-10-18T11:12:00.182-07:00Completed: 4th Terminus quiltThe quilt is done and has been out of the house for over a week. Success.
<p>
<center><a href="https://goo.gl/photos/R4CzARFiYoZaE9TC8"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uqVQQgdU2rjvc1x2Ck3_KcOaGj4YLLEYwVJR2yPTR0gJemVdgeKgQVbgBu9d2xTSXY1-EE1GgCOlFAu8ptPkGGz-BAAHe-Jgz2q3EgJosQizJ6JsEpb5-8vuVjjMQ8nBJLCHkXYDEszHq-kcvuZabpwwL2eJ1AH1PVvYiAQhPJMtmjl-6POMgyQioEr0Ga-q-8cAyS724iIBPv7mpTQbnuLy2ukk77vnoh10bQIdzAZHGerdwD5LFRUkxyfZCUvwj0OyH1-oxbWjAJpL2tdtsOoBnXJiTFvosR8TyqMGfbNyxRp7jlriR0bka6EzKxNqtClTlZgbqfAu8RWyaWrV1PY0oHEpGIKx4bASbR0WD5WdokeWxM89qwWsDphOIpL0PgbS-L8d6cKV1kSByVIE_FyWZ0QejO-1tXFZlZEheGx2IsMdAneoCi37JPypiGFS44iZ47CN9tfjl9aS5ITJg33DuBjCBr2yPx9B4qTfOJpUnXky1atkNkE8Wgmpc4eX0sZC1GfGPWD-d-T_80C79DYxUBnwj91uC3CAGUcM_h4=w250"></a></center>
<p>
This is the first quilt I have "finished" the quilting for and put through the wash. Yikes, what a heart attack! I was not prepared for the state it came out of the wash in and almost burst into tears. Turns out A) quilt batting holds a fuck ton of water and B) light colored fabric is SUPER transparent when wet. Thankfully one of SF's little mini October heat waves helped shed the water and the fabric returned to it's opaque state upon drying. Those first couple moments though... All the track stitching was done in red and while I clipped the threads, I didn't trim them back as short as I should have. Which meant that veins of red creeped out from the tracks when it was wet and all the character portraits had spider webs of black thread behind them.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21638069904/in/dateposted-public/" title="Quilting"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/728/21638069904_e1ef70d968.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="Quilting"></a>
</center>
<p>
I'm shocked to say the quilting process was rather fun. And this is the first time I've abandoned the use of a frame and just quilted in my lap. Would not do so for the primary stitching lines that holds everything in place (yay for having a quilt frame for that!!) but for the "filler" stitching, it worked well. While I continue to swear that "the next time" I'm shipping the damn thing off to be machine quilted by professionals, I do find it to be quite appealing to add custom stitches specific to the quilt design. Used masking tape to help guide the lines, and that proved to be very useful. Have also used masking tape to guide applique sewing (because I suck at pinning), so that stuff is turning out to be a vital to have on hand.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21638061844/in/dateposted-public/" title="The bare minimum"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5734/21638061844_6a1b7d9b84_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="The bare minimum"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22073933799/in/dateposted-public/" title="Quilting"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5766/22073933799_012b61d08e_m.jpg" width="205" height="240" alt="Quilting"></a>
</center>
<p>
The back of the quilt was more complicated than it needed to be/should have been. For some reason I thought "Wow, this is waaaay too nerdy looking! It needs a stealth mode where you can flip it over and it doesn't look so... silly." So I did some minor slap-dash squares in a variety of fabrics. The rushed sewing job (and non-cotton fabric types) meant that it didn't lay perfectly flat, which became most noticeable when the quilting chased down all those wrinkles and pinned them in place. Oh well. This will be yet another flaw lost in the sea of detailed-stuff-going-on. On the up side, the station stitching clearly shows through the back of the quilt which I find to be quite fetching. Makes the effort of hand stitching such details more worth it.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/22271296991/in/dateposted-public/" title="Quilt Back"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5721/22271296991_2388f9a866.jpg" width="500" height="431" alt="Quilt Back"></a>
</center>
<p>
And now, don't make fun of me, I'll confess I've started a sample square as a proof-of-concept for next quilt*... Poor Adam was a bit sad to see the 4T one leave- it's one of the few I've made that was large enough to cover him. So we talked a bit and kicked around a very Adam-specific idea that I'm pretty excited about. And again it's overly complex, very specific, will take forever, and will probably require hand quilting... I'm so excited!!
<p>
* I have not forgotten that I've plans for another 4T quilt for another individual! But that one actually requires the game to end before I can start on it so this one is... like... an exceptionally complicated palate cleanser...
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21638070444/in/dateposted-public/" title="Quilt Top"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5706/21638070444_15b59c0375.jpg" width="500" height="447" alt="Quilt Top"></a>
</center>
<p>
You can check out <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/albums/72157657655960734">more photos over at the Flickr album.</a>
Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-50649687281412040002015-10-03T19:25:00.000-07:002015-10-03T19:25:17.681-07:00Winding downSo I'm fast approaching the 3 month mark of being unemployed and things are winding down here. I've already begun the process of finding new work- have applied to a number of places already. Am targeting Nov. 9th for a start date. Fingers crossed that I can a company that both interests me and wants to hire me. Am never able to escape that Woody Allen joke "I'd never join a club that would allow a person like me to become a member" in terms of work though...
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21738709700/in/dateposted-public/" title="Yet another sunset photo"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5633/21738709700_27ace0bc58.jpg" width="500" height="210" alt="Yet another sunset photo"></a>
</center>
<p>
In terms of the things winding down: I'm excited that most my projects/goals/objectives of this hiatus have been met or are very near the finish line. Other than claiming I was going to do TWO quilts rather than just one (because I'm an idiot), I feel I've done an excellent job of scaling my ambitions to my expected available time. The quilt is essentially done, just needs some more superfluous stitching and a wash. The books are going to be finished come hell or high water. I've learned to cook chicken a number of ways (some of them even fast and easy!) and feel rather confident I could prepare a "meal" on the fly now after work without excessive stress or research. I've got 3 branch libraries to hit and then I'll have tackled 'em all. I had an excellent run of 5+ mile a' days there and don't feel guilty or bad that I've slipped back down to a steady 3 miles a day because I want to, you know, DO THINGS during the day and walking takes a hella' lot more time than initially anticipated.
