Bifrost Fantasy

furry help pleeze!

Thu, 10 Feb 2005 18:39:42 GMT

(cross-posted in the Elfwoo LJ)
I've been trying to draw more furries and anthros, lately. And, while I think I've got a good handle on the anatomy, I'm having some problems. Clothing. How would something with wings wear a shirt or a top? How would something with a tail wear pants? Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Vote for the next Bifrost Project Idea!

Mon, 11 Oct 2004 12:34:35 GMT

Hey Hey Hey...it's that time again...time to vote for our next project idea!

We actually have 34 ideas in the Database...so this will be the first of 2 separate polls. I will put 17 ideas in each poll and you will vote one time in each poll...then we'll have a 3-day poll between the 2 ideas with the most votes and that will be our next project! This poll opens today, October 10th and closes at Midnight (US Pacific Standard Time) on October 17th. The email announcing the second poll will follow this one...thanks for participating!

Please note: I have changed the titles of some ideas to shorten them up or to make them more "catchy" and I
had to erase a couple ideas as some members still had 2 ideas in the database...and I'm going to list the
ideas backwards, alphabetically so that others will have a chance to have their ideas at the top of the list. I hope this is alright with everyone!

*smiles* Wendy

o Wendy A. Lawson - Holiday Havoc! - We've got all the winter holidays coming up and I'm feeling festive!!! I'd like to read horror, mystery or inspirational stories or poems that have to do with the holidays. Christmas Ghost stories...Halloween mysteries...Thanksgiving Inspiration...ancient stories of Pagan festivals...all holidays and religions can be included. I'd love to see some great pics of Halloween characters celebrating Thanksgiving, Dragons caroling at Christmas or a group of glistening faeries decorating a tree in the forest to celebrate Yule...do mermaids celebrate any holidays? What about Goblins, Ogres or Dwarves? Would wizards decorate easter eggs or holiday trees with magic? Put a fantasy or sci-fi spin on the holidays...any holiday you choose!

o Valarie J. Nicharico - Angels Among Us - We've all seen the cookie cutter pictures of how people see angels...and while beautiful, some people have differerent ideas of what these beings may look like. I think it would be wonderful to see the images that we could come up with...heavenly or fallen...

o Trint Garrett - Fantasy Feasts! - Everyone could do a pic of a fantasy creature cooking or eating something...Dragons eating knights...or patting their full bellies *grins*...Orcs eating people...Mers catching fish/fishermen...or brewing a seaweed stew...faeries stealing honey from a beehive...bloodsucking Vampires...Succubi...Soul eaters...whatever crazy spin you could put on things fantasy creatures would eat...It would also be great for writers to write little "horror" stories about the things/people? fantasy creatures may eat.

o Stephanie J. Edwards - Creative Block - All the recent talk of artist and writers block gave me an bit of an idea. I'm sure we've all got a pic or a story lying around half finished. The point of this project would be to swap pieces with another writer/artist and have them finish what you started. You could have a story started by one writer finished by another or have fab colour added to that pic you just couldn't finish yourself!

o Steph Salt - The Perfect Gift! - What would you give a unicorn, or a troll, how many socks for that caterpiller from Alice In Wonderland, and are the elves sick of earmuffs? Why not some interesting ideas for Christmas or birthday presents :)

o Orlando Jonathon Rodriguez - Before & After - Looking back through the work i have done over the past few years, I realize how stupid a lot of it looks. Bad grammer, screwed up drawings...but the ideas behind the messes were great. So why not go back in history a bit...look for some idea you had that you had such high hopes for, but lacked the talent to make it really work. Try it again, make it ten times better!

o Melissa Randall - Neverland! - In the book of Peter Pan, JM Barrie mentions that all neverlands are different, but somewhat the same. So I had the idea of creating your own personal neverland, where you go in your dreams! It could be a tropical paradise, icy tundra, or something new all together.

o Meghann Earl - Vivid Dreams - Our dreams are our very own, and only we can see the images that dance before our sleeping eyes. Why not try to capture those images from our day dreams and night dreams in colorful pieces of artwork, or descriptive and beautiful prose?

o Matt Summers - Evil, Evil, EVIL!!! - Simply put - draw or write about *THE* most evil fantasy or sci-fi person or creature you can possibly think of. >:)

o Matt Lucas - Inspirational Posters - I'm taking Wendy's idea one step further... We've all see those inspirational posters hanging in offices with one-word titles like "SUCCESS" or "ACHIEVEMENT", OR "INTEGRITY"... Imagine the image of a mother dragon pushing her young one off of a high cliff with her snout and seeing it take flight for the first time ... "SUCCESS"... or ... Pappa dragon patting Junior on the back after he toasted his first village ... "TRADITION" ... or ...

o Magdalena Bryll - RP Characters - I bet many of us RP, or at least have characters created. Draw them, if you haven't yet, and if you have, draw them again! Writer-friendly project, I think...teaming up between writer and artist also possible.

o Louisa M Gallie - Cotillion! - Ogres donning dresses and Trolls doing the foxtrot? And surely even the serenest of Elves would be livid if another girl showed up in the same outfit? What do you think? I'd like to see your idea of how your favourite fantasy race would behave on the glammest night of the year.

