LotusBlossom

[Rankenphile]

What about doing thin lines, like the raked lines in a sand garden? Or bamboo bordering, with thin green leaves? Perhaps even a koi or two swimming below some floating lotus blossoms, similar to the drawing below:

On a side note, there is an incredible Japanese garden and gallery near my house that I went to this weekend with my girlfriend. If you're still working on this mod, I could go shoot some reference photos for you, there are some great scenes there to shoot. Great flat stones creating a walkway across the pond leading to an island with a wooden bridge and a huge artificial waterfall. Very neat place.

[amberella]

On a side note, there is an incredible Japanese garden and gallery near my house that I went to this weekend with my girlfriend. If you're still working on this mod, I could go shoot some reference photos for you, there are some great scenes there to shoot. Great flat stones creating a walkway across the pond leading to an island with a wooden bridge and a huge artificial waterfall. Very neat place.

Wow - that would be awesome if you're already gonna be there. I actually finished a 70mm fan cover that i did an Ouroboros design around the fan hole and then kind of..... "japanese dragonized" it. I'm very happy with the results... must post pic. And I love your photo and idea, btw. Definitely something I could work with.

a standard ouroboros design (just for reference so you know what I'm talking about ... the one I drew is more "hefty" and has talons in the style of a traditional japanese dragon design and some small wings just cuz i like 'em and cuz i wanted a slight celtic influence):

In other news, I wanted to drop in and explain my absence since this worklog began:

1. Was looking for a job/moving to Manhattan - very time consuming flying back and forth and pretending to be all stuffy and businesslike.

2. During job search, current firm closed (like, forever) and so I will be officially out of a job in 2 weeks. Job search intensified.

3. My current firm's sysadmin (and entire IT dept... and friend) decided to start a consulting firm for other brokerages/businesses down here, based on all the work offers he's had over the last few months. And (drumroll, please) he's asked me to partner with him on the venture. =D So I will be doing the web design, custom app coding, etc. in addition to all the financials (accounting, balance sheets, CFO stuff). I actually wrote some software for my current now-defunct firm that was ready to be deployed THE MORNING they closed, lol. So..... source code... mine.

THE MAIN REASON..... VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

4. You might remember that I had this whole ipod-y box idea, which was going really well. I was cutting out all the pieces when - WHAM - utility knife slipped and i sliced through my thumb. Like -THROUGH my thumb. No exaggeration. Longways from the knuckle through the nail and out the front tip. It was connected by a tiny little piece of skin. So emergency room and 12 stitches and a lot of Perkoset later, I'm down to a bandaid now and can almost bend it. Yikes. Watch out kids, don't play with knives. I was gonna post a picture for you here, but I didn't want anyone to be like, "dumbass.... you shouldn't have been cutting like that..." which is, of course, true - but you know when you think "I just have one tiny little thing to cut just this once......" Yeah, it sucked hardcore.

At any rate, I'm settling down again and ready to start work again, so come back and check out my progress, and I'll post the dragon pics soon.

Thanks for reading, everyone!!

amberella :p

[Rankenphile]

Thanks for the update. I like how this mod is going, it's nice to see one with a softer touch, compared to all of the industrial/high-tech/leet/monster mods that are all the rage with the kids these days. :p

I'll try to get some photos for ya next weekend, as soon as I get some time and find my memory card for my camera.

BTW, I'm "borrowing" your idea for the clear/UV paint for a mod of mine, using green UV paint on a black surface with sound-activated CCFL black lights. I'll keep ya posted, if I ever get that far on it.

[Aero]

welcome back. Hope that whole job thing is going to work out, and hopefully it will be better than your last one :p. Also, hope your finger is better. I nearly poked my eye out with a hobby knife while working on my project, also almost stabbed myself...err...in a very painfull place..., moral of the story is don't work with sharp object stupidly. ANYWAY, I'm looking forward to more of this mods when you get around to it. Good luck.

[amberella]

...using green UV paint on a black surface with sound-activated CCFL black lights. I'll keep ya posted, if I ever get that far on it.

sounds cool ... are you using the clear UV paint? if so, i would do a tester first as i don't know how painting that stuff on a black surface will work. it isn't the most hearty of mediums. there is other, thicker green UV paint that might glow better, but you would see it on top of the black. it's a trade off. good luck, and post some pics so i can see how it works out!

[Xato]

Normal UV reactive paint Is just flourescent die, like that in Highlighter pens. Invisible Ink/Paint is what you're really after, which is clear and only shows colour when under a black light. Invisible ink is probly a lot harder to find, and most likely more expensive, but if you're painting onto a black surface, UV reactive paints should do fine.
UV reactive paints are not affected by the surface they are painted onto, just the thickness of the paint layer.

[Zeus]

not so much http://www.xoxide.com/paint.html

[Xato]

*Lives in australia - Everything is hard to find...*
lol

[xavier2010]

I feel your pain buddy.
BTW thats really kewl artwork your doing

[parallax]

I really think your idea is very unique. The colours and theme create this meditative ora. I can only imagine, when the blacklight is on, that it will really set the mood for a room. Might I suggest, artistically, that you play with layers or perspective. Maybe you could sketch some shading on your stencil, add some detail, or even rub (charcoal style) some edges to really bring the flower to life. Quick question: Is that the same dragon as the tattoo on Scully's back in the X-Files?