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It's time for me to order new checks (yes, I still have one more bill that will only allow me to pay with check, not online, not credit card) and since I need to change my address on them anyway, I decided to get some "designer" checks.
In my search, I found a place that lets the user upload his own pictures for his checks! There is no limit to the number of photos (other than the total number of checks) that they will rotate through the checkbook, but only the first image is included in the price.
So, I considered uploading some of my photography, because photo checks are pretty common, but then realized I'd have to choose among them to a limited number if I didn't want to pay more for the checks than I'd ever pay USING the checks. Then I thought about the PolyDragon, but immediately felt the Scarlet A was left out, and quickly added more and more images to the list of "symbols" that represent "me" or make a statement about who I am and what I believe in. Pretty soon, that list became almost as daunting (and expensive) as the photography list.
I thought "if only I had a single image that covered all of the symbols that represent me, that way I could avoid the extra image charges & still not have to choose between them." Oh, wait, if I had a personal crest, I could!
Years ago, I toyed with the idea of a personal "crest". I had once dated someone whose family retained ties to their original Scottish bloodline and had their family crest on several keepsakes. And at the time I was thinking of a crest, I had just built my first, real, poly family. In that fuzzy space between NRE and the idea that *this* family might be long-term, people often start thinking up family names or household names or other identifying features that announces to others that "we are a tribe". Throw all that in together with the fact that one of the people in the family was a graphic artist, and I am constantly trying to come up with ideas to summarize or symbolize who I am, and I was ripe for the idea of a personal crest.
What really put the idea into the "I should do this!" category was my then-partner (the graphic designer) decided to come up with the PolyDragon. He started looking at dragon art for ideas, and he came across a tribal dragon tattoo where the dragon's wings came together and formed the same basic shape as a shield. I thought that would be a perfect foundation for a crest.
Unfortunately, we broke up before I got more than halfway through my design, and then my harddrive crashed and I lost the files, and his computer got stolen in a break-in of our house. I had always intended to get back to that, but never got around to it. One of the things I was stuck on was that I either had too many or too few symbols to fill the traditional 4 quadrants of a British Isles shield-based crest, depending upon which symbols I wouldn't compromise on and which symbols actually fit me at the time I was considering them.
So, fast forward to this check purchase dilemma, and that prompted me to sit down and open up Photoshop. Here's what I came up with:
The heart/infinity pretty obviously symbolizes polyamory, and the A is the Scarlet A for Atheism symbol from Richard Dawkins, both of which are integral parts of my self-identity. The upper right quadrant is the type of camera used in television and live events, so I have my job, which is also my passion in life. In the lower left quadrant is a pair of dance shoes & music notes - both dancing and music are also great passions in my life. My job, dancing, and music are the non-living elements of my life that make life worth living, to me.
Rather than using the checkerboard pattern so common in separating shields into their quadrants, I went with two more symbols in a cross in the middle. The c-wrench ("Crescent" is a brand name, like Kleenex vs. tissue, so we call them c-wrenches, not crescents) is the main tool of an electrician or lighting technician in the entertainment industry. If camera work is my primary job function or skill, lighting is my secondary. I got started in the industry by doing lighting, it's what sparked my passion for it in the first place, and the thing I've been doing the longest.
The knife is another mandatory tool for an entertainment technician, but the knife also symbolizes strength, freedom, independence, and protection to me. With my knives, I even the playing field. My smaller size and lesser strength is not a significant factor with the proper tool and a sharp knife. I can do my job as well as any of the larger, stronger guys, I can defend myself when necessary, and simply displaying my tools and weapons make me a less worthy target. My knives win me a degree of freedom in a world where the pride of size and strength would otherwise imprison me.
I liked using a dragon's wings as a shield simply to be unique, not because I feel any particular affiliation for dragons, and my journey deeper into skeptical activism tends to make me shy away from imagery traditionally associated with those things I now wish to distance myself from, even though I still enjoy a good fantasy-based novel or movie. If I were to choose an animal symbol for any reason, it would be a female lion, not a dragon, but the dragon wings just look really cool as a shield.
However, when I first uploaded my shield and got the check proof back, it didn't have the background flames (but did have the flames coming out of its mouth), and the check looked very plain with a white background and the shield right in the middle. So I looked for some kind of textured background to put behind the shield that would be interesting but not be so busy or dark that you can't see the writing on the check. As I searched, it eventually occurred to me that flames would probably do the job.
So I added the flames, and after they get washed out by the printer, they do fulfill my requirement of a breakup texture for the background without compromising the visibility of the necessary check elements (the check graphic actually has more flames extending out on the sides, to accommodate the check ratio).
I was pleased with the final product, but continued to look at it. At first, I figured I'd start using the crest as an online user icon, but with a transparent background. But the more I looked at the flames version, the more I liked it. So I cropped it square to better fit icon dimensions and uploaded it as my icon on Twitter.
The more I looked at it, the more appropriate I thought a Flaming Dragon Shield was for my user icon. I may not have a strong connection to dragons, but how could I resist the symbology of a flaming anything to represent me online? A fire-breathing dragon wielding a knife and armor - it's hard to get any more representative of my online persona than that!
So I'm very pleased with my new personal crest. As soon as I can choose which of my LJ icons to remove, I plan to use this here on LJ too. Unfortunately, I have a free account, which limits the number of icons I can use, and I currently use all of them, so deciding among them will be a chore.
