pouët.net

What 300 key fobs looks like and other assorted info

category: offtopic [glöplog]
oooh . . . . thanks for posting!
:p
added on the 2014-07-08 14:54:33 by HaasiD64 HaasiD64
It's. been. one week since you ... er, back it up. It's been about three months since Revision 2014, it was announced during (after?) the prize giving ceremony--pretty hard to stay anonymous, yeah?--, and I don't think anyone would mind at this point.

So, first up, I had made some clear ("coke bottle") acrylic key fobs for organizers and other associated staff. The original goal was to make two for everyone with people's handles on them. I went with the list of names from the official organizer page, which I grabbed and deduplicated just before I had the awards made. Unfortunately, it changed later to add new names. However I needed time to ensure they arrived ahead of the party when shipped out, so this was somewhat unavoidable.

As the organizer page doesn't include everyone involved, I used a figure thrown out about the percentage of the total that page represented. I used that figure--Possibly wrongly, I might add, as I felt I might have not made enough by the time I was ready to ship out--to make generic key fobs for the rest. The text on those was different and, after much debate with various people about the meanings of various possibly usable English words, the conclusion in lieu of knowing what the actual product was ended up being "Team". I am not overblowing this bit, I really did ask around and various things like "conspirators" (slightly negative connotation) floated by, among other words, and debate started of course about who is considered an organizer and are you one if you only helped with the invite ... Oy!

At any rate, I don't know if there was enough for the generic ones to be handed out in duplicate, but I do believe there were enough to cover everyone at least once. As this was already a somewhat costly endeavor--I did not, and do not now, ask for any return--and I was running very short on time, I didn't get more made. If you keep moving the goal line you never get done. So I do apologize to those who didn't get one with their name on it, and especially to the guy who asked me if I could at the party itself, as I did the names at creation time not as an after effort on a generic template. (It would, I think, be too much work to do an exchange program for those without names which I could have offered, but I'd also then have to ask for cost coverage for postage and the like.)

Beyond all that over-thinking I usually do, there's also a story about getting through customs, but that's all behind and the only detail that matters at this point is a note-to-self to not ship packages so they arrive at the start of a worker's strike. :P (Not that these things are really predictable.)

Pictures:
(The "enough of your yapping!" section.) As always, each picture is linked to a larger version.

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Total number of key fobs: 133. Total personalized: 95. Each person got two, so there were 48 names. Somehow chaos wasn't run twice, so his second was filled in with a generic one. Hence 95, not 96. Sorry! Someone else's second personalized one didn't get a ring hole drilled for some reason. (Guess it's no longer a fob.) They are the same width and height as the wooden ones, but possibly a different thickness.

I sorted them alphabetically and repackaged them in to ziplocks (they fit perfectly 14 across) to make it easier to ship and reduce the work on the other end when passing them out. I left the paper on to prevent scratching during handling and travel. The paper comes off. If your key fobs are still brown, take off the paper. (I sent that along in the box, but it wasn't mentioned to anyone, I don't think everyone realized.)

The above and following photos were from before I removed the hole fillers that failed to just drop out. I used to occasionally find one in my carpet the first vacuuming missed, but I think they're all gone now. Some just required me to lightly poke them out, others a small bit of force from the back side when the laser only did 99% of the way around. None broke or chipped in the removal process of the fillers.

Lastly I also promised to send along some metal key rings with them, but only realized after I sealed the box they were still sitting on my desk. So I brought them with me to Revision and some people stopped by to get one or with their wooden key fob[s] they bought.

I don't have any further pictures of these. If anyone has pictures of theirs "in action", or on their "shelf shrine", that would be neat to see. I was told people liked them, which is always nice to hear.


@party
@party
@party
Prior to the previous I had come up with the following idea, which was based on an original idea for what ended up becoming the @party awards. 1"x1" isn't terribly large, but I figured it could be serviceable as a bag tag, zipper pull, or yet again a key fob. There's somewhere between 20 and 22 of these floating around now. Unlike the Revision design, there is only one layout.

I had already revealed these by accident on the Nectarine oneliner (pasted the wrong link from my clipboard), they were discussed in #scenesat during the party, and with @party being over, I figure sharing the pictures is okay. These are pictures of the best of the two prototypes I made, but the final run was the same. As before, action pictures welcome. (No, I didn't send along the root beer.)

