nanowrimo – day 8: MIUY (mess it up yourself)

3370 words today – yeah! This was way less then I hoped for, but it put me on a 202% of the daily average and a 110% of the total word count I am supposed to hit by end of today. See my statistic here – I have to meet the red line in the end, i.e. make the blue and the red lines meet DAILY and the green and the red FINALLY:

I still wonder if those crazy people in the official nanowrimo forums who set themselves a goal of 50k ON THE FIRST WEEKEND are on some new drug or something… This is weird. If I take my 10 finger typing and full concentration, I can do 1200 words an hour max. There is a physical limit to it – unless you are a classical secretary who is married to her typewriter, you can barely do more than that (I took a course as a teenager on a classical heavy-weight typewriter, hence I can write reasonably fast and with closed eyes – ok, still not as fast as Fräulein Schmidt). And because it is tremendously exhausting (I mean, I can write without looking, but not without thinking, though), I could probably do three of those hours in a day – this would kill me already. But I would need to work in this mode for more than 20 hours in a row to get to 25k a day. And then, repeat the following day… And then, next day, go to work and not kill your boss… How on earth are they doing this???

Anyway, I was fine today.

I cannot say that of my DIY project of yesterday. I messed up totally. And I mean totally…

First problem: Perfectionism. I – being a bloody beginner in this – went into the craft shop to buy the resin, and there are two types available. First, an easy-going beginner-type of resin, which is a little cheaper but might get a yellow-ish shade after two years or so from the UV radiation. Second, a high-flyer top quality ultimate result type of resin, which not only is more expensive, but also much more difficult to work with, as the label says. But – and that is the thing – you don’t need to fear the yellow tan, it will stay clear forever and a day. And you can also encase a hairy bee because the stuff is fluid and nice and all will keep the little (dead) bee fresh forever. B.t.w., the label says you can also encase your dead beloved ornamental fish, and the resin will keep it’s “moist” look. However, I took the expensive, difficult to work with stuff, finally.

Second problem: Stupidity. Resin (that resin, at least) has a point in time, when it turns from liquid to solid, and there is a very little time in between the two states. Hence, your things to encase will either sink to the bottom, or they will not sink in at all. I did both mistakes: First being impatient and have all my little treasures (glass beads, in this case) sink to the very bottom. Then missing the right point in time putting them in while the material has a paste-like texture, hence I tried to squeeze in some beads when it was far too late.

Third problem: Impatience. I should have read the instructions maybe twice in order to notice that a minimum waiting period of an entire day is recommended before you should take the casts out of the mold, otherwise they will come out all crumply and sticky. Which they did…

This was clearly a MIUY – mess it up yourself – project, no doubt. Therefore I started over again today (that resin is quite smelly, awful…) and this time I will wait for the recommended day before I take my pieces out of the mold. I learn, even if slowly…

In order to entertain you a little I will show you one of my first DIY silversmith’s projects which I did in Thailand, Chiang Mai, with nova-collection.com. With that project, I was hooked and finally found a silversmith’s craftshop here in Frankfurt. I will show my projects here at some other point in time. Enjoy my “silver donut” – or is it some Saturn derivative?

B.t.w.: This post has 706 words, can I please smuggle it into today’s count…?