Shirty

Train tickets to Confuzzled in one months time have been booked. I’ll be leaving at about 11am on the Monday, but the rest of the fares for the day are double that ones price.

The short-order shirts have arrived. A low-profit run due to small order fees, but was hoping it’d be enough to get the ball rolling again.

UKFur original design, black and white. Two in each size, Small, Medium and Large, so £10 each.
The red and white design on blue, got that in in Large, 4 items. £12 each. £2.50 postage if you’re interested.

These should all be guaranteed sales, as people requested them specifically. I’ve sent notes to all of them.
Sadly I’m already getting replies back saying they’ll buy them at the next meet, not via paypal.

I’m hoping this doesn’t mean I’ll make no sales on them for two weeks, because my kitty’s already gone on the train tickets. I need a float again much sooner than that. I have orders to post, and ideally need to make another shirts order before Confuzzled with at least two weeks notice.

The next meet will be only 8 working days from Confuzzled, and will include the payment deadline for this years RBW.

In short, despite hopes, looks like I’m still haemorrhaging money.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

De-potted pure-red claws, sanded and drilled. Posted the small set, long set ready for collection at next LF meet.
Shore 80 castings came out nicely. Not all fully attached to velcro however. Not surprising since it’s stiffer. It’s not flexing enough to make full contact. Think I’ll cast the Shore 80’s separate, then mix a small amount more and use it to “glue” the pads to the velcro. Will take longer, but will be more reliable. Should also let me use the velcro more efficiently.

Doodled some in SAI. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3685774/
Also progressed some other works a bit further.

Bedding down now. Edging sleep back toward normal.

Will see if I can rig my business site to incorporate this journal as a separate blog-line from the one on the front page.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

Three things

Once again, things have been busy here! I’m currently processing orders, albeit with a small delay (manifold broke off the degassing chamber and I’m waiting for the glue to set).

There have been two major developments however.

UKFur
I’ve now purchased the UKFur merchandise shop from previous owner Tigerfire, who’s no longer as involved in the Furry scene as he once was.
In the next couple of days I should receive the first batch of new stock, to get a small number of the most in-demand shirts and sizes.

The three designs of shirt

It’s out of stock of the lanyards, but I’m looking around for a supplier that will provide them in minimum orders of less than £200.

However still have large numbers of vinyl stickers and silicone wristbands.

Confuzzled is just a month away now, so have no fear, you will be able to get your UKFur merch!

In the meantime though, wristbands are £1.50, stickers are 50p each.
B&W shirts are £10 in Small to XL sizes, and £11 in XXL and XXXL.
Blue shirts are £12 in Small to XL sizes, and £13 in XXL and XXXL.
£2 for postage, and I still take paypal.

If I’m out of stock, let me know the size you’re after so I can get more in and I’ll let you know when I do.

Chest sizes: S – 35/37″ M – 38/40″ L – 41/43″ XL – 44/46″ XXL – 47/49″ 3XL – 50/52″

Reprap
Shortly after buying the UKFur shop I also acquired a lot of 2000 surplus stepper motors.

All boxes full of motors (ignore the SEM bits)

I strongly believe the future is in 3D printers, but there’s a big supply issue. Even the home-made machines tend to require you to already have a 3D printer to make parts for it.
The way around this is to make a bootstrapping machine to make the initial parts. A rep-strap.

The motors I have are smaller than those advised in the Reprap project, but I have my own take on it. I’m developing a small, semi-portable 3D printer, that should be fairly cheap and easy to modify. I’m looking at a sale price in the £200 range, and a quantity of around 500 machines.
Because of the small size of these printers, I’m dubbing it the Bonsai Repstrap.

It’s an ambitious project I know! But if you want to follow how things are going with it, take a look at..

The Creative Blog
I’ve set up a journal over at Dreamwidth as a stand-alone creative blog. While this won’t be strictly business related, it will include and business creations and day-to-day activities as well as my personal works.
Dreamwidth incorporates RSS feeds into the blogs, so you don’t have to sign up to follow it. It also accepts OpenID logins, so you can comment if you like.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

It’s better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.

..or “I’ll put it back on a Mature filter if someone complains”.

I’ve finally completed a bit of gift-art I started last year. Feels good to have it done at last. Hoping for some critique.

It’s only cheeky/suggestive, but the early comments of “is that robot doing her up the bum?” prompted me to list all the WIP stages as Mature. Now it’s done though, will wait and see what comments I get.

It’s furry art, and being listed as General will be visible to non-FA members.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3664475/

The gothic lolita idea turned into a sort of maids outfit, but looks good anyway. Will probably spot corrections to make to the extreme lighting effect over the next few days.
Still happy about the extra time I took to research and locate authentic 60s-era fonts for the signage, the wear on the turnstile and the camera and marker-pen layers. I hope they give it more depth.

Next: Completing that character sheet, Kei’s sketch trade, and finishing playing-card inks.

If I finish in the workshop at 9, and I grab a bite to eat then draw, I finish around 1:30am. So need to shut down in the workshop around 7:30.

Oh yes, they’ll be workshop news tomorrow I dare say.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]

Contacted shirt supplier. Should be able make an initial small-order with a penalty fee, but it’ll get in the stuff there’s demand for.
Also enquired over getting patches made. Ballpark prices fairly reasonable. But don’t think I could get much of a markup on them. Still..

Received in the post today; 24 DIL sockets. Should allow quick replacement of the 4N35 photo-isolators on the parallel port breakout board I’ll be making for the Bonsai reprap. I really don’t want to kill the workshop PC, after-all. Nor do I want to have to re-solder the board when something inevitably goes sparkly-wrong.

Currently doing inventory on mobile shop stock. Almost there.

[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]