Everything I’ve been up to!
Printful has recently started offering knitted sweaters, and I thought I’d try a swing at a design with the loveable porcine adventurer from The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue:
Pickles Knitted Sweater Read More »
I just found out that my publisher Iron Circus is holding a Halloween-themed sale in which you can find several of their spooky titles for 30% off cover price between October 22 and November 1, 2024. And The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue is one of those titles!
That brings the price down from $15 to $10.50. You won’t see the discount until you add the book to the shopping cart on Iron Circus’ website. And that’s an important detail—the sale is only on the Iron Circus website.
Thanks for believing in and supporting my cute, spooky book!
30% Off Doctor Baer Until Nov 1, 2024 Read More »
I’ve made literally hundreds and hundreds of Doctor Baer talismans.
There are so many that the new challenge is finding the time to get each one listed on my Etsy store ( I’m holding a sale there until Oct 19, by the way). Inspiration will drive new designs in the months to come, I’m sure. But right now I’m ready to try some new experiments and investigations.
I’d love to make some ceremonial vessels one might find in the world of Doctor Baer. Useful objects that also carry some imagery and symbols of the spooky fictional world of the book. I gave it a shot with a Lost City of Terror mug some months back:
I hand-built the vessel and pressed the design into the clay using a 3d-printed roller made of the designs seen in the background during the fight with the giant millipedes.
But I need more practice hand-building and pressing designs.
Lately I’ve been inspired by some of the underglaze painting Anne’s been pulling off with her pieces:
But I can’t jump into that without making more vessels to paint. And I need more practice hand building pieces.
So I’m going to try to get to painting faster by trying my hand at slip casting. My hypothesis is I can make a mold of a simple, clean form to practice underglaze painting on. As I get more skilled at painting I can design more complex forms to work with. Eventually working my way back up to that Lost City of Terror mug.
So I needed:
It stood to reason that if I am going to eventually make 3d printed complex forms to mold, I might as well start with a simple 3d print to test out making molds of that material. I could start with a glass tumbler I already own, but removing glass from the plaster mold might be different than the plastic extruded by a 3d printer.
I created a simple tumbler in Blender and ran a print on my Flashforge Adventurer.
It’s a hollow form designed with a lip to catch any overflowing clay. When the slip hardens in the mold I’ll trim the lip off so I have a clean edge on the tumbler.
I then painted the form with filler and sandable primer. Once it dried I smoothed out the sides of the form with some high-grit sandpaper.
Then I attached the form into the bottom of a bucket with some caulk. I made sure to use a bucket that left plenty of room above the form.
Why create the mold upside down like this? In case the plaster had any air bubbles rising up, they’d rise to the “bottom” of the mold, decreasing any chance that they’d show up on the parts that will form the clay object.
I coated the bucket and the 3d-printed form with a thin layer of liquid dish soap. This would help release the plaster once it set.
And 30 minutes later I had the mold!
I’ll pour the slip, or liquid clay, into that well to fill it up completely. Some minutes later, the outer edges of they clay will dry as the plaster drains moisture from the clay. I pour out the rest, leaving a layer of clay stuck to the walls of the mold.
Once the clay is hardened sufficiently, I’ll cut the ring off the top of the well and remove the clay tumbler inside. With a few of these molds I can create a bunch of vessels to paint more quickly than if I was hand-building.
(I still want to practice hand-building, by the way. But right now I suspect I’ll make faster gains with underglaze painting–or at least, I think I’ll have more fun exploring underglaze painting.)
The plaster has to cure for a while, but once it does I’m eager to try my first slip cast vessel. And if it works, I’ll dig into designing some more interesting shapes to mold.
Credit to Pottery by Kent on YouTube. I had been taking a Domestika course on making 2-piece molds, but his tutorial on how to make a one-piece mold was super helpful in getting me started.
Next Investigation: Slip Casting Read More »
The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue is finally available for purchase! To celebrate I’m joined by my friend, beta reader, and advisor Marisa Szpytman. It was through conversations with friends like Marisa that I discovered my book was becoming a meditation on topics surrounding object and cultural repatriation. In the earliest days of the book’s creation, she was generous in helping me understand the ethical quandaries around collecting cultural objects, and now that the book is in the world she joined me again to have that conversation anew.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
TPD Special: The Emotions of Objects, with Marisa Szpytman Read More »
While making The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue I recorded a bunch of reflections on why and how I was making the book. These microcasts were shared exclusively with people who supported me on Patreon (I’m sharing the entire process of making the next Doctor Baer story there right now!).
