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What creative projects have you been working on?
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
I’m not sure if it really counts as “creative,” but I went down a rabbit hole a while back about how people become audiobook narrators and learned many of them practice by volunteering to read things for blind people.
I have no intention of becoming an audiobook narrator, but I have a nice microphone setup and like playing with it, so I’ve been volunteering for Access News in my free time. It’s given me an excuse to brush up on Garage Band so I can edit my mistakes and contribute some nice, semi-pro level recordings.
I’m working on a custom Martini for a cocktail contest! I’d elaborate, but maybe in a couple months when they announce the finalists! I’m very excited about my flavors and techniques, I just don’t wanna spill it too soon. I’m mostly commenting in hopes there are other bartenders/cocktail nerds around, I’d love to talk more about spirits here on Tildes.
This sounds exciting!
I'm a big fan of gin, currently G&T has been my main drink but I feel like the tonic water squashes some of the nicer flavors of a quality gin.
People have recommended I make a martini instead, but I imagine that's just replacing the tonic water with vermouth.
Do you have any thoughts on this?
The original martini was equal parts gin and sweet vermouth with a dash of orange bitters and garnished with a twist of orange. The use of dry vermouth didn't emerge until the 1890's.
Feel free to experiment with the balance of gin and vermouth, play with the type and brand of gin and see if you prefer dry or sweet vermouth.
Wow, I am so excited. The thought of just pouring vermouth over gin on the rocks makes me laugh, you’ll be so upset if you do that! A Martini is a very personal cocktail down to brands and technique. It’s one of those drinks that you can make differently every time, or you can get real technical with timing and temperature to control dilution. If you ever find your “perfect” Martini, start playing with technique. It only gets more exciting from there!
I would really recommend “Cocktail Codex” and “Liquid Intelligence” as far as books, if you’re interested.
The quality of gin and vermouth matters, as well as dilution. The water helps to marry the spirits. Vermouth and Gin are both herbaceous, so you’re aiming for them to blend. If you’re not a wine person, you might want it dry - which is less vermouth. Wet would be the Martini you described of just swapping the tonic for the vermouth! Some folks are into that, though. This is how I typically build a Martini if someone said “I want a martini” with nothing else: In a mixing glass, pour your gin and your vermouth using a jigger. 2.5oz gin, 0.5oz vermouth, put ice in mixing glass until it’s packed level with the spirits (I feel like there is a word for this that I am forgetting), stir, then strain into your chilled martini glass. I prefer lemon to olive, so I make a lemon twist, express it over the drink, and then hang on the glass for garnish. While you’re stirring, taste it periodically. When it’s to your taste is when it’s ready. There’s a lot more I can say here but I should probably stop before I get too carried away!
Hey, just wanted to come back and thank you for the advice!
I'm petulant and learn well from mistakes, so the very first thing I did was pour vermouth over cheap gin on the rocks. And yeah, it was pretty terrible.
Since I'm missing most of the important equipment I made a kind-of-but-not-quite dirty martini, with a 9:1 mix of gin to dry vermouth, poured over rocks, stirred, drained into a second glass and garnished with a couple green olives.
Also realized that the thing people say about water "opening up" the flavor of a liquor is very true, so I tried just plain gin over rocks with a few garnishes to see what other kind of flavors would be interesting. Of all the things I tried, I liked rosemary and capers the best - though a jalapeno slice was surprisingly delicious as well.
For someone who's been drinking primarily one drink for a few years now, this is a lovely refresher on what else is out there - I need to get one of those shaker cups and strainer things. This was much more rewarding than I expected, and I have you to thank for it!
Cheers.
You can make your own tonic, you know. Might be a good way to control how much of that flavor you're getting.
Been building a video adaptation of SCP-5006. This will be the second SCP entry I've adapted, but I'm gonna try and up the ante for this one. I've already got the 'transcribed' sections all built out with AI voice actors and effects. Gonna be a long one but I'm aiming for a Halloween release.
