piratecaptain

Hello all, just wanted to chime in with the latest tutorial updates. I've finished the saya tuts!

Fits and Finish vid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxle-7…

Koiguchi vid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfxBsn…

Saya Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEDdcA…

Saya Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBQvlD…

Saya Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-jI7h…

Kurikata vid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgOQTp…

And of course, the official playlist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShON6p…


Hey....I'm....almost done? I've only got a few more vids to film? What am I going to do with my life?

Just figured I'd put together a quick update for the end of the year. As we all know I'm no champ when it comes to updating, or submitting for that matter. Especially the last few years. I've said before that the reason for this is my frustration with this website. While I don't have a problem with the site in general, it doesn't really suit my needs or desires.

Hopefully with this coming year, I'll have moved forward with a couple of things. The first would be a blog account to keep track of my prop and building adventures. While it seems contrary to have a blog when you're terrible at updating, I would like the ability to post small updates in a more seamless manner. Believe it or not, I do work on my projects, but rarely in an orderly fashion, and often little pieces at a time. For this reason, I'd like to be able to post my small successes more easily.

The other reason for the blog is that things are finally moving forward with opening a shop on etsy or artfire. I hope to provide non-custom katana, and DIY kits within a few months, and then add options as I go. Essentially, I will be carving adequate masters, and then molding/casting them. The final kits will be in solid plastic resin, ready for you to paint or customize. The complete swords will come painted with wood blades and handles, and solid plastic resin fittings. While I still won't be able to take on custom commissions because of how long they take me, these options will provide the base for your creativity.

More good news as well. I will be finishing the katana vids within the next couple weeks while I'm on break. I've put this project off for far too long, and it needs to be off my shoulders. And after I've finished them, I plan to begin re-shooting them for DVD quality. These new vids will be made available in the shop to coincide with a set of patterns and instructions. This is still a pipe dream of sorts, and depends on the help of my friends, but hopefully it will all pan out.

So what does all this mean? I will still be using DA to post final products, and of course to browse the art. But it will not be my primary point of contact, nor will I be taking much time to respond to comments and such. The goal is to move this space to a polished portfolio setting where potential employers and my friends may browse my finished works. This is good and bad of course. It means the work you see from me will be the very best I have to offer, but it also means I will be very withdrawn. I really do wish to stay in contact however, and I will have methods to do so. I'm just tired of youtube comments and people half my age "demanding" things of me, and would much like to be able to screen and ignore these types of conversation.

Enough about my future though, let's talk today. I'm on holiday break for the next few weeks, and will be seeing much of my family soon. It's going to be a little strange this year though, as my family is scattered across the states, instead of being nearby. Still, many of us will still be meeting at my parents house and the rest are on tap for a roadtrip in the spring. I did fairly well this past term, and have only one left, so I'm excited for the end. Oddly though, the Christmas spirit has really come to me yet. There is just so much going on in the world, it has put a small damper on everything. But I still have 5 days to get in gear! Plus, I've been looking for every happy and heart warming story I can find to combat the misery elsewhere. I must say, surrounding yourself with positive things really does do wonders for your soul.

I hope you are all doing well, and will be making time for family this holiday season, whichever holiday you're celebrating. And since there won't be another update this year, I will see you all in 2012!

And hey, let me know how you're doing in the comments, and we'll have some good old fashioned conversation.

Got a few more tutorials up for those not tuned in to my Youtube. This is actually a milestone as well, as I've finished all the vids for the actual katana. I still have to do vids on fit and finish, wrapping, and carving the saya, but we are sure making progress.

Ito/Tsuka Primer vid:www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr09FF…

Fuchi vid:www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5tYFF…

Tsuka vid:www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik63q4…

Kashira vid:www.youtube.com/watch?v=apeeWR…

Mekugi Pin vid:www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9I8-D…

And again, the link to the official and always up to date playlist:www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShON6p…

I'm a little embarrassed by how long these are taking me, but I realized that my DA list isn't up to date. Just so all of you know, I've got the videos that cover the whole habaki, the seppa, and the tsuba up. And I am right now taking a break from carving the fuchi, and hope to have the video up this evening/tomorrow.

Please forgive my slow pace.

Habaki (there are 4 parts)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeQzzn…

Seppa
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Ntpp…

Tsuba (2 parts)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eutLAG…


Also, for those of you just boarding the Pirate ship, the whole video playlist can be found here. This gets updated every time I complete a vid.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShON6p…

Now that a few friends are also on board, the plans for the shop are full steam ahead. I've started working on several prototypes which I'll be producing workbenches for as well. The prototypes will allow me to work out design options available in the shop. After finishing them, they will be sold off for a much smaller fee than final products. If you see anything that you really want made for the shop, let me know. I've got to choose at least 3 prototypes before the shop can open, and your input will influence that choice.