Thanksgiving Mazes! 🦃


I was going to share some mazes for Thanksgiving, and I realized I have a bunch of them. I did some quick dirty coloring of some old ones. I am sharing new ones that will be in my second book, some from the first book, and I have some that are loosely related to fall or Thanksgiving dinner.

Please, use them to have some fun this holiday season! They could be placemats, an activity for those that aren’t cooking while they’re waiting for dinner or for company to arrive, or used as a game to see who finishes first. You could use them to make place cards too if you wanna get creative!

If you complete the mazes by printing them out & solving, or on your phone/tablet/PC with a drawing app, share it on you preferred social media platform & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much all of ’em. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, TikTok, Tumblr, YouTube, etc.) I’d love to see a video of a race to complete the smaller easier ones… and I love to see solutions! I like to draw mazes, not so much solving them.

Mmm, Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing is my favorite. I need to figure out how to do a stuffing maze.

You can solve these while listening to one of my Thanksgiving playlists on Amazon or Spotify, or while talking about what you’re thankful for! I love the reflection this time of year.

This year’s turkey maze:

Thanksgiving-ish themed mazes from the upcoming book:

Newly (& quickly) colorized old Thanksgiving themed mazes:

Random older related mazes:

<shameless plug> The turkey from this year and the “giblets” maze are also available on some cool merchandise from my RedBubble and TeePublic shops too. Why not get a turkey maze T-shirt or an apron with the giblets maze? You can get both designs on hoodies, pet bandanas, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs, and even a damn shower curtain if so inclined. </shameless plug>

🦃 UPDATE! 🦃

After posting this, I found an OLD turkey maze of mine on Pinterest, so I downloaded & edited it a bit. So, here’s one more:


Drawing a Maze


I like videos of people doing their art, so I tried one.

It’s on TikTok, YouTube, & Instagram.

@aixelsyd13

Like mazes? I like to watch others do their art, so I thought I’d share this. #AiXeLsyD13 #Maze #Mazes #Drawing #LineArt #PenAndInk #BlackAndWhite #labyrinth #art

♬ Hocus Pocus – Focus

October Sales – 20% to 35% off between RedBubble & TeePublic!


So, Amazon has October Prime days now on the 11th, & 12th, and the behemoth has cleared the path for other online retailers to trudge along on their wake.

I don’t think my book will be on sale, but if you haven’t bought it yet… let a few brothers hold $5.99 and add it to your cart with all your other stuff!  Jeff Bezos and I need your financial support.  He needs to build space ships, and I need to pay medical bills and buy LEGO sets.

In slightly cooler news, TeePublic and RedBubble are offering site-wide sales:

  • TeePublic touts “up to 35%” on October 12th-15th & October 26th-29th.
  • RedBubble touts 20% on October 9th-14th & 30% off on October 23rd-27th.

If you have thought about grabbing some stuff from either one of my shops, now would be a great time. The T-shirts, stickers, and magnets are cool. I hope to order mores tuff to check out the quality. You can get wall art to clocks, to tote bags, to mugs, to shower curtains!

If you have not thought about it, now would be a great time to think about it.

They’re good gifts for people that have everything. 

I also need someone to help solve some mazes so I can include the solutions in my next book!

Do you like to solve mazes? I need help.


Can anyone solve this maze? https://aixelsyd13.wordpress.com/2023/09/20/guts-the-maze/

My surgeon said he has tried & failed. Ha ha.

In related news, I want to include solutions in my 2nd book. Anyone willing to get paid to solve them for me? As much as I love drawing them, I don’t love solving them. 🤷

Shameless Plug


📖

I recently published my first maze book (via Amazon KDP), have sold a few copies, and thought some people here may want to support a local artist. I’m already working on book № 2!

The first book is packed with easy-to-solve mazes, and I think it would be enjoyable for kids as well as adults.

I had my youngest drop a copy in one of those free little library boxes nearby over last weekend. Hopefully someone out there locally picked it up & is enjoying it already!

