Full Moon Update - April 16th, 2022

Full Moon Update - April 16th, 2022

Boxes

What's that over there on the left?
The new boxes are here, the new boxes are here! 2000 for your clocks + 2000 custom shipping boxes
We ordered our boxes before the most recent price hikes in corrugated back in early January.

Magnets

Magnets hold key elements of the clocks together. Here is how each one is attached. WARNING:  This part is substantially boring, feel free to skip. I've only included it to show you what I've been doing nearly every day these past few weeks and to reiterate the level of careful detail at play.

1000 magnets
2500 in total = 5000 installations
Before magnets
Magnets
After magnets
Tools for attaching magnetic attractions.
Use only the size of a single leprechaun tear.
Place the magnet + Hammer Time

One at a time, five thousand times.

Currently at 3000 completed (1500 backs are ready!)

It's pretty much the same process with the cork.

magnetic adhesive for cork
a little dab'll do ya
No hammer time needed though.
oooh la la

CEO & Dough

I'm not the type to reach out for help (says a guy who uses Kickstarter!?) but this project has forced me to challenge myself and I am so glad I did. My hyper-vulnerable Help Wanted update was a request both for major financial assistance in exchange for a percentage of the company and a bald-faced attempt to recruit a business minded talent to be the CEO of The Present. 

The CEO had me over for dinner in NYC and I saw this at their place! One of dozens of positive signs.

I'm still a bit reticent to share too much detail however, on both counts, my admission of surrender and request for help has been answered. We got the news on the last full moon (it feels good to say WE!) and we've spent the past moon cycle drafting the documentation to move forward with enough working capital to finish this project and finally, at long last, have a Business partner, with capital B.


Working Capital

The investor supplying the working capital holds a Ph.D in a field which aligns beautifully with what we are trying to accomplish with The Present. I'll leave it at that as far as details on the investment partner, only wanted to mention it because it's not a traditional sort of investor bent on 10X'íng their profit in 45-days or whatever the VC scene is into at the moment.  


I'm grateful...I'm happy. It's going to be great, it is great already. Thank you for listening to me, the future is bright and The Present, even brighter.


Print Update

I know. I know, this is taking so, so long to get these made. There is some good news though because I am now only using Duggal to do the impossible thing of printing these puppies at the degree of quality we demand. Instead of a new roll to replace the one they lost... they ordered sheets which arrived this past Wednesday. 


Why sheets?

The layout - 8 prints per sheet

Duggal will print and my partner in Rochester will screen-print for ink protection / 100% opacity (the film is slightly translucent and requires white backing), and it is easier for them to use their largest screen-printer for that sort of labor. After each one cures, the Rochester partner will then apply the 3M 267 MP pressure sensitive adhesive film to the back of the screen-printed film. Finally, Rochester will die-cut using custom plates, pack the prints individually and send them to me. 


It sounds complicated because it is. The print is by far the most important part of The Present. Separating the print process between the actual print and the labor will save me time and is something I've been considering for awhile. After the lost roll, I had to consolidate my needs from Duggal into what they do best and outsource the labor to my trusted partner in Rochester. 

Yes, I am conducting business with Duggal via personal, urgent text messages.

Quickly for clarity, the masters I'm telling her not to wait on before continuing to make new ones are being sent out on Monday from a completely different vendor, one of Duggal's rivals. 


Yep, I sent a rival of theirs the Duggal masters to see if they can compete as I need to protect the project in case Duggal misplaces their printers. When Duggal gets their approved masters back, I will be receiving prints from another company, just in case... know what I'm saying?


URGENT OPTIMISM

While I wait on Duggal to deliver and hammer these magnets to make them flush with the metal, I listen to books. I'm currently reading (listening) to Jane McGonigal's IMAGINABLE How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything--Even Things That Seem Impossible Today. It sets the course for the sort of optimistic point of view which can and will grow over time with such strength, we will wonder why we ever thought otherwise. 


GOOD NEWS!

On the subject of seeing beyond the very real terrors of our time and drumming up our creative potential to meet our collective challenges, this next video was a welcome surprise. This is the sort of attitude I hope to propel in the world with The Present as a compass for this sort of thinking. Basically, yes, there are more problems at the moment than anyone can count, however, we will, I mean, we really WILL solve every. single. one.

THE PRINTS ARE THE ONLY THING LEFT TO BE DELIVERED BEFORE I CAN START ASSEMBLING!


Thank you for reading, have a lovely holiday, keep your chin up and your eyes on the distant horizon. See you in another cycle of our moon with increasingly better news. Please forgive any tiepohz, I've got to get back to Hammer Time. 


Got a question? Comment below and or send electronic mail to scott at thepresent dot is


I would like to close with an original haiku, thank you.


From way over here

Flashbacks through a silver screen 

Distant moon shine on


In time,

Scott Thrift

for you

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