#i will also be incorporating bits and pieces of it. extremely loosely. looking forward to that future meta/headcanon dump]]

[glambytes]

{{ • So... I've been watching a friend of mine play Sot.M and I'm thinking that, with the exception of a couple of unanswered asks + a small handful of threads, I'm going to clear out my 17+ drafts (and drop some threads) for a clean slate!

Currently debating on whether to archive/move to a new F.NAF multi or clean this one before coming back for real. In addition, I'll be moving Daisy to her own OC blog (tba) since I'd like to keep this one canon-character-adjacent.

Can't guarantee that I'll be particularly fast as getting things set up, but I do miss this side of the RPC :")

[twitchesandstitches]

The Great Library was a vast enough eldritch realm that there were enough room for smaller pockets for magic to carve out enclaves of spirit sanctuaries within them, and establish little pocket realms loosely tethered to the rest of the Library; close enough, so to speak, that you could walk through a door in the Library and into someone’s personal realm with ease and comfort, but distinct enough that the all seeing eyes of the spirit that commanded the Library had no actual influence or power there.

He probably didn’t care what anyone did, as long as it was not misusing his knowledge or stealing it, but it paid to be cautious around spirits… divorced from understanding of humans, or so Raven understood. Magnus had taught her this with some urgency when she was young; she knew that spirits were more direct than mortals. They were a purpose and domain given its own form, and did not understand the complexities and changes that a human did. Some dealt with this magnanimously, such as spirits of righteous concepts like Valor or Honor. Some, like the great knowledge spirit of this Library, regarded mortals as hopelessly treacherous and insane, as lost as the tides upon the ocean. And he had told her scary bedtime stories about entities like Koh the Face Stealer, and those like him altogether too interested in mortal weakness, taking the faces and perspectives of mortals to experience it for themselves.

Ever since she was small, long before she had ever towered over him and everyone else, Raven had always listened closely to him. One day, a red giant with one eye had taken in a half-demon girl, on perhaps a whim or a stirring of compassion within his heart, and a longing for a father who had long since left into the ether.

To Raven, the demon Trigon was a monster. A nightmare that even the great demonic Who’s Who tomes refused to talk about in detail. Talking grimoires clammed up, stifling their screaming voices, and would say nothing of him. He was many things in her mind; a looming inevitability, something she would have to take care of, a reminder that she had been born wrong. But he was not Father to her.

When Raven thought ��Father’, she saw a giant of a man, with a great mane of feathered red hair, a single shifting eye. Always a word for the curious, sarcastic snarking for the unwise, and moments of childish pique… but always kind with her, patient and encouraging her talents no matter how they might frighten her, or she frighten others.

The sanctuary of Magnus the Red, his students, and those he had named sons and daughters, they lived within a realm partially modeled after many worlds he had taken a liking to, an ever shifting magical wonderland of infinite possibilities, and the multiverse’s most complicated antique shop. Buildings lay within this realm at odd angles to one another, streets sticking out around invisible trajectories to create mountains of buildings all twisting around one another, and talking raven-spirits flapping about to make sarcastic comments at people.

Presently she and Magnus were within his own sanctum, a place of power to preserve his incorporeal form and make him properly solid for a while and stabilize his powers a bit. It pleased him to follow her whim to make it look like a giant T-letter. Within it, they were having a meeting.

“Sit, my child,” he said, squatting down upon a heavy mat in the fashion of his homeworld from lost antiquity, Prospero. Raven sat in precisely the same way, her gargantuan backside serving the role of a chair. Awkwardly, she pulled her heavy cloak over herself, trying to wear it like he did and she had some trouble. Her chest was getting in the way. Granted, he was quite broad in the chest but not quite in the same way she was.

She was, in every way, a loving daughter who wanted nothing more than to be like her father. Not Trigon. Magnus.

He looked fondly at her, but also sadly.

“There is…” he started, and stopped. He fumbled for the words. “Ah. ...You are well, today? My child?”

Raven nodded demurely. “Yes, father. I am well. The nightmares of…” she shifted anxiously. “Well, you know. I am not dreaming of that anymore. I suppose the medicine worked?”

“That’s good to hear. Yes, good. Er…” he looked awkward again. “I think I know what was causing those nightmares.”

“You do? I thought the general idea was that… he… was growing in power and was attempting to contact me through my dreams.”

“I had thought so too, and that is indeed the case. However… I may have unintentionally given him a route, of sorts.”

Raven’s face, as red as his own, paled into a grayish horror. “You, you what?”

“Not on purpose!” He waved a great hand anxiously. “I was studying a summoning spell for him!”

“Oh dear lord…”

“Not to summon him, not at all! I was simply trying to find out his name!” He sighed. “I don’t want to have to wait for him to make the first move. When we face him, and we will, I swear to you, I want it on our terms. But I needed more information; his name, something to use to track his realms of power or fiendish armies, a way to figure out his cults in the material realm. So I was decoding his summoning spell, working out the programming in it, so to speak.”

Raven calmed down, a bit. A summoning spell ,of the classic ‘call up something into a circle’, was effectively the magical version of messaging someone with the bonus of making them materialize under certain controls. What he was talking about was theoretically possible, and she had no doubt he could do it.

“Then, you have his name?”

Magnus bowed his head. “Yes. I have a name, of great importance to him. The seed of his existence.”

“You do!? What is it?”

He hesitated. “Raven… this is… ah. Look, I called you here to tell you this because we both know the day will soon come when you will have to face him. Sooner or later, he will press that matter, and I intend to see you slay him and take his power for your own. But… now, there is something else. I have to fight him. Not just because I want to, for your sake.”

Raven frowned. “I’m not sure I understand. Do you not have his name?”

“I do. And that is what worries me.” He sighed. “Daughter, you understand that many ages ago, I was… very, very badly hurt.”

She recalled her history lessons. “The Thousand Sons teach that in ages past, your essence was shattered into many shards. Each one containing a portion of yourself.”

“Yes. And in order to retain me, my shards sought each other ought and enough recombined to allow me to keep my mind. And I was badly weakened, as most of my power was scattered. And over time, I found more of them, becoming more whole and powerful… but I never did find them all.”

“The best of you remained as the core aspect, and over time, you found more pieces of yourself,” she said.

“Yes! Very good. Now tell me, how many shards do you think a soul would break into? Bearing in mind that the soul is, by its nature, indivisible and infinite.”

She considered this riddle. “I would think that there is no limit. You could have any number of shards, and since the soul encompasses all you are and COULD be, you might have many, each comprising a minute facet of your being. Is that not so?”

“Indeed. And as I embody the magical potential of humanity as a whole, and therefore multitudes, I could be stretched farther than mortals would be.” Magnus tapped his chest, a nail clicking against one of the spike/horns growing from his chest. “So how many do you think I was reduced to?”

Raven took a guess. “Hrm. A few hundred?”

He winced. “Selling me a bit short there.”

“...A thousand?”

“I wish. More manageable and I enjoy the theming. But no.”

“Father, I don’t know. How many did you break into.”

He looked up, his face weary with an ancient ache. “Trillions. More.”

“Trillions!?”

“I broke apart into so many pieces, each one aware, if barely. Some larger and more powerful. Others less so, but each one an aspect of me. When some of these shards found one another, they fused into what I am now; myself, if not quite whole at least stable. And there were still vast gaps in my being, for eons I searched but never found them all.”

Raven leaned forward, eyes wide and fearful. “Father… do you mean that… oh, are you alright? Are you hurting, even now?!”

“Don’t worry, dear child. I have become whole, over time. The soul is a growing thing, and experience, understanding, growth? I have found all that. I have changed, and so my soul has healed itself. My power is weaker, yes, I would have to fuse with my shards to truly regain my full power, but my being, the essence of what makes me who I am? I have grown into a new Magnus, and made myself whole. I fixed myself, you see.”

Raven sighed, looking relieved. “I was worried there, Father. And, why do you tell me this?”

His single eye narrowed gravely. “You must know that, therefore, many of these shards are still out there. Most are just pockets of raw potentiality, unlikely to do more than exercise random magic. No mind there, just a sense of will. But some, with more essential aspects in the beginning, took on their own life.”

“And, if you grew back into someone…” Raven pondered this. “Then perhaps they have grown into something else as well?”

“You have it! And for the most part, this is not so bad. Some of them are harmless. Others, mutated into dangerous monsters that I must find and slay. But others embodied… terrible aspects of who I was. Spiteful tendencies, vindictiveness, thoughts of wanting to be extremely important, and overwhelming arrogance.”

