Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Fri Dec 18, 2009 6:10 pm

On a beautiful June day in 1981, I was the picture of happiness. My hubby and I were out with friends frolicking around Lake Erie on their new boat, enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, good company and conversation about each of our dreams and plans for the future. For myself, after having endured a very difficult, challenging childhood, I was ecstatic about how things had come together in my life. Married for four years by that time, we still felt and acted like newlyweds and on top of that, I was finally well on my way to reaching my ultimate career dream of being a successful recording engineer/producer in radio and advertising. Within a few short hours though our lives were about to drastically change.

Disembarking from the boat and without any forewarning, I suddenly keeled over landing flat on my face on the dock. Although completely flat on a solid, stable surface, I was sure that I was in the process of falling from an enormous skyscraper. (Think Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo.) I’ll save you from the long, gory details but the upshot was that at the relatively young age of 27, I had suffered Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss that day which left me completely and permanently deaf in my left ear and with a 70% hearing loss in my right ear. My career was over in that instant.

This is not a blog for self-pity, though. If you’ll recall, the underlying message of this blog is about surviving – and more than that, it is about not merely surviving, but thriving. Step-by-step, growing with the journey in ways that I had never dreamed, expected, or planned, I have never spent a moment mourning what I did not have nor what I once had but lost because I’ve always felt blessed for what I do have. So while I may no longer have music in my life in the manner that I once knew it, I have such rich and vivid memories that I can bring them to mind to enjoy again and again to relive the emotional feeling I used to derive from hearing live music. I am still able to feel the music and what’s more, I can now create happy little visual images that remind me of the joy of music. So what’s there to mourn? The truth is, happiness really IS a decision we each have within our control no matter what hurdles may also stand before us.

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

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Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Sun. Dec 13, 2009 10:10 pm

Tonight I’m wrapping up my Nuevo Deco Series by posting the User’s Folders and a couple of special goodies as “extras” which I believe really epitomize the spirit of the Art Deco era’s fascination and obsession with motorized vehicles, speed, and clean, sensual design. And as a big fan of Grand Prix Formula One Racing, these are my personal favorites. With the holiday season zeroing in on us and the prospects of the start of a new year, I’m ready to turn my sights to a new direction and a brand-spanking-new and fresh series of icons. In the meantime, I hope you all have enjoyed Nuevo Deco as much as I enjoyed creating it. Cheers! and, as always, Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Thur Dec 10, 2009 3:00 am

In a few short days it will be my son’s 26th birthday. It is absolutely astounding to me how that is even possible (after all, I’m barely that old myself – or so I feel). It seems only yesterday that his tiny head appeared, followed by his body and my husband’s cry “My God! It’s my Grandfather!” As all parents learn, the years go by all too fast but what a glorious ride it’s been. Certainly never easy nor always fun but nothing on earth has made me feel more important or more fulfilled or more hopeful for the future. Most every parent loves their children but it’s not a secret that parents and their adult children often do not like one another. That seems so sad for all involved and one wonders whether such situations could have been prevented or simply a matter of different temperment and interests. Whatever, I feel truly blessed to not only like who my son has grown up to be and enjoy spending time with him but to know he feels the same way about his Dad and me. How cool is that?

So I was thinking of this and recollecting some of my favorite memories of Rob’s childhood while I wrapped a couple of packages for him tonight (a huge accomplishment for me!) and thought that I’d share a few seminal quotes with y’all tonight on the topic of children and parenting. And to top it off, I’ll close tonight’s post with a double-serving of Neuvo Deco Icons. Enjoy!

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”
– James Arthur Baldwin (U.S. Essayist, Playwright and Novelist, 1924-1987)

“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”
– Forest E. Witcraft (U.S. Scholar, Teacher and Scout Leader, 1894-1967)

“If you must hold yourself up to your children as an object lesson, hold yourself up as a warning and not as an example.”
— George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)

“When I stopped seeing my mother with the eyes of a child, I saw the woman who helped me give birth to myself.”
— Nancy Friday (U.S. psychologist and author)

“If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.”
— Carl Gustav Jung (Swiss psychiatrist, Psychologist and Founder of the Analytic Psychology, 1875-1961)

“Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.”
– Socrates (Ancient Greek Philosopher, 470 BC-399 BC)

“Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas”
– Paula Poundstone (U.S. Comic, b. 1959)

“One thing they never tell you about child raising is that for the rest of your life, at the drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child’s name and how old he or she is.”
— Erma Bombeck (U.S. Humorist, Columnist and Author, 1927-1996)

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Tue Dec 8, 2009 11:35 pm

Unique icons for each category of hardware (devices) that are commonly used are a necessary part of a complete set of system icons, and so I’ve created those to go with my Nuevo Deco series and am posting them here tonight. At the same time, I am curious as to how many of you have your Finder preferences set to show all mounted devices on your desktop or instead, keep them hidden from view and only access them either from the top menu or sidebar? Since I rarely need to access the root level of either my internal or various external hard drives, it really serves no useful purpose to have their icons visible on my desktop and actually seems to just create clutter (even if it’s good looking clutter thanks to these icons!). While I don’t like to have my internal hard drive on my desktop, I would like to have any CD’s, DVD’s, thumb drives, and/or .DMG volumes appear on my desktop since I need to interact with them at their mount point and since they don’t appear in the top menubar – but for some reason, Apple has categorized all of these – AS WELL AS all other external hard drives (USB, Firewire) in one single category titled “CDs, DVD’s and iPods”. This means that in order to see a thumb drive or .dmg or CD on my desktop, I’m forced to accept having each individual partition of my external firewire and USB drives visible as well. Pretty annoying. I haven’t found any hacks to get around this so if any of you have a clue whether and how this can be accomplished, PLEASE let me know!

It’s pretty rare for me to have any complaiint at all about any apple produce (hardware or software) as I’ve been a dedicated fan since I got my first Mac when they originally came out in the early 1980’s – but as long as I’m on this subject, I do have another (minor) gripe in the form of a question. Why is it that the Mac OS STILL has accomodations to set identifying icons for floppy disks, zip disks, magnetic optical disks, and even super disks, yet has no unique icon for any type of thumb drive which is far more commonly used these days? To be fair, I’m still running on Tiger (OS 10.4.1.1) and not Leopard or Snow Leopard so perhaps those newer systems do have such accomodations.

It’s been a long day for me today and tomorrow is expected to be another hard one so I’m keeping this short. Good Night All!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

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Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Tue. Dec. 8, 2009 3:20 am

For those who remember my post from a month or so ago that showed a side-by-side comparison of my original Art Deco Series and the proposed revision, you might wonder what happened to the angled perspective shown for the revised folders. After playing around with it for a while, I settled on a head-on front view for the folders (and most other icons) because it was both cleaner and looks better with the flat, sticker style, especially when a folder gets badged with an application or other icon. As to the accent color on the folder, I decided not to settle on a single version to be used for everywhere because I personally like to use different colors to differentiate what’s in a generic folder from a quick glance. For example, I’ll set all of my family files to blue, financial files to green, “work-in-progress” files to red, etc. Of course, the computer’s operating system will only allow a single choice for the generic default folder but nothing prevents you from either manually reassigning a different one to any folder desired after it’s been created – and if you really are into being efficient, you can create a folder action* to automatically set the icon of your choice anytime a new folder is created in a certain location.

* FOLDER ACTIONS
Check out these sites for how-to’s as well as
some pre-made folder actions.

• add_folder_icons/
• create-a-folder-action-using-automator
• automate-changing-icons-for-apps
• macscripter forum

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Sat Dec 5, 2009 12:45 pm

Don’t know about you, but the “location” category of icons are the 2nd most frequent ones I see on my desktop as I’m always dragging off url’s from websites, emails and other documents (I only bookmark locations that I expect to return to multiple times and put the ones I intend to check out just once – but later – on my desktop.). As a result, having a good looking location icon is important to me and I tend to swap ‘em out fairly frequently so I don’t get bored. The batch I’m posting today are Part 3 of my Nuevo Deco Series. Hope you like them, and…

Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

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Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Thu Dec 3, 2009 9:45 pm

Let it Snow!Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

The Christmas Season has officially begun here on WordPress.com where they have made this delightful feature available to it’s bloggers that snows on our blogs. Just looking at it made me have to ask my nurse for another blanket! (Ah, the power of the mind and subliminal suggestions). In any case, I couldn’t let this feature go by without inaugurating it with a somewhat Christmassy bit of icon/clip-art. Not very fancy as I threw it together rather quickly today but it gets me in the mood to come up with something more.

Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Tue Dec 1, 2009 4:00 pm

Just got off the phone with my friend Jane after, as usual with her, having had a very interesting, thought-provoking conversation. Never know where discussions with her will lead to but know they will never be boring. Janie flits from one topic to another but her segues always seem natural, her enthusiasm infectious, her wide-range of interests and knowledge mind-blowing, and she always leaves me feeling appreciated, wanted, valuable, loved, and even understood. What more can anyone else want from a friend? Only the ability to impart the same and know it has made a positive difference in the life of my friend that lasts longer than the length of our calls or visits. But life just doesn’t work that way and we rarely, if ever, get to know whether we had any affect at all on others, on the world, much less whether we had the affect we intended. I guess that’s why they say “Character is what you do when you think no one is looking”. You’ve just got to do what you believe is right or at least what you honestly and objectively believe is best under the given situation and have faith that it will all add up in the end to being a life both worthy and worthwhile.

Apropos, if you haven’t yet read (or at least seen the movie) of Mitch Albom’s book “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”, it’s a gem that deserves your time. It is nothing what you might expect, even if you’re already familiar with any of Albom’s other books (“Tuesdays with Morrie”, “For One More Day”, “With a Little Faith”). Through very simple language and ordinary characters, Albom elicits the most profound observations about people, life, and what really matters after all has been said and done. Remarkably, he never resorts to preaching any particular philosophy or religion, never hits you over the head, never gives in to using common metaphors or over-used phrases that could lessen the emotional impact of his story. Enough said.

So now, from the tools of life to the toolbar of your Finder or other application windows. (How’s that for a transition? ) This afternoon I’m issuing Part 2 of my 10-part ‘Nuevo Deco’ icon series. Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Tues Dec 1, 2009 2:00 am

For those of you who have been following the controversy over the posting of my Art Deco Series at MacThemes, ‘Nuevo Deco’, the new icon/clip-art series I’m launching tonight is my response to those who felt my original series looked “dated. Those of you who “got it” (the point of the so-called dated look) will get their turn, too, when I complete the technical clean-up over the next few weeks. While it is impossible to please all, I do hope most of you enjoy these new images as much as I enjoyed the challenge of creating them. The feedback from the MacThemers, all in all, was extremely helpful to me and inspired me to stretch a little more out of my comfort zone.

To those who have already downloaded files from my blog, you probably noticed that all of the “icon” images are formatted as 512px X 512px .pngs – only. I have NOT included any other size or other formats. As a “freebie”, that’s all there is. You can create your own thumbnails, .icn, or .ico images from these yourself (see the “How-To” page). But for anyone who really is looking for a complete set of icons of all sizes and formats, please contact me off-line to discuss what your needs and purposes are and my fees for that type of service.

‘Nuevo Deco’ is a whopping 10-part Series!

Tonight’s offering is the smallest group: images which are destined for the “Dock”, including an Empty Trash Can, Full Trash Can, Finder, and 3 different versions of an image to use for the ‘Dashboard’ application. If you’re working on a Windows or Linux platform, I’m sure you can find some alternative uses for these. I’d love to hear back from y’all. Enjoy! (BTW, I’d love to hear back from y’all. You can leave your comments by clicking on the COMMENT or REPLY buttons at the end of each post.)