Idunno what Tildes thinks of SCP in general... while the concept is awesome and there's a fuckton of amazing writing by some incredibly talented people just up there for free, the saturation of the site and genre has also given way to a veritable boatload of kiddie cringe and click-farm level content on YouTube... That's my opinion at least. So, I'm going to try to steer away from that with this.
I've read a couple things from SCP that I thought were neat (in a paranoid way) and meant to go back to it someday...
Quite the Battlestar Galactica scenario in that one.
Unfortunately, I've had to back-burner this project, since I used cloned celebrity voices for the transcribed sections like a complete dumbass. It's funny you mentioned Battlestar, one of the voices was based on a sample of James Callis. The clone did a great job, not gonna lie, and I can't really publish that with a clean conscience... plus if the video gained any kind of attention, they could all sue the fuck out of me if they wanted. Which is a shame, because it sounded fucking awesome.
I am working on a pair of stays for the Ren Faire! I was going to make a skirt as well, but timing wise that'll have to wait until next year, I don't have the time to do both and the stays are more important. I bought a Maya Kern skirt to be part of the ensemble (it has pockets!!).
The pattern I'm using has 4 panels plus the front and back and seems pretty simple to put together. I've gotten the fabric for the front, liner, and interface as well as ordering trim, grommets, grommet tool, and the other miscellaneous odds and ends I needed. I've been trying to find ribbon to use that isn't polyester but the time crunch is real and I'll have to settle. The good thing is I can replace the ribbon very easily.
I'm going to start this weekend, and will get the pattern printed and cut today/tomorrow and the fabric washed so I'll be a bit more prepped. I'm slightly annoyed that the pattern didn't include seam allowances but what can you do? I'm sure the pattern maker had a reason for it.
Hopefully the next time this topic rolls around I will be all decked out and ready for Ren Faire!
This sounds fantastic! If you want a custom ribbon you can make your own. Find a fabric you love, cut it on the bias twice as wide as you'd like the ribbon to be plus your seam allowances. Sew together pieces to get your desired length. Cut very light fusable interfacing the width of your "ribbon". Fuse down the center of the wrong side of the bias cut fabric, fold and stitch along the seam allowance. Turn the tube to right side and iron flat, seam down the center back.
The type of fabric and the weight of the interfacing will affect the hand of the ribbon. You can make it without interfacing as well, but it will be more prone to twist and distort. I would suggest trying shorter lengths to see what works best.
You can also cut with the grain but it's hard to get that to line up and not twist or buckle when working with long lengths of fabric.
I was a costume designer/seamstress for almost 3 decades. My best advice is to try stuff. The worst that can happen is you learn what may not work. You can always build your skills.
Ohmygodness!! That's so awesome that you were a costume designer/seamstress!! I've only made a couple of things and had to go crying to my mom for some parts of this pattern, so I'm pretty new to sewing overall. I love the idea of making my own ribbon! I think I'll have to give that a try for next year. That way the stays can match even better with the skirts I make. What an awesome idea, thank you for the walk through!
No problem. Good luck with all your future projects. If you love sewing, keep at it and never let anyone tell you it can't be done. Try everything. The worst that happens is it doesn't work and you learn something. You can always ping me here if you need a question answered.
Wow! Thank you so much!! I will be sure to ping you if I have questions 🥺
I’m addicted to writing and mapping out hypothetical games I’ll never really finish and I usually move on to new story once I have a rough draft. But lately I’ve been encouraged to learn Twine. It’s been very slow going but it feels so rewarding to finally flesh out one of my creative projects I’ve had since childhood. And I know it’s cliche to say now a days but AI has helped me immensely with keeping my ideas organized and for making artwork for rough sketches.
Hey same! I just made a thread on tildes about toolsets I could use for storytelling in video games.
So I’m starting to work with Twine and I bought Neverwinter Nights to use its toolset to create adventures.
Hope you share whatever you make!
About 3 years ago, we built and plumbed an outdoor bar using old redwood siding from our house.
