#Artisan Printing Techniques

[jokeroutsubs]

📝ENG Translation: Kris Guštin Goes Wild: into the World of Animal Print

Read full article below the cut👇

Joker Out may be on a break, but that doesn’t mean its members are sitting still. While some have been enjoying well-deserved rest or working on side projects, guitarist Kris Guštin has taken an unexpected detour—straight into the wild. Or rather, to the African savanna, in pursuit of what he calls his latest “artistic awakening.” And no, it’s not a new guitar technique or an obscure genre of music. It’s animal print.

In an exclusive interview with ELLE Savanna, Kris opens up about his deep dive into fashion’s fiercest trend, his two-month immersion in the heart of the wilderness, and why he believes the cheetah print is “a state of mind.”

Wild prints, wilder spirit, unstoppable Kris. Photo by: ELLE Savanna

ELLE: Kris, we have to ask—why the savanna?

Kris Guštin: It started with an innocent fascination. I saw a leopard-print coat in my favourite vintage shop in Ljubljana and thought “This is cool!”. Then, I bought some zebra-print boots. Before I knew it, I was down a rabbit hole of animal print history, and everything pointed to the savanna. The landscapes, the energy, the fact that actual leopards and zebras live here. So, I thought, why not go straight to the source? Two months of full immersion—studying prints, textures, patterns, even the way animals move. I wanted to become the print.

ELLE: So, what did you actually do while you were there?

Kris: Oh, everything. I spent time observing wildlife, studying how their patterns blend into nature, analyzing the differences between cheetah spots and leopard rosettes. I took inspiration from the surroundings — watching animals move, their confidence. I even got to know a local textile artisan who incorporates traditional prints into modern designs. I think by the third week, I was dressing in full head-to-toe print without even thinking about it. It felt... natural.

ELLE: You’re making it sound like animal print is more than just a fashion choice.

Kris: That’s because it is. It’s a philosophy. When you wear it, you have to own it. There’s no halfway with leopard print. You don’t timidly wear a tiger-striped blazer—you command the room with it. That’s what I learned in the savanna. Confidence. Presence. The art of the strut.

ELLE: Has this experience changed your personal style for good?

Kris: Absolutely. Animal print is in my DNA now. I’ve already chosen my wardrobe for the next Joker Out tour, and let’s just say the boys should be prepared for a very wild aesthetic shift. If they think I’m showing up in another plain H&M sweater, they’re in for a surprise.

ELLE: Final question—do you think you’ve started a new trend? Should we expect a full Joker Out jungle aesthetic?

Kris: Listen, I’m not saying Bojan will be wearing snakeskin pants next time you see us, but... actually, no, wait. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Now, excuse me, I have to go make some phone calls.

-

It looks like Kris Guštin’s animal-print era is here to stay, and if his time in the savanna has taught us anything, it’s that fashion — and rock music — are both about fearless self-expression. So, Joker Out fans, get ready. The next tour might just look like a high-fashion jungle.

[kobzars]

At Cultural Space Kobzar, we are proud to showcase the timeless beauty of traditional craftsmanship, as seen in this captivating photo. The image features an antique printing press, its intricate metall frame and metal levers a testament to the ingenuity of past artisans. Surrounding it are shelves filled with aged books and a striking artwork Toilers of the Black Sea, 1965 Vintage Soviet Era Etching by Vladimir Novikovsky Honored Artist of Ukraine, rendered in rich sepia tones. This scene invites visitors to step back in time and appreciate the hands-on techniques that shaped our cultural heritage. The press, a marvel of mechanical design, and the artwork, with its evocative imagery, together create a narrative of labor, creativity, and history.

We invite you to visit Cultural Space Kobzar to experience these treasures firsthand. The combination of the printing press and the artwork offers a unique glimpse into the world of early printing and artistic expression. Whether you’re an art enthusiast or a history buff, there’s something here for everyone. Join us as we celebrate and preserve these traditions, ensuring they inspire future generations. Stay tuned for upcoming events and workshops where you can learn more about these fascinating pieces!

Step into the past at Cultural Space Kobzar! This vintage printing press and stunning artwork capture the soul of traditional craftsmanship. Follow me to explore history and art in one place.

[theshiborintiedye-blog]

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[easternmind]

J A P A N o F I L E S # 10 – Like The Baseless Fabric

[ The preponderance of Playstation titles featured in this series should not raise a single eyebrow. It is becoming increasingly evident that, parallel to this emancipatory system’s decade-long victorious streak, ran an involuntary cultural movement of unfettered creativity and ingenuity, guided in its first steps by the baton of Sony’s music division. The number of digital artifacts within this library that are deserving of extended explorations is as vast as it is varied in nature. The following is a pristine specimen firmly within the grand lineage of graphical adventures, whose astute assimilation of Western influences is not only structural, but also thematic and aesthetic. The first draft of this article dates from mid 2007, from a time long before the Eastern Mind Tumblr existed. Since then, a considerable amount of research and commentary has been made available online. And yet, much remains unsaid. ]

~ Paper Trails ~

The invention of the printing press in the 15th century tends to overshadow the technological revolution introduced by the production of paper. It may be altogether impossible for the contemporary reader to fathom the scale and scope of this innovation in its fullest expression. Although the papyrus was commonly used in ancient Egypt, the most direct ancestor to modern paper originated in China, with recorded uses in the 2nd century, spreading across the far east and central Asia in the ensuing centuries. By the 8th century, it was carried to Persia by Chinese prisoners in captivity. For hundreds of years, the Islamic world safely guarded to itself the secrets of paper making, having incorporated considerable improvements to the production process. The first use of paper in Europe is attributed to the Moors, and is estimated to have occurred in Spain sometime in the 11th century.

One notable advancement took place in the province of Ancona in Italy in the 13th century, where one of the early production centres of paper in Europe developed as a result of exchanges between local artisans and incarcerated Arabs. It was there, in the town of Fabriano, that the concept of the watermark - as it remains known to this day - first originated. As is true of any other craft in medieval times, paper mills, too, were organised as guilds, each bearing their own unique brand and emblem. The increased importance of ascertaining provenance precipitated the need of a solution that could permit each sheet’s manufacturer to be readily identified, in due course setting the standard for papermaking across Europe for many centuries. Watermarks are obtained by carefully manipulating how the paper fibres mesh during the production stage, a technique that remains preserved to this very day as a resource to deter counterfeiting of high-end stationary, stamps and bank notes. In a sense, the watermark represents authenticity, deeply imprinted into the object of one’s creation, such that it’s at once concealed from plain view and indelibly present. This clever concept acts as thematic binding in The Book Of Watermarks, one of the most peculiar creations of this matchless era of Japanese game design and the only independent videogame creation from graphic artist Takashi Kobayashi. An ode to classical culture and artistic creation, it invites the player to explore the vistas of an imaginary island on an expedition to recover a series of lost books that have vanished, all save one: the homonymous master catalogue from whence all human knowledge streams.

[ Visually reminiscent of Mont Saint-Michel, Iris and Ceres’s terrain was modelled after Ebisujima and Mikomotojima, two small islands in Shimoda, Izu. ]

~ This Rough Magic ~

As sweeping as Shakespeare’s influence on all genres of fiction has been, even to the English language itself, the medium of videogames appears to have remained suspiciously impervious to it - in any meaningful capacity, at least. From what direct adaptations of his work have been attempted, the lion’s share of which minor affairs, only the 1984 IF adaptation of Macbeth by the long defunct Oxford Digital is deserving of fond remembrance. Game critics and analysts were late to identify a formidable, if cunningly muted undercurrent of Shakespearean tragedy in Japanese role playing games, dating back to the mid 1980s. It took the blatant theatrical elements of Final Fantasy IX for specialty magazines to so much as utter the dramaturge’s name in relation to the long-standing series. By the time the twelfth episode of this series willed out, no doubt owed to the divisive choice of an all-English voice cast, the acknowledgement was near commonplace. It would be fair to assert that the bard’s wit and wisdom has found its finest representations in digital interactions when more loosely fitted onto an original game design, as opposed to the myriad of spiritless and lacklustre transliterations. At that, The Book of Watermarks has more than merited its mention as a self-styled adaptation of his 1611 mystical comedy, The Tempest, from whose dramatis personae and plot it borrows but a sprinkling of fragments. Whereas the original tale is firmly footed on inter-character conflict, political power plays and a fervour for revenge, the entirety of those elements were cast aside in the game into a state of deliberate neutral abstraction. Prospero, whom the great playwright likely modelled after the bibliophile John Dee, is depicted herein as a benevolent sorcerer in need of aid; while the element of agency, Ferdinand, washes up on the shore of his enchanted island not as a result of a resentful spell, yet by mere happenstance.