o Lisa Hill - 7 Deadly Sins - To come up with either a writen piece or piece of artwork that incorporates all of the seven deadly sins and what they stand for.

o Jessica 'Jeste' Schreib - Gods & Goddesses - we all picture god differently... or how many gods can you dipict in one image? try to create a new god or goddess, or draw an old one with a modern setting... get creative - if horses had gods, what would they look like? Do gods take baths? What do they do in their free time? Go over the top... lets see and read what gods do/look like/ feel like?.... *smile* Jeste (p.s. all that talking about religion had to lead somewhere!)

o Jess Valerino - Grudge Match! - To Arms! To Arms! Draw or write battle scenes- a knight vs. a dragon, warring elven siblings, a gryphon's lover's quarrel...

o James "Jimbo" Inwood - Aaarrgghhh Cliches! - Anyone that has read Terry Pratchet's The Last Hero would have come across Evil Harry Dread and his evil henchmen. Man are they so cliche its hillarious! Has anyone really thought about making a totally cliche fantasy/SciFi short story thats REALLY over the top with cliches its actully pretty funny? I want to see stupid trolls, prancing harp playing elves, and gruff ale chugging dwarves and LOADS of magic casting old men.

o Iseult Murphy - What Pets Dream... - What kind of personality has your pet? If he was a fantasy character, what type would he be? If he could walk and talk like us, what would he do? How about pictures and stories of animals being given the chance to fulfill their wildest dreams (or our idea of them anyway!) A flying pig, a dog reading the newspaper, or perhaps a warrior (because you know your Iguana always wanted to dress up in leather!)

OK...here's the second 17 choices.

All the info in the first poll applies to this one as well, please remember to cast one vote in each poll and then we will use the 2 ideas with the most votes to have a final poll to decide our next project.

Thanks for participating! *smiles* Wendy

o Irene Laura Kwak - Proverbs & Quotes - Take a Proverb, a Saying or a Quote and use it as a subject for your next drawing, story or poem. Let's see how one sentence or paragraph can inspire you.

o Inger Marie Hognestad - Beauty of the Ugly! - Kill the stereotypes: Portray the Beauty of the Ugly. There are not a lot unattractive heroes or heroines around, and you rarely get to see the appealing characteristics of a villain. Personally, I would like to explore the subject further, as well as see what other artists and writers will make of it.

o Hannah Lousie Smith - Skyfire - The fantasy-based explenations for the natural occurances in the sky. For example, zeus and his anger explains the thunderbolts during the storms, the stars are lamps that angels light every night, the sky grows dark at night because mother nature draws her cloak over the world. The crazier the exlenation, the better!

o Fred 'Fancypants' Pelzer - Origins - Everyone has heard at least one creation story/myth growing up. Now you have the chance to create your own. Artists can draw how they think/want creation to have happened, and writers can tell what they think happened. It doesn't even have to be for our world, but for one of your own!

o France G. Trudel - On Your Head! - We have all seen top hat and puffy feathered hats...but...what is the grandest, craziest hat possible? Creat a character with that hat..if you dare...Muahhahaha

o Christy Yarbrough - "Blending of Worlds" - I know a lot of artist like my self enjoy both Fantasty and Sci-fi. I would like to see projects with a blending of the Sci-fi and Fantasy worlds. This could be a blending of creatures or a blending of the wolds them self. Some of my examples: a Fergei-elf, an Alien craft crashed down in Middle Earth,or a story of a young teen dragon taken flight to explore space and other worlds. I belive there is no end to the possiblities of this project.

o Christina D. Folkers - Narnia (and its inhabitants) - When people were talking about Narnia, I thought it might be nice to make a project illustrating those stories - and even if you haven't read the books, this may include any creature that lives in Narnia, from speaking animals to the spirits of nature (nymphs, dryads, fauns, mermaids), or even flying horses...

o Brian Lee Pennington - "Alternative Elemantals" - This project is for elementals that are out of the ordinary...no earth, air, fire, or water elementals here! We're looking for Silver & Gold elementals...or maybe Tin or Mercury...even Garbage & Toothpaste...or perhaps the elemental of "Missing Socks" or "Rainy Days"...Moss...Acorns...Fungi...Toadstools...Gas (all types *lol*)...Jade, Amythest, Turquoise, Coral, Tea, Coffee, Popcorn, Electricity, Computers...the ideas are truly endless...what type of Alternative Elemental can you think of and what form will it take?

o Brian L. Husted - Music is my Muse - Music is often the inspiration for amazing works of art. This project is to create your own music inspired artwork. Not just images of musicians, instruments, bards, singers, or dancers, but this could be any artwork inspired by a favorite song, lyrics, music in general, or just makes you want to hum. Writers in our group could write a story with some sort of musical theme to it.

o Barbara Jacobs - Autumn Fantasy - Autumn in the woods-how do the creatures of fantasy look with an autumn backdrop? Autumn can be symbolic of things ending or of harvest bounty even in fantasy realms.