Two weeks ago, we got a slab of hand milled, dried redwood to replace the bar top (which is finished plywood). So, there's going to be a fair amount of removing the bark from the unfinished edge, sanding and finishing this summer. It should look gorgeous!
• Running a game of the Mothership RPG. It's basically a survival horror RPG, which is at the opposite end of the spectrum from modern D&D, where you're expected to build up super hero fantasy characters that turn into virtual gods. I've dropped the players into a derelict ship with limited information and just been building it up into a sort of sci-fi haunted house, it's been ok.
• Also, woodworking. I've had an idea for awhile to make little wood animal standees in the shape of the first letters of my kids' names ("S", "E", and "X"... I didn't plan it like that and only afterwards realized, but... it just happened). I'll give them to them as gifts once I'm done, hopefully they don't break/lose them and they actually have something to remember me by.
It's so fun to experience the RPG worlds develop. I've played DND and a bit of Cyberpunk but never DMd. I want to get better at playing a character before I build a story. Your story sounds fun :)
I got Cyberpunk Red and Ragnarok before I planned on playing. I just wanted to read the lore. Ragnorak is based on Celtic history. The RPGs remind me of the -ology book series I read when I was younger. Mythology, Dragonology, Egyptology.
A while back I bought a student software bundle from apple mostly for Final Cut Pro, but it also came with Logic Pro, so I'm about to start on a journey to learn that and make some music for fun. I like a large variety of music but once I get to grips with it I think I'll start by trying my hand at making some Drum n' Bass.
Also been painting miniatures and while I've been following guides up till now but now I'm going to start experimenting a bit and just painting how I like. I bought this guy because he seems like he'll be a fun one to go crazy with.
Hopefully this isn't poor form here, but I recommend r/synthesizers as a huge knowledge database for making electronic music.
Thanks for the rec, I'll check it out. I think posting reddit communities is probably fine, especially if they don't really have a replacement here.
I'm always in pain, so making art has been an essential part of my life. I don't like sharing usually, because these are my real feelings and very few people know how to treat music as anything except a commodity. I've always felt like I was speaking a language of one, which makes it a useless language doesn't it?
https://murmuru.bandcamp.com/
I only quickly gave it a listen due to time, but I will definitely get back to it, because I really liked what I heard. Thank you so much for for putting it out here to listen to.
Thank you for sharing this, it was very brave.
Maybe I've just built up a tolerance to being misunderstood, but I've learned, for me at least, that having people that don't understand me 100%, but still care about me, and show general support for what I do... is good enough. Anything more than that is a blessing, isn't it?
I'm debating on whether to take part in NaNoWriMo this year.
The idea I have is based on a fan-fiction I partially wrote a few years ago but never published online, based around a game called Katawa Shoujo which is a visual novel created by people who met on 4chan about a boarding school for disabled students. I'd (of course) want to rewrite it to remove references to the source material and make it more of an original work.
Katawa Shoujo spoilers
The story is based on the game's bad ending, where Hisao ends up on the school rooftop with Kenji drinking. They get into a drunken argument and the protagonist gets accidentally pushed off the roof, falling to his death.In this version of events, Hisao survives the fall and is hospitalized with multiple broken limbs (he's lucky to not only be alive but also not paralyzed from the neck-down.) He faces expulsion from Yamaku Academy because of their zero-tolerance policy towards alcohol consumption. Not only do Hisao's parents threaten a lawsuit over gross negligence (which gets swiftly settled in his favour) but evidence comes out of highly illegal activity from Kenji (voyeurism, stalking, etc) where the police get involved and Hisao ends up testifying against his former dorm neighbour in court.
The fan-fiction itself was going to be based on a new cast of classmates. The only one I had done actual writing on was a girl called Sora who is an avid gamer and a narcoleptic.
Take it on!
I am going to try NaNoWriMo. My goal is to just to meet the word count goals no matter how garbage it is. Even if I have to write actual insane scribble. Editing is where the best books emerge anyways.
