#my experimental journal

[washedupgraphicdesignstudent]

experimental journal 1/50

what is this you may ask? well, I have to do 50 design-related experiments for a class that isn't completely useless but should have definitely been something we took at the beginning of the program not 4 semesters in. so I decided that I would have fun with it and use this as a way to document them because the reason I have been putting it off is that I do not want to make the pdf for it after every experiment. yes, I am aware that this is probably just as much work but it is more fun than making an InDesign file and documenting what I just did. this way I have all my thoughts on it for when I actually do my write-ups.

for this experiment, I followed this tutorial for a vintage poster. I think it turned out pretty well, mine is a bit darker than the original tutorial. I think that was caused by the paper texture I used. the background photo is from Unsplash. for the font, I used Neue Haas Grotesk, they did not list what font they used so I opened my TikTok collections because I will always save any video that claims to have the best _ fonts or best fonts on _. I also attempted the little oval with small text that is on top of the original but because of the composition of the photo I used, it looked a bit awkward in the space. overall this was a fun first experiment.

experimented with: hue & saturation, filters (noise and gaussian blur), and text effects (drop shadow).

watching: Fundie Fridays: Gwen Shamblin Lara & The Remnant Fellowship

listening to: Moviestruck: Episode 51: Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui (2004)

drinking: water out of my stanley, look at me being healthy

[windydrawallday]

WHAT?! Is the anniversary of Bionicle?

And here I am, without much to share visually AAAAAA BUT HEY! I decided to compile my fav bunch of art I did during those years of the Reboot/G2 that made me rediscover such a cool franchise (and the last artworks are two of the most modern ones).

Plus, I can really say that without these art experimentations, I wouldn't have developed so many of my modern rendering techniques!

So, cheers to it and everyone that keeps enjoying it and/or found a muse in it like I did x)

This brand too has the privilege of being my true first robot hell bahaha

[albertayebisackey]

Consider everything an experiment.

[autumnsvoice87]

This is an experiment. I thrfited blank photo paper by accident thinking it was craft paper or blank post cards. So I didn't know what to do with it. I said, "Why not see what happens if I did xyz? I used water colors on blank photo paper and then doodle/sharpie line drawing over it. Then I added matallic marker accents. I love how it turned out. 😀

[triflesandparsnips]

hey hey guess what it's time for

Update 4: Return of the (Soap) King

For those who haven't been following along, I've been having a nice time doing experimental archaeology and recreating cosmetics/household goods that are historically plausible for local idiot pirate Stede Bonnet to have had around.

Figure 1. Me, addressing my kitchen appliances.

So far we've had successful lip balm, yet-to-be-completed Oil of Lavender, the terrible tragedies that have so far befallen the pearl face cream, and, finally, the unending journey of the one household item actually mentioned on the dang show: the lavender soap (with updates 1-3 and several mini-updates).

Did this all secretly derive from my researching period-appropriate medical horror? Yes. Am I still going to write about it? Of course come on now I can't just keep that enema information to myself--

But TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY.

Figure 2. One very excited ship's surgeon who will unfortunately have to bide his fuckin time.

Nope, today we're on the next iteration of the lavender soap, because we're still at the "fuck around and find out" portion of this experimental process-- and so, behold:

Version 3.0 7 oz. dried soap 4 oz. ground orrisroot 1 oz. ground whole cloves 1 oz. ground benjamin 10 drops lavender essential oil oil of lavender, q.s. rosewater, q.s.

You may notice that I have, tragically, only added enough of anything lavenderish to allow myself the honesty of still calling this "lavender" soap -- as previously discussed, lavender essential oils (as we know them today) were not really a Thing, and the Oil of Lavender (...which is not an essential oil, but rather an infusion of lavender flowers and olive oil) is not quite ready for primetime scent vibes, so I genuinely don't think these are comparable to actually just grinding up and shoving in the dried flowers.

But for the sake of Science, I needed to find out if removing the flowers would help with the browning issue of previous versions, so-- out went the lavender. For now.

Figure 3. Oh no, I-- oh man, don't cry, I'm sorry, I'll put it back omg.

Other changes in this version are:

store-bought ground orrisroot (...listen, Thomas is but a wee lad, and not yet hearty enough to wreck regular orrisroot as hard as it needs);

store-bought ground benzoin (because it was cheaper to buy in bulk that the solid resin from the woo-woo shop);

increased the amount of orrisroot from 1 ounce to 4 ounces, in keeping with some other recipes, to try and bulk up the myristic acid content (i.e., the thing wot makes olive-oil based Nabulsi soap actually produce a bubbly lather)

I should at this point say that typically the scientific process recommends making only one change at a time when conducting Experiments, so that one may know what exactly affected a change in a positive, negative, or neutral manner.

Consider, however, that I have no patience. So fuck it, we ball.

Show us the soap, trifles

To get to the soap, you must first suffer through mortifying ordeal of process photos.

Figure 4. The ground orrisroot on my tiny digital scale (that actually measures grains, which itself is a holdover from apothecary measurements!)

Wait wait wait actually look at my tiny bullshit scale, I love it, look at its little one-gram calibration weight:

Figure 5. A baby.

Figures 6 and 7. An ounce of whole cloves (left) and the results of young Thomas's efforts thrown on top of the orrisroot and benjamin in the mortar (right).