o B. Cox "inkytwist" - Fantasy Envelopes - Decorating envelopes as elaborately as possible, and sending them to one another! (optional) Those who choose to participate have the option of decorating an envelope, scanning it, and sending it to another member--Let's see how creative we can get on such a small space!!

o Ashley R. Wynn - Deck of Many Things - The legendary Deck of Many Things has intrigued me since I first heard of it. I always thought that a collection of stories/art based on the cards' effects (You could even draw a card yourself! http://www.kirith.com/deck/) on characters would be as interesting as all of the possibilites that drawing from the deck can cause, one's skin turning blue being the mildest to draw more cards being the scariest. I'll look up the list of cards and each one's effects if anybody's interested.

o Anke Wehner - Science Fiction - Far too many people don't even know that Elfwood is also for Science Fiction art - so let's give the fans of futuristic stuff some more pictures to look at and stories to read. Would be a nice challenge for "all fantasy" artists, methinks ;)

o Angela Theodora Massop - Hybrid Horses - We've all seen the unicorns and the pegasus's around the 'wood. What kind of unique horse hybrid can you dream up?

o Alison M. Guynes - Dragons, Dragons, Dragons! - This is actually in response to something my husband was complaining about..."Why are all the dragons on Elfwood the same?" That's a good question. So, my idea is this: write a story or draw a dragon that ISN'T the same old "fire breathing dragon demolishes village and eats the princess". I've seen a few interesting pieces here and there where the stereotypes are shattered. Let's shatter more of them! Let's see a dragon and a princess being best friends. Let's see a knight and a dragon playing cards or having tea together while discussing the state of the world. Dragons are marvelous creatures and they deserve to have some fun too!

o Adrian 'Trey' Reyes, III - The Supernatural Bowl - All over the world, people play games. From chess to football and many many others. But are humans the only ones who get to have games? What kind of games and sports to Orge's play? What about Angels? Lets see and read about some supernatural teams and sports.

o Josh T. Coons - Fantasy Races Unite! - For artists and writers to draw/write a picture/story about different races (humans, elves, dwarves, etc.) helping each other. to image of Bifrost and Elfwood.

To vote, please visit the following web page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bifrost_fantasy/surveys?id=1442019

BIFROST LINK BANNERS

Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:54:45 GMT

CREATE A BANNER TO LINK TO BIFROST

Jess Valerino just raised the question of whether or not we have any
banner designs available for visitors who want to link back to our
website.

Creating a page for banners is on my to-do list...and in the
meantime I have created a new file in the "Files" section,
entitled: "Small Banners".

Any members who would like to submit a banner design may load up to
2 banner designs to that folder. I have just loaded 2 banners as
examples...hmmm...make that 3, as I am going to add a little button
size banner after I send this notice...

Then, I will add a page to our website where all the banners will be
displayed with the member's name and a link to their Elfwood
gallery/library page.

Banners should look well compressed to under 25kb and should measure
no more than 470 x 70 or 235 x 140 and smaller banners are also
needed. We could use some button-size banner designs...

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at:
wendy@discountdragon.biz

Thanks for helping us to promote our website by creating some
banners that visitors will enjoy adding to their websites!

*smiles*

Wendy

OCTOBER MEMBER OF THE MONTH

Wed, 08 Sep 2004 22:17:52 GMT

Nominate your favourite Bifroster for OCTOBER'S MEMBER OF THE MONTH!!

Hey Everyone,

I am now ready to receive nominations for October's "Member of the
Month".

PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL YOUR NOMINATIONS TO OUR MAIN MESSAGE BOARD!!!

Please email your nominations to me at: wendy@discountdragon.biz

New members should visit our "FAQ", located in the Database of our
Yahoo!Group to find out more about the "MoM" award.

Thanks for your participation...please send me your nominations!

*smiles*

Wendy

What are DPI and PPI?

Tue, 07 Sep 2004 10:24:14 GMT

From a post in our Yahoo!Groups by Karl A. Nordman:

An explanation of PPI and DPI

Allow me to explain... Pixels per square inch (PPI) are for the clarity and size of an object in pixels in a digital realm. If a picture is 250px X 400px at 72 pixels per inch it is quite small and requires less space in the digital world. That same image at 250px X 400px at 300 PPI is going to be much larger in file size because it contains more information and therefore more clarity of resolution.

Now, DPI is used for the resolution of what a printer would use to show an image on, lets say 40lb newspaper rag can only hold so much, I think 80 to 100 dots per inch because the paper is porous and cannot hold a tight rosette (Rosette is a small cluster of dots that make the 4 color printing process work.) required for posters that are usually 160 DPI or higher and require a slick gloss paper of
20 to 60 lbs on average that can hold such a tight rosette. If you compare a news paper to a poster you really see the difference in resolution. You have to look through a loop (magnifying glass) to see the rosette pattern in a poster but the naked eye can see the pattern in a newspaper without much effort.

OK, here is how PPI and DPI work in tandem. The higher the PPI in cyberspace the more DPI you can use in printing. Let me explain. A Publisher usually requires the images they receive to be at least 300 to 600 PPI and the same size or larger than the finished print. So if the print is 19in X 13in then the PPI needs to correspond. That formula translates into an image 7800px wide X 11400px tall. Freakishly huge. Actually around 1 gigabyte of file space. (at least mine are anyway) And that image can now be printed in 160 to 200 dots per square inch (in some cases higher depending on the printing apparatus) format and be a photo quality, high end, printed lithograph.
Does that help?

