#I may seem like a nerd but i go all 3 days every year

[rubykgrant]

At last, finished up the re-draw! Here is the line-art, flat colors, solid shading, the original, and two versions of the final with more shading/details (one version is mostly the "regular" tones for their colors with a little bit of a cool tint in the shading, and the second version is a little more ambient, with the implication of softer light in the dark). All done in MS Paint with a mouse, but with practice, I got better with making the shapes look nice and solid

(also, here is a slightly re-written/adjusted fic that goes with it. Enjoy~)

4 holiday parties in one week was entirely too many. Next year, they would have to plan this out better, space it out.

It didn’t help that Kai always wanted to throw a rager, regardless of the occasion, so her parties felt like 3 combined together. Donut also liked to go all-out, but thankfully his parties were a little more coherent (usually because somebody like Wash or Doc reigned him in). The problem with a Sarge party was his obsession with making it “old fashioned”, which evidently meant forcing everybody out on a hike in the woods to find a tree (not once but TWICE they had seen bears… no thanks). Their other friends were a little bit more chill with the get-togethers, but it was still just one thing after another.

Grif and Simmons stumbled into their apartment, after a Tucker-hosted party (which was wonderfully calm since Junior was there). With lots of groaning and grumbling mixed in, they went through the motions of taking off their jackets and shoes, changing into comfortable clothes, brushing their teeth, and AT LAST flopping down into bed.

“It is too GODDAM FRIGGIN’ COLD,” Grif proclaimed, making a big show of shivering next to Simmons. “I don’t care what you say, we need to leave the heat on when we go out-”

“NO, Grif. Heating the house while nobody’s home wastes energy,” Simmons argued back, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“That’s BS. Invent us some kinda perpetual energy device, so we’ll have unlimited power, and then I can come home to a nice and toasty bed!”

“I’ll get riiiiiiight on that…” Simmons rolled over, snuggling up against Grif, eyes still shut. At first, Grif was annoyed; because he hadn’t been able to pull the covers up yet (cold though they may be), and NOW he had a lanky nerd draped over him.

Then Simmons started kissing him.

“… no fair,” Grif mumbled, because what was he supposed to do, NOT kiss Simmons back? NOT wrap his arms around Simmons? NOT enjoy the way it felt, when Simmons pressed his body close, hooked his lower legs with Grif’s, and ran his finger across Grif’s scalp?

After a long day- heck a long week in the middle of a long MONTH, they were both tired, and perfectly satisfied for this to be what it was, and not turn into more (that would require several extra steps, and it wasn’t as if they hadn’t been enjoying themselves in that regard fairly often. This, kissing and embracing, was perfect… and exactly what they needed right now).

This was their first year living together, just them. They had shared the larger apartment place with everybody else for a couple of years, but when it seemed that their lives really were going to stop being so STUPIDLY DANGEROUS, it felt like they might be ready to have a place of their own. Be big boys, and all that. It was a lot different than every other time in Grif's life when he made a really big change. The fact that he wasn't trying to escape from a bad situation was definitely a switch... and it was nice. It was just nice, knowing he wasn't "leaving everything behind" even if he was moving forward, he wasn't going to lose his friends or his sister even if he didn't see them every single day. It was nice knowing he was where he wanted to be, and was WITH somebody he wanted, who wanted HIM.

Simmons could feel the heat from Grif's body seep into his own, and this just increases the warmth between them. One of the many benefits of sharing a bed together. As they move around, getting comfortable, Simmons’ shirt rides up, exposing his tummy to the still chilly apartment air… and it takes an incredible amount of self-control on Grif’s part not to tickle Simmons mercilessly (in the back of his mind, Grif is very proud over how mature he is).

Instead, he uses his feet to kick the covers up, closer and closer, inch by inch, until he finally can grab them. It wraps both men in a momentarily FREEZING cocoon, but then the beautiful heat between them spreads through the rest of the bed. Soon, the heating will kick-in, and air will be warm as well.

“I hate when you do that,” Grif said with a sigh.

“Silly me, I thought you LOVED when I did that…” Simmons nuzzled against Grif’s cheek.

“I hate that you can just end an argument by kissing me,” the smile Grif had on his face told an entirely different story. "I used to just flip you off and pull a Bugs Bunny mind-trip to mess you up, and I'd win... but now? You have a kissy-kissy cheat code,"

Simmons snorted at that.

“Oh shut up, you do the EXACT same thing to me. You know how to push all my buttons and pull my strings… and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Simmons told him.

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Grif asked.

“Because I’m totally, utterly, helplessly, hopelessly in love with you…” Simmons said in a ho-hum, no big deal tone of voice. Like he was stating a fact. Water was wet. 2 plus 2 equals 4.

“GOD, you jerk, I love you too~” Grif said, his voice now shaking with uncontrollable giggles. This wasn’t fair either, the way Simmons made him feel like a little middle-shooler who was twitterpated, making his insides go all squirmy and fluttery… he still remembers, a few years back, when he had been trying to convince himself that a romantic relationship with Simmons was never gonna happen, and even if it did, Simmons probably wouldn’t be worth it; he was too awkward, they were BOTH too selfish and mean, it just wouldn’t work (this was a weak lie he told himself, in hopes of of snapping himself out of all the YEARNING).

Now they were together… and Simmons was affectionate, doting, and just amazingly intuitive. He loved knowing that he made Grif happy, loved being the one who gave Grif everything he needed. Grif discovered he could share his sweet side, and loving Simmons brought out the best in him. They still had their friendship, they teased and joked with each other… but now there was more. So much MORE, and it was so GOOD.

After they both laughed and finally settled down, Grif kissed Simmons again, this time on the forehead.

“Hey, remember that thing we planned to do, back when we were kinda being subtle about it? The thing if nobody figured out we were together after a year?” Grif asked.

“Mmm, I think they all figured it out by now... but, I remember we had a couple ideas. Which one were you thinking of? Put a picture of us kissing up on a billboard, or do song dedications to each other over the radio, or-” when they initially started dating, they wanted to keep it a secret for bit… and then it became a game, waiting to see when the others would notice.

“The New Year Kiss thing,” Grif provided the answer to his own question. The idea for that was, if nobody realized they were dating until the end of that year, Grif and Simmons would kiss on New Year’s Eve, in front of everybody, and then inform the group that they were several months into the relationship, just for the shock. However, they had finally decided to just share the news with everybody, starting with Tucker.

“Oh, yeah… haha, what about it?”

“When all the Christmas crap is done, WE should throw our own party. A Happy New Year party. We’re a real couple now, so we can do all that fun host stuff, right?” Grif turned on his side, so they fit together more closely.

“Sure, we can do that… you can finally gather all your favorite party snacks together,” Simmons said encouragingly.

“Hell yeah…”

“And I can show them how to have fun without going bonkers…” Simmons yawned, and Grif let out one short chuckle (he knew “having fun” for Simmons was creating an itinerary and making a detailed list of party games).

After a while, they shared more I-love-you's and a good-night... ironically, Grif doesn't drift off right away. He keeps thinking about how nice this has been, and how it has given him hope for more; the idea of "settling down" with somebody had never been too appealing when he was younger. His own insecurities and bat habits, plus having rotten taste in "romantic partners", did not equal an interest in long-term committed relationships. Now, Grif is pretty confident that he wants to be with Simmons for the rest of his life, and doesn't even question that Simmons feels the same.

Their apartment is nice, but maybe... maybe they could find an actual HOME together. Or build one. Could they build one? Or like- design it, then hire people to build it? Yeah, that would probably work better (if they tried to do it themselves, Sarge would "help", and then they'd wind up living in a replica of Red Base in some neighborhood somewhere). A home that was theirs, in a place they could pick, where their friends and family could visit... the word "family" echoes in Grif's head, and he's almost surprised by how NOT scary it is. He and Simmons- they could do that, together.

Well, not right NOW. Not tomorrow, or next week, or next month... but someday. Maybe next year.

[mvndfvelds]

HELLO !! i've not written any fanfiction in like 3 years so excuse how awful this is, but the spencer reid obsession is just too strong to resist. also there are a serious lack of gn!reader and especially male!reader fics, so if i ever write it'll be for those pairings :))

here's a cringey little valentine's day drabble x

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☆ pairing: gn!reader × spencer reid (no use of 'y/n')

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Valentine's day is overrated anyway, right? At least that's what you've been telling yourself all day whilst being silently bitter about the fact Spencer, your roommate, probably already has a date.

It had hit around 6pm, and you had yet to hear Spencer move from his room - in all honesty, he probably had a date with about 10 books this evening anyway. The romance films all seemed a little too much today, so you ended up laying there staring out the window with a takeaway pizza box laying across your stomach.

Giving up on sitting alone, you swung your legs off the sofa and onto the floor, padding up to Spencer's door and raising a tentative hand to knock.