<p>
<center>
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/f-8Z4Hg5Ui_aDTNG4OG-dNV02T3p4jD1HNFKMvta2xQ_GDleQhR24w4K2FE2TWqrRobd-VHkcNAulcCYIHFtUSCZ423i504p2F3S8Gca9cfK-Kj8ivsXJ9O9FocKRt075oTLs6E7o9YvqahZa-wXMT8UbVyzPxGCDwQCzbAMlIijl8Kx0Z6NRPxH3q0FApHMztuBK-XDUBS7SpUQEhPve5gMLV6horuVAEI7xe9rSH4vOB2-CTPkNfltBbiaaeWe6IsUsxR355OvylpGRzLBybaznIm8jCf7qiaj2msN8eRA9q2HxKt8_q1C5O8ToJBcohWfc9siXlf2zglEmmTVzYPQvER8SEn3GJqxlfEYWDPIFD5xid1dOMUcQ00JRUYMfPrjmKuX61LId6YyuMje7827QEOwI7OygXd9Ii0WS4z9sjM4qDCmfcCxQwlS1fNAWjMPy-8gK_zzEAqKzXNlxs4I5G5QvqMggMGE9wlZgREO6A9W6dpMPOlRbtcuUU33JHvyWYnFZbdEptq7QIi_-5McmvAhtMavMS1DTztVfkc=w500"><br>
(I dehydrated a hard boiled egg. I DO NOT ADVISE IT)
</center>
<p>
I guess the main let-down of this whole extended vacation was I failed to advance my drawing skills. I had hoped to tackle landscapes and I've made not a pinch of progress on that these 3 months (or past 10 even- it was one of my few resolutions this year). I also failed to attend any sort of fitness bootcamp nonsense thing, which I never really seriously considered but had always faintly hoped I'd do given sufficient free time. Maybe three months just wasn't "sufficient" enough, 6+ months off and I'm sure I'd get around to it...
<p>
<center>
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gVzGr_8VjtyS3ygVf9-0xFAkBZCi5DBcw4VHXgMkByQhSuyKxRU62HtcnneEzjaDmmxa5IzRZYRY5qCxbbNg9RP07H9Dz2-mirdnQHPmAlcNWqP7iuvQ-p-IadGGHwp2VObQd3v_uhu_6zBke7WL1vc9-DrXvYavOO7v5A1F_LgWdBn0Jvmija0Q-7QgHQON2XC_aKyg0-w9jqcbSrBXUHt9Eo9DU75tjzWK0B2FBy1auQ4Y7yOfg-p-_bs8WFs1rnRJT0u7gmFQPWIcO8cFhrDiBPCK5Mfs23igQFUDpV_1EoRaQyBfAGgqm4s-DV-RIdDv4S1ge21uYMA79Um8zicJg59xjxuHXnWXSI2z_saKZCMpsulzeEA7SRrTYicG0JQ4FqF5aNW5MDuaBdmkjJpeM0CqfSOvn7BjVJC6UXJki5qjW-CF37bTBQUqfJYU4GMoFinBAxoQAyCcOiV4TaMmb54USMIFPctJrxCRsw_h0BukPD5RK_XdL359CcwaJ-46pXdsBDbtK-tXeGQWX9QYDluAFbY-gUGNL4RnMSU=w240">
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/H-DIZJwyu8rIMCty2DhJiygxt8SUEAUjIM2oicKl40_aaig_OQpatroChkmpt6pqdxL_Yyqd1Nryj62u7Iig5uaU-BgYFshFke26_1kFmmq2HWv5cjIEXC-1bkC0a_gR1JIzi0G84zBCvpP2SnkcR9Jmym8RP81lklKjcmsZGed813-lVwSHPrTz40EMd94UKiVE2g5kTg7UBXwHkROt4baFQ2_0QjHn6CLvgoJURgt8SKjGTsYcjJfniMqZq9ClPdUxlYVktCKMbINvk9lX_UHKK3Y0h-N0UWeuTBHluH9F48v23Mt5is89w5D448fKm5a6FqVggyyr1x4ph7Bplx8yEfv8plhqTTyez9ljJ82oWA6MhQsZu3j9ANamCFr2SNDUf5mT9RJNHSycSOX1wf4hhdChyHCdLgbZrIxM60dPd75jgfji5hqBg6vgaQLJ7wpbv2qPFzwEYB9XIH8BiHrfqIK6X1Qn7GrxPIzh9OdlOiKFuGP6mGJ3vXsY0ihqqVrsy7uf8otaz6jVaR_FLcRI3P0PVQksCR7S8uy8obo=w240">
</center>
<p>
In terms of other, just general awesome things:
<li>Saw the whole blood moon eclipse thing. Happiness.
<li>Went to the SF Super Hero Street Fair with company. Had a drink even! Danced with Santa. Was swept off my feet by random silver spandex man and made very happy. Good times.
<li>Finally took another stab at hard crack sugar. It went better this time. I am emboldened.
<li>Suko and I have not yet abandoned archery. This makes me proud of us.
<li>I got a calligraphic letter from Katie in the mail, and it wasn't even a reply to something I'd sent. Just outa' the blue. So nice!
<li>Enjoyed opening weekend at the <a href="http://petalumapumpkinpatch.com/">Petaluma corn maze</a>. Highly recommend it.
<center><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tN4XKPAYK2Q792AhDQWTuUCCHzuuUPs40498Pd3UUFlmEw2FnDDo1w9hg3mKMn5DYUp_bszC3n4nKRhQV5XMFcHugrCYY_GDmO56E3ksqvsF6dzrK6eNTCUjyohQlamTWjtNArSHTEn4-CHD0naYlMr1YN04DgesphXTNWW7RGYHow8PBmUsG6J4L5SwFVYl_HMNxHBbei2Fwdpeed7W49_aYOhGiWa3cZTv50UF4e9tYR2JfdACfYc13UJIWiDiT4tf9ea7rHVRnNBVEnI8Olu6gqfAayXhUedHkNCW8VrC-7Y3W-XnGrDW8R7YDA536_jcM6HGv3exhuwLJP7EuCP9FsoL3GvLLIPDKz9jxnDiBf9-OFjFt_NWDilopU1hrSf-R2MUvPZzlSwRiWXxfGP0E5SLViD1NhUKj7JFfOvtRVYJqRA4Ilcr5t1AqQQhX9lAYWT8n-9xweVeK3A04TKuJpyOsjq4-0MI0YSFFAoiLA8Me4h0MxpQ_st9F2NNCw4Tdlr6P8H8Y5ehMmyZ1aUGkPoLP0p-DEyEs05Vs1Q=w296-h446-no"></center><p>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-92085988014867550862015-09-18T10:37:00.000-07:002015-09-18T14:21:30.283-07:00The delights of excessive free timeThis week marks two months since being unemployed. Utilizing my boundless free time, I went to Golden Gate Park on Monday.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21516960845/in/dateposted-public/" title="Golden Gate Park"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5682/21516960845_d39e39b9f9.jpg" width="500" height="233" alt="Golden Gate Park" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
</center>
<p>
We in SF have had a long stretch of ridiculously good weather. Monday was the first real day that broke. Perhaps not the best day to visit the park. It wasn't really raining, but <a href="https://twitter.com/karlthefog">Karl the Fog</a> was hugging the park really, really tightly.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21328900990/in/dateposted-public/" title="So much space!" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/668/21328900990_8fea9338cd.jpg" width="500" height="127" alt="So much space!" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
</center>
<p>
On the up side, it looks like shooting mid-day mid-week should be entirely doable! The archery range is neeeever that open on the weekend. There was just one individual with a super tricked out bow, shooting by his lonesome. Anyway, after wandering about a bit I decided another day might be better. That day was Thursday.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20895836633/in/dateposted-public/" title="Golden Gate Park, take 2"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/593/20895836633_9687e03e37_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Golden Gate Park, take 2" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21329108208/in/dateposted-public/" title="SF Botanical Garden"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/663/21329108208_75a861c308_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="SF Botanical Garden" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21490724796/in/dateposted-public/" title="Highest Point"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5729/21490724796_59a7497713_m.jpg" width="240" height="187" alt="Highest Point" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
</center>
<p>
It can be rather breathtaking, how beautiful the park can be. There's a many a thing to tease SF about or sneer at... but one cannot deny that our park is wonderful and we are all lucky? blessed? to have such easy access to such lovely landscape. Too bad I rarely make it out to that side of the city.