HTML HELP NEEDED

Wed, 01 Sep 2004 22:13:42 GMT

Hey Everyone,

For all of you who have been wanting to help out in Bifrost...here's
your chance! *grins*

VOLUNTEERS WITH HTML EDITING KNOWLEDGE NEEDED!!!

I will be sending this message out once-a-day for the next week...in
the hope of reaching all members who would like to volunteer to help
with our website.

There have been around 150-200 submissions to our projects that are
ending on the 31st...and each one of those works will need it's own
page on our website.

Normally V & I would split this work between us...but this is really
a HUGE job and we would like to ask for some help.

Here's what is needed:

Valarie is going to create a text document for each project. The
document will contain the title of the project and a numbered list
of works that will look something like this:

PROJECT TITLE HERE

Pic1 - ARTIST NAME/TITLE/GALLERY URL

Pic2 - ARTIST NAME/TITLE/GALLERY URL

Pic3 - ARTIST NAME/TITLE/GALLERY URL

Writing1 - ARTIST NAME/TITLE/GALLERY URL

Writing2 - ARTIST NAME/TITLE/GALLERY URL

and so on...

Then, I will create an HTML page template for each project.

Those who volunteer will receive a list of pics or writings and a
template for pics or a template for writings...

Then they will copy the template and name each HTML page after the
pages on the list ie: pic1.html, pic2.html, pic3.html,
writing1.html, writing2.html, and so on...

Then they will use the information provided in the list to complete
the template for each page, by adding the artist/writer's name,
title, gallery or library URL and description.

It will be important that the numbered pages match the numbers in
the list, ie: the info in the list for "Pic1" will be used to
complete the template for "pic1.html" and so on...

The template will have areas that look like this:

<*a href="GALLERY/LIBRARY URL HERE" target=_blank*>

(without stars)

In the above example, the volunteer would replace GALLERY/LIBRARY
URL HERE with the member's gallery/library URL...without changing
the HTML.

Then, the volunteer will use the URLs provided for each
image/writing to visit the member's gallery/library and copy the
description of each image/writing and enter it in the template where
indicated.

It's actually pretty simple and if we get about 10 volunteers there
will only be about 15-20 pages per volunteer and we will have until
September 15th to get all the pages done.

When a volunteer has finished their pages...they will send the HTML
files to me via email and I will proof them before uploading them to
our website.

Volunteers will have a thank you and their gallery link added to the
index for each project they work on.

Please note: It is important that you have some basic HTML
knowledge and that you do not alter the code on the template
provided. You will only need to fill the the "blanks", where
indicated.

Also this will be a one-time effort for our volunteers, as normally
V & I will be able to handle the work needed to maintain the site.

If you would like to volunteer or if you have any questions, please
email me at: wendy@discountdragon.biz

Thanks so much!

*smiles*

Wendy

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Wed, 01 Sep 2004 19:53:16 GMT

Hey Everyone,

Due to the increase in our active memberships, we are updating the
guidelines for participating in Bifrost projects.

I recommend that all our members take a moment to log-in to our
Yahoo!Group and skim the FAQ to see if there are any changes they
are not aware of.

The 2 biggest changes are the following:

1 - Members will now be limited to submitting only 1 image and/or 1
writing to each project, unless the project guidelines state
otherwise. So each member may have up to 2 entries, if one is
written and one is an image...but not 2 writings or 2 images. This
will be effective beginning with the "Paparazzi of the Woods"
project. So members who may already have 2 submissions in the file
are encouraged to go in and delete one of them.

2 - Members may only submit 1 project idea to our "Project Ideas"
database to be considered for the polls for our upcoming project.
so all members with 2 ideas in the database are encouraged to go in
and erase one of their ideas. If I find 2 ideas from one member
when I am creating the poll for our next project, I will erase the
idea of my choice.

I appreciate your understanding of the changes in our group. Our
last project had around 50-60 submissions (Twisted Self-Portraits)
and now that we have even more members...the project sizes will
continue to grow and we want them to stay at a size we can manage.

Also, the Yahoo! poll creator only allows for up to 25 choices...so
if I have more than 25 ideas in the database...I will have to run 2
polls at once and then have a final vote on the 2 ideas with the
most votes...I'm pretty sure this is how I'll have to run the next
project poll, hence the need to limit all members to 1 idea.

Then, I just opened the poll for the "Best of Bifrost Writers"
project...so please log-in and read all the wonderful submissions
from our writers...then cast your vote for your favorite work!!!

Story Commissions

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 07:49:59 GMT

I am now taking a limited number of writing commissions. I hope to be able to get enough money through this to help out with our finances both during and after the move.

COMMISSION INFORMATION!!!