Raven loved her adoptive father, but she was also realistic. “Thank goodness you left all that behind,” she said sarcastically.

“Yes, it’s rather a good job, isn’t it?” Magnus replied proudly, quite blind to it. “But those parts of myself are still out there. They are still in existence, and over time… I believe they found one another. All the worst in me, coming together without a single aspect of the parts of me that knew compassion… trust, love, the need for other people and a desire to help. Everything, in short, that makes me human.”

Raven frowned. “And those shards might have grown, as you have.”

Magnus’ expression was terribly blank. “This is no hypothetical situation. I can prove it.” He pulled out a roll of parchment, and upon it were many things, but at the bottom:

A summon spell, decoded in messy script, and below it, was the name of Magnus.

“Father?” Raven took it and studied it. “This spell… your name is the central part of it? What is it?”

“A summoning spell for the demon who sired you,” Magnus said grimly. “This is what I’ve been studying, and he used that to try to pinpoint your location. I’ve created wards so he cannot do that now, but I’ve learned his origin.”

Raven tried to work this out. “Okay, but what do you have to do with-”

The shards of myself can grow…

Pieces of myself, the very worst in me, without any shred of humanity or compassion…

Father’s name, on the parchment. On a summoning spell for Trigon.

Evil pieced together, without any room for goodness in there, evolving… growing… and demons, fiends, were just what happened when evil took on a face and a will.

And Trigon looked so very much like Magnus the Red.

Raven paled again. “Oh dear, sweet Primus.”

Magnus shuffled away from her. “Please�� Raven. Understand, I am not Trigon! And he is not me! I-”

“But he was made from a piece of you,” she said, understanding dawning. She forced herself to calm down.

This is Father. It has always been Father.

He is not the monster you fear.

She remembered a great red hand, always at her shoulder. Giving her treats. A warm voice, making snide comments at the more fussy Thousand Sons. Always standing up for her, and so kind to her mother…

Father.

Raven tried not to think about the terrible feelings welling up, the confusion and random surges of fear, and silenced them. Deal with them later, she told herself. She wiped away tears. “I’m sorry, Father,” she said meekly. “I.. I don’t… this, this isn’t your fault…!”

What have I done to Father? He must think so terribly of himself…!

Magnus’ face curled in horror. “My fault!? I, no! This isn’t about me, this is about you! The demon that plagues you, he is my fault! Now, more than ever, it is my responsibility to help you end him.”

“Does that mean… you can become more whole by making him fuse with you? Will that help you?”

Magnus shook his head. “No. We’ve been apart for so long that I haven’t the faintest idea what he has become. A fiend, yes, but apart from that? He’s certainly far less human that I ever was, and I suspect he’s evolved into something else entirely. I’m more interested in how you can help yourself by… hrm, how do i put this delicately… ‘absorbing him’, I suppose?”

“You, you really think that’s a good idea?”

“I trust you, daughter. And whatever power he has, I’d rather have you claim it, and make yourself the best you can be.”

“But, it’s your power!”

He didn’t look at her. Just saying ‘I don’t trust myself to stay me after absorbing him’ was out of the question.

Magnus trusted Raven. He did not trust himself.

“We can end him,” he promised. “Whatever happens after that. We are the key to undoing that monster’s evil. I, the remnant of what he once was a part of. You, the person he made as a vessel. We are in a perfect position to ruin his plans, and for you to become something even greater than you already are!”

Raven bowed her head. “I am willing to try, at least.”

Sometime later…

“And that is the situation,” Magnus said to the assembled Thousand Sons, the Blood Ravens, his other orders, and the human wizards and witches that were allied to him. “Are there any questions?”

A Blood Raven raised his hand.

“Yes? Gabriel Angelos!”

“The plan is still to kill this wretched fiend,” Angelos said. “So apart from a technicality, that the fiend was born from pieces of you, has much actually changed?”

“A lot has changed! It’s a lot more personal than it already was, and it was really damn personal to begin with!”

“Doesn’t sound like much has changed.”

“Oh, shut up and let someone else ask something. You! Tall wizard, the one with red hair.”

A human wizard, red-haired and peeking out of the copious masses of Hermione Granger’s hair, had his hand raised. He was called Ron Weasley, and he had a point to make. “So does this make Lady Raven your actual daughter, or what?”

“She already was,” Magnus said flatly. “Next question.”

“No, no! I mean, adopted, yes, but… biologically! Is she your actual daughter!?”

“We have different meanings of ‘actual’. She is my daughter, end of story. Next question?”

“But if she’s Trigon’s daughter, and Trigon is a part of you, is there some kinda, what’s the word, transitive property that make her your kid too?”

“For pity’s sake! No one actually cares!”

Raven raised a hand. “I care, Father.” She smiled at that.

“Oh come on! Don’t tell me you believe that biological parentage is more ‘legitimate’ than adoption!”

“Well, no… but it’s still a nice notion, all the same.”

Magnus sighed. A Thousand Son - Ahriman, perhaps - piped up. “This, I think, makes the Lady Raven Lord Magnus’ first heir!”

“SHE ALREADY WAS!” Magnus bellowed. “It’s even in my completely pointless will!”

“I recommend a grand celebration!” Ahriman continued, ignoring him. “Let us celebrate the downfall of our eldest enemy, and the discovery of a true scion to lead us all!”

“How is he an eldest enemy?” asked a witch; Luna Lovegood, Raven thought. “You’ve only known of his nature for a short while.”

“He is retroactively a greatest enemy,” sad a Blood Raven, with a straight face somehow. “And he was at one point part of Lord Magnus. Everyone knows that Lord Magnus’ greatest enemy is himself.”

“Hey now!” Magnus complained.

“I’m sorry, Father, but they’ve a point,” Raven said.

“Oh gods not you too.”

[onegirlatelier]

Scandinavian Spring, November 2018

I set my eyes on Laine issue #5 when I was visiting a yarn store in Copenhagen last summer, and this cardigan was so beautiful I knew I would make it someday. I was (and still am) always drawn to complex things, and whilst this piece wasn’t difficult, it certainly looked polished and delicate.

(The model’s smile and her pretty lace shirt might have helped, too—I should’ve known better, but who could resist?)

I had never knitted a garment with set-in sleeves before, and the design of this cardigan was sophisticated enough to present an exciting challenge as I learnt about how a knitted garment was supposed to fit on my body.

I have heard about the simplicity of Nordic knitting patterns on podcasts, and this certainly seemed to be reflected by the pattern instruction for this cardigan. At first I was confused by directions that told me to cast on or cast off, but not in which method. I knew enough to know that there were different methods, but not nearly enough to know which one was suitable, let alone which one I preferred. I am not complaining though—it was a research process as well as a joy to knit up this garment, which is exactly what I love both in work and in my hobbies.

The main pattern is lovely yet surprisingly simple. I could almost hear my maths teacher call it an elegant solution, and I fully agree. The cooperation of wool, alpaca, and mohair makes it light and fluffy like candy floss. A cardigan for a special occasion, certainly.

Pattern

Scandinavian Spring by Sus Gepard. A very relaxing pattern once I figured out the technical details concerning the edges. I spent about a month in late autumn last year knitting it. Every day I would do my BMAT practice questions in the afternoon, and then work on this cardigan for about two hours in the evening, before moving on to more science-related reading.

Yarn

Edge: Isager Alpaca 2 Eco #E0. 11g/55m.

Mohair lace: Rowan Kidsilk #634 Cream. 74g/618m.

Background colour: Isager Alpaca 2 #Sky. 60g/300m. This colour is so beautiful. It is a greyish purple, with red, blue, and yellow fibres. It has such depth that I feel I didn’t do it justice by placing it at the background.

The measurements include the amount of yarn used for a small piece of swatch.

The remaining yarns are weighed when I finished the cardigan last year. However, recently I cut off four pattern repeats of each sleeve respectively to shorten the sleeves (see modification), so the actual meterage of the mohair yarn and the background yarn should be a little bit less.

(Sky: see all those pretty colours?)

Modification

My gauge was different than what the pattern asked for stitch-wise. I got 24sts per 9cm, which was 1cm shorter than the standard. I casted on four more sts for the back and two more sts for each front piece. Row-wise I was fine.

I used 2.75mm and 3.5mm needles as suggested. The newly knitted cuffs were done with a 2.50mm needle, but 2.75mm should also be fine. I did have to knit very loosely, especially with the larger needle, to get close to the gauge. I used a 3.75mm needle for the purl row between ribbing and main body just so the edge wouldn’t curl up.

