Tattwas - Sanskrit language of shapes and designs

My current inspiration is the Tattwas:

Tattwa are geometric images from India. they are  symbols  that can be used in mandala.  One of the most traditional symbol sets and one considered to have innate power to effect realization is by using  Tattwa. These simple geometric symbols can be used in  meditation.

 Tattwa is a Sanskrit word meaning energy. Tattwas are  five geometric symbols which represent the five universal energies.  Each Tattwas symbolizes unique energies with specific properties, potentials and frequencies. In varying combinations, these five energies make up the sum totality of everything in our physical and spiritual universe. These five basic symbols are combined to create symbols of many different kinds.
 The  tattwa symbols are the ovoid, the triangle, the half-moon, the circle, and the square. These definitions are minimal and in no way represent the totality of the symbol.  Source: http://pjentoft.com/on-Tattwa.html

 

These would make an interesting language. For example the Circle represents air, and we could have all words associated with the element of air. The prominent shape in the mandala would represent the main theme of what is being expressed. So if we are talking about miscommunication, we would probably have a large circle, in orange. As that is the complimentary color of blue (opposite). So a plain orange circle would mean no communication.

If we were talking about something about selling something like a house, the prominent shape would be yellow square it is represents Earth. Earth is all things materialistic. It would be paired with a smaller blue circle since blue circles represent thought and communication, etc.

They [the shapes] would be layered on top of each other above to create a geometrical story...

Alternative Energy Concept Car

So last night when I was supposed to be doing an assignment for my sociology class I got hit with some inspiration and an idea/concept for alternative energy car.

I like to think about things like this, and while I don't have the engineering background, I definitely have the design background as well as the ideas...

SO like most people this past week, I saw this video




and it got me thinking.

First question that came to my mind... how can we take this idea and use the technique to create a piece of practical technology from it?

Second question that came to my mind... how can we easily obtain liquid nitrogen?

While LN may be cheap, its not that easily obtainable and you have to be certified to handle it.
So I go on google and search for a 'kitchen' or 'hobby' science substitute. I find this substitute:



Its' not liquid nitrogen. But you can make a cryo-fluid having -110F temperature. (Liquid nitrogen is more like -320F.) A -110F liquid can perform most of the Liquid Nitrogen demonstrations.

Poor man's "Liquid Nitrogen" is made out of dry ice and 99% rubbing alchohol.

Do you know what dry ice is made out of? It's a condensed solid form of CO2. That's right, the gas that's in our air and what is said to cause global warming and pollution. And from my research as it melts it turns into gas again, but its not the same kind of CO2 that is from the air, its as delicate as what is used to make carbonated drinks.




Do you see where I'm going with this?

Levitation created by LN which can be substituted with a cryo-fluid having -110F temperature which is said to reproduce the same kind of LN demonstrations. But the question then is, can it reproduce the same kind of superconductor effects?

Since we're using dry ice, as product of a green-house gas, we're taking our problem and turning it into a solution.

Loreena and the Forgotten War

I have been listening to Corteo by Cirque Du Soleil since junior year of high school. During the car ride home from the Cape I have thought up an awesome story line that goes with the music as well as being an animated film.

(this is mostly completely made up)

