Now, this first post is probably more about etymology and how my brain works that it is about making anything, but considering this page is somewhat sparse, I thought it might be good to consider it a piece of modern art - fairly meaningless without the proper context. So if you're here because you wanted builds - check back in a few days. If you're here because I'm famous in the future, well - I don't think I have any way of processing that sort of information, attention or renown. Either way - thanks for reading this far, and I hope that I can quickly tell you before you stop reading: I would really love it if you just went out and made/built/personalised something. That's my goal. I build, you build - we're the same. Equivalents.
Without a doubt you'll be familiar with the word "equivalence", assuming of course English is your first language. For those not in the know, "equivalence" describes the state of two objects being the same, the root of this word can be found in the late Latin "aequivalentia" which means "Of equal force or value", a balance between things. When I had to name my efforts in creation (because what's a blog without a name?) I didn't know where to begin - I had no name, but only a concept.
When I initially started making, it was never focused on one particular skill or art. I dabbled in this, that and the other focusing on getting to the end state, and finding solutions to create the desired outcome with limited space, tools and until recently - time. This found me making strange things and no project really carried on to the next one. I've made staffs using nothing but natural "gifted" wood from my local forests, I've revamped kid's foam dart blasters to imitate futuristic space laser guns and I've even dabbled in making swords from popular videogame franchises. (I'm sure I'll get around to posting at least the finished articles - even if I don't have any build pictures any more.) Because of the mixing of my medium, organic and very inorganic, I wanted very much to go along the route of "Harmony", between raw, natural, earthly materials, and the industrial, electronic, man-made side of things. I spent a long time doodling a maker's mark before I came up with this one.
There are elements of the electronic pads you might see on a printed circuit board blended in to an Ouroboros design, with everything tending towards a cyclical design like the yin-yang symbol of Chinese philosophy. Of course there is the large equals symbol in the middle which is probably a little blunt - but aesthetics was important too!
Before really starting this project, I was studying my undergraduate degree in Psychology. One of the final modules I undertook was on emotion, which as it turns out wasn't just critical to my grade - but also in the naming of this blog. There's a term in psychology we use to describe "positivity" and "negativity" in a situation, an object or an event. This term is "Valence" and it can be used to describe "good" emotions such as happiness and "bad" emotions like sorrow, these good and bad emotions would have positive and negative valence, respectively, with good being positive and bad being negative. The lexical interest of valence doesn't just end there!
Now - back to the etymology!
Without a doubt you'll be familiar with the word "equivalence", assuming of course English is your first language. For those not in the know, "equivalence" describes the state of two objects being the same, the root of this word can be found in the late Latin "aequivalentia" which means "Of equal force or value", a balance between things. When I had to name my efforts in creation (because what's a blog without a name?) I didn't know where to begin - I had no name, but only a concept.
When I initially started making, it was never focused on one particular skill or art. I dabbled in this, that and the other focusing on getting to the end state, and finding solutions to create the desired outcome with limited space, tools and until recently - time. This found me making strange things and no project really carried on to the next one. I've made staffs using nothing but natural "gifted" wood from my local forests, I've revamped kid's foam dart blasters to imitate futuristic space laser guns and I've even dabbled in making swords from popular videogame franchises. (I'm sure I'll get around to posting at least the finished articles - even if I don't have any build pictures any more.) Because of the mixing of my medium, organic and very inorganic, I wanted very much to go along the route of "Harmony", between raw, natural, earthly materials, and the industrial, electronic, man-made side of things. I spent a long time doodling a maker's mark before I came up with this one.
Before really starting this project, I was studying my undergraduate degree in Psychology. One of the final modules I undertook was on emotion, which as it turns out wasn't just critical to my grade - but also in the naming of this blog. There's a term in psychology we use to describe "positivity" and "negativity" in a situation, an object or an event. This term is "Valence" and it can be used to describe "good" emotions such as happiness and "bad" emotions like sorrow, these good and bad emotions would have positive and negative valence, respectively, with good being positive and bad being negative. The lexical interest of valence doesn't just end there!
Valence as a suffix (of course, not a real English word, it just appears within other words!) pops up in other fairly common words such as "ambivalence", which we could interpret to mean "of both valences" and most importantly to me "equivalence" which we could interpret as "of equal valences". In this sense, I really want to get across my true driving concept - to inspire. I love making things, and I know there are many people out there that would also really like to start out making things, or perhaps people that would if they gave it a go! Equivalence to me represents my ambition - my hope that if I give this my all, and make things for you guys to see - perhaps you'll be inclined to give it a go!
Now don't be expecting perfect, gorgeous pieces from me - I'm a novice here and I take my time with pieces. I make mistakes. Hell - I'm sure that I've made typographical errors in this piece (which is now probably the most inaccessible piece of writing I've ever done - way to strike interest with a new audience!)
So there you have it. I've put it out there - all of the nonsense that went through my head coming up with this mark, this name ("Lab" was chosen fairly haphazardly - I'm used to saying lab, as I work in them most of the time, so why not here too :) )
Thanks for reading, and I hope future entries aren't so bland!
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