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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S4 Ep1 Part 1: Yugi Ditches Algebra, Cards Become Real

Ah, a new season a new day. It’s Season 4. And we’re going to start of with:

A deep sea sub. Sure, why not?

So Yugi’s unofficial other grandpa, Arthur Hawkins, AKA one of the member’s of this show’s only really happening OTP has decided to kinda ditch his Granddaughter Rebecca and go to the bottom of the ocean. Don’t blame him. Down here is where, I guess, he will come across this very Grecian looking structure.

Like Yugioh nonchalantly passes a lot of bad history at me but like...he’s in the Atlantic Ocean and there’s Grecian style stuff everywhere?

Why? I mean at least he’s not in the Pacific but like...Yugioh. Anyways, we’re not in Greece but the show had very little time to invent a brand new ancient architecture style although I would be super down for that.

But like...here’s the thing about columns--you can go really deep into column lore and people are really freakin picky about columns and what they mean, and this could have been a low key hilarious place to make an entirely new column order just for Yugioh. They could’ve done it and they decided not to. It’s OK, I’ll save it for the Marik’s Boat Time spinoff they’ll never ever make.

But I just want to bring up just real super fast that Noah and Gozaburo must’ve known about this place for years right? Like they super lived underwater and had robots poised to attack mankind stationed all over the sea floor so...we can pretty much guarantee they already knew about this place?

Just gonna bring up what a shame it is Noah freakin died.

Also want to bring up what a shame it was that Arthur didn’t show up at the beginning of S3 and be like “hey Yugi, I was just in the neighborhood, noticed you got picked up by an undersea gang, what’s up?”

(read more under the cut)

Anyway, there he is, our 70 yo adventurer, who has more energy than I have at under half his age. Arthur Hawkins needs to take it down a few pegs.

Or is it Hawkings?

Wtv.

Anyways, I gave Hawkins this tweed colored font that I just realized is nearly the same as Joey’s so it’ll change if he ever comes back.

Thanks for that prologue, Yugioh. Anyway, apparently no one on this side of Japan freakin cares, because despite finding what looks exactly like Godzilla’s lair on the bottom of the sea, we’re gonna instead fixate on Rex and Weevil.

Y’all I was going to make a joke about “why does this show fixate so much on Rex and Weevil at the beginning of so many arcs?” when I remembered that Bakura basically murdered all the other mean mini bosses from S1 except for Bandit Keith, who probably got deported by now.

I had to think long and hard just now about whether or not I’ve used that joke before because it is S4 and y’all I just don’t even remember.

(I have a very long story about Warby Parker that I just deleted fyi)

Rex is a Christmas plaid now because there are too many characters in this show.

Now that Rex and Weevil have been reunited, which is surprising because I just assumed these two have been Bert and Ernie-ing it up in some condo in the NYC, They say:

I almost forgot about the secret side-plot of Yugioh, that everyone is a cheese monger and very open about it.

So anyway, they’re off to have a very simple storyline of “I will try and Challenge Yugi Muto for God Cards” which...good luck with that, it only took 2 seasons for Yugi to finally accept his challenge from Seto Kaiba. Have fun following around Yugi Muto for 2 seasons.

When there’s a...really bizarre twist that happens. Just a very weird turn of events. Like recall that it’s the middle of the day, and the sun is shining, and there’s people and cars everywhere, and it’s a good neighborhood, and then, like playing Pokemon in tall grass, this guy just appears in front of them.

And guys, I’m from the Bay Area and I have slipped and fallen right on top of my phone on Fillmore which was DEVASTATING so like...their unstoppable speed walk down this 12 degree slope is...

I think they wanted to run into them, I really think they did. I think people in this town are so desperate for any excuse to fall into a horrifying disaster that they are just magnetically attracted to anyone wearing an oversized blanket.

Also this guy’s look is...kind of forgettable. It’s somehow weird and also forgettable at the same time. Hit that sweet spot for me. I don’t even remember this guy’s name, it was so forgettable. I’ll look it up later. Maybe bro will do it. I dunno. He wears a Monocle so like...that’s all I can say about this guy.