"Come in!"

You poked your head around the door, still not wanting to intrude fully. You opened your mouth to speak, but he butted in already, "look. If you're gonna comment on the fact I'm alone today, I'd like to remind you that you are too."

"I- wow, you think so lowly of me!" You snarked, "I was going to ask if you wanted to watch something with me seeing as we're both alone?"

"Statistically, there's still 30% of Americans who spend their Valentine's day alone or with friends anyway. Besides, it's all developed into feeding into capitalism now. Oh, and yes, I'd like to watch something!" He rambled whilst you smiled fondly and turned to leave, assuming he was trailing near behind you.

Both of you flopped to the sofa again, the soft lighting in the living room was almost romantic when you looked to Spencer. You tore your eyes away and trailed through the romcoms - Spencer would never admit it, but his guilty pleasure film is '10 Things I Hate About You'.

Halfway through the film you draped a blanket over yourself, revelling in the fact Spencer had moved his feet into your lap afterwards. It wasn't out of the ordinary to be subtly affectionate with Spencer anymore, you'd both taken a fair while to settle into a domestic life, but it was second nature now. Though that didn’t mean your heart didn’t stutter a little at every touch.

"I don't really understand high-school hierarchies," he said absent-mindedly, referring to the film.

"Me neither, though I don't either of us need high-school hierarchies to be considered 'nerds', do we?"

He chuckled lightly before deciding to reposition himself on the sofa entirely, turning the other way and asking, "can I lay my head on you?" You nodded, slightly bemused by his wriggling, focusing on the TV.

One of his lanky arms had made its way to drape over your lap, and one of your hands had settled on playing with his hair. Nearing the end of the film, during Kat's monologue, Spencer sniffled lightly.

"Spence... are you crying?"

He shook his head defiantly, "no? It's just a film."

You held his chin gently and turned his head so he was looking up at you from your lap with teary eyes. You cooed teasingly making his face heat up, "see, you're just a little crybaby. No shame in it, man, we've all been there."

You ran a thumb over his cheekbone, catching a stray tear and wiping it away. "If you weren't a pretty crier I'd take the piss out of you right now, y'know?" You said, sounding far too fond when it was only supposed to be a joking comment.

Evidently this wasn't going to slip past Mr. BAU, so he grinned up at you shyly and muttered, "you think I'm pretty?"

You nodded, face pink, you'd fallen into your own failed sarcasm and there was no way out at this point. Ah, fuck it, you may as well take your chances. You leant down slowly, your intention clear, waiting for a sign that he was happy with this. It soon came as he lifted his head slightly to meet your lips in a gentle kiss. You let out a small whine when he flopped back down with a satisfied grin, finding one of your hands and playing with your fingers gently.

"I guess we don't fit into that 30% anymore, right?"

[bluekittyworld]

There is Karma.

Hello sweet people, this is my first time writing something, I hope you guys like it and all feedback will be appreciated.

Please don't post my work on other sites/platforms or copy it, or translate it, thank you.

Approx. 11,000 words in total and 5 chapters

Warnings: Lot's of angst, mention of suicide, smut, 18+

Main Masterlist

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Happy Ending

Sad Ending

There is karma. It comes back, don’t use your heart in a bad way.

You were part of the popular girls at school, a rich spoiled brat as one may put it. Grade As and Bs were natural to you, you wondered sometimes if you had put in the effort, you could have scored better than all the nerds in your class, but who needed that, you were busy being the popular and pretty rich ‘it’ girl, belittling the quiet and less popular ones. There was one boy in particular, his name was Yunki or Yoonji, something like that. He wore thick framed glasses; his skin was ghostly pale, and he had contrasting pitch black hair in bowl cut. You found him an easy target as he never spoke back, no matter how many times you tripped him over, shoved him around, broke his ugly glasses, he never said anything back.

Why did you hate him so much? He didn’t care about anyone, and you hated it so much, why didn’t he try to fit in? He dressed so poorly, everyone just assumed that he was in this school on a scholarship, there was no way he could afford the fees by the way he dressed. On the other hand, you had to become mean to fit in, every day you woke up hours earlier to complete your work, prepare your hair and makeup, you had to stay relevant, have everyone’s attention, keep the ‘it girl’ title, life was so hard. So, every time you saw the careless Yoongi living his simple easy life, it boiled your blood and what ticked you off even more is that he never retaliated, come to think of it you had never heard his voice, was he mute?

This carried on for 5 years until the day of your graduation, just before graduation, you and your friends mocked this boy wearing his skinny ripped jeans, a t-shirt, and a plaid shirt. At the time your high-school boyfriend joined in too, you decided to give him a matching ripped shirt, pulling out your scissors you made a few cuts in his shirt and his bag, your friends laughed and recorded the scene. Your best friend took a few of his books, and teared them up, nobody noticed how Yoongi was having a panic attack and was on the verge of tears. Your boyfriend took the scissors and started cutting the poor boy’s hair, you did think it was pushing it too far, but nobody else seemed to care, why should you care right? Your boyfriend’s mates started kicking and punching Yoongi, he was now covered in blood and bruises, his eyes piecing into your soul, while he was being beaten up, his eyes were still fixated on you. You noticed this and felt a little bit of guilt, you pulled your boyfriend and asked to go to your favourite Korean BBQ. All your friends and his friends discarded Yoongi, leaving him in the middle of the school grounds, you didn’t even bother to look back if he was still breathing or not, nobody did.

On graduation day, Yoongi didn’t turn up, not like you really cared, you just wondered if he was okay, maybe you did go a little too far the other day. Also, it would have been a great opportunity to see his parents and assess his wealth today. Soon your friends and boyfriend came over to you, and that was the last time you thought of Yoongi.

Years had passed since graduation. You were well set into your father’s business, ready to take senior management positions, being born into an affluent family had its perks, your whole life was served on a silver platter, not a single day of difficulty. Life was monotonic and predictable you began to feel a growing sense of emptiness. Despite the success you achieved in your career and social life, there was an underlying dissatisfaction, a void you couldn't fill. A friend of yours suggested maybe participating in charity events may give you a sense of fulfilment, so you decided to join the next available event.

At this event, everyone was put into groups of 4, and the tasks varied, you were in a team with two boys and another girl. The aim was to visit the elderly and help them out with their chores for today. The drive to the house was quite quick, you didn’t really get to talk to your teammates, the only thing you knew were their names, Sora, Yeonjun and Yoongi. Yoongi rang a bell, but you couldn’t really remember if you ever knew a person with that name, maybe it was just a name of one of the many people you see every day at work, you brushed it off. 

Upon arriving at the house, you saw it was occupied by an old lady, the roofing had some issues and the wallpaper had been peeling off in various places. Yoongi took lead of the team, he suggested “Yeonjun and I will take the duty of fixing the ceiling, while you girls can start by removing the wallpaper.”

His voice was like a gentle breeze on a calm summer day, carrying warmth and serenity, you hadn’t heard such a caring voice in a very long time, even your own mother didn’t sound so affectionate.

You just nodded, while Sora nudged you, maybe you were looking at Yoongi for too long, he was looking back at you with his piercing dark eyes.

“The wallpaper removing machine is in the back of the car, let’s go get it” Sora mentioned.

You nodded and followed her along. Removing the wallpaper wasn’t hard at all, you and Sora had bonded quite well, it was interesting to find out about her, you learnt she ran a café nearby and had a fiancé, her parents currently live in Japan, and she has a poodle dog named Bobbi. You loved this kind of interaction; it was like a breath of fresh air being away from your routine life and interacting with people who didn’t have money on their minds 24/7. You glanced over to Yoongi’s direction now and then… there was a certain attraction you developed towards him, but you turned away each time in disappointment, him and Yeonjun were really focused on getting the ceiling fixed and didn’t really have time for other things. You really wanted to talk to Yoongi more and find out about him, maybe you wouldn’t get another chance and that really bothered you.

You and Sora were done removing the wallpaper, and the ceiling was still being plastered. You suggested to Sora “We should paint this room before the old lady comes back, it shouldn’t take too long, what do you think?”

“Perfect” Sora chimed “Let’s go to the nearby DIY store and pick out a colour.”

Sora got up and walked over to Yeonjun, by the looks of it you assumed they knew each other well, maybe they volunteered together previously, she asked “Yeonjun, my dear cousin, can you drive us in your car to the DIY store?”

Oh, now it makes sense, they were cousins, you smiled at learning the fact, you somewhat wished you were close to your family members.

At the DIY store you and Sora decided on a dusty pink colour, it would contrast well with the plants the lady had in her house. Yeonjun waited in the car and you guys were soon back, he suggested to grab some food, and as if on cue your stomach rumbled.

“Yup, ____ is hungry, we should definitely get food” Sora giggled.

