Kiki Valken (they/them)

@kikivalken

Woodshop goblin, rural fantasy writer, and shameful libertine

291 Folgt273 Follower336 Posts

Bluesky

amateur

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Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· 7d

I found this one ominous

A movable sign with a heavy, flat base lies face down on a wide concrete sidewalk. Two black sandbags rest against it. In the background is a fence that is neatly covered in a black tarp. Five other signs stand against the fence, facing away from the viewer.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· 7d

I haven't taken too many pictures of fallen over or damaged signs lately, because Phoenix is a furnace, but it was nice and cloudy the other day, so I took a long route home.

A movable sign with a flat, heavy base and a severely bent post is collapsed upon a gravel area near what looks like asphalt parking spaces. The sign depicts a crossed out left turn arrow. The post is so bent that the top of the sign touches the ground even as the base sits flat on the ground

A movable sign with a flat, heavy base is resting on its side in the gravel verge of an asphalt street. The sign faces away from the street, and has a picture of an arrow turning to the right. Underneath the arrow, it says ONLY. An orange reflective light it attached to the top of the sign.

Two bollards are leaning heavily toward each other on the grassy edge of a gravel road, in front of a metal wall. Reverse silhouettes of hearts have been spray painted onto the bollards, two on the left one, and three on the right one

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Jul 14

Wikipedia is of two minds about whether Mississippi has an official state firearm.

A Wikipedia article in which it lists the ten states that have state firearms (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Utah, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas) while a map shows, marked in red, all those states, plus Mississippi.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Jun 13

Anyway, here's how it turned out

A person with dyed hair and an undercut. The undercut is dark brown with a bit of silver sprinkled in, and the dyed hair on top of their head is a gradient of pink at the roots, going through purple, to blue at the ends

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Jun 13

Okay, the trans flag hair was by accident, but the bisexual flag hair is gonna be 100% on purpose.

A person in a tank top with hair that is wet with dye. The gradient of hair color goes from pink at the scalp, through purple, to blue at the ends.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· May 24

That crushed Do Not Enter sign has made some friends.

A concrete median in between empty streets holds a violently knocked over sign, face down but bent enough to be identifiable as a Do Not Enter sign. A portable sign with a crossed out left turn arrow lies sideways near it, and a striped road market stands next to both. These signs were presumably placed to indicate the proper use of the end of the median, which is not designed to in any way match the roads coming off the median street. A mildly brutalist medical building is visible on the other side of the street, behind this scene of metal and plastic carnage.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· May 21

This one flag to the other, "Bro, are you okay?" but bro isn't okay.

Pictured here are two orange flags with short wooden handles - the kind held out by workers in construction sites to direct traffic. A more faded flag lies on the ground, while a brighter one has been set into a low stand designed to hold a full size portable sign. As a result, the brighter flag leans over the faded sign, as though in concern.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· May 12

It's a hard time out there for road signs in my neighborhood

A sign has been knocked, bent over from the base and sheered from its base. It lies bent on a concrete median. The sign itself turns upwards just enough that one can see it says "Do Not Enter"

A road marker indicating a pedestrian crossing has been hit so hard that it's come free from its base and lies next to it instead. The orange light that should be atop it is shattered and the pieces are lying nearby. The edge of a crosswalk is visible to the right of the damaged marker

A sign has been uprooted and apparently moved to a brick paced area. The sign depicts a crossed out left turn. The post is somewhat bent, and so is the sign.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Apr 30

My tiny cactus worked so hard making this flower, and I'm so proud!

A small green cactus in a blue pot with a pale yellow bloom on top. The flower is about a fifth of the size of the whole cactus

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Apr 26

So anyway, here's how it turned out

A person wearing glasses and smiling that awkward photograph smile has dyed hair that has dried to layered pink, blue, and blond

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Apr 26

The bottle said Pastel Seafoam, but over my bleached, formerly pink hair, it's instead giving Trans Flag. We'll see if it keeps those colors once it sets.

The back of a person's head, with hair that is messy and wet with hair dye. The dye colors are blond, pink, and some blue. Definitely not seafoam.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Apr 24

Y'all.

A rental scooter lies prone across a whole lane of a two-lane partially protected bike path.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Apr 18

Y'all. I know it's nice furniture, but thrift stores can't be charging these kind of prices.

A Goodwill price tag on the corner of a wooden piece of furniture. 99 dollars and 99 cents

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Apr 17

But how did it get there?

A road marker lies on its side in an empty lot, blocked from the viewer by a fence. On the fence hang two "No Trespassing" signs, in English and Spanish. The signs have been tagged with graffiti of stylized letters.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Apr 7

This poor guy, again.

