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some bingqius I drew recently to try and make myself normaler

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this messed up vintage cat sewing pattern has tormented me since i saw it & like some other folks have done in that post - i tried my hand at tweaking the pattern to resemble the illustration (and my personal tastes) a little more. i've ended up with this. i bestow it upon you nice folks now 👐

(update 2, added instructions & it's also on my Kofi!)

go forth and make weird little beanbag kittens! pls show me if you do!

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I'm obsessed with characters we only hear about second or third hand, especially when those accounts are conflicting. No, you don't get to see them, but here's a warped mirror of what other people thought they were. Enjoy your contemplation of how being known is an act of translation and communicates only aspects of the self.

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And I know I’ve kissed you before, but I didn’t do it right Can I try again, try again, try again

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I don't think the Cang Qiong peak lords bully Liu Qingge enough

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Shizun...

(I WAS SO DEVASTATED IN THIS MOMENT IN THE NOVEL😭😭😭)

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My favorite detail about Jurassic Park is that it has a baked-in justification for any and all retcons it might need to make due to paleontology advancing forwards.

Because there is not a single dinosaur that has ever appeared in Jurassic Park.

Not one. Not in the books. Not in the movies. Not ever.

"Now what John Hammond and InGen did at Jurassic Park was to create genetically engineered theme park monsters." ~Alan Grant

Grant says that in a moment of cynicism. It's part of his arc for the film. But it's not inaccurate. What Jurassic Park has, what it's always had since the very first novel, are "Mostly Dinosaurs".

"And since the DNA is so old, it's full of holes! Now, that's where our geneticists take over!" ~Mr. DNA

It's impossible to recover a fully intact gene sequence from an ancient amber mosquito. Cloning a pure dinosaur would have been completely impossible, and so the park filled in the gene sequence with whatever works. Frog. Lizard. Bird. Whatever they need to get the result they are trying to get.

Every single dinosaur is a chimeric beast made up of mostly dinosaur and a bunch of other stuff that some scientists thought would achieve the appropriate dinosaur-like result.

"Nothing in Jurassic World is natural! We have always filled gaps in the genome with the DNA of other animals. And if the genetic code was pure, many of them would look quite different." ~Dr. Henry Wu

Which, from a writing perspective, is fucking genius. Because now you have a preset excuse for each and every plot hole your movie has.

Like. Why don't the raptors have feathers? Because of the chimera DNA.

Why do dilophosaurs spit venom? Because of the chimera DNA.

Why do T-Rexes have movement based vision? Oh, they don't. But Rexy does. Because of her chimera DNA.

Why is the Spinosaurus so fucking big? Because of the chimera DNA.

Why are the velociraptors mislabeled? Because Hammond's a dipshit.

Like. I've always marveled at the way Jurassic Park started out by giving itself a blanket excuse to be wrong about every single thing it ever said about the central attraction of its franchise. It's honestly beautiful, and allows the series a degree of immortality well into the era where we know better about its animals.

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First sewing project of 2025 completed!

It's a Vicwardian shirtdress that kind of straddles the lines between historybounding and historical costuming and cosplay.

See, I have made 3-4 blouses/shirtwaists in this style now, and the most irritating thing about them is that they gradually get more and more untucked throughout the day until I'm left with a muffin top spilling over my skirts. So I figured, why not make one that's the bodice of a dress? That way, I can anchor the blouse part down to the waistband so it can't ride up and come untucked, and I can control how much it's allowed to blouse and keep it that way 24/7 since it's stitched down.

^See? Now I won't have to constantly adjust and re-adjust the gathering and pleating into the waistband or tug my shirttails down because I can feel the back of the blouse ballooning out again.

(Almost forgot to mention: yes, the skirt has giant Victorian-style pockets in the side seams. The dress was 99% hand sewn, mostly because I was working on it while out of town without access to my machine, but also because when I got home and tried to attach a facing to the pockets, my machine decided 3 layers of this shirting-weight cotton twill fabric was too much to handle and broke down. So thanks for that, pockets. Now I have to find a repair shop or replacement machine.)

