Friday, June 26, 2009

Card to end all Trading Cards

Undoubtedly, the Periodic Table LTC ring was a big project. Like many others, for weeks I was consumed with carving, cutting, inking, assembling, and labeling. There were days when I thought it would never end. Little did I know that a bigger project lay in my future. That project began when 3 Blind Mice invited me to join their Challenge Ring (for the 3rd time) and I finally relented. Since I was again planning to take the Summer off from trading card production, I decided to do it up big. This would be the trading card to end all trading cards. It was going to be three dimensional and interactive, and contain a really great carve. What followed pushed me to the limits of my ability and occasionally, sanity.
At my daughter's suggestion (and with my DH's support), I decided to attempt to recreate The TARDIS in LTC form. For those of you who are unaware, the TARDIS is Doctor Who's time machine/spaceship/thingy (in his words). It looks like a Police Call Box and is bigger on the inside (hence, the ltc's name). I won't bore you with all of the Sci-Fi geek details. You either already know, or you're not likely to care. But here are some specifics of the trading card itself:
It has one inconspicuous stamp on the outside, plus two stickers to give it an authentic look. The windows are each hand cut and lined with transparency film to give it a shiny, but frosted glass look. Open the door and a sound card activates and you can hear one of Doctor Who's famous quotes; which you can listen to here, if you like. The first 10 seconds are on the card. It was my intention for the light on top to light up at the same time, but I quickly discovered that soldering electronic components is way harder than it looks. Sadly, but not before some brick-headed stubborness, I had to give up on that element as the deadline loomed.
On the inside of the card are two stamp images: one of David Tennant, my favorite Doctor Who yet; and the key to the TARDIS (which stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, btw).

A true Who geek will know that this is not David Tennant's key. However, it was more interesting to carve, so I went retro. It is, after all, a Time Machine.

And there you have it. My Challenge card. The carves themselves, while not particularly challenging, were ones that I have wanted to do for some time. The hurdles for me were more logistics and the technical aspects of actually making the thing work. And not breaking the bank in the process. And losing sleep over it. And keeping my fingers cross that they would still work when they arrived at their destinations.
And with that, I am taking the summer off from trading cards. If you need me, I'll be on Gallifrey.

2 comments:

  1. Impressive! Great carve, too - most excellent :-)

    I have some friends, a family actually, that are REAL Dr. Who fans - they would totally appreciate your efforts, my friend. Well done.

    :-)

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  2. Seeing this almost has me convinced that I need to start doing LTCs. I'm such a big sci-fi geek. Tennant is my favorite doctor too. This is a beautiful tribute to a wonderful show. Well done! :-)

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