What did I make in a year?

The quest top fill the void with creation.

This is a summery of the things I’ve made both alone and with others over the last 12 months. Rarely do I try to summarize the projects of a year, and I hope to make a tradition of it going forward. Enjoy a glimpse into 2019.

January 6, life drawing with Nicole in Boston, MA – we had missed the official life drawing session the night before and made up for it drawing each other and puppets.

January 7, Design for a chain mail cape with brass panes, this was inspired by lace shawls and chain mail armor

January 8, Ideas for Twin Mask character, Ugol – I was trying to figure out what stats and personality he would have.

January 9, Ideas for Mandalan Coins to give to players as a token during play at Twin Mask

Jan 12, Practice for and setting stones into engagement rings. The flush set rubies didn’t end up working out as they didn’t have enough space in the ring. Much of the last year was learning how to make that work with different sorts of settings.

I also started on a pair of silver ripple earrings,
January 13,
Went out Plein Air painting with a Lyndey in Kennith Han State Recreation Area right before sunset.

January 14,
Hand bound a book in Unryuu paper for Tleyshiy Ugol’, practices writing his phonetic name in runic Mongolian

January 15,
Announced my engagment with Nicole, set emerald in my ring, photo courtesy of Jason.

January 18,
Redesigned one of my older costumes for use at Twin Mask, felt pressured for time.

January 19,
Created a cape for the Twin Mask Yule party, made matching wrapping paper

January 21,
Setup a new industrial steel shelf as a workstation for jewelry, depreciated some shelving given by a friend as they moved to Sweaden.

January 22,
framed money from 2018 Labyrinth Masquerade, failed at framing a promotional magazine.

January 22,
sketch of a quarter skull necklace, practicing calligraphic lettering for Twin Mask

January 23,
Setup flexshaft, created wire rack for calligraphy brushes, started designing Nicole’s wedding ring

January 24,
Created design for Twin Mask character journals, designed ship for Viking Christmas with Jason & Nicole.

January 26,
Created a prototype cover design for the journals in paper.

January 27,
Laser cut the journal design, picked backing velum, patterned custom fabric for character bandanna

January 28,
3d printed horns for the Twin Mask character,

January 29,
Polished rocks and checked out geodes with a friend.

January 30,
hand bound 2 journals for Twin Mask, practiced brush mark making

February 1,
Created leather holster for Journals.

February 3,
Sculpted and attempted to print a 5 dragons emblem for Twin Mask Mandalan fate, printer errors.

February 4,
Roughed out a design for a wedding door/ arch

February 5,
Laser cut Twin Mask coins.

February 6,

Started to assembled jacket for Twin Mask, 3d printed bases on screen mesh.

February 7,

With help from my brother got 2 copies of the emblem printed, painted them and attached the spines to the jacket with Nicole’s help.

February 11-14,

Character sketches/ decompression from Twin Mask.

February 15,

painted character sketch, ideas for a dragon shrine flat pack

February 17,

Harvested Kumquats,

February 18,

Refreshed viking boat design, focused on head / tail for painting up.

February 20,

Revised the resign for the ripple earrings,

February 22,

Added an eaten ‘Eat Me’ sign to office snacks

February 23,

Hiked Insperation Point and colaborated with Jason and Nicole on making a viking ship from cardboard and determination.

February 26

Created an initial design for a friend’s engagement ring. Hung out and played with lasers with another friend.

February 27,

Imagined new Pokemon starter personalities.

February 28,

Drew a killer she ghost attacking a ship for a friend, colored nom-sobble for Nicole

March 1,

Did engagement ring design revisions, got a direction locked in.

March 8,

Designed a pair of Castle Thorn pins for another Twin Mask player, Patrick.

March 11,

Exhausted from jet lag , tried to communicate that through the power of arrrt

March 15,

Cut base for shield pins, measured out the silver required for the design. Helped wrap a gift for a coworker. Got to see a robot art I helped with at VTPro in action.

March 16,

Designed a pair of earring cuffs for my sister, rolled silver for lion pins.

March 17,

Lincoln may of freed the slaved, but who freed Lincoln? It was me. Tried making turkish coffee with a set from Mert, moderate failure, mild success.

March 18,

Majority of lion pin components cut from silver. These are so small. Made some Twin Mask character art to think about what that character would be up to.

