LORE
INT +4B.A. English & Studio Art
University of Virginia
- Storytelling
- Creative Writing
- Photography
TECH
DEX +5A.S. Industrial Electronics
PVCC (Summa Cum Laude)
- SolidWorks / CAD
- CNC & Circuitry
- Python Coding
ALCHEMY
CHA +3Manager & Mixologist
The Lobby Bar / Hospitality
- ‘Potion’ Mixing
- Customer Service
- Custom Menu Creation
It is a Labyrinthine path,
but all of these walls are made of the same stone,
filled with the same mortar,
patterned with the same brickwork: Creation.
Origin Story:
Since graduating from UVA in 2014, my journey has very rarely been a straight line. After years of tutoring, temping, and working in the service industry I prepared to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail starting in March of 2020. I was hungry for inspiration and desperate to find meaning in a life filled with curiosity and confusion, but so few truly satisfying and fulfilling answers. I was convinced that this beautiful and grueling challenge would be a wake-up call, one way or another, for the person within myself that I had been dying to meet for so long…
…and then the world shut down.
What was supposed to be a crisp new chapter of my life story instead became a desperate backpedal and clambering for familiar ground as all activity on the trial was denied for 2020 (and for very good reason).
But what threatened to become a depressive spiral (and by the gods did it threaten), I instead fought tooth-and-nail to redirect into a pivot.
I shifted my focus from the trail to the workbench, teaching myself to transform raw materials–be they reclaimed pallet wood, discarded leather, or digital code–into something tangible and beautiful. I found a too-long neglected love of creating and crafting, of modifying and making, and I wanted all I could grab of it!
How I Make:
Mythical Makes is the result of the this life-long ‘multi-class.’ I utilize my background in engineering to design precise 3D models and utilize my 3D printer, and my experience in art to carve organic shapes and weave stories into every piece.
Whether I am hammering nails into a bat sanctuary to support local ecosystems, binding a leather journal for a D&D campaign, or coding a custom electronic prop, my goal is simple: to learn how to make the world a bit more mythical, one object at a time.
Why the Minotaur Theme?
I’ve always felt a melancholy connection to the Minotaur of Ancient Greek and Roman mythology. In case you aren’t familiar with the story, here is the tale of the Minotaur:
Lore Check: The Legend of Asterius ▼
Often remembered simply as a monster to be slain, the Minotaur was actually born with a name: Asterius. He was the unintended consequence of a divine grudge held against King Minos, a punishment visited not upon the King, but upon his wife and innocent child. Born part man and part bull, Asterius was deemed a living embodiment of shame.
Instead of compassion, he was met with confinement. Minos commissioned the legendary artificer Daedalus to construct the Labyrinth—an architectural marvel designed not to house a prince, but to bury a secret.
Asterius was cast into this twisting, lonely dark, condemned to a life of isolation for the crime of his own existence. He was a prisoner of circumstance, trapped in a maze he did not design, bearing the weight of a curse he never chose.
I like to imagine that Daedalus (while no-longer eligible for ‘Dad of the Year’ due to the whole Wax Wings debacle with Icarus), while building the Labyrinth, had a lot of extra time on his hands and connected a bit with Asterius.
After all, you’re tasked with building the world’s largest and most elaborate maze on your own with no one but a small Minotaur kid to keep you company: You’ve got to talk to someone! Making and crafting can be a lonely world at times.
No one ever gave Asterius a chance to prove himself, to grow up and write the story that he wanted. He was too big, too strange, too much of a problem to be seen and understood, even by those closest to him.
So… yeah… I have always empathized with the Minotaur.