OK so I just checked in with Bro and then Bro made a weird rant about this guy being called Gurimo and how bro had some strong opinions about Season 4. Then Bro said a statement that really stuck with me, although I only remember part of the statement which was: “...this guy can just go get more monocles from Forever 21 and Hot Topic...” which made me very quickly realize my adult brother has never entered either a Forever 21 or a Hot Topic if he thinks a cultist in a monocle would purchase monocles from there.

I learned a lot and now you have to know this too.

And in case you’re wondering “did Rex and Weevil deserve this?” No. He just immediately decided to steal their soul on the sidewalk in front of Women’s Foot Locker from what I assume is just down the street from Yugi Muto’s house/game shop.

(how did this storyboarder nail the 3/4 degree angle on Weevil here? Do you know how hard that is to do with not just glasses but weird ass chunky glasses?)

Ah, a duel disk that can stab yourself in the stomach with two very poorly laid out barbs.

Very nice rival to Kaiba’s duel disk that will behead you if you don’t fling your arm out just right.

So like...did he steal a duel disk from Kaiba and then mod it? Is that what they did? The whole point of duel disks is that you’re linked up to the Dueling Facebook or whatever...so did this Cultist buy a normal duel disk from Toy’s R Us and then say “ahahah I’m going to do so much card crime!” and then start modding it with help of a cosplay forum? Like what’s the story here of how this guy spent all of last year (and definitely all of last season) modding this duel disk over a computer desk, some metallic acrylic paint, and a sauntering iron, feverishly asking his forum if anyone can 3d print some sick ass runes for his soul-sucking duel disk?

And then I guess this guy dueled both Rex and Weevil at the same time? Like this was all off screen...but why didn’t Rex and Weevil just leave? Just don’t pull out your duel disk and you’re probably good?

Just so many ways to have avoided losing your soul in the first ten minutes of Yugioh.

Anyway, on the other side of town, Tea is worrying about Yugi which is basically her normal.

Joey and Tristan decided to meet up with her, not because she was clearly in distress, but because Yugi isn’t around, and why worry about Tea when instead your friend Yugi is probably going to destroy the world the moment you turn around (and he did. Yugi absolutely effed everything up the very moment these three took their eyes off of him)

And what was weird is that it took Yugi until, I dunno...several streets over to kind of come out of the ether and be like “heeey Pharaoh...um...what’s up?” Like it took him this long to say something. Probably so that by the time they would have walked back to school math would have been over.

So...did Yugi just not notice at first? Like it’s sort of amazing what these two don’t know what the other one is up to. Including this situation that little Yugi absolutely should have picked up on.

As it turns out, the cards are speaking very audibly to Pharaoh. This should have been somewhat of a...youknow...red flag...since Yugi can’t hear them but Pharaoh can. But, Yugi’s like “well...we’re so used to everyone just giving us the answer and that being the right call, I guess this must also be the right call.”

And...although he had quite the head start, These three are more than willing to drop the hell out of class and rack up those absences. I’m gonna assume they had to make up another wild excuse about Tea’s cat to that one teacher to get out of school just like last time, but they did all that offscreen.

And then Tea just kind of snapped, and she did so with a smile the entire time.

Her wording was somewhat different, but she did basically say something along the lines of “if you don’t remember me telling you this a million times, you are an idiot” and Pharaoh didn’t have an answer and so it was like he said without saying anything “yes, I am.”

Which he will further prove like five minutes from now.

Like Y’all, bless his cursed perfect ass, but Pharaoh is the biggest idiot in this show. Sometimes he’s brilliant, but if he’s ever left to his own devices, just the biggest idiot. He got duped by some guy pretending to throw his voice so that his cards looked like they were talking to him. Pharaoh thought cards can talk.

And so that’s how Pharaoh freakin caused the Apocalypse. The first of many.

He did so just so very easily.

His cards started wigging out, the tablet started icing over--it was like “hey remember what took 2 seasons to build up to? Well screw it.”

Also this happened, apropos of absolutely nothing.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand cards are real.

I mean they’ve been real for a few seasons but now the cards are officially real and they’re not cute like Pokemon. They’re all really gross and roided out and they probably have a funky smell. All of them.

I knew we’d get here eventually I just didn’t know it would be SO fast.