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

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<div id=”social-bookmark-F5G6G2S3″><p>Put this on: <a href=”http://www.socialbookmarkinglinks.com/bookmark/facebook/”><span>Facebook</span></a> <a href=”http://www.socialbookmarkinglinks.com/bookmark/twitter/”><span>Twitter</span></a> <a href=”http://www.socialbookmarkinglinks.com/bookmark/digg/”><span>Digg</span></a> <a href=”http://www.socialbookmarkinglinks.com/bookmark/reddit/”><span>Reddit</span></a> <a href=”http://www.socialbookmarkinglinks.com/bookmark/technorati/”><span>Technorati</span></a> <a href=”http://www.socialbookmarkinglinks.com/bookmark/delicious/”><span>Delicious</span></a> <a href=”http://www.socialbookmarkinglinks.com/bookmark/stumbleupon/”><span>Stumbleupon</span></a></p></div>

There is also a better looking version with icons, but this requires JavaScript. I’m working on something more advanced, so stay tuned.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Wed, Nov 25, 2009 4:55 pm

There is so much I have to be thankful for this year. Things/situations/blessings that are so significant that words expressing my gratefulness seem so inadequate or, worse, sound trite. While it has been an extremely traumatic year for myself and for my little family, we have made it through both individually and together. It is that bond, our love and support for each other through both good times and bad that makes bad things bearable and all else possible. Those relationships, freedom, and good health are the ONLY things that really matter to me and I’ve been blessed with most. In the words of Jim Steinman, sung by Meatloaf, “2 out of 3 ain’t bad”.

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Thanksgiving Banner - 1600px X 391px

Desktop Wallpaper - 1600x1200 - Thanksgiving #1

Desktop Wallpaper - 1600x1200 - Thanksgiving #2

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Mon Nov 23 2009 2:15 am

Most people who use a computer, whether it be a Mac or Windows platform, use it pretty much “as is”, never thinking twice about trying to customize the look of the icons or other graphical user interface elements that they stare at for hours every day. I could find no formal studies explaining this but would guess this situation is either due to a lack of creativity, lack of appreciation for aesthetics, or the presumption that it takes a computer-programming degree (or the average 8 year-old) to accomplish or a little of each. For the rest of us, sticking with our computer’s operating system and applications out-of-the box looks is anathema, no matter how elegant the original interface may be. (For an apt analogy, just imagine someone like Halle Berry (1, 2 ) or Isabella Rosselini (1,2, 3) while they are gorgeous creatures just as God made them, but if dressed in off-the-rack clothes from Sears, unkempt hair, and no make-up, would you recognize them if they passed you on the street ? Probably not.) It’s the “window dressing” we personally apply to ourselves, our homes, our workspaces, and our computers that creates a visual reflection of the essence of who we like to think we are. The result makes us feel comfortable, confident and can even inspire us.

“Modding” the look of your desktop is fairly easy these days. With a Mac, you don’t even need to have any special software or advanced knowledge to swap out an icon used for just about any folder, application or document. If you’re looking to change a large number of icons or want to alter the look of default icons for each time a new folder or document is created, CandyBar is the gold-standard, yet inexpensive, shareware solution that Mac users have turned to for years. For those of you working with Windows or Linux, I personally have no experience working with Windows or Linux, but have been told there are numerous shareware applications that can ease the way for you.

I thought of including a “How To” tutorial on my blog but came across so many great tutorials already out there, there really is no need for another. But if you check my “How To” page, you’ll find a list of links to the best of those tutorials and applications.

Tonight’s “freebie” offering was originally created as part of my “Fox Spokane” icon series (FS-1, FS-2) and is a set of images to use as replacements for various image document types which I personally use as the defaults for Apple’s “Preview” application. They can also be used with any other image viewer. Note: if you swap the icon of an individual document, it will only affect that particular document. If you want to alter the default icons so that all .png (or .jpg, or .gif, etc.) documents display the customized icon, you’ll need to access the default resource in the application’s package. See the tutorials on IconDoIt’s How To Page. Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:45pm

Finally completed the change-over to a different WordPress Theme which I have heavily customized. The longest part of the task was in going back through all of the posts and removing the post-specific CSS mark-up. While a few kinks still need to be worked out, I hope that this cleaner, softer look will be a hit with my fans.

