Crypto Hobbies and Interests

[Arking]

Figured this might be a good place to put this topic, if I'm wrong my apologies feel free to move it!

Any who it's no surprise that we all have different passions and interests that influence us and drive us forward. I've always been interested in Mermaids and the culture but I've also had an eye for Fae, and cryptozoological things as well. I'm rather fond of the histories, stories and folk lore, and the communities that help to influence and craft these worlds. Growing up I had so many books on these topics, and now that I'm older I am making my own works and still collecting information and archives as a sort of hobby.

All of my stuff focuses on cryptozoological studies or the occult so I'm either making my own maps or prints, or restoring old works. I'm wondering whether there are others that take their craft and skills and explore different media and interests? Is the greater world of myth and legend something people look at or is the mercommunity fairly self reliant? Does anyone else enjoy the study of it in an academic sense?

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[Keiris]

I have always found ancient Mythology and folklore fascinating. I love the backstories on Medusa or Narcissus and any of the Greek/Roman myths. I have always loved the lineage of witches or legends of vampires or the djinn. It all fuels my artwork in one way or another.

[Arking]

Oh yes it's hard to not recall any of that from my childhood. I used to have so many books on mythology. Arachne, Medusa, the golden apples. Takes me back. :) You know now that I'm older its hard to meet people into those sorts of stories in-person.

[Keiris]

Like it is to meet other guys interested in wearing a fishtail? :lol:

[lotusauriel]

I love all kinds of mythology and history. ☺

[Arking]

Like it is to meet other guys interested in wearing a fishtail? :lol:

Touche! Though I never put much thought into it now that I think of it. I just figured there were less fish in the sea as it were.

Finding ones passions again is surprisingly life giving and exciting though. It keeps me feeling young the moisture does all the physical labor though. ;)

[Arking]

Do you find that you look for more or read into much? Most of my studies of late have been of a western mythology and folk lore sort. I just spent my entire day digging through newspaper archives for copies of the first sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, the Point Pleasant Mothman, and the Jersey Devil. I actually went on a road trip these past two weeks to Roswell, Area 51, and Willow Creek on the sort of side hunt for stories about Aliens and Bigfoot. I take it lightly but to some I must seem a bit odd. Though I fall on the side of bookish librarian than actual fanatic so I don't put off too many folks.

[SteampunkMermaid01]

I'm a Science Fiction/Fantasy writer- so I definitely look up these sorts of things for my writing projects. I've always loved the "Supernatural" stories of creatures and the mythologies behind them.

[Arking]

I'm always surprised at the lengths writers will go to get information and inspiration for their work. I've seen friends disappear for months, sometimes a year trying to get themselves in the right space to produce a piece. Once knew a guy that rented a cabin so he could get the feeling of isolation down for a werewolf novel he was writing.

I imagine every process is different but still, writers are the best. :)

[SteampunkMermaid01]

Every writer has a different process- that's definitely true. I can't even remember the number of articles I've read on different creatures and the stories that go with them. Always more to find about them too.

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[Arking]

Oh true. On that note I do think I find myself drawn more to older works (pre 1980's) something about modern era works hasn't captured my imagination quite the same as articles and stories that predate that time frame. But even still there's more to find, I'm currently restoring ( very very slowly) some 800+ hardcover books on witchcraft, telepathy, spirits published from the 1930's and before and those are just full of tidbits of information and surprise.

[SteampunkMermaid01]

Yeah the older the accounts the better!

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[Keiris]

So Arking, I am curious what you mean by "restoring" some 800 or so books? Holy crossed eyes Batman!

[Arking]

Oh that's actually really easy to answer. The Library of Congress actually has many many many Archives of books that have been published throughout the years since the sixteenth Century maybe even 17th century anyway these scans of these books are all in the public domain. Which means anybody can download them and sell them if you look them up so if you go on Etsy or Ebay you will find people selling these CDs of these books. I happen to purchase a few and looked up the copyright rules but if you were to take these books and rewrite them verbatim you could actually sell them and publish them through your own means and make a profit. What I'm doing though is taking the digital scans of all of these books which are in various states of disrepair. some of them are missing pages some of them have pretty obvious water marks some of them have distortions in the text because of water or mold. What I'm doing is going through and individually repairing each page via Adobe PDF or photoshop or illustrator whatever is necessary to restore the books back to a semi original condition and I'm removing the mildewy old yellow pages from the backgrounds and restoring them all to white print so that I can reprint them. What I do then is I take the PDFs once they've been formatted and corrected and restored and I put them through a book printing processing app that I managed to to get a hold of and it reorganizes the pages into leafs. then i print out the Leafs fold them over stitch them in and basically press them into a book press and I've got basically a paperback book which I can then hardcover.

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[Arking]

The number 800 is a bit absurd I know but some of these are only 30 pages or less. I was doing about 3 weeks when I first started but I slow down once I started working on the tail again.