You just smiled in embarrassment. The three of you had decided to buy four portions of Jjajangmyeon, not forgetting Yoongi of course.

Meanwhile Yoongi had finished up the plastering, he looked at the clock, it was 3pm, the old lady did mention she would return at 6pm, there were 3 more hours to go, more than enough time for the plaster to dry and paint over. He smiled at the fact he was ahead of schedule and thought the lady will be so happy to see the finished results. Soon you, Sora and Yeonjun came back, you distributed the noodle bowls to each person.

“Thank you” Yoongi smiled, you swear he had winked too, you felt excited like a teenage girl. You blushed and proceeded to sit down to eat, it was a nice meal, mostly Yeonjun sharing his personal life and how he has crush on his neighbour.

Chapter 2

[wandanatss]

heart in hand - chapter one;

things haven't been the same since you came into my life

summary: Summer of 1995 finds you in a cafe with a new-to-town Natasha Romanov. Little do you know, this day is going to change your life.

warning(s): swearing, slight mentions of guns & bullying.

word count: 1,087 words

author's note: i don't have access to the app i use to make covers/headers/dividers for my fics, so this canva one i threw together literally five minutes ago looks good enough. the dividers i used are by @cafekitsune. reblogs would help <3 i'm open to constructive criticism! i especially hope that one anon who helped a lot earlier likes it!

It all began in the summer of ‘95, in a little shop north of town. You sat there every day for want of something to do, someone to talk to. Being the friendless nerd was fine during the school year, but in the summer you always shifted from being alone to lonely. 

Your fingers tapped out an errant beat on the countertop, and you hummed a mindless tune. Your eyes droved over the menu as though your were trying to find something you wanted; as though you hadn’t already memorized it in your countless trips to the shop. In the end, though, you picked your usual - a sandwich, a doughnut, and a Coke. Picking the items up off of the counter once you got them, you sat at the only empty table there - a two-seater near the very back, where no one could see you. Figures. Invisible everywhere in the world, it seemed.

As you started to munch on the sandwich, interspersed with sips of your drink, your eyes watched the windows. Maybe you’d have your ‘movie moment’, where someone walked in that you fell in love with. Maybe it would be the person of your dreams. You looked down for a moment to pick up the cup, and within those few seconds, the door opened and a bell jingled. You looked up.

Y/n: I don’t know, it was fate or something. This absolute bombshell of a girl walked in. Her coppery-red hair tumbled over her shoulders, her eyes were bright, and she had the perfect red lip. She wore a thin white shirt, clinging to her with sweat. Her shorts were blue, and truly made her look like she had legs for days. When she ordered and got her food, she just wandered around for a minute before she saw me. Saw the seat in front of me. She smiled, asking if she could sit. Of course, I agreed. Neither of us knew it yet, but it was the start of something truly iconic. The girl, of course, was Natasha Romanov. We were both seventeen at the time.

Excerpt from ‘Mic in Hand, Heart in Throat’ by Kat S. Releasing 1 May 2028.

You introduced yourself, and started to make small talk about the weather – sweat-soaked Natasha’s body was a sight to see, and under the A/C breeze, her hair fluttered around her face. You were flushed, but you could pass it off to the heat, too. As Natasha waved over a waitress and placed her own order (a strawberry milkshake and a sandwich), you took the time to observe her.

She had her bicycle keys in her pocket, and two bracelets hanging from her arm. One was beaded, with the little alphabet charms reading N A T in different colours. The other was a few simple strings wound together and tied, giving the effect of a young child having made it. Now that you were closer to her, you could see the bottom of her hair bleached and cool-toned, showing her having dyed it blue a while back.

“Y/n? Do you want something too?” asked Natasha, a silent smirk in her eyes. She knew what you were doing.

Eventually, once the waitress was gone, you and Natasha struck up an easy flowing conversation. She confessed that she had biked here in the heat to get out of town, have her own ‘summer experience’. She was new. That explained why she hadn’t been in high school with you. You smiled and told her all about the high school she’d likely be joining, and joked about how she should make it a point to stay away from you. It would be social suicide, you explained.

Natasha turned slightly away at the comment, something catching her eyes, but looked back with a frown on her face. 

“I think people should be lucky to know you, Y/n. You’re a good – a good friend.”

Through the chat you have with her, you discover that not only can she play the guitar, but also the drums. She can also sing, insanely well if the competition awards aren’t a lie, and she’s just a fucking dream. She gave you her home-phone number, and her address. Call me, she wrote on the paper napkin, like she was some kind of rogueish flirt and not a schoolgirl still in her teens.

You took the napkin home with you and pinned it onto a little board, fingers moving over the bumps in the paper where she had pressed too hard with the pen. Call me. Come over sometime. You smiled, idling near the telephone. Maybe you would call her later, you thought.

Natasha Romanov: Y/n, they were an interesting person. My first friend who wasn’t my sister. We’d both been adopted, and been the town freaks for a while. Yelena, she was all spite and rage packed into a little spitfire of a ten-year-old child. It didn’t help that she wanted to give her opinions freely. It was my job to protect her, and when that backfired, we had to move. This far into the story, you already know I wouldn’t be too cut up about it. I had my sister and my adoptive parents. End of fuckin’ story, right? And then the chapter turned. After I met Y/n that day, everything changed. I finally had a reason to stay in the new town. I had made a friend.

Excerpt from ‘Mic in Hand, Heart in Throat’ by Kat S. Releasing 1 May 2028.

As you lay in bed that night, all hot and bothered about the day you’ve had, words start to form in your mind. Fragments; not enough to be worth writing, but you can see where you’ve started to... well, you’ve started thinking up a song.

The next morning, you wake up from a rather pleasant dream to hammering on your bedroom door. 

“Wake up, kid! It’s time to go!”

Oh. It was your mother, a staunch stickler for early-birds-get-the-worm. You would’ve far preferred to sleep in, especially in the summer, but the thoughts from the previous night – the song you thought of – had finally almost fully formed in your mind. You were eager to pen it down in case you forgot, but first, to appease your mother, you showered and had some cereal. Then you were back in your room, ready to write.

She’s got blue hair and a pretty pink smile

Looks that can kill and hands in mine

She’s a girl she’s a gun she’s the newest chapter

She’s a dream and what my heart’s been chasin’ after…

lmk if you want to be added to the taglist! | fic tag

[rosesnink]

artist and writer love

i'm a day late, but let me love y'all anyways

starting with the writers-

@princess-geek & @missameliep - my sweet, beloved dani and debora, my closest friends in this hellsite. it's been almost six years since we became friends (where did the time go?!) and my, what a ride it's been! you guys have been my rocks for longer than anyone, and i can't imagine writing without telling you girls about it, and i hope that one day we may meet and take the writing world by storm! i love you both and i hope that more years are ahead of us

@storyofmychoices - sweet dani, you organizing this every year and making of this fandom something easier to make is no small feat, and i'm thankful i've been getting to know you personally and to call you a dear friend <3 thank you for not only giving us this, but also write such amazing cute little drabbles that just warm me on terrible days

@aria-ashryver - my beloved aria, getting to know you these past months has been the sweetest treat. you're not full of light because you ARE light itself, wherever you go, it seems to follow you, even across the sea, and despite going through it you remain kind and loving, which can be difficult. i really admire you and i hope to one day be half the woman and author that you are

@lilyoffandoms - lils, you have been there from the beginning of my fandom journey, and while we've had our bumps, you're a key part of my life, and i like to read your stuff from time to time, because it's seriously awesome, and your art?! it's so unique and really stands out from the others, to the point where i say 'oh, lily has posted new art!' without needing to double-check who posted what. thank you for putting up with me, which is no small feat, and to more years together! (also, maiele is next on my mcs interacting victim)

@thosehallowedhalls - queridisima cee, even though we haven't known each other for long, you've become so dear to me, and i confess i couldn't bring myself to write more of nerea's journey without you being here, cause it seemed pointless if i couldn't send you spinnets and gush over how nerea is slowly gravitating towards bas, but now that you're here... get ready, cause nere's story has just taken off, and things are about to get interesting!

@dutifullynuttywitch - cherie, your ocs are beautiful, your writing is simply poetic and gorgeous and you are such a sweet person, i smile when i see you on my dash, and even though you gravitate more towards rc these days (and i do not blame you, it's going to the dogs lately) i'm thankful for your presence and i hope we can begin properly talking this 2025! merci for everything, chou <3 (salut from spain!! and pardon my hyperbasic and terrible french lol)

@aallotarenunelma - sweet aallotar, i couldn't cap the writers section without finishing with you because it'd be basphemous. each of your ocs are so unique, detailed and perfectly written, and you give them a part of your finnish culture, which makes them stand out from the crowd, and are so richly-crafted, it's easy to fall in love with them. you are one of my prime role models for both as a person and creator, and i hope that one day we can meet and give you all the hugs you deserve, since i plan to study abroad in the north someday

and now, moving onto the artists...