Poetry: $5.00/poem
Short Story: 1-3 pages - $5.00
4-5 pages - $8.00
5+ pages - $10.00 (up to 10 pages)
Novellas: (anything over 10 pages but under 50 pages): $20.00
RPG Character sketches: (written, of course) $3.00-$10.00, dependent on how detailed you/your DM/GM want it.

Please support your local starving writer and her family by purchasing one of these commissions. Thanks!

I will accept personal checks, cashier's checks, and/or money orders only. I will make payment arrangements with everyone on an individual basis.

Please leave me a comment here expressing your desire to get one of these commissions, e-mail me, or contact me in some other way if you want one.

More changes

Tue, 24 Aug 2004 12:14:39 GMT

Changed the colour of the font for the Entry Titles to make it easier to read- unfortunately I can't figure out how to change the font on the 'Link' bars etc.

Added a copyright notice at the bottom left of our page.

Credited Deborah Shirley for the groovy wallpaper I scrunched into a banner.It occurred to me I never asked her if I could...but it was from our free wallpapers page. Must post in group about that.

Added asterisks to Sponsor names with an explanation below.

Added links to Bifrost Yahoo Group, and Deviant Art.

Changed the 'to find out more about open projects' info.

What else?

New LJ- what do you think?

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:14:01 GMT

Well, guys, this is what I thought would be good for our LiveJournal. What do you think?

Is the font size good? What about the colour?

Does the colour scheme look okay on everyone's computer?

What about those with different resolutions? (800X600, everything all right?)

Do you think there should be something more added to the list on the left?
I discarded all the 'X is a Bifrost Sponsor' info for now (cluttery), but if you think it should be included, I will see how it can be made to look tidy. Perhaps our sponsor's banners should be in the Links section?
Also I haven't added all the most recent members yet.

What else?

Everything is up to you. :)

LJ Management Stuff

Sun, 22 Aug 2004 10:30:50 GMT

I tried posting a sticky post (with a date in the future) containing our Currently Open Projects, but I got an error saying I can't post backdated posts in a non-personal journal. Mandy, as far as I remember you created this community, right? Can you see if you can post a backdate post, as default moderator?

If not, I can always just post the info, and put a link up in the links box- but for that I'd also need your help, since it involves overrides, and only the moderator has access to the override box.

"WyvernSmiths Logo Competition"

Sun, 22 Aug 2004 09:11:03 GMT

Reposted from our YahooGroup

"WyvernSmiths Logo Competition"

Suggested by: Wendy A. Lawson

Competition Opens: August 22, 2004
Competition Closes: September 22, 2004

Bifrost is pleased to be associated with the Yahoo!Group entitled "WyvernSmiths"!

WyvernSmiths is a group for writers who wish to give and receive constructive criticism on their work. We have just added an information page on our website to encourage visitors to think about joining WyvernSmiths.

Now, we are going to take it a step further and help them out by providing them with an image
to use as the logo for their Yahoo!Group, which is why we are opening this logo competition.

All Bifrost members will have 30 days to create an image for the competition and then the members of WyvernSmiths will vote to decide which image they will use for their group.

The winning image will be displayed on the "WyvernSmiths" page of our website and on the opening page of the WyvernSmiths Yahoo!Group. Credit will be given to the artist, on the pages
where the image is displayed, as well as a link to their gallery.

I would encourage all members interested in the competition to visit our website at: www.bifrostfantasy.com and read the WyvernSmiths page...
to help you learn a bit about their group and maybe give you some ideas for an image.

I would assume that most anything having to do with writing would make a good logo and members who submitted images for the "Bifrost Writers Image Competition", should feel free to use their images to create a logo for the WyvernSmiths.

Here are some of the ideas from the Bifrost Writers Images:

Your picture should have a writing theme and should contain any of the following elements, in any combinations: A book/books, quill pen, an old-fashioned ink-pot, parchment...or for a more modern theme...a computer or modern writing paper and pen...with or without a figure or hand doing some writing...

I even saw a great pic in Judit Smits Elfwood gallery of a Demon hunched over his computer chatting away with his unsuspecting online chat partner...and an image like that would also make a wonderful image for WyvernSmiths...writing wizards, faeries, elves, demons, dragons, goblins, angels, imps...just some ideas for you to consider! *smiles*

Project Guidelines:

1. You may submit 1-2 logo images for this project.

2. Your finished image should measure no more than 360 pixels tall by 360 pixels wide and may be any size within those dimensions(ie: 360 x 70 or 200 x 200, 300 x 100, 200 x 360, etc...).

3. It should also be either a .jpg or .gif image and should be compressed to under 200kb.

4. Somewhere on your image it should say "WyvernSmiths" or you may just leave space on your image for the lettering to be added later.

5. You have 30 days to create & submit your logo, it need not be up in your gallery, because there will not be a tour being made. However, late submissions will not be accepted.

6. You may upload your finished image/images to the sub-folder named "WyvernSmiths Logo Competition" in the folder entitled "Currently Open Projects", which may be found in
the "Files" section of our Yahoo!Groups homepage.

7. Please be sure to add your real name (as it appears in your Elfwood gallery), the title, a short description and your Elfwood gallery URL!

Feel free to email me with any questions: wendy@discountdragon.biz or to let me know if I have made any errors in the above guidelines.

