Friday, July 29, 2011

Goulet Pen's July 2011 Ink Drop - Part 4

For my last test maze of the July Ink Drop samples from the Goulet Pen Company I paired up two of the inks I have used in the previous mazes. These are Noodler's Dragon Catfish Green and Noodler's Firefly. I have been having great fun with these inks because they react under UV light. They can be used for their designed purpose of highlighting I suppose. That is if you are the kind of person that does that sort of thing. The main thing is that all of the inks in this month's ink drop are great inks. They dry quickly and work well in all of my pens.

Here is a picture of the maze with the Ducati Limited pen and the Noodler's fountain pen I used with these two inks.


Here is what it looks like in Blacklight. This was drawn on bright white paper from Clairefontaine. Such bright white paper really reacts to the UV light too, so I guess I should have tried an off-white paper.

Here is a scanned and edited version for solving.


My hat is off to Brian and Rachel Goulet for a very fun Ink Drop.

Jonathan


Thursday, July 28, 2011

A Maze - Page 74

Here is the next page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 74


Here is the that same page out in the wild. It is up in a small park in the south west part of San Jose. Just take Bernal Road out pass the golf course and up the hill. There isn't much at the park and in the summer it is too warm with not much shade. There are mountain bike trails though and nice views.



Here are a few pictures.


On Mount Hamilton in the background is the Lick Observatory.

As usual in the hill areas of the Bay Area there are mountain lions around. It is their home too.


Here is the mountain lion's dinner on the hoof.



It is a wild world out there. Go take a look!

Jonathan


Monday, July 25, 2011

A Maze - Page 73

Here is the next page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 73


Here is the same page in the wild. This is the beach at Lover's Point in Monterey. Actually I guess it is really in Pacific Grove, but I'm not sure of the city limits here. In the summertime the overcast doesn't burn off until almost noon in this spot. It looks a bit dismal before the sun is out and the swimmers and sunbathers arrive.


Here is a shot looking towards Cannery Row.

 
 There is a great walking and bicycle path that runs along this stretch. As you walk along it you have time to enjoy the fine houses, the boats in the bay and the wild life. Seals, otters and huge pelicans are abundant. The path goes quite a long way, but the you can rent a bicycle at Cannery row and ride from there to here (Lover's Point). If you continue on around Point Pinos you see the change from the bay to the Pacific Ocean.

Here is the Lighthouse at Point Pinos which is definitely in Pacific Grove.


Eventually you come to Asilomar Beach here. It is an easy ride to here, quite flat and refreshing.



Anyway, that's it for today.

Jonathan




Friday, July 22, 2011

Mirror Maze on Cannery Row, Monterey, California

Not far from the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Cannery Row is a little known attraction. This is a place called Mirror Maze. Here is their web site. I saw this on our trip down to Monterey last year, but it wasn't until this year that I decided to see what it was all about. What it is is a wonderful maze made with mirrors.


It is quite fun for adults, but probably especially so for kids. It is not impossibly difficult and there is nothing in it to frighten kids (or adults) too much. There are a couple of Ninja type figures and a policeman figure that tries to arrest you. There are no death pits, snakes, giant spiders, dropping cages or any other booby traps. So you don't need to worry that your kids will disappear. If your kid is the Beaver or Dennis the Menace that might be disappointing, but there it is.

The lighting and mirror reflections create a bewildering number of illusions and dead ends. There are glasses you can wear to make it even more difficult to find your way out. There is Blacklighting which makes the columns glow, but the lights go off briefly on occasions to create total darkness and then flash with a strobe effect.

Here are some pictures:





I went thru the maze four times. First using the Right-hand Method, then the Left-Hand. I tried to do it without touching the mirrors, but you really must keep a hand in front of you to keep from smacking your face into a mirror. Apparently the workers must clean the mirrors four or five times a day. The final time I went through from exit to entrance.


It is cool how you will sometimes see another person down what looks like a long hallway and then, lo and behold, that same person appears right next to you from behind a mirror wall. Amazing! If you get there and there a lots of kids going thru it you will have more fun, because they clearly enjoy it so much. I loved it as well, but then I love mazes in general.

It is a bit pricey, but the pass lasts all day. Get there early before going to the aquarium and you can go back later. The workers when we were there,Cortland and Christina (I could have that last wrong), were friendly and helpful. They do have special rates for groups over 12. This is designed for birthday parties.


This maze was designed by Adrian Fisher Design. They have created several other mazes including one in San Diego. Here is their web site.


On the other side of their space is a Bank Heist game. In this you try to foil a laser beam alarm setup like in Mission Impossible. For me it is impossible. I'm not even close to flexible enough for this one. There is a separate price tag for this side.

Here is a picture of the monitor for this one.



The bottom line it that this is a fun attraction which will be more fun the more friends that try it together.