<p>
Took a pleasant stroll on my way out through the SF Botanical Garden, which is free to visit if you're a resident! My favorite paths wind through the Australia section, but the entire grounds are delightful. Just be careful- the grounds are so peaceful and calming and restorative that many an individual is inspired to friendliness and chatting... Avoid eye contact!
<P>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21505820352/in/dateposted-public/" title="Epic good day"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5831/21505820352_9cde5853c5_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="Epic good day" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
</center>
<p>
Was also able to visit two more ocean-ish library branches this week, bringing my total up to 21 of 28. So far Ortega remains the nicest due to it's views but everything gets better the further west in the city you go. Nothing can compete with the catalogue of the main downtown library though.
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20895832293/in/dateposted-public/" title="Main Library"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/600/20895832293_10e902b8ec_m.jpg" width="240" height="205" alt="Main Library" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
<br>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/21505820802/in/dateposted-public/" title="The library is full of books"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5758/21505820802_293eb94b7b_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="The library is full of books" style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></a>
</center>
<p>
After all that, I started the binding of my quilt and then went over to a friends house for movie, food, and great company. Life is good. Friends are awesome.
Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-85153235944862871592015-08-24T15:00:00.000-07:002015-08-24T20:36:40.686-07:004th Terminus Quilt aka Decision FatigueWhile snapshots of quilt progress have littered my Tumblr and it pops up frequently in conversations about what I'm doing, I apparently failed to blog about it here. Given that I finally started the quilting part this last week, I figure now's a good time to do so.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20645296389/in/dateposted-public/" title="Quilt Sandwich!"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5707/20645296389_891773fcf1.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Quilt Sandwich!"></a></center>
<p>
The project has been percolating in my brain for a while, not sure exactly how long. There were many motivators/reasons behind it:
<ul>
<li>I was on the prowl for a new quilt project. I apparently need a very personal, focused reason to work on one (the Scrabble Board quilt and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/7086495805/">Pythagorean Theorem quilt</a> remain unfinished- not abandoned but decidedly low low low priority)
<li>Nate said the game was going to end this year and I thought it was worth commemorating
<li>I've known about <a href="http://www.spoonflower.com">Spoonflower</a> since 2008 and have just been waiting for the perfect project to come along so that I could try them out
<li>I love generating artwork for the games I play
<li>I've long desired to have more practice/reason to embroider phrases. My font is kinda' ugly, but whatever. Still learning, practice makes perfect.
</ul>
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/20838801121/in/dateposted-public/" title="Iconography Print"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/599/20838801121_71c307dc32_m.jpg" width="213" height="240" style="margin:0px;padding: 0px;" alt="Iconography Print"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/20643712398/in/dateposted-public/" title="Medical Print"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/642/20643712398_511b51de3e_m.jpg" width="208" height="240" style="margin:0px;padding: 0px;" alt="Medical Print"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/20643706308/in/dateposted-public/" title="Science Print"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5764/20643706308_89e77fa8ae_m.jpg" width="208" height="240" style="margin:0px;padding: 0px;" alt="Science Print"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/20209076904/in/dateposted-public/" title="Gun Print"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/615/20209076904_abcf948bd4_m.jpg" width="240" height="240" style="margin:0px;padding: 0px;" alt="Gun Print"></a>
</center>
<p>
Looking back over posts and emails, the timeline looks approximately like this:
<ul>
<li><b>Late 2014</b>, I get it into my head to do a 4T quilt featuring the transit map and the character silhouettes I've drawn
<li><b>Jan 21st 2015</b>, pestered Nate till we got a revised/blessed/final take on the transit map. <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/108847603989/i-made-the-mistake-of-asking-the-gm-for-more">Posted to Tumblr.</a>
<li><b>Early February 2015</b>, pulled both Suko & Nate into the project for feedback/input. Good decision.
<li><b>Late March 2015</b>, started designing first pair of custom prints. <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/114741216549/what-is-a-praetor-ha-is-it-funny-because-its">Posted to Tumblr</a>
<li><b>Mid April 2015</b>, designed final pair of prints.
<li><b>Late April 2015</b>, decided to undertake the task of embroidering every chapter title for boarder. <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/117588996259/have-been-fretting-about-the-size-of-gaming-quilt">Posted to Tumblr.</a>
<li><b>May 3rd 2015</b>, first test yard of fabric arrives. So strange to see digital content brought into reality. <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/118006581534/first-yard-from-spoonflower-just-showed-up-super">Posted to Tumblr.</a>
<li><b>May 28th 2015</b>, bulk fabric order arrives! So much pretty, all of my choosing! <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/120150384484/yessssssss-it-has-arrived-it-will-begin">Posted to Tumblr.</a>
<li><b>May 31st 2015</b>, cut and sewed the blocks together. Then settled into the long slog of embroidering all the chapter titles. <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/120366509259/cut-and-pieced-together-the-center-trying-to-get">Posted to Tumblr.</a>
<li><b>July 29th, 2015</b>, buckled down and did pile of work, most notably sewing down the transit line. <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/125398922164/shits-about-to-get-real-didnt-know-what-to">Posted to Tumblr.</a>
<li><b>August 21st 2015</b>, finished back, slapped some batting between the piece, and started quilting! Verified that, yes, my stupid bulky quilting frame is actually exceptionally awesome/useful. <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/post/127269749509/fucking-finally-phhhffff-it-has-taken-forever">Posted to Tumblr.</a>
</ul>
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20832010065/in/dateposted-public/" title="So exciting!"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/760/20832010065_b860d07388.jpg" width="500" height="125" alt="So exciting!"></a></center>
<p>
It has been a fun and educational process. It also has been extremely exhausting. Every fucking step along the way has been a decision point. Which fabric color to pair with each chapter title? Which color tones to use for the prints so they are visible but not too attention-grabbing? Which shade of red? Which shade of purple? How wide to make the lines? Which characters will stand next to each other? Which chapter titles will surround them?
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20645299089/in/dateposted-public/" title="See the idea come together"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/681/20645299089_108e2dff96.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="See the idea come together"></a></center>
<p>
This number of decisions and their continuous nature (as opposed to all being resolved at the start) differs greatly from my (admittedly little) quilting experience so far. Now that I'm onto the quilting bit, it feels as if a weight has been lifted. There are very few decisions left. Before me now is just the clear, uncomplicated work of stitching along lines that I have already decided upon. I remain happy, but am glad to have finally clear the worst of it.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20643964970/in/dateposted-public/" title="Making it happen"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5657/20643964970_988fc25662.jpg" width="500" height="188" alt="Making it happen"></a></center>
<p>
The take aways from the project so far:
<ul>
<li>Let it go. Just decide on something. Something is better than nothing.
