#I keep buying new art supplies as an excuse to use for this project

[eurovisionart]

🇨🇭 Sandra Simó - Canzone per te

[publiccollectors]

From the discussion “Towards A Self Sustaining Publishing Model” hosted by Printed Matter.

Some things I have learned in over 30 years of publishing since my teenage days as a zine maker, administrating my project Public Collectors, and from working in the group Temporary Services and our publishing imprint Half Letter Press.

I have just ten minutes to speak. If only one or two things that I share are useful, that’s plenty! It took me decades to understand some of this stuff.

Use every exhibition invitation with a budget to print something. Use the whole budget to print something. Make something in a large enough print run so that you have something to give away and surplus that you can sell. Your publication can be a folded sheet of paper, a booklet, a newspaper, a poster, a book, or anything in between.

Be able to print at least something at home. Buy a cheap laser printer or inkjet printer, find a used copy machine, buy a RISO or some other duplicator, carve something into a potato or a piece of foam and print it. Being able to do at least some of the printing and production at home—even if it’s on a tiny scale—will compel you to print things that you might have convinced yourself not to send out or bring to a professional printer. Hopefully the ability to print impulsively and compulsively will result in good work. Figure out how to keep making things on every scale. Look for cheap used printing equipment on Craigslist. Team up with friends and buy equipment together that you can share. Start a printing collective in your basement.

Ideally your publication should cost 1/5th or 1/6th of the retail price to make. If you sell a $10.00 publication through a store, you are probably only going to make $6.00 or less after the store takes its cut. So ideally your $10.00 book costs $2.00 or less to make. Don’t aim to just break even. Aim to make a profit so you can keep making more publications and pay for your life. Publishing will probably never be your sole income but don’t lose money on purpose. Make things that are priced fairly and look like they justify what they cost to buy. The fact that you didn’t find a more affordable way to print something is not an excuse to sell something that feels cheap and shitty for a ridiculous sum of money. Good cheap printing is easier to find than ever before. Do your homework.

Figure out the cheapest and least wasteful ways to do everything. Ask other publishers where they get their work printed. Look for local printers so you can avoid shipping fees. Ask local printers if you can pay in cash for a discount. Ask printers if there is a cheaper way to do what you want to do by adjusting the size of your paper or the paper stock or some other small shift in form. If you print things yourself, buy the paper that is on sale. Design a publication around the paper that you found for cheap. Discount warehouses sometimes have good paper. Even dollar stores sometimes have good paper. I’ve even bought paper at flea markets. Costco sells an 800 sheet ream of 24 lb paper for $6.99. I use it all the time. It rules. I also recommend getting your jugs of organic olive oil there, but you can’t print with that.

Free printing is good printing. If you have access to free printing, use it. Free printing is like free food at art openings and conference receptions. It is one of those pleasures in life that never gets old. Come up with an idea that is based around the aesthetics of whatever free printing you have access to and make the publication that way. Eat the cheese and bread. Drink the wine. Make the copies at work.

Buy bulk shipping mailers on eBay. Find bubble wrap and other packing materials in the trash. Look out for neighbors who just bought new furniture—it’s usually wrapped in miles of packing material you can use for shipping books. Boycott terrible right wing fuckers like ULINE. Seriously, they give money to everyone horrible. Trump? Check. Ted Cruz? Check. Scott Walker? Check. ROY FUCKING MOORE? CHECK FUCKING CHECK! Tear up their catalogs and use them as packing material to protect your books. Make publications that have a consistent size so you can purchase cardboard mailers in bulk and get a discount on them. Buy packing tape in bulk. Buy everything in bulk. You can store your extra reams of paper under your bed or on top of your kitchen cabinets if necessary. Be like a wacko survivalist prepper, but for office supplies. Go to estate sales and look for the home office in the house. Buy the dead person’s extra tape and staples and rulers and scissors. I’ve been using some random dead person’s staples for years because I bought their staple hoard. Staples aren’t like meat and milk. They don’t expire.

I’m against competition. Try to avoid competing with other artists for resources. If you don’t truly need the money, don’t ask for it. Artists should have a section on their CV where they list grants they could have easily gotten but didn’t apply for because they are privileged enough that they don’t need the money as much as someone else. I almost never apply for anything but the one thing I do apply for and get every year is a part-time faculty development grant from Columbia College Chicago where I teach. It pays adjuncts up to $2,500 a year to fund their projects and seems to be completely non-competitive. My union negotiated to get us more money. I have used that grant to make over a dozen publications. The value of the publications I make and sell with each grant is about three or four times the value of the grant itself. Some years I make more from the grant than I do from the limited number of classes I teach. But I don’t depend on this grant to be a publisher and I’d still be able to make things without it.

Make things in different price ranges so everyone can afford your work, but also so that you can sustain your practice. Make a publication that costs $2.00, that costs $6.00, that costs $20.00, and make something special for the fancy ass institutional libraries that have a lot of money to spare and can buy something that costs $300.00. Likewise, make things in all different size print runs. Is there something you can print 1,000 of that you can keep selling and giving away for years, to enjoy that quantity discount that comes with offset printing a large number of publications?

Collaborate with people and pay them with publications (if they are cool with that) that they can sell on their own. Sometimes this ends up being better pay and more useful than an honorarium, and it helps justify a larger print run. But see what they need—don’t assume. Barter with other publishers and sell each other’s work and let each other keep the money. This helps with distribution. Sometimes it’s easier to sell their work than it is to sell your own. Help others expand the audience for their publications.

Fund your publishing practice by asking your friends who teach to invite you to talk to their college classes about your work. Use those guest speaker fees to print something. I sometimes tell people on social media: If three or four people will invite me to speak to their class, it could fund the entire next issue of X booklet series that you like so much. This has often worked. Also, sometimes their students end up ordering publications. Sometimes lectures about publications generate more income than the publications themselves.

Have an emailing list and write newsletters to announce new publications. Stay in touch with people who like what you do. Expect to spend a ton of time corresponding with people. Have some cheap things and cool ephemera on hand that you can send people for free when they mail order your publications. Reward people who support you directly with something nice that they didn’t expect. People like handwritten notes. It’s okay if they are very short but sign the packing slip and at least write “Thank you!”

Above all, know that publishing is a life journey and not a get rich quick scheme, or even a make very much money scheme. Enjoy the experience of meeting and working with others, trade your publications with other publishers and build up an amazing library of small press, hard to find artist books. Get vaccinated and travel and sleep on each other’s couches. Be generous with your time, knowledge, resources, and work. Tell Jeff Bezos to fuck off by never selling anything you make through Amazon. Find the bookstores that you love and work with them forever. It’s nicer to have deeper relationships with fewer bookstores than surface level interactions with dozens of shops run by people you don’t know.

Think about your publishing family. Bookstore people are your family. People that organize book fairs and zine fests are your publishing family. Other publishers are your family. People who follow your work for years on end are your family. Printers and binderies are your family. The postal workers that know you by name and that you know by name are your family. The person who doesn’t care if you make the free copies at work is your family. Over thirty years later, I’m still in contact with people I exchanged zines with through the mail when I was a teenager. In some cases I still haven’t met them in person. It’s fine! They are my family. Your students are your family—particularly once they graduate or drop out, as long as they continue making books and zines. Your family is your family, particularly if they value and support your publishing practice. And for this reason, this talk is dedicated to my late father Bruce Fischer, who let me use the company copier and postage meter when I was in high school, and to my mom who sat on the floor with me and helped me hand collate and staple my zines.

That’s what I’ve got for now. Stay in touch and with luck, and enough vaccines and masks and hand sanitizer, maybe I’ll see you at a book fair. – Marc Fischer • Thank you to Be Oakley of GenderFail for the invitation to present, to the other presenters Vivian Sming, Yuri Ogita, and Devin Troy Strother, and to the wonderful people at Printed Matter for hosting this! You should be able to find the video archived on Printed Matter’s YouTube Channel.  Presented on April 2, 2021

[sneezefiction]

Atsumu, Akaashi, and Iwaizumi w/ a Kindergarten Teacher S/O

Atsumu, Akaashi, and Iwaizumi x reader - headcanons

request: “i just read your fic ab the reader being a kindergarten teacher and i LOVED IT. do you think we can get another one but with atsumu, akaashi, and iwa? 🥺 I LOVE YOUU AND YOUR WRITING AHHH”

a/n: ahh my laptop has my asks jacked up rn, so sorry @parkersvibes !! but i had the exact request copied down! this is a part 2 to this post :)) really hope you like it and thank u for being so uber sweet, i love this hc💕💕

warnings: none!

wc: 1040

—-

Atsumu:

okay please don’t be surprised by this - Atsumu doesn’t exactly like kids

he’s currently dealing w/ an ongoing children’s volleyball introductory camp that his team was forced to run and he is horrified

ends up making several of them cry, which totally turned him off to the whole “kids” thing

however, he also had the chance to meet you at that camp

he noticed how gentle you were around them, helping them up when they fell, praising them for their “hard work”

he lacked that softness. the comforting, encouraging kind…

so before he even realizes it, he’s walked up to you and started flirting (it’s second nature for this boy at this point)

“What’s a cutie like you...” He’ll look you up and down, “doin’ round here?” He tilts his head, a smirk forming on his lips

“I dunno? Maybe I’m here to cheer up all the crying kids you keep sending to me?” You reply sassily

you’re just... annoyed? the stupid face he’s making after messing with these poor kids is pissing you off

Atsumu wasn’t expecting any sass from you, but since then he’s been pining after you at every break and scheming for new ways to catch your attention

it turns out, you’re the kindergarten teacher for a majority of the little one’s attending and you signed up to chaperone and support them over the next couple of weeks

like, he has no capacity for their complaints and misunderstandings of a sport since he’s been playing professionally for years now

you’re officially an angel in his eyes

not only are you drop-dead gorgeous, but you can also #1 understand what they’re saying?? And #2 you genuinely care about them, their feelings (trivial or not,) and their experience at the camp

he’ll definitely ask you out after the camp is over

you turn him down twice lmao

but the third time!! he doesn’t use any lines or sensual approaches, he’s just chill about it

he’ll ask if you want to go roller skating… so you’re finally just like

“What the hell, why not.”

i mean he is cute and funny, so what could go wrong?

he ended up acknowledging that he sucks at dealing with kids and that he’d try to be gentler around them…

like if he’s actually willing to work on being “okay” with kids, that really means something, bc wow they bother him sometimes

he just adores you, bby

Akaashi:

i imagine that he’d also be a kindergarten teacher at your school

he was quiet for a long time, preferring to observe you and his new coworkers over time, but over the years y’all have gotten super close

there’s now a daily rhythm between you two:

you both meet up in the morning and put on a pot of coffee in the breakroom

he’ll meet your tired eyes with his own. the dark circles make it apparent that y’all are still waking up

you’ll send each other knowing, goofy smiles bc your sleep schedules are so wrecked right now, especially since it’s almost time for the holidays

the schools required art projects are getting out of hand and all the teachers are kinda pissed about it

but instead of complaining, Akaashi will suggest you both go shopping for materials and plan ideas together

it seems like a perfectly normal suggestion, bc you’re teachers and this would be more “efficient”, right? totally not an excuse to hangout w/ you

you’re in for such a treat

he comes to pick you up that Saturday, a coffee ready for you in his hand (he remembered the exact way you make it in the classroom)

also, he’s got this great scarf and jacket combination going on (like this: here)

sorry but not really, this totally turns into a date and you both completely forget about the supplies you were supposed to buy

like, yeah you’ll make it to the store, but he’ll ask you if you’re hungry (which you are) and suddenly he’s taking you to the ramen shop you mentioned weeks ago while on your lunch break

at some point, he’ll have you laughing about some story about a kid from class who keeps acting up

you’ll end up falling out of your chair from laughing so hard and he’ll start laughing at you

while you’re both still snickering, he crouches down to the ground and asks you to this with him again next Saturday

you’re so down (literally)

y’all are the cutest teacher couple. ever.

Iwaizumi:

i see Iwa as being a young, single dad in this situation ✨✨✨

you first meet at the beginning of the school year for a parent-teacher conference and it actually goes so smoothly

he brings his adorable baby girl (your new student), her hair in pigtails, and she’s grabbing onto daddy Iwaizumi’s leg

you first introduce yourself to the girl and then give Iwa a bright smile

i mean, as a teacher, you do your best to be professional and polite, but you can’t help but ask him about himself and crack a few jokes

he and his daughter deem you precious, immediately.

Iwaizumi is so protective of his shy, little girl, but he finds himself very comfortable with letting you teach and watch over her

he definitely finds you on facebook when he gets home and realizes y’all have mutual friends

so instead of just adding you as a friend, like a normal person, he decides to message your mutuals and devise something to meet you in person

what can I say? the dude hasn’t been in the dating field for awhile, so he’s not sure what he’s doing right now

basically you get set up for a one sided blind date (oop)

you find yourself waiting at an ice cream shop for a guy with short, dark-brown hair, an athletic build, and gorgeous brown eyes

but what they didn’t tell you was that he would be bringing a little someone along with him

at first, you just see his little girl waving to you

you stand up, giving her a big hug when she runs up to you

then you look up

oh… OH

Iwaizumi matches that description to a T.

y’all spend the rest of the day skipping (mostly just Iwa’s daughter though) around town and holding hands

so yeah, you’re dating your kindergarten student’s father now

and he’s really sweet and really hot

—-

tags: @cherryonigiri @parkersvibes @omgaspers

[the-lupine-sojourner]

The Errand

Ok so I was a part of @saverottmnt‘s art exchange! I can’t draw too well, so I stuck to fanfic lol. 

Anyway, my gift is for @technofantasia (I hope this is the right person lol), and I hope they like it! 

I kinda combined the prompts ‘Donnie’s soft side’ and the ‘turtles dealing with neurodivergence’ to create...something. 

This is one of my first ever attempts at writing for Rise, so please bear with me. I tried to keep everyone in character, but may have failed. 