You can check out and/or purchase my maze book here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH2FMH7W

It’s called – So I Finally Made a Maze Book: Easy Mazes by AiXeLsyD13

✍️

I also put together some designs to be printed on merchandise, and I’m trying two different shops online right now. I’ll be uploading more themed designs as soon as I complete work on my 2nd maze book.

I have sold a few T-shirts, and bought some stickers and a magnet for myself. Between the two shops you can get everything from coffee mugs and pillows to shower curtains or clocks featuring my designs.

Check out my RedBubble shop here:

Check out my TeePublic store here:

Thanks for taking the time to read, hope you’re moved to check some stuff out!

@aixelsyd13

Check out my first #maze book! this was a test run, I plan to do more. can you spare $6 to help fund some art? If not, it’s cool… maybe just share the link? https://wp.me/pwqzc-3ba I am super excited to get this out there. How do you share a damn link on here?

♬ Knowledge – 2007 Remaster – Operation Ivy
@aixelsyd13

An “unboxing” if you will. tell me what you think! #SoIFinallyMadeAMazeBook #AiXeLsyD13

♬ original sound – Eric Carroll
@aixelsyd13

My #guitar n’ #amp #maze T-shirt came from @teepublic today! I dig the fit & quality! Get you one! http://tee.pub/lic/FAAYPDeC7xg Or any of the other designs! 🤘 #Tshirt

♬ original sound – Eric Carroll

Guts! – The Maze


So, recently, I have had some bouts of shenanigans in & out of the hospital with infections and complications stemming from Diverticulitis.

So, I drew up a maze inspired by recent events for the surgeon, scanned & colored it, got it printed at 12″x18″, signed it, and got a frame for it. I’ll give him some dry-erase markers, too.

One week out, I feel like I’m in good hands. He had a lot of neat funny stuff in his office. And apparently, Wednesdays are cool because he gets to use a robot to assist.

I thought about getting him some RedBubble merch from my store, but this seemed quicker. (The acrylic block and notebook looked neat.)

This may make book #2 as a bonus maze.

Think he’ll like it?

Get yourself one on a coffee mug so you can see your immediate future!

Thanks for taking the time to read! Check out my first maze book on Amazon, or get yourself some of my maze merch from TeePublic or RedBubble. I’m trying to see how far I can take this thing… and I gots to pay me some medical bills! I get about a dollar per book or shirt since this is all print-on-demand.

https://www.tiktok.com/@aixelsyd13/video/7281038627876949290

Did anyone try to solve “A Crazy Maze?”


I had someone reach out via Instagram messaging to ask if anyone had ever solved this one. I don’t think anyone has.

Anyone want to try to attempt it now, & I’ll share your solution? Help another puzzler out?

Marvelous Maze Madness


Yeah, I have had some down-time lately, so I finally hit the maze thing full force. You may have read about it here or here.

I got my books today! Getting reports from others that they have theirs too, thanks for posting & tagging me! Feel free to share the link anywhere & everywhere! Ha ha.

Two copies of my maze book, "So I Finally Made A Maze Book."

Here’s my totally self-indulgent “unboxing” video on YouTube:

Ethan Muter posted & tagged me in the first “I received your book” post!

Check it out:

As of now, I have sold 25 copies, and it’s staying solid there. It’s not a huge number, but hey… it’s more than I have ever sold before! We did get a private photo of our friends’ daughter solving one of the mazes in the book, too. How cool is that? Early reports are that it is challenging and fun for a 10yo.

I need help getting the word out, as I have a $0 advertising budget.

If you can, leave a review on Amazon, or even at GoodReads! It would be awesome if you add it to your “to read” or wish list, or even marked as “read” at GoodReads, or follow me as an author there.

Both the TeePublic and RedBubble stores are active, and Randall Gilbert bought the first TeePublic T-shirt with the banana maze! You can get all kinds of cool clothing and merch at both stores, including mugs, stickers, and RedBubble even has acrylic blocks, pet bandanas and shower curtains!

Any ideas to help spread the word?