A signpost on a small concrete median has been broken off at the base, and lies flat on the median. The sign has arrows that indicate which side of the median cars should stay on, and which side bikes should stay on. There is also a reflective square with multiple bright orange dots designed to make the signpost more visible at night.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Mar 13

I bought a tiny train at the renaissance festival toy store, and now I can fill a little train car with blueberries while I eat breakfast and say, "choo choo, It's been a long day at the giant blueberry mines. Off to feed the people." Very good purchase. Would recommend.

A five piece wooden toy train sits on a white stone countertop. There is a wooden engine, coal car, open-top cargo car, boxcar, and caboose. The open-top car is full of blueberries.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Feb 26

An A-frame movable sign has fallen backwards to lie on the sidewalk in front of a fence, behind which is an old stucco Spanish-style building that looks closed, or has perhaps been turned into a warehouse. The sign is orange and portrays a shape of a human form waving a flag.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Feb 23

An A-frame portable street sign faces a fence, behind which is a parking lot and a stucco, Spanish-style building, which looks closed or perhaps has been turned into a warehouse.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Feb 7

An orange sign with two wavy black arrows leans against a thin tree, in a row of similarly small trees. This scene is set on the rocky patch of ground between a sidewalk and a parking lot. There is tagged graffiti on the sign.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Feb 5

A gravelly area next to a road is lit up by car headlights on a dark night. A brightly reflective sign lies on its side saying "Keep Right" but the arrow is on a swivel which is now pointing up. A traffic cone sits nearby.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Jan 17

This sign has been through too much, and has given up on trying to keep any part of this parking lot closed

A damaged road-closed marker sits haphazardly in the curved curb next to a faded stop sign in front of a large garden center of a big box store

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Jan 16

I never saw these signs in their intended state. I think they may have been brought to this place only to be laid delicately amongst the shrubbery.

A long shot of a sidewalk with a verge along a road with a bike lane. On the verge are trees, decorative shrubs, and three scattered, assorted road signs, two lying down and one bent and leaning against a tree.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Jan 11

Construction of a five story apartment building is happening on the road that is my work commute (it has really good bike lanes). It has been an absolute smorgasbord of fallen over signs for months. I moved this one out of the way of bikes and pedestrians after photographing.

A temporary street sign with a flat base lies partly on the curb, but mostly in the bike lane, right at the crosswalk. The sign depicts a human figure holding out a flag. An actual orange flag is attached to the top of the signpost. A black bag, presumably full of weighted sand, lies in the curb as well.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Dec 26

This street marker partied too hard on Christmas Eve.

A young tree is in a very big planter. It kind of looks like a palo verde, but not green. There's something oddly muscular about the many, twisty branches, like its outgrowing its bark or something. The planter rests on the pavement outside a building in afternoon sunlight. Also in that planter is a street marker for Temporary No Parking, resting on its side and hanging half over the edge. It looks like someone just tossed it into the planter when it wasn't needed anymore.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Dec 5

This sign is tired and will lie down in the grass until the sun goes down and it can look up at the stars.

An orange construction sign lies in green grass. Pictured on the sign is a human figure holding out a flag. Attached to the top of the sign are two orange flags. The removable base of the sign lies nearby. A sidewalk is in the background and a concrete curb is in the foreground.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Nov 21

I wonder if the x's are there to mark how many times it's been knocked over.

A sign is knocked over at the base and has fallen on the very low barrier between the street and the bike path. The top of the signpost has a rectangular sign indicating which side is for vehicles and which is for bikes. There is a square sign set low on the signpost, with 9 reflective orange dots. Four of those have black x's on them.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Oct 26

This guy

A blond man sits behind a half-table of toilet-themed zines, stickers, and drawings. Other booths are in the background. He is wearing a paper mask.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Oct 25

Richie's first art show, the pre zine-fest art show in Tempe

A blond man in a button-down shirt points at a sepia metal print of a photo of a smashed toilet. The wall behind man and art is bright/light green. He's wearing a pendant and a paper mask. Some art behind his head looks like it might be a bit naked, but his head covers the important bits.

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Oct 20

This sign is doing important, dangerous work, and isn't scared of anything anymore.

A bent and leaning sign on a weathered movable base reads: no passing 15 fines double and School in session. The sign sits on the two solid yellow lines in the middle of a residential street

Kiki Valken (they/them)@kikivalken· Sep 27

Spoiler: The special event is the sidewalk ending, and a massive puddle.