<li>Spoonflower is great! Higher contrast produces better results.
<li>Wash away fabric pens were kinda' a let down. Wound up using mostly white charcoal art pencil to outline most my text
<li>Rotary cutters FTW. We already knew that. Never hurts to repeat great advice though. I finally upgraded to a super-large cutting mat. I feel like a grownup.
<li>Always buy more solid colored fabric than they think you'll need. It never hurts to have too much and it hurts A LOT to not have enough.
<li>I don't like the long-stitch/split stitch font I chose for my chapter titles. Next time I want a smaller back stitch for my text. (something to keep in mind for the Pythagorean Theorem quilt)
<li>I invested in those plasic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DW3YZ6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00">perfect circles</a> for my station dot applique. No regrets. They didn't turn out perfect, but that's my fault I think. Next time I need a smaller running stitch when basting around the edge, for the gather.
<li>Adam is a good sport for letting me litter so many craft supplies about the house for this, for so long. The drying rack has been in the TV room for several months now with the chapter titles and fabric prints draped over it.
<li>Learning how to make repeating patterns in Photoshop makes me happy.
</ul>
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" data-header="false" data-footer="false" data-context="false" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20839206191/in/dateposted-public/" title="The quilt top"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/772/20839206191_7ba0c9f2e9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The quilt top"></a></center>
<p>
It's just... really, really exciting to have an idea in my head spool out so damn slowly and yet stay as I envisioned it. It's just a collage quilt, but it's a project I'm proud of. Few endeavors strain and stretch my creativity in so many different ways, it's a feeling I highly value.Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-81447401405011664072015-08-17T15:00:00.001-07:002015-08-17T15:00:00.528-07:001870: The Board GameResource management games can be found on both computer and on the board. I prefer the board variant because there's a limit to how much time you can sink into it before the game ends. Yes, I've had a couple Civ video game binges, but I never come out of those feeling good. And while you can video game with friends, it's better in person over a board.
<p>
1870 sort of puts this to the test. Unlike other super-long board games it doesn't overly rely on randomness (Risk) or excessive politicking (Diplomacy) which I'm no good at. It however far exceeds any normal board game in duration. How far? I've no idea. We've tried to play it twice so far and after 6+ hours each time we've yet to reach the end. We've yet to even really get the end in sight. Rather than infuriate me, I'm more determined than ever to play it through (and win, damnit! <a href="http://rd.io/x/QVv1Jjd17ro/">I'm a winner. Things are gonna change, I can feel it.</a>)
<p>
One of the best things about the game is the ridiculous complexity that all sort of makes sense. It seems like half the game is just learning and remembering the rules. Towards that end I whipped a cheat sheet for our second attempt this last weekend.
<p>
They're meant to be 5.5" x 4"- here's the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/12SKJ2uzxizaXuLRe-jJXhz-fP42ojg1RARr1zTTP7Rs/edit?usp=sharing">Google Doc Cheat Sheet</a> that has them laid out 4 a page.
<center>
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5Ka9e3MbfNBdXPW_MdxUmzgqebObPVBxbvkx0Yi7YF0=w500"><br>
Above is the "Operating" phase, below is the "Stock" phase (aka, excellently named the President and Person phases by Allison)<br>
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/A9zngXHFwIpBv5mJy3WBGFARnE644wV9RseM4xI-Nb8=w500">
</center>
<p>
Why is such complexity tolerable? I'm not sure. Maybe once we finally reach the end I'll throw my hands up in disgust and come to the same conclusion that I have with Power Grid. Why play resource management games at all? There's just some sort of itch that it scratches... the idea that it can all be done correctly. Both times I've played so far I feel like I failed not due to a bad draw or poor luck or because someone was uncooperative (try as <i>some</i> might to be a thorn in the side), but rather because I fucked up. And if I fucked up that means maybe <i>next</i> time I wont fuck up and then I'll win. And then I'll have won because I'm a winner and I did it best.
<p>
But who knows... maybe next time we'll actually reach "mid-game" phase and I'll be able to get a better read on things. To give you an idea of how little progress we made, here's two pictures from our first game.
<p>
<center>
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bXvzNDDfm4gzK6mh7XqGlWNV2vx_gPklT5u7D_FINfc=w350"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oSa1LZ1C9KC-e5ZwTUEo8SoFGn4yjoYMzcxs8O7Ojk=w350"></center>
<p>
They're almost 4 hours apart. Can you see how not-covered by tiles that board is? Yeah. Next time... or maybe the one after that...
<p>
Interested in the rules? <a href="https://www.mayfairgames.com/gamesupport/1870-rules-ocr-v10-1870">Check them out over at the publisher's site.</a>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-10017428653779429792015-08-14T15:00:00.000-07:002015-11-02T10:30:28.197-08:00Extracting comments from Google DocsOne of the best parts about Google Docs is the whole easy-to-share aspect of it, which includes an excellent commenting system.
<p>
<center><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VcCGt2iS2KiTy9FcPWMh9n8WR7toGP0Z5YVk-AbuHjg=w716-h268-no" style="width:450px;"></center>
<p>
Google will happily let you export your document, but this extra info is harder to get ahold of. From the drop-down menu you can currently export your file as: PDF or RTF (has formatting, lacks any comments), TXT (has comments, lacks formatting), or HTML (has comments and formatting). However, check out what the HTML output looks like:
<p>
<center><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wfdmCcStdEJ0j9anHvrrCJW0voxOkvo76SlwQoYphp8=w351-h320-no"></center>
<p>
That's really close to what I want, but it lacks the highlighting to indicate exactly what the comment is referencing. Or does it?
<p>
<center><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/D7xPR3EP221-W4gj7vshw9GE3EP1kzPK34WVUzaz4L0=w351-h375-no"></center>
<p>
Here I've marked up all the <b><p></b> tags with a green border and all the <b><span></b> tags in blue. You can see that there are spans wrapping the formatted text, but also where the highlighted text would be. Most notably, see how "obnoxious" is split across two tags.
<p>
Unfortunately, there's no markup in the <b><span></b>s themselves to indicate which comment it goes with. There's the tag/link right after it, which will have to be enough.
<p>
<b>
<sup><a href="#cmnt1" name="cmnt_ref1">[a]</a></sup>
</b>
<p>
But now, how to tell how many of those previous span tags, working back from the link, is part of the comment? For that, you gotta' lean on the Google Drive API. Specifically, the <a href="https://developers.google.com/drive/v2/reference/comments/list">comment's list</a> endpoint.
<p>
<center><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2VtH2l4OYvkDKGezc2amVDpXY8xL3TGX9Ip_nfTvMUE=w308-h344-no"></center>
<p>
Look at that! It even has the user who made the comment and the timestamp. All we could ever want. It also indicates there was a reply, which the [b] comment is. The important field it has though is <b>context</b>. It doesn't tell me *where* in the document that context is (that's okay, we've got the HTML) but it does tell us how much of the content the comment spans.
<p>
And that's it. Well, the basics at least. From there, it's a bunch of corner cases about character escaping and sticking together the spans the right way so you can match the context string. Haven't ironed all those out yet, myself.
