The Studio

Matt

12:28 AM

Need more questions... Stuff I can answer about random things

Erica

Sorry, all I had today were cooking questions ^.^

Matt

Not sure if I want questions that get too much attention. I need time to perfect!

Catija

@johnp I did animation as part of my film school training. Hand-drawn and in Flash.

Erica

I did animated maps in Flash in a cartography class!

It was like instantly obsolete XD

user132126

@Erica That's funny!

user132126

12:50 AM

@TheIndependentAquarius Sorry to see you deleted your recent question. I think it was a good question. Would you consider undeleting it?

user132126

1:08 AM

So, I did manage to get a question out and I have been working on the logistics of another one.

user132126

It might seem silly to take this much work, but it's about perspective drawing and I'm getting back into the hang of it, so I've hit some road bumps

TheIndependentAquarius

1:45 AM

Actually I am not able to find that video which I had seen, and erica asked for it. If I get that video, I will undelete the question. @CreationEdge

user132126

@TheIndependentAquarius I think you could leave the question open, but remove the line about the video? It'd help, but it's pretty clear (to me) what you're asking already. The video is just a bonus.

Matt

I agree with CE. Should be fine to leave open. can always edit later

TheIndependentAquarius

1:58 AM

Have done it. @CreationEdge

johnp

3:11 AM

@Catija @Erica haha yeah my lecturer used to say flash is obsolete one semester, and flash is back the next! i was wondering how easy it would be to create a mini animation with pencil/digital drawings with some onion skin type app like krita, where u can work from your previous frame?

Arts

9:51 AM

0

Q: What is the way to color tiny parts of a picture with oil pastels?

The following video shows that it is possible to color tiny parts of a drawing with oil pastels, without layering and then scraping the top layer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQ4xkb6Q88 I wish to know how is that done? Oil pastels by default do not have sharp edge. They are thick and round....

oil-pastels

Arts

10:23 AM

0

Q: How to repair a mug

What are good materials (glue, paint,...) to neatly repair a mug? By neatly I mean that one should see the crack as less as possible. I remember my father repairing broken flower pots with Araldite but I'm fearing that this is absolutely not food safe.

food-safe pottery glue

Matt

12:14 PM

I feel like a spokesperson for 2 part epoxy now. I have 3 answers saying to use it. I love the stuff.

Matt

1:03 PM

@Catija This is a tough concept that we need to deal with. Fixing broken kitchen ceramics is really arts?.... could be craft maybe. If the OP of that question "I made it myself with...". That would make it on topic? We have had a couple of questions where artistic intent/history was missing. What do you think?

Catija

I don't want to turn into a "fix-it" site... That's my opinion.

Matt

Fair enough. We only had 2 of these so far? Fixing ceramics is something that is going to happen. Are there some things we could wait and see where they go first? I don't want to be dominated by one topic like Movies.SE and the identity tag either though.

Catija

I don't think it's going to be easy to define and I do think it needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis... but basic repair question can be addressed just about anywhere on the web. There are millions of sites that explain how to fix ceramics... If we have one question, that's fine... and we can use it as a close vote target... and we can put a historical lock on it if it starts getting too many copy-cat style questions... but I still felt it was important to have someone saying...

"I'm not really sure this is a "good" question for us".

Matt

@Catija Yeah. It gets people thinking. I don't see any VTC on it yet. So, at this point, it is to stimulate discussion and bring it to light.

Catija

Yep.

Matt

1:17 PM

I have always considered myself "crafty". Could not tell you exactly what that mean but fixing this is something I would do. Does not mean that it is OK for the site though.

We shall wait and see what happens.

I will make some other questions that are not repair ones!

Catija

So, that description that I posted the other day that you liked ... where does repairing storebought stuff fit in? Think about it that way.

Matt

The thing that I am hung up on is that if the OP made the mug in question would that make it OK?

I would not entertain a question about fixing plastic on a kitchen appliance..... so that would be the same thing then and we should not allow them.

I get it.

Catija

I don't know about that, either... It'd certainly make it more on topic... With ceramics it's unclear because the product is so finished.... With painting, if someone messed up an oil painting and wanted help blending in the damage, that would require some actual artistic work...

It's more than a "basic repair".

