Fun, fabulous, functional fonts

Probably the most difficult thing I've had to learn to carve is text.  Somehow, when carving regular images, I feel like there is a lot of leeway given in the interpretation of the object that I'm carving.  When I carve some bad lines in an image, my brain interprets everything properly when everything is stamped up and things often look better than the disaster my fatalistic brain has come up with.

However, with text, there really is no leeway. My brain has been hardwired for reading and will notice even the faintest improper wiggle in the lines.  I guess a lot of other people feel that way too and because of that they are intimidated from taking on something with text.

But, my advice would be, carve it anyway! You'll only get better at it!  Carve more! Practice makes perfect!

I remember going and finding a Fiddleheads carve out in the wild that had some text on it that completely blew me away.  I had to learn to do that...

The thing is, you're only setting yourself up for sadness if you use default computer fonts for your carvings.  Here's why: default fonts that come pre-installed with whatever software you're using (such as Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, etc) are meant for dense writing on paper and huge amounts of text. The fonts are meant for printers printing at 500 dot per inch.  The individual glyphs are tiny, thin, well nuanced, and essentially not well-suited for carving.  Can they be carved? Yes, by really talented carvers, at large sizes, etc.

That's not me.  I need to carve good lookin' text and not have the letters be giant.  And let's face it, default fonts are boring.  I work all day with Times New Roman and Cambria. Gag.  No more, thanks.  Where's my freedom of creative expression?

Oh.  Free fonts, you say?

DISCLAIMER: BY READING THE REST OF THIS POST, YOU MAY LOSE TIME, SLEEP, AND MAY END UP WITH A HUGE BACK-LOG OF CARVING TO BE COMPLETED.  BY READING THE REMAINDER OF THIS POST, YOU HEREBY WAIVE ALL RIGHTS BY YOU, YOUR HEIRS AND/OR SUCCESSORS FROM ANY CLAIMS, RESULTS, OR DAMAGES INCURRED BY THE GRATUITOUS AND WANTON GORGING UPON FONTS.  YOU HAVE BEEN HEREBY WARNED.

There's nothing like a new font to get your creative juices going.  As much as I wander through the depths of Google Images looking for pretty pictures to carve, I probably spend even more time wandering through the depths of free font sites, finding inspiration at every turn. You need fat fonts, not necessarily round - but big black ones that are conducive to carving even when tiny.

I remember in the lead up to Box ON! deciding that I was concerned that there weren't going to be that many boxes out for the event and that people were going to be climbing all over one another at the box locations.  Coming up with a way to slow people down and increase the number of boxes was achieved one day while wandering through fonts: why not carve labels for each of the boxes with both the name of the mysterious location and the carver?

I found the perfect font for it: Rapscallion.  I liked the font so much that I used it on the map for the event as well (you can check that out here). I also found a number of icon fonts for the glyphs I used to mark the locations of the boxes on that map.  Essentially, that map was one big ol' font fest.

Seriously, if you're not a technically inclined person, don't fret about installing new fonts on your computer.  Whether you have a PC or a Mac, it's super easy, there are great instructions at DaFont here.

I spend most of my time at DaFont, but here's a great list of free font websites to check out:

• Dafont - my favourite site, spend a lot of time here - check out in particular the section on "Dingbats" - lots of great carving images, no editing required.
• 1001FreeFonts - great site, some great fat black fonts that are good for carving.
• Creamundo - many nights have been lost in this website
• Action Fonts - also has a great dingbat section, I particularly like their Alien Symbols 

I'm sure there are a lot other great places to get fonts... I'm inspired now and my carving materials are still buried in my packed stuff.  Grr. What was I thinking?

Anxiety.

So, in the middle of moving to a new apartment in the City, done in the middle of changing jobs, in the middle of packing, in the middle of saying goodbyes, in the middle of hearings, in the middle of the Christmas season, in the middle of life... I'm anxious about the fact that I have packed my carving stuff and can't get at it for at least a week.

Ugh.

One more week to go and I'll be moved; one more month to go and I'll be in a new job. My trail name should have been Gypsy Jo.

On the road again...

Letterboxing in Key West, Florida

 

Key West is my Moby Dick.

When I first learned about letterboxing and before I ever went out on my first letterboxing adventure, I thought - cool, I bet I could do this travelling... I wonder if there are any letterboxes in that place I just got back from - Key West.  And there were.  At all the places I visited.  I was a little irritated that I didn't know about letterboxing and that I didn't get a chance to go find them.

