Skip to Content
Register · Login
About Theme

A Letterboxing Community

Atlas Quest
Search

Read Messages

Re: Friday Distraction - 1/30/15
Board: Letterbox Chatter
Reply to: #886686 by Rocklun
Feb 1, 2015 9:05am
Thread Board
Nobody here has tried carving on a hockey puck?

How did I miss that??
I've carved a flip flop, sink stopper, plumber's gasket, a blank store bought stamp, eraser, and about every carving material out there. But I missed that one!!
Re: soft Kut from Dick Blick
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #886709 by shutterbug2012
Feb 1, 2015 9:26am
Thread Board
They just mean dont use it for etching. Our inks are fine to use. However, I am not sure what acetone would do to it or xylene, etc if you do transfers.

I may try it out....
Box of the Week
Board: State: California
Feb 1, 2015 9:32am
Thread Board
Congrats to PenGwen, Don and Kelsung for this week's box of the week. It was one I was able to find while visiting. Coupling that box with a few other dezert favorites made for a great day. Thanks SoCal boxers for all the fun!
Re: soft Kut from Dick Blick
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #886701 by Penfeather
Feb 1, 2015 9:32am
Thread Board
That website says $94 for 24 4x6 pieces and 24 tools. Not bad if someone wants to teach classes.
Re: soft Kut from Dick Blick
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #886712 by FloridaFour
Feb 1, 2015 9:33am
Thread Board
Per the product description:
Soft-Kut Printing Blocks are meant for use with water-base block printing inks only. Solvents will ruin these blocks.
Re: Friday Distraction - 1/30/15
Board: Letterbox Chatter
Reply to: #886677 by TheKindlyVikings
Feb 1, 2015 9:34am
Thread Board
I was doing an acetone transfer, which seems to soften up the surface even more.

Acetone will degrade any surface. And rubber is a soft surface. Acetone will take paint off down to the wood. It's heavy duty stuff, not gentle at all.

I rub gently once, see the image appear, *maybe* rub again gently, depending on the image. Then I let it sit for quite a while after peeling off the paper before I touch the surface of the pink stuff for any reason. Sometimes I won't even come back to it until the next day. The pink stuff has to kind of recover.
Re: More inspiring than Wild IMHO
Board: Reading Room
Reply to: #886650 by Amanda from Seattle
Feb 1, 2015 10:01am
Thread Board
Thank you so much for posting this! I just read it and it is a fantastic story. It really would make a great movie.
Re: Box of the Week
Board: State: California
Reply to: #886713 by I dig toasters
Feb 1, 2015 10:25am
Thread Board
Oh, the delicious irony!

K
Re: Reserving boxes
Board: Letterboxing Help Desk
Reply to: #886696 by Sunia
Feb 1, 2015 10:29am
Thread Board
Go to the first message and click on Bookmark in the upper right corner; it will be saved in your own bookmarks. Then when you access your bookmarks (drop down menu under Boards), you can click Thread at the bottom right and get all the replies to that message.
Re: Reserving boxes
Board: Letterboxing Help Desk
Reply to: #886695 by Trailhead Tessie
Feb 1, 2015 10:31am
Thread Board
You can only choose one thing on that first page, and "reserved" is one of the options. You aren't yet setting the type.

A reserved listing allows you to work on the clue in a draft form until you are happy with it, and also gives you a box number for those who like to put that in the log or on the stamp.

You CAN'T set the location yet, because that is part of the TYPE. For example, a Cootie or LTC doesn't have a location. You can only set the things that are universal to all types, like the owner and carver.

When you are ready to go live with the listing, you set the type, and then add all appropriate information for that specific type of listing.

K
Re: Grandpa IrishRef
Board: Birthday Board!
Reply to: #886522 by IrishRef
Feb 1, 2015 10:32am
Thread Board
Congratulations... What a joy and you will have so much fun spoiling him!
Re: New idea - Virtual puzzle LTC
Board: LTC: Tips, Questions, and Stuff
Reply to: #886702 by Lone R
Feb 1, 2015 10:37am
Thread Board
For the Super Bowl....
Board: Yakking It Up
Feb 1, 2015 10:38am
Thread Board
I rooting for the commercials this year!

Come on, commercials! Kick a little tail!

Let's Go Doritos!
Let's Go!


csk
(who's morals won't allow her to root for cheaters, and who's love for the 49ers shall never allow her to root for those birds!!!) ;o)
Re: Reserving boxes
Board: Letterboxing Help Desk
Reply to: #886695 by Trailhead Tessie
Feb 1, 2015 10:47am
Thread Board
I've been clicking "reserved" and then checking the box type as "traditional" at the very first screen, not having any idea that when I checked "traditional" it automatically removed my check on "reserved."

This seems like a really weird way to do it and it's not intuitive.

You must be pretty young. They're called radio buttons, and that's how radios used to work. When you selected one button, whatever was selected before was deselected automatically. =) If you could select a type and the reserved option, the reserved option would have been a checkbox--an on/off switch that has no affect on any other buttons. Radio buttons are circular, checkboxes are square. They work differently, and they're both pretty standard web designs. Just remember, if you're ever clicking a radio button, whatever was selected before will be deselected. It's important to recognize if you're clicking on a radio button or a checkbox.

If I can't indicate the box is a traditional, does this mean I can't fill out the info such as parts of the clue or location ahead of time (which was my primary goal)?

You can fill out anything that is common to all letterboxes: it's name, planters, individual boxes within a series, the carvers, the clue and restrictions. The major thing you can't do is select most attributes (the hand carved, store bought, and custom made options can be selected since those are common to all box types, but that's about it) and, in the case of traditionals, the location.

And I'll be honest, it's not ideal. It would be nice to select the type beforehand and fill out all of the information about a box but there are a couple of reasons it doesn't.

First, for purposes of properly counting P-counts, it makes things a lot easier when listed boxes are completely separated from the unlisted ones rather than mixed together. That's why it's a different type rather than a "subtype" of box.

Second, it's a heck of a lot easier to implement one new box type than seven of them. (Traditional Reserved, Hitchhiker Reserved, LTC Reserved, etc.), which is why there's only one reserved option instead of seven of them. It also means I don't have to add/delete a reserved type whenever a new type is added or an old one is removed. The code is considerably easier to maintain. I know, that doesn't matter to you, but it's an important consideration for me for everything I have to implement on AQ. I have limited time and resources and I need to figure out how to get the most "bang for the effort" as it were.

Third, the main reasons people wanted to "pre-list" boxes was so they could get an ID number for the box and to store a clue they were working on, and this setup satisfied that requirement. Not much more than that, but it was enough to meet the goals and I could focus my effects on more important projects.

then why have the reserved option to the far right while the letterbox types are to the far left?

This depends on your screen width. If you have a very narrow page, all of the options will be in a single column. If you have a very wide page, you'll find it spread out in three columns: Traditional options, non-traditional options and reserved. Because... reserved boxes aren't traditional boxes and they aren't non-traditional boxes, it makes sense that they deserve to be in a group of their own.

which is how things usually work online (blogs, etc)?

You're comparing apples to oranges here. Blogs don't have Hall of Fame counts to worry about, and nor do blogs give you seven different types of blog entries to choose from. (Or maybe they do. "Today I have a recipe to post--where's the 'recipe' option? Tomorrow I might need the 'close family member died' blog option if my grandmother doesn't survive the night. And next Saturday, I'll be needing the 'son playing soccer' post option." But I use Blogger and I definitely don't have those kind of options available. "Oh, crap! I just posted about my grandmother's death on the 'son playing soccer' form! How do I undo that?!")

Be that as it may, you are right that there is room for improvement.

However, I cannot afford to hire a large team of people to do this for me and I don't currently have time to do it myself so for now, you'll just have to work within it's limitations or store your clues on your own computer until they're ready to post.

-- Ryan
Re: I have 2 questions
Board: Stupider Questions About Letterboxing
Reply to: #886672 by Munkeybee
Feb 1, 2015 10:53am
Thread Board
As a reminder: You need to be discreet when finding or rehiding a box, but not when stamping in. As long as you're far enough from the hiding spot (which you should always be, you never know when a noxer will come along) you can tell anyone who asks exactly what you're doing. The hiding place is classified info, the hobby of letterboxing is not.
Re: soft Kut from Dick Blick
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #886688 by FloridaFour
Feb 1, 2015 10:57am
Thread Board
I tried it many years ago. It was so awful that I wondered why they had the gall to call it a carving material. You could press a thumbnail into it and it'd leave a crease surrounded by ridges, like a block of clay. I threw it out.
Re: SLQ Transfer Method?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #886689 by Topcollector
Feb 1, 2015 11:00am
Thread Board
Parchment is the method of choice with an inkjet, but you must remember to reduce the saturation of the print by about 50% or so. If you print full darkness, it'll just make a mess. Too much ink.
Re: Checking in on everyone!
Board: State: Ohio
Reply to: #886710 by Trailtracker
Feb 1, 2015 11:04am
Thread Board
Its really coming down up here in the suburbs of Cleveland! It is beautiful!!! I love snow! Many things cancelled here, so I have time to stay in and get some things done. I love this light to carve in! I just have to give myself permission to do some and take a break from the never ending chores!
Snow body knows the whiteness we've seen......
Board: Region: Midwest
Feb 1, 2015 11:12am
Thread Board
Snow body knows our back pain.....