When no one was paying absolutely any attention--when my entire focus was inside of this museum, that was when cards became real.

Well...

...time to shove em into little balls I guess. Anyways, that’s it for this update because this episode was a lot of stuff so I’m gonna split it so y’all have it easier and so I have it easier too.

And if you just got there this is S4, if you want to start reading these from S1, here’s a link to the collection in chrono order, it’s basically like reading a Victor Hugo length of book except its just me ranting about WTF is going on in OG Yugioh for 100+ episodes, knock yourself out.

#Yugioh #ygo #recap #photo recap #episode recap #S4 #S4 Ep1 #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Tea Gardner #Arthur Hawkins #Rex Raptor #Weevil underwood #I can't believe I remember both of those dummies' last names #Gurimo #a single monocle

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oldschoolgaming · 5 years

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Gary Con XI

Last year’s trip to Gary Con was supposed to be a one off, a ‘Trip of Lifetime’ but as you might have read in last year’s blog post it was an experience I was keen to repeat. I worked hard, I saved my pennies and with the support of my ever amazing (& non gaming) wife I planned a return trip to Lake Geneva.

Sadly my good friend and travel buddy Isa couldn’t join me on this year’s trip so I traveled to Chicago on my own, this time on a direct flight from London.

I’d planned to arrive a day early to allow my body clock time to adjust. Asking around about sharing transport from O’Hare to Lake Geneva I got a message from a friend I’d met at last year’s convention. Jason Hobbs was kind enough to bring his trip forward a day, picking me up from the airport and driving up to our B&B in Lake Geneva. We made plans to head over to Madison and meet Alex Kammer, another acquaintance from last year’s event. Alex runs Gamehole Con, another Wisconsin gaming convention held in the autumn. He is also a big collector of old school D&D books and memorabilia We were able to check out his amazing collection, housed in a custom gaming space he calls ‘The Gamehole’

The Gamehole

This is a 1st printing of the 1st Edition AD&D Monster Manual, signed by Gary Gygax.

As well as books Alex also has some unique artifacts. This is the original map of the Forgotten Realms, used to define what is now the default setting for Dungeons and Dragons today.

The exceptionally rare English module ST1 ‘Up The Garden Path’

Me, with a rare first printing of Chainmail, the ruleset written by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Chainmail preceded Dungeons and Dragons and was intended to be used in the original edition of D&D to resolve combat. The system we use today for D&D combat has evolved from what was originally intended to be the ‘alternate’ rules for folk who didn’t own a copy of Chainmail!

We got back to our B&B around 10pm, but my body clock wasn’t fooled, it knew it should be 4am and I’m sure I entertained Hobbs with some pretty hard core snoring on the drive back!

Now I’m a believer that if you do something twice it becomes a tradition so on Wednesday we met up with Bruce Heard for our now traditional pre Gary Con lunch, at the ‘Next Door Pub’ Bruce is always good company and it was great to catch up with him. I was pleased to hear his latest ‘Calidar’ product is taking shape, I’m excited to receive my copy from the Kickstarter later this year.

After lunch we headed off to the Geneva Grand Resort, home of the convention to pick up our badges and get settled in.

We arrived a little early so I had a short wait before my room was ready. It was while I waited in the bar watching people arrive that I started to realise that this trip really was going to be at least as magical as the previous year. You see, the magic of Gary Con, for me at least, is the people. Having just picked up my badge and not even rolled a single dice I was happy so see more friends arrive. Much hugging and laughing ensued, setting the standard for the days to come.

On Wednesday evening I ticked off ‘Dawn Patrol’ from my ‘want to play’ bucket list. Michael Bolam facilitated an awesome intro game for a bunch of newbies and despite rolling badly (winning initiative is a bad start in this game!) I survived my first game and even got my first ‘kill’

After the game I had time for a couple of beers in the bar, catching up with friends old and new before getting an early night (well, midnight?) ready to start the gaming the next day.

On Thursday morning I ran my first game of Dungeon Crawl Classics (The 13th Skull) for a great table of players, most of whom had some experience of the system. I felt like it took me a couple of hours to hit my GMing stride but the pace accelerated pretty quickly. The party making good progress until my dice suddenly ran hot and we finished with a TPK!