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Pouëëëët:
Finally, an official posting of the Pouet tokens. They were made at the end of the summer of 2013 but have been up on my from://kennewick site for a while, for the astute. I was finally able to hand them off to Gargaj at Revision 2014. These are, in fact, the first acrylic acrylic fob/token design I had done. The original intention was for active Pouet site developers, but I didn't impose any restrictions so they will or already have ended up in the hands of whoever Gargaj felt was appropriate.

They're about 3.9cm in diameter (outside) made from an ~4mm thick "smoke" acrylic. There are only 12 in existence, of which I own none. Short of a special request from Gargaj, there won't be any more of this design.

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(No larger version.)

I also passed along some pre-cut lengths of 3mm diameter "utility" cord with them, the intention being that if the recipient wanted they could loop it around the token and tie the loose ends off on something else. The cord would go nicely between the 't' and 'd' on the top. Quite like this:
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(Image found via Google, from the BSA Troop 409 Minnesota webpage.)


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Coda:
This is it for now, though I may have some more recent stuff to show off soon.

Finally, I am definitely interested in doing more stuff upon request, schedule willing, but though I have done a good chunk of stuff for free, I am trying to inject more reality in to this. I cannot continue to do this for free as even though I consider it a hobby, it is still currently an expensive hobby. I should note, though, that etching isn't too bad as far as costs go. The @party tags were pretty cheap from what I recall*, it's engraving large areas that gets you. Well, that, and gas. Gas prices here are cheaper than Europe, but that doesn't make the cost of a trip suck any less. (Though I did use the opportunity of being out at the hackerspace last weekend to bring back some more green tea Kit Kats from a well known Asian import grocery store that some locals had requested more of. They're not bad at all.)

** About $27, including materials, for all of them.
I'm just gonna leave this here:

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Thank you!
Not sure if I'm ever going to take the front protective paper off... I like the "wooden" look!
added on the 2014-07-20 03:50:26 by Tomoya Tomoya
The first half of this is a repost from another thread. In deference to those who find my posts long, I will try to be succinct.

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This was made from light green 3mm-thick acrylic, held together with clear epoxy. I forgot to measure it before mailing so I can't tell you how tall it actually is. All side pieces are interchangeable. An extra side piece is also floating around as I made a mistake in the original design, resulting in one of the side parts no longer being the same as the others, and a replacement had to be cut.

As I was given permission to the surface design, it mirrors an object from the Nordlicht 2014 invite and may be an award for the fun compo if it occurs. Presumably whoever ends up with it will post their own photo[s].


As being a tease is unfair, this is the rest of what I wanted to post from the items bound for Nordlicht: organizer badges. I apologize for the photo quality. The white spots in the box are old paint, not mold.

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Like the previous object, these were done for fun and not requested. There's no obligation, as far as I know, for organizers to wear one. As I had some left over badge holders and clips, I sent some along. All badges got a clip and every named badge got a holder, but I didn't grab enough holders for all. They should survive just fine without a holder.

There are 16 badges in total: two generic (top left image), thirteen with names, and the inverse screw-up. The inversion was due to a missing outer path, which the laser software discarded when the operator asked it to "remove overlaps". Whoops. The color is similar to that of the Nordlicht website's countdown timer, as I wanted something different from the turquoise used by most of the site and the green of the tetrahedron. They are the standard badge dimensions (ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1) except for being 3mm thick.



As I now have a small abundance of light green and amber acrylic, it should be no surprise future items may more frequently appear in those colors.
AMcBain a purveyor of THE SHINY to the scene since 2013.
Having got word from a Nectarine who is at the party that a badge was spotted. The box was successfully retrieved! This actually makes my Friday pretty happy now. :)

Quote:
by metoikos:
AMcBain a purveyor of THE SHINY to the scene since 2013.
Heh, the acrylic is shiny in a way. Eventually I hope to do more of my own designs, but new ideas take time.

I've actually been a member of Nectarine since 2009, and the first fifty wooden key fobs seem to have showed up around the very end of October of 2012. Not coincidentally, my Pouet account was started at the tail end of Revision 2013 presumably so an antsy me could upload my own production. I can't see any reason why not to have just let someone else do it eventually unless ... 2013 me was a glöpwhore?

Anyway, I don't see myself stopping any time soon so here's to another year of curious laser-cut objets d'art.
Reception @ Nordlicht: OSSOM! \o/
added on the 2014-07-25 22:03:14 by T$ T$
Are you coming to evoke?
added on the 2014-07-25 22:03:50 by xTr1m xTr1m
Quote:
by T$:
Reception @ Nordlicht: OSSOM! \o/
:D That's great to hear.