March 21,

First lion shield assembled,

March 22.
Pins `finished` and ready for delivery, pained up character art

March 24,
Made some post Twin Mask decompression buddy cop art with my and Jacob’s characters.

March 25,
Did another pass on wedding ring designs.

March 26,
Got a second pin commission, this was a design for a different Twin Mask faction, roughed it in paper.

March 29,

Got a third pin commission, this one for a dragon faction, worked on wedding ring designs. Got pretty close on this one.

April 3,

Tried another design based on a silver piece that Nicole found at the brewery, more variations based on balance of botanical and sharp shapes.

April 4,

Continued to explore and breakdown ring ideas.

April 5,

Tried branching out some, this exploration wasn’t a success.

April 6,
Made mailbox monogram letters for the roomates in brass

April 7,
Mounted mailbox letters on the letter holder with e6000

April 10,
Created some response designs to Nicole’s skull bag designs, sketched a coffin wheel barrow for DnD

April 11,

Designed a bullet tooth vest, figured out the wedding ring center element in fabric.

April 12,

Figured out the design for the wedding ring, and approved.

April 13,

Fabricated second set of pins, life drawing with two models.

April 14,

Finished fabricating the pins and setting the black patina on the silver, made a paper prototype of the dragon shrine frame.

April 15,

Explored some ideas for what I could wear in the thunder dome.

April 16,

Created a rough for the wrestlers of twin mask poster.

April 17,

Completed the wrestlers of Twin Mask poster illustration of Sigurd having his shoe stolen. Thought a bit about the wedding ring design, this exploration wasn’t successful. Also cut the frame for Twin Mask the shrine of the dragon building tag.

April 18,

Added an Alchemical dragons patch from Oakthorn (elise) to my bag, painted a box for the Twin Mask Amalgamation pins

April 19
Made Easter eggs and an Easter egg hunt for Nicole. Set the center stone for Angelique’s Engagement ring.

April 20,
Finished framing the Twin Mask building tag for the dragon shrine, roughed in a design for a temporary back tattoo, played with a dragon scale idea for a ring. Wrapped the Amalgamation pins for delivery at Twin Mask.

April 21,

Sketch a variety of design for the Mandalan Eye Temporary back Tattoo for Twin Mask

April 22,
Explored more radial design elements for the temporary tattoo,

April 23,
Finally after many tried made Turkish coffee that was delightful.

April 25,
Applied the temporary tattoo with Nicole’s help and drew a stack of skulls. The temporary tattoo is tied to a particular costume requirement at Twin Mask and felt like a fun way to fulfill it during the wrestling competition.

April 26,
Made a water bottle holder, packed food for the day and made sure to cheese it.

April 28,

Tried to regrow an oak tree form a cutting, failed

May 2,

Sketched a symbol for the Twin Mask draconic religion.

May 3,

Excitedly setup my new DnD bag from Lauren (Merchant Green Leather)

May 4,

Revived and measured a bracelet needing from Marissa, started designing a pendant for Lainie.

May 5,

Modeled the pendant for Laine, fixed the bracelet for Marissa. Started working on modifying a children’s toy. Started to think about skull and lightning earrings based on a design from Nicole.

May 7,

Set the sapphires in Angelique’s engagement ring

May 8,

For Twin Mask, designed a dragon wing cape as a way to add wings but not bulk to the character design. Started thinking about custom embroidery work.

May 9.

Drew a drink water don’t die illustration for Seraphina another Twin Mask player.

May 10,

Made a hand bound journal for Jacob’s character Solivaire using tome river paper.

May 13,

Plotted fabricating currency as a business fae in Twin Mask, also borrowed up some books about fabric and Chinese costumes.

May 14,

Explored some ideas for summer Twin Mask costumes.

May 16,
Explored more summer costume ideas for Twin Mask, keeping a dragon theme.

May 17,

Helped a little with some early Burning Man art testing and ideation.

May 18,
Collaborated with Nicole to tailor our clothing before going out to a gallery show.

May 21,
3d printed Thelema arrived, added a black patina.

May 22,
Finished the patina on the thelema, got a few dawn photographs

May 23,
Made cheese tea with Nicole.

May 24,

Made a saucy guy from extra lunch noodles.

May 25,

Designed wedding outfits inspired by the Gui Pei exhibition with Nicole,

May 26,

Made Schneballen for the work crew.