I knitted the body pieces flat, and sleeves in magic loop. In hindsight, I could’ve knitted the bodice in one piece up until the armseye, and worked separately from there.

Cast on and cast off: Italian 1*1 rib cast on and 1*1 rib cast off. Some instructions for Italian 1*1 rib cast off says to leave a tail that’s three times the length of the finished border. I think two and a half is sufficient.

For the bottom edge of the cardigan, since 1*1 rib cast on requires two additional stabilising rows, I used the second stabilising row as the first rib pattern row in the pattern. Then after this I worked 5 more so that the last row of ribbing would be worked on the right side.

When the pattern stated ‘every X row’, I interpreted it to be the last row of every group of X rows. It seem to be the right guess.

When casting off for armseye: I did it on the 1st row (RS) of the 14th pattern repeat. Cast off for shoulder from 5th row (RS) of the 25th pattern repeat. I knitted 26 pattern repeats in total for each piece.

When decreasing for neckline in the front, I began at 7th row of 15th repeat, and dec at every 3rd and 7th rows, 23 decs in total.

The pattern instructed to dec for armseye at the very start and end of the row. However, it was sometimes aesthetically pleasing to dec 1 st before the last stitch. I adjusted between ssk and k2tog for both start and end of row decs. In general, I decided which technique to use as I went, to make it more invisible in the weave pattern yet easy to pick up or sew.

I used bias cast off for the shoulder seams to be smoother. There are many tutorials online so you can easily find one if you search ‘bias bind off’ or ‘bias cast off’. I also learned to cast off at the end of a row by making a loop with the yarn and carrying the loop at the back of stitches. I used a combination of these two techniques.

For the back piece, I forgot that the stitch count included one knit stitch at every start and end of row, making it difficult to pick up stitches. It turned out alright, though.

Sleeve length adjustment: I think the sleeves are designed to be long, which certainly looks great, but not too practical. They add extra weight and pull the armseye seam down too. So several months after finishing the cardigan, I decided to cut off four pattern repeats on each sleeve. I counted four pattern repeats from the cuff, and used a needle to pick up the stitches on the 7th row of the 4th repeat as this row was clearer. After counting and making sure that I picked up the right number of stitches, I cut off the cuff from about the 3rd or 4th row of the 4th repeat. The texture of mohair and alpaca meant that the fabric wouldn’t unravel easily, but by leaving one or two extra rows it basically wouldn’t matter even if it were to unravel at some point. After this, I knitted one round and did seven rows in 1*1 rib before casting off.

 Finished Measurements

I didn’t measure accurately, so there are approximations.

Bust circumference (there is no bust or waist shaping): a bit more than 80cm

Body length: about 50cm, possibly shorter

Sleeve length doesn’t matter—I improvise every time anyway.

Wear & Tear

I have no idea since it has never been worn outside. It is very delicate, and not very practical against the wind judging considering the extremely loose gauge, so I suspect it is not meant to be worn like an everyday cardigan anyway. I’m looking forward to wearing it, even though I am really worried about cleaning it. (Which is okay, I am used to worrying about cleaning after a few years in couture sewing.)

 Further Considerations

The cut-off parts of the cuffs are not unraveling any time soon, and frogging mohair is a real pain, so I think I will incorporate them into a part of wrist warmers.

If I were to make it again, I would use the X size and do adjustments accordingly. I would make the bodice at least 5cm (so two to three pattern repeats) longer.

I would pick a background yarn that either is a solid colour or comes with strong colour contrast. Most of the background yarn is hidden behind mohair fibres, so it’s difficult to see any nuance.

[houseofvans]

SKETCHY BEHAVIORS | Interview w/ STACEY ROZICH (LA) 

From animal mask wearing people sifting through antiques to creepy mascots being arrested by equally creepy looking officers, Los Angeles based artist Stacey Rozich’s watercolor works are all things awesome. Strange, familiar, dark, humorous, and pleasantly eerie at times, Rozich’s paintings, while done in the style of folk traditional painting, are filtered through her own lens of modern pop culture. With some upcoming shows in the New Year–a group show at New Image in LA in February and a two-person show at Portland’s Talon Gallery in September–we couldn’t wait to chat with Stacey Rozich about her early experiences with drawing, her collaboration with Subpop Records, and her sketchiest story involving loud raucous metal heads and a little out-of-the-way saloon in Malibu in this latest Sketchy Behaviors. 

Photographs courtesy of the artist | Portrait by Kyle Johnson

Tell us a little about yourself.  My name is Stacey Rozich, or Stace, Stace Ghost, etc. I’m from Seattle, but I now live in Los Angeles. I’ve been painting in watercolor for the past twelves years, and drawing before that since forever. I sometimes do large scale versions of my work as acrylic murals, which is something I stumbled into. I dig painting in the folk tradition, but through my own lens of modern pop culture, and way too much tv watching as a kid. Seriously, I was an insomniac in middle school and for some reason my parents gave me a tv in my room, so I stayed up all night watching VH1 Pop-Up Video and Adult Swim (circa late 90’s). I have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of The Simpsons seasons 3 - 8 — I used to recite monologues from the show to my family when I was a kid. And I still do!

What was your first experience with art / drawing? And who were some of your early artistic influences? In Kindergarten I drew a many-legged leopard in the forest with crayons and I got a lot of praise for it from the other kids and the teacher. I felt a combination of pride and complete embarrassment for the attention I got for something I created without thinking. My earliest artistic influence was probably Sailor Moon. I wish I could say I was one of those really smart arty kids that loved Picasso, but honestly I wasn’t that aware of what “real art” was until later in pre teenhood. The flashy colors and character designs of Sailor Moon were so exciting for me! Even the lush watercolor backgrounds captivated me. I liked drawing people then so the outrageous proportions of the girls was something I could mimic in my own drawings.

Some of our favorite aspects of your work is your use of gouache and watercolors. Can you share with folks what it is about this particular medium you enjoy so much?  I absolutely love watercolor, and truthfully I don’t use gouache that much to consider myself proficient in it since it’s a slightly more opaque medium and I use it for accents. Especially the fluorescent gouaches I picked up in Tokyo, those against my watercolors pop nicely. But watercolor, yeah, I think I have that one in the bag. I remember using it in high school and absolutely loathing it — where was the control? One wrong move and it all just blended together into one big wet puddle. When I was a freshman at CCA (California College of the Arts in San Francisco) I took an intro Illustration class and the first thing our professor did was give us a watercolor demo; I was not looking forward to it. He was such a wizard with it! He gave us really smart instructions to not use very much water, and really “charge up the brush” with the pigments and paint it in and let it dry fully. That way edges of the paint have dried and created a barrier for the next application of color next to it. That’s why the barrier for entry with watercolor can seem too high, when it gets too slippery to work with there’s an overuse of water. I got that suddenly and it all clicked. Since i grew up drawing habitually I liked that I could use a very small brush and almost draw with watercolor, and large brushes to fill in certain planes with tonal washes. I like that I can wipe and dab away little pools of color and it creates a nice stained glass effect — that looks really lovely against a matte layer of watercolor that I’ve used extremely little water with. 

Are there other mediums you’d like to try in the future? In the future I would really like to start painting portraits of people in my life. Like, Alice Neel style portraits in oil. Oil intimidates me greatly so I think I’d start in acrylic.

What’s a day in the studio for you like?   I get to my studio around 10am since I’m not a very early riser, unfortunately. I so envy early morning people! One of my girlfriends who’s an incredible textile artist is up and at ‘em and hiking in Griffith Park by 6am. And there I am under the covers with a cat on stomach looking at her Instagramed hike thinking “Some day that will be me” — I like to lie to myself. Anyway! Once I roll into my studio I settle in to write some e-mails, putz around the Interwebs, and then get down to the task at hand. It’s usually 11 around this time so I’m usually really chugging along by 3, and then I’ll keep going for a few more hours. If it’s a painting for a commission or gallery show I tend to spread my timeline out so I don’t get burned out. If it’s a commercial gig there’s a lot more scanning, Photoshop clipping out and editing which can take me later into the evening.

What’s that process like? My process always starts with loose sketches on paper, which can mean in a sketchbook or whatever blank piece is lying closest to me. I work out compositions with really doodly lines — they’re virtually unintelligible but I know what they mean. When I move to the final I mostly wing it when it comes to the color palette. If anyone has ever seen my watercolor palette they know it’s a goddang mess  which works for me. I usually work with whatever shades I’ve pre mixed and let dry in the pan.