I should note that rather than grinding the cloves in my granite mortar and pestle first, I put them straight into Thomas's maw-- I don't know if that led to how intensely clove-oily these grounds are, or the fact that the lavender flowers were not present to soak it up. Previously I got a grey-green powder out of grinding the both together, so this rich, wet clove-color did not bode well for my "can I stop this from being brown?" soap plans...

Figure 8. ...Or maybe it'll be fine? I added the dried soap, and now look at them all mixed together!

As a note, I had to actually use a whisk at this point rather than just rely on my pestle to do the work -- my mortar is Too Small for these shenanigans, and the four ounces' worth of orrisroot did not help matters. I won't say how much of this mix ended up outside the mortar and on my clothes, but it was... it was a non-zero amount.

Whatever, thought I. This is Science. This is me experiencing the divine art of creation across space-time with my alchemical forebears, and also this is why I should not be allowed in other people's kitchens.

Notably, the upped powder content meant that I had to add a lot more splashes of rosewater to get to a dough-y state where the soap could be hand-rolled, and I had to work significantly longer with the pestle-- while version 2.0 was, per my notes, about 8-10 minutes' worth of work, I would call this a solid 20 minutes at least of beating the ever-loving shit outta this mix until everything was incorporated.

And once it was, well--

Figure 9. Hello, brown.

As you can see, the soap mix does form up very nicely, though it still requires a spatula to clear the sides of the mortar and pestle.

At this point, remembering that the last time I hand-rolled wash balls my palms came away Very Brown, I donned some latex gloves before I commenced my rolling. However, because (and again, I cannot stress this enough) I lack patience, I threw in another change: rather than leaving them as balls, I squished them slightly between my palms to flatten them into slightly more traditional soap shapes.

Figure 10. Cookie dough or falafel: you decide.

A note regarding the scent: Whether it's the relative lack of the lavender, or the big bump to the orrisroot (or some magic alchemical combination of the two), the soaps, while still smelling strongly like spice cookies, now have an oddly-unfamiliar-but-fascinating scent profile, similar to what I found happened when I made the lip pomatum. There's no good reason why this should make me believe that I've come closer to a "real" recipe, but the feeling is there nonetheless -- and it's definitely interesting.

Finally, and because the flat sides of these soaps looked too innocent, too pure, I decided to try that octopus stamp again. For future reference, stamping immediately after making these? Not a great idea. The soap stuck to the stamp like a motherfucker, and so a lot of detail was lost. But regardless--

Figure 11. Spice cookie kraken soap cakes, holy shit.

And now, I actually do have to wait a few days before I can try them out, or they'll fall the fuck to pieces. Keep watch for mini-updates, though, as I check out how they dry and probably do more unfortunate stamp experiments on them.

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

“... I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore.”

[treehuggerthegreat]

whump inspiration/writing exercise

(A fictional writing exercise, this is NOT a vent post. This is me messing with my ocs)

TW: In depth description of depressive thoughts self doubt, domestic abuse, and passive suicidal ideation

I have friends now, I told myself once I had friends they’d be able to help me. I could get away or at least feel a little happier, but they can’t help. I can’t even ask them for help. Would they even care? What if I end up scaring away the one girl who has ever seen me. Why won’t anyone help me. Am I even worth saving? Is it even worth saving me if i can’t save myself?

I want to leave. I want to move out. But i can’t, can I? She could just… leave. But she doesn’t. She could leave me here with grandma. Yet she continues to suffocate me. There’s not enough from for me here anymore. What does she want?

Why does she hate me so much?

what did I

ever

do

to

deserve

this

Do I deserve this?

What if i just

let her

kill

me

Would any of my friends miss me?

But why would a friend miss a girl

when her own mother hated her enough

To

To kill her

…

would she really do that?

Would she kill me?

[vulpine111]

After these parts dry, I will add more. This likely won't be the only piece I work on today either.

[typederror]

i just tried on like sixteen lipsticks in a row for an art project. at many points in the process i looked like a cannibal. is this how the other side lives?

[cetuscore]

[icelogged]

stolen car smell

waterlogged with holy water

ants feasting on a baby bird

you need to clean your bathroom there’s more to bleach

start in the bedroom

grey day; all fog and cloud

room temperature ginger ale

“go to hell” he says “go to hell”

the dollar store is closed

[the-bagelbitch]

journal experiment!

I’m so rusty. also this shit is nylon thread because i have way too much, don’t @ me lmao I love my kids but not enough to use the rest of my expensive waxed linen

buuut I had an idea to create this kind of partitioned double-signature journal thing as a way of getting Just Enough pages in these journals without having to resort to more advanced + time consuming 2-sig+ binds. I’m still doing some of those 2-sig binds, but less.

(because I’m making 24 of these fuckers.)

once it comes in the mail I’ll stick some roll-on double-sided tape between the two spines so they lay flat.

hope this experiment inspires you to do some fuckery with your books too!

materials:

waxed nylon thread I got in my first bookbinding starter kit (use linen if you love yourself)

cover: hemp heritage 110# cover 8.5x11

filler: maxwell opaque digital 100# text in 96 bright white 8.5x11

[starlightkun]

reading scientific articles on human scent glands to write one scene of a fic. sigh. guess what fic this is for.........

[fagoutboy]

sorry. still thinking

[feminetomboy]

Okay, the fic I'm writing is fully fleshed out, the overarching theme is fully written out, and I just finished scene two, with ah. Six more to go. Thank god Jaiden is gonna be away for most of August because I don't think I could ever finish this if her story progressed in any major way yet again.

[lozchic]

Investigations pt1/3

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