May 27,

Made tiny swords with stingray skin handles for Patrick, ended up too sharp. Bound the silver dragon journal for Jacob, fixed a ring for Zeynep

May 29,

Tested tiny sword, discovered they were too sharp.

May 30,

Finished modifying children’s toy, glamor shots of silver dragon journal.

May 31,

Tested running the toy from an external battery. Mocked up a wheel of cheese.

June 1,

Made cheese tea with Nicole, moved lens to new glasses frame.

June 2,

Drew an armed cow for DnD, explored the land of cheese in Milkfarm.

June 5,

Created #Chosen medal design for viking Christmas, handed off Nicole’s larp shield for painting

June 8,

Created jackfruit curry, helped setup for Extreme Passover with roomates, wrote a will for my Twin Mask character. Carved a horseradish.

June 9,

Cut the skull and lighting earrings, formed `brass` hair pins.

June 10,

maaaybe broke someone’s rib from hugging too tight, turned out to just be a muscle spasm.

June 13,

Explored alternative wallet designs.

June 16,

Made a minimalist version of the wallet for Jacob to use at Twin Mask,

June 17,

Wedding centerpiece design ideas and painted an emblam on the silver dragon wallet.

June 18,

Just ducking around with some puns,

June 19,

Tried to laser cut a design for Lauren. Didn’t work out, material warped and over heated, didn’t cut all the way through.

June 22,

Finished up the skull and lighting earrings, made my self a pocket journal tried to solve some fo the issues that had come up with previous ones. Added fabric as the cover so it would be more durable.

June 23,

Weapon making party for Deathguild

June 24,

Picked wedding colors with Nicole,

June 26,

Made lemon fruit butter,

June 30,

Fabricated tiny silver swords for Patrick, first attempted to adhere them with JBweld, this failed.

July 1,

The illustration that I ran across at the end of the year and reminded me to make this retrospective.

July 2,

Soldered the swords into place, pickling them coated the swords in copper. Spent time with Metal laser cutting dragon spray paint masks.

July 3,

Changed my tire on the side of the 405, materials for wasteland. Cleaned up the plating on the swords.

July 4,

My cheese wheel has arrived, dry habanero jack cheese for almost 8lbs.

July 5,
Cheese portioned and packaged for a good laugh. Custom engraved pens arrive.

July 6,

Cooler full of water baloons to cull the weak and stave off heat stroke for Twin Mask staff.

July 7,

Only half the cheese remains, the rest sacrificed to dark gods (larp players)

July 10,

Made a chainmaile necklace from square copper links to replace a lost one.

July 13,

Designed Valknut earrings for Ali

July 14,

Created earring cuff for my sister, portioned a pound of cheese for a pound of flesh(ham).

July 16,

Fabricated second cuff, traded cheese for hammon for Nicole,

July 17,

Finished earring cuffs for my sister,

July 18,
Current stress level many gum wrappers.

July 20,
Make great use of delightful sculpture at zBrush booth

July 22,
Got commissioned to make a few more necklaces.

July 23,

The first wave of Duck prosciutto and more chain necklace work.

July 24,

Continuing to work on chain necklaces. Current stress level, knife failure.

July 25,

Finished 2 of the chain necklaces,

July 27,
Create a third necklace in titanium, surprisingly light.
July 28,
Create a new chainmaile necklace for me mixing titanium, copper, and jade.

July 29,
Patina my metal DnD dice and start planning to frame prints from Kaitlund. Reminded that shopping in Michals is like stepping into purgatory.

August 2,

Deck out my hoodie in runes from Doom 2016

August 3,

Add pins to my book bag, more dragons to watch over my adventures.

August 6,

Rough out wedding ring design for Nicole in Blender,

August 8,

Paint postcard of the view from my adventures. Took notes of geological features. Made a design for a hanged man tarot card for Twin Mask.

August 9,

Came up with an earring design inspired by snails on rocks.

August 14,

Printed a prototype of the Hanged Man tarot card.

August 18,

Attached patches to Death guild vest for Burning Man

August 19,

Used a coffin patch to make a pocket on a second vest.

August 20,

Made two Burning Man rings for Nicole and me so our engagement rings wouldn’t be damaged. Patterning inspired by the snail rocks.

August 21,

Flush set rubies in both rings.

August 22,

Added an el wire coffin on the back of the second vest for night visibility.