Fri, 20 Aug 2004 21:28:13 GMT

Hey everyone! Me again! I was thinking...livejournal is such a good way to get to know each other better. I mean, what better way to learn something about somebody than to read about what they had for lunch or how they stubbed their toe this morning? ^_^ So, as a way of getting to know each other, feel free to post about yourself here on the group! Add Bifrost members' journals to your friends list! Talk shop! I think that's the purpose of this community - to help people become better acquainted with each other, seeing as how the yahoo group is where the hub of activity, promoting, and critiquing happens.

I'll start - I'm Mandy, my Elfwood pages are still kind of small, though I'm trying to add to them:

http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/a/m/amandarob/amandarob.html (art)
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/libr/a/m/amandarob2/amandarob2.html (stories)
http://elftown.lysator.liu.se/member.html?member=Aliena (Elftown)

I've got a few novels I'm in the process of working on - 1 fantasy, 1 sci-fi, and 2 more fantasy on the way, a completed novella (can still use some edits, but is posted on Elfwood), and a serial fic that I'm playing around with. I have a lot of original characters from my fantasy novels, but they just don't LOOK quite fantasy, you know? My current art on my Elftown page is an example - she looks so normal, just looking at her. So that's one reason my Elfwood art page is still kind of small. Plus, I do lots of character art exchanges and contests, but I think I need to open a fanquarter section to display some of those because many of the characters I end up doing for people are from online comics.

I mainly play around with Photoshop CGing and am hopefully getting a tablet for my b-day in a few weeks. I'm starting to try a few more graphite and watercolor pics, though, as well as playing around with different techniques in Photoshop. My LJ isn't the most exciting. lol. But anyhow, that's me! If ya'll see a "littlefire" on your friends list, it's just me!

updatedness!

Thu, 19 Aug 2004 16:32:57 GMT

Yay! The ticket 4 my WL page passed!
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/libr/b/r/brianlee/brianlee.html

Projects!

Sat, 14 Aug 2004 16:34:30 GMT

Hey everyone! I had kind of taken a little hiatus from LJ, but am going to try to get back in the swing of things here. Here's a rundown of the current projects:

--------
Project: "Paparazzi of the Woods"

Project Opens: August 12, 2004
Project Closes: October 12, 2004

Suggested by: Kolja T. Lehmann

This project is for Fantasy & SciFi creatures/characters caught in an unfavourable setting, for example elves wearing a cucumber face mask, vampires brushing their teeth, hobbits cutting their toe-nails, be inquisitive!

Bifrost writers are encouraged to write short stories or poems in the same theme.
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Project: "New Pics for Past Projects".

Project Opens: July 4, 2004
Project Closes: August 31, 2004

Suggested by: Valarie Nicharico

While building our new website and Project Archive, we decided that some of our past projects needed more pictures or writings to do the ideas justice. So we have re-opened those projects and all members should feel free to add any new or old images/writings to those projects. The projects will then be made into updated tours and the works you submit will be added to our project archives.

YOUR SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE IN THE ELFWOOD QUE BY AUGUST 21ST, AS THEY MUST BE UP IN YOUR GALLERY BY THE 31ST TO BE ADDED TO OUR PROJECTS AND TOURS. THANK YOU!

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Project: "The Best of Bifrost Writers".

Project Opens: June 17, 2004
Project Closes: August 31, 2004

Suggested by: Wendy A. Lawson

This project is being opened to showcase all Bifrost members who are also writers. Every Bifrost writer is encouraged to submit their best short story or poem to the project.

Then, when the project closes, we will open a poll to choose our favorite entry and the winning writer will be the featured writer for this project. We will also provide a link, to their Library page, from the tour on our group's new website. Also, as usual, all the pieces will be gathered together to create an Elfwood tour.

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And if you haven't yet gotten in your Twisted Self-Portrait, you have until August 21 to add it to the Elfwood queu so it'll be up on the site by the 31st. And then just email Evelyn Lee - vampiremegami @ hotmail.com (take out the spaces) and let her know when you estimate it'll be up - include "Bifrost" in the subject line.

Paintings that challenge you: What do they say?

Sat, 24 Jul 2004 01:17:06 GMT

Think about pictures or paintings that you wanted very much to finish but found difficult to complete. What did they challenge you with?

I completed one yesterday called Strength, which is particularly meaningful to me because it's a self-portrait of my inner child and my inner Lion, and I'm a Leo, and I love what Strength stands for in the Major Arcana, which means to overcome, sometimes by gentleness, to stand strong despite being battered...
Anyway I didn't know it would require so much sheer mental strength to finish it! I had about halfway completed it with a lot of time left for the deadline and suddenly I found myself swamped with marking, work, remedials, meetings, rehearsals for events that ended late, personal problems, other people's personal problems... Every night I got home dead tired, and couldn't do anything because I was so sleepy. And the same time I was feeling very resentful towards my work for eating my life away.

I knew exactly that the cosmos was saying "If you want to paint a painting called Strength, you have to live up to it!" But I didn't have the energy. That was till I started reading a book called Live Your Dream and reminded myself how I wanted to live. Well then, I practised the visualisation exercise, steeled myself and got myself going again. And it's done and I'm happy, not that it looks great or particularly polished, but because I did it and it's going to be up on Bifrost. And I know that I _am_ strong.