And bonus: the skirt can be worn as is, or it can function as a petticoat under a separate skirt I can wear over the dress. If I make a floor-length walking skirt to wear over this shirtdress, and maybe a waistcoat and/or an Eton jacket, then I'll have a convincing enough 1890s-1900s ensemble for historical costuming purposes.

Oh, and in case you can't tell, the bodice design with the diagonal pintucks in the yoke is inspired by the outfit that Elphaba wears in her "The Wizard and I" sequence from the new movie. She wears this gauzy, crinkle chiffon-looking blouse under a black jumper dress, and the visible parts of the blouse look like they're bias cut, with some kind of pintucked or micro-pleated texture.

I basically spent the last month and change drooling over the costuming and wanting Elphaba's entire wardrobe. I don't think I'll be accurately recreating any of her actual costumes, but I like to think that my new shirtdress *could* potentially be something she'd wear.

Oh, and here's a detail of the lower sleeves on my dress. Elphaba's usually wearing all black, so the movie costumers played a lot with the texture of the fabrics on her clothing. They were inspired by mushrooms and other earthy textures, so her dresses have a more organic look than what I have going on here. I didn't have enough fabric to play around with, so I figured I'd just give honeycomb smocking a try, and I'm shocked at how well these sleeves preserve body heat in the winter.

Now all I need to do is make her hat and maybe sew a cloth facemask from green fabric and my 2025 office-appropriate Halloween costume will be good to go.

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Awake yet dreaming is live!

After detonating his core to save his disciple, Shen Qingqiu's spirit lingers.

On top of being dead, incorporeal and invisible, he has to confront the fact that Luo Binghe, far from being satisfied with his revenge, is desperately trying to bring him back to life. Of course, since it's Binghe, Shen Qingqiu decides to help.

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Did someone say... wedding traditions?! Since everyone seemed very excited for it, I've opted to poke at the wedding celebrations themselves in the threesome fic! We begin with a kidnapping. Now featuring helpful relatives!

Title: Wife Curse Pairing: Shen Qingqiu/Luo Binghe/Liu Qingge Tags: Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu Experiences a Wife Plot, And finally realizes that's what they are, Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe understand one another, Luo Binghe loves weddings, Demon Wedding Traditions

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being the only guy here immune to the SQQ wifebeam: great for a second in command, weird for a PIDW character

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This tiny boxwood peapod (10cm) was carved in 1500 AD, by a North German artist. It opens to reveal little peas, and then those peas open to reveal ten little carved scenes from Genesis.

Now housed at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin.

Credit: Dr. M.F. Khan

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Lotus babies.

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AU/Headcanon

People didn't realize how good sqh looked because he never cared for himself, nor did he have time to do so. But once he was no longer constantly stressed about getting killed by MBJ, he got into a better self-care routine. People began to notice that although he doesn't have the same sharp features as SQQ, he still possesses smooth skin and soft features. He almost looks like pre-abyss LBH with his big eyes and curly hair. SQQ would unconsciously squish SQH's round cheeks and pet his head because that's what he did to LBH when he was younger.

Unlike the other peak lords, SQH was approachable and more social, so the number of people, both human and demon, asking YQY for SQH's hand in marriage exponentially increased. YQY was able to swiftly and politely reject all of them until MBJ teleported into his office, handing him a letter and glaring at him until he opened it. YQY stared at the content of the letter, exhausted from the whole ordeal. He just sighed and told MBJ that he'd send an official response.

He thought he only had to chase off SQQ and LQG admirers. But now he has to do more work chasing off SQH's admirers. SQH went out on more missions and socialized with more people for trades than SQQ and LQG, so he's charming people left and right without even realizing it. He really hopes MBJ succeeds in courting SQH. YQY couldn't deal with rejecting people any longer.

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Retouching an old doodle for the squirrel zine

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get bapped