[ The name Ariel, after the spirit that serves Prospero, is employed in the game in relation to two symmetrical male figures wearing a vine leaf crown, who more closely resemble the figure of Dionysus, or Bacchus as he was known to the Romans. ] Earlier versions of the game developer’s website made reference to the usurping Duke of Milan, Antonio, and his banishing of the wizard brother to a remote island. They also cite the old Neapolitan advisor, Gonzalo, who smuggled thirteen books from a library onto Prospero’s boat upon learning of his expatriation. Such personages and events were, at the last, excluded from the game proper. Ariel, the air spirit, whose role was traditionally played on stage by an actress, was converted to two statuesque masculine figures guarding the quarters. The names Iris and Ceres, the two intervening gods of the Roman pantheon, were repurposed to identify the two islands shaped by the rightful duke’s thaumaturgy. Though the game opens and closes with two quintessential citations from the play, that which occurs in between is informed by countless other sources of inspiration whose identification begs closer scrutiny.

In many respects, the game’s visual presentation does little to conceal the occasional parallel to Peter Greenaway’s 1991 acclaimed Prospero’s Books. Itself a loose, eccentric and schismatic adaptation of selected aspects of the bard’s valedictory opus, the film stands as an apocryphal, homage fiction rendition of the magic tomes from which Prospero gathered the knowledge to protect his daughter - themselves a secondary element in the play. The picture’s processional enumeration of its twenty four books - one for each frame of the cinematic second - is distinctly mirrored in the game’s own structure and exposition. Prospero’s garments as is the use of brief imagetic interludes to showcase each book vividly bringing to mind the intricate visual compositions for whose composition and editing Greenaway enlisted the expertise of NHK studios in Japan. Combining their revolutionary Hi-Vision HDTV technology with the unique capabilities of Britain’s own Quantel Paintbox software, film, video and computerized graphics were layered atop one another to striking effect. This collaboration opens up interesting possibilities as to how the motion picture may have earned some degree of following in Japan that year, establishing it as a topic in dedicated media, securing a theatrical release and, in time, spawning this interactive disquisition.

In Shakespeare’s play, the books represent the wellspring from whence Prospero’s magical powers derive and grant him agency - for without them he's but a sot. In Greenaway’s film, they are a living mechanism of Prospero’s fantasy as it unfolds, an element of seclusion and control over the remaining dwellers of the island. In Book of Watermarks, however, the books serve a twofold purpose: they are the object of an elaborate fetch quest and the most visible emblem of the humanistic component at the centre of its themes; countermanding the construct of mageia with techne, the ripe fruit of Human imagination. In other words, a knowledge so advanced, so out of step with its time that it bound to be misinterpreted as sorcery.

One striking aspect about the game is its absolute detachment from the ubiquitous religious components inherent to the cultural heritage it wishes to commemorate. Taking into account that the action takes place in a fictional southern archipelago in the year 1611, this very observation raises a critical question. One of the principal locations of the game, the Quattuor Angelus Aedes, flaunts a virtual replica of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris that preserves the Gothic splendour in its entirety, save for the fact that it was sanitised of any Christian iconography. It would be safe to assume that this is owed to the same commercial concerns that, for the near entirely, have kept religious cogitations far afield from video game development. Here, exceptionally, it lends a beneficial clue as to how the game may wish to be interpreted.

[ Prospero’s library designs went through a few iterations, all of which distinctly borrow a number of elements of Antonello Da Messina’s seminal painting San Girolamo nello studio. Notice the raised room and the two-light window at the center and colonnade. ]

~ A Polymath’s Reverie ~

It is by no means accidental that The Book of Watermarks is set during the late Renaissance. Even the most superficial study of Prospero’s digital books will leave little room for doubt as to their evident alignment with Enlightenment values, memorialising as they do the great triumphs of Man alongside a set of mystical references that evoke the principles of early Italian Humanists such as Ficino or Pico della Mirandola. Some constitute a direct correspondence to actual historical writings of great historical import. The remainder navigate a liminal space between history and fantasy in service of the thesis that human progress is owed to ancient knowledge, often transmitted through the written word, many of its records erased by time and preserved only in oral tradition. This knowledge, this magic, is at the nucleus of the civilizational apogee that was the Renaissance. All books, without exception, are presented with a certain reverence and visual flair, the discovery of each lost manuscript imparting a greater sense meaning to the resolution of its spatial, alphanumeric or geometric enigmas; a recompense that transcends the congratulatory and manipulative positive reinforcement games so frequently cajole their unwary players with. On occasion, the puzzles themselves are themed after the contents of the reacquired book. The linear and immutable order in which they are found is denotive of their premeditated Pythagorean numerical attributes. A closer scrutiny of each tome yields bounteous returns.

I - Book of Navigators An imaginary book on shipbuilding, oceanography, geography and astronomy, herein said to have belonged to Prince Henry the Navigator, a towering figure in the context of maritime expansion of the Atlantic islands and Western Africa under whose leadership the mighty Portuguese caravel was introduced. It nonetheless renders a striking allusion to the scattered knowledge of the seas and of shipwrighting that was directly or indirectly inherited by Portuguese sailors from seagoing Phoenicians, Romans and Arabs. The number one stands for individuality.

II - Book of Architects A purely fictional book from ancient history that is described to have inspired the twelfth century French abbot Suger to introduce the Gothic style. Though it is correct that his contribution is widely acknowledged among early adopters of this architectural current, there are no known books on the construction of the mythical Tower of Babel - contrary to popular belief, no such passage as much exists within the Old Testament. Though the concept of verticality is instrumental to both these references, the Babylonian edifice’s height symbolized the human ambition of supplanting the divine, while Gothic architecture’s efforts to reach new heights were rooted in a desire to ascend nearer to the heavens. Number two stands for symmetry. III - Book of Elements of Geometry The description provided, albeit specious, is rooted in some knowledge of history. The abbot Saint Bernard de Clairvaux was neither a mathematician nor an architect, nor was he known to have possessed any books on such matters, but his pure interpretation of the Rule of Saint Benedict gave rise to Cistercian Order, whose ascetic theology embraced the ideal of a simple monastic life nurtured by work and prayer. These were the guiding principles behind the austere and unadorned aesthetics of Cistercian architecture that came to characterize the proto-Gothic. The concept for the book in question may be inexplicitly sourced from Euclid’s Elements, namely its thirteenth century translation whose influence over key figures of Renaissance art, from Da Vinci and Dürer to Brunelleschi and Alberti, is well established. The number three is associated with the principle of harmonious creation.

IV - Book of Labyrinth The notion of a book that antecedes Daedalus is as provocative as it is unfounded. Himself a reference belonging to Ancient Greek folklore, no work of this skilled builder and father of Icarus echoes more in eternity than the Labyrinth of Crete, built to trap the fabled minotaur. The afterword of his getting lost in his own maze is accurate to Ovid’s account in the narrative poem Metamorphoses. The numerical implication relates to the four directions, which is further expounded by the maze-like segment of the game.

