04 february 2022
I just realized I can't send mail. My x key doesn't work, and I bound alt+c to type the letter so I can make words. That's fine. What doesn't work is that town's mail app doesn't recognize control+alt+c as control+x. Guess I need to wait until I'm at a USB keyboard to send mail now. Sorry if I don't respond for a bit!
Spent today making an ace ring out of polymer clay- it went well. Took about 2 hours after baking to dremel out the center and sand it all smooth. It's a little thicker than I'd like, but any thinner and the thing would break if I squeezed it wrong. I'm pretty happy with the way it is. Fits me perfectly too!
For anyone else that wants to try, here's how I did it:
Get some black polymer clay. Not much; you'll need way less than you think you will.
Roll it into a ball. Get it as even as possible to save some effort later, but don't worry too much.
Flatten the ball. I used the flat underside of a cup to press it flat. The thickness of the resulting circle is the width of your ring, so plan ahead. Mine is about half a centimeter wide. The diameter of the circle will the the outside diameter of your ring, so don't make it too small or large.
Bake the clay. Mine spent 20-ish minutes at 250 F in the oven. Let it cool before you do anything else.
Draw some guide lines. I used a ruler and marked the center of my circle, then drew four diameter lines for positioning. I used those lines to draw a circle that was a little wider across than my finger for the inside of the ring.
Take a dremel to it and hollow out the inside of your ring. Take your sweet time doing this and get it right. You want a nice, even circle that you won't need to do much refining on. Go slow and make sure to protect your airways. Clay dust isn't good to breathe and there will be a lot of it.
Sand the heck out of it. Flatten all the sides as desired and get a nice, smooth surface. If you need to thin your ring, sand it thinner. Be mindful not to sand it so thin that it'll break if you look at it wrong.
If you want, you can polish or Mod-Podge it shiny. You could also add a very thin layer of epoxy to the inside of the ring for some extra strength- I did this and it helped.
So that was my project for today. Came out pretty okay if you ask me!
Otherwise, been thinking about how I interact with other internet communities and whether that dynamic is healthy for me. I'm at a point where finding different spaces is a good idea (don't worry, town isn't somewhere I plan to leave- it's all good here). It's more that the norms of certain communities are starting to hold me back more than they help, and I think it would be a good idea to explore other options and see if anything nicer pops up. I'll see how it goes and where I wind up. Outside of town, finding good places to talk to others online is kind of hard when every space has pressures to exist one way or another and fit into a box. It's a very polarized way of interacting where even in the most inclusive spaces, there will be an expectation to fit something specific. Dog people don't talk in cat forums, if the metaphor (and maybe literal) helps. And it's hard when you're both a cat and dog person, or neither, because there's no forums for those that aren't one or the other. You're forced to pick a side. I need more spaces that don't make people pick a box to sit in or expect them to stay in only one box forever. Where exploring and trying new things is not only accepted but welcomed. That's what I'm looking for. I wish more people were able to disagree and still get along in a friendly way online. There are so many good discussions when that happens.