Side note: This fic is exactly 1000 words lol. Idk why but I love that. XD

Alright, without further ado, let’s get to the story!

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

Donnie was hardly ever one to do anything without some reward or incentive, even for his brothers. 

It was simply not on his radar usually. 

This, however, was an exception. Over the past six months, Mikey had been going absolutely nuts, seeming incapable os sitting still, always playing with his hands or annoying his brothers in some way. 

So Donnie did some research in some tattered books Splinter had found and the precious laptop Splinter had snagged from an electronics store that had been foreclosed on. 

Donnie found out a lot of interesting stuff about what might be causing Mikey to be hyperactive and crazy. 

It seemed the problem might be that Mikey was understimulated and simply needed a hobby or some kind of outlet for his energy. 

And if Donnie remembered correctly, Mikey seemed very interested in the arts, always drinking up knowledge about painting and drawing and sculpting like it was water. 

So Donnie did some more research. Mutation Day (as they’d taken to calling the day they became a family) was coming up, and he knew just what he wanted to get Mikey. 

The others...well that would have to wait.

He grabbed the oversized hoodie whoever left the Lair wore to hide their appearance and slipped out. He had limited funds, so he’d only buy the supplies he couldn’t find in dumpsters.

He knew what he had to do; if Mikey’s hyperactivity was not stimulated by some kind of outlet, Donnie figured the kid would only get worse and would never give the brothers any peace, so Donnie was willing to go out and get something for his baby brother. 

Only to get some peace and quiet so he could work on his projects...right?

Donnie shakes himself; he’d figure it out later.

=#=#=#=#=

It took longer than he thought to get back, but he’d found some decent acrylic paints someone had thrown away or lost in a side alley and had asked April for any old art supplies she wasn’t gonna use. 

April, turns out, had several sketch pads she hadn’t used, and some canvases and brushes she’d held on to for years. 

When Donnie had explained why he needed art supplies, April was thrilled and talked with Donnie about the possibility that Mikey might have ADHD or just hyperactivity and definitely needed stimulus and something to put his energy toward.

Donnie wondered why he hadn’t gone to April’s right off the bat. That girl always knew the solution to their problems.

While he was there, Donnie was also introduced to the concept of stim toys, little things that let someone fiddle with something without much disturbance to anyone else. Donnie liked the idea and did some research with April before he left her place. 

He’d see about either making a stim toy or buying one later if the art supplies weren’t enough to help with Mikey’s high energy levels.

=#=#=#=#=

It was finally Mutation Day and Mikey had done as much as he could decorating the Lair and had spent all morning making a huge brunch with their dad. 

Donnie brought his box of supplies out for Mikey and put it in the pile of other gifts the boys had crafted or found for the special occasion. 

The family sat down for brunch and eagerly got to eating, then cleaned up 

Finally, it was time for gifts. 

Donnie had also restored a projector from the foreclosed store (having lugged it back to the Lair in secret for Mutation Day) and it was good as new. All that needed to be done was set it up in the living room for movie or game nights. 

Leo had made little wooden carvings of what turtles his brothers were, even trying to add masks, which wasn’t perfect, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Raph had taken to knitting and had knit his brothers scarves and beanies in their mask colors with a blanket for Splinter. 

Mikey had cooked food so he was excused from gift-giving, and he was pleasantly surprised when Donnie plops the box in front of him. 

“Here. This is something for you to practice so you stop bothering us all the time.” Donnie says then walks back to his spot in the circle.

Mikey excitedly opens the package.

“You don’t normally do individual gifts...or any gifts at all, D. You sure yer feeling ok?” Leo asks coyly. 

“I only did it cus I’m behind on my projects and I want Mikey to stop interrupting my work.” Donnie grumbles, flushing a little pink. 

It wasn’t like he cared that Mikey was beaming like he’d been handed the world, right? 

He only wanted Mikey to stop barging into Donnie’s lab to bother him. 

He didn’t see the big deal, but apparently everyone was reading too much into it, saying sappy things like ‘didn’t know you cared, Donald’ ‘you do love me under that tough guy persona!’ and ‘well done, Purple’. 

Donnie doesn’t know how to handle this, so he just grabs the projector and mumbles something about needing to set it up as he leaves the room. 

His siblings and father could be overwhelming sometimes, but he knew they loved him and each other. 

So he starts prepping to install the projector when Mikey comes out. 

“Hey, uh, D?” He asks softly, clutching a sketchbook to his chest. 

“Yeah?” Donnie replies, trying not to sound irritated at the interruption. 

“...Thanks.” Is all Mikey says, but one look at his dorky, blissful grin and Donnie knew he’d made the right call getting those stupid art supplies for his brother.

=#=#=#=#=

Over the next year, as often as possible, Mikey was creating something, be it paintings that made no sense to anyone but him, or portraits and even some comics. 

And he’d settled down immensely. No more running through Donnie’s lab and costing Donnie precious time.

That was the only reason Don had done it. 

It wasn’t just to see that adorable smile on Mikey’s face...was it?

[whereistheonepiece]

The Colors of You

Note: Have a Lusona, feat. the rest of the Straw Hats because this crew interacting and being friends makes me happy. 

And let me just take a moment to get all sentimental on you guys, ‘kay? I remember being hesitant to talk about this polyamorous ship at first because I didn’t think I’d get much support for it, but the reception’s been surprising and warm, just like the rest of this blog. And it just means a lot to me.

-

“Hey, Usopp.”

“Yes, Nami?”

Nami glanced at Usopp over her shoulder, smiling gently as she saw the practiced movements of his pencil gliding across his sketchbook in the corner of her eye. They were taking advantage of a peaceful day on the Grand Line, sitting back to back in the sun. Usopp was sketching a shell he’d picked up on the beach of the island the ship had most recently visited and Nami was reading a book Robin had loaned her.

She leaned her head back against his, looking up at the sky. “Tell me something,” she continued.

“Sure, Nami,” Usopp responded. Even if she couldn’t see his face, she could hear the smile in his voice.

“What’s something you’ve always wanted to do?”

Usopp hesitated, sitting up straighter against her. Nami marked her place and shut her book, waiting for Usopp to speak. His hesitation told her that this was something he’d spent some time thinking about and that made his interest all the more personal, which made it all the more important for her to hear.

“Well, it’s... You know... It’s kind of silly,” Usopp stammered. 

Nami set her book down and repositioned herself so she was sitting directly next to him, taking one of his hands in both of hers. He looked at her, uncertainty furrowing his brow, and she smiled patiently at him. “Go on,” she said softly, rubbing her thumb against the back of his hand. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Usopp stared off into the distance, his back hunched. “Do you remember that festival we attended a few islands back?”

“Mm.”

“Well.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Right around the time you and Robin and Chopper wandered off, Luffy and I saw these performers who had paint all over their bodies. And it got me thinking...”

“You want to try it yourself?” Nami asked, prompting him to elaborate.

He smiled sheepishly. “I asked them where I could buy some paint and, well... What do you think? Is it something you’d ever like to try? I-I thought it might be something you, Luffy, and I could try together.”

“What kind of paint job are we talking about?” Nami asked, wanting to encourage him to speak more about something that had clearly interested him. Given that he’d held onto the paint without saying anything about it, maybe he needed that extra push. 

Nami loved the way Usopp’s face lit up when he told her about his personal projects, whether that was looking after his garden, getting a new invention to work, or the notebook stuffed full of poems and sonnets he held close to his chest, afraid to show anyone else other than her and sometimes Luffy. She remembered the relief and then elation on Usopp’s face when he first showed her one of his poems and he saw that she was moved by his words. Now she wanted to encourage this artistic endeavor. Usopp had displayed an artistic flair with his sketches and had recently taken up painting with Robin, and this simply was just a different kind of canvas.

“W-well...” He rubbed the back of his neck. “These performers were doing something that was more complicated than what I had in mind. I was just...thinking about how it would be fun to paint something on someone’s back.”

“I think it sounds lovely, Usopp.”

Usopp finally looked at her, his lips curling in a nervous smile. “You mean that, Nami?”

“Of course I do,” Nami said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

Usopp shot up and threw his arms around her, his sketchbook and pencil falling out of his lap. He hummed in delight as he squeezed her, lightly rocking her in his arms. Nami laughed softly as she hugged him, rubbing small circles on his back. Usopp pulled back, hands clasping her shoulders. “Did you have any plans this evening?” he asked her. “We could probably do it after dinner.”

“That works for me.”

“Great!” He hurriedly got his feet. “Don’t go anywhere; I’m just going to find Luffy and let him know.”

Nami giggled, nodding at him.

“I–I think Luffy’s only going to sit still long enough to get his face done,” he muttered, talking to himself as much as he was to her.

“Yeah,” she agreed, picking up her book and opening it back up to where she’d left off. “You can probably paint his face like a tiger and he’ll be happy.”

Usopp laughed, rubbing the back of his head, eyes closed in contentment. Nami smiled up at him, her heart warm to see him so happy. “Yeah,” Usopp agreed. “Yeah, you got that right.”

-

Usopp went all out after dinner, setting out a tarp for the three of them to spread out on, setting it up with the supplies they’d need. He caught the attention of the rest of the crew, who wanted to know what he planned on doing on Sunny’s lawn.

“Usopp, Nami, and I are going to paint each other!” Luffy responded, answering for Usopp.

“You’re going to paint each other’s portraits?” Robin asked, blue eyes glittering with interest.

“Nope!” Luffy laughed. 

“We’re literally painting on each other, Robin,” Nami explained. “Body art.”

“Usopp got the idea from a festival!” Luffy continued, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “He’s gonna paint my face!”

“You’re actually interested in this, Nami-san?” Sanji asked, plucking his cigarette out of his mouth, a hint of disbelief in his tone.

“Yep,” Nami confirmed. “Usopp’s really excited.”

“Well, I think it’s a SUPER idea!” Franky said, giving them a thumbs up.

“You guys wanna join?” Luffy asked.

Usopp looked up from his task, peering nervously at the rest of the crew.

“I’ll go grab some more paintbrushes,” Robin said, walking off and taking Franky with her.

“Put on something you don’t mind getting dirty,” Nami called after her, sending Usopp a reassuring smile.

Sanji smirked at Zoro impishly. “What do you think, Marimo? Would you let me paint on you?”

“I don’t trust you not to draw something stupid on my back, shit-cook,” Zoro said bluntly, crossing his arms.

Sanji snickered and slipped his hands into his pockets, not disputing Zoro’s accusation.

“What about you, Chopper, Brook?” Luffy asked, eager to get more people in on the fun.

“Ah, I’m afraid I don’t have enough skin for you to work on, Luffy-san. Because I don’t have any.” Brook laughed. “But I’m happy to provide mood music,” he said, pulling out his violin and settling down in the grass.

“I have fur, Luffy!” Chopper grumbled. He toddled over to Usopp, asking him if he was using paints safe for human skin, to which Usopp vehemently replied that he’d triple checked at the store that it was the same kind of paint the performers used.

Nami watched the crew while they waited. Robin and Franky came back with more paintbrushes, cups of water to clean said brushes, extra towels, and an extra tarp. Brook played a pleasant melody, filling the late afternoon with his music. Sanji excused himself and came back with sake to keep Zoro occupied and wine for the rest of them, insisting that it was the proper drink for an activity such as painting. Chopper and Luffy wrestled nearby while Usopp started mixing paints. Usopp and Nami’s eyes met. They smiled at each other.

Robin and Franky paired up, the first to start, Robin’s job of painting on Franky’s enormous back made easier by her Fruit. “Make it SUPER, Robin!”

“Of course, Franky.”

Nami watched the two lovebirds, watching Robin’s picture begin to take shape until she heard Usopp’s exasperated voice: “Hold still, Luffy!”

Nami looked and saw Usopp pushing forcefully on Luffy’s shoulders, willing his boyfriend to remain seated. Luffy, his hair pulled back with some of Nami’s hair ties, squeezed his closed eyes tighter and pouted. “At least tell me what you’re painting!”

“Luffy, don’t you want it to be a surprise?” Usopp asked enticingly, coating Luffy’s face with white paint.

“Hmmm...” Luffy paused, seeming to actually weigh his options between delayed and instant gratification. “Okay...”

Nami scooted closer to Usopp, laying her head against his shoulder. “Are you going to tell me what you’re going to paint on me, Usopp?” she asked, using the sweet voice she used on him and Sanji when she wanted to get her way.

He turned his head only slightly, just enough to look at her out of the corner of his eye. “You’re just going to have to wait like Luffy, Nami,” he said cheerfully.

“Yeah!” Luffy agreed. “If I have to wait, you do, too!”

Nami chuckled. “Fine. Fine.” She sat up straight, considering Usopp’s back. “Do you think I could get started on you, Usopp?”

He paused. “If you don’t mind working with a little movement,” he replied.

“I don’t,” she replied, grabbing a paintbrush and a cup of water.

“Okay,” Usopp said, pausing his work on Luffy to pull off his t-shirt, tossing it to the side. Luffy cracked his eyes open. “Eyes closed, Luffy!”

“It’s not like I can see what you’re doing on my face!”

“No, but you can reach for that mirror over there!”

Luffy grumbled but complied.

Usopp moved the palette closer to Nami and she set to work. Paint was not a medium she dabbled in like Robin and Usopp, so she’d keep it simple. Her first instinct was to draw the ocean on a sunny, peaceful day, much like the one she and Usopp had enjoyed, given Usopp’s dreams of becoming a brave warrior of the sea, but they were pirates: they spent almost all day, every day surrounded by the ocean.

Nami watched Usopp as he painted Luffy’s face, his own set in concentration. She hadn’t even begun painting and still he was trying his best to keep still for her. He was so considerate, it filled her with warmth.

Warmth. 

Home.

Nami began mixing paint, trying to find the right shade before she could begin. Just as she put the paintbrush to his back, Usopp spoke. “Okay, Luffy. Now you can look.”

Luffy stretched his arm out across the tarp to where the nearest hand mirror lay, pulling it to him with a snap. He grinned as soon as he saw himself, face painted like a white tiger. Luffy laughed joyfully, scrambling to his feet and running to each crew member, demanding that each of them look and see what a good job Usopp had done.