V - Book of Fabrica De Humanis Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem is an innovational sixteenth century treatise authored by the Flemish physician Andreas Vesalius composed of seven volumes, featuring detailed illustrations attributed to the artists at Titian’s workshop. For shedding new light on human anatomy at the cost of dissecting cadavers, thus overturning many of Greek anatomist Galen’s widely accepted conclusions, Vesalius faced persecution from the Church and was trialled by the Inquisition. Though he was spared from death at the burning stake, the return trip from his compelled penance and pilgrimage to Jerusalem caused him to become ill and perish prematurely in the Greek island of Zante. Five is the sum of the first even number with the first odd number and concerns the number of extremities of the body and the senses.

VI - Book of Roses Prospero describes it as a book containing the origins of poetic love and the sonnet form, later adding this was the definitive guide to romantic manners once owned by Petrarch and, two centuries later, Shakespeare. An altogether imaginary codex likely gleaned from an assortment of Ovid’s works Amores, Ars Amatoria and its continuation, Remedia Amoris, the ancient Roman poet having been a notable influence in the works of both. Inversely, there is less legitimacy to the suggestion that his elegiac meter was the root of the Italian sonnet found more famously in Petrarch’s Il Canzoniere. The reference to roses is itself an intrepid intimation to the medieval French poetic allegory Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. The number six is illustrated as a hexagonal star, made of two triangles, the perfect union between man and woman.

[ The Villa Forma’s walls are sumptuously decorated with an assortment of Italian paintings, including Tiziano’s Amor Sacro e Amor Profano (above), Giovanni Lanfranco’s Il Consiglio degli Dèi, as well as Guido Reni’s Aurora, the last two from the Baroque period. ]

VII - Book of Necronomicon At first glance, the reference to a meta-fictional book within the corpus of H. P. Lovecraft's literature may sound entirely out of place. However, as it shall be discussed later in this text, this is an amusing, self-referential play on words meant to evoke the developer’s previous works. The claim is that the book contained knowledge of death and the journey of the afterlife places it in neat thematic alignment with the ancient Egyptian funerary texts commonly named Book of the Dead, the Tibetan Bardo Thodol or the incunable Ars Moriendi. The mention of the book once belonging to the library of the order of Saint Francis of Assisi, seeped though it may be in artistic liberty, gravitates around a kernel of truth. After all, the Catholic friar and mystic did travel to the East on a mission to convert the sultan of Egypt. Later representations of the saint often include a skull as memento mori and testament to his moribund ponderings on Sister Death. In great measure, his followers preserved the symbology of death in their doctrine, best exemplified by the eighteenth century edification of the Chapel of Bones in the south of Portugal. Seven stands for spirituality, the convergence of physical four and the spiritual three.

VIII - Book of Astronomicon Inspired by Manilius’ first century poem the Astronomica, often named the Astronomicon. Divided into five books, it pertains to a moment in history when astronomy and astrology stood as inseparable subject matters, rendering a parallel between the twelve signs of the zodiac and the human body. Some historical inaccuracies in the archduke’s chronicle are rather conspicuous. The books were originally written in Latin, negating the stated claim of a later translation - probably an acknowledgement of their fifteenth century compilation by Lorenzo Bonincontri. The poem was not known to have been a direct influence on Giordano Bruno’s cosmology or his adoption of the universe’s infinity as a model, a concept entirely absent from Manilius’ attempt at immortality; nor was it ever proscribed by the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, ostensibly due to how unobserved it was both at the time of its creation and during the Rinascità. In addition, Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome, not in Venice, his ashes cast to the Tiber. For the Pythagoreans, the number eight aptly denotes infinity.

IX - Book of Aesthetics Said to have been owned by the Medici and single-handedly instigating the styles of Da Vinci and Michelangelo, it finds a close resemblance in Vitruvius masterwork De Architectura dated from ca. 20 BC; no doubt a pillar of the artistic production of the renaissance whose relevance greatly transcends its inestimable worth as a compilation of centuries of Greco-Roman architecture, having become a reference on proportion and harmony that guided the principles of painting and sculpture for centuries. The book was surreptitiously preserved among ancient monk’s manuscripts until the early humanist Bracciolini recovered it in the fifteenth century. The pervasive image of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, presumably steered by Andrea’s early rendition, is regarded as the first accurate pictorial rendition of Vitruvius’ writings. It would be important to mention, in brief, that the modern usage of the term aesthetics in this context - as coined by Baumgartner in the mid-eighteenth century - is forgivably anachronistic. The number nine stands for wisdom, altruism and intuition.

[ There is a singular ambiance in The Book of Watermarks that speaks of the creator’s obsession with light, shadow and texture. Notice the sun-drenched surfaces that punctuate the composition’s impeccable diffuse lightning display. ]

X - Book of Polychronion The medieval prototype of the contemporary best-seller, the Polychronion is the necessary abbreviation for the seven volume history Ranulphi Castrensis, cognomine Higden, Polychronicon (sive Historia Polycratica) ab initio mundi usque ad mortem regis Edwardi III in septem libros dispositum. Authored by the Cesterian Benedictine monk Ranulf Higden, this all-encompassing history records a voluminous assortment of events from Genesis to the reign of Edward III, and is believed to have been concluded circa 1327. A well-placed annotation by Prospero speaks of the 1482 edition by English printer extraordinaire William Caxton, based on an update to the Polychronion by John of Trevisa in the 1380s, to which Caxton contributed nearly another century of recorded history, naming his coda Liber Ultimus. It represents the ceaseless process of writing history. The number ten possesses pythagorean numerology ties with the act of creation and the interrelation between all things.

XI - Book of Le Viander As books offer nourishment for the mind, so does food for the body. Le Viandier, often translated to the food provider, is a collection of more than a hundred recipes created by Guillaume Tirel ca. 1300. The title may also be understood to mean a collection of recipes. His large, aquiline nose earned him the sobriquet Taillevent, the wind cutter. Tirel went from being a simple cook for Jeanne d'Évreux to becoming the Premier Ecuyer of all royal kitchens in France. His was an invaluable contribution not only to French cuisine and the appreciation of Bordeaux red wines as part of experiencing a meal, but the concept of fine dining itself, including its decorative, at times theatrical facet. The number eleven has long been understood to mean a sin due to naturally exceeding ten (commandments). Quite the guileful hint to gluttony.

[ An illustration from Cesare Cesariano from the 1521 edition of Vitruvius’ De Architectura, included in animated form in the ninth book of aesthetics. ]

XII - Book of Silence An explicit invocation of the seventeenth century hermetic illustration catalogue Mutus Liber by unknown author Altus. Or is it? Upon discovering the book, Prospero refers to this wordless volume as being sequestered away in the library of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II as its previous owners. This presents a problem due to the fact that the Mutus Liber was published in La Rochelle in 1677, some fifty years after his death. The Dengeki guidebook adds another layer of mystery by way of a mention to the seer of seers, John Dee. The resolution to this quandary may come in the form of what is perhaps the most inscrutable book of all, The Voynich Manuscript, which Wilfred Voynich said to have one been bestowed to Rudolph II by the English sage. This ventures into the realms of historical conjecture, as there is no established relation between the two. The number twelve is the base of the Babylonian duodecimal system, a symbol of perfection resulting from the multiplication of alchemy’s four elements by the three fundamental principles.

XII - Book of Silence An explicit invocation of the seventeenth century hermetic illustration catalogue Mutus Liber by unknown author Altus. Or is it? Upon discovering the book, Prospero refers to this wordless volume as being sequestered away in the library of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II as its previous owners. This presents a problem due to the fact that the Mutus Liber was published in La Rochelle in 1677, some fifty years after his death. The Dengeki guidebook adds another layer of mystery by way of a mention to the seer of seers, John Dee. The resolution to this quandary may come in the form of what is perhaps the most inscrutable book of all, The Voynich Manuscript, which Wilfred Voynich said to have one been bestowed to Rudolph II by the English sage. This ventures into the realms of historical conjecture, as there is no established relation between the two. The number twelve is the base of the Babylonian duodecimal system, a symbol of perfection resulting from the multiplication of alchemy’s four elements by the three fundamental principles.