You’ve worked with various clients and companies over the years. Do you enjoy collaborating and what do you find the most challenging about it? I do like working commercially, the collaboration with art directors can be incredibly rewarding. Though there are times it becomes a slog when you’ve created about four or five killer rough ideas and they go with the weakest one. Why does that always happen? You have to do what they say essentially, but still keep your voice even when it feels a little pinched.

In 2015, you collaborated with Subpop Records on some amazing record art and design? Can you tell us a little about that collaboration and process? Subpop is one of my favorite labels to work with hands down. Their art director Sasha Barr is such a boss. I was really lucky when I was working on the Father John Misty album that I got to create the art and not worry about the editing process. I sent it up to them since they had access to a gigantic scanner to get a full high-resolution image. It meant a lot that I was able to do the art as an actual full scale piece, as opposed to broken up to little scraps and then scanned on my wee little ancient scanner. Sasha did all the leg work to clip out the whole thing and to figure out how to stage the multi-layered pop-up interior gatefold. Usually when I work with smaller clients they ask me to do all this which is…not a good idea. Ultimately that album packaging was nominated for a Grammy in Packaging Design in 2016, but we lost out to Jack White because of course. Damn you, Jack White!

What WOULD BE your ideal collaboration? I would like to work with a great publishing house to do my own young adult series. Basically all the characters and worlds I’ve been painting distilled down into a serialized art book/graphic novel type thing. That’s a big dream of mine that swings from feeling so possible and exhilarating and then feeling completely futile because everyone has the worst things to say about the state of publishing right now. I still have hope that someday I’ll get it together to at least put forward a proposal. 

On a different level I’ve love to design some patterns for Gucci. I’m not really up on the latest collections of luxury brands but Gucci is one I’ve noticed has been doing a fantastic job incorporating illustrations into their garments either as accents or printed motifs. The uniqueness of the artwork coupled with excellent hand done detailing makes my brain feel fuzzy in a really good way.

What type of music do you listen to when creating? Can you give us the top 5 bands you’ve been checking out? I waffle back and forth between music and a lot of podcasts. For the times when I can’t listen to anyone talk anymore, I listen to Jim James, Solange, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Shabazz Palaces. I just started listening to Andy Shauf’s new album which is lovely, it reminds me a bit of Harry Nillson. Also there’s a great massive playlist on Spotify called Twin Peaks Vibes that is excellent.

What’s your strangest or sketchiest art story that you want to share? I was eating lunch with some friends at this little out-of-the-way saloon in a canyon east of Malibu after a hike a few months ago. It’s pretty isolated down there — they’ve been using this place for filming Westerns since the 30’s so it’s a very specific strange and cool gem. I was sitting at the bar and these bros come in, being loud and raucous. I kind of internally rolled my eyes at them and ignored them. I hear one of them say “Excuse me — are you Stacey Rozich?” I got scared for a moment because anytime someone recognizes me by name I feel like I’m going to get into some trouble. I told him I was, and then he and his friends got very excited since they all were huge Southern Lord fans, and loved the album artwork I did years ago for the band Earth. I was really surprised (and relieved) and we had a good chat! It was a very unexpected encounter down at this little far away rustic saloon.

What’s a common misconception about artists?  Perhaps that we’re all lazy. That we don’t have a good work ethic since what we do is hard for most people to wrap their brain around. It’s a completely unconventional path to go down, and you have to be extremely dedicated to it. Yet somehow this doesn’t quite translate to most folks since it seems like basing your life and career on an unknown pursuit like art seems insane. And there’s an idea that artists have a lot of free time to spend laying around waiting for inspiration to strike. 

What’s been the biggest challenge for you as an artist? The largest challenge for me, honestly is: myself. I’ve been working solely on my artwork for the past six years and it’s been full of a lot of ups and downs: emotionally and financially for sure. There’s always a feeling of not being good enough, why aren’t I as good as this or that artist, why aren’t I doing X, Y or Z. Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of myself for what I have accomplished but I need to remind myself of that before I go down a spiral of anxiety. It comes from a fear of rejection which can prevent me from pursuing things, submitting a proposal for the aforementioned young adult series for example. Sometimes I need to remind myself to get out of my head and to get out of my own way.

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an artist? I’d probably be in finance, on Wall Street most likely. Kidding! I think about this sometimes. Being someone who creates has always been so tightly wrapped up in who I am as a person that it’s hard to extract myself from what I would be without. I would hope I would do something in Slavic studies. My dad’s side is Croatian (by way of Detroit) and while that’s been a huge inspiration for my artwork I’ve always been really fascinated with that region’s history of conflict and resilience. When I spent six weeks there back in 2012 it only deepened my love for that place and also my curiosity for what makes it tick.

What are your favorite Vans? A pair of beat up, worn in, maybe a couple of holes at the toe blue or red Authentics. A true classic.

What’s a question you never get asked in an interview and would like to ask and answer yourself? It would be, ‘If there was one person living or dead who you wished owned or could have owned your art — who would it be?’ To which I would say that’s such a hard question there’s so many people I admire! But as of this moment I think it would be rad if David Lynch had some of my art. I love his unstructured style of storytelling, all the loops and the sometimes frustrating dead ends his narrative world has. The effect of creating an unusual if not downright confusing vignette just for the sake of it reminds me of how I approach the storylines in my work.

What cool and interesting projects or shows that you’re working on - should folks keep an eye out for next year? Since it’s the end of the year things are usually pretty quiet in terms of projects, but I’m in a group show in conjunction with Luke Pelletier’s solo show at New Image here in LA in February. I’m scheduled for a two-person show at Portland’s Talon Gallery in September and! Hopefully, if it all aligns, I’ll be headed Internationally to do some muraling. I’m stoked for it!

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[nerddface]

Skill and Ponies

(gif’s not mine!)

Characters: Legolas, female!Reader (racially ambiguous)

Warnings: none :)

Word Count: 1,735

Notes: Apologies for the crazy absence. Based off of anon's request following Still Space.

Based off of this (x)

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Magnificent creatures, horses. Y/N had been mesmerized by them for as long as she could remember. Her father had taken her on some trail ride when she was no older than seven; it was an old, weathered mare on a dirt path that didn’t lose cell service, with a guide holding the rein for the entirety for the half hour journey, but ever since she’d been undeniably hooked. Her room had exploded in a burst of equines, and soon they covered her bedsheets, her walls, her notebook covers, her shirts. She would draw horses in the margins of her notebooks in the absentminded moments of class (terrible drawings, might she add, but heartfelt nonetheless), and asked for Breyer collections for her birthday.

She thought she would collapse when her parents started her in riding lessons when she was ten. Soon the feeling of being in the saddle had her addicted, and she continued her riding career into high school, and only dropped it when paying for American college sucked all her resources dry.

Being in Middle Earth, though, it became a different situation. There was no other form of transportation aside from walking—certainly no five-hour plane trips that took her across the map, no cars that shaved a five-day walk into a two-hour drive. If not ridden, horses pulled carts, carriages. They  were a part of life, and not a luxury, or a hobby she desperately wanted to be a way of life.

Though they had walked for most of the journey thus far, running into Éomer and the Riddermark had gained them three horses—Aragorn on the bay Hasufel, Legolas and Gimli on the grey Arod, and herself on a spotted mare whose name she was informed to be Mōna.  Aragorn seemed more than comfortable in the saddle (Lord knew she was), but when it came to the elves (more specifically, her elf) and horses is where it got a little interesting.

Legolas rarely traveled; he was still relatively young for his kind, and as the Prince there was little reason to. Trips through the Mirkwood were on foot—tracking and fighting the massive, disgusting arachnids through the tangle of roots, branches, and vines was too time-consuming and dangerous for any non-bipedal creature larger than a rabbit or the occasional deer—but those were not ridden, and they were rare now.

So, Y/N was graced every day with the amusement that was Legolas on a horse. Mounting and dismounting were particularly funny—lithe though he was, he was also light, and sometimes his mount wouldn’t notice it had a rider until he would move to urge it forward and it would spook at the unexpected pressure, flinch violently or, on one hilarious occasion, try to unseat him with one set of hooves off the ground. Though the elf had managed to stay in the saddle, he was thoroughly red-faced when the animal settled down, and she was sure he heard the stifled laughter from the rest of the Fellowship.

He’d been petulant and hadn’t let her kiss him that evening, but she decided it was well worth seeing the graceful blond creature trip up, if only once.

