Make a 3D layered photo

I remember old photos and pictures where they used to take multiple copies of the same image and cut out parts of the image and layer them up so that it gives depth to the picture. We had done one of these back in art class in school.
I cannot remember what this is called. Searches for stacking and layering photos give much more results for manipulating digital pictures rather than working with physical images. I was able to find a few sites which gave enough of an overview to follow. It seems it might be 3D decoupage.

I was trying to see what was used between the layers. Using foam seems like it would be too thick for more than 4 layers so I was thinking about gluing the images to cardboard. This would also allow you to work with as low as two pictures (or even a single image but your cuts would have to be super precise).
When it came time to do it, I ended up using foam after all. I had concern about whether the multiple layers would still fit in the frame but when I put it on the first layer it was less puffy than it was on the roll.

You will need as many copies of the picture as you will have layers. I took a photo from our trip to Universal and got mine printed up at Walmart. You will also need something to give the layers depth. I went with the foam tape from Dollarama. I also got a deep frame from Dollarama.

In addition, you will some thing to cut the pictures into the layers. You can use small scissors but I used a craft knife and a cutting board.

You need to decide which parts of the image will be on which layers. It helps to write these out to help you decide how many prints you need to make for the layers. It also helps to keep track of what to cut off of each layer.

I was going to do five layers. I had a sixth layer that I was going to do using regular double sided tape but ended up using the foam tape for that as well. Starting with the full image, I stuck the next layer down on top of it. The I kept sticking down the smaller layers until I was done.

I used the double sided tape to stick it to a card for the backing to help keep it centered. I ended up using a comic backing board. I had picked up a couple of extra boards to use for the layers in case the tape was too thick.

The joy of stuff

I was able to do a bit of a sift on my desk. It took three hours to take about half the boxes off and then put them back in slightly different spots. It only cleared a small spot of table space, but it moved a whole bunch of boxes that I need to go through to the front so that I can access them easier. This should allow me to keep working away at it when I have time.

I do still have a lot of stuff, but so much of it still brings me joy. I am slowly becoming less attached to some older stuff. I have moved a lot in my life, a few times before I started school, and five times since. I am currently in the place that I have lived the longest – at over 16 years.

We still have a few years before the kids move out and we get to reclaim those rooms. Until then, I need to work with the space I have currently. I hope to finally unpack some boxes from 2 moves ago and reclaim my desktop in order to start doing stuff again.

Then I can work at reorganizing the storage locker to make it more of a living storage that I can access and get thing out of instead of an oubliette where things get put in to be forgotten. I will need to get a good shelf for the boxes of books, as well as some of those rolling shelves to allow me to move things to get to the items in the back easier.

Figure Painting Total - May 2019

I finally finished a figure! It was for my wife, for her birthday. Back when we were still dating, on the way to GenCon, we had picked up an X-Men Alert game. I had told her I would paint the figures for her. I painted up the rest of the figures in the set over twenty years ago but never got around to finishing the Cable figure.
We were never big fans of Cable, who had gone through a few costumes over the years. The costume on his card is his silver outfit and different than the costume on the figure. The internet hasn’t been much help either. I didn’t want to dig through all the back issues to find out the colors for this particular outfit.
Finally, I recently checked on BoardGameGeek, and two people had posted their versions of the outfit. Using a combination of the two, I was able to make a passable attempt at finishing him. It’s not my best job ever, but it’s not really a figure either of us care about and will probably never use.
So this now completes that game. It also puts the first figure in the painted column. Now I can work away at other figures without this one hanging over me.

Painted
X-Men Alert: Cable – 1

May figures bought – 0, figures painted – 1

Running total 2019 – figures bought 117, figures painted 1

Goonies birthday

For my wife’s fiftieth birthday a few year ago, we did a Goonies-themed party. She was a big Goonies fan, so we made invitations based on the map, had a table piled up with treasure, and I gave her a replica metal coin like the one used in the movie as well as some newspapers from the Goonies reunions in Aurora, and I have since gotten her a replica metal skull key.

Using pictures of the map, I did the Mad-magazine fold first and drew the two sides of the coin.

Then I opened the paper and drew the rest of the map. I modified the wording with our address and date of the party. I weathered it using some tea. This I sent out as the invitations.

On the back of the map, I replaced the musical notes with the notes for Happy Birthday. I’m not sure anyone noticed, but I thought it was a nice touch.

For One-Eyed Willy’s treasure pile, we bought a bunch of plastic coins, as well as some actual Chinese coins for the stacks. We bought a bunch of gems from Dollarama, and used some pirate weapons from the kid’s Tickle Trunk.

Figure Painting Total - April

I only picked up one more figure for the Batman Miniature Game when I picked up the second edition rules and the Magic rules.

BM/DCU – Batman (Nightmare)– 1
Apr figures bought – 1, figures painted – 0

Running total 2019 – figures bought 117, figures painted 0

Books read January to April 2019

Jan
Haynes Star Wars Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual by Ryder Windham, Chris Reiff, and Chris Trevas
Haynes Star Wars Millenium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual by Ryder Windham, Chris Reiff, and Chris Trevas
Stuck in the Middle: Dissenting Views of Winnipeg by Bartley Kives and Bryan Scott
The little book of Inappropriate Morals: Stories that aren’t helpful at all by Holly Green
A Plethora of Poor Decisions: and other tales of Misadventure by Holly Green
Perfectly Yourself: Discovering God’s Dream for you by Matthew Kelly

Feb
Stuck in the Middle 2: Defining views of Manitoba by Bryan Scott and Bartley Kives
Trigger Mortis: A James Bond Novel by Anthony Horowitz
A Wanted Man by Lee Child

Mar
Cyndi Lauper – A Memoir by Cyndi Lauper with Jancee Dunn
Treasures by The Canadian Museum of Civilization
A Wish Your Heart Makes: From the Grimm Brothers’ Achenputtel to Disney’s Cinderella by Charles Solomon

Apr
A Company of Wolves by Peter Steinhart
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawken
Firefly RPG by Monica Valentinelli, Mark Diaz Truman, Brendan Conway, Dean Gilbert, and Jack Norris
The Makeup Artist Handbook by Gretchin David + Mindy Hall
Invaders from the North by John Bell
Parenthood by Paul Reiser

Low High-Density Lipoproteins

Back in October, I had gone to the doctor for my annual tune-up. My blood pressure was fine, and my LDL cholesterol levels were fine, but my HDL cholesterol levels were low. As this seems to be a major precursor to heart issues, she was concerned.

So she scheduled me back for 6 months to check again. I've been a bit more active but haven't made drastic changes in my diet. My weight doesn't really seem to change. I still seem to be in the 170 to 175 range with occasional spikes up near 180 for holidays.

After 6 months of this, my HDLs haven't really increased. In fact, they have actually deceased slightly. This concerns my doctor even more. It seems that I will need to take this a lot more seriously. Now that the snow has melted, I'm going to need to get out there and move a lot more, and reach for apples instead of chips more often.