Another Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty

I found another use for poster putty that I'm sure wasn't originally intended. I was working on a drawing that used gear in gear in ring and involved moving the gears in opposite directions when the simple pattern completed. Plus I was using a specific sequence of colors repeated in different patterns.

It was a lot to keep track of and more than once I lost concentration and accidentally dropped my pen into the wrong hole on the gear, ruining the work halfway through. It was maddening.

This is what in my former profession was called a "use error". It's a user error that's somewhat predictable. The point in identifying these was to design the system to minimize them as much as possible.

Having spent a good portion of my life looking for these and trying to avoid or mitigate them as much as possible, it was my inclination to look for a way to avoid the recurrence of this error.

Enter a small lump of green putty. I put a bit of putty over the holes I was most likely to misuse on this drawing. It worked. Not a single wrong hole used after the putty was applied.

Not exactly an earth-shattering tip here, but one that might save you a ruined drawing when your brain is busy keeping track of multiple movements and color sequences and can probably use whatever break you can give it. Use putty to cover the pen holes you won't be using.

If you've got a tip on avoiding mishaps, please share in the comments.