Quote:
by xTr1m:
Are you coming to evoke?
If you mean me, sadly I am not. I can't really do a whole bunch of travel, though I think it will improve after next spring. I already hit Revision this year. Were I closer I'd probably try and find ways to show to more of these.

Also I am going to get back to you, I'd like to ask the space something over this weekend and should be able to soon.
kewlers fobs or revision never happened!
Quote:
by Maali:
kewlers fobs or revision never happened!
I dunno ... I've heard you guys had balloons, hats, socks ... whaddaya need key fobs for? :)
Quote:
by AMcBain:
Eventually I hope to do more of my own designs, but new ideas take time.
I have done stuff all my own, they're just not posted here and my hacked-together gallery is down. Some abstract bits, wooden wreath/ornament thing, a two part 3D rocket-shaped piece, and some letter-envelope-sized (I wanna say A6?) pieces as "cards". I just have to get back to it.

(I can't edit posts, so I have to go with an unintended bump.)
hats?
Quote:
by Maali:
hats?
I haven't seen one, but someone said they had. The logo was sewn on or some such? I haven't the slightest. Maybe they were thinking of a different group.
nopes :)
outline had hats.
spaceballs had fez.

new PR gimmick will be tough to come up with, but our team is working on it!
Quote:
by Maali:
nopes :)
outline had hats.
spaceballs had fez.

new PR gimmick will be tough to come up with, but our team is working on it!
^.- Is there some kind of reasoning behind why they chose a fez?

So far I've managed to pick up two maybe three stickers, and a load of magnets. That's about it. I'm kind of out of the loop as far as swag goes. Not to mean I don't appreciate what I did get, definitely thanks to everyone who gave me magnets at Revision this year. :)

And as much as it seems to be promoted, I didn't really move that many key fobs this year. I probably got more out and about last year walking around randomly handing them out to surprised people I happened to cross paths with. I'm not going to say I don't think it was asking for money, as I also didn't exactly have an obvious location, but I really don't know.

I've still got plenty available. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but as they should keep quite well, they'll be around until they're all gone. The Revision ones of course won't show up again for another year, and I don't think I'll make any more just so I can deplete what I have next year, allowing me to move on to other ideas.
No new pictures this time, sorry. Just two questions.

I have wooden key fobs left over from Revision 2014 and while they'll keep, I doubt they'll sell better in a year. It's likely people wanting one don't visit Revision or forget in a year. I promised a store "soon" but I'm considering forgoing my own store for Squarespace. Is anyone still interested in buying Nectarine or SceneSat key fobs and willing to do so through their platform?

Secondly, is there anything anyone is interested in seeing, within the realm of possibility given what I do, and would maybe be interested in buying if it's not expensive? It needn't be a key fob or a badge, but please no suggestions of lewd, inappropriate, or kewler's material. (They already have their own well-known promotional effort.)

I have given thought to a particular Pouët badge design, for no real reason, but it seems silly. (In general, not the design. Such as why anyone would wear one?)
An unintentionally promotional post.

Shapeways added renders for some materials in which a product is available that cannot be turned off. I changed the default captions because results of my models aren't always that clean. They also use the renders over real photos if the default material has no associated photo and the chunky gray default render on store overview pages for products not on sale.

To fix the last bit, the Revision Key Fob is now for sale in all options under $23. You will need a thinner gauge ring, as the entire design is smaller. A split ring with a wire diameter of ~.47" works. The stainless steel print I did has been on my key ring, and I like it. As always though, the wooden ones are nicer. ;P

Before any questions, this model costs exactly as you see it. There is no markup.
Quote:
I'm considering forgoing my own store for Squarespace. Is anyone still interested in buying Nectarine or SceneSat key fobs and willing to do so through their platform?


If anyone is interested in something, they'll buy it from wherever they can get it :) I see no obvious reasons to not use Squarespace.
added on the 2014-08-10 11:13:44 by xTr1m xTr1m
Sorry for the small intrusion of self-promotion:

My new store is open and reachable at http://store.asmcbain.net. The store handles sending out receipts, etc. but I still am doing the actual shipping. Please let me know if you have any issues with the store or questions not answered by the site's FAQ.
Yah this thread again. Got on top of mailing things today. More badges, and a tack on. No year-specific designs this time.

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For Function organizers, showing the front, back, and one with a name prior to peeling. Green was explicitly requested, so I used the same green as the Nordlicht tetrahedron.

