Star Streaker

I've spent more time with my new markers, as our local friendly local art store was having a sale, and I acquired even more markers.

Kikuchiyo from Samurai 7, done in Marabu Graphix Aqua Pen - King of Bubblegum set, with special guest stars; a brush and some water.

Fun fact, this is on my to cosplay one day list. Go Nunky, Go!


And to keep me going, I'm thinking of maybe a Pokemon a day? Not sure its something I can keep up, as there are other things to do, but I'd like to starting going through the PokeDex and see where I end up.

Bulbasaur from Pokemon, done in Karin Brushmarker Pro, which it turns out, behaves differently than the Aqua Pens. I should have expected it, but was still taken aback. Oh well, I'll just have to employ some slightly different techniques. Bulbasaur (nicknamed B-KO) was my first Pokemon all the way back in Pokemon Red, and even on my last playthrough of LeafGreen, I used my girl.

More Worldbuilding notes for the Kasatha in redsixwing's Ormarr Pathfinder game.

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As I will be taking part in a future game in Ormarr by redsixwing, I am working on a character concept. I've been wanting to play a fighter I built ages ago for another friends game that was going to be at 26th level. Kiley was going to be a straight 26th level fighter focusing on Two-Weapon specialization in D&D 3.5. While I'm pretty sure redsixwing's game will be at a lower level than that, I still want to play Kiley, and still go the Two-Weapon route.
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I'd love to start this with "I love Star Wars just as much as the next person," but that is not accurate, as I tend to love it more than the next being. I may not know the movies line by line, I may not have a room full of action figures, but I have read a lot of the books, and know the universe pretty well.

This came up recently in a conversation with redsixwing, what do Hutts consider beautiful in their own species? Well, the larger and more corpulent one is, the more attactive they appear to other Hutts. While many of us consider Jabba to be rather grotesque, he could be the equivalent of Brad Pitt to the Hutts. And since weight equated to power and status, skinny little Hutts are considered weak, ugly.

So, if Hutts find beauty in the large, why do so many keep slaves that are more attractive to humans, like Twi'lek dancing girls? Could it be for sexual reasons. I find this doubtful, as Hutts are hermaphroditic, and depending on the book, can be capable of self-fertilization. The beautiful humanoids are not going to be kept for sexual gratification.

Why then do the Hutts keep these little, skinny, weak humanoids? I would guess it is a status symbol. The being is a possession, not a person. Something to keep, to collect, and the rarer the better. Like a Twi'lek dancer. And Hutts associate with humanoids a lot, and other humanoids will view these beings as attractive, and think better of the Hutt for keeping them.

So, the past two weekends, I have been taking part in a class on Lost Wax Casting. While there are many ways out there to do it, this was pretty simple.

I started with hard wax that had been extruded for rings. The hole was already started, so I just had to expand it, and cut it down to the shape I wanted. Since I was going for a signet ring, the top of the ring is flat, with a carving in it.

For those that know me, you know my artistic ability, in drawing at least, is not all that great, so this was a bit of a challenge. I ended up crafting the design on multiple test pieces, until I could reasonably reproduce it, then had to shrink in down to fit the ring. This turned out to be the easy part, as I still had to carve the details in, and getting it even and symmetrical did not happen, but I am still please with it.

After the wax was carved, a wax sprue was added, and it was attached to a rubber base. From here, investment (the casting material), was added, and allowed to harden. Once hardened, the rubber base was removed, and the investment fired in a kiln. This burned out the wax, and left a negative in the investment. It was then allowed to cool to about 500F degrees, and molten silver was forced into the mold via a centrifuge. The whole form was them dunked into water, where the investment disintegrated, and the silver positive remained. A bit of polish, and I have my first piece of jewelry.

The symbol used is that of the Jedi Order. I may be a bit of a Star Wars geek.

Pictures after the cut
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