iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Snow day, yay I get to read a book and play hooky from work! Enjoying D.O.D.O. very much so far, I think N.S.’s penchant for superfluous tangents is reigned in cleverly by working with a coauthor, especially one as good as Galland

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The Cat In The Center Of The Universe

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Hey I made some more puzzles! 16 of them for this month! They are now available here: chrisyates.net/collections/...

A hand-cut and hand-painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an abstraction of a southwestern US slot canyon

A hand-cut and hand-painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting a whimsical river house scene

A hand-cut and hand-painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an abstraction of a flower bloom

A hand-cut and hand-painted 3-level wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an abstraction of a waterfall

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I've been working some more on my Montana Lego topography model and even as someone who specializes in fine and tedious work this one is a little ridiculous, and I haven't even gotten to the tough parts.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"In The Air", 1995. Having fun at boarding school and one of my favorite shots. This guy is now a brain surgeon!

A scan of a darkroom-produced photo of a person achieving a little hang time after a stair run, on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall in 1995.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

More big "round number" puzzles from over the years! Here's Bafflers #2000 "Temple At The End Of The World", #3000 "Compass Rose", #4000 "Calm Amidst Chaos" and #5000 "A Stitch In The Universe"

A photo of a hand cut and painted multi-level wooden jigsaw puzzle that is rather complicated and large with lots of geometric cutaways and spindles on the substantial base structure. It is painted entirely monochromatic for some reason or another

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Saw Maria Bamford last night in Bozeman, she is a treasure! Here is myself and my sister afterwards with the furballs

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Here are some ghost and slug wooden puzzles I have recently made with my own hands! They are lonely and need nice loving homes. The adoption center is located here: chrisyates.net

A photo of a hand painted and cut wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting a ghost

A photo of a hand painted and cut wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting a slug

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A few more little places I made at RISD 1998-2000-ish

A small wooden model of a cabin that happens to have a rocket housed in it

A small wooden model of some stairs, platforms, doorways, driftwood and a crab claw

A couple small sculpey, plexiglass and metal sculptures in front of the galaxy that is the Metcalf building's window scum

A couple small wooden sculptures depicting decaying castles and towers.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Meanwhile in the Lego room, a small topographic model of Montana is underway and as I only work on it for a half-dozen hours each week, it will probably take some time to finish, but should be an interesting study to see if I actually want to make a larger version!

Work in progress of a topographic model of Montana made in Lego

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I just posted September's Baffler batch! You can check 'em out here: chrisyates.net

A colorful hand cut and painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an angular mandala pattern

A colorful hand cut and painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an abstracted landscape

A colorful hand cut and painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an abstracted harp

A colorful hand cut and painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an curvy mandala pattern

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Baffler template based on Stetind, the national mountain of Norway. I took a little artistic license on this one.

A hand-drawn line drawing of Norway's Stetind Mountain, digitally painted in a blocky fashion like some crazy puzzlemaker is going to use this as a template to make yet more art.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Hello! I know it's been awhile since I've had an online puzzle release, but I've got a delightful dozen ready for you in a week, on Monday Sept. 7, at 9am MDT. And there's a bunch more fun ones in the pipeline, believe you me!

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Nice little rainbow here after some brief storms passing through

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Here's a bunch of cool stuff I got from the SLAM Festival yesterday in Bozeman! The screen prints are by David Goodson (it took me a minute to see the MT easter egg in the clock arms), the bee glass is by Kaz Kalene Chaffin, the ceramic jar is by Julie Hull, the ceramic bowl is by Suzanne Mauro.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Just chilling with my enormous plants

An average dude with some tall hollyhocks

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

You think you have a lot of miniGhosts? I recently got these pics from a very nice dude who has excellent taste in office decor! Bonus points for chromatic organization!

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

A triptych of sorts. These painting tables are 5 years old and getting rather heavy, so will be cut up into Yatesite fragments soon...

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I've been refining a few of my road doodles for possible Baffler templates - here's the "Lake House"

A rough abstract drawing of a house with docks and a chimney in the middle of a lake and rolling hills, possibly inspired by the artist driving through MN and ND recently

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Puzzle Parley 2026 is a wrap and I think it went very well! Organizing a show like this takes a lot of work and effort, so it was truly wonderful to see the puzzle community react so positively and engage with all the aspects of the event as well as with each other. More photos to come…

A photo of the seven people in charge of making the Puzzle Parley happen, in a typical hotel corridor

A group photo of around 175 people who attended the 2026 Puzzle Parley in Bloomington, MN. They are outside in one of the Doubletree’s courtyards, having a great time. Photo by Krystal Cotriss

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

On my way to the Puzzle Parley! Here is a bad map of my progress today

A rather sketchy and not very accurate map of the route of I-90 and I-94 in Montana between Butte and Miles City

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

My interpretation of Escher's Horsemen with color-shift paint! Another exclusive for the Puzzle Parley! (Also: not easy at all)

A colorful image of a hand cut and painted puzzle featuring shifting iridescent colors and an interpretation of MC Escher's Horsemen tessellation drawing

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Continuing on my theme of oversaturated musical instrument puzzles, here is "Honk Honk". This will be one of many special Bafflers I'll be bringing to the rapidly approaching Puzzle Parley in Minneapolis!

