The Big Two-Zero

Nineteen

Must Be Eighteen: We Card

Waged a sort of mental war while I worked on this one. Initially, I wanted it to have a sort of Tarot card vibe, but had plant patents on the mind, so this is the result. I nearly scrapped it as another "butchered" entry, but I think it mostly works. 

Seventeen

Finally got a rectangular hole punch. I'll still use the other one every now and again throughout the rest of this series, but this one simply feels right somehow, more authentic. 

Sweet Sixteen(th Card)

Had the idea for this one while having my car worked on, but kinda forgot part of it. 

Fifteenth Card

Points of inspiration for this exact card:

How to Train Your Dragon

Mega Man 2

Old data entry job at an alcoholism center. 

Card XIV: (Nothing To Do With) A Realm Reborn

Signed up for a chance to be in a beta for the PS3 version of FFXIV. As much as I can't stand MMOs, I've got a kind of morbid fascination with the downfall and much-discussed reboot of XIV. I probably won't get the full game, even if I do get to be part of the beta. In general, I have this kind of abusive relationship with RPGs: I love them, but I don't have time for them. At least with something like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, I can play a mission or two back-to-back, unwind during the debriefing and upkeep phases, then save and quit for the day. If I am going to get involved in RPGs again (apart from the tactical strategy subgenre like XCOM or Valkyria), it'll be in the realm of pen-and-paper, which I've actually been ruminating on for a possible video project in the coming weeks. Nothing's solid yet, mostly on account of my car troubles (which I'm getting fixed this week), but hopefully things will mellow out and I can stay motivated to go back to producing full-on video works, if only occasionally. 

Card the Thirteenth

Card Number Twelve

Eleventh Card

Tenth Card

Number Nine

Five Cards in Two Days (Motivation Lesson)

Fell into a bit of a depressive slump thanks to some annoying car troubles that left me feeling really unmotivated. I was feeling kind of down anyway, so this really didn't help. Anyway, as I've made five of these things in two days (held off because I wanted to get a traditional hole punch instead of relying on my blade to make the notches) and uploaded them all to my other sites just now, the next five entries will only be the embedded videos and the photos. There are no real "in progress" shots to speak of, apart mainly from the one where my Slice blade broke at the tip while working on one of the cards. I'll have to think of something else if I want square holes in future cards. 

Eighth Card

Not only did I decide to use red in the color scheme, but I was considering not having any grid or graph paper whatsoever. Pushed a little too hard with my thumb for the print, but I guess you could say it's a blood spatter like in a type-testing kit. 

Seventh Card

Discovered a small camera problem while working on these. Once before, I reshot a video because on playback it would hang in the same spot no matter what. I thought this may well have simply been in the phone and it would play fine once uploaded. Well, it's happened on both videos for six and seven, so I may have to upgrade my setup and use a different camera if I make more of these. 

Sixth Card

Last time I tried to make two cards at once, I butchered one of them, but this time was only slightly less painful. I cut the two outlying notches too deep, making them feel really flimsy, hence cutting off the entire corner and widening the one farther in for symmetry. At the end of the day, it simply feels like a paper skeleton key. 

Fifth Card

Not sure how long this series will go on, but I'm certainly done with the "I Made A Thing" gimmick with the titles. The idea behind the tall, narrow slit (with very small off-center break) is from dealing with RAM upgrades, the way the chips have these little gaps between some of the contacts to keep them from being inserted incorrectly or in completely the wrong slot altogether. Had a bit of trouble with the glue on this one. I guess I didn't use enough, which is important when you're working with a smaller surface area than the previous cards (the butchered card worked out but that's because I put extra pressure on it from the thumbprint. Tried that with this one, but ended up nearly creasing the whole thing). 

I Made A Four Thing

After the "happy accident" with the torn tag, I set to work right away on a true and proper fourth entry in this enigmatically growing series. I really like how the perforated edges of these notebook pages look. I also wanted to use a bigger piece and have as little script as possible, almost pure data. The grid of small brown squares is an inkling of sorts into the stylistic direction I want to take future entries in this series, however far ahead that may end up being. 

I Made A (Butchered) Thing

Tried something a bit different with this one, and paid for it. Instead of gluing the graph paper to the card and cutting the notches and holes in that, I got the idea to put the notches on the end of the card without using the grid, giving the impression of an old key. Unfortunately, even with the aid of a ruler, the cuts were not very straight and made all the more obvious without the graph paper. I ended up ripping off the end in frustration, then stewed for a moment before resolving to finish what I started and simply make two cards in one night, writing this one off as apocrypha. The thumbprint, which was there from the start, turned out to be a very silly idea, at least in terms of execution. Years ago, on MTV's Cribs, Kathy Griffin showed off her bathroom, which used a lot of earthtones in its color scheme, including these textured diamonds of dark brown against tan along her walls. She commented that at first it seemed a neat idea, only to realize dark browns plus messy textures (coupled with being a bathroom) gave the almost unavoidable impression of, in her own words, "sponged-on poo." 

The print being a thumb doesn't help things much. 

I Made A Thi(rd Thi)ng

Actually got a watermark for the reverse side on before making the cuts. Not sure what kind of society I'm creating with these symbols (the stylized crown, the blossom, and now dice), but they're either very far ahead of their time, or extremely set in their ways. The dice were a result of complete spontaneity. I had a flashback to going to a casino and seeing these "reward cards" that some of the more elderly patrons would insert into the video poker or slot machines. I don't know exactly what they were for, but I found it funny that they were attached to lanyards or those springy rubber coils. It reminded me of the keys for Jet Skis that attach to your life vest, so they kill the engine if you fall off.