That's why I'm saying it will be difficult to define... and will probably not be something we can make a blanket statement about.

Matt

@Catija I didn't think we would be able to either. I did want see more of your thoughts on this though. That is why I brought it up here. This is one of the many concepts we will likely deal with case to case.

Catija

I'll be back later and I'll think about it in the interim... and Erica and CreationEdge will be here later, so we can all talk about it then to see what sort of consensus we can come up with, if any. :D We'll try to hash something out.

Matt

1:31 PM

FYI I am not hard defending the question. Just want to be sure we make the right decision when it comes to these sorts of things. I'm starting to be against it but I would like to see what others think as well.

Catija

I haven't taken what you've been saying as defending it at all :D Don't worry about that.

I like to understand reasoning before doing something, too... it's the best way of making certain the decision is correct... collect information to be informed, then make a good decision. See things from different angles... know what you're getting into.

... and always allow that your "final decision" isn't always going to be the final decision ... sometimes opinions will change.

user132126

2:27 PM

I have a repair question that's about action figures (but I tied it into the fact that I want to mod action figures, too), and Erica had a stitching one that was intended for hem repair.

user132126

So, there's a bit of a grey area we need to figure out.

Matt

Perhaps it will be case by case then.

Matt

2:44 PM

Well crap.... here is potentially another one

0

Q: Can I patch up a straw hat?

I have an old straw hat that suits me really well. However, after years of use the front of the crown is worn out. It's a little hard to see in the photo below, but a hole has developed that I could fit my finger through. Is there some better way in which a worn out part of a straw hat can be rep...

clothing

Catija

ARGH!!!!!

Matt

If we look at this as weaving repair.....

Catija

Well... if he turns it into an art hat...

Matt

Sewing can be about repairing commercial products as it is a craft. Do we have any weaver expertise here?

Catija

But it doesn't look like he wants to make art out of it. This is exactly the sort of thing I'm concerned about becoming "standard"...

Matt

2:50 PM

Crafts is not all about art either though. True, I see no intent to learn weaving but that is the related craft is it not?

Less than a couple of hours and we already have another one.....

user132126

There's definitely a craft that is repairing clothing, or patching it up.

Matt

The solutions to this are apparently tape and or white glue..... Not much you can do to fix something like this.

user132126

I think we probably need a meta discussion on this. Is repairing crafted items (or items that could be crafted) on topic?

Arts

1

Q: Can I patch up a straw hat?

I have an old straw hat that suits me really well. However, after years of use the front of the crown is worn out. It's a little hard to see in the photo below, but a hole has developed that I could fit my finger through. Is there some better way in which a worn out part of a straw hat can be rep...

clothing

0

Q: Are there certain types of foams I should not be cutting?

There are so many types of foam and of as many different chemical compositions. Not that this should be taken as standard but the wiki for hot wire cutter has this for the first sentence: A hot-wire foam cutter is a tool used to cut polystyrene foam and similar materials. Emphasis mine Sta...

hot-wire-cutter foam

Catija

But the reality is, neither of these items are "crafted"... The mug and the hat are both mass-produced.

Matt

3:01 PM

@Catija Erica's question was about pants that I doubt she made. But she was asking about sewing. So she knew the craft that she was asking about.

user132126

Most crafting materials are mass-produced. So if I had a foam roll I accidentally cut, could I not ask how to fix it? -

Catija

Sure. But the broader question "how can I invisibly hem these pants by hand with these limited materials" isn't really a "fix it question".

It's a question that anyone could have about sewing.

Matt

I think Cat is asking about repairing commercial products more than materials

Surb

I'm coming here concerning my question of this morning regarding the mug.
I understand that the mug itself is not an "art product" but I think that repairing is crafting.
I guess I could restate the question: "how to glue porcelain so that it is water proof, food safe and can contain hot drinks"
Because the answer there can clearly be reused to craft some mugs out of pieces coming from different mugs (for example).
I think the title is not that bad, because the solution helps for both but "how to repair a mug" is probably likely to attract much more new users (through google search).

user132126

The mug question, for instance, if you replace the image with one of a cracked hand-made mug, does it change things?