Usopp carefully looked at Nami over his shoulder, smiling at her. She smiled back, pausing her work to lean close and place a kiss on his cheek. “I’m glad you got me to do this, Nami,” he said, turning his head back. “Luffy’s so happy. And it looks like everyone else is having a good time.”

“It was a good idea, Usopp,” Nami replied. “I’m happy you shared it with me.”

Luffy ran back to where Usopp and Nami sat, plopping himself down next to him. “Usopp! You gotta let me do your face next!”

“Sure, Luffy,” Usopp said, in that gentle tone of voice that Nami loved so much. “Why don’t we wait until after Nami is done?”

“‘Kay.” Luffy turned his attention to Nami. “Can I do your face, too, Nami?”

Nami considered the grin on Luffy’s face, the mischievous gleam in his eye. She didn’t trust it. “I don’t think so,” she said tersely. Knowing Luffy, he’d paint her face so she looked like a circus clown.

Luffy wilted. “Please, Nami?” he whined. “I’ll do something cute.”

“No.”

Usopp laughed. “Come on, Nami,” he coaxed, glancing over his shoulder. He winked at her. “A cute painting for a cute girl.”

“I am pretty cute,” Nami agreed. They both continued to stare at her until she relented. “Fine, fine. But you make sure he doesn’t pull anything.”

“You have my word,” Usopp said, saluting her.

-

Nami stared at herself in the mirror, holding her hand under chin and smoldering seductively at her reflection. She didn’t know what it was, but there was something appealing about the pink hearts on her cheeks. “I have to hand it to Luffy,” she said, looking into the eyes of Usopp’s reflection next to hers. “He meant it when he said he’d do something cute.”

Usopp laughed, his face done up like Sogeking’s. “Well, you make anything cute, Nami.”

Smiling still, Nami turned and stared at her back in the mirror, holding her arms up like she was about to flex them. It had taken Usopp a long time, but he’d painted a multitude of feathers on her upper back and triceps. A dazzling array of oranges, reds, yellows, and a couple spots of brilliant blue, green, and purple. It reminded her of the exotic birds they’d seen on a jungle island once. She felt like a creature out of mythology: powerful, beautiful, and deadly. She felt sorry that she would have to wash it off eventually.

“This is beautiful, Usopp,” she said, admiring his work. “You make me feel bad about my painting.”

“Aw, shucks, Nami,” he said, turning and staring at his back in the mirror. She’d painted a tangerine tree on his back, a small slingshot that resembled his older model leaning against its trunk. “I love what you painted for me.”

“You really mean it?” she asked softly, turning so she faced him properly. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re not just saying that because I’m your girlfriend?”

He pulled her close, placing his hands on her waist. “I love it because it comes from you,” he explained. “I’m honored that you would choose to paint something so precious to you on me.”

Nami wondered if the pink hearts did anything to hide the blush blooming on her face. At a loss for words, she simply chose to kiss him, letting her actions speak for her.

[pocket-luv101]

for the fanfic prompt list, 31 with Kuro & Mahiru, if that's okay? also i hope things get better for you //hugs

KuroMahi {31: “I’m yours, in everyway you’ll have me”}

"Kuro, check out these flowers!The sign says they're peonies." Mahiru didn't look away from the field offlowers but he knew the exact moment Kuro stood behind him. He didn't look asimpressed as Mahiru was by the elegant flower bed. His expression only changedfrom bored to loving when he looked down at his boyfriend. "These flowersare beautiful. Have you seen anything prettier?"

"Yeah," He answered andknelt next to him. Mahiru thought that he was merely agreeing with him. Inreality, Kuro meant to say he couldn't think of anything more attractive thanMahiru's bright smile. From the way his eyes shined to how his lips curvedwhile he smiled, he was beautiful. At first, Kuro was reluctant to go to theflower park but he was glad he let him drag him along because he could see howhappy their little outing made Mahiru.

He took his sketchbook out of hisbackpack and flipped to a fresh page. Mahiru had to fill the sketchbook for hisart project. He thought that going to Showa Kinen Park would give himinspiration. The trip was also an excuse to go on a date with Kuro. He knewthat Kuro wasn't one to go outside much but he hoped they could enjoy theflowers together. He also made a lunch for them to have a quaint, littlepicnic.

Kuro sat on the grass and pulledMahiru onto his lap. He didn't fight him and only moved to take off hisbackpack so they would be more comfortable. Mahiru leaned back against hisstrong chest and began to sketch the peonies in front of them. Kuro didn't wantto distract him while he worked so he tucked his head beneath his chin andwatched him in silence. With his comforting warmth in his arms and thepeaceful setting, he began to drift off.

He only opened his eyes when he feltMahiru tense in his arms and heard him grumbled. Kuro could tell that he wasbecoming frustrated with his drawing from his expression. He stroked his armand asked, "What's with that face?"

"Oh, Kuro. I thought you wereasleep." Mahiru shifted so he could look up at him. With Kuro's armsaround his waist, he couldn't leave his lap to face him properly. He didn'tmind though. He held up his sketchbook for Kuro to see. "I'm just havingtrouble shading the flowers. I want to make it blend together but I can't makeit look natural."

"You want me to show you a lazyshading technique?" Mahiru had to admit that he was curious and handed himhis sketchbook. He watched his hand move over the page and drew a looseimpression of the peony. Mahiru admired how strong and steady his hands were.Then his jaw dropped when Kuro rubbed his finger over the drawing, smudging thegraphite over the paper.

"What are you doing,Kuro?" He frowned up at him.

"Shading." Kuro answeredhim. "This is a shading technique called smudging. It's easier to blendthe different shades together and the results will be softer. The fancy pantsartists really frown upon smudging as a technique though. I like it becauseit's easier than the other techniques. You can clean up the edges with your eraser like this. It makes youroutline crisper so it'll be an edge rather than a solid outline."

"Wow, this is wonderful, Kuro!You really are talented." Mahiru smiled up at him. His honest complimentmade butterflies flutter in his stomach and he tried to shrug nonchalantly."You're always surprising me."

"It's really nothing. I had topick up something in the centuries I've been alive." Kuro handed thesketchbook back to Mahiru. "Here, you can try it now."

"Wait, I just remembered I havesomething for you. I was going to give it to you when we got home but I thinkthis is a good time." Mahiru set his sketchbook aside so he could rummagethrough his bag. He pulled out a box and handed it to him. He watched him withbated breath as Kuro tore off the plastic wrapper. Kuro opened it and discoveredthat it was a professional art kit. There was a sketchbook inside and severalmediums for him to use.

"Do you like it?" Mahiruasked. "I saw it when I was buying a sketchbook. I remembered you told methat you liked to draw before video games were invented. So, I decided to buyit for you. Drawing might be a good hobby for you. It's more productive thanvideo games, that's for sure."

"Hey, I'll have you know thatvideo games are very productive. You can't beat me in a thumb war with all my training." Kurosaid and Mahiru laughed at his weak argument. He shook his head wearily but he would never change Kuro. Once their laughter subsided, Kuro said,"I don't remember the last time I got a gift like this. Thank you."

"Your welcome. I would love tosee what you draw." Mahiru picked up the plastic wrapped and stood."I'm going to throw this away. I’ll be right back.”

Kuro nodded and opened his newsketchbook. He didn't want to waste Mahiru’s money so he tried to think of somethingto draw. Mahiru gazed at his thoughtful expression for a moment. It was a raresight so he wanted to study it while he can. Then he pulled his eyes away fromKuro and left to throw away the wrapping. He didn't want to litter in such abeautiful garden.

When Mahiru returned, he wassurprised to find Kuro surrounded by girls. He was only gone for a few minutesbut a crowd had gathered around him. Kuro didn't seem to be paying the girlsany mind but jealousy made Mahiru pause. As he walked closer to them, he couldhear their conversation better.

"That's a beautiful sketch… Canyou show me how to draw like that…? Who is that you're drawing…? Do you have agirlfriend?" Several of the girls spoke at once. Kuro only grunted toanswer them but his lack of answer didn't discourage the infatuated girls. Watchingthem, Mahiru frowned.

"Kuro, I'm back." Mahirusmiled stiffly. He wanted to keep his jealousy from showing but it appeared inhis voice slightly. The girls were standing very close to Kuro. He pushed himselfinto the crowd and hugged Kuro's arm. "How about we gather our things andgo have lunch? I packed all of your favourites for our date."

His words were directed towards thegirls slightly and he was glad that they moved away from Kuro. He helped himgather the art supplies and placed them in his bag. He took Kuro's hand as theywalked to the picnic area. Mahiru was confused when Kuro slipped his hand from his.Then Kuro wrapped his arm around his waist and pulled him closer so he couldkiss his cheek.

"There's people around us,Kuro." Mahiru blushed and covered his cheek. "What got into you? Youdon't usually do things like that in public."

"I thought I should show thosegirls that I’m yours. In every way, you’ll have me. So, you don't need to feeljealous." Kuro grinned down at him. His brown eyes widened at his wordsand he could hear his silent question. "You show all of your emotions onyour face. You don't need to worry about them. They saw what I was drawing andthey were interested."

"I wasn't that jealous."Mahiru pouted. He could feel Kuro's teasing eyes on him and turned back to him."Okay, I might have been a little jealous. You're handsome and girls areinto the brooding artist archetype. What were you drawing?"

"Hold still," Kuro openedhis backpack and took out his sketchbook. He opened it and showed him thesketch of Mahiru wearing a flower crown. It was simple but stunning. Hislingering jealousy melted and warmth spread through him. He could see how muchKuro loved him in the details of the drawing.

"This is beautiful, Kuro."

"Because it's you."

I can’t believe it took me this long to write a fanfic with a jealous Mahiru.

[FanficPrompt List]

[theibgirls]

CAS is an essential part of the IB programme, but coming up with ideas for it can be very challenging, especially if money is tight. Therefore, I present to you 99 Free (or at the very least, inexpensive) CAS ideas!

Please like/reblog if this helped you, and so that it can help others! ❤︎

Creativity

1. Learn a new language: Free apps or websites like Duolingo or Mondly can help you learn a variety of languages. Here is a post about the language availability on various apps. You can even practice by manually translating song lyrics, which really is just an excuse to listen to Bollywood hits, K-pop, or even Shakira- there’s no reason to not have a little fun with it! If you do just 10 minutes a day you’ll get over an hour of CAS done every week. If you do 20 minutes a day, you’ll get over 2 hours a week, and by spending a little more than 20 minutes on one or two days you can easily get 2 and a half hours of CAS a week. 10 weeks of this and you’ll have 50% of your creativity hours done, and all while having fun listening to songs, and not having to spend a penny!

2. Making gifs or edits: You’re already on tumblr, why not use it as an opportunity for CAS? Making original content takes time, and will quickly fill up those 50 hours! If you don’t want your CAS supervisor see which fandoms you’re a part of, make school related content, for example making subject moodboards (self spon), edits of your required reading (maybe typography for your favourite quotes?), or giffing your favourite historical figures. If you’re experienced you can mass produce content, and if you’re a beginner you can check that “new skills” box! GIMP is free, and Photoshop has a free trial. After that you can either pay for it, or perhaps scour the internet for alternative ways to keep it (though you didn’t hear it from me). If you fulfill requests then it counts as service as well.

3. Art: You can either create digital art using the programs listed in the previous suggestion, or you can do it the old fashioned. While art supplies tend to cost a lot, there is no shame in making sketches or comics using good ol’ ink and lead pencils that you already have in your pencil case, and doing it in a notebook. If you’re willing to splurge, there are tons of ways to go with your art!

4. Photography: While a good camera is expensive, you probably already have a camera in your phone. The quality won’t be ideal, but you can easily practice photographing different motifs in different styles. You can also retouch and enhance the photos with GIMP and Photoshop, as mentioned above.

5. Join or create a low maintenance club: Baking and music may be fun, but ingredients cost money, and so do instruments. A debate club or film club won’t cost anything, except maybe if you buy popcorn! Regular meetings will ensure regular CAS hours.

6. Write poetry: Writing a good poem can take many, many hours, which in the context of CAS is a good thing! Take a stroll in the forest or by the seaside and feel those creative juices flowing!

7. Write a book: You know that idea for a novel you’ve had for ages? Write it down. It may feel awkward to show to your writing to your supervisor, but think of it as a free editor or focus group. This is a great excuse to fulfill your dream of becoming an author. Who knows? Maybe the final product is good enough to send to a publisher, or to self-publish on amazon so you can make some money!

8. Make Redbubble designs: A spin-off of the digital art suggestion. Whether it’s simple text or intricate fanart, Redbubble is a great place to display your creativity, and can even make you some money if you’re lucky!

9. Join a choir: Privately owned choirs may cost to join, but your local church will probably let you in for free.

10. Play an instrument: If you don’t already own an instrument, this isn’t a great option on a budget. However, some of you will already own a keyboard or a guitar, and may even already be taking lessons. If you are, then there is no reason not to use it for CAS. And if you own an instrument but don’t go to classes, simply practice on our own or watch tutorials on YouTube.

11. Dungeons and Dragons: Shocking, I know, but it is actually quite easy to justify D&D as creativity. A friend of mine succeeded in doing this, stating that it involved team work, initiative, commitment and problem solving. It goes to show that most things can be justified as CAS if you word everything well enough.

12. Makeup, nail art, or body paint: I highly doubt that applying mascara in the morning counts, but there are certainly many ways to express yourself with makeup. SFX, intricate patterns and new techniques certainly require creativity.

13. Dance: Dance will be expanded on in the Action section, but dance is not only exercise, but a form of expression which requires passion and creativity.

14. Learn coding: Coding has become a valuable skill in the recent years. There’s an endless amount of sources online, many of them free. Not only is it an interesting skill, but it’s an impressive skill to see on a résumé.

15. Make a game or an app: Game development is certainly not easy, but that just means that there will be plenty of hours for you to log! It also has the potential to make you money, which of course is a plus!

