Inktober 2018

I've been wanting to improve my drawing skills, and this year decided to participate in the #inktober challenge on Twitter, and followed the suggested prompts. I'm pretty proud of myself for following through and completing all 31 days.

I learned that I don't much care for using Micron 005 pens for coloring (that's really not what they're for), but they are nice for line work. Most of the illustrations I did do the initial drawing in pencil, then inked it. Some I used a photo reference, some not (some I really should have). I used pencils for color most of the time, and usually used my old Crayola pencils, because I forgot I had the much nicer Prismacolor set I got for Christmas (sitting literally within arm's reach). I like coloring with pencils, because the color is so much softer and more blendable. Anyway.

Here, in one place are all my crude, rude, and in some cases socially unacceptable Inktober ink drawings. I got fairly political and I'm very progressive. Gotta exercise those 1A rights while we still have 'em...

For size reference, the sketchpad I used was this one:

3.5 x 5" Strathmore 300 Series, fine tooth surface

#1 Poisonous, #2 Tranquil

#3 Roasted, #4 Spell [Note: the Greek is thru Google Translate, and I'm sure it's rough]

#5 Chicken [if you don't recognize this, go read this blog post – but pee first]

#6 Drooling

#7 Exhausted, #8 Star

#9 Precious & #10 Flowing

#10 Flowing – if felt like cheating to include two prompts in one, so I did Flowing again

#11 Cruel

#12 Whale

#13 Guarded, #14 Clock

#15 Weak [Mitch O'Connell]

#16 Angular, #17 Swollen

#18 Bottle

#19 Scorched, #20, Breakable

#21 Drain

#22 Expensive, "Ignorance cost more than education..." – Lord Avebury, John Lubbock

#23 Muddy, #24 Chop [Executioner is wearing a pink "pussy" hat.]

#25 Prickly [an unflattering, but not inaccurate, self-portrait]

#26 Stretch, #27 Thunder [my dog, hiding under my desk because of thunder]

#28 Gift, #29 Double

#30 Jolt

#31 Slice

Bonus from 10/2: "In response to a Tor.com article:
'The Peril of Being Disbelieved: Horror Fiction and the Intuition of Women'"

Simple Vertical Hanging DIsplay

I was struggling to find a good way to display headbands for sale, and Pinterest was not particularly helpful. I saw something that was interesting, but also posed its own problem: it needed to hang, itself. But the shape of it made me think of something else: tomato cages.

So that night I ran to the hardware store and got a galvanized steel tomato cage (it was about $5, and sturdier than the usual dark green ones) that had 4 rings. It will sit on the 4th ring as my base, leaving 3 rings to use for display, and the 4 exposed wires at the top (that I trimmed, using a pipe cutting tool) would then be stuck into a styrofoam head to finish the display.

I used a can of spray paint I had from another project to paint it. Some of the wires were welded unevenly into the top ring, and it was going to tear up any table covering I set it on, so I bought some thick batting as a remnant and some clearance ribbon. I cut the batting into strips about 2 inches wide (I only needed 2 strips), and wrapped it around the top (soon to be bottom) ring. Then I wrapped the ribbon around that, securing it with hot glue. It's 2 1/2 inch ribbon, 5 yards, and I used the whole spool. (I did fold the ends over a few times to enclose the raw edges.)

Painted tomato cage, wrapped tier.

The styrofoam head was one that I had, I découpaged it with tissue paper and paper napkins that had a pattern I liked, then painted on a face to give her some personality. After carefully skewering the head onto the wires (it's uneven – that's kind of the nature of styrofoam sometimes, especially when the wires are at angles, as mine were), I put hot glue into the holes to help anchor it in place.

Meet Ophelia

For the display part of it, I ordered wire clips from Amazon. Unlike clothespins, these won't break apart if they're twisted. Plus, I can permanently attach them to my display by bending open one of the loops and closing it back again around the ring of my display. (Clips don't get lost, and I can control the number of items displayed per section, preventing overcrowding.)

Wire clips, pliers wrapped with duct tape (so it didn't mar the coating on the clips).

The clip loops are easily bent with pliers, but I did put some tape on the pliers so the PVC coating on the clips didn't get marred. Once I figured the best number of items per section, I was able to put that number on each section and add the headbands when I was done.

Figuring the best number /section.

The finished display is a little over 4 feet high (50.5", 1.28m), but it's not a floor display – it's intended for a tabletop. On a 30" table, Ophelia will stand 6'8.5" (2m), and the top tier is conveniently at eye-level for most people. The bottom tier I am reserving for kids' headbands.

Filled with inventory.

I suppose my next project could be to find or make a lazy susan sort of thing so the whole thing can rotate, but I have concerns that would make it tippy if someone tried to spin it too fast. Unless I am prepared to anchor it to the spinner (making it less portable), I think I'll leave it as-is, and put it on a corner of a table.

Ophelia, modelling.

The open space under her neck will be used to hang signage with pricing. It will be at eye level for most people and done with the same typeface that I use for business cards and other booth signage. I have some acid-green tulle that I'll use to hang it with.

I'm hugely pleased with the way this turned out, and I hope this serves as inspiration for you, if you have vertical display issues for small items.