The consistently most visited post at my blog is In a maze mood, I guess. from January 2012. I have no idea what drives everyone there. Maybe Pinterest? I am tempted to update that page with a link to the book!

I’m also very interested in the Kindle books… Is it useless on a Kindle? Can you mark it up on anything?

𝔄𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔷𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔯𝔱? 𝔚𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔢?


OK, the creative bug has bit. I’ve opened two shops for maze merchandise, or at least tried to. I went to RedBubble and TeePublic. The TeePublic one seems to be live, but the RedBubble one is not (yet). [They’re saying to wait 5 business days.]

I’ll have a merch page here at the blog, but here are the links for now:

I appreciate your support of my artistic endeavors. I know money is tight for a lot of people right now. It’s cool if you can’t buy, or simply don’t want to. I can dig it’s not everyone’s style. Please, share the link if you’re so inclined, even directly to someone who you think may be interested.

If you do end up buying a T-shirt, book, or whatever. Please, give a review on the site… and post it on Social Media & tag me! I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on pretty much everything out there.

So, I Finally Made a Maze Book!


I had some time recently, and I wanted to see what the process was to publish a print-on-demand book from Amazon. I grabbed a bunch of my smaller easy mazes with no discernable theme that I had previously posted here & on Instagram, and assembled them into a book. All of them were scanned in & maybe fixed a bit with paint.NET, and I put the pages of the book together with OpenOffice, so my only cost came down to the pens & paper. (Not sure how to quantify time & sanity.)

At any rate, I present to you – So I Finally Made a Maze Book: Easy Mazes by AiXeLsyD13

The cover for "So I Finally Made a Maze Book: Easy Mazes by AiXeLsyD13."  It's white text in a blue rectangle, with 4 mazes underneath.  The mazes should be relatively easy, & have been colored.  Clockwise from the top left they are a taco, a gnome, a snowman, & a banana.
Yup, I finally did it. After drawing mazes for decades.

It was very simple to publish with Amazon. This gave me the confidence to put together another book, perhaps with a bit more coherence, and definitely with a much better cover. I have already started drawing new mazes in a neat little box template so they’re a bit more consistent. What’s a good number? 30? 50?

Also, I need to get all of these older mazes scanned & into a book too. I have some pages that are bigger than my scanner bed though. Perhaps a trip to FedEx Office or Staples is in order.

I just kind of set the price arbitrarily to make a little bit off of publishing. I’m not looking to get rich, but it would be nice to finally make income of off artistic output after decades of ostensibly doodling. (I won’t delve into my musical endeavors which are break even at best but probably a negative sum game. 🤣)

Luckily the creative outlet for me is just that, an outlet. I think we all need to express ourselves artistically or through sports, gardening, or other hobbies.

It also suggested I make a Kindle version, so I did that too. I am not sure if the concept will work there. Can you draw on a Kindle screen with a stylus or your finger? Can you print from a Kindle? I must confess I don’t have one. I am still a fan of books in the traditional form.

If you have ever enjoyed my mazes, or have been one of the awesome people that has completed them and sent in the solution – I humbly ask you (if you’re so inclined) to purchase a paperback for around $6 or a Kindle book for around $3 and let me know what you think. Should I do more? Did you enjoy it? Is the quality any good?

Really, I ask you to try even if you have never solved one of my mazes. Now is a good time to start!

It might make a good gift for kids or adults. It’s a nice way to pass some time or zone out.

If you do buy, can you leave an honest rating/review? I feel like that goes a long way with Amazon.

If you can’t buy or are really not interested, that’s OK too! I would ask you to maybe share the link around.

My thoughts on the next one are that I probably need a table of contents, to maybe title the mazes, and… should I include the solutions in the back? That’s one of my issues. I like to draw the mazes, but don’t really solve them. I may need to reach out for help on that part & pay someone to complete them so I can include the solutions (and make sure they’re solvable).

I probably need help with a title, too.

Thanks for reading, tanks for considering, and please share this link on every social media platform known to humankind: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH2FMH7W