What about you? Share an experience about a painting/sculpture/story that has forced you to manifest a quality you needed or that has taught you something.

My first post! Yay!

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 15:54:28 GMT

Hey all!
This is my first post in the Bifrost LJ. Mostly because I couldn't figure out how to do it until now. Alas the semicomputerilliterateness. Wow. I gotta write that word down for futer use.
I feel kinda bad for not having posted any art for bifrost since...like...when was it? Oh, yeah--the Tarot project.
yah.
But the scanner gods have forsaken me. For the rest of the summer, anyway. I can't access the school's scanners, seeing as I'm not in school right now. I can't access my own scanners (Jojo and Earle, i believe), seeing as I don't have and powercords for them. And, I can't use the library scanner, because it had an aneurism and died.
foodles.
Ah, well.
I'm gonna go empty my email inbox before it starts bleeding.
Toodle Pip!

Cold Porcelain, Paper Clay, Resins by Hope Hoover

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 08:40:47 GMT

Reposted from our Yahoo Group, some good information about different kinds of sculpting materials from Hope Hoover, and a recipe for Cold Porcelain.

I work in Super Sculpy and Fimo blended together when I am working with
polymers. I also use something called cold porcelain that is made to
sculpt with as well. I also use the Paper Clay for dolls. And I cast
Porcelite and Alumite resin in Silicon molds I make for mass production
resin figurines too.

For distinction, sculpy, fimo and their ilk are polymer clays. You
fire them in an oven or large toaster oven.

Paper clay is different. It air dries to hardened shape and is not a
polymer product. It is a powdered celulose product that you add water
to and it makes a moldable clay like sustance. You shape the paper clay
and then let it air dry. Like polymers it can be sanded, painted,
sealed and is pretty resilient.

Cold porcelain that is made to sculpt with as well. Only you make it on
your stove and it air dries. I can provide a recipe for that kind of
clay to anyone who wants it. It is great for miniatures and though not
moisture proof, (so you have to paint it with powdered paint) it is hard
and smooth like porcelain to touch. And it takes great detail work.
Often used for dolls or miniature floral sculpture.

Resins are liquid chemicals that you mix to chemically harden in silicon
or rubber molds. They can be cost prohibitive in some ways, but not in
others. Depends on what you are doing. I sculpt a figurine, make a
strong silicon glove mold of it and then I mass produce the resin casts
for sale.

Of course, I also sculpt in porcelain occasionally. But not often. I
hate putting my kiln through that kind of stress and porceline does not
act like ceramic clay. It is another creature all together. Low
plasticity and viscosity. No fun to play with while demp in other words.

***

And as promised, I have here the recipe for air drying cold porcelain.
It is a wonderful clay item you make on your stove top. It is smooth
and strong and has great plasticity. You have to store unused portions
wrapped in celophane wrap like Seran wrap. But otherwise, it is the
perfect thing to work in for small miniatures, dolls and other items.
It dries to a soft white. And it is wonderful for use in even molds of
different kinds.

_*Supplies:
*_1 cup of corn startch
3/4 cups of Elmers white glue
1 tsp cold cream
1 tsp glycerin
1/2 cup water

Now, what you want to do is mix the wet ingriendients into a pan on your
stove top. turn your heat onto medium-low and simmer the items stirring
them together until they are blended. Bring the liquid to a light
steam without boiling, then work in the cup of corn startch. Mix it on
the heat until it thickens and then take off the heat and work until
moderately stiff. Then remove from pan and wrap in cellophane. Set it
to cool someplace and once it is cool, kneed it until it is pliable and
well mixed. Then it is ready to use.

It's a great clay used by doll professionals for all sorts of stuff and
it is cheap to make.

Glycerin can be bought in a tube at the pharmacy as well as cold
cream. Corn startch and white glue can be gotten at any grocery store.

Do a web search for Cold Porcelain and see some of the amazing things
people make with it.

Enjoy!

Hugs;
Hope

Twisted Self Portrait Project Closing Soon

Sun, 18 Jul 2004 14:55:05 GMT

I’m pasting Wendy’s message about the project closing just in case anyone missed it.-

Hey Everyone,

Our Self-Portrait project closes on July 21st, at Midnight, US
Pacific Standard Time.

Then Evelyn, Valarie and I will begin gathering all the pics & info
to create the tours on Elfwood and on our website.

PLEASE HELP MAKE OUR JOBS EASIER...BY BEING SURE THAT YOUR
IMAGE/WRITING DESCRIPTION CONTAINS YOUR:

FULL NAME (AS SHOWN ON ELFWOOD)

ELFWOOD URL OF THE IMAGE/WRITING IN YOUR GALLERY/LIBRARY

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR IMAGE/WRITING

Your help providing the above info is GREATLY appreciated!!!

We will accept late submissions to the project for up to 30 days
after the project closes...so until August 21st.

