The Rose Screen
I worked on this for days. Little sleep, rushed deadlines, late night staining party with Costco pizzas… the whole 9 yards, or, well — in this case, four and a half feet of maple.
I’ve been buried in the hustle and bustle of preparing for one of the biggest shows I’ve ever had the chance to attend: PAX East. And not big in the size sense (though it is), but in the significance. Let me tell you why.
Where Did It All Start?
PAX East 2011 & Charity Streaming
I’m not at liberty to say why or how, but I can say I was impressed with what was on offer from the TTRPG community, even all the way back in 2011. My friends in attendance with me at PAX East 2011 were shocked because they were in Game Design and Development Majors in college — but somehow it was me, the woodworker, who walked away with a job offer from a company at a show in their industry.
After that I steeped myself in Fantasy, Mythology, and Folklore. I soaked up what I began to call “Pulp Culture” and got involved where and however I could with creators and those doing what I wanted to do most.
Eventually I started streaming, specifically charity streaming, and had a content creator get involved last year for a charity I care a lot about: the Jimmy Fund, the PR and fundraising arm of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. They saved a good friend, and I remember the day I got fed up with not having an outlet to direct my emotions towards, when I decided to do my best to get better at streaming.
Meeting Diana of the Rose
The third year of consistently doing charity streams, I managed to recruit Diana of the Rose, a TTRPG influencer and AP podcaster. Diana really stepped up to help with my efforts for raising money for the Jimmy Fund. My team that year broke records for the amounts we’d raised in years past, EASILY, all in two nights thanks to Diana’s stream.
Something had to be done. Something amazing. A Heroic Reward for a Heroic Effort and outstanding good deed.
I started thinking about how to do something really nice for Diana, like truly and honestly amazing. And then I saw her viral video on Tiktok about a screen she had made years ago, and thought back to prior DM screens I’d done for other AP podcasts and charitable efforts…
… Bingo.
The Rose Screen, from Conception to Completion
But First, Disney’s Hercules… Yes, It’s Relevant
Constantly throughout this project, I thought to myself of the scene in Disney’s Hercules where the title hero holds up a small doll of himself and desperately exclaims“I’m an action figure!!” to the statue of Zeus. Squeezing it as he says it and staring at the statue, searching Zeus’ face for fatherly approval.
“A true hero isn’t measured by the size of their strength, but by the strength of their heart.”
I’ve always loved that movie. I’ve always loved Herc. He was my exemplar in what a good Hero is. But something threw alarm bells at me. I needed to keep in mind, that doing this for my own glory was not what I wanted.
Pride is OK, but doing something solely for the benefit of glory and fame is not. After seeing others build platforms and careers focused around giving back, I’ve always wrestled with not just making amazing things in collaboration with other artists and creatives, but also answering the question:
“How do I use this to do tangible good in the world?”
I was doing this because I wanted it to inspire others to do glorious deeds, not because I wanted people to throw money at me for a DM screen. (In full honesty that’s nice, but it’s not the foundational reason I do what I do.)
I told Diana:
“This is because you’ve done something, whether you know it or not, that is heroic in its own right, and you’ve made your platform so others will see you doing these deeds and be inspired by them, so I want to encourage you to encourage others.”
With that in mind, I took to making this screen everything I felt Diana’s branding was.
Woodworking in progress…
Phew! All done in the wood shop at Maker Works. Now, that’s all well and good — however, I needed a fantastic artist to work on the vision I had for this screen, and not one but two good artist friends stepped up to assist.
The Rose Screen Art & Artists
The Bulletproofturtleman (BPTM), though he was more hands-off in creating the layout, was invaluable in his advice and guidance towards the style and language I needed to communicate with the wonderful artist who did step up.
My initial ideas of what the screen would be, sketched out
BPTM’s refinement!!
The next step was finding an artist to execute on BPTM’s layout, and that would take a phenomenal talent, in the form of a Bee-Tuber with a Fantasy Webcomic.
Honey Potts Art was instrumental in creating the colored sketches and laser files, and — as someone who was experienced with laser engraving — knew EXACTLY what was needed from the files for the desired end results.
Over the course of a few months, they created stunning illustrations that ended up informing the build.
Potts was one of the teammates that ended up being remote, as they couldn’t just swing by the shop, and VTubers, you know they love their privacy. The updates I got from Potts, however, were stunning drawings showing an enthusiasm and grasp of the project like none I had seen. They remixed BPTM’s layout ever so slightly and used the real estate gained to pay homage to his initial sketches and concepts.
I’m lucky to count both as friends, and with this project I’d take all the help I could get. It was a Herculean task after all.
Time for the Laser Cutter!
… And, Wait, How is This Thing Going to Move?
With the art firmly in hand, and knowing that Potts had it on lock, I turned my attention back to readying the panels for engraving. That meant they needed to stand on their own and have any last minute sanding done immediately, so they could spend time in the laser engraver without any complications.