Thursday, July 21, 2011

A Maze - Page 72

Here is the latest page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 72


Here is the same page in the wild. In the overcast of a typical summer morning down in Monterey, California this statue looks somewhat sinister. It is not some bat like creature, but a statue of a Monarch butterfly. Monterey is one of the stops for these butterflies as they migrate from the south. There are trees around here where you can see masses of them in group hugs.


While it was overcast and in the 60s down in Monterey, we found it to be sunny and in the 90s by the time we got home today. That is why I like Monterey in the summertime.

Jonathan


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Goulet Pen's July 2011 Ink Drop - Part 3

For my second test maze for the July Ink Drop I used Noodler's Dragon Catfish Pink in a Noodler's fountain pen and paired it with the Noodler's Firefly in another Noodler's fountain. Here is a picture of the resulting maze.



Both of these inks were very well behaved. They dry very quickly so I had no smudging or smearing problems. Both inks are highlighter inks so they are suppose to be relatively faint on the page. After all, they are not suppose to block out a printed passage, just highlight it. The Firefly looks very intense as it comes out of the ink. It looks as if you are drawing a line with pure fire or something. After is dries it is less intense and is very faint. It may not really show up enough to be a good at highlighting. It is however very reactive to UV light. It is very bright under blacklight.

I found a better blacklight at Spenser's Gifts at the Valley Fair Mall. They were 19.95 each and buy one get another for half price. It is a good place to go for your party lighting needs and also if you are into toilet humor. Anyway, here is the maze under UV light.


Here is the scanned and edited version of the same maze. These inks work much better than I thought they would for maze drawing. I'm totally grooving on the sixties vibe they give.

Until next time.

Jonathan




Monday, July 18, 2011

A Maze - Page 71

Here is the new page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 71

Here is the same page in the wild. Again it is down in Santa Cruz. This is my favorite house along West Cliff. It is across the street from the sea and another of our usual benches.


The view from this bench is mighty nice. Here are a few pictures.






That's all of the Santa Cruz pictures for now. Of course, I won't promise never to post another. I'll have another July Ink Drop test maze tomorrow.

Jonathan

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Drawing The Line - 22

Last Sunday, July 10th, I again set out early in the morning to roll out another segment of my Line Around The World Project. With the Line segment on four rolls of cash register tape, an old roll of masking tape, some scotch tape, and a camera in my trusty backpack I drove down to the end of the last segment. It would be nice to walk to the end, but I'm not up to it yet.

Here is the view of the start of roll 75.


Here we are looking south from the end of roll 75.


And now we are looking south from the end of roll 76.



This is what the segment looked like after it crossed Harrison Street.



The view from the end of roll 77 looked like this.


Finally the view from the end of roll 78 to the south looked like this.


And looking north towards El Camino Real it looked like this.


It was a boring segment. There were no people around to talk to and there wasn't much to look at. I suppose there will be plenty of boring stretches on the way around the world. This segment makes the Line 1.93 miles long.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

Friday, July 15, 2011

Goulet Pen's July 2011 Ink Drop - Part 2

The July Ink Drop from Goulet Pen Company is one that features inks used in highlighter pens. The remarkable thing about these particular inks made by Noodler's Inks is that they react to UV light. Just like the blacklight posters those of us of a certain age remember, or don't remember depending on the amount of smoke you consumed, these inks glow in the darkness of UV light.

The ink drop came with a very cool UV flashlight which can be used to produce this effect with the ink samples, but I wanted to get a bigger light so that I could sit back a contemplate the groovy glow. So I took a short trip to a local Head Shop. This shop is a relic of the seventies which is across the street from a very good Art Supply store called University Arts. I can't recall the name of the Head Shop. It sells all things needed to partake of that culture characterized by the phrase, “Hey man.” Sometimes this phrase is shortened to. “Dude.” This can be used as a response to any conceivable utterance.

Anyway, I looked around at the posters, Tie-died T-shirts, beads, pipes, inscent sticks and burners, buttons, patches, and sandals in the dimly lit shop. Finally I resorted to asking the dude at the counter if they sold blacklights. He wandered through a maze of counters, racks and more counters to the other side of the shop and took up a small box from a pile of other small boxes. It was a 75 watt black light bulb. Perfect I thought. Actually, not so perfect. For when I got it home and screwed it into one of my desk lamps it was a dud. “Dude”, I said, “It's a dud.”

So the photo posted here was taken with the light from the ink drop flashlight. This is the test maze glowing in its light.


Here is the test maze in normal light.

It was drawn using the Dragon Catfish Green and the Dragon Catfish Pink. These Noodler's inks behaved very well. They dried quite quickly as they should for their designed purpose of highlighting. The maze turned out better than I thought it would. Both of these inks contrast enough with the white paper to be easily seen. For the maze I used the inks in a Noodler's Fountain pen and a Ducati Limited. The pens worked well in both of these pens.