@erixadraws - sweet erica, your art is outwordly, such a calming and colorful painting that i want to stay in, and raya is such a gorgeous and sweet girl, i enjoyed writing her with my dear brienne, and i love to gush over tfoa with you! thank you for your amazing drawings, which aren't short on magic. seriously, you should animate a children's series someday!

@oh-so-youre-a-nerd - queride elliott, your art is simply out of this world, and you always manage to take it to a new level i thought impossible, and your magic hands can do the most outstanding things i've ever seen in my fandom career, but most of all, i'm thankful for our friendship and how you've always been there for me in every aspect <3 thank you for everything, el <3

@cadybear420 - dear cady, your edits are simply fabulous, you always manage to outdo yourself and each of your mcs are so developed, so unique from one another and you add it a certain touch that always makes me go 'oh, that oc must be cady's!' because they all have that cady magic few can master, and your presence in the fandom is a much needed breath of fresh air!

@swallowandsun - lily, i know that you and i met on another fandom, but you being here makes me so happy, and your ocs, no matter the fandom, are always so amazingly made, and fit the narrative so well, it's admirable, and your gifs and videos?! chef's kiss. the fandom's not ready for you, girl!

@zhoras-bitch - i know that rn you're mia, but you're such a sweet person, and i think of your edits and ocs thrice a day, and getting to know you and see you grow has been a treat, and i hope i can see you again here, at your own time and pace ofc <3

and you, don't worry if you didn't have a shoutout from me, there's more days to come ;)

@choicesfandomappreciation

[cchapsticck]

20 Questions for fic writers

@dreamwatch tagged me and I actually woke up with enough time to do things before I need to go into work

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

10 - Which is very surprising to me considering my reluctance to release anything beyond my google docs for many years.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

142,085 lord

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things (but Eddie Munson in specific honestly) primarily, but I've got some Baldur's Gate and Critical Role in the tubes right now too. The unifying theme here being I Am A Tremendous Nerd Who Likes DnD

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

UNTITLED RECORDING rcd ca. 1987-1988 in the #1 slot by a wide margin, followed by ANACRUSIS ca. 1987, head line, wait, runner, and sunflower broke.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I sincerely try to! I am bad at accepting compliments or feedback so I always feel like I'm giving these sort of boilerplate platitudes and thanks and I wish I could accurately capture me reading every comment about 15 times kicking my leg under my desk. I try to be loudly receptive to the feedback I get. People took the time to read and respond! They don't have to do that!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

At first when I was going to respond to this I thought to myself "I'm not sure I really have a lot of fics that end with angst- oh its dog." Its dog. Its dog at the door. Its absolutely dog at the door. I apparently forgot I wrote it, but its dog.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't necessarily think of myself who writes things with uncomplicated, expressly happy endings. I think a lot of my work that does end hopefully ends with a kind of watery fragile kind of happy. That probably says something about me but maybe it doesn't. But, to answer the question properly, I think head line is probably the least complicated sense of happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I've been made aware of. I'm sure that my writing style and my takes on characters are not everyone's cup of tea, but that's just the mark of a healthy fandom ecosystem. I'm also not a very """""big""""" writer so ain't no one looking at me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have in the past, but I've never felt very confident in my writing when I do. I don't really feel like I can craft very erotic or romantic scenarios when it comes to physical expressions of sexuality, maybe its my writing style working against me or its just a generalized internal cringe @ me when I do. So these days I tend to skirt around it or speak more evocatively when necessary. I just feel like a total fucking goober when I start getting more direct and descriptive.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Always curious what constitutes as a crossover and what constitutes as an AU to some - ao3 tagging seems to muddy the waters for me. Because if you tag the source material for your AU it looks like a crossover but maybe you're simply using the world's logic but none of its characters? And that feels different to me than a strict crossover where characters from other titles are interacting with each other. Y'know? Instructions unclear wrote a DnD AU, one's mileage may vary if that's a crossover or not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

That's a thing? I mean. I guess people translating without attribution or reposting fics on other platforms is a thing. I guess that's that. Huh.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of? Not really? I definitely have played in the sandbox with @cwstau and their work, and have my own little toenail clipping a thing based on that work. I've done a little art here and there, and served as a sounding board, to a certain extent, in the formative stages of that fic's life but all of the heavy lifting is exclusively L's work. And while none of it will ever see the light of day I've also definitely theory crafted entire character dynamics and, sort of, speculative futures with friends in DMs. A lot of Yes And-ing each other about the threads we'll pull on.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Man don't ask me that. I'm all over the road, I'm in the wind. I'll be hard in the paint on one thing and then something old will reemerge on the breeze and I just go back to places I one dwelled and be insane there.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

lol any of them. Seriously, the fact that I have finished and published 10 things this year is a testament to. Something. I have no idea what. Something, because I have never been this kind of productive in many many moons and that productivity is a fickle thing that could leave just as soon as its arrived. My google docs is a graveyard of fics I've started and stopped and had grand plans for and mostly finished or entirely finished but never did anything with.

16. What are your writing strengths?

hahah bad at this question but I think I am good at research, when the fic in question demands it. I like to think I can synthesize that research into interesting things when the fic calls for it. I also think I can do cool things with character voice? At least, I always want to try to be interesting with that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am very bad at drafting, which is to say I often don't and I get frustrated and discouraged when I can't articulate myself the way I want on the first pass - which is particularly sore spot for me when I always feel like I'm trying to do things very intentionally with character voice and interpretation. I never feel super confident with my dialogue either. I'll write internal monologues for several thousand words but the minute two characters need to have an honest to god conversation I forget how human speech works. I'm also just bad at being concise. I really struggle to just let things stand, it is very hard for me to do those "200 words" writing prompt challenges because I'll start on one concept and my brain branches into a million other places this could go with a lot of detail and intersecting relevance and it can be so so hard for me to kill my darlings.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think there's a due diligence required when writing for and in languages you, yourself, don't speak. Google translate isn't necessarily a viable solution to your multi-lingual needs, which I think everyone knows so its not like that's a bold stance. Seek out native speakers, ask for feedback, etc. When its my own work I try not to overly complicate the matter, if all parties in the fiction understand the language I'm going to keep writing in the language of the fic itself. There's a fandom I'm a part of that, in canon, uses German as a proxy language for a fantasy language - which is a language I am conversationally fluent in - and even then I find myself hesitant to just indulge in peppering in German words and phrases because that's just, in my experience, not how of multilingual people use language. Authenticity sort of matters in that regard, and there's a weird artificial presentational-ness to just jamming vocabulary words of other languages into dialogue or text that isn't justified by the character or the conversation itself. idk where I'm going with this.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Weeaboo past revealed: I'm pretty sure it was KHR but I cannot be sure anymore.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This fluctuates based on which one I'm less mad about when I think about it retrospect on any given day, but I think UNTITLED stands as a testament to me writing in long(ish) form, something I've never done before, and was where I really learned a lot about character voice and how to use it. There's plenty I think I'd change or edit now (honestly, was talking to a friend about making a director's cut of some of the chapters of the whole MH series) but it was a big undertaking and I met a lot of really excellent people through the writing and response to that particular fic.

No pressure tags for: @cwstau, @nameslikeguns, @greenlikethesea, @dodger-chan

[docholligay]

Misty

Hello! This is about up to Episode 3 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY episode 3 of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond the third episode, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open

Before I move on to episode 4, I absolutely want to talk about Misty goddamn motherfucking Quigley. She is the greatest character of all time, I fucking loathe her, I ADORE what the writers have done with her and how they twist and pull with her like fucking taffy. She’s a genius stroke of writing AND the actress does an amazing job with her.

Anyway, Misty.

At one point in this episode, Nat asks if Misty has any idea how fucking weird she is and: No! Absolutely not!

Misty completely lacks appropriate social boundaries and seems to be lacking in genuine empathy. She’s never learned how to be likeable, so she settles for being useful. Just like, sitting in her really very lovely bedroom taking a prank phone call, she thought that being smart could save her from social nightmares. Surprise! It can’t!

Misty is a really interesting character for me, because I, too, was a young kid who was very much to the edge of the social circle. I was awkward and overeager and very much into my hobbies (I wore a full ass embroidered blouse and prairie skirt for picture day) and actually pretty “smart”. I went to state for the Nat Geo History and Geography Bee in 6th grade and got to the finals with a bunch of homeschooled 14 year olds*.

You may have imagined this did not make me very likeable, and like Misty, I didn’t really understand what I was doing wrong. I was kind, I noticed when people were upset and tried to do nice things like make a flower bookmark or whatever. I was helpful with homework because it all came very easily to me. I was enthusiastic. 

But I didn’t get the rules. And neither does Misty.