<p>
For some specific examples (and some gnarly code) you can checkout some segments of my project on Github, specifically <a href="https://github.com/sithel/google-book-exporter/blob/da1c7d8a80cddf0a4af3b6218d85a9ab2d1bfbb8/index.html#L74-L187">grabbing file information, content, and comments</a> and <a href="https://github.com/sithel/google-book-exporter/blob/da1c7d8a80cddf0a4af3b6218d85a9ab2d1bfbb8/latex.js#L90-L118">pairing comment with highlighted text in a very brittle way</a>.
<p>
If there's a better way to do this, I was unable to find it and would love to hear about it! Seems odd that it was this convoluted... am likely missing something.Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-55176415058717539222015-08-13T15:00:00.000-07:002015-08-13T15:00:03.465-07:00One Month InSo I've had a month to myself now. Have I squandered it? Probably. Lets review:
<p style="border-left: 1px solid grey;padding-left: 10px;"><i>Visit all the public library branches in SF.</i></p>
Am at 10 of 28 now.
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19883038604/in/dateposted-public/" title="Library Progress : 1"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/548/19883038604_aa3b26e895.jpg" width="411" height="500" alt="Library Progress : 1"></a></center>
I've picked off all the easy ones, they're just getting further and further away from here on out. Mostly the western half of the city left, with a few far north and south to check out. I still believe it's a good idea, gets me out of the house. I've discovered that the Teen section of the library is much larger than I thought/remembered it was. There's apparently a non-trivial section/genre called 'Urban Teen' that I've never encountered before. Also, the graphic novel section is pretty neat. And there's a *lot* of romance novels there, more than I even expected.
<p>
Today I flipped through Emily Post's enormous Etiquette book. It was fun and enlightening.
<p style="border-left: 1px solid grey;padding-left: 10px;"><i>Try to walk more than 5 miles a day.</i></p>
Working out reasonably well... Travel had an impact, but I'm not beating myself up over it.
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19883043644/in/dateposted-public/" title="Fitbit Data"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/502/19883043644_12889c171c_n.jpg" width="320" height="248" alt="Fitbit Data"></a></center>
One thing that I find particularly interesting is that it's not so much that the distances increased that much (I used to walk to and from work, and then frequently out to dinner or activities), but that the "active time" is what most noticeably jumped up. Even sitting at home crafting or cooking, I'm moving around around so much more than when I sit and code.
<p style="border-left: 1px solid grey;padding-left: 10px;"><i>Finish piecing/appliqué of quilt so I can start actually quilting it (and taking it with me when I travel).</i></p>
Quilt progress continues, slower than I'd like. But it is progressing. There's just so much work to do. I still have about 7 station dots to sew down. And two track bends to correct. And some more border to piece together. And then the whole thing to assemble. And then the back to assemble. And then the quilting can begin. And then, yeah, there's that whole second quilt I'd like to kick off real soon here. Hmmm. Quilt progress, as it comes along, can best be tracked via the <a href="http://simply-sithel.tumblr.com/tagged/quilt">#quilt</a> tag over on my Tumblr.
<p style="border-left: 1px solid grey;padding-left: 10px;"><i>Wrap head around food/cooking.</i></p>
Eh, going reasonably well. I cooked chicken for the first time ever in the oven. Pathetic, but at least I'm trying to correct the situation. I made some super awesome sourdough bread using just starter recently. Sour and chewy and delightful. Am going to take another stab at it soon.
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20497102582/in/dateposted-public/" title="Super tasty sour dough"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/434/20497102582_a93283e959_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Super tasty sour dough"></a></center>
<p style="border-left: 1px solid grey;padding-left: 10px;"><i>Draw more.</i></p>
Fucking failure. A huge gaping hole in my pretty picture of intentions. I don't know what's wrong with me. I've sat down several times, both at the Cintiq and with my pencils. Aside form Dr. Sketchy's, I've not been able to produce anything. It's getting to be a little disturbing...
Not tracked in inital post, but worth mentioning:
<ul>
<li><b>Code for fun </b>: going quite well. Have been really enjoying my <a href="https://github.com/sithel/google-book-exporter">Google Doc-to-LaTeX document converter project</a>. Will make a stand alone post for that soon. Just got set up today (Tuesday) to run <a href="https://github.com/sutrofm/sutrofm">sutro.fm</a> locally so I can start working on that again. Gah, I've forgotten how much I for (no good reason, really) dislike Backbone. Also, after bumping into a swarm of ex-Rdio co-workers, one after another, I feel an urge to clean up my animation patch for <a href="https://github.com/rdio/thor">Thor</a>. There's also some inventory management system project mentioned in passing by Logan and the joke-but-maybe-not-a-joke idea of contracting for a friend. And finally I'm starting to bump into enough minor nits that I don't like about <a href="http://sithel.github.io/stalker/index_v2.html">Stalk like Stecker</a> that I might need to re-write it.
<li><b>Be more social</b> : Seems to be going reasonably well. I have friends. They're pretty fucking awesome. They'll even hang out with me some times. There are things on the calendar. A number of them. I'm excited. Will post separately about it so as to not forget. Remember, future Rebecca. Life and friend can be good.
</ul>
<br><br><br><br>
(written Tuesday night)Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-57825924303192112732015-08-12T15:00:00.000-07:002015-08-12T15:00:00.405-07:00Scrap"Keep your shit together," I tell myself as I gaze at the limbless bust of a male mannequin. "I'm past all this. I have all the miscellaneous art crap I need." And then I wander down the next aisle. And I lose my shit.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19883914483/in/dateposted-public/" title="A little slice of heavy, in Scrap"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/370/19883914483_1b952282ed.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="A little slice of heavy, in Scrap"></a></center>
<p>
It's a meltdown with screaming and sobbing in delight. All in my head. Externally I calmly ask the lady next to me where the bags are because I stand before a wall packed tight with fabric scrap rolls and there's a sign that says 15 for $1. I feel tears of joy prick my eyes.
<p>
She points me in the right direction. Her glasses rest cartoonishly low on her nose. Because it's the way things are, we start talking. She repeatedly invites me to join the <a href="http://www.sfquiltersguild.org/">SFQG</a>. I smile and express interest and will never do more than glance dismissively a the website. We ask about each other's projects. She makes scarves out of beautiful fabric bits. I find it hard to express the quilt idea but she helpfully and insightfully suggests that it sounds like a collage project. Old people, they're so smart!
<p>
We both discuss how the real value and emotion is in the process, not the final project. She leaves. I spend the next REDACTED minutes picking up fabric, stroking it, sometimes putting it in my bag, some times putting it back on the shelf only to do it all again several more times. I leave with only 30 small roles. I will be back.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20478609086/in/dateposted-public/" title="A dangerous wall"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/538/20478609086_ded97d3118_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="A dangerous wall"></a></center>
<br>
<br>
<br>
I return less than a week later. I leave with fewer rolls but more fabric. There is no more purple fabric left.