16. Start a YouTube channel: Buying a microphone and camera is expensive, but unless you’re aiming to become a YouTube star there’s no reason to spend money on equipment. CAS doesn’t discriminate between a $500 camera and a built in webcam, or between Adobe Premiere and Windows Movie Maker, so utilize what you have.

17. Join the school newspaper: The school newspaper is a great way to ensure regular hours, and can even count as service. There are many different types of articles, so you can get some variety in it too.

18. Send in articles to a newspaper: If you think the school newspaper is aiming too low, you can always submit articles to local newspapers or online magazines such as Buzzfeed. Your submissions may not always be published, but it’s worth a try, and the hours will count anyway!

19. Make a PSA video: There are tonnes of important causes you can promote, and a PSA video is a great way to do it. Furthermore, the service aspect will count for service hours, and if you do it with a friend it can count as a CAS project.

20. Acting: There are plenty of auditions around, whether it be to a school play or primetime TV. You don’t even need to get a role, simply auditioning is enough as you’ve been a risk taker (your coordinator will appreciate you using the IB learner profile in your reflections), and been creative.

21. Making a short film: Combining he last two points, making a video and acting, take this chance to make a short film (or a full length one depending on your ambition) and Kenneth Branagh’ it as producer, director, writer and lead.

22. Learn animation: Self-explanatory, and a very impressive skill to have.

23. Free online courses: Whether it be public speaking or anthropology, there are many free courses online which can be justified as creativity. Some courses may even look good on your résumé.

24. Make a board game: Board games are a lot of fun, but harder to make than they seem. Your creation might not be the next Monopoly, but it may provide some entertainment when you’re meeting your friends, and wouldn’t playing games with your friend be a great way to get CAS hours?

25. Gardening: A beautiful garden is a challenge to create, but challenges are a part of CAS! From a terrarium to a full scale English garden, there are many options for gardening. Here are some cheap ideas.

26. Make a podcast: Podcasts have become quite popular in the last few years, so try it out for yourself! There are many different topics you could cover, some which could count as service. Discussing one of those topics with a friend could be a great idea for a CAS project.

27. Make a website: This one is quite self-explanatory. Like the podcast, you could easily add a service aspect into it, and working with a friend could make it a CAS project.

28. Translating transcripts of spoken word poem: this one comes from @kahvia, who says “I found the transcripts of the poems on the Internet (some are hard to get, so once I just messaged the author on Facebook) and translated into my native language. It's hard and time consuming, but can be done on the go, so you can do CAS when commuting.”

29. Calligraphy: I must confess that I don’t know a lot about calligraphy, but I assume that amazing tools can cost quite a bit. But remember, CAS isn’t about quality, it’s about quantity, so screw expensive tools and just go for it!

30. Create your own font: Like with most things in life, wikihow has got your back.

31. Make an interactive story: Cool and largely uncharted territory, and definitely a unique experience. This will help you out.

32. Learn origami: Origami is beautiful, and the possibilities are endless. Although origami paper is preferred, it is possible to use regular paper too, which will save you some bucks. Google and YouTube have a million tutorials, so they got you covered.

33.  Make a Studyblr: Do you have any idea how many hours I’m getting just by making this list?

Action

1. Go jogging: Perhaps the most obvious free exercise is jogging. All you need is a pair of sneakers and you’re good to go (jogging)!

2. Play Pokémon Go: If you are still one of the few people playing Pokémon Go, walk until your eggs hatch. You could simply walk, but games make it a bit more interesting. On your CAS worksheet you can simply say you plan on walking 2km a day, but in your head and your heart it’s an epic quest for Pikachu.

3. Yoga: Yoga has numerous health benefits and is a great choice for those who don’t like exercise. Power yoga is an option for those who prefer a challenge, but beginner’s yoga isn’t too strenuous and can easily be done at home. Although a yoga mat is preferable, a lot of the moves can be done on the bed or just the floor. YouTube and the app store have thousands of free options, so there’s plenty to choose from, from 10 minutes to an hour. Half an hour before bed each day will have you finishing up your activity hours in no time!

4. Swimming in a public pool, lake or ocean: There are some public pools, but many pools require an entrance fee. The ocean does not. It’s not as easy to swim laps as in a pool, but it will do in a pinch.

5. A 30 day exercise challenge: The internet is full of 30 day exercise plans. Although they’re usually not an ideal fitness plan it will challenge your commitment, and you can get a month worth of CAS.

6.  Biking: Assuming you already have a bike, biking is a very cheap method of exercise, but very efficient. Biking to and from school will count, and if takes about 20 minutes back and forth a day, you’ll get 100 minutes in a school week. It’s regular exercise, and therefore it’s regular CAS.

7. Free apps: There’s an almost unlimited amount of exercise apps in the app store, and many of them are free. Try them out! Even a 7 minute exercise app can be useful. 49 minutes every week can be rounded up to 50 minutes, which is a great place to start if you’re new to CAS.

8. Dog walking: If you have your own dog, good for you! Take the adorable little pupper out for a walk. And if not, ask a neighbour if you can steal their dog take their dog for walks. Another case of regular exercise resulting in regular CAS hours.

9. Dance: Not all dancing has to be taught in class. Online you will find numerous tutorials for various dance styles, from belly dancing to hip hop. And if you choose to learn a dance style from another culture, like India’s kathak or the Latin samba you get to learn about other cultures and therefore be a global citizen (as the IBO likes to tell us to be).

10. Dance apps or games: This activity isn’t as focused on independent learning as the previous dance suggestion, but it works nonetheless. Games like DDR or Just Dance are found in many households, so you might already have access to them at home. Just Dance includes an exercise mode, so give it a go! And if you don’t have them, there’s always the free Just Dance app, which should do the trick, memes aside.

11. PlayStation or Wii games: Certainly not a cheap option if you don’t already have the consoles or games, but if you have Wii Sports or PlayStation 3 Sports Champions you have a great way to exercise without leaving your living room.

12. Self-defense: When you can’t afford to go to a self-defense class, we have the internet. Learning proper self-defense is sadly very important, but since it’s important to learn, why not learn it for CAS? Practice with a friend until you’re a ninja, or until you have 15 hours of activity completed.

13. Celebrity workout tape: You know the ones. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Jane Fonda tape from the 80s which you recreate in a leotard, but then again, why not? You could use a random person’s workout tape, but I think Jane Fonda can be trusted (I mean she’s 80 and have you seen how good she looks?). Cheesy as celebrity workout tapes are, especially the ones from the 80s, there’s something special about them. Many of them can be found online, so give them a go, leotard or no!

14. Jump rope: Chances are you still have a jump rope lying around the house from when you were a kid. Rope jumping is actually very good exercise, so try to find your old toy again- it will come in handy!

15. Chair workouts: Fulfill your dream of becoming Britney Spears with some chair exercises. There’s no need to buy fancy equipment when you can just go to your kitchen instead.

16. Basketball: No need to join a team as long as you have a hoop at home. Many people still have a hoop over the garage door from when they were children, why not utilize them?

17. Join a school club: Of course, any club works, but most clubs will require an entry fee. School owned ones are unlikely to ask for one.

18. Hiking: Fresh air, breath-taking views, and all that crap.

19. Running competitions: 5k runs are frequently put on, why not join one?

20. Walk home: Is it cheating? Probably. But walking is activity, so why shouldn’t you take advantage of it? You don’t need to specify that you’re walking home, you can simply say a daily walk of x minutes.

21. Basic gymnastics or acrobatics: When I say basic, I mean basic. Somersaults, cartwheels, the works. It’s technically exercise, and you can say you’re doing acrobatics without going into further details.

22. Tree climbing: An alternative to rock climbing, only it’s free.

23. Use stockings as resistance bands: I honestly don’t know how well this works, but google said it works so it must be true.

24. Water gymnastics: Once again, doing things properly is overrated. Go to a pool and try to figure it out yourself, or with a friend. It may look ridiculous, but you’ll be trying. Another option is to do it some meters away from an ongoing class, because stealing exercise kinda works according to an episode of Will and Grace.

25. Badminton: When I say badminton, I don’t mean fancy professional badminton, I mean “get a gas station badminton racket and play in the park or your lawn”.

26. Foraging: Go look for mushrooms in a forest and keep track of how long you’ve been out and how long you’ve walked.

27. Orienteering: Although I personally despise orienteering with a violent passion, I have many friends who enjoy it, one who even does it for fun. Orienteering can be planned with friends, and can take place in a forest or a city.

28. Treasure hunt: Almost an extension of orienteering, you can plan a treasure hunt in a city or a forest. With the added element of the treasure hunt, there’s a case for creativity, and doing it in a group can work as a CAS project.

29. Frisbee: Frisbees are cheap and can be bought at a gas station, and work as a fun group activity.

30. Help the elderly: As you will see in the Service section, elderly neighbours might need some help cutting grass or shoveling snow. And as anyone who has ever shoveled snow knows, it’s a surprisingly efficient exercise.

31. Gym trial: Many gyms offer a free trial for a day or a week, or even a month, which is easy to take advantage of. Use the free days to their full extent, and if that isn’t enough, go to another gym chain and use their trial. Obviously this won’t be a long term thing, but if you work long, and not necessarily hard, 15 hours should be manageable.

32. Pilates: An alternative to yoga that works as well at home as at a gym.

33. PARKOUR: … don’t die.

 Service

1. Join Amnesty: Amnesty is an organization that raises awareness for a number of important issues, and often collect signatures for their causes. Be the one who hunts for signatures and watch the service hours roll in.

2. Join the Red Cross, or any other charitable organization: The Red Cross needs no introduction. It is perhaps the most famous charity in the world, and does a lot of good. However, there have been controversies surrounding it in the past, so if you want to support another charity instead, go for it! Find a charity that is important to you and the service hours will feel even sweeter.

3. Blood donation, or spreading awareness for it: Donating blood will often get you a small payment, and you can’t do it often, so it isn’t ideal for service. However, going to your local donation center and asking for pamphlets and sign up forms to bring to school or a stand at the mall is a great way to raise awareness and encourage other people to go donate blood. It’s one of those things people talk about doing but always put off, so be the person that changes their mind-set!

4. Helping out at school events: School discos, bake sales, or bazaars always need volunteers, and it’s a great way to get many hours done at once. Contact the PTA at your school or other schools in the area and see when upcoming events are taking place and you’ll easily get at least 15 hours of service done. If you really phrase things well you might even be able to get some creativity hours.

5. Dog walking: Expanding on the point in Action, you can walk other people’s dogs as service. Ask a neighbour if they need help, or post an ad at the grocery store. Service hours and spending time with dogs, what more could you want?

6. Volunteer at an animal shelter: Like the previous point, this really is just a great excuse to hang out with animals. Check the local shelter to see if they need any helpers!

7. Volunteering at a senior center: Senior centers are always in need of more hands. Whether it’s cleaning the resident’s rooms, walking with them or just making sure they have some company, there will always be something the center will need help with.

8. Volunteering at a hospital: Not all hospitals allow untrained volunteers, but some hospitals do. If you volunteer at a hospital you will not perform the duties of a nurse, but instead simply provide some company for the people staying there.

9. Homeless shelter: Homeless shelters always need more volunteers. There’s a variety of roles you can fill, from handing out food to collecting donations. No matter what it is you do, it will have a great impact on the people who rely on the shelters.

10. Make a PSA video: As mentioned in the Creativity section, making a PSA video is a great idea for a CAS project as it combines creativity and service, and results in lots of hours.

11. Bake sales: Baking yourself will obviously cost a bit, but most ingredients can probably already be found in your home. Set up a stand in the school corridor, and find a charity to donate the profits to.

12. Volunteer at a library: Most libraries have a variety of volunteer opportunities, from tutoring children to teaching seniors how to use technology. Go to your local library and see what volunteer programs they have!

13. Shoveling snow: Winter doesn’t treat people who live in cold places well. In case of snow you might have several neighbours struggling to clear the snow from their lot. Offer them a hand and feel the CAS hours piling up!

14. Cutting grass: Like shoveling snow, cutting grass is something people need to get done, but it’s backbreaking and time consuming. Go around the neighbourhood and see if anyone needs any help with it!

15. Assisting elderly neighbours: If you have any elderly neighbours, offer to do chores for them, like cleaning and cooking. They’ll be sure to appreciate it, and it can get you semi regular CAS hours.

16. Car washing: No, this does not have to include a red bikini, but it does give you two options: either offer to wash cars for free as service, or to set a price so you can give the profits to charity. All you need is a sponge and some water, so get scrubbing!

17. Scouts: Most scout groups require a member fee, so it’s not ideal to become a scout if you aren’t one. However, if you’re already a member, being a scout leader will get you many, many hours, so take advantage of it!

18. Student union: Student unions work hard, and can therefore get you many hours. There will be a wide range of activities to organize and participate in, so you’ll have some much needed variety.

19. Prom committee: If you’re not interested in joining the student union, there may be some committees that are separate from the union. Prom committees, graduation committees, etc., are all great options that can get you plenty of hours.

20. Babysitting: Give your neighbours a night off by offering to babysit for free. Remember, it doesn’t count as service if you get paid, so make sure the only money you get is to pay for dinner.

21. Tutoring: Some schools have study halls, or a homework club, aka after school homework help for the younger kids. And if your school doesn’t offer it already, ask if you can start it. It’ll be a chance for you to tutor younger kids, and if nobody shows up and wants your help, so what? You offered the service, and even if no one came, the hours count.

22. Start a club: Being a member of a club will get you creativity hours, starting one will get you both. Do it with a friend and you’ve got a CAS project.

23. Join a big brother/big sister organization: There are several of these organizations going around, and a popular one in the US is bbbs.org, which states that their mission is to “Provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.” A noble cause for sure, and one which your CAS coordinator will adore. It will tick most outcome boxes, and you will gain something from it too.

24. Volunteer in a political campaign: If there are any elections happening in your country soon, get involved for the good of your community, and your CAS hours!