Now, I got smart a lot sooner than Misty, who I would argue never has. She has never figured people out, to this day. A key difference between Misty and I is I think, that empathy thing. At the very least adult Misty, if young Misty did have it, has excised it fairly well from herself.

I gave Misty some credit in episode 2, I think it was, about maybe honestly thinking that she wasn’t pretty enough and just not getting what makes her unlikeable, but I’m rescinding that. I DO think she has no idea how offputting she is or why, but I also think she’s openly manipulative.

She lies to Kevin as Nat, and it never occurs to her that this might be bad or wrong, because to her it’s all about the means to the end, and about using Nat as a way to access this sort of flirtation that Misty herself has never been able to get. Misty, when Kevin first walks up to them, is immediately attracted. And reacts in the most Misty way: Desiring to be noticed, to be remembered, to be thought of.

I genuinely adore how this show takes Misty’s desire for friendship and love and instead of making her the sad nerd everyone is supposed to feel bad for, she, like all the other girls, is a secret monster. She’s like a succubus, or that Japanese monster that eats handsome men. She is happy to do anything, appear as anything, to form these relationships, no matter if they are hollow at core. Misty may be pathetic, but she is not innocent, the show tells us.

It’s ironic that Misty is literally pretending to be Nat, when I argued in an earlier post, and will continue to argue here, that Misty is the one of out them that is really NOT pretending to be something else, simply because she doesn’t know how. She literally admitted to Nat upfront that she pretended to be her to seduce Kevin. She didn’t play dumb for a minute about fucking up Nat’s car. She doesn’t know enough about the way fucking human beings work in order to feel even a moment of shame.

All the other women know that there is something wrong with them at core. But not Misty. Misty has no idea that something in her is fundamentally broken.

I joked that I would not be surprised if Misty killed Travis and did 9/11, and that WAS a joke, but also, i would not be surprised if Misty was somehow involved in his death. I’m not feeling confident enough to say, yes she absolutely is, but in the real world Travis would have killed himself, and this show is in many ways very clearly not in the real world. I don’t think he did because that doesn’t make sense to the kind of narrative we’re working with, though privately I would love if the answer was “Sometimes the poison just takes time to kill you” 

Anyway, MISTY QUIGLEY EVERYONE

*Not to be bitter about an absolutely meaningless contest of nerdery, uh, more than 20 years later, but I lost out on a question about DEW POINT. Which I argue to this fucking DAY is a meterology question, and NOT a fucking history or geography question. I also lost a point for answering Russia as the largest Asian country and not Kazakhstan, which, I know the entire fucking globe is political, but so far as I’m concerned Russia can go fuck itself with its preciousness, the majority of its land holdings are in Asia. Defending my tiny 12 year old self ahaha.

[pinkprimrose05]

3 choices. Arc V (Fandom) for 2 and 10. Yuri (Character) for 5, 6 and 7. Yuya (character)for 2 and 15. If you take on all 7 of these questions I will tie you upside down and play whale noises until you chill. Take care!

Put that rope away, yes, thank you- aaaand here we go!

2) my three favorite characters and why I love them so much:

I should preface this by thanking you for my most recent microcrisis, AKA the abrupt realization that somehow, somewhere along the line... the Theatre Kid Agenda™ has discreetly overtaken my top 3 list.

Speaking of the list:

1- You thought this would be Yuuya, but as it turns out... it's Yuuya! lol.

I'd go ahead and wax the usual poetry about the layers and symbols and all that jazz, but you've already seen me gush about that several times over, so I'll just focus on the babyboy factor for once instead. Yuuya may not have wet kitten energy even at his angstiest, but he sure is a sunshine bean of debatable genuity, and that's just as adoptable!

Looking at him alone is enough to make me want to offer comfort ok. I'm stuffing him in a blanket burrito and shipping him off to my place for a long, long break and some overdue therapy. We can cope with life together, cry a little, cry a lot, bake sweets to recuperate, melt into happy little puddles after a good treat, and then nerd out about theatrics and play a few duels to test silly strategies! This kid is my Son and he deserves all the best things in the world, so for every bit of pain he goes through I'm giving him a truckload of comfort.

______

2- You may have noticed this in ARC-V Month, you may have picked up on it through my sporadic, scattered mentions of the guy, but if not, then here's a fun fact: I have more than one ARC-V blorbo.

Introducing the central piece of a great many of my conflicted thoughts, confused feelings, paradoxical opinions, abrupt perception shifts, and eventual (semi-)begrudging affection that had me questioning my taste in pixels for like a whole year:

...Zarc.

I've known this fucker for 5 years, hated him for a solid 3, and then woke up one winter day in 2023 and realized that oh shit, he managed to land himself a spot in blorbo tier. Is this what people mean when they say a character grew on them? Were my feelings playing the most long-winded joke on my mind for 4 years? Trust me, I don't know. What I do know is that maining his deck was definitely an endearing factor, and so was the 3rd ARC-V watch (this is where I started uncovering most of the easter eggs I know about the show, so perhaps the build-up made me a touch biased over time, but I genuinely found the 136-139 marathon more entertaining than annoying for once. We speak not of 140).

TL;DR: I think the lettuce clown is neat. Past me would have a stroke if I told her I'm a Zarc apologist now tho.

______

3- Super Duper Ultra Hyper Extra Mega- ok I'll stop now.

Sawatari is actually the one surprise in this list to me because, huh, I didn't realize how much I liked him over other nearly as cool characters until I put them side by side and pondered who brings me more joy when on-screen. I thought 3rd place would be someone like Yuugo, maybe Serena, but it seems I've taken a spontaneous shine to the banana peel?

(Help how does this keep happening why am I weak to clowns lmao)

See, Shingo's character may be on the simpler side by virtue of being the... designated comic relief, but that simplicity is part of his charm! The mix of charismatic and pathetic aura is a also rare thing, you know- It's not easy to be so cool and cringe at the same time and make it feel natural. That takes skill.

And speaking of skill, Shingo has my respect for always putting up a good fight, even in the games he loses to all sorts of jobber bullshit. He's a genuinely good duelist and a great entertainer, and I love that for him!

______

10) how many fics I've read that are set in it (approximately and making exaggerated guesstimates):

Guesstimate: Around a thousand. I've been around the fandom long enough to read all sorts of fics on ff.net and Ao3 (among other sites), and it sure feels like I've seen a lot, looking back.

Actual number: Approximately 600, rounding down. On Ao3 alone. Huh, I was expecting the number to be like, 200, so this is not too far off, actually! Maybe the reason the fic count feels higher than it is because the memorable reads tend to be REALLY long multichapters. Why are these so common in the ARC-V tag, by the way? Is it the allure of crossovers? The canon divergence AUs?

(The answer is both, and a few other factors as well. Good for us, I say! Longfics are a serious test of commitment, and I'm glad to see and follow so many talented and dedicated authors!)