<p>
If you want to live dangerously, I highly recommend checking out <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Scrap/@37.7415504,-122.4001329,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xebebc6b2b766a880?sa=X&ved=0CHsQ_BIwDWoVChMI3YnuwNeixwIViVyICh3EeQGa">Scrap</a> in SF. It's not just a fabric store. It's an everything-I've-always-wanted-to-hoard-for-potential-art-project store.Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-9879352790874349712015-08-11T21:00:00.000-07:002015-08-11T21:00:00.703-07:00Kiel, Wisconsin as a True Detective locationFor family reasons, I spent five days in Kiel, Wisconsin. It was interesting. It was hard. My phone had weak signal and no data. The only wifi I could connect to was at the public library. There is no Starbucks, the only chain here is a Dairy Queen, and I spent a lot of time quilting. Things improved when, on the suggestion of a friend in passing, I looked at the town through the lends of True Detective (season 1 only, 2 does not exist). Here are some photos and notes that I took.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20508944261/in/dateposted-public/" title="My Handiwork"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/304/20508944261_81c3d4498f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="My Handiwork"></a></center>
<p>
Walking down a road. On my left there’s a hum on power lines, on the right is the rustling of leaves in the wind. Down the road there is what looks to be an abandoned housing development.
Bird cries and cicadas. The roar of Harelyes and trucks.
<p>
Everyone sees you. They are looking, they are watching, and you will know it. Unlike in San Francisco, where you can walk passed someone a foot away and their eyes will not track you, in Kiel there will be eye contact. And possibly a smile.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19879942834/in/dateposted-public/" title="The Tracks"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/389/19879942834_6ac421f87d_n.jpg" width="320" height="163" alt="The Tracks"></a></center>
<p>
Of course the truck that drove, at speed, down the gravel road had a billowing confederate flag off the back of it. True, there’s some sort of printed text over the flag but... I’m skeptical that it was a statement condemning the flag it crossed.
<p>
There are many discussions about food. What did you eat? What did they eat. Opinions about the quality of food, how filling it was, and how much it cost. Is there really anything else to talk about?
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20315926969/in/dateposted-public/" title="The Marsh"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/551/20315926969_6d0e28806e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Marsh"></a></center>
<p>
The yards are large. Each house has one to five trees on it, and these are not light weight trees. These are testaments to how long this neighborhood has stood. These old houses’ architecture harkens back to German architecture, houses built by folks to remind them of where they came from, lived in by people who will never go there. All of the houses have basements and I am continuously reminded of Silence of the Lambs.
<p>
We’re in the back of a church-run thrift store. It’s a flock of old ladies, ranging in age from old to very old. There’s whispered discussion about how the church is trying to raise four million for a new roof or some such and folks are going to start to go door to door, asking for funds. There’s also the pie stand at the city fair to raise funds. One of the women scowls and mutters under her breath that she’s not going to bring a pie this year. Moments later a lady across the room loudly asks what pie she’s baking this year. “Oh, I don’t know yet...” the first calls back with a smile.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20476395376/in/dateposted-public/" title="Overgrown"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/412/20476395376_527fa963bc_n.jpg" width="267" height="320" alt="Overgrown"></a></center>
<p>
The women fill out nicely here. And then they keep filling in.
<p>
There are signs of breeding everywhere. People aren’t having just one kid and there’s whole jungle gyms being constructed for each brood. Toys litter all doorsteps and yards. The names are listed here on sign-posts in the yard. Custom little wooden slats, presumably hanging in birth order, one under the other. It’s unclear what happens to the dead.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20476389426/in/dateposted-public/" title="A Family of Artists"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/261/20476389426_a3206bb60e.jpg" width="390" height="500" alt="A Family of Artists"></a></center>
<p>
On Wednesday, I started talking aloud to myself.
<p>
Don't get me wrong, it was great to see family. I got a tour of my Uncle's office and saw a picture hanging on the wall, made by my cousin in his youth. My heart warmed to see how fucking creepy it looked. Talking to my blood... forever interesting. My Aunt said something that struck me, something about "that typical Stecker coddling" in regards to making a sport of watching their friend dying of ALS trying to eat. You know, in a friendly way. Sounded very much like something I would say.
<p>
<center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/20315925979/in/dateposted-public/" title="The Scene"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5618/20315925979_9aa2393a91.jpg" width="500" height="243" alt="The Scene"></a></center>
<p>
I found myself walking a lot, to get out of the house, to get away from the TV, to not go mad, to not get mad. On one of my walks I wandered by the Sheboygan river that snakes through town. Giving into a whim, I constructed a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=stick+triangle+true+detective&es_sm=119&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMInNvpj9KixwIVDpaICh0ccwiC&biw=1195&bih=735">hanging stick triangle construction</a>, binding it with just river grass and hanging it from a tree. You know, to reflect my thoughts onto the landscape.
<p>
The towns sprawl until they just sort of peter out for no discernible reason. A thin sort of sprawl. Crawling but uncrowded across the rolling landscape. Panning shots of residential girds bursting with trees. Patchwork fields on the horizon. I am so happy to be flying home.
<center><div style="width:500px;overflow:hidden;height:500px;max-width:100%;"><div id="gmap-canvas" style="height:500px;width:500px;max-width:100%;"><iframe style="height:100%;width:100%;border:0;" frameborder="0" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?q=Kiel,+WI,+United+States&key=AIzaSyAN0om9mFmy1QN6Wf54tXAowK4eT0ZUPrU"></iframe></div><a class="embed-map-html" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.embed-map.com" id="make-map-data">embed-map.com</a><style>#gmap-canvas img{max-width:none!important;background:none!important;font-size: inherit;}</style></div></center>
Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-23110279972427830812015-07-25T00:18:00.000-07:002015-07-25T00:18:13.081-07:00Onto New ThingsSo July 10th was my last day of work at Rdio. I learned a lot during my 2.5 years there and chose to leave for a number of reasons. There's a large number of really awesome people still working there and I wish the best of luck to them. I still plan to use the service and do some side projects with the JS and Android SDKs.
<p>
As a tech worker in the Bay Area I understand I'm extremely privileged and lucky when it comes to employment. Because I have the freedom and security to do so, I've decided to take a couple months off before looking for my next thing. And so today was the end of week two of that horrible phrase which I'll use once and avoid using from here on out: "funemployment"
<p>
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19994282191/in/dateposted-public/" title="Getting out"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3745/19994282191_559516787d.jpg" width="500" height="327" alt="Getting out"></a>
</center>
<p>
I've lots of projects, both in progress and still in the idea stage, that I want to work on. I have years of learning-to-cook to catch up on. I've a basement that still needs to be cleaned/sorted/half thrown out/organized. I've travel and friends and beautiful weather luring me outside. There's so many things to do and I already feel like there's not enough time in the day. At least my previous stint between jobs helped prepare me for that one. I'm not surprised when the end of the day rolls around so soon, but I still grit my teeth and wince.
<p>
A couple key things I'm trying to focus on:
<li>Visit all the public library branches in SF. I'm at 6 of 28 right now.
<li>Try to walk more than 5 miles a day.
<li>Finish piecing/appliqué of quilt so I can start actually quilting it (and taking it with me when I travel).
<li>Wrap head around food/cooking.
<li>Draw more.