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For SceneSat staff, showing the front and back. Pushing the detail limit here; there are some small dots and thin lines, especially between parts of letters.

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Made seven to fill the small remainder at the bottom of the sheet, leaving only a usefully larger strip at the right end. As the wooden design wasn't copied and pasted here they're different dimensions.


For future reference:
Both of these designs were quite a bit cheaper than the Nordlicht's. The laser doesn't follow shapes for engraving, going instead by line. On any horizontal line intersecting engraved shapes the laser moves from the left-most point of all engraved shapes to the right-most, turning on and off at the correct points. Wider and taller designs like Nordlict's take more time this way and thus cost more. If you want hard numbers, feel free to contact me.

Neither the Function nor the SceneSat designs are available for public purchase.
(No new pictures, sorry.)

Due to various stuff I've done so far and reduction of "scrap" due to testing, I've ended up with seven pieces of 3mm thick acrylic in three translucent colors: orange, green, and blue. They're still useful, but only for a few long skinny things or a bunch of small things. I have two thoughts--yup, not a lot rolling around in there--which revolve around turning it in to something like 34 badges or 96 Revision/SceneSat-sized square key fobs of some sort. Roughly estimated.

(For people who care, the more exact numbers: They range from ~7.5"/19cm to 17"/43cm wide and ~3.5"/9cm to 4"/10cm tall.)

It might be possible to get in one more trip to the hackerspace before I play it safe for the season as there's a mountain pass between here and there. However the spring before Revision is still a wide open target. Anything could be done for pick up at Revision--I am planning to go again--as I'm looking for interesting things to do with these leftovers. I could fill the space with engraved Revision key fobs, but I've already got a pile of wooden ones to distribute. Tell me that's a great idea, or send other ideas. :) As always, people are still welcome to contact me to discuss full sheets of things separately.

(It's actually almost 3am and as I was closing down to trod off to sleep I found this tab, thought "whuuuut?" and clicked 'Submit' anyway.)
Ok, the last post was dumb. (Not every idea is necessarily good.) Anyway, so a few people have asked for stuff on their own, but largely not. Which is fine, but I don't know any concrete reasons. Perhaps some people just don't care to wander around demoparties with a badge or already have enough key fobs. Maybe no design ideas or this stuff just isn't interesting. Whatever the case ...

I had a thought which someone else already said sounded good, which was to offer some soft awards for a few demoparties. I haven't decided the exact form they'd take, but I've thought up to two versions:

One-use "gift card":
- Usable for one order. Cannot be split, and any remainder is lost.
- Free shipping, as long as it is reasonable.*

* An 11x17 sheet of acrylic with an inset single laser etched-line around the outside edge would be $15-18 in total before shipping costs, but I wouldn't consider shipping such a thing "reasonable."

One-use discount (coupon):
- Usable on an order as a discount off the total cost of the order by the value of the certificate.


Both would potentially enable you to get something for free, but the second requires you to pay for any part of the total cost, with shipping, that isn't covered by the discount. The first option has free shipping, but requires you to be creative within the value of the certificate. The certificates would look similar to this for the first option and this for the second option. I would settle on one option for all before I issued any. I'm potentially thinking values like $15 for a third place and $20 or $25 for second, though no stones carved yet. (The links will print the way I intended in Firefox; this is just quick work, so I may make it easier to print from anywhere later.)

I don't intend them to be the only award for placing, but that's not under my control. The previously linked certificates are because people would probably like a physical item to hold, they're digital so it's easy for me to generate them and e-mail them to organizers, and they're black and white for easy printing by the same organizers before the party. Each certificate's code would be redeemable once by e-mail on a first come first serve basis, so if you get one don't let anyone else write it down. I would likely offer this to a party with a smaller number of compos to lower my potential costs, but again, this is still in the idea stage.

The only limitations to this I can think of, besides those listed under the options, would be that I cannot get laser work done from November through January/February, making this something for next year, and that I would refuse to do lewd and offensive designs. (and an expiration 5 years later.)

Any thoughts? Would this be worth winning? or something that would be used if won?
(If you'd like to know how far those values would get you, just read back through the thread. I usually give out cost information. For example, a badge with an engraved bounding shape similar to the Nordlicht badges would be around $12. If you're wondering why the values are in USD, exchange rages and cost currency. My costs are in USD, and exchange rages mean the value of your certificate could go down after issuing if I converted it.)

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