My afternoon game was the session I was most anxious about. I was running my own adventure for ‘The Umerican Survival Guide’ and I whilst the table was full of familiar faces I was nervous running for so many creative folk! I think it went down ok, we certainly laughed a lot and I’ve got some ideas to tweak the adventure before I run it next at the UK Games Expo.

Thursday evening was another great social night, both in the hotel bar and at the party I was invited to by my roommate.

It was great to have a few minutes with Luke Gygax. Luke is the driving force behind the convention and Gary Con is a fantastic tribute to his dad. I’m sure Gary would be happy to see thousands of people gathering to play games in his memory.

“I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.”

Gary Gygax

I also got to chat and hang out with bunch of other well know D&D faces.

Satine Phoenix

Stefan Pokorny, aka ‘The Dwarvenaught’

with Jon Peterson (”Art & Arcana” & “Playing At The World”) and Mike Carr (”Dawn Patrol” and “In Search Of The Unknown” for D&D, amongst others!)

Whilst it’s great to see the new wave of D&D ‘Rock Stars’ promoting the hobby I think chatting with Mike Carr and him shaking my hand to congratulate me on my first ‘Dawn Patrol’ kill the previous night was a highlight of the convention!

Back in the bar I met up with more of the tribe, including Tom Tullis of Fat Dragon Games who produces the amazing 3D printable minis and scenery I use in a lot of my games at home.

Friday was my Birthday. I started an epic day of gaming running Operation Whitebox, a World War 2 RPG by Pete Spahn. It was really good to finally meet Pete and once again he had generously donated copies of the rulebook to all my players. He stopped by during the game to sign books and hang out. I had a great table of friends new and old who worked well together to complete their dangerous mission behind enemy lines with only two casualties!

I ran straight from my own game to sit at Stephen Newton’s table for his DCC adventure. Stephen’s a great judge and I was pleased to be back at his table this year. This was a completely new adventure to me and I was playing with a great bunch of players with a wide age range, kids through to adult. I’ve had some really great experiences playing at mixed tables with kids recently and this game was no exception!

After this game Stephen and I headed off to the next game, we were both playing in ‘Blacklisted in Lankhmar’ run by Jen Brinkman.

This was my first time playing with Jen and I was excited to grab a spot in this game at almost the last minute. Normally coming to the end of 12 hours of gaming my mind and attention would be wandering but Jen is a captivating judge, and DCC Lankhmar is a lot of fun - a great game perfectly reworked to fit this classic setting from the works of Fritz Leiber

I was planning a couple of quiet birthday beers before another early(ish) night - but it was not to be! I certainly wasn’t expecting to have the a couple of hundred people in the bar singing happy birthday before I was presented with this amazing cake by friends Dave and Kathy. I may have been a little drunk and emotional that night!

Saturday Morning’s game was my Dark Trails funnel adventure.

I squeezed a couple of extra players around the table for this and although I’ve added to it since it’s first outing at the UK Games Expo it’s clear I still have some work to do, but I think everyone had fun.

One of the extra players was a fellow twitch mini painter, Ali, it so good to meet her and take delivery of the minis she had painted for me!

Saturday afternoon I found Carl Heyl’s drop in/drop out Basic D&D game. Carl is the current host of long time Classic D&D podcast Save Or Die and I loved sitting in on his game for a little while.

I had to keep my time in Carl’s game short because I’d signed up to play at 5pm in a ‘Super Secret Playtest’ with Michael Curtis.

By the time I sat down the secret was ‘out’ and I was excited to find I’d be taking part in the first public play test of Goodman Games 5th Edition conversion of the classic module ‘Expedition to the Barrier Peaks’ This game was a lot of fun on so many levels. I was out of my comfort zone playing a Bard and in 5th Edition D&D too! However we had an absolute blast playing through some fun encounters and it ticked several things off my bucket list.

Playing with Michael Curtis had been a long standing ambition - he didn’t disappoint, even when he teased me with “Do you want to burn any luck? Oh, sorry, wrong system!” It was also cool to play a classic Gygax module at Gary Con!