So, flash forward a couple years to a time when my marching band gets invited for a festival in Key West.  Awesome.  It is on.  Those boxes are so mine.

I didn't have a lot of time in KW, but I had some great letterboxing times.  Some beautiful boxes are down in Key West!  So I rented a moped (what fun!) and headed out for a wonderful day of boxing!

The hens and roosters really were everywhere!

On the whole, the letterboxes in Key West were great.  Good hides, nice carves, and wonderful logbooks.  The logs were really interesting because I think a lot of other boxers come through on vacation, so there were some really interesting entries in the logs, and plenty of them.

Cock of the Walk was amazing in this regard because it was an older box with many, many entries.  I loved reading through them.

Key West apparently passed a law almost 100 years ago forcing the release of chickens that were being used in cock-fights.  Not sure of this, couldn't confirm online... But in any event, there are hens and roosters roaming freely all over the island and there are municipal laws prohibiting anyone from molesting the chickens.  Molesting.  Moving on.

I particularly liked the magnetic box that I found at Bo's - where I stopped for some delicious food and a few drinks.  Bo's broken down truck was fantastic - and I remember seeing it last time I was down. I actually didn't find the box on my own, mostly because I have issues sticking my hands in places potentially hiding spiders.  Ick.  Fortunately, a brave noxer I was with was not similarly afflicted and found the box for me.  Awesome. Drinks all around.

Later, I found what I think might be my favourite letterbox to date: it was in the cemetery in Key West - a place that specifically prohibits letterboxes - so I'm not posting the box link here.  With any small of amount of sleuthing, you'll find it.  Fantastic cemetery, with lots of amazing sights.  The hide was fantastic - I loved it.  Location - not style of hide, which was fairly typical.  I don't want to spoil it for future finders, so I won't comment other than to say this one gets my solid seal of approval.  The stamp was great and the log was facinating.  The cemetery had many beautiful sights and I left a box of my own.  Huge lizards abound, and I actually found a toad inside a toad abode.  So cool.

A toad abode...

With a toad.

So here it is: Key West Cemetery prohibits letterboxing. But geocaching is allowed? I would have loved to be at city council when this ordinance was passed. Maybe one day I'll hunt down the staff report recommending this... This is crazy.

I visited Hemingway House to find the Hemingway Cat box... Cat with thumbs? They're trying to take over the world!

These cool trees make interesting places to hide boxes...

The festival was great... This is probably the most tame picture I took and the only one that I would post on a blog for what is often a family based activity...

Thanks Key West!

Car crashes and letterboxing in Buffalo, New York

Summary of my recent letterboxing trip to Buffalo, NY: lots of great letterboxes, and a banged up car.

For reasons other than letterboxing, I went down to Buffalo to catch a flight to Key West in mid-October.  I decided this was the perfect opportunity to go and nab some of the many (many!) non-event letterboxes that exist down in the City of Good Neighbours.

So, with clues in hand, off I went.  I have to say, the first couple of clues took me, via GPS, to areas that I wasn't exactly comfortable getting out of my car.  So those were automatically skipped.  I was probably overreacting, but I was down in another country on my own and wasn't getting good vibes being on my own in those areas.  Had I had a fellow boxer with me, or even a mediocre noxer, I probably would have tried them.

Anyways, I made my way over to Ronald McDonald's House, by Papa Shengo, and made a quick find near this building.  It's a beautiful old property - I know there are RM Houses in Canada as well, never saw them, but if this is the standard for those charities than I'm really impressed.  This letterbox was really cute, I liked the stamp, but it was getting a little soggy.  Dried it out and got back on my way...

Next up was Nickel City, at a delicious cheese shop.  I love cheese.  LOVE cheese.  It was torture going into this cute shop and not buying out the store.  What could I possibly do with all this cheese, flying the next day to Florida as it were.  Must go back.  GreatBigSabres did a great job on the hide on this one and the shopkeeper seemed bemused watching me while I stamped in. Great carve and I picked up a HH as well...

Give Blood, Give Life was next - exactly where it said it was.  I notice with a lot of the clues in NY that references to things like "pine" or "cedar" or the like are just generic references to anything evergreen.  This one for instance said to find the box under pine needles... but it's at the bottom of a cedar with no pines to be seen anywhere around.  *shrug* I knew what they were getting at ;)

I did some shopping in between here... I filled my car with lots of wonderful things to outfit my new apartment in Toronto.  I was going to be across the border for enough time that it was very much worth it to get some purchases in to take back with me.  Good times.  My credit card company loves me.