September 8,

Made a coin necklace as a character accessory for a yoga mage in the Witching Hour larp

September 14, customized a shirt for Witching Hour larp character.

Sept 16,

Did some exploration sketched for DeathGuild Patches.

September 17,

Continued patch design exploration, figured some skeleton hands could be rad.

September 18,

Drew Sir fetched in his three key modes,

September 19,

Brought doughnuts for the office, no cookies here. Frames the dragon prints from Kaitlund.

September 20,

Explored some design ideas for a geode ring

Sept 21,

Explored some ideas for wedding outfit design and props.

September 22,

Made some quick and dirty earrings to explore working with brass and hammering.

September 23,

Made a bone crown hat for Wasteland Weekend.

September 26,

Helped run the Thunderdome at Wasteland

Oct 2,

Melted down a ring made of South African gold to make a pair of new rings.

October 5,

Formed the two rings from one,

October 6,

Finished a high polish pass on both rings.

October 8,

Shipped Elise a box of skulls with a note written on black paper in black with black paint.

October 10,

Tried to do Kintsugi on a bracelet for a friend, broke again later.

October 16,

Sketched an idea for wedding table center pieces.

October 17,

Added a patina and oiled up engraved pens.

October 19, Got the patina onto other pens

October 20,

Received a commission request for a coin necklaces

October 26,

Glued 30-50 adorable hogs onto a shirt for Halloween. I learned a lot about how poorly people respect boundaries and personal space.

Oct 27,

Handmade noodles for dinner.

October 29,

Added flower salamander sticker to my headphones.

October 31,
Added some temporary spooky eyes to sculptures around work.

November 1,

Upped the voltage on one of the sculptures that still had glowing eyes after the weekend.

November 9,

Helped Nicole and conscripted some friends for a dragon dance.

November 16,

Setup an engraver for stone setting. Did some practice on scrap brass.

November 17,

Added lights to the bedroom ceiling, required some light custom wiring.

November 21,

Considered setting up a shared workspace in midcity, opted out for safety reasons. Made a chicken balotine with Nicole.
.

November 22,

Took apart my desk lamp to understand how it works.

November 25,

Started work on a set of silver coated brass pendants for Jacob’s character Solivaire.

November 26,

Got the first pendant cut.

November 27,
Handmade Dan Dan noodles for work’s thanks giving party, noodle machine because I’m tired okay?

November 28,
The pendant collection is growing, all of them are cut and pierced, and some have the insides cut as well. Also balontine two game hens each with Nicole for Thanksgiving.

November 30,
cutting more pendants, almost through all 10. Started researching refining panned gold ore into bars.

December 1,

Practiced flush setting 4x2mm sapphires for the pendants. Went out as wizards with Nicole

December 5,

Roughed out wedding cape design.

December 7,

Figured out how to flush set sapphires, got one set.

December 8,

Set the remaining pendants with sapphires.

December 13,
Make a minimalist collar pin in brass. It’s a quick 30 minute proof of concept.

December 14,
Set wedding rings. All the practice on the pendants really paid off.

December 17,
Make a paper craft inspired figure for a work white elephant.

December 18,
Create a treasure chest to hold the figure.

December 20,
Make 64 Dan Dan style green deviled eggs for Krista’s birthday

December 21,
Cookie decorating and some cape roughs.

December 22,
Made a chartreuse plate, guest turned out to be vegan.

December 24,
Made Korean Galbi style ribs,

December 25,

Collaborated with Nicole to make gingerbread cookies with a recipe from a coworker. A+ cookies.

December 28,
Made some basic bread from fresh milled winter wheat and blue corn.

There are more things,
I’ve things which are still secrets,
There are things that didn’t make the it in my photo collection, and as such are missed in this.

Every day is full of so much,
it is really hard to keep track of how much we grow and change in a single year.

The everyday routine dulls that feeling of growth sometimes. When I’m sitting somewhere quiet it gets hard to recall what I’m capable of. Is it Anything? Nothing? I’m never sure, but I keep trying. I just feel the looming darkness of the void nipping at my mind. This retrospective over 2019 is an interesting trip down memory lane for me.

If you have questions about any of the projects please feel free to reach out.

I’m happy to share what I’ve learned and teach anyone who wants to learn.

Peace,

Love,

Entropy,

Toli