~ The Book of Watermarks ~

Paper and ideogram weaved into one tome at the heart of the narrative, it is said to be a compilation of all books ever published. Also called The Catalogue of Babel, its contents are written in various languages from Sumerian to Akkadian, Arabic, Greek and Latin, evoking the linguistic incompatibilities of the old fable. A conceptual inversion of the book as the athenaeum itself that turns all preconceived notions about the game on their head. A relic from time immemorial unfolding, announcing its presence through symbols as words, words as symbols; simultaneous the book number zero of the quest and the thirteenth, as Zeus was the thirteenth deity of Olympus, a symbol of arrogance, totality and of the sublime. For all its extolment of classic antiquity and its rebirth, its epicentre shudders with the erudition Jorge Luis Borges’ late modernist, early postmodernist literature . If Shakespeare’s swan song holds Watermarks together like bookends, it is the unbridled genius of the twentieth century Argentinian author that helped to edify its towering achievements.

[ The interior of Prospero’s library is modelled after the master work that is the Library of the Trinity College Dublin, conceived by the eighteenth century architect and engineer Thomas Burgh. ]

His 1941 short story The Library of Babel takes place in an imaginary library of unfathomable proportions, each of its innumerable hexagon-shaped rooms containing the same number of books, each containing the same arbitrary amount of books, each page the same amount of lines, arbitrarily composed out of the same set of twenty five orthographic symbols. The dwellers of this convoluted structure firmly believe that because the library contains every possible permutation permitted by this limited character set, it must therefore also possess every word ever written by Man in the past, future and, perhaps more astoundingly, texts that never were, and never shall be.

Tortured by their despondent existence, librarians find solace in their own creeds. Some cling on to the messianic hope that one of the rooms in the library must have the one book containing the foundations to a complete understanding of the library’s system, as well as the ability to decode the remainder. And that if such a master book were to exist, whoever read it would be as a god. In this universe of stone and paper, every person is a librarian and the library is their cosmos. A later story named Book of Sand revolves around an approximate idea of a book of obscure provenance, sold to the narrator by a Bible seller who claimed to have obtained it in India. The book is described as endless, written in a language that cannot be deciphered. No two pages are the same, and new ones materialise whenever the book is opened. It contains illustrations although, in fine Borgesian form, there is no discernible account provided of what they are.

There is a most prodigious orientation not only within the internal themes explored in the game, but one that extends to these its most substantive influences. Borges and Greenaway’s opuses are characterised by a maddening obsession for books and their metaphysical properties, capable of containing entire worlds, nay universes; their characters, consumed by the exasperating pursuit of knowledge, at times defeated by the futility of the search. Likewise, Kobayashi’s quest for books is ultimately a futile one: despite all of the player’s effort to overcome challenges and solve enigmas, as with Shakespeare’s and Greenaway’s Prosperoes, so does this one break his staff and drown his book; an inescapable act of liberation for chaos to be restored from fastidious and fruitless order.

~ Metal, Wind and Water ~

Born in 1968 in Misawa, Takashi Kobayashi began his career in the videogame industry working as a graphic designer at Henk Rogers’ Bullet-Proof Software studio in Yokohama. Having joined the team at the time during which the studio was leveraging their rights to the Tetris name through mostly insipid spin-offs, he soon grew weary of his assignment and looked elsewhere for employment. His name Perhaps due to his preference for mechanical games over digital ones, he found his way into KAZe, a Tokyo-based studio specialising in Pinball and Pachinko video games. His first project was the Super Famicom game Super Pinball: Behind the Mask in 1993. His visual artistry came to greater prominence with two of the studio’s most acclaimed titles, Digital Pinball: Last Gladiators in 1995 and its sequel, Digital Pinball: Necronomicon the following year. Aficionados of the genre look back fondly at these titles as pertaining to the zenith of the studio’s production and of digital pinball games, with abounding praise for the game’s faithful recreation of real-life tables through astute programming and the outstanding visuals. Chief among them, Grasshopper Manufacture founder Suda Goichi and the dearly departed Kenji Eno, both of which were Kobayashi’s acquaintances.

[ Top: picture of the original game proposal document, with apologies for the low quality of the available capture. Bottom: screenshots from the concept video presented to SCEI, with great emphasis on the tower of Babel, edited out entirely from the final product. ]

While still employed at Kaze, Kobayashi came in contact through an acquaintance with producers at ARC Entertainment and SCE. This presented him with the opportunity to make a pitch to one of Japan’s greatest game publishers, with a known appetite for novel and inventive ideas. The concept behind “Book of Watermarks” was brewing on his mind for long and so a proposal was presented and received so much enthusiasm that an option to gain employment at Sony was made. Kobayashi did not intend on restricting his career to videogame production and politely declined. It was from this sponsorship that the Watermarks, LTD. studio was born, a veritable independent endeavour situated in a fifty square meter apartment in Shibuya, where he and two former members of KAZe, Mie Owashi and Hiroki Uraguchi worked for the better part of three years.

[ Top: Some animated sequences in 3D were created using EIAS, later completed and polished using Adobe After Effects. Parsimoniously, Kobayashi purchased older versions of the software tools. Below: audio files containing voice overs and music, coming from the US and Europe, were put together at the SCE Aoyama Studio using Mac Pro Tools. ]

Whereas Silicon Graphics workstations were widely adopted for game and game advertisement production in the second half of the 1990s, particularly among major studios, The Book of Watermarks was entirely created using Windows and Mac personal computers running affordable software. For terrain modelling, the studio used Animatek World Builder. Building and object modelling was performed in Form-Z software and later imported into 3D Studio Max for rendering and scene composition. A minority of elements seen in the final product may also have been designed in Softimage. Kobayashi strived before a very specific lighting balance for the visual composition of the game. He recalls it as the most time-consuming segment of the game’s graphics production. For instance, the interior space of the Quattuor required as many as seventy five individual spots in lieu of a generic ambient lighting, accurately representing light entering the ceiling apertures and generating complex contrasts. Realism was by no means the intended objective of his lengthy pursuit, rather a more oneiric, painterly look.

Although chroma key technology was the industrial standard for blending filmed footage and computer graphics, this was an easy road that could not be taken. Three months before any filming was done, Kobayashi organised the storyboards, wardrobe and set construction, maintaining contact with the staff at Culver Studios in Los Angeles, and lensman John Le Blanc using the phone and fax. He moved to LA three weeks before filming began to oversee the final preparations. For the most part, the varied props that adorn Prospero’s studio were rented from specialty shop: a pair of navigator’s terrestrial globes, frames paintings, copious amounts of hardcover books, some framed paintings, assorted busts, charts, a feather quill and ink jar, a chess set, a sextant, a narghile, an hourglass and a lute. The all-important staff wielded by the duke has to be created to match the concept art ideas. Glistening metal objects were made to look weathered with the use of ordinary brown hairspray. As with the composition of the game’s visuals, cinematography was a key concern, requiring an entire day to adjust to the intended Caravaggista result, obtained with the use of tungsten lights. All footage was converted from 35mm film to D-1 tape.

[ Stills from the lost D-1 digital conversion of the footage shot at Culver City Studios in Los Angeles. It was of great importance that the bookshelves included the letters ANNO MDXICIX, as 1599 was the year in the game’s chronology of events in which Prospero built the library. Further below: a humorously composed clip of the filming sessions which can be unlocked within Disc 2 of the game upon its completion. ]

The actor playing the role of Prospero was the late Jack Donner, whose wide-ranging career as guest star and supporting actor in a variety of North-American TV productions made his a recognizable face for more than four decades. He was chosen through a casting company for which received nearly thirty applicants. Amusingly, he recalls, some submitted their video audition tape wearing a tuxedo. Kobayashi only had the opportunity to meet Donner two weeks prior to the shooting sessions. Remarkably, he is cast to play his first and last role in a videogame at a moment when he began being invited to perform more frequently in movies. Despite his fifty odd years of experience, this was also the first time he was involved with the process of dubbing, due to the absence of any audio capture during filming. This was the part of the work he considered the most taxing. His training and vast experience as a stage actor made him peculiarly eligible for a part which he plays elegantly and credibly. At seventy years of age, his piercing look and graceful gestures amplify the aura of sophistication and ambiguity the game intensely required, somehow managing to stand a cut above the average acting performance in the context of digital games.