Anyways, moving on to my big list of boxes, I got to only two more, Life Memorial Park and Babeville.  Life Memorial Park had one of the coolest in-bush hides I've seen, but was unfortunately botched by a previous boxer who thought it would be a great idea to force a HH in a box that it clearly did not fit in and than not reclose it properly and leave it to the elements.  That wasn't very responsible.  I'm trying not to rant too hard here, but that's really inconsiderate.   Grr.  And then Babeville.  And then car accident.

I've never been in a car accident before.  There I was, on a clear day, going about 70 km/h, approaching an intersection that I would be going straight through with a green light.  In the opposite direction, in the left hand turn lane, someone stopped waiting to make the left after I get through the intersection.  And just as I got to the intersection, tries to make the left in front of me.  Slammed on the breaks, plowed right into is front right corner.  Pushed his whole car back a bit.

Anyways.  I really was freaked out, not just because of the accident, but I was all by myself in another country and I really have no idea what the rules are for accidents in NY.  In Ontario, if the damages look under $500, you just exchange info and go on your merry way.  Typical deductibles in Ontario mean that none of these go through your insurance anyway, particularly because everything is no-fault.  If it's over $500, you call the collision centre who comes out and makes a report. But what does $500 worth of damage look like? And what if the rules are different here?

So, to be careful, the police were called (who showed up really quickly and dealt with it fast - I was really impressed).  The damage to the other guy's car was significant - I crushed his front end.  The damage to my car - at least from the outside - looked negligible.  If I was going to have to pay to fix it, I wouldn't have.

But in NY, I found out, tort law applies still, so I did not even have to pay the deductible on my insurance to get the somewhat minor appearing damage to my car completely repaired - the US insurer covered mine.  The other guy was at fault because he made a left in front of me in an intersection where I had the right of way.

Once I got back to have the car assessed by my insurer, I became pretty impressed with my car (which, as anyone who knows me knows, I'm not really fond of).  Although the damage was minor on the outside, I completely wrecked this piece inside that is meant to take the impact.  It was obliterated - protecting both me and the rest of my car.  That piece was replaced and I'm really impressed with the build of my car now.  Food for thought for the few boxers who travel with me in my car from time to time ;)

Anyways.  The accident freaked me out so bad that I called it quits for the day.  I didn't stop shaking until I met up with a friend in Buffalo and had a stiff drink (or two).  Also, funny note: I always forget how strict Americans are about drinking.  I haven't been carded in Canada for years (drinking age Ontario: 19).  But every time I go out for something in the states, carded.  And I forgot my driver's license & passport at my friend's apartment when we went out.  Nice soul nevertheless served me. (I'd been denied alcohol before when I've forgotten my ID.)

Happy trails and keep your eyes on those left hand turners!

Letterboxing critical mass

Warning: the following was written by a stressed, morose, and overtired Bumble.

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes I worry about the future of letterboxing in Ontario.  I've been boxing for a little over two years now and have a pretty good idea about who's out there and actively letterboxing.  And those are some tiny numbers for such a vast geographic area.

Last year while I was actively planting on a regular basis, I was accordingly also receiving box find emails through AQ on a regular basis.  This year, that has significantly dwindled.  Which is to be expected; most "local" (read: Ontario, huge) boxers have found most of my boxes.  The ones that have few finders will continue to only have a few finders for whatever reason.  Others get a lot of traffic from letterboxers just passing through - and actually my first letterbox is great for this because the location is nice and close to the nearest highway.

This year, it would seem that there was a spurt of boxes planted by new boxers out in Jigg & Kenlaur territory.  And then a longer spurt out  in Viking & Starhexen territory. New boxer in Ajax, planting away as well. But nada in Toronto where the greatest number of people live.

So the concerning equation is such: no new boxers = no new finds.  Also no new letterboxes by new boxers.  I know I can rely upon our community to continue planting, and so will I, but on some level isn't that a disincentive to continue letterboxing?  That the same letterboxers are planting the same style boxes all the time? Maybe disincentive is too strong, but for the casual letterboxer, is not boredom the enemy?