<p>
Doing so-so on everything other than the drawing and quilting. Purchased a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008H2OELY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00">dehydrator</a> at the start of week one and have been experimenting with that. Dehydrated mango- insane success. Dehydrated avocado- not so much. Dehydrated rhubarb- iiiiinteresting. Anyway, also hope to blog more in coming weeks. We'll see how it goes.
<center>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19994280881/in/dateposted-public/" title="Slow progress"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3811/19994280881_b51be021c0_n.jpg" width="320" height="306" alt="Slow progress"></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19368079803/in/dateposted-public/" title="Dehydrate all the things!"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/262/19368079803_f3b338e864_m.jpg" width="240" height="220" alt="Dehydrate all the things!"></a></center>Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-19962718487768273552015-06-29T23:03:00.002-07:002015-06-29T23:03:52.535-07:00Things Things Things in JuneThe month has slipped by and I'd kick myself if I didn't post *something* to record the passage of time.
<p>
<b>First half of the month</b>
<p>
The youngest Stecker got married. Who knows, she may be the only one of us to do so.
<center>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/18664515104" title="The Bride by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/410/18664515104_1b3b4b1caa.jpg" width="242" height="500" alt="The Bride"></a><br>
That's <i>Dr. Bride</i>, to you!<br>
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It was nice to have the family rallied up in Washington. The turnout wasn't as good as our cousin's wedding, alas, but that's what you get when marrying on short notice and later in life.
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19290932101" title="Hijinks by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3741/19290932101_1953d63a58_n.jpg" width="320" height="224" alt="Hijinks"></a></center>
We were in Wenatchee, WA (currently on fire) and endured some serious heat wave-ness. I also endured some wine tasting, for the sake of the bride. We also endured each other. In our advanced years we managed to get through a multi-day event without fighting. How adult of us.
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19099390440" title="Photobooths by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/551/19099390440_cc2f54f831.jpg" width="382" height="500" alt="Photobooths"></a></center>
Mother spent a lot of effort wrangling a photo booth for the event, making it clear to me where I get my craftiness from. Other than the blistering heat, the venue was lovely. We got to stay the night before and after there on site in a ridiculous room. (For some reason, while I was not in attendance, it was decided that Adam and I would get the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19286996295/in/dateposted-public/">Bridal Suite</a>)
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19100883419" title="Posh by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/272/19100883419_699303d712.jpg" width="500" height="306" alt="Posh"></a></center>
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<b>Second half of the month</b>
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Another <a href="http://code-n-crafts.blogspot.com/p/4th-terminus.html">4th Terminus</a> session finally happened again. And it was breathtaking. Like... I couldn't breath. Because I was laughing so hard. So so so good. But how can I not delight in a session dedicated entirely to my character?
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19099389690" title="4th Terminus!! by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/360/19099389690_1545ee236a_n.jpg" width="320" height="201" alt="4th Terminus!!"></a></center>
Adam and I went back up for <a href="http://westpointinn.com/activities/">Mt Tam Pancakes</a>, which alas remains a car-based hike. For the first time we tackled the Beach to Inn and Back Again loop, hitting up a new portion of the trail this time.
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19100880349" title="Such Hill. Such Fog. by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/425/19100880349_f69f519f24_n.jpg" width="320" height="240" alt="Such Hill. Such Fog."></a></center>
Highly recommend it- too bad it's nameless. We literal came out of the trees, left the (main) trail, and stomped straight up to the peek. An intense ascent- would not have been possible if I hadn't gifted Adam some hiking sticks that morning. Everything was made better by the rolling high fog of the morning.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19099382440" title="Delight of the Hike by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3818/19099382440_8702bf4316_n.jpg" width="320" height="209" alt="Delight of the Hike"></a></center>
Pancakes were tasty as ever. Adam always regrets not bringing real syrup but personally I was raised on the artificial stuff and it brings back fond memories. After a 5 mile hike, who cares about the quality of sugar you're putting atop your pancakes?
<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/19099381380" title="End of the Hike by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/280/19099381380_ea2aac421b_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="End of the Hike"></a></center>
Another 5 miles later and we were back at the beach.
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And now June is (almost) over. I am certain July will be even better, but more on that later...
Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-74975783134501333012015-05-24T21:02:00.002-07:002015-05-24T21:02:41.853-07:00Public Transportation Hike : PacificaThis post is not about coding or crafting. But an important part of coding is NOT coding. And one of the best best ways to not code is to hike.
<p>
Enjoyed another wonderful Public Transportation hike this weekend. We caught a BART down to the Daily City station and then caught the SamTrans 110 bus down to Pacifica. The connections went well there and back, but be aware the 110 runs <b>once every 1.5 hours</b>. But don't let that spook you. This hike was refreshing, interesting, and totally worth the time.
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/17877185510" title="Our Navigator by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7756/17877185510_a96df5a39c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Our Navigator"></a></center>
<p>
We started off by heading up the Sweeny Ridge Trail. Finding it from the bus stop was easy enough. The first 1.2 miles was some steady incline, but since we were in Pacifica we were blanketed in fog the entire time and never once got too warm. It's questionable if we ever were really warm at any point during the trip. There was definitely apprehension as we watched the fog out the bus windows during the approach. We've had some disastrous hikes in the past... thankfully Adam convinced me to wear not just a thermal top for the hike but also my thermal leggings under my skirt. It would have not hurt to have brought another layer... and a hat... and my own gloves (I wound up stealing Adam's)
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/17442272864" title="You Don't Understand by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7657/17442272864_24a2284476.jpg" width="500" height="229" alt="You Don't Understand"></a></center>
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Have you seen the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079944/">Stalker</a>? It's a terrible film, don't bother if you haven't, but there is some striking imagery in it of foggy landscapes. That's what this hike looked like. We were quickly swallowed up by fog and the world stopped existing beyond the small spot we occupied. The trail was a constant surprise because it twisted into trees or behind shrubs and then out of existence. Sounds were muted, everything was covered in dew, and Adam's hair and beard quickly got soaked. (My braid was too dense we think to hold the dew). At one point we were wearing sunglasses to keep the fog from our eyes and had to repeatedly take them off to wipe clean.
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<center>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/17444357243" title="Life In Ruins by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7685/17444357243_f96765181a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Life In Ruins"></a>
</center>
<p>
We eventually stumbled across a Nike missile site that had been abandoned.
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<center>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/18038390986" title="Ruins In Life by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5450/18038390986_f9365c9c30_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Ruins In Life"></a>
</center>
<p>
The site was at the peak of the hill we think- there was wind there at least. But still fog. After that we started to decent and eventually could see the coast. A little. Here the trail gets a little iffy. In theory there's a much more leg-friendly trail down to the church by the freeway... but we got turned around and took the mountain biker path. Insanely steep trails, loose rock, poor footing. Luckily it didn't last too long.
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<center>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/18061556672" title="The World Went Away by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7755/18061556672_2b84c5f7be.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The World Went Away"></a>
</center>
<p>
Popping out onto Highway 1 again, next to the church, we were <b>DELIGHTED</b> to see <a href="http://www.loveysteashoppe.com/">Lovey's Tea Shoppe</a> right there, across the road! That's not a typo-- while it is related to (and shares the exact same menu with) SF's Lovejoy's, its name is Lovey's. Adam and I were able to slip into the communal table no problem and had us a pair High Teas.