Legolas was in the stall beside her now, double-checking Arod’s girth. The slim rope that separated them would have made Y/N’s instructor back home do flips—she was extremely safety cautious; Y/N could hardly cross-tie next to another horse for bathing, let alone replace stall walls and doors with rope.

Y/N stifled a yawn behind her hand, her forehead falling to Mōna’s shoulder and eyes closing. She knew well enough that the caravan had to leave with as much light the day had to offer, and she was pretty damn used to getting up at the crack of dawn (she had Legolas, aka I don’t sleep, and Aragorn, aka I don’t need sleep, to blame for that), but that didn’t mean she didn’t still hate it.. Her free hand stilled on the horn of Mōna’s saddle, and her other rested on the animal’s neck once the yawn had forced its way from her mouth. The familiar warmth and aura of the barn lulled her into calm, contented stillness.

Suddenly Mōna shook her chestnut mane, startling Y/N out of her little moment of peace. Legolas was grinning at her from over her mount’s withers.

“Not sleep well enough, mela?” he questioned, his voice sounding like pure honey in Y/N’s sleepy ears.

“Oh, shut up, Mr. What-is-sleep-even.”

Legolas chuckled, and Y/N pursed her lips to hide a smile, and ruffled Mōna’s mane. She tucked her fingers under the leather strap of her saddle’s girth and tugged on a stirrup. She heard from over Mōna’s back a shuffling, then a jerk that jangled some piece of tack. Arod snorted and Y/N looked up to see him toss his grey head and step back. She peered under her mount’s jaw to see Legolas eyeing the bridle, turning it in his hands and gazing at its many straps and metal pieces in what she would readily describe as bewilderment.

As he held it up by the bit, she left Mōna to duck under the rope separating the horses and gaze at her fiancé.

“Trouble?”

Legolas tilted his chin up. “No,” he responded indignantly, but Y/N noticed a flush dust his flawless cheeks. She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight, watching him expectantly.

The elf set his jaw and studied the bridle some more, shifting his grip on it to raise it to Arod’s head. He had it almost right, but there were some misplaced straps that seemed obvious to Y/N, but she tried to take pity on her poor fiancé, who was far less versed in this than she. The horse knew as well, and clamped his jaw shut when Legolas moved to give him the bit.

Y/N stifled a chuckle and slid her arms around Legolas’s middle, standing on her toes to place her head on his shoulder. “Need a little help?”

He said nothing but lowered his hands and huffed. Y/N released him to take the tack in one hand and step around him, rearranging the straps as she did so, and draped the reins over Arod’s neck. Legolas took a step back to allow her room to bring the bridle up to the horse’s face and separate his teeth with her thumb and forefinger. Arod accepted the bit calmly and Y/N took care in sliding his ears comfortably between the browband and headpiece. The throat-lash and cheek piece were a setting loose, but she left them for Arod’s sake. She pulled his grey forelock from beneath the browband and ran her fingers through the small tangles, hearing him huff deeply.

“Good boy,” she praised, and turned back to Legolas. His arms were crossed over his chest, shoulders drawn in rather indignantly. She cocked her head and grinned at him, laughing when he pouted to avoid her gaze.

“I could have done that.”

She nodded. “Of course.”

He looked as though he wanted to say something, but hesitated. She quirked an eyebrow and he went even more red-faced.  

“May I—is—is it—perhaps…”

Y/N waited as he drew in a breath to continue. “I admit that perhaps you may be more skilled at this than I. Perhaps sometime I might take something from that knowledge?”

“Of course, babe,” Y/N soothed, reaching her hands before her. He took them tenderly, and looked as though he was to say more when a horn sounded outside. Both their heads turned to the sound for a moment and she felt Legolas steal a kiss to her cheek.

“Time to depart.”

She nodded, the gravity of the situation seeming to settle around her head. This was war. And not war in cyberspace. This was war with swords and fists, this was killing up close and personal, this was getting blood on her hands and smelling it in the air. Legolas released her hands and she returned to Mōna in something of a daze, unlatching the rope gate and mounting. She had plenty of experience in the saddle and enough by now with a sword, but she had no idea what was going to happen now that she had been incorporated into this story. Deaths could be mistakenly caused or prevented because of the new factor she brought to the universe. Already she had changed the Fellowship, and although it may be slight, she knew damn well how a feather could tip the scale.

Mōna fell into step with Arod when he sauntered past, and the elf atop him noticed his fiancée’s troubled gaze.

“What plagues your mind, Y/N?”

Snapped from her thoughts by his smooth voice, she glanced up briefly before settling her gaze on Mōna’s withers.

“Nothing worth voicing,” she excused.

“What troubles you does so to me as well, a’melamin,” Legolas informed her as the blinding morning light of the plains of Rohan suddenly warmed Y/N’s body and pained her eyes briefly as her pupils acclimated to the change. She sighed heavily.

“I’m worried about what’s gonna happen. God knows what I change by simply being here, let alone getting engaged to you, or fighting with the Fellowship. I don’t want to be the reason someone dies when they weren’t supposed to.”

Mōna and Arod shuffled into the front of the line beside Aragorn.

“I will see you safe, mela,” Legolas said to her, his voice solid and unwavering. “We have good men by our side and at our back.”

She nodded and straightened her back. He was right. No one was any less strong than before with her here, and the men around them knew what they were doing. Aragorn was no less valiant, Legolas no less lithe, Gimli no less lethal. Even Mōna knew her way—she was a warhorse, and Y/N trusted she would be carried well enough to do her duty.  

Offering her lover a smile and seeing it returned lifted her heart.  The war would be won, the ring destroyed, and she would marry Legolas.

They would have their happy ending.

[josephkitchen0]

Helping Stock Dogs Remember

By Denice Rackley

The last series of articles focused on our first few lessons on stock. We have been concerned about the ideal picture we were looking for and the most common challenges.

We now have our young dog walking calmly “to round pen” and waiting next to us until asked to “go to sheep.”

Our sheep-handling trainee is working calmly to keep the group of sheep with us as we walk around. That includes stopping behind sheep and “calling off” of them well. It also involves familiarity with “Here,” “That’ll Do,” “Lie Down” or “Stand” and a sound chosen to indicate he should go around the sheep to gather and bring them to us.

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Walk Up

We have learned that young dogs naturally respond to our body movement, wanting to keep stock with us. We are slowly introducing commands, wanting the dog to eventually pay more attention to the command than our movement.

Teaching “Walk Up” is one of the easiest commands. With the dog stopped behind sheep, begin moving away in a straight line and ask for a “Walk Up.”

The dog will want to come forward, pushing sheep toward you.

You can incorporate some sound to mean walk up. Two short whistles are commonly used. I ‘click,’ like the sound I would use for a horse to increase speed (since that comes easily from my horse training days).

The dog might want to circle sheep since we have been doing quite a bit of that. Encouragement to stay behind the sheep is signaled by raising a hand or an arm to block off the circling.

You may use a fence line to help a dog understand what you want: Walking a few feet from the fenceline will assist the sheep in continuing in a straight line and help keep the dog from circling toward the fence, so you only have one side to block. Once the dog understands, move toward the center of the pasture.

Remember: If the sheep pass you, allow the dog to circle around them in a gather, to bring them back to you.

Position Yourself Well

Your body position will affect the dog and the gather.

If the dog is on your left side, it should go left; on right side, it should go right. You want to be standing up near the dog’s shoulder, sending it off with a ssshhhh as you step away releasing pressure.

As of yet we have not introduced flank commands (named to indicate which direction we wish the dog to go.) I wait a bit before introducing commands. If I say a specific direction before the dog is easily going both ways, then I need to do all in my power to ensure it goes the way I have said. It’s easier to introduce flank commands by “sending” the dog, with a sshhhh, then “say” that direction. (“Come Bye” is a standard command meaning clockwise. “Away to Me” and/or “Way” mean counterclockwise.)

If you’re standing at the dog’s hip when you send it, that puts some slight pressure on its rump, which can make it go faster. Standing near its shoulder helps the dog turn its head away from sheep to the outside of the circle, so it’s not putting pressure on the sheep around the circle.

The pressure to move sheep needs to come as soon as the dog is stepping toward sheep to move them to you (a “walk up”), not as it’s traveling around the circle.

After the Round Pen

Once a pup is keeping all the sheep together, moving them to me, stopping and coming off sheep when asked, I begin working in different locations, adding more “dog-broke” sheep.

From the round pen, I move into the training pasture. It’s about 250 feet by 150 feet, with loose-woven wire, so if animals hit it, they’ll bounce off. (I hope for the best, but plan for the worst.)

