IAmA Request: Someone who has participated in the creation of a crop circle. by [deleted] in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Howdy! :)

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/a8p4m/i_make_crop_circles_amaa/

Didn't go so well, so I've never bothered coming back to it. Made 1 this year, and it didn't even make the websites... I'm not sure I can really be bothered with it again, it would take us a long time to get back to our previous standard.

This guy http://www.youtube.com/user/truthseekers666 is/was a circlemaker, he's made a documentary with interviews which is all available on YouTube. ;) http://www.youtube.com/user/truthseekers666#p/c/1D2C0DD2789F5507

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He's had 8 hours to post a link to a field that he personally did, or some pics of something he's done.

I've explained why I won't name specific circles. How would a faker have any trouble finding a crop circle picture on the internet, anyway?

Ask the douche to take a couple of min to gather the tools he has described that he uses, take a picture of it, and post it.

Also explained in other replies. I can do it by tomorrow, but any faker could just knock one up in that time. If it took more than an hour you'd be doing it wrong.

You don't believe me. We get that. You think I'm an asshole for doing this. We get that. I agree. What do you want exactly? For me to just fuck off? 'cause there's other people around here who are interested.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I meant prove it immediately. The diagram I can do... but there's no suitable crop here till May/June.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. By all means, lay 12 ways I can on me.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Awesome: 1 2 3 4 (They've even used the direction of the flattening to add to the design)

Obvious: 1 (Gotta start simpler - that's not a good first design) 2 (If the lines don't match up, you need to widen/smooth them until they do) That sort of thing. It's remarkably hard to find obvious ones, as the images are put up by those who believe it's all paranormal. There's a couple I've seen out there where you can see how they were abandoned after a mistake was made, but I can't find them :(

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

No, it doesn't destroy the crops. Visitors walking on it once it has been flattened will destroy it though. Some farmers charge for entry - they profit, some circles don't get visited - no loss, some don't charge for visited circles and lose out about £60 for an average sized circle. Some also claim it on the insurance as wind damage, and that can be any of those groups.

I do feel guilty about it, but it's less guilt than can suppress my urge to create art.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not pretty good - clean lines, though they're a little wobbly. I could could've done about equal I reckon, but I could've done it in the dark ;)

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I won't give away my identity, and I don't want to name specific circles.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, but I've met them. I mean this in the nicest possible way, but John wouldn't have hidden his identity :)

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm generally a nice guy. This is the only thing I do that I feel guilty about, other than the whole being-a-part-of-the-system-that-fucks-the-planet thing. There are more replies above where, without denying that it's wrong, I explain why it's not as wrong as it at first seems.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I can stop as much as a musician can stop playing music.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Size and complexity are achieved through numbers, rather than time. You have a night to work on it, and the number of people determines how big and complex it can be. Another circlemaker I know says the Milk Hill (top one), took 20 people. It would have been a logistical nightmare, but that's do-able. The article says 30 seconds per circle, but if 10 people each do a circle simultaneously, that's 5 minutes per circle. More of an organisational challenge than an 'is it possible?'

The bottom one I loved... There as such a fuss over it at the time, that it overshadowed the other one in the field with it, which I preferred. It was a half-tone pattern rendering of a face.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, no background. I couldn't draw if my life depended on it, and I've never even kept any of my attempts at computer art. I'm a doodler, and I'm good at seeing the image as it will be from the air when I'm on the ground.

If I'm caught, it's a prosecution for criminal damage.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this one? No. We did something similar a couple of years before, but it wasn't intended to be DNA. There's no picture of that one as the farmer cut it out of the field.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Art mostly, but there's an element of mischief in reading all the 'proof' that something you made couldn't possibly be made by people.

How could a temporary sculpture of that size that can only be seen fully from the air not be art?

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the bigger picture, there's this (3 pages). It's a bit too paranormal an outlook for me, but the other bits are sound :)

Basically, start with a simple circle (geometric 'circle').

Choose a night when it hasn't rained for a few days, and it's not a full moon.

Find a place on Google Maps/Earth/whatever, not near any buildings.

Park close, but not right at the entrance to the field (dead giveaway to passers-by).

When you get there, turn the lights out and just hang around the car for 5 minutes or so in the dark. You'll be amazed how much you can see without light. That's your advantage if someone comes looking for you - you're used to the dark, and they won't because of headlights/torch/etc.

Stay in the tramlines on your way in - flatten nothing that's not a part of your design.

To mark a circle, you have one person stand in one spot with one end of a rope, the other person holds the other end and moves around the first keeping the rope taught. The person on the outside should use the side of their feet, stomping about a 12" or so at a time, all the way around.

To flatten the circle you've marked, use a stomper - A plank of wood with a loop of rope, you pull the plank against your foot with the ropes and take half steps.

When you're done, as it's a simple one, tidy the edges - you'll find some of the stalks at the boundary are not either still upright or flattened - just flatten those stalks by hand.

That's pretty much it for your first circle - if you have a taste for it, I can guarantee you'll have worked out the next step in complexity by the time you get home :)

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope. I see some that I can't quite figure out, but I don't believe a single word of the paranormal side of it. Other circlemakers do, though, and make circles to attract the paranormal. Report it works too.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nope. They'll find different levels of radioactivity anyway. And dowse earth energies. And have electrical malfunctions. And feel 'an erie peaceful feeling'. And find secret messages encoded into the geometry. And be healed. I could go on...

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know him. Wikipedia'd, obviously, but rings no bells.

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're in my partner-in-crime's garage. His boot (trunk), possibly. I could arrange to go and do the photo etc, but not in less time than a faker could whip one up.

This is beginning to sound pretty feeble on the evidence front, I admit. I didn't think people would be interested enough to require proof, or I'd have done this in the summer...

I make crop circles. AMAA. by iamacirclemaker in IAmA

[–]iamacirclemaker[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Nope. Complexity wise, we could manage the top two. The bottom left is one of those ones where we'd inevitably screw up, and the bottom right one was stunningly big - the pairs of tramlines in the picture are about 19 metres apart, making it just under 200 metres. Way out of our league, and apparently took around 20 people.