My story takes place in 16th/17th century Italy. Italy was overthrown by the french monarchy after the Thirty Year's War. The Royal Italian family was banished to the streets leaving its heritage to die. One by one the heirs of the family died from poverty. The youngest Princess, Loreena was left to fend for herself. Her family had separated and she was determined to find who was still alive. Eventually she finds a street rat by the name of Guido who is in trouble with the French-Italian monarchy for stealing his work in Apothecarism and Western Alchemy from the Royal Library. Loreena finds out that Guido is her brother and a heir to the throne. Guido is eventually caught and is given the death penalty. The French-Italian monarchy wanted to work with the Vatican and burn all ancient wisdom teachings from human consciousness since they aimed to revolutionize the Western World with a world view that is validated by science rather than by religion or tradition. In order for Italy to survive, the Royal Italian family must gain back their claim to the throne. Loreena finds out that Guido is dead and steals the knowledge again from the Royal Library, she eventually escapes from the Monarchy and is determined to find an Apothecarist to help her save the Royal Italian Family. She eventually finds herself in 17th century Moravia and is kidnapped by a middle-eastern man named Abdur-Rahman. Loreena tells Rahman her story and asks he she could help her. After a few days of studying the knowledge Loreena carried with her to Moravia, Rahman learns that there's enough knowledge to build a time machine that will transport Loreena back a few months before Guido convinces himself to steal the knowledge. Loreena must be convincing so Guido will believe her that he is the heir to the Royal Italian Family throne. However, Gold is expensive, but the ingredients from the alchemical transmutation process from are not but rare. Being poor herself, Loreena almost gives up but Abdur-Rahman offers Loreena an unthinkable idea. For payment, Loreena will give Rahman, her first born to be his own personal heir of Abdur-Rahman's work and family lineage. Not only her first born, but her virginity as well. Loreena eventually agrees. Years later Rahman successfully builds the time machine and during this time the French-Italian Monarchy has ordered a pure italian blood genocide. The night the genocide was called, Rahman and Loreena have sex. The next day, Rahman and Loreena have sex again, and that night Loreena leaves. She successfully is transported back to the night Guido convinces himself to steal his knowledge from the Royal Library. She saves Guido from death and tells him that he must gather an army and take back the Royal Italian throne. Loreena returns to the night of the ordered genocide and instead of being a genocide it is a war to take back the italian throne, lead by Guido himself. By changing history, she found that she had never stolen the knowledge and travelled to Moravia and she never had made that deal with Abdur-Rahman. Somehow Rahman, found her and he remembered the deal. Angry, with her and her clever plan, he kidnapped her again and raped her to make sure she got pregnant. Guido, now a general, found Abdur-Rahman and sentenced him to death. Italy won the war and became its' own nation once again.

Paint Thinner Transfer

Why do I sense that I may need to do this for a package design project in the near future? :P
Gotta make sure to get paint thinner before I go back to school.

Tutorial: http://mademoisellechaos.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-transfer-bw-picture-onto-almost.html

"Papier Mache" Clay

Easy Homemade clay, all you need is newspaper and wallpaper paste.


This is the easiest and cheapest recipe for paper clay.

Steps:

1. Get your newspaper
2. Soak it in water.
3. Tear it into strips. Into a bucket
4. Put more water in it so it just barely covers the paper.
5. Stir it up using a dremmel tool blender, food processor or regular blender.
6. Blend it into a pulp
7. Transfer some pulp into another bucket. Poor more water into the 1st bucket and stir more.
8. Get a cotton (or mesh) bag and put pulp in it and strain it.
9. Take strained pulp and put into the 2nd bucket.
10. Take some wallpaper paste and sprinkle it onto pulp.
11. Stomp/Kneed pulp into a clay.

This technique has been the only technique that uses very little glue.


According to www.wallpaperinstaller.com Cellulose is common binder for a substitute for natural gums and a stabilizer in emulsions as well as a thickening agent. It can be simply created using NaOH (Sodium hydroxide) which dissolves the wood or cotton with an alkali.

Cellulose
"Cellulose methyl ether, produced by treating cellulose from wood or cotton with an alkali, such as sodium hydroxide, followed by methyl chloride. The resulting product is a white granular solid, soluble in cold water but insoluble in hot water. In addition to being used as an adhesive, it is used as a thickening agent, as a substitute for natural gums, and as a stabilizer in emulsions."
-from Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books Dictionary from the Conservation On-Line (COOL) website

"Methyl cellulose occurs as practically odorless and tasteless, white to yellowish-white granules or powder. The pH of a 1% w/v solution is in the range of 5.5 to 8.0. Its angle of repose is about 40 degrees to 50 degrees and it is hygroscopic. It swells and disperses slowly in cold water to form a clear-to-opalescent, viscous, colloidal dispersion. The viscosity is increased with increased concentrations. The viscosity decreases with increased temperatures to about 50 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius, where gel formation occurs. The thermogelation is reversible when the viscous solution reforms upon cooling."
-from Wade A., Weller P.J. (eds) Handbook of Pharmaceutical Compounding.

In paperhanging, cellulose has the highest water content of any paste in general use (around 97%). It usually comes in a small box and is packaged as a white powder. It is mixed with cold water on the job and can be used with a variety of lightweight materials such as porous papers, grasscloth and silk. It's adhesion is mostly of the mechanical type. It leaves very little solids behind and is not suitable for many wallcoverings which require greater amounts of initial tack and holding power.

