Icons and Weapons

Icons, fun to make and they can lead to other creative inspirations. When I made my header design for this blog, I wanted something that was legible (everyone tends to spell my with a C) and that portrayed my design sense. I really like what worked out and I started making a watermark icon. Once I began, one icon lead to another and then for some reason I was thinking about vikings. Then that lead to Thor, that lead to Thor's hammer Mjölner. I decided to make an icon of the hammer that reflected the style of my header. I was really happy with it and wanted incorporate it into my watermark. So I made a few icons with the elements from the hammer. I really didn't like any of those and ended up liking the first icon I made (the one circled in red). Sometimes your first inclination is right! I still wanted to use elements from my hammer and make other icons and I ended up hammering out more weapon icons.


Here are the weapon icons I progressed to. I had fun making these and they came to me really fast and easy! That was the best part! From left to right: hand and half sword, Scottish Claymore, Roman sword, double sided battle axe, tomahawk, battle axe, Scottish dirk, war hammer, and a couple of shields. I think I am going to make some better shields that have a little more line shape with different insignia. I hope all enjoy! Remember kids, one thing leads to another and the next thing you know is you'll have a bunch of weapons on your hands!

Tomahawk Tri-Pod Build

Hope all had a happy 4th of July and everyone was safe! I had a long weekend and on this last Monday, I decided to finally finish my project on building a tri-Pod for tomahawk throwing! So this is my patriotic endeavor for this holiday. One might ask, what is the connection, well, back in the old days around the early to Mid 1800's, the frontier-mountain men would gather for rendezvous. At these rendezvous, they would trade goods, drink and catch up with old friends. While waiting for each other to arrive, they had time to have friendly competitions which included tomahawk and knife throwing. These frontier-mountain men showed the early signs of the American spirit (drinking & throwing stuff)! I pay homage and my respect to them by remembering their accomplishments and keeping alive old competitive games. I also shoot blackpowder rifles but that will be in another blog in the future.
So, when I am not on the computer all day designing or sketching out designs, I try to keep my physical body in some kinda shape. Building this tri-pod took a little bit of strength and problem solving! First of all, I tend to be very frugal and use materials that are on hand or from crap I need to get rid of that are taking up space in my garage! I didn't want to buy a lot of material to build this. I have been wanting to throw for awhile but I just never pursued to build or have a tri-pod with a cookie to throw.
Things seemed to really work out with this design and the timing was great. Back in early May, we had a horrible inland hurricane (straight winds over 100 mph) that devastated the counties here in Southern Illinios. A real disaster in which left many people without power for up to 2 weeks. Trees down everywhere! I thought to myself, free wood! I ended up getting two smaller soft maple cookies from a co-worker and I started from there. After researching on these tri-pods (call to dad, Youtube, friends advise) I drew up a doodle of the plans. I had a young elm tree that fell next to my house a couple of days later after the storm. Free poles! Perfect, keep it rustic! I cut down the three 5' poles from the elm to make the legs of the tri-pod and I already had extra chain/hooks, lumber for the rest of the design. I ended up buying only a large 5/8"x12" bolt/nut to connect the three poles. I also bought a flat wood bit to drill holes through the three poles for the bolt to slide into. I basically built this monster in about 2 hours in the garage and carried to the back yard which gave me a little work out.
Funny how things work out and with a little patience, foresight, and design, one can build a target to throw sharp objects at!

Check out the video below of me throwing for the first time.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog about my creative endeavors. Here you will see my designs, artwork and whatever suits my fancy. Enjoy!