Housekeeping

I was talking to LSP about creating a White Wolf Mine Challenge Coin. Yes, I have more than a few others but they’re all somewhat dated where I’m concerned. I told him what I wanted to do in a general sense and he said, “Have you spoken to Jules about helping you with a design?”

BRILLIANT – but would she? She’s globetrotting these days (not to Harlem) and gearing up for Switzerland. Because she’s a friend, I asked, and she said, “yes.”

I also want her to read the first 100 pages of the new book, “Broken Toys”, but I can only impose so much. Maybe when she returns from scaling an alp?

There is a coin in the works and we’re hashing out details.

You can weigh in on the design if you’d like. I may not take your advice.

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24 COMMENTS

  2. Well, you’re a lucky man to have such a fabulous friends, LL. If I were you I’d send them a yacht…

    Of course I’ll read your book. That’s a given. I shall be full of Swiss air and wholesome goodness by then and able to give crystal clear opinions and praise.

      • You know, you could punch a hole in them and tie them into Boot JuJu… Or a necklace? Two coins with turquoise on either side?

        • I know how it would end up. Jules would take the yacht on a round-the-world cruise, painting scenes of Polynesia as she sailed, drinking tropical mixed beverages out of a coconut shell, and Margaritas from exotic crystal glasses. Martinis shaken, not stirred and all that. She’d dock in Bali for six months while she worked further on art philosophy, live-aboard.

          “Where’s the boat?” I’d ask.

          “Gone.”

          Alas

  4. The 1st one…only have the wolf in silhouette with a narrow outline, white center with some interior lines for structure.

    Instead of “…die better”, how about “Into the Fray…”?

      • Ahh, then simple shapes make sense. In relief (embossed) it would be shiny, invoking “white”.

        It’s a nice design. Curious, what would mirroring it invoke (“white wolf” on left, mine on right, intuitive flow).

  5. REVERSE
    If you’re going to quote Horatius then it needs to be a gladius and not a kukri. A ‘hawk is fine, but use your RMJ Talon for the model. The outlines of each are distinctive enough that you won’t need fine detail to be visible for the shapes to have graphic impact.

    “How can a man die better” (en arc, top 180 degrees)
    “Than facing fearful odds” (bottom 180 degrees of arc)
    Whether the letters should be all facing “tops out” or if you want the bottom ones printed so that the “feet” are facing out (this means you can read all of it with the coin held upright) is an aesthetic choice.

    OBVERSE
    The wolf’s head erased (no neck showing) is good.

  6. I can see striking art and say “Wow”, but you don’t want to take any art advice from me.
    I will wait and see what the finished product looks like.

  7. Perhaps something you can use here?–

    “An old grandfather was teaching his grandson about life:

    “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

    “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

    He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.”

    The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”

    The grandfather simply replied, “The one you feed.”

    But if you feed them right, they both win and so do you.

    You see both have good qualities. The black wolf has many qualities that we need, tenacity, courage, strong willed, and great strategic thinking. These are things the white wolf lacks.”

  9. Horatius, yes. WW Mine, yes. Not sure about the too busy part, maybe yes, maybe no. Would depend on how big the coin is perhaps. Lookit your pocket change. Those state & territory quarters they’ve been handing out can get pretty busy but would serve as a good example, or bad as the case may be. Make them half-dollar size, that would help.

  10. how about one side a wolf with” white wolf mine” and the other side a kukri /tomahawk and “aim small, miss small”?

  11. The design with the dark wolf silhouette is good. At first glance, the mining rig on the left is kind of out of place and distracting, but the more I look at it the more I can see the relevance. But what do I know, I was kicked out of K1 finger painting class for conduct unbecoming.

  12. Nice start! And yes, it would be busy on a coin. I’d go with the high relief wolf against a darker background, and lose the mine outline. It’s not needed.

  13. Just a thought:
    My long dead mother-in-law was an artistically talented person.
    She lived in Kingman in her later years and in the ‘60s a Zuni woman taught her how to carve fetish which complimented her silver smithing skills.
    Her work was so good that she got a commission from the Playboy Club to carve their bunny emblem out of turquoise for its members as a lapel pin. Other samples of her work were taken to China, used as patterns, and cheaply copied which killed her market.
    But I digress.
    My thought was that Arizona has some talented silver smiths that you might induce by using filthy lucre to have them produce your coins. They may even have some design suggestions incorporating turquoise or other materials.

    Side bar: Years ago, I was in a class being taught by a female psychologist. She was wearing a necklace with some fetish strung in it. For those who do not know, fetish are small carving of desert sheep, turtles, road runners, and other animals found in the southwest. They are usually about a half inch long.
    During a break I asked the psychologist where she had gotten her fetish. I finally interrupted the deer-in-the-headlights look, the blushing, and the stammering, and said, “I mean your necklace.”

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