Saturday night was another party night. After my game I met some more friends in the bar. Alex, Zach and Greg seemed to have been gaming non stop all weekend but we made time to hang out and enjoy a couple of ‘Old Fashioned’s before the unofficial ‘Cultural Exchange’ social night.

With Jen and my roommate Jobe Bitmann

with Jim and Hayley Skatch

I did it! Last year I failed to get all the Spellburn podcast folk together in a picture but here’s proof it can happen without incurring a Phlogiston disturbance!

The cultural exchange ran on and I enjoyed sampling and sharing local beer and food with friends, although the handful of Wisconsin cheese with Ghost peppers that I inadvertently almost inhaled nearly choked me!

As the unofficial event wound down in the early hours I noticed the bar filling up and managed to grab a couple more photos with the celebs.

Joe Manganiello - my wife is a big fan, clearly she’s just into guys who like D&D, right?

Matt Mercer came across as a really nice guy, clearly really passionate about the hobby.

Sunday arrived with even less sleep than previous days but I was able to grab a quick breakfast bite and a chat with my buddy Victor as we walked down to our morning game.

I ran my Red Box D&D adventure ‘Return To Lion Castle’ which is a tribute to the first D&D adventure I ever played. I only had three players - I’m assuming the other three who signed up were more hungover than me, which is quite an achievment! We still had a lot of fun and I hope to run this one again soon.

In the afternoon I sat down with Jen, Bob, Nick and Marlene for lunch. This is the second year Jen and I have had lunch on the Sunday so I’m calling this a new tradition too!

Speaking of traditions another one that I’m pleased to be part of was my last game of the convention. Bob Brinkman’s ‘Dead Dogs’ game ran past midnight. Bob once again did a fantastic job guiding a very full table of twenty (!) players through an amazing improv pirate themed DCC adventure! I laughed so much I almost cried. When I eventually had to hug everyone goodbye and walk back to my room I might actually have done so...

I checked out of the hotel on Monday and had good company for the day having been offered a ride back to Chicago with Doug, Stefan and co, the DCC art contingent. We had a great pub lunch and checked out the Chicago Art Institute before I took the obligatory selfies at ‘The Bean’

I caught my late flight home and Gary Con was over for another year

The memories live on and with a little bit of luck (and some hard work!) I hope to be back next year.

#garycon #garyconxi #gaming #rpg #tabletop #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #osr

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ratralsis · 4 years

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Let’s wrap up this orc story. There isn’t actually too much more to tell, at least, not by my own reckoning. Certainly, there will be fewer images.

So, last time, I realized that I just wasn’t going to find the figure that I wanted to find out there on the internet. Anywhere. It didn’t exist in the world, at least, not one that was for sale.

What if I made one?

Remember, there were a few 3D models I could find out there, which could be used in a 3D printer to print your own minis. Looking around, I found some people talking about using their printers to scale up their minis to make them go from 28 to 32mm. And one other thing I noticed pretty quickly on Etsy was the sheer number of people trying to sell this mini of Yagraz, the orc beauty:

Described as “beautiful and strong Orc lady,” whose “speciality is to enter a human camp as dancer and take the life of a general/commander with the biggest weapon she could find,” Yagraz is pretty high on many of the searches I ran for female orcs.

I don’t have a problem with Yagraz, but it was pretty frustrating to see her so often when what I really wanted was not a beefy pole-dancer with tusks.

However, it’s thanks to Yagraz that I realized, probably much later than I should have, that her presence on so many Etsy shops meant that the sellers must have the files to print her. If they have her, then they probably also have other models from the orc collection, which includes this menacing axe-wielder with the side shave that I mentioned last time:

I also forgot, last time, to copy and paste my Twitter “review” of her design, which was “Orc Barbarian - C (Lady): cute smile, takes great care of her hair. 10/10, would invite to coffee and ask for beauty tips.“

I’m quite curious how she maintains that side shave. I had a ponytail for a year or so, and it was very difficult for me to keep my sideburns properly shaved without having a thin hairline of stubble or accidentally cutting some of the ponytail where sideburn met ponytail. This lady has it figured out, and I’m jealous. Or maybe that’s just how her hair grows in. I don’t know. Maybe she has a wicked bad burn scar on that part of her head. Even if that’s the case, her hair is clearly long enough that it didn’t get that way by accident.

