Author Archives: lightbringer

Signet Ring Co-Creators and Huntington Community Fest

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Our Shapeways Store has been newly updated so that all our rings are now Co-Creator Templates.  This means that you can specify your ring size and order immediately, instead of sending a message requesting the model in a different size. This should make the ordering process much faster and easier.

Also, the Huntington Community Fest is coming up March 23 10AM-4PM in the northwest corner of the Huntington LIRR station parking lot.  The main event takes place inside a huge, heated tent, so don’t worry about the cold.  There will be food, festivities, live music, community organizations, and of course plenty of vendors including yours truly.  Everything you see in our Etsy Store will be available for purchase, including seals and sealing wax, buy on site to avoid paying shipping charges. Special deals are available for custom rings paid for at the show!

In addition to greenbacks and Island Hours, payment will also be accepted in junk silver. This is silver coin valued for its weight in silver, not for collectable or artistic value.  The easiest source for this is US dimes or quarters dated 1964 or earlier – they are solid 90% silver and have no copper colored stripe in the edge.

Island Hours

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We will now accept Island Hours as partial payment, up to 50%.  This is a new, local currency for Long Island based on each Hour being worth one hour of unskilled labor, currently about $10. So why use Island Hours instead of FRNs (Federal Reserve Notes/greenbacks)?

  • Free advertising – your business will be added to the directory and people who have Hours to spend will be more likely to do business with you.
  • Hours stay local, because big box retailers who send most of their value to shareholders out of state won’t join in.  This is money that recirculates over and over again in the local economy, which helps small businesses. Ithaca, NY has been doing this for decades.
  • The intrinsic value of a person’s time doesn’t go down, though an inflated dollar might. If inflation on the dollar gets to high, the exchange rate to Hours can be adjusted.

Eventually, it will be possible to get a loan from Island Hours at 0% interest.  This will require all the same planning and creditworthyness of a bank loan, because it does need to be repaid.  So for example you are a vendor and looking to build an extension on your home to grow the business, if you can find a local construction company that will take Hours, you could get a 0% interest loan to help pay the contractor, then when people come to your business and pay in Hours you can use that to pay back the loan at 0% interest.  We need them to get a lot more popular before that can become viable.

The easiest way to get Island Hours is, if you are on Long Island and have a business providing goods or services, by signing up online and promising to accept Hours as at least partial payment, you will be issued some (currently 20 hours, a $200 value). This amount will likely go down in the future, to give incentive to get in early.  Then once people start buying things from you in Hours, you get them from customers.

You can also find someone who has lots of Hours and is willing to trade them to you for FRNs, or if your employer participates you can ask for part of your paycheck to be issued in Hours.  If you do sign up as a vendor, please tell them Harry from Lightbringer Designs sent you.  There is a referral program so once you are in you can earn more hours by getting others to join.

As more vendors accept Island Hours, their practical value increases as you can buy more things with them.

Now on Etsy!

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Lightbringer Designs has just created an Etsy Store! Items in stock and ready to ship are listed there, along with our premium sealing wax.  Domestic orders on this store by the end of this week (12/15/12) should arrive by Christmas.

Listing for the wax is a bit tricky – they won’t let us list separate quantities for different colors of sealing wax, so if you can’t order what you want easily there, just use the Contact Page to tell us what you want and we can send a bill on PayPal.

Also, in honor of Chanukah, the Star of David Wax Seal is on special – $49.99 ($10 savings).  This deal only lasts 8 nights!

Holiday orders timing

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All custom orders must be paid in full before November 30 to guarantee delivery by Christmas.  Order early!
Stock designs can be ordered directly from the Shapeways page up until December 6.
Limited quantities of the Star of David, Pentagram, Cross, Ankh, Yin-yang, Sierpinski’s Gasket, Shield Knot, and Scales of Justice are in stock and can be shipped out within 2 days.  Order by December 15 to be sure to get it by Christmas without premium shipping charges (US only).

Holiday card season is coming

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It’s never too early to start thinking about plans for the holidays.  We expect this to be a busy year for new seal orders for people to accent their holiday cards.  Order nice and early to make sure your design is completed and in your hands so you can send the cards out early and have them arrive before Christmas.

Seals also make a great gift item – it’s either something they don’t already have, or if they do have other seals, you can add one to their collection!

New Event: Harvest Moot

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The Assembly of Capital Region Pagans will be hosting a Harvest Moot on September 29, 2012 at Peeble’s Island, and we’ve been promised a prime spot in the vendor area.  This is an open and public event, no admission fee, all are welcome.  This is a great opportunity for those unfamiliar with modern Pagan practice to learn about it or for the initiated to meet with others of like mind.  Other vendors will likely be similar to what you might expect at a Renaissance Faire.

Presentation was an outstanding success!

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Normally 20 people would be a good turnout at a Long Island Consulting Network meeting – last night we had over 55, nearly ran out of chairs.  Sorry to the folks who showed up after we ran out of food!  I got many positive comments afterwards, about 20 people took business cards, and I’ve already got emails from people discussing possible business deals.

Watch the entire presentation on 3D Printing here…

Special thanks to John Dunn and Peter Buitenkant for their help and advice in setting this up!

Introduction to 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping

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I’ve been invited to give a presentation on the different methods available for rapid prototyping, along with their various strengths and weaknesses.  I’ve been promised that Shapeways will let us borrow some sample pieces to show off in addition to my own bag of tricks, I’m also trying to get a friend to bring his MakerBot so you can see a part grow before your eyes. Wax seals will also be available for immediate purchase – save on shipping!

Sign up and share on this Facebook Event!

Admission is free, includes pizza and soda.  Details below:

The IEEE Consultants Network of Long Island (LICN) is presenting a lecture titled:

Introduction to 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping

Speaker:   Harry R. Burger

Wednesday July 11, 2012 at 7:00pm

This seminar is free and all are invited. Refreshments will be served at 6:30 pm.

Abstract:

“If you can imagine it, you can build it.” That is the promise of the newest breed of manufacturing technology.  Learn about the different processes that can produce nearly any shape you can think of as a single, solid piece, with no tooling.  Material options now include plaster, plastics, elastomers, paper, metals, glass, ceramic, sugar, and chocolate.

0.2 CEU Credits See Registration on-line

Who Should Attend?

Anyone who desires a better understanding of the issues underlying rapid prototyping and 3D printing

Speaker Bio:

Harry R. Burger is a design engineer and consultant from Huntington, NY.  He has a dual BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  He is a member of Tau Beta Pi honor society and holds a patent for a point of purchase display.  More information is available at www.lightbringerdesigns.com

Location:

This lecture will be held at Briarcliffe College, The Great Room, 1055 Stewart Avenue, Bethpage, NY. See  http://www.licn.org/info/Directions2Briarcliffe.htm for a map and directions. The presentation will begin at 7:00 PM. Pizza will be served at 6:30 PM.

 Registration:

The presentation is open to the general public. Pre-registration is not required, but is requested if CEU credit is planned. Please send pre-registration e-mail to ambertec@ieee.org. There is no admission fee, but there is a $25 fee for CEU credit.

 For further information contact John Dunn at 516-378-0979.

The IEEE has been approved as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).  In obtaining this approval, the IEEE has demonstrated that it complies with the ANSI/IACET Standards which are widely recognized as standards of good practice internationally. As a result of their Authorized Provider membership status, IEEE is authorized to offer IACET CEUS for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET Standards.”  IACET CEU Provider #1255