A colorful hand cut and painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting a saxophone

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Here's how to get to Brooklyn from LaGuardia

A photo-based comic cut into painterly blocks, featuring two people talking about how they need to fly in to LGA, and to follow a rather onerous route to get to their destination in Brooklyn.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

And then @mcfrontalot.bsky.social remarks upon the gentrification in Denver in this one

A photo-based comic cut into painterly blocks, featuring two men talking about a things at a nerd core hip-hop show

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I think @ferociousj.bsky.social actually named this comic series, here we are in his old place in the Presidio I think?

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Back in Boulder, @dcorsetto.bsky.social swung through on her book signing tour to dispense crowdsourcing knowledge

A photo-based comic cut into painterly blocks, featuring Chris and Danielle talking about pens in Chris's backyard that featured a lovely fishpond at one point

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

For awhile in 2014-2015 Emily Kryska and I made a rather weird series of photo-based webcomics of me talking with various folks, "In Medias Res" - which I had honestly kind of forgotten about! Here's a few of these oddities still worth sharing, here @rstevens.bsky.social and I are at SDCC14

A photo-based comic cut into painterly blocks, featuring two men talking about a joke at a comic convention

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

"Cornish Tin" (again, a hat tip to @ricksteves.bsky.social for the inspiration)

A colorful hand cut and painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting an over-saturated landscape of the old Cornish tin factories and surrounds, on a green bluff, with a boldly colored dusk behind.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

"Toot Toot" This is a deceptively difficult puzzle, much like the French horn is probably in the top 5 of deceptively difficult instruments to play...

A colorful hand cut and painted wooden jigsaw puzzle depicting a French horn in exaggerated colors inlaid in a oval white base

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I was in Helena recently with my folks and checked out the new Montana Heritage Center, which is superb, and saw Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (also superb), but I was most impressed with The Bray, a communal ceramics studio housed in an old brick factory. Lots of very funky outdoor pieces of all sorts!

A large ceramic arch on the grounds of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. There is Mt. Helena is in the background. It's a bluebird big sky day.

A very large pyramid made of old ceramic pipe sections on the grounds of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. There are some trees on either side. It's a bluebird big sky day.

A large ceramic figurative sculpture that has wings on the grounds of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. There is a chimney and trees in the background. It's a bluebird big sky day.

A connected series of large ceramic arches on the grounds of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. Foothills to the west are visible in the background. It's a bluebird big sky day.

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

I found it! Here is the 2006 MoCCA comic that Malki's original comment referenced, we're all having fun running through fountains in Central Park like all cartoonists who mostly know each other on the internet do (also featuring my old buddy Steve Carey of Poppycock Circus!)

A photocomic depicting the events prior to the first day of the MoCCA festival in NYC in 2006. There's a lot of folks traversing Manhattan and doing silly things and saying witty remarks, they are cartoonists

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

And here we are at the actual show in the Puck Building, featuring, amongst others, @keansoo.bsky.social @badmachinery.com @rstevens.bsky.social @colleenaf.bsky.social and an up-and-coming Reggie Watts who displayed his Circle Of Success!

A photo comic featuring a whole bunch of webcomic creators at the MoCCA comic and arts festival in NYC 2006, at the Puck Building in Manhattan with various witty quips that may or may not give you the general vibe of the event

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

As @davidmalki.com pointed out, it's been 20 years since we drove 2000 miles together to MoCCA 2006, our first "big" show! We barely made any money but we had so much fun and made so many friends. Here's a couple comics featuring a *lot* of webcomics creators. Feel free to tag yourself or others :)

A photo comic featuring a whole bunch of webcomic creators at a party at (I think) Chris Hastings' place and then chatting in the subway

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I think I may be getting close to cracking the code on this puzzle

A photo of part of a KFC fry box and then all the letters from the rest of the box cut up to create a clever slogan

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

"Connected Society" chrisyates.net

A colorful hand cut and painted wooded jigsaw puzzle depicting a whimsical landscape

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Chris Yates @superyates.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Rewatching Starship Troopers and remembering that the alien planet scenes were filmed where you also placed a crude sculpture in 1999 >DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE

A frame from the alien planet on Starship Troopers on an iPad and a circular photo of a small sculpture in the same landscape

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