Matt

3:05 PM

@Surb Thanks for coming in. The question is being debated but is not offtopic yet. It more about the repair aspect of a commercial product.

user132126

Ah, welcome @Surb! I see we echoed some of the same thoughts.

user132126

We're still trying to figure out the scope of things like this, though, so right now it's about the discussion.

Catija

@CreationEdge If you made it yourself, you'd know the materials... store bought mugs may not be safe to use after being repaired depending on the content of the clay/glazes.

Surb

@Catija Well I'm not systematically aware of the materials I use to craft. And I guess this is often the case when materials are reused (recycled).

user132126

I dunno. I've glazed things for pottery classes and I have no idea about glaze except that some has lead in it.

Surb

3:09 PM

@Matt @CreationEdge Thanks for the welcome

Matt

@Erica FYI the straw hat question is up for discussion here.

Catija

@Surb The issue is that we want to avoid an influx of questions that are basic "how do I fix this thing I bought" questions. Fixing stuff is not really a craft... So requiring that people show some connection to the crafting side of things isn't inappropriate for us.

Matt

@Catija That information would be an important note along with answers for those questions.

Catija

@CreationEdge Then you should be reading the glaze bottles more carefully :P

user132126

I was in elementary and high school, last time I used them. Pretty sure the glazes were just kept in a big jug with a scotch-tape label saying the color.

Catija

3:12 PM

Huh, the glazes I used in high school had the original labels on them.

user132126

I'm sure they had the original jugs somewhere else, too, but not the ones we took off the shelf.

Catija

I'd guess, particularly with elementary school, they'd be unlikely to give you access to lead-based paints.

user132126

I think most of the lead glazes I used were in elementary school, though. I remember having to tell my parents not to use it for food.

user132126

My dad turned one into an ashtray.

user132126

"Is it reasonable to assume that this question and answers would have equal value for hand-crafted goods?" is the thought process I'm working with, I think. It's taken me a bit to try and get that into words.

Catija

3:21 PM

I mostly have a difficult time getting around the "repairing" issue. Nothing in our original definition phase was about fixing, only about creating. If we decide to allow "fixing" questions, I think we need to be very selective...

Surb

@Catija Ok, I get your point and somehow it makes sense to me. Although I should say that we might miss some interesting questions (but also a lot of uninteresting ones).
So, I can edit my question and turn it as: "How to glue mug pieces?" and phrase the precise constraints in the question: "food-safe", "not too ugly", "water-proof", "hot-drinks proof".

Catija

@Surb That would certainly be a much better fit for us, yes. :D

Surb

Ok then I'll do that. Actually, I can then also restate my question about "covering books without bubbles" as "How to cover without bubbles?" without constraining it to books but any flat surface on which the paper with glue.

Matt

@Surb Careful doing that. I would consider actually re-asking a new question. You could invalidate the answers already there when you change the scope of the question.

Surb

@Matt I get your point. But If I'm understanding it correctly, the only change needed in your answer to make everything consistent would be to replace "So it should be fine to use to repair your mug" by "So it should be fine to use to glue your mug pieces" and I can make an edit suggestion for that. I can also understand if you really want me to leave the question as is (I personally hate it when people invalidate answers....)

Catija

3:34 PM

I think Matt's talking about the book question rather than the cup one... just a guess.

Matt

@Surb I more meant for the book covering. I think my glue answer would be fine with that minor edit yes

Surb

Ok. So I'll fix the mug question and leave the book question as is.

Arts

3:47 PM

1

Q: Determining a station point for a perspective drawing

For simple perspective drawings, you don't really need to get into having a station point (or vantage point) at all. As I'm looking at more complex methods, a station point becomes necessary to map your plan to to perspective layout. Are there guidelines for determining where to place the statio...

drawing linear-perspective

Surb

Actually, I guess that this could be a solution for the debate about accepting "fixing stuff question". Namely, putting these questions as off-topic but then redirect people to some meta-thread that explains how to reformulate their question in an in-topic way. I guess this can be done for many many "fixing stuff question"

Matt

@Surb There will be a meta about this. Getting some of the discussion done here will keep the comments to a minimum in the meta

We still don't know for sure if this can be under one umbrella either. Could be hard to cover this in one thread

Catija

Sure. That's definitely a great point... and it's why I thought Erica's question was fine... yes, she's specifically fixing her pants but the question is broad enough that it can apply to anyone looking for a hand-sewing technique.