[cleverhottubmiracle]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. The Iron Snail So why do some mechanics prefer to use 111-year-old leather on vital oil rig seals to keep everything closed instead of modern plastics and rubber? Have you ever had a wine or tea that makes your mouth feel dry? The reason your mouth feels dry is because there are tannins in those wines and teas, and similar tannins go into this leather we’re talking about today. This leather is some of the most magical leather on the entire planet. I’m assuming when it came out 111 years ago, the world lost its mind, and I’m correct because even to this day, 111 years later, this is one of the most popular leathers on the planet. So What’s Up With This Ancient Leather? During World War II, 18 million square feet of this leather was being produced per month. That’s more than what this factory has produced in many, many years. This leather changed everything – from being worn in boots to being in tanks, to being in airplanes, to being in trucks. Oh, and speaking of absolutely insane stories: 3 years before the Second World War, in Krakow, Poland, a man said, “Hey, I think it’s a great idea for me to start a footwear company,” and everybody said, “Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything’s going to go wrong soon.” And then World War II happened, especially in Poland, and somehow this company still exists. That company’s name is Goral Footwear. The Iron Snail My Journey to Sheffield and These Sweet Boots They moved to Sheffield, England in 2005. I flew to Scotland in 2024. Goral reached out to me and said, “Michael, why don’t you swing by England? We’ll make you a pair of boots, and then you can leave.” I said, “Okay, Goral, that sounds great. I’ll be right there.” I got on a Scottish plane where the seats were made of Harris Tweed. I flew to Sheffield, England, then went into a factory in Sheffield, England, where people only speak Polish, and got boots made for me. What a crazy journey Goral had so far – they survived World War II, and now they’re surviving the internet! Let’s Break Down Today’s Boot Review The Iron Snail The boots I got are called the Sharman boots, and I wore the black ones in Scotland for the entire time – every day, on the plane, when I got home, everything through rain, sleet, snow, ocean water. Obviously, they held up fantastically, and the brown ones on my feet are going through their maiden voyage right now in Vermont (by right now, I mean about half an hour ago when I was brainstorming this article). Let’s get into thisGoral Sharman boot review. So anyways, this is today’s agenda: Number one – what happened 111 years ago that made the US military want 18 million square feet of this leather per month? Number two – sorry, Goral, but your boots are made weird, but that’s not a bad thing. Tricked you, tricked you! You should have seen your face! They are made weird. I’m not lying, but there is a benefit that I like to them. I do it on every boot article. I’ll talk about it later, and this is a little better than most boots. Number three is called catastrophic failure – that is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article. We’ll elaborate on that more. And number four, there are two things that I would change on these boots to make them the perfect boots for me in this style: the combat Doc Marten alternative, whatever you want to call it. Let’s Talk Horween Leather The Iron Snail If you’re a big fat leather nerd, you already know what I’m talking about, but this is Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel, CXL, whatever you want to call it. Horween was founded in Chicago in 1905, and they sold mostly shell cordovan because people used it as a razor strop, but then Gillette came along and said, “Hey, screw the straight razor, what about disposable razors?” and everybody was like, “Ah, that sounds better.” And in 1913, what got really popular after it was invented, of course, was Chromexcel leather. The Science Behind Leather Tanning (With Spaghetti!) The Iron Snail This wouldn’t be a completeGoral Sharman boot review if we didn’t talk about leather so here we go. When Horween was making this leather, they could have processed it in two different ways: they could have chrome tanned it, or they could have vegetable tanned it, or technically, they could also have brain tanned it or oil tanned it. They did none of those things, but at the same time, they also did vegetable tanning and chrome tanning and sandwiched them together. But to truly understand how vegetable tanning and chrome tanning come together to make Chromexcel, you need to have a basic understanding of how leather tanning works. We are tightening spaghetti. The Iron Snail By the way, a lot of this information comes from Nick Horween, Horween themselves – there’s a really awesome podcast called the Full Grain podcast where they talk extensively about Chromexcel leather, which I highly recommend. But anyways, on one of those podcast episodes, they were talking about what tanning leather actually does, and the example that they gave is: picture a big bowl full of spaghetti that you can wiggle. It’s loose, it’s all over around and everything like that. When you tan leather, lock all of that spaghetti together. You can’t, you know, sift your little fingers through it or anything like that. It is now locked, and it’s a strong piece of leather. The Army Analogy – How Tanning Really Works The Iron Snail I’m going to use soldiers as an analogy instead (the spaghetti one just kind of grosses me out). The phrase “tanning leather” stems from one of the original ways of tanning leather – vegetable tanning. In things like tree bark and tea and wine, like I was talking about before, there is something, or are something, called tannins – big fat molecules that make your mouth feel dry. Those tannins in the vegetable matter bond to collagen molecules and essentially lock everything down. The Iron Snail To go to my analogy, picture a bunch of people in a wide-open field just running around crazy. They’re running amuck and picture me, a bad guy in this scenario, walking on the field. I can get past everybody pretty easily because people run by, I wait, and then I go in, and I can get into the center of the field. And that’s what happens when a dead animal’s skin is not processed – it rots, bacteria come in, and anything can get into it and destroy it. But if we introduce tannins to those people who are running around like crazy in the field, all of a sudden, they are an army, all locked together hand in hand, not letting anything in. So the now-leather doesn’t go bad, doesn’t get gross, and things can’t be introduced into it. Two Different Armies: Vegetable vs Chrome Tanning Now, vegetable tanning and chrome tanning make two different kinds of armies. Vegetable tanning – remember I said it was important that the tannins are big and fat – they’re so big it takes a long time to actually get into the hide and start this cross-linking process, start making all of the soldiers. So you have to leave the hides in this solution for a much longer time, but there are a lot of benefits to vegetable tanning. There are also some to chrome tanning, but they’re different. The Iron Snail Vegetable tanning, if we’re sticking to this army analogy – a huge, huge army, an extensive massive army, and all the soldiers are holding hands, and they cover the entire battlefield. That makes a very stiff and very rigid leather, and also, since they’re holding hands, there are pockets that make the leather more breathable than chrome tan, which we will talk about in a second. But it’s a very stiff and moldable leather. If you get it wet, you can mold leather to a different shape. The vegetable tanning process is also much more natural, which results in a much more natural leather. It patinas over time, darkens, and can get water spots because it’s porous – water can enter more easily. The Iron Snail Chrome tanning is essentially the complete opposite of vegetable tanning. It’s incredibly fast, and it’s not natural. It doesn’t use tannins – it uses chromium salt, which gets into the leather – well, gets into the hide and boom, then it becomes leather in like a day, when the vegetable tanning process is way, way, way longer. And that means the cross-linking that happens, the army that is forming, is different from vegetable tan. The chromium army would not be as extensive, it wouldn’t be as huge and widespread, but it’d be very highly trained soldiers very, very close together, almost bonded together. So they’re a specialized impenetrable force, which means the leather is softer and more pliable because it’s not this extensive network of rigid people all across the battlefield. Also, since everything is so close together, the leather is less breathable and more water resistant. The Iron Snail So, both have cons and pros. Oh, drat, those both sound so cool – I wish I could have both at the same time! Well, guess what? You can have both at the same time! But when I called Horween, I said, “You can have both at the same time,” they said, “Yeah, but that’s not good enough – we can do even more!” So they did even more. That’s not the end of how Chromexcel leather is made – there’s one more thing that makes it cool. Let’s Get Technical About These Boots The Iron Snail To put it simply, these boots are constructed in a very peculiar way, and these are not cheap boots. These are very luxurious boots. They are expensive boots, do not get me wrong, but they feel expensive. They are beefy tanks constructed interestingly. Obviously, we know the outer leather is Horween Chromexcel, but these are also leather-lined, and the leather lining is half as thick as the outer Chromexcel lining. However, that’s very thick – these are thick boots. This is actually a combination of two different things. So this is a Blake stitched boot through and through, all in all, but it’s also sidewall stitched, which you see if you look at your sneakers, there’s usually a sidewall, the rubber that comes up onto the upper, and you see stitching around that. That’s exactly what’s happening here. The Iron Snail So when you are repairing these or resoling them or whatever, the actual shape of the boot never needs to get modified, and it’s cool – it gives you a little bit more water resistance, which I will test in a second. You’re not undoing the Blake stitch, and you’re getting the sidewall stitch out, pulling it off, popping another one on, and restitching it. So, really, these aren’t the most water-resistant boots – they’re not rubber boots or anything like that, but they are very water-resistant even past the sidewall. They’re really water-resistant up until the Puritan stitch is on the side. You could stick your foot in the water right up to the Puritan stitch for a pretty long time, and you’re okay. I, of course, tested it, and my hypothesis was held up! The Secret Sauce – What Makes This Leather Special The Iron Snail So you have chrome tanning, you have vegetable tanning, and then you probably know where this is going based on what I said before – you have the best of both worlds, which is combination tanning. You start by chrome tanning this leather, and then you re-tan it through the vegetable tanning process, and that gives you the Hannah Montana special – the Best of Both Worlds! Leather that is still water resistant but now a little bit breathable, it’s also a little bit moldable, it also patinas, it also stays soft but is strong – it is the best of both worlds. That is why it’s the Hannah Montana special. That’s a song that she released, I think, in 2005. The Final Secret – Hot Stuffing and Oil Rigs The Iron Snail But Horween didn’t stop there – they have their combination tan leather, but they also hot stuff it. They fill this leather with oils and waxes, so much so that the leather looks wet when you have it, and so much stuff is packed inside of this leather that when you move it around, it’s a pull-up leather because you’re displacing all of the oils and everything, so you see the actual color change. It has the properties that make really high-pressure jobs want to use this over plastic or rubbers for gaskets and seals and motor seals, especially in World War II, but even now today, according to Nick Horween, the reason Chromexcel leather – and it’s not pure Chromexcel leather, it’s not this beautiful leather that’s on boots, it’s a slightly different kind of leather – the reason it’s used on gaskets and seals on oil rigs and stuff like that is because there isn’t catastrophic failure. The Iron Snail Vegetable tan leather, chrome tan leather, some plastic, some rubbers, whatever it may be – I’m baffled that there’s not a modern technology that beats it – they fail or could fail abruptly. So if you’re on a machine, a very important gasket in the engine could just fail, which sucks. But Chromexcel, what they’re using, fails slowly, so you can hear it fail over time, and you can anticipate when you need to replace a gasket, thus saving the life of whatever machine you are working on. Which is very important when you have big giant tanks and planes and trucks and stuff in World War II and the oil rigs of today. What I’d Change About These Boots The Iron Snail The first thing that I want to change – luckily for us, or you, if you like this change too, you can just do this change. Goral is a small enough company where you could request different things on your boot, but the first thing I would change is I think adding a different color sidewall stitch adds just enough pop. They look a little bit more like Doc Martens – I don’t know if you noticed that, but I do think it is a good look, and Doc Martens does it for a reason. So I would change the sidewall stitch – on the black boot, I want mine to be a really dark green, like just enough where you could see it. The Iron Snail The only thing I would like to add to these boots are speed hooks on the top three, so I can just lace these up quickly and take them off quickly. I love speed hooks – I know it’s an aesthetic thing not to put speed hooks on, but your boy likes speed hooks. Watch This Review Final Thoughts To end this Goral Sharman boot review – I would recommend these boots. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to tell you some code. I’m not trying to sell you bad boots. You can see them cut in half, and you can see them built. These are awesome boots made in Sheffield, England. Anyhoozle, thank you so much for reading. I’ll see you very soon! This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here. The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered. Source link