Closest I had was about 10,000 words in. The first ever project I worked on for NaNoWriMo was about a decade old and was a Moomin fanfic which reframed the whole story of Comet in Moominland as if the 'comet' actually collided with Earth and pushed Moominvalley (along with the rest of the world) into a state of apocalypse. Moomintroll, Snork Maiden, Sniff, Little My and Snufkin had to fight their way through a post-apocalyptic planet that was scorching hot with the oceans drained.
I had a bit of a phase where I was binging the 90's Moomin anime (which I remembered from my childhood) and reading some of Tove Jannson's old stuff at the time.
Think I shelved it because I made Snufkin into too much of an anime protagonist when he's just a careless nomad.
I've always meant to watch Moomin! It looks so charming. 10,000 words is a solid effort! I've never written quite that much, but I want to change that.
We'll have to make a Tildes NaNoWriMo thread when the time comes so we can all share and collaborate and offering editing and such.
Aquascaping. I've been collecting tanks for my menagerie of aquatic pets and planning scapes for them. My pet store calls it a collection, my friends call it an addiction :) I only have 6 tanks. Some day I want to do a biotope based on the environment of one of my favorite plants or pets.
Legos. My friend was working on a set and I asked if I could help sort the pieces. Queue knolling. Then they asked for help building. It was a lot of fun to do together and a surprising date night. Plus I have anxiety and finding things that take mental and dexterity focus helps me chill out.
Trying to design and make a busy board with a combination of woodworking and 3d printing for my 1 year old son. He likes cars, and I happen to be into Datsun Z cars, so I'm making it in the shape of a 280Z. All of the busy board components will match the car theme. So far I've thought to include:
My wife and I have been learning how to draw and rig vtuber models. She's always been pretty good at drawing and I enjoy learning the animation software. It's the coolest thing to take a 2D image she creates and give it the illusion of 3D movement.
I (relatively) recently launched a personal web site like I used to have back when I was a teenager. It's been a lot of fun to build the site and to make content for it. I'm currently in the process of adding a "lists" section to the site for some evergreen content that doesn't really belong on the blog. Thinking of adding "shrines" next. Basically all of my early personal sites were actually what people now call shrines, but we didn't really call them that back then.
If you don't have a personal site but you have an interest you'd like to geek out about in front of everyone, I highly recommend building one! Neocities is a great place to host it, and sadgirl.online is a great resource if you don't know how to build one. Whatever you do, don't create all your amazing stuff in Facebook or some similar walled garden. Make sure that you own it and that anyone who wants to see it can do so without having to trade their privacy for it.
Have you got a link to read it? (If you are willing to share of course.)
I don’t know if this counts as creative, but I’m programming a Goodreads alternative in my free time to learn all kinds of things. I’ve had to restart recently because I made some bad code design desicions, but it’s slowly coming along - I want to have something ready to use/show by the end of the year, but that’s not looking likely
I'm making a table for my kids. Right now they primarily use a small one from IKEA but it's always full of Legos so then they have no where to do their worksheets on. First time chiseling mortises and while not perfect I think it's pretty good given the leftover scrap wood I'm using. One thing I was pretty proud of myself with: I don't have a clamp long enough to glue the side supports to the legs so instead I found a gap between some stairs and my shed that's slightly bigger than what I want to clamp, put spreaders in the gaps and compressed it in that space. Worked like a charm!
Today I just finished decorating the new sketchbook I bought. I drew a chocobo on it (I love Final Fantasy, so I drew a chocobo.) and glued on some wooden stars. I also made charms out of shrink plastic to attach to it, and glued star shaped glitters in the shape of a meteor on the back. I really let out my inner kid for this one and I think it turned out very cute. Here's a picture.
Other than that I've been working on writing out the history of the Sootoches, who are a fictional race of arboreal squirrel-like people from my own original world. That lead into a small tangeant where I drew a few characters of their logographic writing system, mostly just to figure out what their writings might look like, although I may flesh their language out in the future.