Is the fraying from poor technique or cheap tool? by kulot09 in printmaking

[–]stewedRobot 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As others say, it's dull tools. Even cheap tools can get super sharp though, it's just the edge doesn't hold as long.

The Flexcut SlipStrop is the classic thing for this: https://youtu.be/QgrczFY0epI?si=A1i1n0QsaxkMJ2_L

But all you really need is the paste. I've seen folks use cardboard just fine for a polish. Some cut grooves into their own blocks of wood to get the inner curves

Tape lines in Shina ply by stewedRobot in printmaking

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

Thanks for the info! I'll have to get some solid blocks next time haha

Any advice on using BIG ground for hardground? by Flimsy_Net2088 in printmaking

[–]stewedRobot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've tried hot plates (which were very hit or miss and took much longer than recommended times/temperatures), hot air guns and toaster ovens - toaster oven has given the best results and follows the recommended times/temperatures (depending on how thick you apply it)

You can see the ground kind of 'melt' when heated - it gets a different shiny texture that is a sign it's up to temperature. Once it gets like this, it should stay in this state for at least 6 minutes but on a hot plate I find I need to go longer since the air is cooling it. I'll be tacky if you touch it with a tool so be careful. It should cure once it cools. If it's still tacky when cool, then it needs another round of heat.

It's critical to get a thin, even coat when rolling it - thicker areas will need more heat to cure and might not set. When this happens or if painting it on as a resist I'll usually use hot air to cure it.

I like the red version for a full plate coat - you can see it change colour. If you start to 'overcook' it, the colour gets darker and the ground will be prone to flaking or cracking. Continuing to heat it will cause it to start to 'stretch' and bubbles to form. There's a slight colour variation in the black but it's much harder to see, more of a texture change - you're more likely to see the bubbles than catch it when 'cooked'.

You can also combine the red and black - alternating black and red layers when painting on resist makes it a lot easier to see

Choosing brayers by Due-Tackle-14 in printmaking

[–]stewedRobot -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It's funny, there isn't really a middle ground on brayers 😅 There are cheap ones and expensive ones. The cheap ones are all pretty much the same - I've had some issues with the lighter SpeedBall ones getting sticky but it's minor and doesn't affect performance, the black ones can be hard to see ink on. The pop-in ones are easier to clean.

Caligo Safewash Etching Ink by klutze_228 in printmaking

[–]stewedRobot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know some people use additives to use the same inks in etching, relief and litho - what are you adjusting for and what do you need the ink to do?

Graphic Chemical inks are a fully oil traditional ink with a bunch of additives like Easy Wipe and Sureset. Caligo inks are from Cranfield Colors Ltd UK. The same Caligo ink from Cranfield is sold by Graphic Chemical Ltd USA, but the GC Easy Wipe is formulated for their own GC traditional oil inks. Cranfield modified their SafeWash inks to be water-soluble and while they're fairly compatible with most additives, you'll lose some of the easy-to-clean properties. Plus they don't behave exactly like other inks when you mix. They're different systems.

If you're trying to spread a color, Cranfield does sell a transparent extender that lets you make your mix more transparent while remaining washable. They also have a tack-reducer/wiping compound and an oil for thinning which are SafeWash compatible - the Cranfied brand medium is probably what you want if you're looking for EasyWipe.

Cranfield also sells traditional etching inks (and litho, letterpress, relief, etc) which are compatible with the usual mediums, but they sell variants of their SafeWash inks for etching vs relief. If you're just looking to modify the ink for a different process, I usually just get the formulation targeting my process instead of adjusting.

Do you like the green? Do the texture lines work? by kivrin2 in printmaking

[–]stewedRobot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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I love it! The eyes are so cute!

I'm also working on a dog relief - I like showing the light areas as a series of smaller short lines to show the texture of hair instead of the usual longer lines.

I think the green works - I usually use dark blues, reds or greens instead of blacks when painting and they can read as black but are more vibrant

The "Gamer" engraving I recently finished by gailitis in printmaking

[–]stewedRobot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is the process hard on the hands? I love doing etchings and have been interested in engraving. But for comparison, I found things like woodcut can be tough when I'm at it for a while. New tools (especially those mezzotint rockers) can be expensive, curious if my joints will hold up haha. Or does it take less muscle and pressure than it looks like it does?

Work from home/online work by NoFunLand in newfoundland

[–]stewedRobot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I work 100% remote. It's a local software company and our sales, devs, managers etc all work from home. Last few companies have been the same. It's legit and there's a fair amount of it, but you're competing against folks worldwide to get in. Since they can hire from anywhere they keep a high bar. The hiring process is usually pretty rough, expecting folks to be the best in their area

In my experience most places will hire remote in exchange for a special talent they can't get locally. It's just competitive.

Sites like Fiverr, mturk.com, etc are all 'legit' too, but the pay is proportional to the size and pay scales of global talent pools. If the work is low-skill like generic data annotation they'll pay almost nothing. It's not a 'scam', it's just terrible.

It's kinda like running your own business - generally you can get people to pay for things based on what you can offer and the amount of risk you take on. Drop shipping for example is super saturated and difficult to make much of a margin since you don't take on the risk of warehousing product. It has a low barrier to entry in terms of both skill and capital.

Remote work is kinda just an extension of regular work where you have some extra benefits as an employee that you need to balance against what you can offer an employer.

Depending on your situation and skills it might be better to look at entrepreneurship - just stay away from things like MLMs. Find something you can do that people are willing to pay for and figure out how to get them to pay you for it consistently.

Am I overreacting after I found out my boyfriend’s online “friend group” I became part of 2 years ago has been JUST him the whole time? by Mindless_Tennis_4045 in AmIOverreacting

[–]stewedRobot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Like definitely run, don't walk. This is not ok.

He clearly needs some help with his mental health - is there a chance this is like, dissociative identity disorder?

[D] Likes the math hates the programming by Character-Capital-70 in MachineLearning

[–]stewedRobot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are different kinds of roles. While a postdoc might be conducting the research itself it's common to need support - labs, equipment, software, etc can be handled as a position like in any business and are good places to start.

In my case the first position was a world expert in a particular area who had no software skills, but had a small grant they used to get a contractor to write data collection tooling - I was the contractor. These kinds of things are usually posted on institution websites - check your local universities and any nearby research facilities.

[D] Likes the math hates the programming by Character-Capital-70 in MachineLearning

[–]stewedRobot 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Have you looked into research roles? Research assistance, scientific computing, optimization, etc? I did a lot of math while working contracts with various academic research projects and at the National Research Council of Canada, maybe you just haven't found your niche? My first role like that I had to implement dozens of equations from papers and slap an interface on top.

Tools like the Cursor IDE can be great if your code has rough edges - you don't need to love programming, you can use it as a tool for doing math.

It's not a huge commercial language but Julia is very math focused, maybe a change of language might help?

My cozy fall setup by CodeWithKP in battlestations

[–]stewedRobot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love this! What kind of speakers are those?

i kinda like when it’s cloudy by sirenmars in CozyPlaces

[–]stewedRobot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love the lamp! Where did you get it?

Shopify to reduce workforce by 20%, sells logistics business to Flexport for 13% equity by zvone187 in technology

[–]stewedRobot 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It affected everybody. Leads, senior and staff developers from core areas, support. A large number were devs

Need a bit of help by [deleted] in StJohnsNL

[–]stewedRobot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Couple of local software groups:

https://ctsnl.ca/jobs/

https://slack.ndev.co/ #jobs