Here is the scanned and lightly edited version of the maze.

I'll have another test maze later.

Jonathan


Thursday, July 14, 2011

A Maze - Page 70

Here is the next page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 70


Here is the same page in the wild down in Santa Cruz. This picture is from awhile back. Today it was sunny, but quite windy which kept the temperature down. It was ridiculously beautiful down there. If the water wasn't so wet and cold I might enjoy floating around on a surf board.


That's it for today.

Jonathan




Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Goulet Pen's July 2011 Ink Drop - Part 1

For their July Ink Drop Brian and Rachel Goulet came up with an unusual theme. It is “Flashlight Tag”. The ink samples in this drop share the property of reacting to Ultra Violet light. All of the samples are made by Noodler's. They are highlighter inks, well at least three of the four are. I'm not sure what the Blue Ghost ink is used for except for black light poster making, unless you happen to be a spy and need to write secret messages with an invisible ink . For our fun and enjoyment they included a refillable highlighter pen and a blub to use in refilling it. These are very cool. And most cool of all, a mini UV flashlight so that you can light up your inks. Hence, the name Flashlight Fun. This Ink Drop is absolutely brilliant!!!

The ink samples are:

Noodler's Blue Ghost
Noodler's Dragon Catfish Green
Noodler's Dragon Catfish Pink
Noodler's Firefly

So this is what it looks like. You can see the four ink samples, a highlighter pen, a blub for refilling and a little flashlight.


Now I will confess that I was at a loss as to what to do with these inks at first. Then I realized that I could at least use them for their designed propose of highlighting. Soon I will begin posting my second maze which I needed to check to make sure that the solution was correct. So I spent more hours than I want to tell you tracing out the solution path of this 90 page maze. It is a good thing I checked, because I had made a mistake when I put it together last year. It was fairly easy to correct, but I had spent quite a long time on the wrong path.

Here is sample page of this maze where I used Noodler's Dragon Catfish Green in the included pen to trace out my path. Is this part of the solution? Or part of the wrong detour? I'm not telling!


Last year when I was editing and solving I used a colored pencil to do the work and the same page of this maze looked like this.


Anyway this is the rather pedestrian use of these highlighter inks and it is rather boring. Maybe not as boring as highlighting important passages in your economics textbook, but pretty close. The highlighter ink works better than the colored pencil, but of course it is ink, so you need to look ahead before you draw. Next I want grow my hair long and let my beard grow, put on some ELP or Pink Floyd and see what my mazes look in black light.

Until next time!

Jonathan


Monday, July 11, 2011

A Maze - Page 69

Here is the next page of my first maze. We are getting close to the end. Only 21 more pages after this one. Never fear though, I have another one almost ready to go. The only thing I need to do is check the solution and it will be ready to post. But first here is today's scanned and edited version.

Page 69


This is the same page down in Santa Cruz. This pictures shows a whole herd of California's state flower.



I've been trying to figure out what use to make of the July Ink Drop samples. They are inks not really suited to maze drawing, but I just thought of something to test them on. More on this later.

Jonathan


Sunday, July 10, 2011

Drawing The Line - 21

The following segment of my Line Around The World Project was rolled out last Sunday, July 3rd. Again I was able to get out and about early in the morning. This time there were several people out walking and jogging, but I was only able to talk to one of them. An older gentlemen stopped and asked me what I was doing. I replied. I'm working on an art project.”

That seemed to satisfy his curiosity and he turned away to continue his walk. So I added, “I'm drawing a line around the world.”

This made him turn back and look at me like I had lost my mind. He shook his head a little and said, “Good Luck!”

“Thanks,” I said.

Anyway, here is the start of roll 71.


By the way, for those people interested in where this is, I'm moving north along Monroe Street in Santa Clara, California. The road that I'm crossing here is Benton Street. 


The storm drains in this area spill out directly into San Francisco Bay. That is why most of them have a reminder on or around them



Here is the view of the end of roll 71. There are several nice old homes along here.



Since I'm planning on a North to South path around the world I will not be passing by the castles of Europe. It would nice to see my Line passing the castles on the Rhine, or even the ruins of Stonehenge. But I did pass a smallish castle during this segment. Here it is.


Here is the view north along the end of roll 72.


The owner of this house or a previous occupant was an arty type. Look at this tree. I almost passed by this without seeing it.


I like the way the Line looks along here.



Here is the view north from the end of roll 73.


Looking to the south roll 73 looks like this.


Roll 74 crossed Fremont Street. Here it is.


Now we come to the end of roll 74 which is the end of this segment. Here is the view north.


We are coming up to El Camino Real, although it is still a couple of segments away. When I get there I'm have to think about where to head next.

So far I've completed about 1.8 miles of the project. This is almost 0.007 percent of the total. I'll have to slow down so that I can savor it longer.


Jonathan