Anyway.

I decided to look up as many Etsy sellers as I could find who sold Artisan Guild figures. I found a bit over half a dozen. Of those, five of them mentioned that they could resize figures in their store descriptions or their descriptions of other minis. Of those, a couple had reviews from customers who showed photos of enlarged pictures.

I emailed all five of them.

Three got back to me to say that they could not make the figure as large as I had hoped, which was 140mm, or five times the normal size. 140mm isn’t a magic number, except insofar as it’s about as large as most commercially available 3D printers for home use can make a single piece. If she came in multiple pieces, like a model kit, then it’s possible that she could be printed in a larger size. However, she only comes in two: the hands and weapon are a single piece, and then the rest of her handless body is the second. I suppose the base is a third. So three pieces. I apologize for my mistake.

Two, however, were willing to tackle the project, and said that they would take the time to see if their slicer could do this thing. I do not know exactly what a slicer is, however, from context (and a YouTube search), I am able to infer that it is software that is used with a 3D printer to resize a figure while keeping it within the size limitations of the build envelope.

One of the two said, a day and a half later, that they could produce the figure for $35, with a cheaper filament base, and the other could do it for $48 with the base pictured above. The more expensive seller explained that they had done “a quick workup” of the cost for resin, print time, and supports, and that they want the figure to look as good as possible. Due to her size and relative thinness, they wanted to print it solid instead of hollow, which would up the price but prevent future issues. They were even able to send me some pictures of the figure from their slicer that showed the three pieces. She looked amazing, but that’s to be expected from a 3D model that already looked amazing.

My social anxiety kicked in, and I realized that I was being offered a surprisingly affordable deal on this figure from two different sellers who had spent several hours of their own time on a project unlike any they’d been asked to do prior to my weird ass showing up, and all before I’d agreed to pay them a dime. I decided to do the unreasonable thing and buy both.

Whichever seller produces the superior orc, I reasoned, would get any future business I may have. Realistically, since they were each spending so much time working on the models in their software before printing, and since a 5x size mini would have 125x the mass of the regular size (since it is five times as large in all three directions, so 5^3), I was expecting them to be much, much more expensive than this.

It is entirely possible that, within the next year or so, I will simply buy my own damn 3D printer. They’re pretty expensive, but it appears that some good ones are out there for less money than a lot of video game consoles, and I sure do buy a lot of those. For now, I will wait. How many figures do I need to make, right?

I mean... a lot, but that’s not the point. How many figures WOULD I make, now that’s the superior question, and the answer to that is not very many at all.

So now I wait. I’ve gotten several WIP photos from the second seller, who seems like quite a decent fellow, but we’ll just have to wait and see if that translates into a better figure.

I don’t want to actually share those photos, as I feel like it would breach some kind of confidence between myself and the seller. Maybe that’s dumb, but it’s how I feel. Especially since I don’t know that all their courteousness and hard work will actually translate into a better figure than the other guy.

Short of making my own silicone molds of another mini to enlarge it, or buying a 3D model and printer and figuring out a way to alter it for my own purposes, I think that this is as good as I’m going to ever get.

So... why do all this? What’s with my sudden and extremely intense fixation on finding an orc figurine? Well, it’s actually all because of AI Dungeon, which I briefly discussed here.

Can you guess the ending to this story? Yep, one of the stories I played featured a female orc, and I liked her a lot. That’s it. That’s the story. You can stop reading now if you want.

I will write a third and fourth part to this in which I explain what the hell I am talking about.

#ratralsis figures #ratralsis tries to buy a lady orc barbarian figurine

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connorrenwick · 5 years

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Where I Work: Zai Divecha

Zai Divecha is a Bay Area native artist based in San Francisco, California, whose creative explorations began with metal. After graduating from Yale (both undergrad and grad), the cycling enthusiast became a metalworker who just recently transitioned into working with paper. Now she’s creating small and large scale geometric works made from paper featuring repetitive pleat patterns. For this month’s Where I Work, Divecha opens the door to her shared studio space in the Dogpatch neighborhood for a look at her process.

What is your typical work style?