25. Volunteer at a hotline: Many countries have crisis hotlines that often need more volunteers, why not help out?

26. Start Kiva team: kiva.org is a great website that revolves around microloans. It has the option to make or join teams of lenders. Make a team and try to gain members, spread awareness and get donations to lend money to people in need around the world. As they are loans, you get money back in kiva credit which you can then donate to someone new, thus creating a circle of good. Team meetings to decide which individuals, countries or field partners to donate to next will get you many CAS hours.

27. Plan an athletic event for charity: Whether it be a 5k, orienteering, a treasure hunt (all as mentioned in the activity section), or anything else you can think of, it’s a great way to involve a community, and any entrance fee can be donated to charity. By participating yourself, you can tick all three CAS boxes, and doing it with one or more people makes it a great CAS project.

28. Writing letters to soldiers: This may not be an option everywhere, but some countries have organizations where you can write letters to the soldiers overseas who don’t have anyone writing to them, which is sure to be a morale booster.

29. Host a free workshop: Workshops are a great way to learn new skills, or to teach your skills. Maybe you can teach something you learned from/for your creativity hours!

30. Neighbourhood watch: Neighbourhood watches are a great way to help ensure safety in your local area, so either join one or start one.

31. Volunteer to help immigrants and/or refugees: There are many organizations that work to help immigrants and refugees become integrated in society, whether it be activities for children or events to help newly arrived people learn the local language. Look up any local organizations and see if they’re looking for volunteers!

32. Park maintenance: Many parks need help with a lot of maintenance, from cleaning to repainting benches. Contact whoever is in charge and see if they need any volunteers.

33. Studyblr: Coming up with 99 free CAS ideas is surprisingly time consuming, and so is everything else about a studyblr, so give it a go and get those hours!

[notesfromthefielddesk]

Episode 6 - Tsing part 1

Episode link; https://open.spotify.com/episode/3x0cMRYDmN5M8lDCZIZxEK?si=07ec23a2d8ac485e 

The sound of a temple bell is heard in the cedar forest at dusk,

The autumn aroma drifts on the roads below. 

The moving cloud fades away, and I smell the aroma of the mushroom.

Oh Matsutake:

The excitement before finding them. 

This episode isn’t about Japan. It’s not about Mushrooms. It’s about living in our own mess, it’s about international relations, it’s about capitalist trading. But the same way we can trace politics through cows, or social relations through cockfights, the art of anthropology is in noticing the small things which might teach us more. In the face of global capitalism a mushroom might seem humble but that is what Anna Tsing would call a problem with scale, because as the most valuable mushroom in the world it couldn’t be further from ‘humble.’ 

This is notes from the field desk 

(Theme)

(Sounding sleepy) 

It’s about, ummm quarter to five. I’m in Tsukiji whole-sale market in Tokyo. I’m maybe jet-lagged but that would make it like 9pm to me and actually I feel significantly worse than that. I’m here this early because the auction runs from around 5am to six fifteen. Whilst the market is famous for its tuna auctions, if you’ve seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi then you’ve seen the market and it’s ginormous frozen tuna, but they also sell mushrooms here. This market is in fact so famous they had to ban tourists on several occasions. Thankfully it’s not currently one of those times,i’m sat in the tourist section, i’m in the back because of the desk and well because the guards said I was a disruptive influence. 

I’m paraphrasing he actually said “move it, Deku” before shoving my desk to the back. My translation app couldn’t really figure out Deku so if anyone could help me out with the meaning? It doesn’t really matter, seen as almost everyone is here for the Tuna, I have a pretty clear view of the auctioneers arranging matsutake on a trestle table. The staff are wearing, what kind of look like, bowling shirts (kind of questioning) and baseball caps which have a little board on the front which have some kanji which I can’t read. Really someone else should have come on this trip. 

This is maybe petty but to be honest now I’m doing this because I have to, i’m not enjoying it as much. Is there something wrong with me? Anyway that’s a discussion for another time. 

They are organising the mushrooms by, size, value and origin. These mushrooms have probably been sorted at least twice before by value but origin has a significant impact on their eventual sale price. As one Japanese importer explained to Anna Tsing “Matsutake are like people, American mushrooms are white, because the people are white. Chinese mushrooms are black, because the people are black. Japanese people and mushrooms are nicely in between.” Okay, I recognise that we’ve gotten slightly ahead of ourselves here. How does a mushroom come to cost between 1000 and 2000 dollars per pound? 

Matsutake first appears in a poem from 8th century Japan which praises it’s smell which would go on to become synonymous with Autumn in Japan. The mushroom had started popping up around Kyoto and Nara, areas which had been deforested for timber and fuel. In fact, deforestation is the reason why matsutake became common in Japan. This is because these mushrooms have a symbiotic relationship with red pine trees. Red pines tend to grow most successfully in mineral rich soil left by deforestation and could grow more easily without the shade from broadleaf trees which had been cut down. 

This is the start of Anna Tsing’s interest in these mushrooms, not because she’s just really into foraging, although she is, but because of what they symbolise, think Geertz. In the wake of capitalist ruin, here read deforestation, this mushroom thrived. This is so generally understood about Matsutake that people say the first thing to grow after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima was a Matsutake. 

Written in the wake of the 2008 financial crash and with the results of climate change becoming undeniable Tsing wants to find a way that people can pull off the same trick. And she found a parallel in the forests of Oregon, but that is for next week. 

So how does a mushroom you literally find in the trash become the most expensive fungus in the world? Well by 1900 in Japan it had become the culturally ubiquitous idea of Autumn. Think lambs in spring or incredibly drunk, sunburnt bald men with a union jack tattoos and British summer. Matsutake were everywhere, in Kyoto, they became the generic term for mushroom. So far, so cheap commodity right? But then in the 50s people stopped using wood as their main fuel, woodland was cut down and paved for suburban development, broadleaf trees grew back and in the shaded forest, Matsutake started to disappear. By the 1970s Japanese Matsutake were incredibly rare. This coincided with rapid Japanese economic development. The culturally significant and now rare mushroom became gifts, bribes and perks for businessmen. Consequently the price skyrocketed.

Huge demand but limited supply in Japan meant the international market suddenly gained importance. And non-Japanese mushroom pickers from around the world flooded into the market. 

Oh hold on the auction is starting. I wanna see if I can buy one. 

Umm I have no idea what is happening. 

Excuse me. Nope ignored. 

Umm. 

Hello. 

13,000 yen! 

(Awkward silence. Fade out.)

Okay so umm, I won the auction. Is that how you say it? But I bought one mushroom for 120 dollars and then they asked me to leave. So we’re set up in a cafe outside the market. If you’re wondering, yes, the guy who has been following me is here. 

Hi mate. You alright? Cool. 

He was in the auction too but I've decided to live and let live. In part because of what i’ve learned from reading Tsing. 

I guess uhh lets see what the fuss about this mushroom is about. 

Smells mushroom nervously

Yep smells like dirt. Cool. What am I going to do with this now?

Okay smells like dirt. Great. That’s 120 dollars for some dirt. I don’t even like mushrooms what the fuck am I doing. Okay, I guess we should talk about isolation and contamination which is where Tsing starts to get confusing, so, sorry about that. I can really understand why the students don’t get it and I think if the last few weeks have proven anything it’s that the students seem to understand anthropology better than I do. But I’ve done the reading and I've got notes so let’s give it a shot. 

Tsing says capitalism is based on a growth and progress model. Wow, we’re off the rails already. In other words, and I'm not an economist so don’t @ me, the health of an individual, company and nation under capitalism are measured by their ability to generate more than they did previously. The aim is for GDP to grow, for company profits to increase, individuals to earn more etc. One way to achieve this end is to focus on scalability. Which is the ability to create more of the same product without changing the product. This is often achieved through isolation. 

Yikes this episode is like “dictionary corner.” For isolation think of old Henry Ford and his assembly line. Instead of 5 guys working on every aspect of a car, the assembly line isolates each component and has one person make that part. Now you can make lots of cars quickly. Take this podcast, I write it, record it, edit it, and upload it. If I hired a writer, an editor and a social media person. I could just record the episodes and we could all be working simultaneously, produce more podcasts, get more listeners, then maybe this podcast could generate a profit. 

Good news right? More of everything is made more quickly for less money, which means we can all have a car. Or a podcast. But Tsing sees some problems. She takes a different example of scalability. Portugese sugar plantations in Brazil. Sugar cane was grown by splitting a sugar cane and sticking it in the ground. Functionally it was a clone brought from New Guinea and planted in Brazil. As a farming product it couldn’t be more isolated. Unlike a matsutake say, which can’t be scaled because it grows almost by random in relation to the soil and the trees around it, the sugar cane has no relationship to its surroundings. 

Now let's talk about the farm workers. Sugar plantation workers were slaves brought from west Africa to Brazil. Like the sugar cane they were isolated with no social relations in Brazil which prevented escape. This is why slave traders split families, social and cultural groups. Their alienation and isolation made them a controllable, standardized workforce. Portugal made huge profits from this and could keep the uncomfortable effects hidden, seen as the whole project took place in west Africa and south America, far away from the Portugese eyes. This is maybe the first example of what academics call “space-time distanciation” I know what the fuck is distanciation other than a great way to be the most hated person at a dinner party or the pub. 

Basically it’s just a bullshit way to say doing things from far away but in real time. So like ugh I don’t know, (Rising anger) a kid in America can snipe you on COD and call you a homophobic slur and you experience it as it happens even though he’s thousands of miles away. And however much you threaten him he won’t experience any consequences because he’s far away and you’re thirty and trash at shooters. (awkward pause) Not a real thing that happened to me, just a random example. 

So this scalability and distanciation were created and spread around the world by European colonists but it was Japanese markets which modernised the idea. In the 60s to the 80s Japan actually gave American economic dominance a little scare because of its shift to outsourcing. Instead of Japanese companies making products in Japan where labour was expensive they made products abroad where labour was cheap and took advantage of increasingly speedy global supply lines to turn huge profits. 

Matsutake picking is an example of this which we’ll talk about more next time but in short, casual workers pick and sell them for a fraction of their market value in America, the middle men then transport it to Japan where it’s market and cultural value is increased and sell it for a huge profit. 

Another example would be fast fashion. Everyone remembers the scandals when it came out that gap or nike or primark had their clothes made in terrible conditions. A lot of brands defended themselves by saying they had no idea about the conditions. To an extent this is true, but it was deliberate ignorance. They put their production in the hands of intermediary companies in countries far away from their shareholders, employees and customers creating plausible deniability.

There is another problem which is obvious really. Scale can only go so far, which is until all the resources are gone. Then the project has to move on and do something else. Think of Japan after they had cut down all the trees. Or if you really want to depress yourself, fossil fuels. 

Okay, okay what’s the point! Tsing says all this stuff, the distanciation, the scalability, the obsession with more profits, the isolation is the cause of the precarious lives more and more people are experiencing. Think of zero hours contracts, or uber driving or amazon workers pissing in bottles. It’s easy to cut wages, to allow bad working conditions, to strip mine the rainforest when we are distanced from the consequences. So long as it happens somewhere else, to someone else, when we have no relationship with the products we consume, or create. Think of the podcast again. If I hired all these people it would be more efficient but then I wouldn’t have the same relationship with it. I would become alienated from it. That’s how little by little people have less of an understanding of the things around them. That’s how we can separate the petrol we put in our cars from the environmental damage that doing that causes. 

Wow. Depressing. Jesus. Remember when this show used to be about cows and magic? 

(sigh) 

Taking things seriously sucks. Okay but Tsing reckons that by looking at these expensive mushrooms there is hope. Capitalism can make us feel lonely but looking at Matsutake reminds us that even in capitalist ruins like a destroyed forest new things can grow. Those things grow from relationships, the encounter between the mushroom and the pine tree and the soil from deforestation. It’s a reminder that we aren’t actually alone that there aren’t any “challenges we might face without asking for help from others, human or not human.” Through relationships we change and Tsing says “The important stuff of life on earth happens in those transformations.” So you know, join your union, talk to your neighbour, forage for mushrooms. It might just make the world better. And if it doesn’t, well at least you have some friends and mushrooms. Wait did i just say join a union? Am I woke? Must be the jet lag.  

Time for the extract; 

How does a gathering become a happening, that is, greater than the sum of its parts? One answer is contamination. We are contaminated by our encounters; they change who we are as we make way for others. As contamination changes world making projects, mutual worlds - and new directions - may emerge. Everyone carries a history of contamination; purity is not an option. One value of keeping precarity in mind is that it makes us remember that changing with circumstances is the stuff of survival. 

But what is survival? In popular American fantasies, survival is all about saving oneself by fighting off others. The “survival” featured in U.S. television shows or alien-planet stories is a synonym for conquest and expansion. I will not use the term that way. Please open yourself to another usage. This book argues that staying alive - for every species - requires livable collaborations. Collaboration means working across differences, which leads to contamination. Without collaborations, we all die. 

The problem of precarious survival helps us see what is wrong. Precarity is the state of acknowledgement of our vulnerability to others. In order to survive, we need help and help is always the service of another, with or without intent. When I sprain my ankle, a stout stick may help me walk and I enlist its assistance. I am now an encounter in motion, a woman and stick. It is hard for me to think of any challenge I might face without soliciting the assistance of others, human and not human. It is unselfconscious privilege that allows us to fantasize - counter factually - that we survive alone. 

How do you conclude something as complicated as this? Okay how about this. Often you’ll hear people talking about capitalist alienation and it’s not really clear what that means. I think what Tsing is saying is that capitalism wants people to be individualised. That way labour can be scaled up, because the products aren’t related to the context that they are made in. So you can make a ford car in a factory in Detroit or Dhaka and the product will be the same. But Tsing is giving us a warning and a reminder that we aren’t individuals. That we have a relationship with everything around us and forgetting this can destroy our surroundings. This means humans and non-humans too! If we’re going to survive late capitalism and climate change we have to re-engage in these relationships. 

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What Have I Done... A 365 Day Journey...