At 18 inches by 13 inches, each panel was no slouch, and attaching via hardware would only add to the weight of the panels, but I also needed something secure enough that I knew and trusted.
I turned to steel.
More specifically, 3/8th inch diameter steel rods I cut to the needed length, paired with powerful magnets to hold the panels upright in a way that they could be pivoted and adjusted. With a careful hand, hand drill, and some bit of critical thinking, I soon found myself looking at an upright set of panels with a four foot wingspan and all the magnets arranged.
The home stretch was here. It was going to be a marathon run to finish, and we only had time to sprint. The engravings came out beautifully and very much accurate to the drawing, but I still had progress to make. And this is where having friends came in incredibly clutch.
15 Hours of Painting, Pizza, and Pain
This is when Ross showed up.
Ross took to the project like a fish to water. While the engravings were running and I was doing my best to keep to sanding so the panels could continue their march towards completion, Ross sat down with the largest pack of colored markers I’ve ever seen and created something that was everything BUT the L he was holding.
The color guide Ross made served as our north star, taking Potts’ artwork and turning it into a paint by numbers. He carefully matched each individual ITEM on the screen to a hue and made note of the number. Two days later, we sat for 15 hours with markers and pizza, and knocked out the largest “selective stain” I’ve ever seen anyone attempt.
For those of you not in the know, I’ve worked with/for more tabletop craft companies than most individuals. I met Ross during my time at Dogmight Games, and he was one of the best stainers/colorists we had on the team. This time around, Ross was helping with this project exactly because of his skills with inks and the spray booth.
I let Ross take the reins in directing what needed to happen with the stain, and while I raised some questions, I had ZERO complaints. Ross knew what he was doing and did it well.
After we laid out the color, we had one last sprint to make, and while the deadline was getting close, this last step was going to be in my wheelhouse.
Spray lacquer.
Spray Lacquer, Final Coats, & How Jack Saved the World
(In A Moment When This Screen Was My Entire World.)
First thing Tuesday morning, in a panic, I asked the clerk at Rockler Woodworking and Hardware whether or not they had any spray can lacquer available. I was going to be flying out Wednesday morning, and with less than 24 hours, I was feeling the crunch. The screen was stained, I had gotten two containers of acrylic paint for one final touch, but I needed to be able to spray some form of Nitro or finish on this screen, and things weren’t looking good… until along came Jack.
Jack is another friend from my time at Dogmight. He’s always working on cars, trucks, and bikes in his two-car garage out in semi-rural Michigan.
When I called, he answered. So I hit the corner store, bought Jack a case of Fitzgerald Porter, and made my way to his garage after the Rockler rep sold me on a Wagner HVLP Spray system, two cans of General Finishes water-based stain, and a pop-tent that would let me finish the screen without concern of overspray.
Jack and I had one hell of an afternoon, and — as Jack is apt to do — he had a trick up his sleeve that nearly made me cry with gratitude.
See, not only did Jack open his garage, but he had a small bottle of “Gun-Blue” at the ready. He cracked out the acetone and performed the magic trick of coating the steel in a corrosion-resistant layer of a beautiful blue-gray-black patina.
Diana’s Screen had its pillars, its absolutely glorious and now rust-resistant pillars.
While Jack busied himself with that, I had taken the time to spray basecoat and wipe “Iridescent Carbon” Acrylic paint into the engravings and crevices of Diana’s Screen, so that the colors “stuck”.
You see, when you spray a base coat on a wooden piece and seal it from being porous, you also make it resistant to acrylic finishes. So, as I wiped and squeegeed away the excess, all that was left in the grooves was a beautiful, shimmering, black-silver that made all the panels pop.
I sprayed the final coats as Jack finished the gun-blue treatment, and while we waited for the screen to dry, it was garage-cleaning time. It was also time to pack it to fly to Boston.
The crunch was finally, finally over.
The Final Look before the flight.
Bringing the Screen to PAX East
Now because the life of a social media content creator is a crazy one, I had to wait the entire weekend of PAX East to be able to present this, on Sunday at 2pm in the Jimmy Fund booth.
To say this was a nerve-wracking weekend would have been an understatement, but luckily I again had my community around me, and they were just as excited for the reveal as I was.
Diana’s reaction was nothing short of gracious and appreciative.
For those wondering what her personality is like, it’s exactly what you get on the tin. I haven’t seen her as fake or disingenuous, ever.
So her gratitude had me tearing up, somewhat.
We recorded her reaction, and honestly, you’ll have to watch for both her video and my own on the screen. I personally can’t wait.
There’s more there, but for now, I need to leave you all with this.
Look at the pictures, the process and the write-up, and go make something wonderful, and do good in your communities.
For now, I have a BTS video to edit and get out the door.