GEEK ALERT! (If your eyes glaze over at the thought of coding, skip to the next paragraph!): For those of you who have dabbled in hand-coding before, it’s a heck of a lot easier to do updates if you have started out with a well-crafted modular system as the global backbone for your blog (or website). Of course, to create such a system, you really need to have a clear idea of the range of media, size, and other visual criteria you plan to be working with on a regular basis so you can keep the blog-specific CSS to a minimum – or better yet, not even necessary at all. When I started this blog back in July 2008, I really had no clear concept in mind – or rather I should say, no clear PRACTICAL concept in mind. That’s because I truly had no idea what the significance was to the limitations placed on bloggers hosted by WordPress.com (where one is restricted solely to working with CSS and even then restricted further based upon whichever template they have selected. It is the latter which posed the most surprises because there is no way to know what those restrictions are until you try to make changes to the default CSS of a template. The bottom line is that I realized the template I had originally selected was not as flexible as I had thought and created a greater need for a lot of hacking and work-arounds. While the core css of this new template is not as clean as I’d like, I think that I will be able to get a better handle on it over the next couple of weeks in order to force it into a more modular structure making it easier to maintain and more visually pleasing.

Along with the launch of IconDoIt’s new look, I thought it’d be particularly appropo to serve up Part 2 of my Elegance icon/clipart series. Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Thurs. Nov 19, 2009 5:03 amam

I’ve been busy as the proverbial beaver over the last week working on cleaning up the general look of my blog for a more cohesive look that’s easy on the eyes and focuses attention without jangling one’s nerves. I’ve been working out the kinks and converting past postings on a non-public blog in order to be the least disruptive as possible. It’s now in good enough shape to transfer over and I hope to complete that process within the next 24 hours.

I look forward to getting some feedback from my readers on the “new look” after the update is completed. Whether it be praise or constructive criticism, your comments are always welcome.

As stated when I first started publishing this blog, it is a work in progress that will continue to evolve as my skills, interests, and audience continue to grow.

• Posted By: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Sun, Nov 15, 2009 2:47 am

This past week has been a heavy one as my 91 year-old Mother-in-law moved from our home into a residential nursing facility. My thoughts and feelings about it are still in too much of a jumble to put words to them yet and I am extremely weary and weak tonight. I did not want to let too many days go by without posting though and so here I am.

For today’s goodies, I’ve pulled out of my stockpile a selection from a series of Victorian themed original clip art and icons I have been working on and off over the past couple of years. They are probably best suited for scrapbooking and cards rather than icons but I leave that decision up to you. Enjoy!

]]> http://icondoit.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/comeuppance/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:29:21 +0000 Leslie Sigal Javorek http://icondoit.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/comeuppance/

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Mon, Nov 10, 2009 12:29 am

For those of you unfamiliar with MacThemes, it’s a wonderful resource not only for finding the cream of the crop of freeware and shareware icon, wallpaper, and skins, but also a great place to go for advice on how to create such interface elements and how to improve your designs. I’ve been a silent visitor to that site for a number of years and just last Friday, decided to go ahead and post an announcement there of the release of my Art Deco Series of icons and included a handful of examples. To put it mildly, my offering didn’t quite get the reaction I had either expected or hoped for and it really threw me for a loop at first. But after reflecting on all the comments (over 40 to a single posting, which is more than I’ve gotten to all the posts on this blog combined!) – I realized that I needn’t be so glum. For one thing, the controversy drew a number of visitors to my blog who had not been aware of it before. (Echos of the old smart-ass saying “There’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right”) But more importantly, a few of the latter comments actually offered some very specific, constructive criticism. As to the hints regarding technical execution, I am reminded that not all users have the same set-up as I (I’m working on a MacBookPro, OSX 4.11, 1920×1200 resolution with millions of colors on a matte-finished LCD screen and have all my Finder views set to 128×128 icons) – and so need to ensure that my icons look good at ALL sizes and all possible resolutions. Before I was forced to retire, I wouldn’t have thought twice about investing whatever was necessary to keep current with the tools of my trade but without any means for a return on that investment, I’d been reluctant to upgrade to the Leopard system which actually uses the 512×512 size as well as 32-bit graphics because I wasn’t sure I could justify the cost of having to likewise upgrade most of my software. This is something I need to reassess.

As to the comments that said my icons looked “dated”: The difficult part is trying to figure out how to meet the marketplace trends without having to give up my own personality in the process. I had always thought that the whole idea of third-parties creating icons for use as alternatives to the originals embedded in their operating system and applications was to provide a choice for those who wanted something more distinctive. Yet if the perceived quality of those 3rd party icons is substantially based upon their compliance with this month’s committee-determined color palette and Apple’s or Microsoft’s chosen viewing perspective and lighting effects, then don’t we just end up with cookie-cutter icons that have barely perceptible differences from the original? And how does one fit within the confines of the latest trends even when trying to depict a specific historic period and style?