I’m a morning person, so I like to get my day started early. A few days a week, I get up at 5am to do a 30-mile bike ride before going into the studio. There are few things I love more than cycling. And going out at dawn — when the fog is still thick and the light is a cool, grayish blue — is the absolute best.

I usually get into the studio by 10am, and work until 7 or 8pm, taking breaks to chat with my studiomate or take Simi out for a walk. Some days end up being more computer- or admin-heavy; other days are more focused on making. Unless I’m really in the zone, my brain typically shuts off around 8pm, and I’m useless after that.

What’s your studio/work environment like?

The studio is bright, cozy, and clean. A huge skylight lets tons of light in. When we moved into this space, my studiomate and I laid the flooring ourselves, and we chose a pale gray color in order to bounce as much light as possible into the room. We mop the floors regularly to keep the dust under control. Lots of plants, candles, and furs make it feel cozy and welcoming. I’m a neat freak, so I need the surfaces around me to be clean in order to think clearly and feel creative. The less clutter I have in sight, the more focused and creative I am.

My studiomate Emi Grannis is a big part of my daily life. She’s a metalsmith who makes fine jewelry, and she’s also one of my very closest friends. Even though we each run our own separate businesses, Emi and I help each other out constantly throughout the day: she’ll take photos or videos of me working for my Instagram; I’ll help her draft tricky client emails. She’ll weigh in on my design decisions; I’ll help her triage her to-do list. We know each other’s strengths and needs, and we’re good at making the other person feel supported, focused, and happy. It’s pretty special. I don’t know where we’d be without each other.

How is your space organized/arranged?

We have a small studio space on the mezzanine level of a shared metal shop called ShopFloor. It’s located in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, and it’s three blocks from where I live (best commute I’ve ever had). Our studio is 270 square feet, so it’s pretty compact. I have my little zone at one end of the room, Emi has her workspace in the middle, and at the back, we have a lounge area with a couch and a makeshift kitchen (mini fridge, microwave, tea kettle). The couch was a game-changer — having a soft, comfy place on which to take breaks (or naps!) means that our days can be longer, more productive, and more sustainable.

How long have you been in this space? Where did you work before that?

I’ve been working out of this building for two and a half years, but it’s only the last nine months that I’ve had this cozy studio space on the mezzanine level. Before that, I rented a bay on the ground floor, in the metal shop. I was making welded steel vessels and mosaic steel wall hangings at the time, so it afforded me easy access to the metal shop tools. But I didn’t have walls, private space, or heat, so while it was utilitarian, it was not particularly inspiring or comfortable.

But now that I’m primarily working with paper, a medium that doesn’t require any machinery at all, it’s been lovely to have a contained, quiet space away from the noise and grime of the metal shop. I have walls, heat and air conditioning, a comfy couch, and, of course, one of my best friends nearby, so I’m much happier and more productive now.

If you could change something about your workspace, what would it be?

A teeny bit more space would be nice. I routinely have to downsize my tools, prototypes, and projects in order to make space for everything.

Is there an office pet?

Yes! My dog Simi often comes with me to work. She’s a chill, low-key dog most of the time, but she’s become infamous for starting to hump her dog bed as soon as clients walk in. She can be a liability.

Do you require music in the background? If so, who are some favorites?

I tend to listen to downtempo electronic music when working. It needs to be melodic, hypnotic, and a little edgy. Nicolas Jaar, Chet Faker, Polo & Pan, Glass Animals, Zhu, and Alina Baraz come to mind. Here’s a playlist I made of my favorite songs for work. If I’m doing repetitive measuring, scoring, and folding, I’ll often put on a podcast to keep my brain engaged. The Guilty Feminist, Reply All, The Daily, and Planet Money are current favorites.

How do you record ideas?

I have all kinds of systems. I have a notebook that’s just for my daily to-do lists, I have a separate sketchbook for drawings and diagrams, and I have a series of digital notes that are synced across my devices.

Do you have an inspiration board? What’s on it right now?

All of my inspiration boards are digital at the moment: I have dozens of Pinterest boards, and a number of Instagram collections of saved posts. Lately I’ve been saving things like 3D-printed ceramics, hand-carved wood home goods, geometric murals, blackwork tattoos, installation art, and parametric architecture.

