As promised last week, here's a preview of one of the build guides. It's a simple Google Doc with just a few pictures. It's actually a bit more than a guide, since I figured you might need some info from the other parts of the zine to follow along.
I'm going away for a week, so if any of you have time to look at the guide and try it out, it would be awesome! If there are parts you're struggling with or something is unclear, I'll know I need to update it and be on the lookout for similar problems in the rest of the text.
The only part of the guide that's "intentionally" hard to follow is the "Adding Foliage" phase. I've written more about foliage and how to make your own miniature grass, moss, and plants for the zine than about anything else, probably, and I'm not sure how much of it will fit into the final layout, so I didn't want to add another few thousand words to the file - especially since I don't know how much of this will end up in the zine.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the build. It's beginner-friendly, but it covers one of the most important techniques used in the zine.
One of you had an excellent idea - thanks! Before I commit to the final layout, I'd like to share one of the building guides (the text and some photos) with you to make sure it's easy to understand and follow. It'll be a simple Google Doc with a few pictures.
I actually wanted to share it today, but I realized that to follow the build (basic cardboard hills), you should first familiarize yourselves with the tips on working with cardboard and glue, which appear at the beginning of the zine. So I'm currently editing the cardboard and glue part. Once I'm done, I'll put it into a single document and send you a link so you can read it and start building. :-)
Hopefully, with your input, the final versions of the guides will be as easy to follow as possible. :-)
I'll write another update once the link is up to let you know how to access it.
So, apparently, my back decided to let me know I'm getting old at 45, and for the past two weeks I've mostly been grumbling, complaining, and avoiding unnecessary movement. Wish I could say it was at least a result of creating cardboard terrain - a noble sacrifice for all of you and such. Unfortunately, I was already at the writing and layout design stage of the project at the time, so no glory for me, I'm afraid.
Anyway, I'm pretty much back to business as usual now and will resume working on the layout. I will try to finish in June, but I can't promise I'll make it. I'm mostly re-reading everything now, since the complex layout will make it much harder to correct mistakes or make rewrites in the final file (it's still possible, though).
I originally wanted to share the inspiration for one of the builds in the Zine - the Gnomish Distillery. It was based on an abandoned distillery in Poland. I tried searching for it online, and it turns out there are so many other awesome abandoned distilleries that could all serve as excellent inspiration for a build.
So instead, here's a little game (I really, really hope it's an easy one):
Below is a photo of the Gnomish Distillery, and Google Maps links to three abandoned distilleries in Poland. Can you guess which one was the inspiration?
The build:
And the three candidates: 1. https://maps.app.goo.gl/gJF7oXG33s5NWKM79 2. https://maps.app.goo.gl/yW1i3Ugj89iCtgbv6 3. https://maps.app.goo.gl/TXhiYVFkdUakuX5H8
When I was deciding what kind of projects to include in the zine (somewhere back in February or maybe earlier), I knew I had to include the guide on gnomish distillery (I already had it all planned) and a tree-making guide (by then I had done some experiments to make sure it was doable with only basic materials), plus one more that would complement those two. Since the first two leaned toward fantasy, I went with something more sci-fi and simply wrote "futuristic temple" in my notes.
Months passed, and a few weeks ago, after finishing the distillery and tree guides, I finally sat down to work on the third project. I opened my notes, pretty sure that Martin from the past had made all the necessary preparations, only to find that the entire project's notes were two words long.
"Futuristic Temple" was apparently all I had to work with. I'm glad time works the way it does, cause I'm pretty sure that if I got to meet the Martin from the past, we'd be in for a stern talk. I've spent about a week toying with different ideas for the temple. I didn't want to make another grim Gothic cathedral - plenty of those around. I've also watched a YouTube video about over-the-top movies from the last couple of years, and Mortal Engines (the one with cities riding around the world and devouring each other) was listed among them.
So I leaned into this aesthetic and created my very own small walking temple. In my mind, it's like a smaller structure that traverses the world, not a city, but a single large building able to walk on its own. It made me think about hermit crabs for some reason, and I went with it.
And so here it is: The third guide in the zine will help you build your own crawling temple. I don't know, maybe it's like a missionary vehicle in a dystopian world. This will be the final, most advanced guide and also the one that leaves you with the most options.
Shot this photo a few hours ago. The temple still needs a few final touches (maybe a bit of vegetation and more dark stains from the smoke and the diesel engine in the back), but it's otherwise done, along with EXTENSIVE notes for the future Martin, who will be writing the guide next week.
With that out of the way, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to finalize the text and layout by the end of May. Printing should take only a couple of days (zines are cool that way), so I'm pretty confident I can meet the June deadline. We'll see what the future holds, though, and what the future Martin will have to deal with.
I wanted to keep you in the loop with this short update. We're working on the zine and everything seems on track. Kate has this great idea for super-easy-to-build farm fences made of cardboard and toothpicks, so I've decided to include toothpicks as a potential building material. I think they are well within the “cheap materials” range.
I'm currently creating a set of walls to illustrate the different effects you can achieve from the same basic technique to help you come up with your own custom styles. I'll get back to you next month!
