Bamboo Fun Wacom Tablet – Another Present
Bamboo Fun Wacom Tablet
After finally installing my new HP P1006 Laser Printer the other day (love it!), I am now waiting patiently for the laser decal paper that I ordered to arrive in the mail since I could not find it locally here in Denver. In the meantime, I’ve been sketching a bit and after scanning the drawings into my computer, I remembered looking at one of those computer graphics pens a few months ago. It’s pretty cool, you sketch on the little pad and it transfers to your computer digitally.
I decided that I absolutely needed one of these little toys! After chatting about it with some fellow Etsy Mud Team members yesterday, I was ready to run out the door and pick one up. Though every fiber in my body said, “Run like the wind girl – go get yourself a new toy NOW!”, I exercised a bit of self restraint. But, not much – I’m picking it up today instead. 
I decided to go with the small Bamboo Fun Wacom Tablet, instead one of the larger versions after reading reviews online. I may decide to go with a larger version in the future, but I think for my needs it will be just fine. The Bamboo Fun comes bundled with Adobe Elements and Corel Painter Essentials – I don’t need the former since I have full blown Photoshop loaded on my computer, but I might make use of the latter.
My mom is being very generous this year since she’s footing the bill – Thanks again Mom!! I think I owe her something special now, don’t you? In some ways shopping for myself for Christmas takes away the surprise element, but since I don’t really need anything and she insists on buying something for each of her kids, my Mom always asks me what I really want that I might not buy for myself.
Meanwhile, I’m going roller skating today. My daughter turned 11 on Thursday and she really wanted to have her birthday party at a roller skating rink. She invited all the girls in her class + a few others – this ought to be fun. I haven’t been roller skating since I was a teen. I have memories of skating around the rink in continuous circles to Donna Summers and when the occasional slow romantic song was played, sitting off on the sidelines casting side ways glances at cute boys hoping that one of them would ask me to skate with them. While my husband may or may not ask me to skate with him this afternoon, I expect to come home with a bruise or two. (lol)
Have a great weekend,
~Cynthia
Meredith Heywood
December 13, 2008 at 11:26 am //
Now, I have another thing on my list to read about- thanks for sharing.
I have to go look at this.
One of the things I lost in the fire was ALL my tile patterns. This could be a way to store them on the computer- I like it!
I use to love to roller skate- not any more- but have fun!
Shawn McCann
December 13, 2008 at 12:13 pm //
Congrats Cynthia on the new wacom tablet. You are going to have so much fun with it. I know I often use my smaller one rather than the larger because of the ease of use. Either way you are going to have fun. Enjoy the skating as well!
Sarah Regan Snavely
December 13, 2008 at 1:06 pm //
I just hooked mine up! Not sure if I like it yet or not… It is kinda cool.
Ron
December 13, 2008 at 2:41 pm //
You’ll have to let us know how you like it and I’d be interested in seeing something you create with it. I’ve been doing lots of drawing today in my new journal. Hope the skating went well.
ang
December 13, 2008 at 2:52 pm //
hi all, i do have the larger one find it easy to use, i have corel essentials lots of lovely brushes and chalks to draw with but it will never replace the journal with my trusted artline 0.4 marker……
Mom
December 13, 2008 at 3:03 pm //
You’re welcome, Cynthia!!! I hate shopping and you’ve made it so easy for me. So now you’ve shot the wad but you do have a birthday in a few short months.
Love, Mom
Michael Kline
December 13, 2008 at 4:26 pm //
I’m SOOOOOOO jealous. Can’t wait to see what you do with it. I’m learning about FTP! whoopeee.
I too disco roller scaked. every friday and saturday day night. Thanks for bringing back that long forgotten memory. Oh the seventies!
Michael Kline
December 13, 2008 at 4:28 pm //
I think I meant skated, not scaked! but don’t know how to edit the above comment.
Jean Levert Hood
December 13, 2008 at 7:35 pm //
Merry Christmas came early!! Looks great, Cynthia. I hope the skating party was fun!
Undaunted
December 13, 2008 at 9:06 pm //
Graphics tablet… that takes me back. I remember how much my hubby really really “needed” one about 7 or 8 years ago, and after installing it and trying it out he hasn’t used it since!
Roller skating… now that really takes me back! I used to love roller skating! I hope you have a great time!
LB
December 14, 2008 at 8:54 am //
Have fun roller-skating! I used to do that 3 times/week when I was a kid!
Mary T.
December 14, 2008 at 8:59 am //
Cynthia, you are so fortunate! My mom never could remember my birthday (I used to tell her, “But, Mom, you were there!”) and proudly announced that I was fortunate in my marriage so she didn’t need to get me anything for Christmas ever again. What a fun time to get what you want for Christmas. I loved the comment from your mom!
Ah, roller skating, You’ll remember how, but you may have a bruise or two. It should be fun. I last went in my 50′s and would do so again.
Cynthia
December 14, 2008 at 9:16 am //
Meredith – Oh that stinks about losing your tile patterns in the studio fire!! I definitely think that something like that would be easily stored on a computer, external hard drive or even web based storage of which there are lots of free options. That’s a blog topic for another day though and something I realized after my computer crashed a couple of years ago and I lost everything.
Shawn – Good to know, especially coming from a professional illustrator like you!! The 100$ price difference was enough to cause me to pause…
Sarah – I think it will take some playing around with to get the hang of it. My mom actually told me that she has an old school tablet that she bought about 7 years ago that she hooked up and got frustrated with. Maybe now, she’ll give it a go again.
Ron – To start, I think I’m going to play around with some photos I’ve taken and turn them into simple line drawings. But, after seeing some of the stuff that he did partly with a Wacom tablet, I knew this could be a really fun toy! Keith is doing decals too, but not with his Wacom – he’s taking vintage Sears catalog images and turning them into decals which are also pretty fun.
Ang – You know how much I love your sketches! You really seem like someone who can bridge both 2d and 3d world. What brand of marker do you use? I just discovered some fine like Sharpie no bleed pens that I like a lot, though I do like the Sakura Pigma pens too which are archival. I’m not sure whether Sharpies are archival, though when I google the question it says they are.
Mom – XO, thanks – you’re the best!!
Michael – FTP is pretty easy to use once you play around with it for awhile. I use the “Smart FTP” on the Bluehost interface and it’s very intuitive. Though I have used the Fire FTP – a Firefox Plugin which also works well. My advice it to just be real familiar with your folders for your website so you don’t stick something in the wrong place and save yourself hours of frustration looking for the info….
My girlfriends and I would take the bus across town when I lived in San Antonio, TX from 7th – 9th grade to roller skake every weekend!
Funny thing, is that with the exception of a few contemporary music additions for the tween/teen crowd, the music hasn’t changed much. I enjoyed hearing Queen – We will rock you, Village People, YMCA and a couple of other classics yesterday!! No disco sadly…. Funny thing is that the with the exception of a few teenagers who worked there, the DJ and skating monitors were our age group and I’m sure never lost their love of skating based on their super cool skating moves. hehehe – why else would they chose to work there?
Jean – I think I had as much fun as the girls at the party!! My husband refused to skate, but his body is falling apart
and he was content to hold down the party table and watch the fun.
Linda U. – Oh I’ll use it. I’m going to install it later today. The only thing that really bums me out about tech stuff now, including my digital camera, is that it doesn’t come with a manual. I have to download and print the manual if I want to see instructions, tips and trouble shooting. Though, with my new laser printer, it will be a breeze! I have a feeling I will be taking my daughter skating again soon…
Cynthia
December 14, 2008 at 9:21 am //
LB – We were posting at the same time…. Skating must have been an obligatory activity. I’m not sure kids do that as much nowadays…
Mary – My mom is good with all special occasions. I’m sorry your mom didn’t make birthdays and holidays special for you. I only wish my mom lived in Colorado, I think we’d have a lot of fun together – she’s definitely where I get my creativity from!
Despite a few close calls, I don’t have any bruises today, but some of the girls at the party most likely do. Poor things… Roller Skating is like riding a bike. Once I practiced a bit, I was steady on my feet. Though, I didn’t nearly have as many fancy moves as I use to.
Linda Starr
December 14, 2008 at 10:04 am //
Cynthia, wow, I just love all your technical posts. Can you use the bamboo to make a drawing, transfer it onto your computer and then print that drawing onto a decal and then put it on your clay? If so I think I need one of these too – but am wondering if there is one for microsoft digital editing program – I don’t want to have to take the time to learn photoshop again or corel. I wouldn’t mind transferring or making future journal entries into my computer and then having them stored there too instead of on paper. I keep putting journal drawings on scrap pieces of paper and have them lying all around and am not sure how to collect them all now – short of taping them into a journal book since they are all odd sizes.
I used to skate on the sidewalks all the time when I was a kid and loved it, never went to a rink to do it. I remember those old metal roller skates. I did go to an ice skating rink as a young adult many times and liked that a bunch, boy were my ankles sore though.
What a great mom you have ! Looking forward to seeing what you do with your new tool.
Cynthia
December 14, 2008 at 10:23 am //
Linda – they make a Wacom tablet that doesn’t come bundled. Let’s see if I can find it…here it is. That’s exactly how I plan to use it too….
I also skated outside as a youth – and rode my bike everywhere, something I don’t let my daughter do nowadays by herself sadly.
LB
December 14, 2008 at 10:31 am //
Thanks for your comment, Cynthia! I clocked the last Einstein pin I made, and it takes about 11-12 hours from start to finish. It takes so long because there are 2 layers of beadwork – one of which is a lot of fringe! But, the results are worth it. Thanks for stoppin by!
Linda Starr
December 14, 2008 at 1:41 pm //
Thanks Cynthia, you are so computer literate and I learn a lot from all your posts. It is sad children can’t be as free as we were as children. Oops, got to go quick, Gary said a blue heron just caught a gopher in our back yard and want to get a photo if I can. Thanks again.
Cynthia
December 14, 2008 at 9:10 pm //
LB – Wow, that’s a lot of labor involved. But, it shows too!! Your work rocks.
Linda –
It’s stinky that kids really can’t run around by themselves like we did as kids. I don’t even let my daughter hang out in the front yard by herself. I’m not sure that things are necessarily more dangerous now, maybe we just know that there are more loony bins running around. Oh – the heron and the gopher, that has to be a sight!
jafabrit
December 15, 2008 at 6:44 am //
ooh I can’t wait to see what you do with your wacom
I used to love taking the kids to the roller rink, what fun. I hope you have a super time.
Heather
December 17, 2008 at 6:46 am //
OOOhhhh, how fun is that?! I want one too! Hey does your Mom want to adopt another child? Hehehe.
Just stopping by to say hello and Happy Holidays to you and yours. Love!!
Anne
December 19, 2008 at 7:34 am //
cynthia.. this is eerie.. i was just looking at those the other day! By the questionnaire thingie i filled out it said i should get the bigger one, but I’m interested to hear how you like the bamboo fun. The $99 price tag is so much more appealing and potentially achievable than $349! Great to know the software comes bundled with it!
Cheers! Anne
Cynthia
December 20, 2008 at 12:04 pm //
OMG – Have I really let a week pass between posts?? This has been one crazy week!
Corrine – Despite good intentions, I haven’t even installed the Wacom tablet yet. My daughter keeps asking me because she wants to play with it. I sound like a little kid – “No, it’s my toy, my present!” LOL
Heather – Happy Holidays to you and your family too! Not sure my mom can afford another kid.
Anne – Let me know if you get one and I would love to see what you do with it if you do. From what I understand, if you’re not a graphics professional, the small works just as well. I’m finally going to install it this afternoon after doing a few errands – hopefully I’ll have something to post later this week…
ang
December 21, 2008 at 11:33 pm //
howdy C, I’ve been using ARTLINE200 fine 0.4 markers for what seems like forever the sidebrand also says Shachihata, no idea who they are??? the thing about these fine pens is that you have to get used to holding them upright to get strong lines kind of like the old graphic pens do you know the rotring brand? they had fine metal wires in the nib, and really difficult to keep clean.. glad i don’t use those anymore!! anywho have a great christmas and catcha in the new year…looking forward to seeing your decal progress, totally fascinated…