I tend to best get the small group of sheep in their favorite spot in the pasture by walking with the young dog on a lead, “pushing” the sheep. One can then just drop the line, asking the dog to begin gathering.

Repeat the things that were being done in the round pen in one-third of the pasture, gradually using the complete pasture. If there’s a skill or particular location the dog has trouble with work closer to both it and sheep, by going closer to a corner of the pasture. If things get out of hand, go back to the round pen for a few more lessons.

I work in a smaller enclosure, do a bit of work in corners, try inside the barn and then work a larger group of sheep in the small training pasture. Working in those different areas with different numbers of sheep will help the young dog learn different lessons and perfect the lessons you’ve started in the round pen. The dog will learn to relax with sheep and build confidence, enabling good work in the smaller, confined, tight spaces — as well as practice keeping a larger group together in a bigger space.

Periodically, I revisit those areas best suited to the skills the dog needs more help with.

At any stage of training, you need to feel free to go to the area where you can best help your dog. It’s not a step back to take a three-year-old dog into a round pen.

I work my fully trained dogs in the round pen occasionally: Working where you can take a step or two to help the dog (rather than the dog being 25 or 200 yards away) is good training; it can be very productive. You aren’t going to be able to help the dog as quickly or easily at 200 yards.

Your corrections should be more effective in a smaller place, because you will see what needs to be corrected, sooner.

The correction is given at the appropriate time, ensuring the dog will clearly understand what the correction is for.

Once the dog understands what you want, then move to a larger space, setting things up to judge whether the problem has been taken care of.

Remember, corrections only work if the dog knows and understands what it did that caused you to correct. When you are teaching a skill, you need to be helping the dog understand. It’s important not to “drill” — don’t get into the habit of repeating lessons on the same sheep in the same place.

Once the pup is calling off well, working thoughtfully and keeping sheep in one group, then move on to another step in the training process.

When there’s a problem, move back into a smaller space with fewer sheep and work on that problem.

Remember to keep lessons short: Dogs learn correct skills just as quickly as they learn the wrong things. Try not to “practice” the wrong stuff.

I have started pups in my training pasture, not needing the security of the round pen. These pups listened extremely well, never chased, or did silly puppy things. They were working in a large pasture on 20 lambs at six months old. I still went into the round pen and smaller pen to teach them to relax while working in tight spaces and surrounded by lambs.

At some point, I will want the dog to confidently walk into the middle of 100 ewes, parting the flock on its way through. The smaller pens enable me to begin to develop this skill.

Training is nothing more than planning for life. Every skill I will need the dog to accomplish I keep in mind while the dog is young. I try to set up situations in a controlled space with easy, predictable sheep, so I help the dog understand what I’m asking.

I’m setting the stage for success. A confident thoughtful dog will be willing to try anything I ask in the future.

If the dog has mastered individual skills, or at least been exposed to them, it’s easier to put the pieces together while learning on the job, helping with chores.

I expose a dog as it’s ready for increasingly difficult tasks. Testing the dog in real work situations will show you where it’s comfortable and what skills it needs to practice.

We can take a step back, setting up training scenarios when we encounter a trouble spot. Experience is a great teacher. If the dog has a good stop and recall, I figure things can’t go too wrong. But I start small, working our way up to complicated tasks.

We can discuss the young dog helping with chores in a future article.

Denice Rackley employs, raises, trains and sells cost effective canine farm hands. If you need more detailed assistance than provided in her articles, please contact her at ClearFieldStockDogs.com.

  Originally published in the September/October 2018 issue of sheep!.

Helping Stock Dogs Remember was originally posted by All About Chickens

[thesteveyates]

An Inanda projects post : thinking about the sail-handling and cockpit ergonomics.

Taking up the story of the delivery trip again Inanda is, as i write, moored in the river Frome at Wareham just outside Poole.  I have done one trip down to the boat to check her over and do the next round of ‘temporary’ jobs that i thought were essential before the long bash around Portland and across Lyme bay.             Although i will post my first attempt at woodwork repairs in another post a brief description for now is that i have made and fitted a ‘fashion-piece’ to replace the rotten section of coachroof at the awkward ‘break’ in the coachroof where one level joins another.        That turned into a larger and longer job as i ended up digging out a lot more soft wood from the cabin side and then both the beam shelf and the deck beam. It was also an ‘available parts technology’ job as the fashion-piece was made from another bit of boat that i had just removed.    However,  what that job really needs is for me to take the entire ‘lid’ off and replace the lower section of beam shelf and the deck beam completely (or scarph new sections in)  and then put a stronger (thicker) lid back on.  The alternative would be to completely rebuild the cabin sides and coachroof into a single level so that water runs off properly.  The second alternative is to take the whole cabin top off and rebuild it as a deck-edge design and thus gain more useful space inside.

The rotten section is just about visible from the inside here….in rain, water just runs straight through that complex joint and soaks that bunk.  I tried covering the outside of that whole joint with gaffer tape applied carefully but water always runs into that corner and finds its way along the wet joint.

Fashion-piece repair.

That whole larger project is a ‘sleepless nights’ and wakeful early morning planning sessions ones while i work out what all the problems and pitfalls might be.  At this stage i am thinking about a second stage coachroof repair once Inanda is home where i use it as a learning exercise to just make and replace existing parts. What i would do there is just take the lid off and replace/repair the soft bits.

The ‘Ergo’ part to the post is that the cockpit and companionway ergonomics (and sailing ergonomics) are generally poor and i would like to improve that to make her easier to work and more comfortable to sail.  As she is the main hatch is too short in the fore and aft plane because of that awkward stepped coachroof, such that moving in and out of the boat or standing in the galley, is uncomfortable.  A one piece coachroof with a longer and wider hatch would solve several problems.  An alternative approach would be to do the essential repair really well but at the same time actually raise the upper section of the coachroof to more like the profile of ‘Nomad’ which has become my gold-standard for this project.

Looks right to my eye.

This is the potential alternative design, a deck-edge cabin variant on another gaff-rigged Deben…so it has been done.  The obvious problems with this design are that the cabin inside is wider but lower (i am a tall bloke) and that going forward would be even more exposed.

Here is the current stepped coachroof design…water has to run into the angle of the step….the gaffer tape is covering the wet section. I have to do a serious repair one way or another and i keep looking at that coachroof shape and thinking that the raised section could go up a few inches.

The main focus of this post though is to start thinking about the cockpit re-design and rebuild because the cockpit is currently my worst ergonomic problem.  As it is the sail handling is difficult, there is no single place to sit and be comfortable while steering and the cockpit stowage just doesn’t work for what needs to be there.   Even more crucially the engine and it’s electrics are essentially exposed to salt and rainwater.  As part of the frames repair i will have to pull the cockpit apart anyway to get at some broken frames, it will be tempting although  maybe un-necasary to whip the engine out at the same time so that i can clean the bilge right out and re-paint. Having aligned one engine in the Frances 26 refit i basically know how to do that job and i know i have got to have a new fuel tank anyway. The cockpit area does have several problems that i want to attend to and i have already had to use valuable time to do temporary fixes.  On the trip so far i have had to repair the cockpit sole, rebuild the ineffective engine cover and i have already heaved the old galvanised water tank out from the port locker. This far though i have only had the time to do expedient repairs until i can make long term corrections.

There is a loose engine cover although i had to make battens to hold it in place and at the time i took this picture the cockpit sole, such as it is was creaking up and down…not connected to the central cross-bearing beam at all. The cross beam is actually either broken or it’s been cut and altered at some time.    The kind of new layout i am thinking about is a workboat style engine box and then fuel tank left (stbd) and battery’s right (port), and then a new higher cockpit sole right across the boat but no fixed seats.

As you can see from above the cockpit isn’t self-draining and the engine is vulnerable mainly to its electrics and salt water ingress but rain just runs over parts of the engine as well. The cockpit is also extremely awkward to work the boat being very narrow aft as you can see by Jackie’s feet.  The construction is poor too being based on some broken and odd-levelled deck beams and then essentially loose boards. The well sides are only T&G board nailed to some battens.      The great thing is that the whole structure would come out in less than an hours work and would be a nice project for my rehab time as i could make a complete mock-up in situ first.

There are essentially several problems to deal with.

Protecting the engine and dampening the sound.

Having a cockpit sole that allows me to stand and work properly.

Having somewhere to sit and steer when i have to hand-steer, at the moment i can’t sit comfortably anywhere except for perched on the coaming….not exactly comfortable but at least well braced.

