The Mono

I made a dorodango.

It's not mirror-smooth, which may be due to my inexpert technique, the soil (Concord heavy clay makes it tricky to handle and causes things to go rather differently than either set of instructions), or both. It's getting pretty darn shiny despite the little pits and bumps, though, and as it gets more dry it may surprise me.

I plan to make two more, so far: one from Davis near the Student Farm, where they have limestone just under the soil which should make it quite pale, and one from the sandstone hills of Pleasant Hill. I expect that sandier soil will be easier to work with, as it sets harder and the fine particles make a better polish. Clay tends to stay wet longer, deform or scratch easily, and slough off under indelicate treatment.

Greg thinks I'm crazy. That's fine. I like my dorodango. :)

I brought out my Wacom tablet this evening (after my wrist started hurting from doing too many fine movements, naughty me) and plugged it into the USB port. I've been working in the Gimp on a graphic, but this is a new computer, so I had been doing it all with the touchpad because setting up the Wacom under linux usually takes about half an hour even if you know what you're doing. I didn't feel up to it, but finally decided that doing it all on the touchpad was ridiculous when I had the proper tool available.

I plugged it in and, as I always do, gave it an experimental swipe with the pen. Suddenly windows moved, text highlighted, and I was staring in disbelief. They finally did it. x.org has finally integrated the Wacom driver fully into X, out of the box. It Just Friggin' Works now. No more compiling drivers, installing modules, restarting XWindows... Five seconds of plugging it in. That's an easier installation than on Microsoft Windows.

Okay, the driver settings need a little tweaking -- the active area seems to drift, since I suspect it's expecting a smaller tablet than my 11x14. I'll track down those settings and adjust them again... but the driver does support full pressure-sensitivity and all the physical tools. No tilt or any of the really fancy stuff, but I don't use that anyway...

My wrist doesn't hurt anymore. As a bonus, all that practice in the past has paid off, and I finally have a nearly instinctive feel for the tablet. It's aaaaaalmost as easy as pencil and paper. (I'm gettin' there.)

Yay progress!

It's been years since I've used a Dixon-Ticonderoga #1. Just sharpening it was an experience... I sharpen my colored pencils with an exactoknife, but I wanted a real point on this, so I used a little plastic pencil-sharpener my mom has. I didn't break the point, which says I still remember how...

About the sketchbook: Oh. It's that sketchbook. It pays sometimes to flip through the pages -- this is the one that has (among other things) the pencil sketches and color tests for the Changeling game buttons, including the Celtic knotwork border; the rose-briar ankh which was pilfered for use in a local Vampire LARP I wasn't even in; the sketches for animatronic full-size wings I've never had the money to build; the original Monarch butterfly pencil-and-ink which was scanned and put on my website; and notes on origami figures to include in the collection I still haven't finished making. It's half-used and has things that are almost a decade old. Talk about your time warps.

I'm glad I found the ankh, though. That's something I really don't want to lose -- it's probably one of my finest simple pieces.

I'm making a baby blanket.

I've never made one before, and I never thought I would. Mind you, I've made people blankets, and doilies, and I'm even knitting a balaclava during lecture. ( But baby blankets? )

So I picked up the knitting needles, because a long-neglected scarf was in my knitting basket, and I had to move the basket to get to something else in the closet. I was curious as to whether I remembered how to knit, and the answer is yes, I do... well enough to make a 10" row every 45 seconds or so if I'm not hurrying. The tension is good, too, which is one of the hardest things for me. I need shorter needles than my full-size aluminum behemoths, though...

I prefer crochet, certainly, but it's nice to know both. Now I'm looking at making something I've needed for some time, and thinking, ( yikes! )

On another front entirely, I had the usual quiet New Year's Eve gathering, which was even smaller than anticipated... This year it was just me, Dave, my brother Alex, and Nick. Dave has a couple of consoles, but no Tomb Raider (the second half of the now-traditional Martinelli's and Lara festival) so instead we hauled Stilgar out from under Nick's desk, grabbed the monitor that I'm using until my laptop screen gets fixed, and headed over for a ( LAN party. )

Yep, I'm definitely hooked. Sigh.