Surb

Ironically, this is a bit like closing a question because it is not broad enough :)

Matt

We want questions to be about specific concepts that in theory have the potential for specific answers. Things that can be useful to others as well as the asker. Too localized is a close reason on other stacks. Like "Where can I buy [thing] in my small town"

Surb

3:54 PM

"Things that can be useful to others" this is probably the key argument. Although, I guess I'm not the only one breaking cups.
Anyway, thank you all for helping me to fix the question.
And I have to say that I'm looking forward to test that and to try to make a full cup on my own out of many different cups.

Catija

@Matt It used to be a general close reason, from what I understand... but was removed because people were overusing it or using it incorrectly.

Matt

@Surb My headset caught my chair arm. I swung around in my chair and the wire pulled my mug off my desk and crashed on the floor breaking the handle. I fixed it and its been a year of solid mugging! Albeit it was just the handle but she is still going.

I think the mug question went HNQ. 153 views is high for just us.

Surb

@Matt Sounds good :).

This raise also another question: Should we post the result of our art/crafting? I'm actually still carving the corks (and thank you @Matt, scalpel is definitely the perfect tool for that) to build a chess game. Once it's done, should I post here a picture of the result?

Matt

@Surb Hells yeah. We love to see stuff that people did. It can inspire discussion and other questions.

user132126

I feel like I could spend waaaay too much time doing perspective drawings, even just of simple shapes.

user132126

4:03 PM

Something about doing something arty but following strict formulas to do so.

Surb

@CreationEdge
"Something about doing something arty but following strict formulas to do so."
Are you doing maths ? ;)

Matt

@CreationEdge Are you going to answer that one yourself?

I also surprised no one has touched the push the values question.

user132126

If I knew the answer, I sure would!

user132126

I'm learning the answer right now, but a lot of tutorials gloss over the SP in general, or don't go into the detail I'm looking for.

user132126

I found a video finally that does a better job.

Catija

4:08 PM

I don't even know what a "station point" is :P

user132126

It's been years since I've gone through a perspective drawing book, and sadly I own none, so I didn't even remember the term.

Crafts

4:36 PM

0

Q: Should we allow brand name tags?

If you were about the sneeze or clean up the aftermath you might be inclined to get or ask for a Kleenex®. However, unless you own the actual brand, you are actually looking for a facial tissue. Currently there is styrofoam which is a trademark brand of foam. It can also be incorrect to refer to...

discussion tags retagging

Crafts

4:55 PM

1

Q: New site description

Now that we've had some time in beta, we're looking at solidifying our site description. This is what we've come up with: This site is for artists, crafters, and hobbyists interested in creating handmade, tangible works. It gets right to the point! It's for a variety of users, and it's cle...

discussion site-description

Crafts

5:34 PM

1

Q: On-topic FAQ Draft

Thank you for all the suggestions from What should our on-topic FAQ contain? The pro tem mods have discussed and compiled the ideas into the following text to go on the What questions can I ask about here? page. This list is not carved in stone; if we later realize we need to add or remove some...

discussion on-topic

Matt

5:51 PM

So the 2 meta question that just came up.... Is the answer of yes something we are looking for. I have read both of them and I am in support of both of them. Do we need an actual answer to convey that meaning or is votes enough?

Catija

Feel free to answer if you want... particularly if you feel strongly in favor or against, you can post a "I support this and here's why" answer... Poll questions are generally discouraged, so it may be good to see whether people have concerns that need to be addressed, much like the discussion of what "hobbyist" means.

For example, I might recommend that we put hobbyist in context by suggesting that we edit it to read "This site is for artists and crafters at both the professional and hobbyist levels interested in creating handmade, tangible works."

Matt

I don't have an issue with it personally as in my mind I understand it as amateur. Others might not though so their opinion in the matter might be warranted.

I love the use of tangible. It covers a lot of ground in one word.

Catija

Indeed. It was a great thing to add.

Matt

7:27 PM

Does the FAQ no longer need to be featured then?

user132126

8:44 PM

@Matt Let me know what you think of my answer to the branding question.

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