In my search, I found a place that lets the user upload his own pictures for his checks! There is no limit to the number of photos (other than the total number of checks) that they will rotate through the checkbook, but only the first image is included in the price.
So, I considered uploading some of my photography, because photo checks are pretty common, but then realized I'd have to choose among them to a limited number if I didn't want to pay more for the checks than I'd ever pay USING the checks. Then I thought about the PolyDragon, but immediately felt the Scarlet A was left out, and quickly added more and more images to the list of "symbols" that represent "me" or make a statement about who I am and what I believe in. Pretty soon, that list became almost as daunting (and expensive) as the photography list.
I thought "if only I had a single image that covered all of the symbols that represent me, that way I could avoid the extra image charges & still not have to choose between them." Oh, wait, if I had a personal crest, I could!
Years ago, I toyed with the idea of a personal "crest". I had once dated someone whose family retained ties to their original Scottish bloodline and had their family crest on several keepsakes. And at the time I was thinking of a crest, I had just built my first, real, poly family. In that fuzzy space between NRE and the idea that *this* family might be long-term, people often start thinking up family names or household names or other identifying features that announces to others that "we are a tribe". Throw all that in together with the fact that one of the people in the family was a graphic artist, and I am constantly trying to come up with ideas to summarize or symbolize who I am, and I was ripe for the idea of a personal crest.
What really put the idea into the "I should do this!" category was my then-partner (the graphic designer) decided to come up with the PolyDragon. He started looking at dragon art for ideas, and he came across a tribal dragon tattoo where the dragon's wings came together and formed the same basic shape as a shield. I thought that would be a perfect foundation for a crest.
Unfortunately, we broke up before I got more than halfway through my design, and then my harddrive crashed and I lost the files, and his computer got stolen in a break-in of our house. I had always intended to get back to that, but never got around to it. One of the things I was stuck on was that I either had too many or too few symbols to fill the traditional 4 quadrants of a British Isles shield-based crest, depending upon which symbols I wouldn't compromise on and which symbols actually fit me at the time I was considering them.
So, fast forward to this check purchase dilemma, and that prompted me to sit down and open up Photoshop. Here's what I came up with:
The heart/infinity pretty obviously symbolizes polyamory, and the A is the Scarlet A for Atheism symbol from Richard Dawkins, both of which are integral parts of my self-identity. The upper right quadrant is the type of camera used in television and live events, so I have my job, which is also my passion in life. In the lower left quadrant is a pair of dance shoes & music notes - both dancing and music are also great passions in my life. My job, dancing, and music are the non-living elements of my life that make life worth living, to me.
Rather than using the checkerboard pattern so common in separating shields into their quadrants, I went with two more symbols in a cross in the middle. The c-wrench ("Crescent" is a brand name, like Kleenex vs. tissue, so we call them c-wrenches, not crescents) is the main tool of an electrician or lighting technician in the entertainment industry. If camera work is my primary job function or skill, lighting is my secondary. I got started in the industry by doing lighting, it's what sparked my passion for it in the first place, and the thing I've been doing the longest.
The knife is another mandatory tool for an entertainment technician, but the knife also symbolizes strength, freedom, independence, and protection to me. With my knives, I even the playing field. My smaller size and lesser strength is not a significant factor with the proper tool and a sharp knife. I can do my job as well as any of the larger, stronger guys, I can defend myself when necessary, and simply displaying my tools and weapons make me a less worthy target. My knives win me a degree of freedom in a world where the pride of size and strength would otherwise imprison me.
I liked using a dragon's wings as a shield simply to be unique, not because I feel any particular affiliation for dragons, and my journey deeper into skeptical activism tends to make me shy away from imagery traditionally associated with those things I now wish to distance myself from, even though I still enjoy a good fantasy-based novel or movie. If I were to choose an animal symbol for any reason, it would be a female lion, not a dragon, but the dragon wings just look really cool as a shield.
However, when I first uploaded my shield and got the check proof back, it didn't have the background flames (but did have the flames coming out of its mouth), and the check looked very plain with a white background and the shield right in the middle. So I looked for some kind of textured background to put behind the shield that would be interesting but not be so busy or dark that you can't see the writing on the check. As I searched, it eventually occurred to me that flames would probably do the job.
So I added the flames, and after they get washed out by the printer, they do fulfill my requirement of a breakup texture for the background without compromising the visibility of the necessary check elements (the check graphic actually has more flames extending out on the sides, to accommodate the check ratio).
I was pleased with the final product, but continued to look at it. At first, I figured I'd start using the crest as an online user icon, but with a transparent background. But the more I looked at the flames version, the more I liked it. So I cropped it square to better fit icon dimensions and uploaded it as my icon on Twitter.
The more I looked at it, the more appropriate I thought a Flaming Dragon Shield was for my user icon. I may not have a strong connection to dragons, but how could I resist the symbology of a flaming anything to represent me online? A fire-breathing dragon wielding a knife and armor - it's hard to get any more representative of my online persona than that!
So I'm very pleased with my new personal crest. As soon as I can choose which of my LJ icons to remove, I plan to use this here on LJ too. Unfortunately, I have a free account, which limits the number of icons I can use, and I currently use all of them, so deciding among them will be a chore.
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Date: 3/26/10 09:46 pm (UTC)From: