All The Fantasy

A blog about fantasy novels, games, shows, and movies.

Weapons maker Alekseyev Ilya interview

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Alekseyev Ilya is a weapons maker, armorer, engraver and philosopher. I spoke to him at Magfest 2018 about his work with the Man At Arms Reforged show and other things.

2:03 – Alexei talks about the Kings of Avalon sword. He is proud of the amount of engraving he did for it. Engraving is his specialty.

3:18 – He is inspired sometimes by the subject matter. Sometimes the material he uses inspires him. The challenge of the project also inspires him.

4:17 – He’s a big fan of the Japanese tradition of sword smithing. They treat swords as artwork and have established traditions for this. Most other places in the world do not have a continuous culture of appraising swords and treating them as artwork.

6:43 – His library is the most important tool for his work. His classical literature collection is what is important to balance his skills. It helps to guide his hands.

9:20 – The two things he enjoys most are one, using the charcoal forge. The process is meditative. The second is engraving and chasing.

11:11 – He started weapons making in college when he needed a job while studying Philosophy. His first piece of armor was probably a chain mail shirt. His first sword was a Polish sabre. A 17th century one.

12:38 – His Philosophy thesis was on intellectual property.

17:29 – Philosophy is still a very big part of his life.

18:11 – He doesn’t remember his first professional sale. He works during the day on Baltimore Knife and Sword projects and after that he works on his personal weapon projects. He treats weapons as art objects not as something for violence.

20:19 – He was inspired by Tolkien just like everyone in the Western world. Anime has inspired him a lot. He really likes the anime Kill la Kill. Bladerunner is amazing to him. Zelany’s work is great food for the mind. Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles gave him an appreciation for American literature. Ghost in the Shell was and is amazing.   He knows the Stanislaw brothers works and enjoys them.

23:22 – He would like to make the Divined Jewel Spears of Heavens from the Kojiki. He would like to make one or both of Charlemagne’s swords. The saber was made in Russia and requires a lot of gold.

 

Links

http://imakeswords.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_la_Kill

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Ilya Alekseyev

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: swordsmith, armor, engraving, philosophy, charlemagne, japanese swords, artistry, weapons, man at arms, baltimore knife and sword

 

 

Weapons maker Alekseyev Ilya interview – Super Magfest 2018 – youtube

Ilya Alekseyev is a weapons maker, armorer, engraver and philosopher. I spoke to him at Magfest 2018 about his work with the Man At Arms Reforged show and other things.

2:03 – Alexei talks about the Kings of Avalon sword. He is proud of the amount of engraving he did for it. Engraving is his specialty.

3:18 – He is inspired sometimes by the subject matter. Sometimes the material he uses inspires him. The challenge of the project also inspires him.

4:17 – He’s a big fan of the Japanese tradition of sword smithing. They treat swords as artwork and have established traditions for this. Most other places in the world do not have a continuous culture of appraising swords and treating them as artwork.

6:43 – His library is the most important tool for his work. His classical literature collection is what is important to balance his skills. It helps to guide his hands.

9:20 – The two things he enjoys most are one, using the charcoal forge. The process is meditative. The second is engraving and chasing.

11:11 – He started weapons making in college when he needed a job while studying Philosophy. His first piece of armor was probably a chain mail shirt. His first sword was a Polish sabre. A 17th century one.

12:38 – His Philosophy thesis was on intellectual property.

17:29 – Philosophy is still a very big part of his life.

18:11 – He doesn’t remember his first professional sale. He works during the day on Baltimore Knife and Sword projects and after that he works on his personal weapon projects. He treats weapons as art objects not as something for violence.

20:19 – He was inspired by Tolkien just like everyone in the Western world. Anime has inspired him a lot. He really likes the anime Kill la Kill. Bladerunner is amazing to him. Zelany’s work is great food for the mind. Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles gave him an appreciation for American literature. Ghost in the Shell was and is amazing.   He knows the Stanislaw brothers works and enjoys them.

23:22 – He would like to make the Divined Jewel Spears of Heavens from the Kojiki. He would like to make one or both of Charlemagne’s swords. The saber was made in Russia and requires a lot of gold.

 

Links

http://imakeswords.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_la_Kill

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Ilya Alekseyev

Host: Cris Alvarez

 

 

Writer Robin C. Farrell interview

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Robin C. Farrell is a writer and video editor. She has worked on the upcoming web series “Genre Wars” and has written a novel based on the story. I was able to interview Robin at Magfest 2018.

 

0:54 – Robin talks about writing screenplays and a novel.

1:29 – The novel grew from an online film competition and grew into a web series called “Genre Wars”. It began as a deadliest warrior kind of idea.

2:50 – Robin liked the idea of a genre being a culture and all these genres mixed together in one world.

4:52 – Robin discusses the writing process. Feedback from beta readers is an important factor.

6:22 – Robin likes to focus on characters in her writing. She often prefers character development to plot points when watching Doctor Who for example.

7:15 – Robin discusses her cosplay and steampunk Ariel.

11:13 – Robin again discusses how she goes about writing and what she needs to do her work.

13:08 – Her cosplay development involves watching her characters over and over or listening to sound tracks.

14:20 – Robin likes going back and forth between screenwriting and prose writing to compare the processes.

15:43 – Robin likes the display part of cosplay the most. She calls herself an extrovert introvert. She created an alternative storyline for her steampunk Ariel.

17:40 – Robin talks about how she got into writing and shy she continues to write. She then talks about how she got into cosplay because she was really into Halloween. She transitioned from that into cosplay to keep putting costumes together.

22:16 – Robin’s first big success was being able to work as a video editor since she loves it so much. That pushed her to take more risks with cosplay and putting her writing out there for people to comment on.

24:34 – Robin talks about how storytelling takes many different forms. She compares the kinds of escapism out there. Coplay has become more mainstream.

26:30 – Her writing also tries to educate people about dealing with different cultures.

27:12 – Steven Brust’s novels have been her biggest inspiration. She also likes Eddings’ fantasy series. She likes Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series too. She likes the Greco-Roman culture of the series.

29:07 – Robin talks about her future goals.

31:00 – Her stuff can be found at RobinCFarrell.com.

 

Links of interest

https://genrewarsresistancerising.wordpress.com/

https://robincfarrell.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Robin C. Farrell

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: fantasy, writer, ariel, genre wars, cosplay