To count down to the book’s release, I’m putting some of those reflections into the Thunder Punch Daily feed. Please note: the book was titled Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue at the time of this recording. But baronvonbear.com does take you to the book’s landing page. Here’s the original post:
Another thoughtful question from the Doctor Baer ask me anything form led me to think about my weaknesses as a Teaching Artist/Cartoonist. And finally ask for what I need from you to support The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue:
This is a two-parter: 1) making comics for public/wider consumption today involves a lot of things that maybe aren’t necessarily the things that one excitedly looks forward to (or is even thinking about) as they are headlong and heart-deep in the thick of making their comic — things like marketing, and promoting, and keeping somewhat of a social media presence. How do you balance the joyful, flow-state, lost-and-in-love-with-the-making-of-the-comic side of things with the more business orientated part of the process? Is it something that you don’t even think about until after the book is made? When does that side of things start popping up on your radar? And how do you feel about it? and 2) What is the best way to support you when BvB releases? Pre-order at my local comic shop? Order on Amazon? Put an order request in at the local library? What actionable steps will help the most?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Archives: TPD 314 – The Best Way to Help Me Read More »
While making The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue I recorded a bunch of reflections on why and how I was making the book. These microcasts were shared exclusively with people who supported me on Patreon (I’m sharing the entire process of making the next Doctor Baer story there right now!).
To count down to the book’s release, I’m putting some of those reflections into the Thunder Punch Daily feed. Please note: the book was titled Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue at the time of this recording. But baronvonbear.com does take you to the book’s landing page. Here’s the original post:
Once again I go back 20 years to explore some themes that show up in Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue. Recognizing our interdependence seems like an obvious thing to me, but it’s easy to lose sight of it in adventure fiction.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Archives: TPD 310 – We Need Each Other Read More »
While making The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue I recorded a bunch of reflections on why and how I was making the book. These microcasts were shared exclusively with people who supported me on Patreon (I’m sharing the entire process of making the next Doctor Baer story there right now!).
To count down to the book’s release, I’m putting some of those reflections into the Thunder Punch Daily feed. Please note: the book was titled Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue at the time of this recording. But baronvonbear.com does take you to the book’s landing page. Here’s the original post:
This time I share what it’s like to be in the part of the process I call the Tunnel: when I know I’ll be finished soon, yet I feel lost and impatient to be done.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Archives: TPD 307 – I’m In a Tunnel! Read More »
While making The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue I recorded a bunch of reflections on why and how I was making the book. These microcasts were shared exclusively with people who supported me on Patreon (I’m sharing the entire process of making the next Doctor Baer story there right now!).
To count down to the book’s release, I’m putting some of those reflections into the Thunder Punch Daily feed. Please note: the book was titled Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue at the time of this recording. But baronvonbear.com does take you to the book’s landing page. Here’s the original post:
I’m answering another prompt from the Thoughts/Questions/Wonderings form:
Having a collection of cursed items in your book is rife for pop culture references. What’s the cultural reference you’re most excited about, but are afraid people won’t get?
This one kind of goes in a lot of directions, but my hope is that it provides context to why BvB doesn’t have many easter eggs.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Archives: TPD 306 – Easter Eggs & World Building Read More »
While making The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue I recorded a bunch of reflections on why and how I was making the book. These microcasts were shared exclusively with people who supported me on Patreon (I’m sharing the entire process of making the next Doctor Baer story there right now!).
To count down to the book’s release, I’m putting some of those reflections into the Thunder Punch Daily feed. Please note: the book was titled Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue at the time of this recording. But baronvonbear.com does take you to the book’s landing page. Here’s the original post:
Another one from the Thoughts/Questions/Wonderings form!
I’ve noticed animals are a shortcut to mean ‘wholesome’. Do you think storytelling tropes like this have an effect on the types of children’s stories made?
So today I talk about why I chose to make the characters in my book talking animals.
And I talk a bit about Michael Meade’s Living Myth podcast, which is terrific!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Archives: TPD 304 – Why Animal Characters? Read More »
While making The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue I recorded a bunch of reflections on why and how I was making the book. These microcasts were shared exclusively with people who supported me on Patreon (I’m sharing the entire process of making the next Doctor Baer story there right now!).
To count down to the book’s release, I’m putting some of those reflections into the Thunder Punch Daily feed. Please note: the book was titled Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue at the time of this recording. But baronvonbear.com does take you to the book’s landing page. Here’s the original post:
Another question from the Thoughts/Questions/Wonderings form!
How do you deal with personal, non-constructive, negative feedback about your completed work?
Which leads me to tell a story about this drawing and why it hurt:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Archives: TPD 301 – How I Deal With Negative Feedback Read More »