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/17876946368" title="The Bounty by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8771/17876946368_d69c250389.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Bounty"></a></center>
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Given that the bus comes <b>once every 1.5 hours</b> we had "just" missed one by 15 minutes, and the Colma BART bound 112 wasn't any more convenient. That's fine, there was still the final portion of the hike-- Mori Point. It winds right along the coast cliff and was absolutely bursting with wildflowers. An excellent way to wind down a hike and aid in a little digestion.
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<center>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/18061536522" title="Ending well by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5324/18061536522_b7cd3b5c94.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Ending well"></a>
</center>
After strolling along between the beach and a golf course, we reached the bus stop with a comfortable 10 minutes to spare. Our BART connection was another 8 minutes. And then we were home.
<p>
All in all, an excellent hike and an excellent lunch. <a href="http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6618409">GMap-Pedometer</a> puts it at an easy 7.1 miles. Check out the link for the exact route taken. Google Maps doesn't quite let us capture it (it refuses to acknowledge the path down to the highway) so here's <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Hwy+1+%26+Westport+Dr/37.6129674,-122.4587541/37.6028728,-122.4601966/37.6070284,-122.4827152/@37.6122928,-122.4755786,15z/data=!4m11!4m10!1m5!1m1!1s0x808f7a5dcbf66897:0x7847ce043eb2ba2b!2m2!1d-122.48528!2d37.62045!1m0!1m0!1m0!3e2">the first portion</a> & <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.6095401,-122.4930283/Lovey's+Tea+Shoppe/37.6159468,-122.4962445/Oceana+Blvd+%26+Brighton+Rd,+Pacifica,+CA/@37.6195059,-122.4915165,15z/data=!4m16!4m15!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0x430710a2585f4bcd!2m2!1d-122.494655!2d37.60939!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x808f7a56898e80fd:0x47bfb0d9c0bd8063!2m2!1d-122.4890606!2d37.6305989!3e2">the second portion</a>.
<p>
Looking forward to trying it again (perhaps following Sweeny Ridge trail a bit further)Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-1364661193963384332015-04-21T23:20:00.000-07:002015-04-21T23:20:49.038-07:00Winning and GamingLife goes on, like it does. Things continue to be reasonably well. I am sad that I failed to post something in March. We visited Hawaii, it was nice, hopefully photos will make their way online at some point.
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<center><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/17205132456" title="Custom Game Pieces by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7679/17205132456_439865a897_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" alt="Custom Game Pieces"></a></center>
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I've had some minor successes here and there recently that please me. While camping at the start of the month I was Mistress of the Campfire and managed to start several fires (in the fire pit) with one match each. This makes me proud. In the last seven months I've managed to lose 10 pounds and am only about 3 away from my randomly-chosen target. In that same time frame I've gone off the pill, and despite initial fear/uncertainty stayed off of it. While I struggle with Feelings, less reliable biology, more Feelings, and whatnot I think being free of it has improved a lot of things in life. When I ask Adam if he's noticed any change his immediate response is "You want to draw all the time."
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At work I've been more assertive and involved in more external facing stuff. On a recent call the folks on the other side of the line said something along the lines of my introduction being the best they've ever heard and they were happy/excited to work with me. I continue to "Make an Impression" on people. It helps that I finally feel like the non-engineers I'm working with respect me. While my hatred and loathing of Python blossoms by the day, I've been able to carve out work for myself in Java and it's a delight.
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<center>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24335877@N06/17043318618" title="Academie : Set 1
by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7584/17043318618_3945b4aa85.jpg" width="500" height="291" alt="Academie : Set 1"></a>
</center>
<p>
On the art side I've had several crafting successes that makes me extremely pleased with myself. The feeling of having an idea, executing on it, and having it not suck is incredibly delightful- and sadly still quite rare. My sketching is still sporadic- I've fallen off the "morning sketch" routine and ache to return to it- but at least I'm sketching sometimes. Tonight at Dr. Sketchy's I finally won again (2nd place) which always makes me happier than it should.
<p>
On the other hand, there's been some gaming. Definitely no winning there. Have been mostly having fun, but so not winning. Except for one game of Pandemic, which was won... but when I think back on it, I'm pretty sure we were cheating...
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Extended 4th Terminus session was fun- there was a map and even some dice rolls! But sadly there was also NPC deaths and damage, despite all efforts. And the party is split. And who knows when we'll ever game together again. The end is nigh.
<p>
<center>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simplysithel/17231079935" title="Custom Game Pieces & Map by Rebecca S., on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7662/17231079935_99754eb259.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Custom Game Pieces & Map"></a>
</center>
<p>
Played my first LARP character this weekend. Burying oneself in costuming does in fact help with nerves! Does not magically help you win however. Upon hearing my character's description, Adam asked if I was worried about being typecast, to which my response was simply :P
<p>
Game of Thrones is a horrible game. It may not displace Caylus as Worst Game (since Caylus has fundamentally broken gameplay in my opinion) but it displaces Power Grid for certain as Most Unpleasant To Play. Will I ever get to play Puerto Rico again? At least Adam and I played a couple hands of Race for the Galaxy and while he (as always) won the 2 of 3 set, I put up a solid fight each round.
<p>
Life goes on, like it does.Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2232406966172617667.post-25221979446912003272015-02-25T09:12:00.000-08:002015-02-25T09:12:21.045-08:00Thems Blogger Rules ChangesJust wanted to post that the upcoming Blogger changes are bullshit and will probably be enough to finally motivate me to find a different service. Blogger is free, so I guess I can't complain. You get what you pay for. But still, there's a lot of artists blogs out there I'm worried about. I don't think my content would get me in trouble, but with fuzzy lines like these, who knows?
<p>
Context: <a href="http://consumerist.com/2015/02/24/google-changes-content-policy-to-prohibit-adult-material-on-blogger-platform-starting-march-23/">Google Changes Content Policy To Prohibit Adult Material On Blogger Platform Starting March 23</a> (<a href="https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/6170671">official post here</a> )
<p>
<blockquote>However, under the new policy Google will continue to allow some nudity, as long as it “offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts.”
</blockquote>
<p>
"Substantial" Oh good, we're going with an undefined individual's opinion here. That's some substantial bullshit right there.
<p>
In other news, patterns are hard. Photoshop makes them a bit easier with the fantastical Offset Filter, but technology can only help you so much. I think I lack some key "randomness" vibes... Also, I think I need to re-draft the pattern with an offset repeat rather than aligned up repeat.
<p>
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<td width=250 height=400 style="background:url(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-tr6ynu43kHg/VO11Yb2Jf4I/AAAAAAAAJ8k/8G6nZWNwOMU/w200-h194-no/gun_block_blues.png);"></td>
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<td width=250 height=400 style="background:url(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/mAEyXY5SmKWTmWp-AsVzGiXjccVqFAWtu70WVlHnAUc=w200-h194-no);"></td>
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<p>
And now to start poking around for other blogging options... Sithel a.k.a. Miss Rebeccahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188293081169090013noreply@blogger.com0