As promised last week, here's a preview of one of the build guides. It's a simple Google Doc with just a few pictures. It's actually a bit more than a guide, since I figured you might need some info from the other parts of the zine to follow along.
I'm going away for a week, so if any of you have time to look at the guide and try it out, it would be awesome! If there are parts you're struggling with or something is unclear, I'll know I need to update it and be on the lookout for similar problems in the rest of the text.
The only part of the guide that's "intentionally" hard to follow is the "Adding Foliage" phase. I've written more about foliage and how to make your own miniature grass, moss, and plants for the zine than about anything else, probably, and I'm not sure how much of it will fit into the final layout, so I didn't want to add another few thousand words to the file - especially since I don't know how much of this will end up in the zine.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the build. It's beginner-friendly, but it covers one of the most important techniques used in the zine.
One of you had an excellent idea - thanks! Before I commit to the final layout, I'd like to share one of the building guides (the text and some photos) with you to make sure it's easy to understand and follow. It'll be a simple Google Doc with a few pictures.
I actually wanted to share it today, but I realized that to follow the build (basic cardboard hills), you should first familiarize yourselves with the tips on working with cardboard and glue, which appear at the beginning of the zine. So I'm currently editing the cardboard and glue part. Once I'm done, I'll put it into a single document and send you a link so you can read it and start building. :-)
Hopefully, with your input, the final versions of the guides will be as easy to follow as possible. :-)
I'll write another update once the link is up to let you know how to access it.
So, apparently, my back decided to let me know I'm getting old at 45, and for the past two weeks I've mostly been grumbling, complaining, and avoiding unnecessary movement. Wish I could say it was at least a result of creating cardboard terrain - a noble sacrifice for all of you and such. Unfortunately, I was already at the writing and layout design stage of the project at the time, so no glory for me, I'm afraid.
Anyway, I'm pretty much back to business as usual now and will resume working on the layout. I will try to finish in June, but I can't promise I'll make it. I'm mostly re-reading everything now, since the complex layout will make it much harder to correct mistakes or make rewrites in the final file (it's still possible, though).
I originally wanted to share the inspiration for one of the builds in the Zine - the Gnomish Distillery. It was based on an abandoned distillery in Poland. I tried searching for it online, and it turns out there are so many other awesome abandoned distilleries that could all serve as excellent inspiration for a build.
So instead, here's a little game (I really, really hope it's an easy one):
Below is a photo of the Gnomish Distillery, and Google Maps links to three abandoned distilleries in Poland. Can you guess which one was the inspiration?
The build:
And the three candidates: 1. https://maps.app.goo.gl/gJF7oXG33s5NWKM79 2. https://maps.app.goo.gl/yW1i3Ugj89iCtgbv6 3. https://maps.app.goo.gl/TXhiYVFkdUakuX5H8
When I was deciding what kind of projects to include in the zine (somewhere back in February or maybe earlier), I knew I had to include the guide on gnomish distillery (I already had it all planned) and a tree-making guide (by then I had done some experiments to make sure it was doable with only basic materials), plus one more that would complement those two. Since the first two leaned toward fantasy, I went with something more sci-fi and simply wrote "futuristic temple" in my notes.
Months passed, and a few weeks ago, after finishing the distillery and tree guides, I finally sat down to work on the third project. I opened my notes, pretty sure that Martin from the past had made all the necessary preparations, only to find that the entire project's notes were two words long.
"Futuristic Temple" was apparently all I had to work with. I'm glad time works the way it does, cause I'm pretty sure that if I got to meet the Martin from the past, we'd be in for a stern talk. I've spent about a week toying with different ideas for the temple. I didn't want to make another grim Gothic cathedral - plenty of those around. I've also watched a YouTube video about over-the-top movies from the last couple of years, and Mortal Engines (the one with cities riding around the world and devouring each other) was listed among them.
So I leaned into this aesthetic and created my very own small walking temple. In my mind, it's like a smaller structure that traverses the world, not a city, but a single large building able to walk on its own. It made me think about hermit crabs for some reason, and I went with it.
And so here it is: The third guide in the zine will help you build your own crawling temple. I don't know, maybe it's like a missionary vehicle in a dystopian world. This will be the final, most advanced guide and also the one that leaves you with the most options.
Shot this photo a few hours ago. The temple still needs a few final touches (maybe a bit of vegetation and more dark stains from the smoke and the diesel engine in the back), but it's otherwise done, along with EXTENSIVE notes for the future Martin, who will be writing the guide next week.
With that out of the way, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to finalize the text and layout by the end of May. Printing should take only a couple of days (zines are cool that way), so I'm pretty confident I can meet the June deadline. We'll see what the future holds, though, and what the future Martin will have to deal with.
I wanted to keep you in the loop with this short update. We're working on the zine and everything seems on track. Kate has this great idea for super-easy-to-build farm fences made of cardboard and toothpicks, so I've decided to include toothpicks as a potential building material. I think they are well within the “cheap materials” range.
I'm currently creating a set of walls to illustrate the different effects you can achieve from the same basic technique to help you come up with your own custom styles. I'll get back to you next month!