[norajworld]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. The Iron Snail So why do some mechanics prefer to use 111-year-old leather on vital oil rig seals to keep everything closed instead of modern plastics and rubber? Have you ever had a wine or tea that makes your mouth feel dry? The reason your mouth feels dry is because there are tannins in those wines and teas, and similar tannins go into this leather we’re talking about today. This leather is some of the most magical leather on the entire planet. I’m assuming when it came out 111 years ago, the world lost its mind, and I’m correct because even to this day, 111 years later, this is one of the most popular leathers on the planet. So What’s Up With This Ancient Leather? During World War II, 18 million square feet of this leather was being produced per month. That’s more than what this factory has produced in many, many years. This leather changed everything – from being worn in boots to being in tanks, to being in airplanes, to being in trucks. Oh, and speaking of absolutely insane stories: 3 years before the Second World War, in Krakow, Poland, a man said, “Hey, I think it’s a great idea for me to start a footwear company,” and everybody said, “Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything’s going to go wrong soon.” And then World War II happened, especially in Poland, and somehow this company still exists. That company’s name is Goral Footwear. The Iron Snail My Journey to Sheffield and These Sweet Boots They moved to Sheffield, England in 2005. I flew to Scotland in 2024. Goral reached out to me and said, “Michael, why don’t you swing by England? We’ll make you a pair of boots, and then you can leave.” I said, “Okay, Goral, that sounds great. I’ll be right there.” I got on a Scottish plane where the seats were made of Harris Tweed. I flew to Sheffield, England, then went into a factory in Sheffield, England, where people only speak Polish, and got boots made for me. What a crazy journey Goral had so far – they survived World War II, and now they’re surviving the internet! Let’s Break Down Today’s Boot Review The Iron Snail The boots I got are called the Sharman boots, and I wore the black ones in Scotland for the entire time – every day, on the plane, when I got home, everything through rain, sleet, snow, ocean water. Obviously, they held up fantastically, and the brown ones on my feet are going through their maiden voyage right now in Vermont (by right now, I mean about half an hour ago when I was brainstorming this article). Let’s get into thisGoral Sharman boot review. So anyways, this is today’s agenda: Number one – what happened 111 years ago that made the US military want 18 million square feet of this leather per month? Number two – sorry, Goral, but your boots are made weird, but that’s not a bad thing. Tricked you, tricked you! You should have seen your face! They are made weird. I’m not lying, but there is a benefit that I like to them. I do it on every boot article. I’ll talk about it later, and this is a little better than most boots. Number three is called catastrophic failure – that is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article. We’ll elaborate on that more. And number four, there are two things that I would change on these boots to make them the perfect boots for me in this style: the combat Doc Marten alternative, whatever you want to call it. Let’s Talk Horween Leather The Iron Snail If you’re a big fat leather nerd, you already know what I’m talking about, but this is Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel, CXL, whatever you want to call it. Horween was founded in Chicago in 1905, and they sold mostly shell cordovan because people used it as a razor strop, but then Gillette came along and said, “Hey, screw the straight razor, what about disposable razors?” and everybody was like, “Ah, that sounds better.” And in 1913, what got really popular after it was invented, of course, was Chromexcel leather. The Science Behind Leather Tanning (With Spaghetti!) The Iron Snail This wouldn’t be a completeGoral Sharman boot review if we didn’t talk about leather so here we go. When Horween was making this leather, they could have processed it in two different ways: they could have chrome tanned it, or they could have vegetable tanned it, or technically, they could also have brain tanned it or oil tanned it. They did none of those things, but at the same time, they also did vegetable tanning and chrome tanning and sandwiched them together. But to truly understand how vegetable tanning and chrome tanning come together to make Chromexcel, you need to have a basic understanding of how leather tanning works. We are tightening spaghetti. The Iron Snail By the way, a lot of this information comes from Nick Horween, Horween themselves – there’s a really awesome podcast called the Full Grain podcast where they talk extensively about Chromexcel leather, which I highly recommend. But anyways, on one of those podcast episodes, they were talking about what tanning leather actually does, and the example that they gave is: picture a big bowl full of spaghetti that you can wiggle. It’s loose, it’s all over around and everything like that. When you tan leather, lock all of that spaghetti together. You can’t, you know, sift your little fingers through it or anything like that. It is now locked, and it’s a strong piece of leather. The Army Analogy – How Tanning Really Works The Iron Snail I’m going to use soldiers as an analogy instead (the spaghetti one just kind of grosses me out). The phrase “tanning leather” stems from one of the original ways of tanning leather – vegetable tanning. In things like tree bark and tea and wine, like I was talking about before, there is something, or are something, called tannins – big fat molecules that make your mouth feel dry. Those tannins in the vegetable matter bond to collagen molecules and essentially lock everything down. The Iron Snail To go to my analogy, picture a bunch of people in a wide-open field just running around crazy. They’re running amuck and picture me, a bad guy in this scenario, walking on the field. I can get past everybody pretty easily because people run by, I wait, and then I go in, and I can get into the center of the field. And that’s what happens when a dead animal’s skin is not processed – it rots, bacteria come in, and anything can get into it and destroy it. But if we introduce tannins to those people who are running around like crazy in the field, all of a sudden, they are an army, all locked together hand in hand, not letting anything in. So the now-leather doesn’t go bad, doesn’t get gross, and things can’t be introduced into it. Two Different Armies: Vegetable vs Chrome Tanning Now, vegetable tanning and chrome tanning make two different kinds of armies. Vegetable tanning – remember I said it was important that the tannins are big and fat – they’re so big it takes a long time to actually get into the hide and start this cross-linking process, start making all of the soldiers. So you have to leave the hides in this solution for a much longer time, but there are a lot of benefits to vegetable tanning. There are also some to chrome tanning, but they’re different. The Iron Snail Vegetable tanning, if we’re sticking to this army analogy – a huge, huge army, an extensive massive army, and all the soldiers are holding hands, and they cover the entire battlefield. That makes a very stiff and very rigid leather, and also, since they’re holding hands, there are pockets that make the leather more breathable than chrome tan, which we will talk about in a second. But it’s a very stiff and moldable leather. If you get it wet, you can mold leather to a different shape. The vegetable tanning process is also much more natural, which results in a much more natural leather. It patinas over time, darkens, and can get water spots because it’s porous – water can enter more easily. The Iron Snail Chrome tanning is essentially the complete opposite of vegetable tanning. It’s incredibly fast, and it’s not natural. It doesn’t use tannins – it uses chromium salt, which gets into the leather – well, gets into the hide and boom, then it becomes leather in like a day, when the vegetable tanning process is way, way, way longer. And that means the cross-linking that happens, the army that is forming, is different from vegetable tan. The chromium army would not be as extensive, it wouldn’t be as huge and widespread, but it’d be very highly trained soldiers very, very close together, almost bonded together. So they’re a specialized impenetrable force, which means the leather is softer and more pliable because it’s not this extensive network of rigid people all across the battlefield. Also, since everything is so close together, the leather is less breathable and more water resistant. The Iron Snail So, both have cons and pros. Oh, drat, those both sound so cool – I wish I could have both at the same time! Well, guess what? You can have both at the same time! But when I called Horween, I said, “You can have both at the same time,” they said, “Yeah, but that’s not good enough – we can do even more!” So they did even more. That’s not the end of how Chromexcel leather is made – there’s one more thing that makes it cool. Let’s Get Technical About These Boots The Iron Snail To put it simply, these boots are constructed in a very peculiar way, and these are not cheap boots. These are very luxurious boots. They are expensive boots, do not get me wrong, but they feel expensive. They are beefy tanks constructed interestingly. Obviously, we know the outer leather is Horween Chromexcel, but these are also leather-lined, and the leather lining is half as thick as the outer Chromexcel lining. However, that’s very thick – these are thick boots. This is actually a combination of two different things. So this is a Blake stitched boot through and through, all in all, but it’s also sidewall stitched, which you see if you look at your sneakers, there’s usually a sidewall, the rubber that comes up onto the upper, and you see stitching around that. That’s exactly what’s happening here. The Iron Snail So when you are repairing these or resoling them or whatever, the actual shape of the boot never needs to get modified, and it’s cool – it gives you a little bit more water resistance, which I will test in a second. You’re not undoing the Blake stitch, and you’re getting the sidewall stitch out, pulling it off, popping another one on, and restitching it. So, really, these aren’t the most water-resistant boots – they’re not rubber boots or anything like that, but they are very water-resistant even past the sidewall. They’re really water-resistant up until the Puritan stitch is on the side. You could stick your foot in the water right up to the Puritan stitch for a pretty long time, and you’re okay. I, of course, tested it, and my hypothesis was held up! The Secret Sauce – What Makes This Leather Special The Iron Snail So you have chrome tanning, you have vegetable tanning, and then you probably know where this is going based on what I said before – you have the best of both worlds, which is combination tanning. You start by chrome tanning this leather, and then you re-tan it through the vegetable tanning process, and that gives you the Hannah Montana special – the Best of Both Worlds! Leather that is still water resistant but now a little bit breathable, it’s also a little bit moldable, it also patinas, it also stays soft but is strong – it is the best of both worlds. That is why it’s the Hannah Montana special. That’s a song that she released, I think, in 2005. The Final Secret – Hot Stuffing and Oil Rigs The Iron Snail But Horween didn’t stop there – they have their combination tan leather, but they also hot stuff it. They fill this leather with oils and waxes, so much so that the leather looks wet when you have it, and so much stuff is packed inside of this leather that when you move it around, it’s a pull-up leather because you’re displacing all of the oils and everything, so you see the actual color change. It has the properties that make really high-pressure jobs want to use this over plastic or rubbers for gaskets and seals and motor seals, especially in World War II, but even now today, according to Nick Horween, the reason Chromexcel leather – and it’s not pure Chromexcel leather, it’s not this beautiful leather that’s on boots, it’s a slightly different kind of leather – the reason it’s used on gaskets and seals on oil rigs and stuff like that is because there isn’t catastrophic failure. The Iron Snail Vegetable tan leather, chrome tan leather, some plastic, some rubbers, whatever it may be – I’m baffled that there’s not a modern technology that beats it – they fail or could fail abruptly. So if you’re on a machine, a very important gasket in the engine could just fail, which sucks. But Chromexcel, what they’re using, fails slowly, so you can hear it fail over time, and you can anticipate when you need to replace a gasket, thus saving the life of whatever machine you are working on. Which is very important when you have big giant tanks and planes and trucks and stuff in World War II and the oil rigs of today. What I’d Change About These Boots The Iron Snail The first thing that I want to change – luckily for us, or you, if you like this change too, you can just do this change. Goral is a small enough company where you could request different things on your boot, but the first thing I would change is I think adding a different color sidewall stitch adds just enough pop. They look a little bit more like Doc Martens – I don’t know if you noticed that, but I do think it is a good look, and Doc Martens does it for a reason. So I would change the sidewall stitch – on the black boot, I want mine to be a really dark green, like just enough where you could see it. The Iron Snail The only thing I would like to add to these boots are speed hooks on the top three, so I can just lace these up quickly and take them off quickly. I love speed hooks – I know it’s an aesthetic thing not to put speed hooks on, but your boy likes speed hooks. Watch This Review Final Thoughts To end this Goral Sharman boot review – I would recommend these boots. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to tell you some code. I’m not trying to sell you bad boots. You can see them cut in half, and you can see them built. These are awesome boots made in Sheffield, England. Anyhoozle, thank you so much for reading. I’ll see you very soon! This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here. The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered. Source link