What is your creative process and/or creative workflow like? Does it change every project or do you keep it the same?

I often start by examining prototypes and sample pleats I’ve made in the past. I hold them in my hands, and collapse and expand them. I imagine how they’d look or behave if I made changes to the pattern. What if I altered the angles or spacing of the pleats? What if I pinched it at one end, and let it fan open at the other? What if I made this out of a translucent Mylar instead of paper? What if I made a collage, where I put this pleat next to this other pleat? Then I’ll make a quick mock-up using scrap paper. I love that it’s so easy to prototype with paper. I can test out ideas quickly.

Once I have a plan, and I’ve figured out all the measurements, the execution is a series of repetitive motions: measuring out a grid, scoring lots of lines, and working with my hands to pleat the paper. I love settling into a meditative routine, and making only minor changes with each sheet of paper to optimize my efficiency and precision.

What kind of art/design/objects might you have scattered about the space?

A tiny painting of Point Reyes by Susan Hall, who’s a dear family friend. Ceramic pieces by Two Hands Full, Pinckney Clay, and ShanMan Clay Co. A half-moon shaped serving board I made out of Cocobolo wood. A concrete sculpture of hands by Rheal. Two brass Ganesh statues that my mother gave me when I was little. A sweet note that Emi left me one day. And a handful of items collected from nature: a Cholla cactus branch, an antler, and a dozen potted plants.

Are there tools and/or machinery in your space?

Now that I’m primarily working with paper, my tools have been pared down to just the most unassuming and lightweight ones: pencil, rulers, cutting mat, X-Acto knives, painter’s tape, needle and thread, and bone folder.

What tool(s) do you most enjoy using in the design process? The bone folder. It’s a bookbinding tool made out of bone that’s used to score paper. It lets me make precise, sharp folds. It feels smooth in my hand — so simple and primitive.

Let’s talk about how you’re wired. Tell us about your tech arsenal/devices.

I have an iPhone X, a MacBook Pro, and a Canon 5D Mark II with a few different lenses. I store all my notes, documents, and photos on Box, so they’re accessible from any device (I used to work at Box; old habits die hard). Instagram is my main marketing and sales tool, so I spend a fair amount of time on it.

What design software do you use, if any, and for what?

When I was doing metalworking, I used Illustrator and SketchUp to design wall hangings and prep vector files for lasercutting. Now that I’m working primarily with paper, my creative practice is blessedly analog! The less time I’m on the computer each day, the better.

Is there a favorite project/piece you’ve worked on?

I recently finished up a large hanging paper installation, and my partner Phil Reyneri added subtle light effects to it using Lightform, his company’s tool for projection-mapping. Each edge and facet was illuminated with projected light patterns.

Do you feel like you’ve “made it”? What has made you feel like you’ve become successful? At what moment/circumstances? Or what will it take to get there?

I definitely don’t feel like I’ve “made it.” I have so many things I still want to make, and so many goals I still want to hit. But I suspect I’ll always feel that way, even if I’m making a lot more money. There’s a famous cycling quote by Greg LeMond that I love: “It never gets easier, you just go faster.” I think this is true for running a business, too. I feel like I’m hustling just as much as I was three years ago, but when I compare the work I was making and the types of problems I was solving now, it’s clear that I’ve made a lot of progress.

Tell us about a current project you’re working on. What was the inspiration behind it?

I’m developing a series of smaller paper pieces with stitched red accents. The goal is to sell them framed in shadowboxes with glass fronts, so they’re ready to hang. I’m excited to offer pieces that are elegant but also accessible — at a price point that my friends could afford.

What’s on your desk right now?

I have a cutting mat, some rulers, a mug filled with pencils, pens, and X-Acto knives, a few pieces of pleated paper, my reading glasses, and my laptop. I try to keep it as bare-bones as possible.

Do you have anything in your home that you’ve designed/created?

Just a few random craft projects here and there. I have a set of ceramic fruit bowls I made in high school, and some dog beds that I sewed out of canvas drop cloth and painted (I made one for my studio and one for my home). One day, I’ll do a proper paper installation for our place!

Photos by Zai Divecha, Emi Grannis, Phil Reyneri, and Andy Wong.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/where-i-work-zai-divecha/

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