Post awesome things you have been doing recently

[pidjones]

If you follow me on instagram (@shaunsomers) you already are aware of this, but my wife and I just got back from a trip to Iceland that we took for our 15th anniversary. We did a horse riding tour that was extremely stretching for me as I basically only learned how to ride in September, and I had never been on an Icelandic horse before (they're different in that they have 2 extra gaits). Breathtaking scenery, met great people, and experienced only a few moments of sheer terror while on horseback.

Not having ridden in 35 years, I'd probably think twice (and at my age, bones heal slow) about it. But, that sounds like a GREAT adventure. I've ridden 5 gaited show horses (MANY years ago!), and canter is one of my favorites!

[semele]

I have a piece going into a gallery show in around a month... it's the first show I'll be in that isn't affiliated with the school I work for.

[Pugilist]

@semele, that's awesome! I have been so jealous of your litho adventures as I have no access to such glory at the moment. Congratulations!

[Mick Weder]

Its Friday arvo here. Just finished work for the week. Bon Scott's AC/DC is cranking the tunes, cold beer on tap, & Sunday sees a heap of us riding out to talk to a pub owner to use their venue after an annual motorcycle run coming up in December.

Aussie rock n roll, beers, motorcycles, country pubs, good brothers.

Life is fuckin grouse!

"Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

[tatB]

discussing the possibility of returning to my former employer. i would welcome any advice on salary negotiation. key negotiation point is they haven't been able to find a replacement in the last 10 months so they want me back. feels good to be wanted.

[hogg]

I spent this weekend hanging out with my old buddy @Iwar and new buddies @Wilhell and Nina and their little boy. I went with Iwar to his Horitomo appointment on Saturday and all of us had lunch and visited the Academy of Sciences yesterday. Great times with great people!

[CultExciter]

This is a little more technical in nature, but I think it's kinda cool to share. My mentor(s) have really had me focusing on the craft of tattooing lately. Making needles. Making pigment. Tuning and rebuilding machines. It's something that we take for granted with the ease of pre-made and disposables. But it feels good to know that I'm gaining the skills the old timers relied upon.

[hogg]

Sounds like you're getting a proper education, @CultExciter. Definitely an awesome thing.

[CultExciter]

Sounds like you're getting a proper education, @CultExciter. Definitely an awesome thing.

I still can't say a great deal about my ability to apply them, but as with all things...time tells.

[SeeSea]

@BrianH - If you can identify the high end of the going rate in your field, go straight to the top. Since you've been gone for a while and they need your experience, DO NOT let them negotiate off your old salary. That old salary is out the window. It is not a starting point and don't let them use it as one. And be straight with them if they try to do so. Get them to ID your responsibilities (even if they are the same) and negotiate based on those responsibilities and what the market will bear. And then add some because you are already "up to speed".

Good luck!

[Fala]

@semele @Pugilist Did someone say litho?! I LOVE litho!!! Stone litho with tusche washes all the way baby! Been ages since I've printed though, thankfully my husband does it for work, and I can live vicariously through him. He won't print for me because it turns into an argument as to how things should be done, haha. We actually met at lithography school, so litho will always hold a special place in my heart :o

[Pugilist]

Yeah Litho party! I haven't done it in a couple of years (and haven't worked with actual stones in much longer - the last time I did litho it was photolitho) - wanted to get back into it this fall but the studio I sometimes go to (i.e. that has ways of letting amateurs work there) is under renovations. I'm happy to be in good company with the printmaking love! Litho school is a great place to meet your husband. :)

[semele]

@Fala You guys met at lithography school?! I'm thinking of going to litho school in a couple years, and have started collecting stones. @Pugilist We should all get printmaking tattoos.

[Fala]

We did indeed meet at litho school, Tamarind to be exact. @semele - is that the school you were thinking of, and do you go to Kent U? Tamarind is a GREAT school/program. They are in a fancy new building, can't go wrong with that!

If you are getting stones now, get a leather roller, it's totally worth it! I just sold mine because it was sitting on a shelf being neglected, and I thought it would be better to have it used than to sit on a shelf being sad.

[Pugilist]

@Fala - you went to Tamarind?? Respect! You are putting this hobbyist to shame.

That said, I am down with litho tattoos.

[Fala]

What would a good litho tattoo be, I wonder @Pugilist? I still have all of my project prints from Tamarind!

[Pugilist]

Haha I have no idea!

[semele]

@Fala Yep, I've been looking into Tamarind--I'll probably PM you with some questions if you don't mind! I work in a humanities department at OSU, but got adopted by the print department and help out a lot. I do about half litho, half intaglio, but litho is what got me into printmaking.

@Pugilist A friend and I here have been talking about getting "Print or Die" reaper tattoos in the near future, and we've been making t-shirts that say ridiculous things like "Born With a Brayer."

[Fala]

PM away @semele!

Love the t-shirt sayings!

[CultExciter]

All this print making talk is making me want to screen print again. I'd love to see some of you fine folks lithos/intaglios/etchings.

Here is one of my favorites I've done, albeit it isn't saying a great deal.

[tatB]

discussing the possibility of returning to my former employer. i would welcome any advice on salary negotiation. key negotiation point is they haven't been able to find a replacement in the last 10 months so they want me back. feels good to be wanted.

This fizzled out quickly. I think they interpreted my target salary as "fuck you guys" (it sorta was meant to say that) because they called me back the next day to say we were too far apart for them to make an offer. It was a long shot that they would be smart enough to accurately value my work but I'm more disappointed that I didn't get a chance to practice negotiating. I'm better off at my current employer with lower stress, 3 mile commute, and 50 days of time off.

[Fala]

I'll work on digging up a litho or two to post here, they're mighty old, and I've working in silverpoint vs printmaking due to space/studio time/etc.

@BrianH - at a certain point, the payoff isn't enough when it comes to salary and your well-being (commute time, time off, and stress levels), it does sound like you are better off!!!

[pidjones]

I'm better off at my current employer with lower stress, 3 mile commute, and 50 days of time off.

Hell yeah! I'd love that! 20 mile (one way) commute - half of it over mayhem highway, fourteen years with the company and all of 30 days PTO. Now they are threatening to ship me to China, India, Brazil, Russia or wherever the hell they want, and believe me you don't make out traveling for this company. One of my co-workers once said (before he quit): we work for a company that lets us work from home one day a week. Sunday. Three more years.

[Graeme]

I finished teaching my course on beer tasting and appreciation last night and it went well! People seemed to have fun and enjoy themselves, they learned a little bit about beer, had their horizons broadened a bit, and drank some good beers. Getting up in front of people and talking for three hours is tough though and I don't know how the teachers and professors here do it, especially since feeding people alcohol isn't generally part of the lesson.

I'm going to be doing the same course in the new year, as well as a couple of one-off courses, one about stouts in the lead up to St Patrick's day, and another in May about summer beer, so those should be fun as well.

[polliwog]

Just finished up a long day working at the Boston Book Festival. The kids' and young adult events we did were the best-attended by far. It's really encouraging to spend a day around kids who love reading. The explosion of YA is both particularly cool to see and slightly odd to me, since I'm only a decade removed from that demographic. The presence of massive online teen-centric fanbases makes the experience of being a nerdy teenager seem like it must be pretty different for these kids compared to what it was for me. I mostly remember hanging around on adult message boards where I probably wasn't wanted (ha) and feeling quite lonely in my hometown. These kids know each other's tumblr handles and are preternaturally confident and at ease with themselves.