If you know that you will have a late submission, please email
Evelyn Lee at: vampiremegami@hotmail.com to tell her when you expect
to have your piece ready and be sure to include "Bifrost" in the
subject line of your email.

Thanks so much!

*smiles*

Wendy

Hello Bifrost!

Tue, 13 Jul 2004 14:14:09 GMT

Hi, I didn't know the Bifrost LJ was open already! That's great. I was one of the people who voted for the LJ account because this is where I spend all my time anyway. Well... why here and not Yahoo groups where the action is?

1.Well, because firstly the Yahoo interface is quite unfriendly, and frequently log-in is denied for no reason.
2.So I signed up for the daily digest by email, but I only kept up with the emails for the first week or so, and I'm afraid I'm now deleting the volumes without reading them as I just haven't the time.
3. I love LJ. heh.

So, thank you for opening this. You are not taking away a Yahoo reader, you are opening another venue for someone who wouldn't otherwise have a presence=) But I'd like to catch up on the Yahoo news now and then. Anyone have any advice for how to follow the YahooGroup threads that doesn't take a lot of time?

Over with that. An introduction: I'm Earthsea, I joined Elfwood this year, and Bifrost only about two months ago. I love fantasy, fairy tales, illustrations, that sort of thing. So what's everybody working on right now? I'm trying to get work done on my sorta-self-portrait but I haven't *sigh* got the time. It's always the same thing. And the dateline is getting closer too...How do you all handle this time-thing?

Ok, cheers!
Earthsea
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/f/u/fulisha/fulisha.html

Selling on E-bay

Thu, 01 Jul 2004 12:43:06 GMT

This is some good advice from Bifrost manager Wendy Lawson about selling your art on E-bay. I reposted it from our Yahoo newsgroup.
cheers,
madzia

First off, you should research all the categories where you
are considering selling your items. Finding the right category
is very important. Then take a look at the "completed items" in
your category to see what similar items are selling for. If you
cannot make a decent profit, it may not be worth it to sell your
items on eBay. If it does look like it will be worth your while
to sell on eBay then try these techniques:

Anytime you run an auction, you should start it on a Wednesday
or a Thursday and set it to go for 10 days. This way you will
have your item on eBay for 2 weekends before your auction
ends...which will give you more chances to have your item seen
by shoppers...you auction will also end on a weekend, which is
the busiest shopping time for eBay.

Then, you should always set your auction to end between 6:30
PM and 9:30pm...so that it will appear at the top of it's
category at the time when the most people are shopping on
eBay...again this will help your item be seen by more shoppers,
before your auction ends.

If you only have a couple items to sell, then it's ok just to
run some auctions and mention your other items in each listing
so shoppers will look at what else you have for sale...also
offer combined shipping for additional savings on multiple
purchases.

If you have original artworks for sale, as well as a variety
of prints/sculptures, etc...then you should either open an eBay
store or build your own ecommerce website. Then you only
auction off a couple items each week and provide a link to your
eBay store in your auction listings...you use your weekly
auctions as a way to advertise your eBay store. Also, offer
combined shipping on multiple purchases (you should always
charge a flat fee for shipping and include your auction fees in
your shipping fees to save on eBay's final value fees and to
keep your starting bid low).

If you have your own ecommerce website and want to increase
traffic to your website...then run a couple eBay auctions per
week and tell shoppers to visit your "About Me" page to find a
link to your website, where you offer more items for sale. You
cannot list your website address in your auction listing, but
you can list it on your eBay "About Me" page.

I have noticed a couple artists who are successfully selling
on eBay, you may want to look at their eBay stores and auctions
to see how they do it:

Here's a link to my friend Elizabeth Alexandra's eBay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/ALEXANDRA-ARTS

Here's a link to a collaborative group of artists who sell
their work together (we may think of opening an eBay store for
Bifrost artists who want to sell their work??!!!)

http://stores.ebay.com/EuroNorth

Here's a link to the eBay store of our fellow Elfwood artist
Victoria Griffin:

http://stores.ebay.com/Victoria-Griffin-Art

I hope these links and my info will be helpful and I'm always
happy to answer any other questions our members might have about
selling their art or items on eBay.

*smiles*
Wendy

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:08:57 GMT

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been a bit quiet lately - I've been overwhelmed with moving into my first house. Anyhow, it's Mandy and I'm excited about this community. I just wanted to pop in and say hello! I'm praying the power doesn't go out right now...lol...we've had wave after wave of storms (I'm in Texas) come through here. It's kind of hard to move when it's raining all the time! But luckily, we're just about settled - just have lots of boxes all around. But still, I've got time enough to unpack and I can reward myself with art time then. Must work on the fantasy self-portrait!

The Spectral Bard has arrived!

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 08:16:37 GMT

Hi all! Just thought I'd post to let you know I finally managed to drag myself into our Livejournal!

Wow, the return of Bifrost LJ

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 00:24:37 GMT

It's nice to see the Bifrost LJ back and kicking. Still not sure how the heck this works, but it will give us another place to chat so it can't be all bad.

Hello

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 17:45:17 GMT

I'm Joanne Taylor from bifrost. I like this idea. I have never used livejournal myself so this is a first. I'll be talking to everone soon.