I’ve got a lot to mull over, research, experiment with, and hopefully will improve. I made a first stab at it over the weekend as you can see from the following side-by-side comparison. (Don’t bother trying to download this preview as there is no release at this time on the revised version as it’s just at the beginning stages – but if you’ve got any thoughts on these, preferences, constructive criticism, etc. I would love to hear from you in a reply to this post.)

As for tonight’s offering of downloadable icons/clip-art, I’ve created the following four specimens that can be used on your desktop for Twitter – or whatever else that might strike your fancy. Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Sun, Nov 1, 2009 10:33 pm

My husband was a mechanical engineer for close to forty years, designing and managing the teams that design the machines that make every conceivable type of light bulb. He’s also a musician who not only plays incredible rock & blues guitar but has often taken his instruments apart, tweaked and rebuilt them to be gorgeous and unique, just as he has done with a variety of sports cars and vintage motorcycles. When I was 19, he taught me how to solder and bought me a kit to build my first amplifier and synthesizer and a few years later bought me the components to build my first computer. So you might think, “This is a grade ‘A’ geek” and fully expect him to be a Jules Verne fan and a Steampunk devotee. Well, you’d be spot-on about Jules Verne, but fuggedabout the geek (that title belongs to me in this family) and as to Steampunk? I was shocked to learn tonight that he had never even heard of it! Yeah, I know we’re old foggies but, geez, I hadn’t thought I was married to a dinosaur! Just joking, Sweetie…

In any case, I sent him a few links as an assignment tonight (testing to begin tomorrow). Actually, those links offer such a great intro to the uninitiated as well as a delight for those already captive to the romance of the innocence, excitement, and optimism of the scientists and engineers of the industrial age, I’ve decided to include them in this post rather than try to describe what it is about this genre that draws me in. Following that, I’ve created a complete alpha-numeric set of icons aptly titled “Steampunk’d”. Enjoy!

GREAT STEAMPUNK LINKS

Steampunk Wiki

The Steampunk Blog

Dr. Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators

Art Donovan, Steampunk Art

Steampunk Workshop

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Wed, Oct 28, 2009 10:20 pm

This time of year always puts me in a nostalgic mood. Remembering walking to school in the mornings while it still was dark and being spooked by the sounds of the neighborhood waking up; freezing my buns off at the after-school football games because mini-skirts were far more important back then than keeping warm; and going through the roller-coaster emotions wondering whether my city’s home team, the Cleveland Indians, were finally going to make it into the World Series. The latter memory has been a perennial obsession for most of us in northeast Ohio. We want to believe so much in our team but just about every year, the team’s owner’s do their best imitation of Lucy to the fans’ Charlie Brown by stealing our chances away. I’m not a gambler but for those of you who are, here’s a tip. Watch the Cleveland Indians for the first half of the season and whoever is the best player, our best chance of making it to the Big Game, not only can you count on that player being traded away before the season’s over, whichever team they are traded to is a near-perfect predictor of at least one of the teams that will play in the World Series either that year and/or the next. This is not my imagination nor, of course, am I the first to notice this phenomenon. This year, it’s C.C. Sabathia who’s now a Yankee and our old coach, Charlie Manual, who’s brought the Philadelphia Phillies to the Series. I am by no means an expert sport’s analyst, but with a long pattern like this, it’s hard not to wonder whether the Indian’s are in fact not a major league team but rather the world’s best AAA-baseball team rewarded by being allowed to play with the majors but never taken seriously by their owners. As Charlie Brown would say, “AAUGH!”

Well, enough moaning and moping. Tonight I’ve decided to catch up with the rest of my Fox Spokane icon series (copper-toned art deco). If you haven’t already got the previous entries, check them out here and here. Enjoy!

Free Icons of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save a zipped file to your desktop that contains all images in each preview group (each image is 512px X 512px in .png format) or, in the case of the individual icons, do your clicking on each one you’d like to download.