It's been a long time since I bloged and rolled... lemme' get back, lemme' get back!

The only thing that is important here is new work. I've gone around and around with materials and products, but can never decide on the ultimate perfect item that can serve a purpose, be resistant to weathering and that people may want. I've built structures and frames, magnetic hats and Christmas tree ornaments, but nothing seems to stick for a long period of time. Metallic finishes are great, but I can get those out of the bottle or spray can, so I have had to abandon the cold casting methods that require sanding and oxidation in favor of spray on colors. One thing seems to be consistent and that is the need for more than one color in a final piece. This became apparent when I used some of my molds to make Breaking Bad Candy in the shape of the Heisenberg head, it looked good up close, but when I put a sticker behind the candy and the black on the sticker came through the translucent hard candy it made a big difference.

Mugshot wall of shame

Hollywood celebrity mugshot coffee mugs at yque.

New shoes on wire los Angeles designs

Yque front window

Satoshi Goes to the Mint; 1e-8 Bitcoin Value

The first generation of a duplicate product carries the most detail. In developing my mold making techniques based on screen printing I have eliminated the need for silicon to make my original molds, but my molds are not as durable and easy to use as silicone molds would be. I have rationalized the benefits of my on-the-fly molds by assuming that a first generation mold, even if it is not as durable, should provide more detail and a higher resolution product than a silicon mold that would force me to make a 2nd generation product. This logic seems undeniable, but I like the production characteristics of silicon that allow me to make many products with a wide range of materials without much damage to the mold.

My first project with these quickee molds was to make a Satoshi. What is a Satoshi you say? Well, a Satoshi is a unit of measure used in bitcoin to represent the smallest denomination that a bitcoin can be broken down to, which is One Hundred Millionith. This is very, very small, but eventually this measure may be as important as the penny was to allowing a dollar to be broken down to purchase candy back in the day. A Satoshi is named after the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, and although he has tried to remain anonymous in his personal life, he did no such thing by naming the smallest measurement of Bitcoin after himself. Thus I have used this recently uncovered exposure of Satoshi himself to mint a coin with his face to be non other than a Satoshi itself.

This coin is made with epoxy and steel atomized powder with cold-casting methods in my experimental molds. The first batch of Satoshis were too small of a font, so I only made 8 of those. These will never get into circulation officially. My next batch had a larger font and is currently setting up. There are another 8 in that batch and if I use only my experimental molds then I can always produce them with the highest resolution possible with my techniques. By using steel powder I can keep the cost of production down to match the fact that a Satoshi isn't worth very much, if anything in any other measurable equivalent currency. Still I like the idea that making Satoshis may have been overlooked by the more opportunistic Bitcoin entrepreneurs.

I will sell Satoshis for the equivalent US dollar value of what a Satoshi is worth in the Bitcoin world, but the cost of shipping and handling will cover my cost of production in the long run since they won't even be worth a penny currently. One day a Satoshi may be worth a dollar or more, but the value of a Bitcoin will have to more far beyond where it is now to make that a reality; which may require the value of a single Bitcoin to be $100,000,000 US. Not likely. In the meantime you can own one of these for fun and be the proud owner of one of the smallest denominations of a digital currency that has ever existed.

3d printing at yque

In los Angeles