Is letterboxing growing or dying here? I worry that all it would take is a few key players out of this game for it to fizzle out in short order.  But is decline inevitable anyway?  How many boxers does the hobby need here for it to be self-sustaining?  What is the critical mass? For those who've been boxing here longer than me, are you seeing trends?  I loathe to think that there needs to be an active recruitment of boxers in Ontario; however, will the hobby die out without it?

And so, how did Jiggs and Lone R (who I understand were pretty much the first Ontarian boxers) continue with the hobby in the face of a dearth of knowledge about it here? Were their first plants more like throwing a message in a bottle in the St. Lawrence - full of hope that in the theoretic future someone in Ireland would find their note?  Was it truly just that speculative?  What a defiant act of hope...

And really, I should have nothing to complain about.  I have an established, if small, friendly and engaged community of boxers who are sure to entice others to the game.  There are plenty of boxes by foreboxers out there for me to find still, there is plenty of boxing to do just across the border, and I can be just as hopeful about the future of letterboxing as the others.  Time to plant some more boxes and stop whining.  I mean, it could be worse: I could be in Nunavut.

Checking in with the blahs *or* I'd rather be letterboxing

Hello.  Just checking in.  Haven't dropped off of the face of the planet, just busy.  And I've got the blahs.

I'm working on a couple posts about recent letterboxing adventures - one regarding some box finds in Buffalo, New York, and another for Key West, Florida. Spoiler: I think my favourite find ever is down in Key West... I was down for Fantasy Fest just before Hallowe'en, which was awesome.  Just missed Sandy. However, I got in a car accident while in Buffalo on my way to the airport, so letterboxing there was cut short. But those posts are coming along... Soonish.

Meanwhile, I'm in the midst of insurance claims, getting my car fixed, packing to move, buying new furniture, making moving arrangements, as well as the usual workload for this time of year at work.  Oh, I just remembered that I have to make all the calls to get my address changed for everything. Sigh.  It's all good, I'm a very lucky girl, but I've got the serious blahs.

I'd much rather be letterboxing.

Numbers Station Redux

Ever since I learned about them, I have been fascinated by numbers stations.  My first exposure to one was on my favourite show of all time, LOST, where a numbers station was programmed 16 years earlier to air with a french plea for help.

I mostly forgot about them until the first LOST alternative reality game where there was a kind of numbers station set up as the next clue to unlock the next part of the game.  Creepy as all get out.  To solve it, you actually had to figure out how to reverse the video/audio to hear ciphertext being read (see the reversed version here). But it was then that I really started looking at where this idea came from and whether numbers stations are still airing (they are).

I even went so far as to get a short wave radio in order to hear them.  Creeped me out so bad, I didn't sleep for two nights, haven't listened on my own again since.

Anyways, after letterboxing for a while, I thought that a numbers-station-esque clue might be kind of cool, so I set about trying to figure out how to make a fake recording of a numbers station.

GarageBand and my first Numbers Station clue.

In the end, I used Rock Band which is preinstalled in my Macbook to take a number of recordings of static, a copy of me playing Yankee Doodle, as well as me reading off a phonetic alphabet set of clues.  I decided to use a melody intro and conclusion to be more like the well-known Lincolnshire Poacher numbers station, but I didn't have access to a child to read off the cipher, so I just read it myself while putting on a voice.

Then, mixed the sound levels a bit, save and export, send to Jackbear, and voila my first audio clue.

...

But then comes the waiting.  The worst part of a new letterbox.  Will anyone ever find it? Is the clue too hard? Can people even hear the recording properly? Should I make it easier? Is the clue too creepy to listen to? Should I just leave it?

After two weeks, there was a first finder, eight months after that, another finder. None since.

Then it occurred to me that I could easily just make another one and put it somewhere else for an entirely different group of boxers to potentially find. There are plenty of different numbers stations, after all.  A series of boxes perhaps.  Really, who's stopping me? Only me.  And since I had a lovely vacation planned for the near future, I set the gears in motion.

Actually, the location was perfect - and I even named this second box after the actual nearby numbers station.  You can hear some of the real station in the video below.  Stamp was easy, very similar to the original Numbers Station stamp, but unique.  Also, location, check. Planted, check. Then came the clue.  Second time around, easy peasy.

Jackbear was kind enough to host the last Numbers Station clue on the Letterpod, and agreed to host again...

And so, for your listening enjoyment: Numbers Station: Atención. My original box: Numbers Station.

I enjoyed doing it again, so I'll probably do another if I end up with a good location for one...

Happy trails!

Two days later...