Rug out of old t-shirts

What does it take to transform a pile of old T-shirts into spectacular works of woven art? Just a spare hula hoop or embroidery hoop and the techniques we'll show you here. The oversize looms and easy-to-use loops of T-shirt fabric make these projects particularly appealing to beginning weavers. Learn the basic hoop weaving technique by crafting a colorful accent rug to brighten up a room. And if you want to take the weaving a little further, check out our basket and chair pad weaves

Before you begin, some terms you need to know: the warp is the material you string on the hoop, the weft is the material you weave with.
Source: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/hula-hoop-rug-995304/print/

Popsicle stick guitar

I may have to try this one day. I've always wanted a guitar, but making my own would be more awesome.

Popsicle sticks as a craft material. +1

Cookie Ideas

If I ever make my logo into a stamp, totally going to use this cookie decorating idea.

Live/Work

I think for my first apartment, I'm going to make it a live/work space. Possibly even have it in a studio space (it'll be cheaper)... this idea for a bed just amplified that desire.

Elegant Writing on Mason Jars

Source

Definitely something to look into for future design projects. Using hot glue on glass jars and then painting them.

Printed Fabric Tut

Source: http://www.polishthestars.com/2010/08/how-to-print-on-fabric.html

I want to see if I can try this on the big format printer. It would be cool if I could print textile designs with it. Not sure how well it'll load into the printer though.



This is a cute idea too. =3

Source: http://cornflowerbluestudio.blogspot.com/2011/01/minis.html

Crackle/Grunge finish

source: http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2010/05/crackle-finish-with-elmers-glue.html

I want to use the above finish. I'm thinking about making furniture out of paper pulp. I can't help but imagine it would have an interesting effect since paper is made from trees.

Here is a "video" of how it is done:





Source: Debbie Wijskamp

Although I think I would have to seal it some how after to keep it from warping.

If I get the furniture looking great out of paper pulp, the next thing I'd like to try is to make a boat of it. Since we're getting a beach house and all, it'll be fun to see if I can pull it off.

Studio Inspirations

I'm a person who likes to dream ahead. Posting things that inspire me in all categories. I love interior design and plan on making my first studio looking like dynamite :P

So here goes my new post series of interior design inspiration. I'm looking for something usually in between 16th and 17th century and modern/relatively futuristic inspirations.

Here is some inspirations I've found lately that is kind of what I'm after.








(I love the use of wooden palettes for the couch)

Source: http://inspiracionline.blogspot.com

Hyperspace & The Spiritual World

As I was rereading the article I posted about Near Death Experiences and how it explained that we are actually traveling through a wormhole into hyperspace when we die, got me thinking. What if in order to travel throughout space at faster than light-speed we would temporarily "die" (i.e leave the physical world) and jump into hyperspace and find the destination and jump back into reality?

What if death is just a mere myth and it actually doesn't exist in the true reality?

What if death is more of a transition than a loss?

If this is the case it would make incredible sense that the ancient Egyptians and Tibetans worshipped death.

But because of the Net/Quarantine put surrounding the Earth, moon and Mars, humans are unable to travel into hyperspace? Therefore unable to travel through space normally?

Hmm something to ponder.

It would also make sense that some ancient Egyptian artwork depicted the use of Wormholes.

Crazy Hair colors

If I were ever to dye my hair a crazy color (which I might once I don't see my parents as often they're pretty conservative) I'd dye it white and then probably orange. But hair dying will only depend on where I end up for a job, of course.

String Gardens

I may not have a green thumb, but who knows because my dad has a garden... but for me I think the biggest problem is sun. My room is pretty much under a huge maple tree and get barely any sun through my windows. Our property is pretty shady (lol) in general so we can't have much of a garden. Though in my town there is a section blocked off for community gardens and that's where my dad has his.

If I ever live in a place that has enough sun, I'm gonna grow a stringing garden.

Here is a website dedicated to stringing gardens: http://www.stringgardens.com/index.php?/summer-2009/

Creative Science Layout

I've been thinking about starting a blog about science with an artistic approach to it. Its kinda hard to describe but, maybe you'll see. :-)

Layout created in Photoshop... used Leonardo Da Vinici bruches.

It'll be similar to this one, but with a more narrow focus.

If I don't turn this layout into a blog layout I might use it as a future re-design of my site. :P



And I wish I had his style.