10 Things on My Mind

"'Cause there's something on my mind....de dum duh de de dum dum..."  *cough*  This tag makes me think of that song. ;)  A gold star to the one who guesses the song and the artist!

Anyway, Eldra  went and tagged me in the "10 Things on My Mind" tag.  So, without further procrastination, let us begin.

1.  Books!  Novels!  Bound Paper!  Printed Paper!  Works of literary art!  Currently reading The Wormling series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry.  VERY good books.

2.  Lord of the Rings.  I think about them a lot. ;)  Epic movies.  I'm listening to the soundtracks from the library right now.  I especially love Pippin's song...rather haunting, aye?

Home is behind

The world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadow

To the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadow

Cloud and shade

All shall fade

All shall fade

Rather hard to sing, actually.  I tried once.  That last 'shall' likes to punch me.

3.  Writing.  Duh. ;)  Everyone who's done this tag has said writing.  Haha.  Right now I'm working on Revolution and about to rewrite some scenes into The Book of Shaldu.  It's going slowly, but hopefully I'll have some time this week to write some more.

4.  Spring. Kansas. 'Nuff said. (This isn't my image.)

5.  Evil haircutters.  Now the back of my neck itches and all character has faded from my hair.

6.  Birds. >_>

7.  Schoolwork.  It's on my mind, but not in a good way.

8.  Swords and swordfighting.  Rather sharp, aye?

9.  Guitar. >_>  Rather fun to play, aye?  I take lessons every week.  [Not my image]

10.  This.

I tag all the followers who have not yet done this tag.  You don't have to if you don't want to--but it's fun. :)

--

Jake

Aged Paper

Vrenith and I have embarked on an quest.

On a whim, yesterday, I searched 'how to age paper' on Google and found several sites.  After all, aged paper is pretty cool, aye?  It gives way to imagining treasure maps and burnt letters...

After experimenting for a while, Vren and I settled on a way to age and yellow paper, a combination of several other ideas we have found.

SUPPLIES:
-Paper
-Coffee
-Used coffee grounds (optional)
-Some sort of pan (with 'walls')

Take the paper and stick it in the pan.  If wanted, crumple the paper for a different effect.  Take some coffee and soak the paper in it (whether by pouring the coffee over it or otherwise).  Let it soak for a bit.  If wanted, take the coffee grounds and gently rub it into the paper in certain spots, AFTER the coffee has been drained. (Too much rubbing will tear the wet paper.) The amount of grounds you rub into the paper will determine how dark the paper is.  If you're looking for 'age' don't rub too much into the paper.  If you are looking for really old and worn paper, rub more into the paper.  Don't use too much of the grounds, or else the paper will not look realistic.

After this is done, turn the oven on a low temperature and dry the paper.  Another option would be to just let it sit out on a counter for a while, where it will dry naturally.  It also dries fairly fast if you put it out into the sun (a personal favorite of mine).  Once the paper is dry, brush off the coffee grounds.  Keep in mind that the other side of the paper will not be as dark as the front side, and there will be no 'age stains' from the coffee grounds.  I like to do it over again with the other side after the front is finished. (Doing it repeatedly to the same piece of paper will darken it more, so if you aren't satisfied with the color of the paper, try doing it again.)

Keep in mind that any print or writing that is on the paper should be done beforehand.  If you do have printing or writing on the paper, go easy on the coffee grounds.  I learned that the hard way. :P

You should try it sometime.  It really does look interesting.  I 'dyed' one of my maps (a copy, don't worry) and it turned out nicely.  It now adorns my dresser, with a white chunk of paper partially underneath it for contrast.

Have fun. :)  It really doesn't take that much work--just some leftover coffee and coffee grounds and paper.  Improvise if you are lacking in some of these materials.

--
Jake

Kansas

Hey all!  Loving the weather here. :)  It's crisp and cold still, but the sunlight is warm and Kansas is Kansas.  Speaking of my lovely state...I searched some Kansas photos to share with you all (since I have an absence of my own pictures, haha).

Below is a random picture of the "Welcome to the Flint Hills" sign.  I've driven past that. :)

Below is a picture of the Flint Hills.

Another picture of the Flint Hills.  This one looks like it did when I last passed through the Flint Hills.  Believe it or not, this picture is realistic and not a one-of-a-kind picture.

Green Kansas sometime in the spring or summer. :)

A wheat field! Mwahahaha!  This one is pretty golden. O_o

A normal-looking farm somewhere out in Western Kansas.

All these pictures were found on Google search.  *shrug*

I hope you enjoyed a peek into my homeland.

--
Jake

Neglect?

For lack of anything better to say, I believe the general consensus of the jury is that I neglect my blog.  Sentence of up to five hours in my room.  Schoolwork.  I'm a bad boy sometimes.

But in all seriousness, I have been seriously lacking in blogging material.  Or at least the time to find some.  So I've taken to taking what little I write (on my blog) and making it as clever as possible.

So...did I succeed?  Or did I fail?  Eh...my blogging is going stale.

Okay, all, what do you think I should blog about?  I am asking YOU: the reader.  The few and the mighty.  The simple and the squared.  The winters and the fully leaved. 

What do you think I should blog about?

"Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings?"

All of the above?

Tell me what you think.

--
Jake