Another one of Kobayashi’s initial intentions for this project was to honour the true origins of The Tempest, whom many scholars have attributed to Silvester Jourdain’s chronicle of his accidental discovery of the Bermuda islands after being side-tracked by a sea storm. For this reason, he sought to implement this type of music although in a manner that was refined, contemporary sounding and at the same time linked to the British isles. Given the designer’s admiration for Enya’s new age music, the aforementioned concept video submitted to Sony played to the sound of her emblematic 1991 single, Caribbean Blue. A puzzling parallel is suggested by the fact that the Irish musician’s most famous album is titled Watermark. Be that as it may, this is merely a diverting coincidence, as the word, as symbolically employed in the poem that Enya wrote and which inspired the song, refers to another application of the same English word, that of a mark that indicates the level to which a body of water has risen.

An unidentified person at SCE pointed Kobayashi in the direction of her sister and former fellow Clannad band member, Moya Brennan, whose musical identity resonated even more with the Irish folk theme tradition. Her 1998 album, Perfect Time, was released in Japan early in the year and provides the aural blueprint for the three themes which she, Dennis Woods and Graham Murphy composed and recorded at the Production Suite studio in Dublin. Her ethereal vocalisations result from a process of overdubbing the same recorded phrase up to one hundred times, condensing and magnifying her voice into her signature ethereal lacework.

Additional music was commissioned to composer and multi-instrumentalist Maartin Allcock, of Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull fame, and recorded in the Chipping Norton Recording Studios at Oxfordshire. Brennan’s themes are sparingly played in key moments of the same such as the introduction and closing, while Allcock’s music accompanies most of the book announcement segments. One in particular, that of The Book of Necronomicon, stands out due to its dissonant use of a boldly cranked up electric guitar overdrive effect, an intentional flashback to the heavy metal sonorities of KAZe’s pinball game. Far too engrossed with production back in Tokyo, Kobayashi was forced to review the themes as they were completed over the phone.

[ The creation of Book of Watermarks was a book hunt of its own. The need for references and illustration required Owashi and Kobayashi to consult and acquire a great many books, scouring bookshops and even calling in favours from friends living abroad to ship editions that could not be found in Japan. ]

The debugging process was done by a quality assurance team at SCEI lead by Shinichi Yoshida. Various members expressed their discontentment with how the game’s story concluded with the destruction of the books irrespective of how well the player performed. The day before the Book of Watermarks was released, a press conference event was hosted by Jiro Ishikawa from TV Asashi at the Ginza Sony Building’s Somido Hall, to which Kobayashi, Owase and Arc Entertainment Executive VP Ryoji Akagawa were invited.

The game received ample coverage in TV, newspapers and dozens of magazines which, from early on that year, previewed the game, making a clear distinction in their approach to this as an adult production to tell it apart from the common videogames of the time. SCEI veteran Hironori Komiya, together with Hiroe Suzuki, worked hard to synthesise this very same take in the way they tackled the game’s package design so as to signal to audiences the uniqueness of this offer. It isn’t known how well the game performed in the market. Attempts were made to hire a CG animator later that year, in preparation for the studio’s next project, Style Laboratory, set to explore the world of fashion in videogame format like no other game before on the newly launched Microsoft Xbox. Alpha footage of the game was released in a DVD press kit handed out at Tokyo Game Show in the Autumn of 2001.

Shortly after, the Watermarks studio, founded on principles of independence and originality, suffered a major setback when an agent embezzled them for one hundred million yen from the production budget, forcing the ensemble to fold. A chance meeting with a director at Panasonic who was openly fond of his games opened the opportunity for him to design computer graphics movies for their new LED screen placed on the façade of a building in Akihabara, then the largest one in existence in Japan. At present, Kobayashi has a solo venture under the label McGuffin & Co., producing bespoke, high-quality CGI movies for public venues. At the moment of this article’s conclusion, a new series on the complex Japanese tradition of dressing in layers, entitled KASANEIRO, premiered on YouTube. He clings on to his long-held ambition to publish a graphic novel blending the Japanese manga and Franco-Belgian comic codes into a single creation.

~ What's past is prologue ~

By the turn of the century, pre-rendered 3D puzzle adventure game had grown into a market segment all its own. The phenomenon erupted at the dawn of the nineties, galvanized by the introduction of the CD-ROM format, albeit firmly rooted in the great graphical adventure model that captivated more mature audiences the previous decade. Most disruptive among them were the two highly experimental discs published by Synergy Inc. in 1991, Refixion and Alice: Interactive Museum. The resounding international success of Myst and The 7th Guest encouraged existing companies like System SACOM to seize the moment and thrive within the niche, as well as new and exciting studios like WARP Inc. to emerge and stir it up. Largely a defunct category today, it is all too easy to overlook the motives why graphical adventures resounded with a large number of players, a genre that so readily traded interactivity for audiovisual splendour and in rare occasions, weave some of the richest thematic tapestries the common game experience could ill afford.

The Book of Watermarks stands firmly within this tradition of simplified mechanics, linear progression, chimerical landscapes and trying riddles. It seeks not to redefine the existing template, rather to utilise it as the resource with which to convey important commentary on the nature of knowledge at the height of the information revolution. The pleasurable promenade through splendorous regions, grandiose venues and enlightening discoveries represent only the alluring surface atop a well of studious meditations on the origins of modernity and the human condition itself.

That which it may arguably lack in structural finesse it more than amply makes for with its unique take and potentially profound implications, letting on just enough about its intentions to maintain the player or spectator engaged and at the same time motivate the right audience to extend its journey in deep thought. It courageously preserves the conclusive moral of the stories it celebrates. In The Tempest, the magus compassionately relinquishes his powers in the name of reconciliation. In Prospero’s Books, he abdicates knowledge as the mechanism of control. Similarly, Watermarks concludes with the submergence of all books and the undoing of the islands, an act to restore chaos from order, to bring the microcosm of illusions to a close, to compel the player to see the deep blue ocean as a blank page to resume their reality from. This can be construed as a comment on the futility of play itself. Recommended links: - The Watermarks website (archived) - ASCII coverage of The Live Tome event - McGuffin website and YouTube Channel Author’s note: I wish to thank Kobayashi-San for his availability to answer my many questions, as well as for his effort to locate additional resources without which this article would not have been possible. More JAPANoFILES features JAPANoFILES #9 - Under The Tokyo Sky JAPANoFILES #8 - Chronicle of Opening a Shina Soba Shop

[manic-maniac-man]

HUgE April 2010

SPRINGVISIONS

The trend that will kick off a new era for 2010 S/S is relaxed elegance, which is once again attracting attention.

Comfortable, sporty, decorative, and more, we've carefully selected the items you should buy now in search of a new reality to add to the new masculine style.

StudsT-SHIRT

Decorative sparkle illuminates A new sense of masculinity

Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci

Heavy metal studs on the neck

A T-shirt that makes a strong impact.

The star motif is a symbol of the current collection.

The oversized silhouette

Pair it with shorts and leggings for a sporty look. Ricardo's street style and sophisticated look.

A luxurious finish that also gives off a modern vibe.

¥57,750(Third Culture)

Boston BAG

The quintessence of luxury with elegant décor

A Boston bag made from heavy cow leather that exudes a strong presence.

Inspired by folk art and culture from the 1960s and 1970s

The ethnic embossed pattern is one of the iconic designs for this season.