So about a week ago I decided I was going to undertake a new project. Something I’ve never done before but felt would be good for me. I decided to do 365 days of art. Whether that’s sketching, painting, sculpting, sewing, WHATEVER, I was going to do it. The reason this is a big deal for me, is because I’ve never been someone to finish things. I tend to get super excited for a new endeavor, go hard at it for a week or two, quickly get discouraged, give up, and move on to the next thing. Which brings me to the question - what have I done...

I’ve never stuck with something for longer that 2-3 weeks (much less and entire year) so how am I going to accomplish this? And how do I motivate and encourage others to do the same if I don’t even know how i’m going to do it. So I set in place a few measures to make sure I do SOMETHING at least once a day. Here’s how I set it up.

1.) Drawing prompts. I managed to only come up with 47 so far but it’s enough to keep me going and to get me at least creating. Some I’ve borrowed from other peoples lists, some came to me randomly while I was looking around. I feel it helped tailor it to my needs and provide a brain storming session. Drawing prompts are great for when you’re stuck and need something to help spark inspiration. Even if you do nothing on the list, it may give you an idea. I suffer from SERIOUS artists block, but it’s all in my head. I get too serious about what I want to make so i get overwhelmed and make nothing at all. 

2.) I start off drawing something I’m comfortable or familiar with. For me, that’s flowers or nature related things. I used to love drawing portraits and people but it’s been so long that now they end up deformed and ugly. It’s something I really have to work when I feel like challenging myself. But it’s best to start with something comfortable/familiar in order to get the artistic juices flowing.

3.) Set up a blog and make daily posts. Whether people read it or not, it’s a way to organize your thoughts and ramblings. If you’re like me and have a partner who’s not artistically inclined, you need a place to vent your artistic frustrations without driving your partner mad. They always try to help but we know that sometimes, it’s just too much and gets completely de-railed from the original conversation. Make a blog. Vent your frustrations, your successes, anything you learned, and share your creative breakthroughs with others. I used to have an art blog a few years back in college but I grew to resent it (as our professors made us post EVERYTHING and I hated that and forgot how to access it years later). So, I’m starting over. As I said, whether people read your posts or not, it doesn’t matter. Your blog is like your own personal diary that the world has the option of viewing. Do it for you.

4.) Don’t be afraid to work on more than 1 work. If you’ve started something and inspiration hits you for a new work, don’t be afraid to drop what you’re doing and get it down either on paper, in writing, somewhere. Works tend to inspire each other. So long as you begin making good bases, you can always re-visit works and finish them. And if you don’t, save them. They may inspire something new down the line.

5.) Don’t be so damn hard on yourself. There are going to be times when you just can’t make something. That’s okay. We all get burnt out. My job is an 8am-5pm everyday of developing signs in Illustrator. It’s creative, but it’s hard. Humans aren’t made to be creative 24hrs a day. We need time to rest. But don’t use it as an excuse to give up. Take a day, drink your wine (if you’re of age), and get back to work the next day. Don’t be hard on yourself, but be strict with your commitment.

6.) Work outside your comfort zone sometimes. This goes back to what I was saying earlier. Drawing people is way outside of my comfort zone. but we have to challenge ourselves occasionally to keep us from getting bored and stagnant. It helps to cultivate new creative processes and allows us to make mistakes and happy accidents we can use in the future. So even though it’s good to start with something comfortable, you need to push yourself to try something new (whether that’s a new material, theme, subject matter, etc.).

7.) It’s okay to copy someone else sometimes. BUT - that does not mean you can claim the work you copied as your own. These are works you don’t share with other people. Copying someone else’s work is for your own personal reference. It allows you to learn more about different styles or ideas. You do not get to claim these as your own, USE THEM FOR YOUR OWN REFERENCE ONLY. It helps expand your ideas and lets you learn new limits for drawing. But don’t be a plagiarist and steal someone else’s work. You can share work INSPIRED by someone else’s work, but give credit to the artist. 

8.) Take photos. And I mean, LOTS of photos. Photos give you reference points to draw from and taking your own photos means your work is an original from start to finish. You don’t need a fancy camera, just use your phone (but if you DO have a fancy camera, go crazy). The point is, take photos of everything and sort through them when you plan to work on something new. Save them all someplace and you’ll always have references of your own creation to get your creative juices flowing.

9.) Exercise. Weird, I know. Exercise is a great refresher for the brain and will help clear your head and help inspire new things. Plus, it helps you feel better. Whether that’s just taking a walk (take some photos!) or going to the gym, you should try to get at least 15 minutes of exercise a day. I am personally terrible with this but it’s something I’m trying to do. I hate exercise but being a couch potato does not inspire me to do art. It only inspires me to eat Halo Top in my Netflix pants glued to my couch. So exercise.

10.) Have a designated art space and ritual to get you started. You don’t need a ton of room, just have a desk or a coffee table (some people like to draw in bed). having a designated space helps habituate your brain to be creative when you’re in your creative space. I put on my art playist on Spotify, make myself a cup of tea, light a candle, and get creative! Sometimes I’ll play a movie on my computer while I work (since my computer is in my art space). I find the background noise helps me focus. Try hanging up some of your favorite works in your creative space and adding little things to your desk to spice it up a bit and inspire creativity. Make the space yours. My space is in a small corner of my bedroom on a 5x7 rug. Not big at all but it holds my desk, easel, computer, canvases and art cart. Everything I need! And it doesn’t take up too much space. 

11.) - Start small. You don’t have to be painting a 4′x6′ canvas today. Start with a sketch. If you feel you want to transfer it to something bigger later on, then go for it! Sometimes I jump straight to a canvas, but for the most part, I feel the need to work out a new painting on a smaller surface first.

12.) - Buy a new sketchbook or art supply. Whatever it is, starting fresh with a new sketchbook or buying a new pen / pencil / paint tube /etc. will get you inspired to make new things.

These are all the reminders I have to stay on track. 365 days is going to be one hell of a journey. It’s going to be hard some days. It’s going to be frustrating and overwhelming. But my hope is that it will also be inspiring, innovative, and spark something new in me and re-ignite my passion for art after a year and a half long artist road block. I do hope that people will join me on this journey and share their experiences along the way. I will be posting my art prompts as well for others to use if they so desire! Today is Day 1. Here’s to the hard, ugly, frustrating, beautiful, innovative, and inspiring road ahead - cheers all.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram @rosenburgk - I will be posting progress photos on there as well as on here. I post more daily life / behind the scenes stuff on instagram (like my cats, hahaha!). 

[seokpapi-blog]

CHARCOAL (M) | kth

“The thing with Taehyung is that he use his hands a lot while drawing and get his fingers stained with charcoal, a lot. But when I come back home later, I love to see the same black prints all over my body.”

+Pairing: Taehyung x femlale MC ft Seokjin +Genre: College!AU, Artist!kth +Warnings: sexual assault victim +Note: GUYS! This is an adaptation of the book “Easy” by Tammara Webber. I decided to start like this because im not sure of my writing skill yet, so enjoy!

01 02 03 04 05

03

I dutifully emailed the econ tutor when I got back to the dorm after class, and started on my art history homework. While tapping out a response essay on a neoclassical sculptor and his influence on the style, I mumbled a thank you to my inner neurotic that I’d at least kept up in my non-econ classes.

With Elee at work, I could buckle down to an evening of quiet studying. Here in our microscopic room, she couldn’t help being a near-constant distraction. While I attempted to cram for an algebra test last week, the following conversation took place: “I had to have those pumps for my job, Daddy!” she argued into her cell. “You said you wanted me to learn the value of work while I’m in school, and you always say a person should dress for success, so I’m only trying to follow your words of wisdom.”

When she glanced at me, I rolled my eyes. My roommate was a hostess at a swanky restaurant downtown, a position she frequently used as an excuse for overspending her clothing budget. Three hundred dollar shoes, essential for a job that paid nine bucks an hour? I stifled my laugh when she winked back at me. Her father always caved, especially when she employed the D-word—Daddy.

I wasn’t expecting a quick reply from the tutor. As an upperclassman and a tutor for a huge class like Dr. Park’s, he had to be busy. I was also certain he’d be none too thrilled to assist a failing sophomore who’d skipped the midterm and two weeks of class, and who had never attended one of his tutoring sessions. I was prepared to show him I would work hard to catch up and get out of his hair as quickly as possible.

Fifteen minutes after I emailed him, my inbox dinged. He’d replied, in the same formal tone I’d chosen after.

“Ms. Son, Dr. Park has informed me of your need to catch up in macro and the project you’ll need to complete in order to replace the midterm grade. Since he’s approved you to do this work, there’s no need to share the reason why you’ve fallen so far behind with me. I’m employed as a tutor, so this falls under my job description. 

We can meet on campus, preferably in the library, to discuss the project. It’s detailed, and will require a great deal of outside research on your part. I’ve been instructed by Dr. Heller as to the level of assistance I should provide. Basically, he wants to see what you can do, alone. I’ll be available for general questions, of course.My group tutoring sessions are MWTh from 1-2:00, but those cover current material. I assume you’ll need more assistance comprehending the material you missed over the past two weeks. Let me know the times you’re available to meet for individual tutoring sessions and we’ll coordinate from there.

Kim T.”

I clenched my jaw. Though perfectly polite, the tone of his email reeked of condescension… until his signature at the very end: KT. Was he being friendly, or casual, or ridiculing my attempt to sound like a serious, mature student? I read his email again and got even madder. So he thought I was too dumb to comprehend the course material on my own? 

“Mr. Kim, I can’t attend your sessions because I have art history MW 1-2:30, and I tutor at the middle school on Thursday afternoons. I live on campus and am available to meet late afternoons Monday/Wednesday, and most evenings. I’m also free on weekends when I’m not tutoring. I’ve begun reading the course material on GDP, CPI, and inflation, and I’m working on the review questions at the end of chapter 9. If you want to meet to pass on the project requirements, I’m sure I can catch up on the regular coursework on my own.

Y/N.”

I pressed send and felt superior for all of about twenty seconds. In actuality, I’d barely glanced at chapter 9. So far, it looked less like comprehensible supply and demand charts, and more like gibberish with dollar signs and confusing shifts tossed in for fun. As for GDP and CPI, I knew what those acronyms signified… Sort of.

Oh, God. I’d just haughtily dismissed the tutor provided by my professor—the professor who wasn’t obligated to give me a second chance, but had.

When my email dinged again, I swallowed before clicking over to it. A new message from Kim T was at the top of my inbox.

“Y/N, If you prefer to catch up on your own, that’s your prerogative, of course. I’ll gather the information on the project and we can meet, say, Wednesday just after 2:00?

Kim T. PS What do you tutor?”

His reply didn’t seem angry. He was civil. Nice, even. I was so emotional lately that I couldn’t judge anything clearly.

“Kim T, I teach private lessons to orchestra students—middle and high school—on the upright bass. I just remembered I agreed to assist in transporting two of my students’ instruments to a program this Wednesday afternoon. (I drive a truck, to accommodate transport of my own instrument, and now I’m constantly inundated with requests to move large musical instruments, sofas, mattresses...)

Are you free any evening? Or Saturday?

Y/N”

I’d been playing the upright bass since I was ten. In fourth grade, one of the orchestra’s two bass players had a pee wee football collision the second weekend of school, resulting in a snapped collarbone. Our orchestra teacher, Mrs. Peabody, had looked out over the vast sea of violin players and pleaded for someone to switch. “Anyone?” she’d squeaked. When no one else volunteered, I raised my hand.

“Honey, isn’t that an odd choice of instrument for a girl to play?” my mother asked. Still petulant over my rejection of learning piano—her instrument of choice—in favor of the violin, she was immediately unsupportive of my new preference.

“Yes.” I glared at my mother and she rolled her eyes.

By the time I was fifteen, I’d reached my full five-and-a-half-foot stature and could perform with a three-quarter sized instrument, no height adjustment needed, though it was a close thing.

For the past year, I’d been giving lessons to local students—all of them boys—each of them some version of smug and impertinent until they heard me play.

"Y/N, Upright bass? Interesting.

I’m busy in the evenings this week, and most weekends as well. I don’t want you to lose time on this, so I’ll send you the project information later tonight, and we can discuss it over email until we can sync our schedules. Will that work for you?

KT. PS – I’ll keep you in mind if I buy a large appliance or need to move.”

“Kim, Thank you, yes—that would be great. (Re: sending the project information, I mean, not your brazen resolution to use me for my truck’s hauling capacity. You’re no better than my friends! They dodge U-Haul rentals and delivery fees, and I get paid in beer.)

Y/N.”

“Y/N, I’ll send the project specifics when I get home, and we can discuss.The barter system is just primitive economics at work, you know. (And are you old enough for beer?)

KT.”

“Kim, Far be it from me to knock an effective use of prehistoric economics. And I suppose friends who pay in beer are better than friends who don’t pay at all. (Re: my age—I don’t believe the job description of Economics Tutor makes you privy to that sort of personal information.)

Y/N”

“Y/N,  Touché. I’ll just have to trust you not to get me arrested for supplying alcohol to minors.You’re right—impoverished, auto-lacking college students like myself should respect tried-and-true methods of transport negotiations.

KT.”

I smiled at his candid admission of being carless, my face falling when I contrasted it with the sense of self-importance Seokjin got from his car. Right before we graduated, his parents gave his two-year-old Mustang to his sixteen-year-old brother, who’d wrecked his Jeep the weekend before. As an early graduation gift, they replaced Seokjin’s Mustang with the brand new BMW—sleek and black, with every available upgrade, including plush leather seats and a stereo system I could hear from a block away.

Fuuuuck. I had to stop linking every single thing that happened to me with Seokjin. 

********

Arriving a minute before econ began Wednesday morning, the last thing I expected to see was Seokjin, leaning on the wall outside the classroom, exchanging phone numbers with a girl. Giggling after snapping a picture of herself, she handed his phone back. He did the same, grinning down at her.

He would never smile at me like that again.

