Oh But Only if You're Really Interested

I made calas!

So for a while I’ve been intending to go through some of my old sketchbooks and cherry-pick some of the choicest bits and post them here. I want to do this largely to give myself some idea of my growth over the years. Unsurprisingly, there is a massive amount of crap the farther back I go. The early twenties were a pretentious, precious time for me. However, I am finding drawings that were undoubtedly knocked off in seconds - probably while drunk - that are more interesting than some of the more heavily worked pieces. These three are all from my Lafayette years, probably around 19 or 20 years old.

Here is the second set of pieces. After they dry, I’ll trim and file the edges. Meanwhile, the Wu Tang Clan will be visiting a urethane bath in just a little while…

So I’ve been threatening for a few weeks to take up Djambi. Djambi, or Machiavelli’s Chess is an oddball four-player chess variant invented by a Frenchman, Jean Anesto in 1975. Although it is a chess variant, it’s played on a larger 9 × 9 board. Last weekend I whipped up one of those on a piece of scrap plywood I found in the breezeway of my building. And last night I made my first set of pieces.

There are some rough edges, and I think that they need to be sealed, but I’m pretty happy. Although each player’s set numbers nine pieces, I went ahead and made one for Cappadonna. Just like in real life, he’s there if you need him. Nine down, only 27 to go.