It exudes a sense of luxury that is characteristic of Trussardi 1911. ¥263,550 (Step Ink)

Sleeveless JACKET

The best top layer for dressing down

This dress features a shawl collar with a nice drape. The military-style design, including epaulets and large, functional pockets, is also a key point this season. ¥51,450 (Sosu Miharayasuhiro)

White SHOES

Elegant dress shoes with a vivid shine

002_Design inspired by Argentine tango shoes. Made of soft leather, it has a casual look that is not too formal. Also available in black and gray. ¥82,950 (Kokonoe)

004_Mesh shoes with a relaxed summer mood. The delicate and elegant look created by the artisan's handmade techniques gives a strong presence to your feet. ¥101,850 (TFC)

SummerTRENCH

A coat made from sheer material that can be worn like a shirt

001_Ultra-lightweight silk-cotton material and bright pale-toned colors give the brand's signature items a spring-like feel. The small shoulders and slim silhouette are also key points. ¥315,000 (Burberry International)

002_"Lightness" is Jil Sander's new definition of men's wardrobe. This bright white trench is made of lightweight cotton, giving it an incredibly light and elegant finish. ¥173,250 (Jil Sander Japan)

Knit CARDIGAN

The playful design reflects the brand's individuality

The buttonhole is doubled and the ribbing on the front is twisted for an elaborate design. Adding a slight twist to a basic item to give it a fresh finish is a technique that the maison is known for. ¥72,450 (Kokonoe)

Various PARKA

A must-have outerwear for active leisure style

The speaker by Dieter Rams is boldly printed on the jacket, giving it a modern look. The material used is Windstopper, which is windproof and breathable. ¥71,400 (UNDERCOVERISM)

003_The unique big silhouette that wraps around the body is a very Thom Browne-like piece. The large flap pockets on the front are an effective accent. ¥164,850 (Moncler Japan)

006_The bright red coloring is fresh. The stitching and tricolor grosgrain tape are just some of the details that stand out in the simple design. ¥71,400 (Reference price/Steady Study)

Riders JACKET

Wild items are made supple with elegant materials

This rider's jacket is made of washed nappa lamb leather and has a soft finish. The slim silhouette is easy to move in thanks to the ribbing on the sides, and it is comfortable to wear. Roll up the sleeves or pair it with wide tapered pants to create a light and airy look. ¥656,250

(Gucci Group Japan Yves Saint Laurent Division)

Sarrouel PANTS

Relaxed bottoms are making a comeback this season

002_This item has flap pockets and patch pockets, giving it a military feel. The vibrant blue color achieved through product dyeing is beautiful. ¥42,000 (Yohji Yamamoto Information Desk)

003_These shorts are made of Indian cotton and feature a sarouel-style design with a large Madras check pattern, giving them a spring-like freshness. They come in a total of six colors. ¥32,550 (Comme des Garcons)

[tattoorever]

Many artists in Tashkent continue to use traditional Uzbek techniques, such as miniature painting, ceramics, and textile arts, which are deeply rooted in the country's cultural heritage. These skills are passed down through generations and remain integral to Uzbekistan's artistic identity.

For example, the Museum of Applied Arts of Uzbekistan in Tashkent showcases over 7,000 pieces of traditional folk art, including ceramics, hand embroidery, and woodcarving. This museum not only preserves these crafts but also promotes their modern adaptations, allowing contemporary artists to innovate while respecting ancient methods.

Another notable example is the revival of block printing (chitgarlik), an age-old technique used to create patterns on textiles. Artisans like Yuriy Pak in Tashkent have worked to keep this craft alive by combining traditional methods with modern designs. Using natural dyes and hand-carved stamps, Pak produces unique silk scarves that reflect Uzbekistan's rich artistic traditions

[another-rpg-sideblog]

Greetings goblins, goblettes, and gob-binary friends!

Do you like ROLE-PLAYING GAMES?

Of course you do, they’re fun and/or exciting.

And do you like DICE?

Well obviously, that’s what you use to play the role-playing games.

And do you like MATH?

Wait, wait, come back! I swear this is going to be interesting.

Allow me to introduce you to...

The Goblin Guide to Advanced Dice Rolling. 

An exciting new resource for tabletop game designers, or just simple dice enthusiasts.

Sure you can roll a d20, a d6, a d12, and maybe even a d100. But what about a d5, d40, or d16? Yes friend, with The Goblin Guide to Advanced Dice Rolling you can learn to roll all those and many more, all without needing to run out to the specialty artisan dice shop!

How is that arcane task possible? With math of course!

The Goblin Guide to Advanced Dice Rolling gives you all the eldritch mathematical techniques to divide and multiply standard dice to create new exciting and/or forbidden dice numbers you’d never imagined before!

But it’s much more than just that. The Goblin Guide to Advanced Dice Rolling also delves into dice systems, going over how dice are used in your favorite—and even least favorite—games! Digging deep into the procedures, probabilities, advancement, popular variations, and pros and cons of roll-over, roll-under, dice pool, and dice index systems. Providing simple and essential information for aspiring tabletop game developers, or just players who want a little more insight into the math that’s going on behind the rules.

And all of that presented in a way that’s so simple even a goblin can understand!

My non-elite group of test goblins will ensure that everything in this book can be fully comprehended with only the most basic mathematical knowledge, if you understand that 20 − (3 + [16 ÷ 4] × 2) = 9, you already have all the maths you need to understand The Goblin Guide to Advanced Dice Rolling!

And all that contained in one slim volume for easy travel. No more carrying around stacks of heavy dusty tomes that don’t even have information on dice mechanics. Seriously, why are you even carrying those?

So back now, so you can be the first of your friends to say “Actually, you can roll a d20 with a d10 and d12, if you use math!” which they will all think is very smart and cool.

Rewards

PDF Copy: Digital copy of The Goblin Guide to Advanced Dice Rolling, delivered through Itch.io

Print Zine: Physical copy that you can hold in your grubby little goblin hands. Shipping is included with pledge price. Unfortunately, due to uncertainty with the immediate future of international trade, international shipping will not be offered.

Community Copy: PDF versions of the guide made available to the community for free!

Signed and Numbered Zine: Print zine signed, numbered, and doodled on by the author and illustrator… who are both me! Numbering limited to however many actual backers at this level, and makes them more valuable for some reason.

Who am I, and why should you listen to me?

Excellent question, it’s always good to make sure folk are on the level before you give them your money.

I’m Z Gosck, a tabletop RPG reviewer and educator on YouTube where I have done in-depth coverage of over 100 different games—and read countless more in my free time. So it’s safe to say I know a thing or two about TTRPGs.

I'm also the designer of games such as Punktopia, 3 Raccoons in a Trench Coat, Now You Are A Zombie!, Satanic Panic: The Role-Playing Game, and many more. So I think we can say I know at least like three or four things.

In addition to all that TTRPG experience, I’m also a former supplemental mathematics instructor. So I also have specific experience in teaching math to people who are not particularly good at math.

========================

Kickstarter campaign ends: Sat, March 8 2025 7:59 AM UTC +00:00

Website: [Octopus Apocalypse] [twitter]

[atsushifukui]

「浮世絵現代」展

4月22日から東京国立博物館で開催される「浮世絵現代」展に参加します。

...........................................

浮世絵の制作技術を継承する彫師・摺師をかかえる工房兼版元のアダチ版画研究所が現代のアーティストと創造した「現代の浮世絵」を一堂に紹介する展覧会『浮世絵現代』が東京国立博物館の表慶館で開催されることになりました！1970年代から近年まで約50年にわたり制作させていただいた85名のアーティストの木版画約160点をご紹介いたします。漫画家、デザイナー、建築家を始め、様々なジャンルのアーティスト、クリエーターたちと現代の彫師・摺師によって生み出された作品を通じて、現代から未来につづく伝統木版画の可能性をご鑑賞ください。

Exciting news! The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints, a printmaking studio where today's artisans bring traditional ukiyo-e techniques to life, is thrilled to present the exhibition "Ukiyo-e In Play" at the Tokyo National Museum's Hyokeikan from April 22 to June 15, 2025. This dynamic exhibition features approximately 160 woodcut prints created through collaborations between 85 artists from diverse fields such as manga, design, and architecture, and Adachi's skilled carvers and printers, spanning from the 1970s to recent years. Don't miss out on seeing how tradition continues to innovate!