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[Keiris]

Wow! Impressive!! So much for the rest of your summer! Guess that blows any chance of netting a Vancouver merman in the waters off BC.;)

[Arking]

Finishing my tail today, so I'd better be in the drink soon my finned flirt. :P My voice to text commands were a little distorted but what I was trying to say was that I had stopped working on the restorations for the time being. Truthfully they are really made-to-order but it does make for a nice hobby on the side. I've been struggling with what to stock my shelves with for my Etsy store though I've never been short stock as it were. The books are a nice little thing I wanted to start up and get published again if I had the time but they are far from original works, simply restored and reprinted public domain projects.

For the most part I bounce between making posters, cartographic maps of cryptid sightings (Bigfoot/Ogopogo/Mothman/Mermaids of Florida etc), bubbles for toils and troubles (handmade soaps), every witch wand (custom lathed wands), and embroidery for the everyday occultist (seance table cloths, ritual summoning circles, altar cloths).

[Arking]

Back on topic though, I've just had a heck of a time sorting what finds I did manage to make on cryptid sightings in the early 20th century. Trying to get my printer to work out some full size recreations on newsprint is going to be fun.

[Keiris]

I think that's fascinating that you create/replicate all of those items! The recreations, the wands, embroidered cloths all sound very intriguing. The last "occult" item I made was a replica of the witch's spell book from Hocus Pocus complete with sewn on skin (silicone)and glass eye. It's disgusting in a fabulous way! Would love to see your stuff. And I'm going to bite my tongue there.

[Arking]

Haha yeah best be careful what you wish for :P. I have a few things on my desktop I can share these are all props more for halloween than commercial production but you get a sense of the scales I can work in from them. I need to photograph more of the embroidery that I have, and the book press.

On that note I did manage to get full sized reproductions of articles on many cryptid's from my printer. The images at the top on linen are also from my printer, measuring 13" x 30" long.

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[Keiris]

Awesome work!! Very detailed and I am sure rather tedious. I love all the variety. Do you sell anything on Etsy?

[Arking]

I do but that's really for another thread I think. And lately I've been struggling with shipping cost estimates to manage products.


Well I spent the week on and off working on the tail, and working on research. Discovered that the word Sasquatch first appears in newspaper archives that I have access too in the early 1920s and originates nearby in Harrison, BC.

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[Arking]

Ah back on my computer.

Any who so I've collected tons of archives from newspaper scans this week. Tried getting a little on just about everything but quickly realized I could spend months in there pouring over data, so I stuck to the big ones. Ogopogo, Loch Ness, Cadborosaurus, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Jersey Devil, Mothman, and a few tales of Mermaids. I wish I'd spent some more time on sea monsters, but they are really really prolific and it's a difficult task to collect information on each individual account that was published.

The Ogopogo data will help me complete my maps though and that will be quite nice. I need to rearrange the correct lat. and long. using german miles but otherwise things look good.

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[Mystik_Leah]

Oh that's actually really easy to answer. The Library of Congress actually has many many many Archives of books that have been published throughout the years since the sixteenth Century maybe even 17th century anyway these scans of these books are all in the public domain. Which means anybody can download them and sell them if you look them up so if you go on Etsy or Ebay you will find people selling these CDs of these books. I happen to purchase a few and looked up the copyright rules but if you were to take these books and rewrite them verbatim you could actually sell them and publish them through your own means and make a profit. What I'm doing though is taking the digital scans of all of these books which are in various states of disrepair. some of them are missing pages some of them have pretty obvious water marks some of them have distortions in the text because of water or mold. What I'm doing is going through and individually repairing each page via Adobe PDF or photoshop or illustrator whatever is necessary to restore the books back to a semi original condition and I'm removing the mildewy old yellow pages from the backgrounds and restoring them all to white print so that I can reprint them. What I do then is I take the PDFs once they've been formatted and corrected and restored and I put them through a book printing processing app that I managed to to get a hold of and it reorganizes the pages into leafs. then i print out the Leafs fold them over stitch them in and basically press them into a book press and I've got basically a paperback book which I can then hardcover.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using MerNetwork mobile app (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=95032)

Wow sooo interesting, thanks for sharing!!

[Arking]

Man it's been a week. I'm physically and emotionally drained. The smoke is finally clearing the skies here but it's very likely to settle again tomorrow morning. I haven't had the fortune of taking my tail out yet and the itch is killing me. On the upside I took some of my wares to a new local magic and occult store and they were really interested in buying products from me to sell. Finally making it as an artist now, and I'm just starting up the Etsy store again. Anyone else giddy for the Fall and Halloween? :D

[Arking]

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Figured I'd share this news clipping I found whilst doing my research a few weeks back. Not nearly as interesting as some of the monster sightings but still a fun read.

[KikiDoodle]

I find both cryptozoology so fascinating!! For myself, I'm pretty much interested in anything fantasy, although Mermaids have been near and dear to myself for quite some time, and are the major focus in a lot of work I do! Lots of dragons, gryphons, and other beasties, too!