Having somewhere to sit outside in good weather…the pit is just long enough for me to sit fore and aft with my back against the bulkhead and my legs stretched out.

I think that where i want to start is by making a proper engine box completely around the engine to protect it and contain it’s sound a bit.  That should be removeable such that i can work down on the engine and get to the current shaft greaser.    Next would be to fit a proper new fuel tank one side (stbd at the moment)  and a new battery box opposite although an alternative plan is to have the battery box just inside the companionway just as i did with the Frances.       For the working side i like the idea of then having a single level cockpit sole above that with none of the side box-work which are the current seats and cockpit stowage including the small fuel tank.  Initially i might have no cockpit seats at all and just plan to sit on the raised sole which is what i think the Pardey’s did with their first build.     I will have to improve the sail handling a lot in the cockpit as Inanda only has single sheets on cleats…zero winches and i need more control lines coming to the pit as well.

The battery box and ready tools box i made for the Frances 26 after i put the new engine in. Inanda doesn’t have quite the same width at this point and because i now prefer sealed AGM battery’s wouldn’t have to be as accessible so going in a decent box down near the engine might work and save me some cabin floor space.

Aft, the cockpit is so narrow and the tiller so short that when Inanda is carrying weather helm i can’t actually sit in the cockpit (aft) and steer…i have to either perch on the coaming edge (uncomfortable) or sit further forward which makes the arm-tiller angle really unpleasant. Sail handling, especially hauling in sheets is really difficult in that i have to lean right over the coaming too and can’t get a bracing foot where i need it.  Right now a simple and open cockpit sole is very appealing, i don’t know whether i can incorporate a draining cockpit floor unless i bring it quite high.   It might also pay to either reduce the cockpit coaming height a bit or have a ‘racing-seat’ arrangement such that i can essentially sit on the side deck to steer….i did that quite a bit during the trip with a folded sail cover as a bum-pad.

That awkward and leaky break in the coachroof and the short hatch.

With cockpit plan ‘A’ the eventual cockpit sole would i think be some 4 inches higher than where it is now.

The following photographs i have had to borrow and are of the much larger 28′ Taliesin and i think an Ed Burnett boat second but the cockpit design is where i might be headed.

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Ergo 1 : cockpit. An Inanda projects post : thinking about the sail-handling and cockpit ergonomics. Taking up the story of the delivery trip again Inanda is, as i write, moored in the river Frome at Wareham just outside Poole. 

[totallymotorbikes]