『浮世絵現代』@ukiyoeinplay 

＜展覧会概要＞

［会期］ 2025年4月22日(火)～6月15日(日)

［会場］ 東京国立博物館　表慶館　@tnm_pr

[empirearchives]

Citizen Cooks in the Age of Napoleon

Excerpt about the role of cooks in France after the abolition of culinary guilds, and how they navigated a world which demanded for them to find new ways to stay relevant and prosperous. From Defining Culinary Authority: The Transformation of Cooking in France, 1650-1830 by Jennifer J. Davis:

French cooks sought new sites upon which to rebuild the authority of culinary labor. Throughout the early nineteenth century cooks increasingly adopted scientific terms to demonstrate their reliability and profound knowledge of the culinary arts. Such language communicated the author's education and distinction, just as an appeal to an elite patron had done in the 1660s and referral to a cook's professional expertise had done in the 1760s. The rhetoric and institutions of scientific knowledge also provided a means of distinguishing men's work from women's in the post-revolutionary era. During the early nineteenth century, cooks' claims to scientifically valuable savoir-faire rested on three crucial points of culinary innovation: food preservation, the improved production of bouillon, and gelatin extraction.

As these processes left the realm of traditional knowledge and became sites of scientific inquiry by tradespeople and amateurs alike, cooks sought to maintain authority in this arena by including scientific terms and theories in cookbooks, advertisements, and government petitions.

Two factors encouraged cooks' claims to scientific knowledge during this era. First, when Napoleon Bonaparte took the reins of government as first consul in 1799 and established himself as emperor in 1804, he raised medical doctors and academic scientists, Idéologues, to positions of political prominence. From these posts, the Idéologues subsidized experiments and inventions deemed useful to the nation and encouraged the popularization of science in the public sphere through state sponsorship of exhibitions and print forums. The Idéologues particularly supported research related to food preparation and preservation that might benefit France's armies and navies, with obvious benefits for professional cooks. Many cooks presented their particular techniques to the government during this time, seeking both financial recompense and public acclaim. Second, a voluntary association closely allied with the Idéologues' vision, the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale (Society for the Encouragement of National Industry), provided a forum in which formally trained scientists, politicians, merchants, artisans, and curious educated men might unite to address questions that inhibited French science and industry.

Together, these men sought to develop a more coherent program for industrial advancement than any one group could achieve independently. The society explicitly sought to join scientific knowledge to artisanal practical expertise, recognizing that each group had strengths that would benefit industrial development. This association invested heavily in three diffuse projects that eventually infused the most basic culinary processes with scientific awareness: new methods of food preservation to benefit the nation's armies and navies, new methods of stock preparation to sustain the nation's poor, and new methods of extracting gelatin from bones to improve hospital and military diets at little added expense.

[katzkinder]

I can see Tsubaki being annoying by rich people tm, especially when he has to deal with them during like business meetings/parties he may have to go to as a ceo

I think it would depend on his position relative to theirs.

When you’re a certain level of rich and influential, and you meet with someone who is a certain level of NOT rich and influential (but still above us peasants) you have the ability to act however you like and they just kinda have to deal with it because they need you to like them, and if not like them, they need you to still agree to work with them.

This goes both ways.

Tsubaki can only misbehave so much as his own class within the world of the rich and famous dictates, and he can’t misbehave too much even then, because his behavior could get back to and impact further dealings with OTHER rich people he needs to keep the favor of the make running his company go more smoothly.

His reputation is as someone eccentric but smart, imo. A classy, beautifully handsome man with traditional style and investment in preserving Japan’s cultural history, but surprisingly progressive in other aspects that make him a poor fit for much of the space occupied by other rich folk with the same taste as him (you know how old people stuck in their ways are, especially when money gives them so much sway)

He also doesn’t get along well with them for reasons related to surface level understanding of what makes something wabisabi or chic. The excessive opulence can turn him off easily. He is, however, well loved by the artisan community he likes to patronize. The tea houses, kimono shops, textile places, wood workers, dyers, sweet makers, potters, florists… He shows much respect towards their crafts and treats them with dignity. This is, I think, where a lot of his power actually comes from. His ability to network with the smaller people, the masters and apprentices working hard to preserve their arts. He’s particular, but not fussy. He respects their time and their efforts. He has a realistic idea of just how much time and labor goes into these things he loves, but he’s also no rube you can scam and won’t fall for empty flattery.

He loves ink prints and woodblocks, delights in modern techniques applied to traditional art forms, and is very good at chatting up the old grannies at the tea place (lol)

In a sentence. He’s one of Japan’s most eligible bachelors!

They really don’t get why he keeps someone as flashy as Belkia around— Doesn’t that clash? And what’s with the sulky kid… At least the woman is beautiful

Tsubaki really doesn’t like high society

[clockmotorskit]

Clock Parts

Maximizing Capability of Clock Motors

Clock parts motors regulate the timekeeping and other useful habits of wrist watches. In today's world, clock electric motors (or "movements" in the trade) are digitally powered, and a quartz crystal is the timing source, vibrating at a high frequency and producing a train of pulses, their count proportional for elapsed time. Hence, we have a contemporary way of maintaining time, equivalent in look from the older mechanical clocks; however, the modern movement runs mainly in software, allowing for extra attributes, some unique and uncommon, to be applied reasonably quickly, specifically when compared to their mechanical relatives.

Conventional clock electric motors were mechanically designed and built, the only feasible approach. A coiled spring or hanging weight supplied possible energy, which in turn was exchanged kinetic energy by causing a flywheel to turn. Pendulums and escapements managed the regularity of turning, resulting in a constant tick-tock at an accurately fine-tuned pace of one secondly.

But the mechanical structures had difficult and large parts, which restricted their capacities and made it difficult to adjust them to prolonged or cutting-edge layouts. For this reason, once it was uncovered that by subjecting a quartz crystal to a voltage decrease causes it to resonate and give off pulses at an exact rate, the tables were set for switching from a mechanical technique to a digital one for keeping time. The schedule of digital memory additionally facilitated the change to an extra electronic operation.

Artisans of the past produced wrist watches that exhibited striking effects, yet the effort was complex, painstaking, and involved innovative mechanical couplings to get the impacts to be in sync with temporal events. And, thus effort became less and less cost-efficient, it declined eventually into a lost art. However, the contemporary programmable clock electric motor makes it very easy to imitate these historic impacts and also to attain greater ones.

Naturally, digital clocks (which are digital) offer a different user interface and extend the ordinary period (when whatever resets) by tracking the moon stage, the weekday, and the full day. However something is shed in this all-digital user interface, and the motors we describe here are essentially analog (moving hands, typical dial, and so on), though with some solid-state wiring. And yet they can duplicate the treasure wrist watches.

The quartz crystal pulse-train is so accurate that timing is near specific, and simple community brings the speed to the world of secs and minutes. In addition, it is straightforward to extend the size of the reset period by expanding its trigger moment. Place additional details on the dial and include one more hand to aim at that details, and the days of the week or the dates of the month are revealed as well as normal time.

It is additionally as simple for the watch to show the existing level of the trend. This is also a periodic phenomenon, however based on the lunar cycle of 1 day and 50 mins. You can locate clock motors that execute this function, either as a standalone piece or incorporated with common timekeeping.

However you can likewise get movements that track changes in the weather (barometric pressure, humidity, or temperature). These modifications are not routine, so the crystal is not the source of the details displayed; rather, sensors take regular measurements, and their values are exchanged a relative position along a range. The traditional dial and hands are replaced with a single hand that rotates backward and forward over the range printed in an arc along the area.