As far as working on these things creatively, actually my entire career is focused on fantasy! I do both book covers for young adult fantasy novels, children's book illustrations, and all kinds of other fantasy based artwork. I have several friends who focus on Fae and folklore, and I see a lot of creatives making a living focusing on the fantastic!

It's just too much fun, so I'm glad other people support us.

[Mystik_Leah]

Man it's been a week. I'm physically and emotionally drained. The smoke is finally clearing the skies here but it's very likely to settle again tomorrow morning. I haven't had the fortune of taking my tail out yet and the itch is killing me. On the upside I took some of my wares to a new local magic and occult store and they were really interested in buying products from me to sell. Finally making it as an artist now, and I'm just starting up the Etsy store again. Anyone else giddy for the Fall and Halloween? :D


Hope youve made the time to swim since you posted this And that is awesome local stores are interested in your work, keep following your dreams!! Id love to browse your etsy store...ive been thinking of starting one myself, not sure of the interest tho. I like to make jewelry, head pieces ect out of natural elements like stones, shells and bones, especially bones lately lol...and soooooo freaking ready for halloween and renfest!!!! Kinda random but have you seen target's new halloween line? LOL id use half of it on the regular

[Mystik_Leah]

Figured I'd share this news clipping I found whilst doing my research a few weeks back. Not nearly as interesting as some of the monster sightings but still a fun read.

Very cool! (i even find the ads interesting).... pls keep posting these... i do wish to read the end of the story tho LOL

[Arking]

No time to swim alas. I've nearly given up hope, I did take a photo the other day though, not too happy with it so I'm not sure what I'll do.

I do have the rest of this article, silly me I posted the wrong version of this story. Shockingly it's only another paragraph long really.

If I get my shipping information up I'll start another thread for etsy wares. As it's the off season I'm pretty low on stock so it's all shut down for now. I had a lot of fun planning an actual retail location though, coming up with store names, signs, and themed products.

[Arking]

I find both cryptozoology so fascinating!! For myself, I'm pretty much interested in anything fantasy, although Mermaids have been near and dear to myself for quite some time, and are the major focus in a lot of work I do! Lots of dragons, gryphons, and other beasties, too!

As far as working on these things creatively, actually my entire career is focused on fantasy! I do both book covers for young adult fantasy novels, children's book illustrations, and all kinds of other fantasy based artwork. I have several friends who focus on Fae and folklore, and I see a lot of creatives making a living focusing on the fantastic!

It's just too much fun, so I'm glad other people support us.

You should share some of your cover work! :D

[KikiDoodle]

Here's a handful of my favorite ones I've done!

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(The title of that last one is The Wishing World! I edited out the front section so the art was more visible)

[Mystik_Leah]

[QUOTE=KikiDoodle;284596]Here's a handful of my favorite ones I've done!


Nice! They all look great

[Arking]

Ooh lovely, you have way more talent than I in illustration. :O

[Arking]

I have way too many things going on. Thankfully in the past two weeks I've managed to catch up on some really long standing projects (two years or more) that I've been really wanting to finish. I repaired my Vintage Radio, and built an AM radio transmitter for my halloween dinner party in October. I've also finished dressing my robotic spider, and have started putting more etsy crafts together to get the shop ready again for fall. This week I still need to finish making patches for cryptids, themed hand made soaps, and some posters for the lunar cycles in both embroidery and digital print.

[Keiris]

Sounds like you're going to be a very busy lad for awhile. At least it will keep you off the streets at night. ;-)

[Arking]

Sounds like you're going to be a very busy lad for awhile. At least it will keep you off the streets at night. ;-)
HA! True :shame:

[Keiris]

HA! True :shame:

I know.....I'm feeling deprived already.:(

[Arking]

BAahahaha :mermaid kiss:, guess who's going to the beach for a photoshoot today?

[Keiris]

:yay::yay::yay::yay::drool:

[Arking]

Pics are up, back to studying the origins of Sasquatch over a good book and archives. I live an odd life...

[Arking]

Whelp tis the season of internal panic and not much else. Took a long break from visiting to work on costume design and prop development for my work and my own personal collection. Made a flapping pair of angel wings, but didn't get the chance to really use them as I had to work straight through until the first week of November. After that I busied myself building a table and putting together a medieval themed Thanksgiving.

With the dust barely settling I'm now onto phase two of those props and using them for a Hogwarts Christmas. I'm making full sized Maruaders Maps, Chocolate Frogs, Butterbeer Mugs, Bertie Botts boxes, Platfrom 9 3/4 tickets, and wax sealed Hogwarts Invitations as gifts for my guests. To add to the list I also made some satin lined suede cloaks, house banners, embroidered patches, and built a hand carved wood lathe for wand making. Still need to build a gingerbread hogwarts but suffice it to say, I've been busy.

I lost weight over the season too, I'm now only 5lbs away from my goal body weight and starting to actually build tone, it's taken me a year of on again off again commitment but pretty happy to be seeing some results and abs.

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