Holy Cats wearing teacups as hats, Batman, has winter finally dropped on us?

Had to go to church this morning, which was fine, but on the way home my windshield wipers broke. Yay! So as the blinding snow falls, I am straining to see and trying to keep the car under control. Then I get home to find one of my idiot neighbors had only enough of the alley plowed for him by pushing it into the middle for the rest of us. The problem is, that we are at the very end of a dead end alley. So if one person screws it up, the rest of us suffer. So of course I get stuck and have to dig out my car and get it into the garage. My hubby, thankfully, will get my replacement wiper. But we still had to dig out everything else for about 2 hours and it's still coming down! Yech!
Re: Thank you for the support
Board: Prayer and Healing
Reply to: #886664 by CathBorthiant
Feb 1, 2015 11:13am
Thread Board
So very sorry for your loss. I'm so glad you were all able to be there for her, and I'm sure she was, too. you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

bluesky
Re: Friday Distraction - 1/30/15
Board: Letterbox Chatter
Reply to: #886711 by The Wolf Family
Feb 1, 2015 11:16am
Thread Board
If you try it and it works out, I want credit for being your muse! ;^)
Re: trying to post a stamp OFFER
Board: Letterboxing Help Desk
Reply to: #886708 by mudflinginfools
Feb 1, 2015 11:16am
Thread Board
And it keeps coming up as a REQUEST... anyone else having that problem? Is it a bug...

Yep, it's a bug. Sorry about that and it should be fixed now! =)

-- Ryan
Re: trying to post a stamp OFFER
Board: Letterboxing Help Desk
Reply to: #886733 by Green Tortuga
Feb 1, 2015 11:22am
Thread Board
Thanks Ryan ; )
Re: Don't forget that flu vacination!!!
Board: Kid Shenanigans
Reply to: #886621 by LROSEM
Feb 1, 2015 11:35am
Thread Board
Well, mine had his back in August, but we all got the flu anyway! The one that lasts for weeks. He also had the respiratory virus that was causing kids to be hospitalized last fall(luckily he was not). But he had to be on 2 inhalers...it was really scarey! So now we get the official letter from school about how many days of school he has missed, and being a responsible parent, etc. My hubby was livid!
Re: Don't forget that flu vacination!!!
Board: Kid Shenanigans
Reply to: #886735 by bluesky
Feb 1, 2015 11:40am
Thread Board
My daughter has migraines and gets that letter every year. :-( I would think that they could at least filter out the people with doctors notes for getting that letter! Responsible parents take care of their kids rather than using the school nurse's office as daycare.

And I bet the flu would spread a lot slower if people kept their kids home when they were sick; even if they are still healthy enough to 'power through'.
East Bay dog owners beware!
Board: State: California
Feb 1, 2015 11:44am
Thread Board
A facebook friend posted this. Lake Chabot is not safe for dogs right now.

http://www.examiner.com/article/dogs-dying-after-swimming-lake-chabot-polluted-with-poison-algae

Not sure if there are any boxes near there, but thought I'd pass it on!
Re: Don't forget that flu vacination!!!
Board: Kid Shenanigans
Reply to: #886736 by Uncorny Acorns
Feb 1, 2015 11:44am
Thread Board
AMEN!
Re: East Bay dog owners beware!
Board: State: California
Reply to: #886737 by Uncorny Acorns
Feb 1, 2015 11:46am
Thread Board
Heard that on the news yesterday and am very glad you posted this!!! Dogs aren't allowed (and neither are people) to swim in Lake Chabot but they do get away and plunge in sometimes.

They mentioned Lake Chabot is a backup water supply for the Bay Area but that they're going to let the poisonous algae die naturally.....not quite sure how I feel about that but I guess the herbicides needed to kill it are worse??
Re: East Bay dog owners beware!
Board: State: California
Reply to: #886737 by Uncorny Acorns
Feb 1, 2015 12:05pm
Thread Board
That's horrible! I wonder, is the algae fatally poisonous to other animals?? Birds, etc? Is it more the amount ingested, like when dogs are swimming and taking multiple gulps of it? Is this a stupid question? :P

I love to kayak at Lake Chabot. Hope we get more rain soon so it's not so toxic!
Re: SLQ Transfer Method?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #886670 by Sharkboy and Lavagirl
Feb 1, 2015 12:06pm
Thread Board
I'm having trouble getting the image on the SLQ with the acetone. Basically the image isn't sticking to the block. Or it's spotty. It's the same acetone I use to transfer with the pink stuff, but it's just not working. Is there a trick I'm missing?