I didn’t realize I was frozen in place until a classmate shouldered into me, knocking my heavy backpack from my shoulder. “’Excuse me,” he grumbled, his tone more ‘Get the fuck out of the way’ than ‘Sorry I ran into you’.

As I bent to retrieve my backpack, praying Seokjin and his fangirl hadn’t seen me, a hand grasped the strap and swung the pack up from the floor. I straightened and looked into clear brown eyes.  “Chivalry isn’t really dead, you know.” His deep, calm voice was just as I remembered from Saturday night, and from Monday afternoon, across the Starbucks counter. “Oh? ”He slipped the strap back onto my shoulder. “Nah. That guy’s just an asshole.” He gestured toward the guy who’d bumped me, but I could have sworn his eyes raked over my ex, too, who was crossing to the door, laughing with the girl. “You okay?” For the third time, this question, from him, held deeper significance than the usual, everyday implication. “Yes, fine.” What could I do but lie? “Thank you.” I turned and entered the room, took my new seat, and spent the first forty-five minutes of class fixing my attention on Dr. Park, the whiteboard he filled, and the notes I took. Dutifully copying charts of short-run equilibrium and aggregate demand, all of it seeming like so much nonsense, I realized I would have to beg my tutor Kim for help after all. My pride would only cause me to slide further behind. Minutes before the end of class, I turned and reached into my backpack as an excuse to sneak a look at the guy on the back row. He was staring at me, a black pencil loose between his fingers, tapping the notebook in front of him. He slouched into his seat, one elbow over the back of it, one booted foot casually propped on the support under his desk. As our eyes held, his expression changed subtly from unreadable to the barest of smiles, though guarded. He didn’t look away, even when I glanced into my bag and then back at him. I snapped forward, my face warming.

Guys had shown interest in me over the past three years, but other than a couple of short-lived, certainly never revealed or acted-upon crushes—one on my own college-aged bass tutor, and another on my chemistry lab partner—I’d not been attracted to anyone but Seokjin. The economics lecture reduced to background babble, I couldn’t decide if my response to this stranger was lingering embarrassment, gratitude that he’d saved me from Junmin, or a simple crush. Perhaps all three.

When class ended, I packed my textbook into my backpack and resisted the urge to look in his direction again. I fiddled long enough for Seokjin and his fangirl to leave. As I stood to go, the persistently sleepy guy who sat next to me spoke.

“Hey, which questions did he say to do for the extra credit? I must have knocked off for a few seconds right around when he discussed those—my notes are indecipherable.” I glanced at the spot he indicated in his notes, and sure enough, the scribbles became less and less readable. “I’m Jungkook, by the way.”

“Oh, um, let’s see…” I flipped through my spiral and pointed to the assignment details printed across the top of the page. “Here it is.” As he copied it, I added, “I’m Y/N.”

Jungkook was one of those quite and nice guys, I’ve had seen him talking to his friends these days. He seems relaxed all they time.

“Thanks, Y/N. This saves my ass—I need those extra credit points. See you Friday.” He snapped his notebook closed. “Unless I accidentally sleep in,” he added, giving me a genuine smile.

I returned the smile as I moved into the aisle. “No problem.”

Maybe I was capable of making friends outside of my Seokjin circle. This interaction, along with the defection of most of our friends to Seokjin after the breakup, made me realize how dependent on him I’d become. I was a little shocked. Why had this never occurred to me before? Because I’d never thought Seokjin and I could end?

Foolish, naïve assumption. Obviously.

The room had almost cleared, the guy from the back row included. I felt a stab of irrational disappointment. So he’d stared at me in class—big deal. Maybe he was just bored. Or easily distracted.

But as I exited the room, I spotted him across the crowded hallway, talking with a girl from class. His demeanor was relaxed, from the navy shirt, open over a plain gray t-shirt, to the hand tucked into the front pocket of his jeans. Muscle didn’t show under the unbuttoned long-sleeved shirt, but his abdomen looked flat, and he’d put Junmin on the ground and bloody easily enough Saturday night. His black pencil sat atop one ear, only the pink eraser at the tip showing, the rest disappearing into his dark, messy hair.

“So it’s a group tutoring thing?” the girl asked, twirling a long loop of blonde hair around and around her finger. “And it lasts an hour?”

He hitched his backpack, twitching wayward bangs out of his eyes. “Yeah. From one to two.”

As he gazed down at her, she tilted her head and rocked her weight slightly from side to side, as though she was about to dance with him. Or for him. “Maybe I’ll check it out. What are you doing after?”

“Work.”

She huffed an annoyed breath. “You’re always working, Taehyung.” Her pouty tone hit my ears like nails on a chalkboard, as it always has when used by any girl above age six. But bonus—I’d just learned his name.

He glanced up then, as though he sensed me standing there, eavesdropping, and I pivoted in the opposite direction and started walking swiftly, too late to pretend I hadn’t been purposely listening to their conversation. I wove through the rush of people in the packed hallway, ducking out the side exit.

No way was I going to those tutoring sessions if Taehyung attended them. I wasn’t sure what he meant—if he meant anything at all—staring at me like that during class, but the overt intensity of his gaze made me uneasy. 

[thereallygoodblogshow]

MA Fashion and Textile Practices Major Project Path - 1st September

Big Biba

To say that Big Biba was just another department store would be doing the brand a huge disservice. Big Biba was the ultimate destination place that was given the title of ‘The most beautiful store in the world’ and it certainly lived up to its reputation. Derry and Toms was opened in 1933, a robust Art Deco building which must have made an optimistic architectural statement in a post war London gripped by The Great Depression. With seven floors it must have seemed quite revolutionary for the period. Barbara's intention was to retain as much of the art deco decoration as possible and in fact wanted to reflect its aesthetic throughout Biba’s branding and products - as well as utilising inspiration taken from the couple’s travels abroad. The photograph below shows the store swathed in decorations for King George VI’s Coronation in 1937.      

House of Fraser, n.d. (n.d). Coronation decorations at Derry and Tom's 1937.. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.housefraserarchive.ac.uk/image/?id=HOFI00262.

Biba’s shops had always been influenced by the buildings they were situated in and Big Biba was no exception. (Thomas et al., 2006) describe the building as such:

“Derry & Toms was reduced to faded glory, Biba’s task was simply to bring it back to its original splendour.”  

McKnight Kauffer, E. (1919). WINTER SALE AT DERRY & TOMS. [Poster]. Retrieved from https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/edward-mcknight-kauffer-1890-1954-winter-sale-at-5944314-details.aspx. 

With the aid of designers Steven Thomas and Tim Whitmore, Hulanicki began designing the interiors for Big Biba and each of the fifteen departments that were intended. The interior space was twenty times the size of their previous Biba store, but Barbara was unphased by the task which lay ahead. She felt confident it was just a case of translating and up-scaling their current business. They currently had around a 100,000 people per week footfall in a space which was inadequate, so she saw the size upgrade as a huge (literally!) advantage. What Barbara and her cohorts designed was like a living, working movie set, it was a fantasy place accessible to everyone and they came to see it in their millions.

In the September of 1973 Big Biba opened its doors, each of its seven floors stocked to the gills with Biba’s own label products, Biba was a way of life. each and every item was either designed, commissioned or approved by Hulanicki, not one item was passed without her say so. Some were doubtful that she could pull off this gigantic task and felt that her earlier success couldn’t translate to such a huge scale venture, but once opened Big Biba was to attract more than a million customers per week. 

Modlinger, J. (2013). Fashion archive: The seven storeys of Biba. [Editorial]. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/sep/11/biba-store-kensington-opens-1973.

Biba had never entertained window displays, Barbara had always wanted to conjure a sense of mystery and wonder and Big Biba was to remain just that. Instead of placing products in the widows she did the opposite and placed sofas and chairs there so that customers could look out at the passing world instead. Once inside the store customers could be forgiven in thinking they had arrived on the set of a movie, and certainly not typical of the slightly cramped, dimly lit Biba’s of old - although Barbara never really lit anything well, it added to the atmosphere. (Thomas et al., 2006) said Vogue had described Big Biba as:

“A palace of of apricot marble, coloured counters and fake leopard-skin walls; seven floors of fantasy.” 

That apricot marble covered 26,000 square feet and was made especially in Portugal, so much was required that they exhausted supplies and still wanted more. There were also over 20,000 mirrors used in the store, so no excuse to not see how fabulous you looked living the Biba life. The ground floor was for things you needed if you were in a hurry, exactly like supermarkets today which supply areas with items ‘to go’, or shops that supply point of sale (POS) items near the till that you can pick up on the go. Hulanicki really did create shopping experiences that we consider as standard today. 

Charko, K. (2013). window sofa. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://kasiacharko.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/big-biba-opens-september-10th-1973/.

The ground floor contained products such as leather goods, boots and shoes, jewellery, knitwear, magazines and records, stationary and more. They also had a book shop supplying tomes in art and design, something new to Biba. A tights counter was standard at Biba but this space was elevated with extra space and range size. Hulanicki was careful to keep items that the customers would recognise from previous stores, such as the hat department which previously utilised flea market hat stands, but now the hat department contained over 200 and were specially made in Czechoslovakia.   

Charko, K. (2013). Biba makeup counter. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://kasiacharko.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/big-biba-opens-september-10th-1973/.

Gosling, E. (2012). Biba makeup counter. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/may-2012/biba-founder-barbara-hulanicki-chats-to-design-week/.

Biba’s cosmetics line was one of the brands most successful ventures. The colours were synonymous with fashion, using colours which had never been used for cosmetics before such as dark brown mulberry, plum and black. Celebrities and pop stars were often seen casting their eyes over the vast range of lipsticks, nail polishes and eyeshadows. (Thomas et al., 2006) said that Siouxsie Sioux of the punk/goth band Siouxsie and the Banshees once said:

“Once I had started going to Biba on my own, and discovered rust colours for the eyes, I really got quite heavily into wearing red eye shadow.”

Biba’s T-shirt department was also a sight to see, with over a 1,000 pigeon holes to accommodate their vast selection of styles that were available in 24 colours and three sizes, many of the colours were specially created to Biba’s requirements.      

Gosling, E. (2012). Biba t-shirt counter. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/may-2012/biba-founder-barbara-hulanicki-chats-to-design-week/.

Barbara and Fitz-Simon’s vision for Biba had always been about building a strong brand aesthetic. Biba was one of the first stores to recognise the power of the logo and utilised it to the nth degree. Going back to 1966 they sold a Biba branded diary and calendar, so Big Biba presented them with a great opportunity to capitalise on this idea in the Logo Shop. The shop sold posters, greetings cards, balloons, chocolates, matches and so much more, it was the most affordable way for customers to buy into the Biba lifestyle. Biba was all about affordability, but even if you had spent the majority of your budget travelling to London then you could still buy a Biba item to take away as a memento of the trip. I adore Biba’s branding and logo designs, of which there are so many connotations. Big Biba was about delivering a coherent brand message which continued through onto all their packaging, labeling, logo shop merchandise, store signage and even their own newspaper! The person mainly responsible for this look was designer Kasia Charko. Kasia was an illustrator who was employed to work with Tim Whitmore and Steve Thomas of Whitmore Thomas Design Associates, as well as Barbara Hulanicki herself to create Biba’s signature look.        

Charko, K. (2013). Mistress room label. [Packaging]. Retrieved from https://kasiacharko.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/big-biba-opens-september-10th-1973/.

Charko, K. (2017). Sam and Alice. [Illustration]. Retrieved from https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/charko_kasia.htm.

Charko, K. (n.d). Big Biba Logo's . [Illustration]. Retrieved from http://www.jannaludlow.co.uk/Biba/Artwork.html.

It was a vast amount of work Charko was to produce for Big Biba, after all there were fifteen departments over seven floors all requiring branding and graphics. It took two years of hard work to finally finish all the graphics required for Big Biba, as well as a newspaper linked to the store which covered any new events, products and everything else in between. Charko had completed a three year graphic design degree at Leicester College of Art and had been working as a freelance illustrator on various magazines such as Woman and the Radio Times before landing the job for Biba.

The basement of Big Biba was its food hall, it was quite a departure from their usual aesthetic - although still maintaining the overall branding - it celebrated the Pop Art culture of the 1960′s. In the tinned goods and household essentials section, huge ‘tins’ of soup housed a huge array of tinned products. One of these was called ‘Warhol’s Condensed’ which contained Campbell’s Soup tins, this was a play on Warhol’s re imagining of the humble soup tin from his famous Campbell’s Soup art.    

Flash in on the 70's, n.d. (2013). The foodhall at Big Biba brought pop art back to its supermarket roots. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://flashinonthe70s.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/pop-goes-the-easel-and-the-armchair-the-barbicans-new-show-celebrates-the-playful-influence-of-pop-art-on-postwar-design/.

The food hall stocked 350 own brand products ranging from wine and baked beans, through to ice cream and washing powder, all displayed in quirky and unusual ways. Many of Biba’s customers as well as the general public came to Big Biba’s food hall and nowhere else, they could get products there more associated with other high end food halls but at cheaper prices.    

[cybieandtykie]

Something For You

Apologies + Announcement

I just got back from GraphikaManila an hour or so ago, and I really had a blast at the event. There were a lot of motivating and inspiring art-speakers at the two-day conference, and I definitely enjoyed the weekend with awesome friends. There was one speaker in particular who struck me about fanbase and followers, and it really got me thinking (and I REALLY MEAN A LOT OF THINKING).

(Warning: Semi-emotional wall of text incoming)

I'm unsure if I've mentioned this before, and even so many of you might not be aware about this, but most often than not, I generally feel unsure or confused at my work. Some days, I feel all great that I get to post an update for the webcomic or a spin-off of a trending meme with one of my OCs, but there are days when I feel like what I'm doing is all for nothing, and that some followers are making a huge mistake of checking my art out despite there being a plethora of awesome illustrators and comic artists out there, all with their different genres. Cybie and Tykie will be turning 4 by the end of this month, but it feels to me that I've wasted everyone's time with my slow updates and draggy plot, that mostly start out as a comedy or adventure (as intended), and end up as some drama bomb full of feels (as noticeable ever since the College arc).