Backtrack Tuesday: BMW R1100GS vs KTM LC8 950 Adventure Published in: Bikes Pack'em up, hop on and take off. No pavement? No problem. Both these bikes have "Adventure" in their souls. Can you imagine camping in some killer back country spot along the way in your next long distance motorcycling adventure? Can you imagine cutting the corner off your next highway trip on a brief adventure through the forest to avoid twice as many super slab miles? Do you enjoy an occasional sporting jaunt through your favorite twisty bits? Perhaps a tiny but exciting wheelie every now and again? Oh yeah! Sign me up for a few more decades of that baby. Want to know how? Read on. Not that many years ago there were motorcycles we now label as "standards". These were machines we owned that we did everything on. You could press them into service on a canyon blast on Sunday morning and they'd do OK. You could load them up with your bags and take off cross country and they'd do OK. You could throw your significant other on the back and go for a ride and they'd do OK. Back then, once in a while you might even get a wild hair to make your way down a gravel or dirt road and you could get it done. About the only thing they did exceptionally well though was to do about anything OK. Well it is twenty years later and things are different now. Motorcycle technology has risen to such a high level, thanks in great part to racing, that now you can get a bike that does about anything at or above the eighty percent level when compared to a more single-focus bike in each category. In fact, these two machines do it all so well they've expanded the envelope to the point where a new word was needed to describe their breed. That word is "Adventure" and both these bikes dish it up huge! We won't be comparing dyno charts, wheel bases and tech specs. This piece is directed to the serious buyer of either of these machines who has a certain amount of adventure in their motorcycling soul and who expects to be wandering into places that aren't totally paved. If it's a crotch rocket or couch-on-two-wheels you want, then you shouldn't be shopping for either of these two bikes. We will be comparing these machines to each other for their intended purpose, which we all now know simply as "Adventure". Owning a BMW R1100GS is a unique experience. Its look is unique from the strange fender that never moves and the high bulbous gas tank to the dirt bike style bars, single-sided swing arm/shaft drive unit and, oh yeah, those two big aluminum foot warmers sticking out down there. Then there's the Tele-Lever front suspension and anti-lock brakes. Lift the rear seat off and poof, there's a tool kit you could use to start your own roadside assistance business. The odd-at-first but comfortable upright riding position, wide bars, and a large forward seat section allows plenty of front to rear movement. The 'sewing machine" sound of its mill... it's all uniquely GS. The KTM 950 is a whole other kind of unique. It's equally challenged, er, I mean unique in the looks department. Solidly in the love-hate category in my opinion. But just swing a leg over it and take it for a spin and if that whole looks thing once bothered you, suddenly it won't any more. The harder you push this bike the more fun it gets. Wearing riding apparel that dirt and mud won't bother, passing squids on 150 horsepower machines in the canyons, buzzing around town for groceries, filling up two fuel tanks, knowing that no dirt road is a match for this beast... it's all uniquely KTM 950 Adventure. Both of these bikes have loads of character. They're also extremely utilitarian. For one­-up on the street, both of these machines prove incredibly worthy steeds. My experience has been that both of these bikes require relatively low maintenance and both are very reliable. Additionally, they can be found on the used market for a reasonable sum of about $5,000-8,000. Now, if you need more reasons than this to read on, by all means read on. Once you become accustomed to the unique experience of riding a GS and you begin to push the machine a bit looking for the edges of its performance envelope some interesting things happen. The first thing you notice is FUN factor! You'll get this smile from ear to ear and you'll begin to realize how operator friendly this big bike really is. Next you'll find yourself scooted all the way forward to the tank, using those big wide dirt bike style handle bars to flop the bike from rail to rail. When riding it between five and eight thousand rpm's you will notice the bikes uncanny stability and smoothness. This is an interplay of many factors some of which include: smooth to accelerate fuel injection, formidable torque, shaft final drive, and a very effective Tele­Lever. When rolling this big opposing twin on and off, just let that weird suspension do its thing, and before long you'll be flying along scraping "foot warmers" and grinning like Jimmy Carter, not wanting to go any faster. It is usually surprising to would-be GS purchasers that the oil-head GS is actually a pretty quick bike. I don't mean quick by the standards of today's breed of race replica crotch rockets. I did not expect to be getting lectured by CHP's finest from the PA system on their squad car when I purchased the refined BMW R1100GS, but it happened. Had I been on a racier looking bike I'm sure I would have received a small, yellow piece of paper from officer friendly with the words "reckless and imprudent" scralled in his best chicken scratch. One up on the street the GS delivers, and without a lot of muss and fuss. For the most part, whatever you're in the mood for the GS will be also. The brakes are excellent with plenty of feel and power and I've never experienced any kind of fade, even scooting right along two-up. Then again, I wouldn't expect to because I'm not one to go into corners hard on the brakes on the street. I save all that rear-wheel-in-the-air stuff for the race track. On the few occasions when I've tried the ABS on the BMW on purpose just to learn what to expect in the "unlikely event" I've been impressed. Once you know what to expect it really doesn't upset your riding and it may save you from a spill some day when the bulk of a loaded GS may have gotten away from you otherwise. Notwithstanding all its other capabilities the big Beemer really shines when one-up turns into two-up. My wife and I have traveled all over the place on the GS in all kinds of conditions and performance basically mimicked my one-up handling experience. We weigh about 325 fully laden with riding gear and our luggage usually doesn't exceed 25-30 pounds. We've been up and down Highway 1 and on most of the canyon roads in the 805 area, read Southern California, and if your wife is the kind who enjoys a "two­up with Reg Pridmore" type of ride the GS will dish it up all day long. The GS will also suck up super slab all day. With a good saddle under your collective buns you can log many miles two-up on a GS in comfort. I think the GS has the roomiest seating for two of any motorcycle I've ever owned. For the last year or so we also had a set of the large aluminum panniers. Even without them you can pack lots on the GS. The machine carries the luggage well too. I don't know if it somehow offsets the high, heavy fuel tank with some weight down low but you don't seem to feel the weight of luggage and passenger as much as you would expect on the GS. With the big wide bars and excellent suspension anyone with a well-calibrated right wrist and forefinger can haul booty on the BMW, even two-up on twisty roads, and have a very fun ride. Once you leave the pavement though the performance equation changes quite significantly for the big BMW. While the package works so well on the street certain things can't be ignored in the dirt, the biggest of which is the weight. Another is the lack of a well-done six speed transmission. As long as you are on a solid base like a road bed, well maintained gravel or dirt roads are well within the comfort zone for the GS. However, when the going gets a bit rougher like on miles of wash board, or on loose slippery stuff like deep gravel, sand, or any kind of mud, unless you are Jimmy Lewis, you will quickly be way out of your comfort zone on the BMW. Let's face it. This is a 550 lb. motorcycle dry and unpacked. It also presents a somewhat high center-­of-gravity package, especially when filled with 6.6 gallons of fuel. All in all, the somewhat taller heavy package of the Beemer is considerably less suited, and for some downright undesirable in "dirt biking" terms. The KTM is quite different in this area. With nine and three quarter inches of suspension travel front and back, tall is just another plus of KTMs more off-road oriented package. The big KTM carries its 5.8 gallons of fuel much lower and far more leading edge off-road oriented race design has been incorporated in this machine. With its in-line V-Twin it is narrow like a dirt bike, perhaps to resemble a dirt bike's larger cousin. Power to weight ratio and highly intergrated handling and performance qualities come forth with the KTM offroad and can you feel it. Logistically, fueled and ready to ride, the KTM is more than a hundred pounds lighter than the BMW's dry weight. In large, it is a whole different package. The first time I swung a leg over a KTM 950 Adventure my first impression was a dirt bike on steroids. Like "Dirt-bike­zilla" as my good friend CJ would say. In many ways that first impression was accurate, but there is much more to the story. Like the GS BMW the KTM is proof that all-around motorcycle performance sometimes can come in a funny-looking package. KTM's dirt bike heritage is clear and present when you take this bike off the pavement. You start off on gravel roads and find yourself just flying along at speeds your dirt bike simply can't attain. You're comfortable as long as you still haven't bothered to glance at the speedo. When you do you're instantly scared. Yikes! Well maintained gravel or dirt roads become Paris-Dakar segments with the countryside flashing by in streaks. How can you be comfortable going that fast on gravel? Easy, you're riding on the rocket ship 'Adventure.' This is the kind of bike that can make you a better rider, in terms of having to utilize proper ride technique. Its either that or, well... forget about it. The power when riding off-road with this bike seems limitless. KTM has the LC8 tuned for an excellent balance between torque and dependable peek power. The hydraulic clutch and six-speed transmission are equally well done. It's a highly developed package and few riders will likely ever discover its limits off the pavement. That's because you have to be good enough. You catch yourself riding the KTM like you would your dirt bike, power-sliding around the sweepers, surfing the washboard and having to reel yourself in, back down to a more sane speed. This high tech ride allows you to begin daydreaming, but all that dreaming ends when you try to stop in a hurry. It's then you realize the 436 pound motorcycle with dual sport tires really can't stop as fast as your CR250 shod with full on knobbies. (So, part of the equation with any "adventure-type" motorcycle when in the dirt is to recalibrate your stopping distances.) Say, hasn't this bike placed in the top three every year since its inception in the Paris-Dakar Rally? No surprise. Back on the street with the big KTM things just keep getting more fun. Only an absolute speed junkie would yearn for more, or friendlier power than you can wring out of this LC8 on the street. I'll take this ninety-some horsepower motor with all its torque and smoothness over a hundred and twenty (or more) peaky ponies any day. And if you think the suspension on this machine shines in the dirt, which it does, then you're in for a really pleasant surprise once you hit the tarmac. It works even better! One-up riding on pavement with this bike is impressive! The quality of the fully adjustable (some on-the-fly) suspension components at both ends of this machine make it capable of doing anything on the street, and doing it well. Freshly off the dirt from a mighty blast through the forest, with a couple quick tweaks you can turn this thing into a canyon carving monster. The harder you push it the better it feels and pretty soon you figure out that it's just not smart to go any faster, even if you are Reg Pridmore, unless you're on the track. Speaking of the track, if you did tape off your lights, safety-wire a few things and attend a track day with the 950 I'm sure you'd have a ball. I wouldn't expect to be the fastest guy out there, but I'm also sure you'd be passing lots of lesser riders on bikes much more well designed for the purpose. One thing I noticed that took some getting used to for me as a long-time road racer was the rear brake. KTM uses a more aggressive dirt bike ratio than the bikes you're used to riding this fast in the twisties. I almost learned this the hard way on my first day as I had the rear end lock up on Lockwood Valley Road high up in the Los Padres. Go easy until your right toe is recalibrated. Overall cockpit configuration and rider comfort on the KTM is good. As with many machines, owners will likely modify their machines to suit individual preferences. One area where the KTM has shown limitation in the past is in seat comfort. Though this bike can eat pavement all day one-up, it's only comfortable saddle-wise for generally about three hundred miles per day. Reports say now that the new 2005 stock seats actually break in after about 12,000 miles. As far as luggage goes the KTM can support some variety, especially during solo flight. Unless you're one of those riders who likes to take the kitchen sink, a duffel bungeed to the small rear rack and a well placed moderately sized set of over-the-seat saddle bags should get you by for all but the most lengthy of sojourns. Tank bags are also an option but the tank is plastic and rather oddly shaped so it is a bit more of a challenge, though certainly not impossible. When two up traveling, cargo hauling requires more innovation of course. You won't need many two-up trips on the 950 Adventure to realize the comfort to luggage relationship needs working. With soft luggage the high pipes of the KTM protrude enough so that packing massive compartments become awkward if not unfeasible. If rear saddlebags ride back far enough for the passenger to use their foot pegs they likely will be burnt on the exhaust. Also, the size of the trunk-bag attached to the rear rack must now be smaller to accommodate the passenger while avoiding the high exhaust. There are OEM and other hard luggage options that fit the KTM which some prefer. The seat that was okay for one really isn't okay for two for trips of any length. The pre-2005 stock seats do okay for occasional two-up, one day bopping around here and there. But start to string days together, rack up some miles, and a tour package more like the GS is what you'll yearn for. One reason for this is that the rear portion of the KTM seat tilts upward tending to make the passenger slide down into the operator. Of course this is not very comfortable for tour situations. On mountain roads going steeply downhill it can be almost a burden. Many have remedied two up seat discomfort by turning to aftermarket custom seat-makers. With adjustments made the KTM can very adequately carry two people in reasonable comfort for long periods. It can be much better than when delivered in stock amenities but a Wing it will never be, nor a GS BMW for that matter. In summary, here we have two extremely refined motorcycles. The BMW GS series, which has garnered legendary status from decades of devoted service, and the KTM Adventure, which is now being viewed as the 'would-be king'. Both motorcycles are a joy to ride. The older heavier GS is still slightly more comfortable for longer touring. Yet, the KTM seems to be capable of that with refinements. For two up long distance the BMW again slightly gets the nod. For one up riding which bike you might prefer probably depends on where, and how you like your riding. The BMW will travel long steady miles, and in windy conditions be more planted. Yet, if ever stuck, the bike will likely require more than one person to get unstuck. This is not so with the KTM. Though maybe more fatiguing for long straight highway miles, it is an absolute blast and a wonder nearly everywhere else. In heavy traffic and while commuting both bikes do fine, though the KTM is probably a little bit easier to maneuver. In the rough is where the KTM really shines. Because of its lighter weight, six speed transmission, wide powerband, and long suspension the KTM does very well offroad, and those same factors make twisting and mountain riding exhilarating. For would be owners, choosing one or the other of these bikes will likely depend on a number of factors. I have devised a brief question outline that might help you clarify which one of these bikes might you might prefer. -The more one prefers asphalt with some graded roads, or travels two-up the more one should consider a BMW. -The more one grins at a filthy, dusty, muddy bike after a ride the more one should consider the KTM. -The more interested you are in heated grips, electric vest plug-in ports or a larger windscreen the more you should consider the BMW. -The more interested you are in the factory crash bars to protect the fuel tanks and aluminum brush guards for the controls the more you should consider the KTM. -If you're the type of rider who admires minimalism, who wants to stably feel every root, rut and gravel bog, who isn't afraid of getting lost and having to track yourself back out of the forest then I'd lean more toward the KTM. Originally published April 2005. http://ift.tt/2jQImjt