There are still more features that we could review, such as constant sweep useds, chimes, different cosmetic pendulums, and high-torque versions that allow one build structures 3 feet throughout in diameter. But our area is used up. The reader should now have the essentials and the understanding for making best use of the functionality of clock electric motors.

[mybeingthere]

Decorative textiles by French artist Louis Barthélemy.

After studying at the prestigious St Martins School of Fashion in London, Louis Barthélemy arrived in Paris at the age of 20 to work in the Dior workshops where he designed the house's prints. Four years later, he decided to fly on his own and began traveling, while working for other major fashion brands, such as Ferragamo, with whom he collaborated for 7 years. During his travels, particularly in Egypt, Louis Barthélemy discovered new techniques and began a long-term collaboration with Cairo artisans. Very quickly, his textile creations imbued with Egyptian iconography made a name for themselves and earned him recognition from several major fashion houses.

[dekhocampus11]

National Institute of Fashion Technology - [NIFT], Srinagar

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Srinagar – Overview (800 Words)

The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Srinagar is one of the newer additions to the prestigious NIFT network, established in 2016. Located in the heart of Kashmir, in the Budgam district, NIFT Srinagar has rapidly grown into a key center for fashion education in northern India. It combines the legacy of India’s textile heritage with modern design education, fostering a space where innovation meets tradition.

Academic Programs

NIFT Srinagar offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in fashion and design disciplines:

Bachelor of Design (B.Des) with specializations in:

Fashion Design

Fashion Communication

Textile Design

Fashion and Lifestyle Accessories Design

Master of Fashion Management (MFM)

The curriculum is designed to blend theoretical knowledge with hands-on experience, encouraging creative thinking, technical proficiency, and business understanding. Students are exposed to a variety of workshops, studio practices, and real-world projects that prepare them for dynamic roles in the fashion industry.

Campus and Infrastructure

The NIFT Srinagar campus, spread across 16.5 acres in Ompora, Budgam, is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure. The academic block includes well-lit, modern classrooms and specialized studios for pattern making, garment construction, dyeing and printing, weaving, and more. The resource center includes an extensive library, digital learning spaces, and access to design materials from around the world.

A design studio fosters creative development, while labs such as the knitwear and textile labs provide space for experimentation. The campus is fully Wi-Fi enabled and has advanced IT infrastructure to support learning.

There are also facilities for extracurricular engagement, including an auditorium, an amphitheater, sports grounds, basketball and badminton courts, a gymnasium, and a popular campus cafeteria known for its diverse menu. Hostel accommodations are available separately for boys and girls, each with common rooms and recreational spaces.

Admissions and Scholarships

Admission to NIFT Srinagar is based on the national-level NIFT entrance exam, which includes:

Creative Ability Test (CAT)

General Ability Test (GAT)

Situation Test (for B.Des)

Group Discussion and Personal Interview (for MFM)

The selection process is rigorous, ensuring that students with both creativity and critical thinking ability are chosen. Educational loans are available through nationalized banks, and special schemes are in place to support students from economically weaker sections, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, and female applicants.

Placements and Industry Connections

NIFT Srinagar, despite being a newer campus, has built a respectable placement record. Its graduates have gone on to work in major design houses, export companies, retail brands, and government initiatives. Internships are a key part of the curriculum, giving students exposure to real-world industry practices.

The institute regularly organizes seminars, industry interactions, and portfolio reviews. This helps students connect with professionals and understand the practical demands of the fashion business. The Fashion Spectrum, its annual fest, also attracts attention from fashion brands and professionals across India.

Regional Integration and Cultural Focus

One of the most unique aspects of NIFT Srinagar is its strong connection to local craft traditions. The institute actively collaborates with local artisans, weavers, and the Jammu & Kashmir government to revive and modernize traditional Kashmiri crafts such as Pashmina weaving, Kani shawls, Sozni embroidery, and crewel work.

Students often participate in community-based projects that integrate these crafts into contemporary design frameworks. This exposure enhances their appreciation for indigenous techniques and gives them a chance to contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage.

This cultural immersion helps students develop a design language that is unique and reflective of their environment, something not commonly found in campuses located in urban metros.

Campus Life and Student Engagement

NIFT Srinagar provides a student-friendly atmosphere with a strong focus on innovation, teamwork, and personal growth. Students are encouraged to join clubs and societies related to fashion, arts, technology, and entrepreneurship. Regular events, competitions, exhibitions, and workshops keep the campus vibrant and intellectually stimulating.

The serene environment of the Kashmir valley adds a unique dimension to campus life. The natural surroundings, coupled with the culturally rich environment, inspire creativity and introspection among students.

Challenges and Growth

While NIFT Srinagar offers a promising education environment, being a relatively new campus does come with some challenges. Initially, infrastructure development and faculty recruitment posed concerns, but the institute has made significant strides in recent years. With continuous investment in facilities and staff, it is steadily aligning with the standards of older NIFT campuses.

Moreover, its strategic focus on traditional crafts and sustainable fashion has helped it carve a niche, attracting students passionate about heritage-based design.

Conclusion

NIFT Srinagar stands at the intersection of tradition and innovation. It offers a unique academic and cultural experience to students aspiring to make their mark in fashion and design. With modern infrastructure, strong academic programs, industry exposure, and a focus on local craftsmanship, it is poised to become a leading institution in the years ahead. For students looking to combine fashion education with cultural depth, NIFT Srinagar provides an inspiring and fulfilling environment.

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Unlocking the Magic of Custom Cotton Muslin Fabric: Versatile, Sustainable, and Chic

If you're a creator, designer, or DIY enthusiast, you've likely stumbled across custom cotton muslin fabric in your search for the perfect material. This humble textile is having a major moment, and for good reason. Its lightweight, breathable, and endlessly adaptable nature makes it a go-to for everything from fashion to home décor. But what exactly makes muslin so magical? Let's dive into why this fabric is a game-changer, blending versatility, sustainability, and a chic edge that's impossible to ignore.

The Versatility of Muslin Printed Fabric

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Sustainability Meets Style

In a world increasingly focused on eco-conscious choices, muslin stands out as a sustainable superstar. Made from natural cotton, custom cotton muslin fabric is biodegradable and often sourced from renewable crops. Its production requires less water and energy compared to synthetic fabrics, making it a favorite for environmentally minded designers. Plus, muslin's durability means your creations last, reducing the need for fast fashion or disposable décor. By choosing muslin, you're not just crafting something beautiful - you're making a statement about sustainability without sacrificing style.

The Rise of Digital Printed Muslin Fabric

One of the most exciting developments in muslin's modern renaissance is digital printed muslin fabric. This cutting-edge technology allows for vibrant, high-resolution designs that bring your vision to life with stunning precision. Unlike traditional printing methods, digital printing offers limitless color palettes and intricate patterns, from florals to geometric abstracts. It's perfect for small-batch projects or one-of-a-kind pieces, as it eliminates the need for costly setups. Whether you are a designer launching a capsule collection or a hobbyist creating custom gifts, digital printing on muslin elevates your work to professional levels.

Mastering Print Design on Fabric

The key to unlocking muslin's potential lies in thoughtful print design on fabric. A well-chosen design can transform a simple piece of muslin into a showstopper. Think bold botanical motifs for summer dresses or subtle textures for throw pillows. The beauty of muslin is its ability to let prints shine without overwhelming the senses. For those looking to scale their projects, custom fabric printing wholesale options make it easy to access high-quality muslin in bulk, ensuring consistency across larger collections.

Why Muslin Is Your Next Must-Have

So, why should you add custom printed cotton muslin fabric to your creative arsenal? It's versatile enough to suit any project, sustainable enough to align with eco-conscious values, and chic enough to make a statement. Its light feel, combined with the endless possibilities for printing designs on it, makes it a fabric that is both practical and inspiring. Ready to unlock its magic? Your next masterpiece is just one step away.