Don't get me wrong, though. I love my OCs, and I'm really great to have shared their lives into yours, but I guess an artist might normally have this phase whether his or her content is still worth following or not, and this was mainly triggered due to an artwork I saw online and with all the stats I've been monitoring on my socials. Not only that, but I've been going through a lot of personal emotional struggle in real life, but even so I believe I can't use that crap as an excuse all the time. It just all makes me feel really down that I feel like I got no shoulder to lean on to when everything crumbles.

Going back to that art-speaker I mentioned, he said that one of the worst things an artist could do is belittle his or her fans. It definitely left a mark, because what he said had some gravity into it. I'm sorry that I've ever doubted anyone who's been following my art up to this day. Whether you're the guy who always throws a +Fave the first three minutes I post something, or the guy who begins to blurt out questions as soon as I start my Picarto streams, I really believe that I owe you an apology for not being truly open to you, which makes me feel like all the thank you's I've been sending out are half-meant. Nobody should be treated like this - most especially you guys, because you're all the reason why I keep pushing with Cybie and Tykie. I had not properly taken care of you like how I hoped to, and if it ever made you feel that I failed you as an artist worth looking up to, I sincerely ask for your apology. To whoever's reading this right now, whether you've been an old or new follower, you're the greatest, and don't you ever forget that!

(Warning: Somewhat sad news incoming)

Before I end this drama bomb of a journal, I guess it's best I say this announcement now, than take everyone by surprise along the road. I'll be (hopefully just temporarily) ending my webcomic. The Cybie and Tykie - Carol Arc has four remaining pages to go (will resume update hopefully by next week; brother has fixed the art PC, but I'll need to buy a legit power supply first before actually using it). After that, it's gonna be dead silent. I know it might sound rushed, and I've been conceptualizing at least like three more arcs before that happens (with one supposedly at pre-prod by now), but it just felt that this platform isn't working for me anymore. I've enjoyed writing and drawing comics, as well as reading feedback from you guys after you've read the updates, but it feels like I've hit a wall somehow. This would definitely mean I'd take a huge break from webcomics. For good? Hopefully not, but if that bit's unavoidable, then so be it.

You guys might wonder, "Then now what? What's going to happen with the squad? Why was there no happy ending? We were promised Kai's return, but why wouldn't it be happening?" Fret not, though. I'm actually working on a different personal project (which I might have mentioned over at Discord some weeks ago). Since I'm an animator by profession, it was just ideal and best that I made a personal project involving it. It's still going to include the Cybie and Tykie cast, with some returning characters and a whole new one, but it's going to be Cybie and Tykie like you've never seen them before. Everything's still in its pre-prod stage and all I can give out would most definitely be WIPs of sketches of my progress. I honestly don't know how you'll feel with me making this big decision, because I know that a big portion of you are following me for my webcomics, but if you're totally fine with me changing platforms from illustrations to animations, then I'd like to send digital hugs for accepting me and my decision. As for Patreon pledges, those would definitely need a revamp, and would most likely be switched back to Monthly pledges instead of content-based ones (at least it wouldn't be that difficult for those who want to donate a small amount per month to see Cybie and Tykie in this new project of mine). I might even need some help along the way, so do keep an eye out for announcements.

I hope this long and wordy post didn't cause a mental breakdown to anyone (if ever I did, I again extend my sincerest apologies). Thank you for understanding nonetheless, and likewise for always being there with all your love and support.

*hugs*

[woodprix]

TOP 19 WOODWORKING TIPS!

Hi friends, I checked all woodworking resources on the internet and below are best woodworking tips, I hope you enjoy it. #1. Perfect Miters Everytime Haviing troublle gettting the cornners of your DIY decor and furniiture projects to look professional? Makking wood cornners that are fllush and perrfectly aligned is not simple, but this cool DIY trick makes it easy to get perfectly mitered corners. Check out the step by step tutorial to learn how. #2. Use woodworking plans This is one of the besst way to pussh your job. Ref source 16,000 wood plans: WoodPrix - http://www.woodprix.com #3. Set yourself up for success Start with projects that have a good chance of success. It is far better to succeed making simple, modest pieces than to get overwhelmed, frustrated and disappointed because you bit off more than you could chew with an elaborate project. Challenges edify only if they build confidence, so keep the early ones realistic. Furthermore, a successfully completed project involves many stages: design, research, acquiring high-quality wood, configuring tools, stock preparation, joinery, surfacing, edge treatments, glue up and finishing. An extremely important part of learning woodworking is working through all the stages and appreciating how they interrelate. The learning experience can only happen if you get through all of them! What’s more, you’ll have a lasting piece — however modest — to show for your efforts. #4. Refinishing Wood With Coconut Oil One of the best, most versatile finishes, coconut oil can be used for a warm, not too shiny and easy to take care of wood finish. Whether you are new to woodworking of a seasoned DIY pro, if you have not tried finishing wood with coconut oil, you should definitely try this idea out. Much easier to deal with than traditional wood oil, the coconut oil finish will leave your wood glowing. Hides imperfections and scratches, too! My favorite DIY trick I’ve discovered recently! #5. Learn why it’s called woodworking To be successful at this craft, you need to be as knowledgeable and skilled at choosing wood, preparing it, and accommodating its peculiarities as you are at working it with tools. Your work will be no better than the materials you choose and your understanding of them. Unlike metal, glass or clay, wood is a product of biology and therefore extremely varied. Each species, each tree and each board is different — and the differences matter. Of course, this is part of wood’s wonderful appeal, but it does create considerable demands on the woodworker. Learn all you can about wood — it’s fascinating — and go out of your way to experience a wide variety of wood. #6. Easy Graphic Transfer Tutorial On Wood OK, so I have seen so many cool crafts lately with distressed art and quotes on them, and I’ve been dying to try some at home. However, I had yet to figure out how to get the look for myself until now. Turns out, adding a finish to the wood with your own images and art is easy, you just use your home printer and freezer paper to create your own DIY transfers. Look at the amazing results! I have so many things I am making with this cool DIY woodworking idea, I can’t wait. #7. Invest in great tools Like most crafts, woodworking requires a substantial infrastructure of tools. This can be intimidating and costly for a beginner, but it’s also very tempting as you browse catalogs while anticipating shiny new tools. Remember: tools are for making things, not for mere acquisition. I suggest this sequence: decide what you want to build, anticipate the steps required to build these pieces, then get the tools to perform those tasks excellently and efficiently. Avoid false economy — buy high-quality tools even if that means having fewer tools, deferring a purchase or spending more. Also, it is better to choose a top-quality, versatile tool than a highly specialized gadget, especially one that is purported to require little skill. As an example, invest in a great backsaw, learn to use it well, and build confidence, rather than timidly opting for a saw guide system that will divert you from acquiring real skills. #8. Ars longa, vita brevis Be a good learner. With the fantastic wealth of learning sources in various media that are currently available — including craftsy woodworking classes — there is no excuse for neglecting this. Choose reliable sources, but keep in mind that there’s almost always more than one right way to do any woodworking job. Seemingly contradictory teachings may all have value. Ultimately, you have to find your way — what’s right for you in your shop. Remember, too, that there are no infallible gurus; something is not correct just because a supposed authority said so. Of course, don’t blithely dismiss expertise and tradition, but use your own brain and hands. Craft is very direct — you can see before you the honest results of your actions. #9. Cherish your craft If craft is important to you, accept that. Trust it. Make a place for it in your life, living space and financial space. Your crafting is important for the fulfillment it brings you, as well as for the beautiful, useful things it produces to enhance your life and the lives of those around you. Invest in it with heart and means, without apology. Your work and its fruits add good to this world. Take great joy in craft! #10. Important table saw safety When you're crosscutting on a table saw, set the cut length with a block clamped to the fence. Don't ever use the fence directly to avoid getting a board kicked back right at you. Instead, clamp a block of wood to the fence before the blade. Then the end of the board will be free of the fence during and after the cut. If you make a block that's exactly 1 in. thick, you can set the fence scale at 1 in. greater than the length you're after. No tricky fractions involved. #11. Make your own reusable sanding block Here's how to make your own reusable sanding blocks. Cut six blocks from scrap 3/4-in.plywood for each sandpaper grit you commonly use. Make them 2-1/2 in. x 4-3/4 in. Spray adhesive on both a square of cork tile and each block. Stick a block to the cork and cut the cork flush with a utility knife. Then spray adhesive on a sheet of sandpaper and stick it on each block cork side down as shown. Cut the sandpaper flush with the cork, and label each block. #12. Use stair gauges as a crosscut guide Stair gauges are usually used to lay out stair jacks. You clamp them to a carpenter's square to match the rise and run of a stair jack and then mark the notches. But if you put them both on the same tongue of a carpenter's square, the combination makes a great crosscut guide for circular saws. #13. Versatile and inexpensive Pick up a pair for less than $5 at any hardware store or home center. Clamp the square in place so it won't slide around while you're cutting. You wouldn't like that one bit. #14. Use tape to catch excess glue To prevent stains caused by oozing glue along joints, clamp the pieces together without glue. Put tape on the joint, then cut along it with a sharp blade. Separate the pieces, apply the glue and clamp them together again. The glue will ooze onto the tape, not the wood. Peel off the tape before the glue dries. #15. Try cold or heat to un-stick it You have two options for breaking the grip: cold and heat. First, try sticking the work piece into the freezer for an hour or so. Frozen glue will usually give way with very little force. If that doesn't work, try a hair dryer to soften the glue. Still stuck? Reach for the heat gun. But warm the piece slowly and from a distance to avoid scorching the wood or damaging the finish. #16. Use a drafting square for more accuracy When you need an accurate square in the 2- to 3-ft. range, your options are limited. Drywall squares are notoriously inaccurate and cumbersome. Carpenter squares involve that nagging hassle of having to hook them onto the edge of your workpiece. If you have a drafting square lying around, drag it out to the shop. Or, go to an art supply store and pick one up ($5 or more). They're very accurate and you'll find yourself grabbing it nearly as often as you do the tape measure. #17. Hot glue holds small stuff better than clamps When you have to cut, shape, file, sand or finish something small, reach for your hot glue gun and glue the piece to a pedestal stick. The hot glue will hold just about anything as well as or better than any clamp ever could—if using a clamp is even possible. When your project is complete, try to pop it loose with a putty knife, but don't use too much force—you might tear out the wood or break the piece. #18. Use duct tape to mark a level spot You've finally got your table saw on a mobile base so it's easy to pull out and put away on the weekend. Finish the job by finding a level spot on the floor that's also convenient for sawing boards without obstruction. Mark the wheel positions with bright-colored duct tape and now you can roll the saw to the same flat spot every time you saw. #19. Install blade so teeth face forward Install the blade on a hacksaw so the teeth face forward. The saws are designed so the blade will cut when it's pushed (the forward stroke) rather than when pulled. Some blades have an arrow that shows the correct installation (the arrow points toward the handle). Install the blade so it's tight in the saw and won't bend. When you do a lot of cutting, the blade will heat up and expand, so be sure to tighten it if it starts to bend.

[shoppingforsale-blog]

Golden Goose Men's Sneakers Sale My web Based Marketing actual Story classes Learned

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[susantregre]

15 Craft Hacks for Kids

We have a craft closet that just keeps growing and growing, so it’s time to break out some craft hacks…

15 Craft Hacks for Kids, to be exact!

We are always looking for new ways to organize our home. The latest was a renovation of our door with shoe cubbies!

15 Craft Hacks for Kids

Craft Room Organization

First thing’s first, create an art desk with this idea. Use the drawer for all your supplies! via One Krieger Chick

If you are all about recycling, you’ll love this idea to save Starbucks cups for paint. An added bonus is it’s an excuse for a coffee break! via Be Brave Keep Going

Do you have a dry-erase board in your crafting space? Glue a pom-pom to the top of a dry erase marker for an easy way to draw, erase, and repeat.

Cut up sponges, and use them instead of paint brushes to create a masterpiece with your kids. via Kids Activities Blog

Do you have leftover outlet covers? Reuse them as play dough toys! via Kids Activities Blog

Fill a container with glue. Add a sponge. You now have glue that won’t spill and get everywhere.

Use an old muffin tin as a palette for kids while they paint. It’s perfect for mixing and using a homemade paint recipe. via Kids Activities Blog

Transform a mason jar with a salt lid. This is awesome for glitter, sequins, and other little crafting bits of bling! via The Cheese ThiefStationary/ Gift Wrap Hacks

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I love making our own wrapping paper and DIY greeting cards for family and friends with my kids! Not only does it save money, it’s a fun crafting activity, and I think it’s more meaningful than store-bought.

Keep track of ribbon with idea of using a “holey” container. This will make gift wrapping soooo much easier! via Good Housekeeping

Do you have any stamps? If not, check out your veggie selection, and make your own, using a potato as a stamp, with this resourceful idea. Perfect for making your own wrapping paper and stationary! via Petite Planet

Make your own paintbrushes using this clothespin hack. via Babble Dabble Do

Decorate The Craft Area With Your Hacks

Feature art work near where your work by creating a DIY gallery wall. This can be as simple as fish line and mini clothespins, or you can buy an art project gallery display system to set up!

Use a tool apron around a paint bucket to create a portable art bucket. Not only is this a cute centerpiece for your craft table, it’s easy to bring where needed. via One Orange Giraffe

Create a one-stop shop for art supplies, with this deep metal bucket organizer. It is pretty enough to leave on a shelf, and I love how she uses cans inside to further compartmentalize supplies! via Weathered Silo

More Organizational Hacks, Please!

Ready to organize the entire house, now?  We LOVE this declutter course from Your Modern Family!  It’s perfect for busy families!

Here are some more ideas!

10 Hacks to Make Your House Smell Amazing

Baseball Mom Hacks

25 Laundry Hacks for Busy Moms

Moving Tips and Hacks

Leave a comment: Do you have any craft hacks for kids that you’d like to share?

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