More about Tikistufph
Dec. 4th, 2008 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikSince I've had a few folks ask me, here's the scoop on the whole Tiki thing.
I've been to a number of conventions over the years. Of all the things brought home from them, it's the little keepsakes (buttons, pins and such) that bring back memories the best. While many a con-book or printed tote bag has been disposed of over the years, the little souvenirs are the bits I keep. This year I really wanted to give out some of my own, now that I have the laser gear to make them with.
At first Dusty and I came up with a design for a nifty wooden necklace-charm, keeping with the Surfing theme. I ran the design past the FC staff and found out they wanted it as a patron gift, so I happily sold it to them. A batch of them will get handed over to the con staffers in a week or two. However, this means I can't give them out myself; I needed a new design.
Trying to keep with the surfing theme, I figured tiki-ware was a good idea. Little idols are not hard to design and are immediately recognizable, while still providing a lot of variety. Alder-wood sheets are easy to get and are perfect for this application. I started sketching out my own design and Dusty made one as well. His tikis were the first carved and they look great. While refining his design it occurred to me that it'd be cool to have a whole group of designs instead of just one or two. They're not that hard to make, so they could be as simple as little napkin-sketches for anybody who wanted to try. Many of my friends are excellent artists, so maybe one or two would be interested.
What we hope to end up with is a big ol' bucket of these to just give out at the convention or use as prizes during events. They don't cost me much in raw materials and the labor is manageable. Anybody who pitches in will be given a dozen of their design to give out (or sell) on their own. The front would be the Tiki design itself, preferably with an "FC09" on it somewhere. The back would have the FC2009 "Surf Safari" logo, a credit line for the artist and an optional URL pointing at the artist's site.
If you want to do one of these, here are the requirements:
If you want to try a design, please, feel free! I'll do as many as I have time for and will gladly give you design credit (with a URL on the back pointing at your site if you wish). If you've got any questions just leave me a comment here or email me if you'd rather.
I've been to a number of conventions over the years. Of all the things brought home from them, it's the little keepsakes (buttons, pins and such) that bring back memories the best. While many a con-book or printed tote bag has been disposed of over the years, the little souvenirs are the bits I keep. This year I really wanted to give out some of my own, now that I have the laser gear to make them with.
At first Dusty and I came up with a design for a nifty wooden necklace-charm, keeping with the Surfing theme. I ran the design past the FC staff and found out they wanted it as a patron gift, so I happily sold it to them. A batch of them will get handed over to the con staffers in a week or two. However, this means I can't give them out myself; I needed a new design.
Trying to keep with the surfing theme, I figured tiki-ware was a good idea. Little idols are not hard to design and are immediately recognizable, while still providing a lot of variety. Alder-wood sheets are easy to get and are perfect for this application. I started sketching out my own design and Dusty made one as well. His tikis were the first carved and they look great. While refining his design it occurred to me that it'd be cool to have a whole group of designs instead of just one or two. They're not that hard to make, so they could be as simple as little napkin-sketches for anybody who wanted to try. Many of my friends are excellent artists, so maybe one or two would be interested.
What we hope to end up with is a big ol' bucket of these to just give out at the convention or use as prizes during events. They don't cost me much in raw materials and the labor is manageable. Anybody who pitches in will be given a dozen of their design to give out (or sell) on their own. The front would be the Tiki design itself, preferably with an "FC09" on it somewhere. The back would have the FC2009 "Surf Safari" logo, a credit line for the artist and an optional URL pointing at the artist's site.
If you want to do one of these, here are the requirements:
- The aspect ratio to shoot for is 1:2 -- as in, don't get any taller than twice the width.
- The laser can do some amazing detail, but if the details are too small they might get lost in the wood grain. On alder wood like this, I'd say don't go beyond 150dpi. The average tiki is between 1.5"x3" and 2"x4".
- The design needs to be line art in true black-and-white; no greytones or colors. Where the design is black, the laser removes wood (making it grainy and darker). Where it's white the wood is untouched (leaving it laquered-smooth and lighter).
- Black areas that are laser-carved end up with the wood's natural texture, cut about 1/3rd of the way through.
- If you want an area textured more than just the natural wood-grain, think "woodcutting" -- use patterns of lines or bigger cross-hatching. Just remember -- all black and white, no greys!
- Vector art works even better -- but raster is fine.
- Lastly, one needs to define how the tiki will be cut out. I can do this for you, but if you want more manual control just draw the 'cut-out' outline in red. Here's dusty's design as an example:
The large black areas of the eyes, mouth and head end up wood-textured and darker. The 'woodcut' lines in the lower part of the tiki show up very well. The red line shows the cut-out and hole, resulting in the final cut:
The laser will cut the red line exactly as drawn, so be sure to leave any space you want around the design and a hole for the necklace to go through. I can tweak/add that for you if you need, though. You can also cut out any areas inside the tiki itself if you wish. Just don't cut out so much that it can't hold itself together. :) - For the back, either just give me a name and a URL, or send a bitmap of the actual signature you want cut.
- For vector art, please send it in .EPS, .PDF or .AI formats.
- For bitmap art, just about anything will do. .PNG, .TIF, .JPG, you name it.
- My email addy is tugrik@gmail.com
If you want to try a design, please, feel free! I'll do as many as I have time for and will gladly give you design credit (with a URL on the back pointing at your site if you wish). If you've got any questions just leave me a comment here or email me if you'd rather.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-12-04 10:59 pm (UTC)Think of how cool THAT would be with the cut throughs.
---
But, it looks like somebody did spring cleaning and
http://images.belfry.com/albums/TechnoGeekery/encoder360.jpg
is no longer valid.
- krin ^ _ ^
no subject
Date: 2008-12-04 11:02 pm (UTC)BTW still working on some pawprint designs, I'll get back to you.
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Date: 2008-12-04 11:45 pm (UTC)Great design, Dusty!!
-J
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Date: 2009-05-01 07:54 pm (UTC)-GS
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Date: 2009-05-01 08:09 pm (UTC)