[ellajme0]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. The Iron Snail So why do some mechanics prefer to use 111-year-old leather on vital oil rig seals to keep everything closed instead of modern plastics and rubber? Have you ever had a wine or tea that makes your mouth feel dry? The reason your mouth feels dry is because there are tannins in those wines and teas, and similar tannins go into this leather we’re talking about today. This leather is some of the most magical leather on the entire planet. I’m assuming when it came out 111 years ago, the world lost its mind, and I’m correct because even to this day, 111 years later, this is one of the most popular leathers on the planet. So What’s Up With This Ancient Leather? During World War II, 18 million square feet of this leather was being produced per month. That’s more than what this factory has produced in many, many years. This leather changed everything – from being worn in boots to being in tanks, to being in airplanes, to being in trucks. Oh, and speaking of absolutely insane stories: 3 years before the Second World War, in Krakow, Poland, a man said, “Hey, I think it’s a great idea for me to start a footwear company,” and everybody said, “Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything’s going to go wrong soon.” And then World War II happened, especially in Poland, and somehow this company still exists. That company’s name is Goral Footwear. The Iron Snail My Journey to Sheffield and These Sweet Boots They moved to Sheffield, England in 2005. I flew to Scotland in 2024. Goral reached out to me and said, “Michael, why don’t you swing by England? We’ll make you a pair of boots, and then you can leave.” I said, “Okay, Goral, that sounds great. I’ll be right there.” I got on a Scottish plane where the seats were made of Harris Tweed. I flew to Sheffield, England, then went into a factory in Sheffield, England, where people only speak Polish, and got boots made for me. What a crazy journey Goral had so far – they survived World War II, and now they’re surviving the internet! Let’s Break Down Today’s Boot Review The Iron Snail The boots I got are called the Sharman boots, and I wore the black ones in Scotland for the entire time – every day, on the plane, when I got home, everything through rain, sleet, snow, ocean water. Obviously, they held up fantastically, and the brown ones on my feet are going through their maiden voyage right now in Vermont (by right now, I mean about half an hour ago when I was brainstorming this article). Let’s get into thisGoral Sharman boot review. So anyways, this is today’s agenda: Number one – what happened 111 years ago that made the US military want 18 million square feet of this leather per month? Number two – sorry, Goral, but your boots are made weird, but that’s not a bad thing. Tricked you, tricked you! You should have seen your face! They are made weird. I’m not lying, but there is a benefit that I like to them. I do it on every boot article. I’ll talk about it later, and this is a little better than most boots. Number three is called catastrophic failure – that is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article. We’ll elaborate on that more. And number four, there are two things that I would change on these boots to make them the perfect boots for me in this style: the combat Doc Marten alternative, whatever you want to call it. Let’s Talk Horween Leather The Iron Snail If you’re a big fat leather nerd, you already know what I’m talking about, but this is Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel, CXL, whatever you want to call it. Horween was founded in Chicago in 1905, and they sold mostly shell cordovan because people used it as a razor strop, but then Gillette came along and said, “Hey, screw the straight razor, what about disposable razors?” and everybody was like, “Ah, that sounds better.” And in 1913, what got really popular after it was invented, of course, was Chromexcel leather. The Science Behind Leather Tanning (With Spaghetti!) The Iron Snail This wouldn’t be a completeGoral Sharman boot review if we didn’t talk about leather so here we go. When Horween was making this leather, they could have processed it in two different ways: they could have chrome tanned it, or they could have vegetable tanned it, or technically, they could also have brain tanned it or oil tanned it. They did none of those things, but at the same time, they also did vegetable tanning and chrome tanning and sandwiched them together. But to truly understand how vegetable tanning and chrome tanning come together to make Chromexcel, you need to have a basic understanding of how leather tanning works. We are tightening spaghetti. The Iron Snail By the way, a lot of this information comes from Nick Horween, Horween themselves – there’s a really awesome podcast called the Full Grain podcast where they talk extensively about Chromexcel leather, which I highly recommend. But anyways, on one of those podcast episodes, they were talking about what tanning leather actually does, and the example that they gave is: picture a big bowl full of spaghetti that you can wiggle. It’s loose, it’s all over around and everything like that. When you tan leather, lock all of that spaghetti together. You can’t, you know, sift your little fingers through it or anything like that. It is now locked, and it’s a strong piece of leather. The Army Analogy – How Tanning Really Works The Iron Snail I’m going to use soldiers as an analogy instead (the spaghetti one just kind of grosses me out). The phrase “tanning leather” stems from one of the original ways of tanning leather – vegetable tanning. In things like tree bark and tea and wine, like I was talking about before, there is something, or are something, called tannins – big fat molecules that make your mouth feel dry. Those tannins in the vegetable matter bond to collagen molecules and essentially lock everything down. The Iron Snail To go to my analogy, picture a bunch of people in a wide-open field just running around crazy. They’re running amuck and picture me, a bad guy in this scenario, walking on the field. I can get past everybody pretty easily because people run by, I wait, and then I go in, and I can get into the center of the field. And that’s what happens when a dead animal’s skin is not processed – it rots, bacteria come in, and anything can get into it and destroy it. But if we introduce tannins to those people who are running around like crazy in the field, all of a sudden, they are an army, all locked together hand in hand, not letting anything in. So the now-leather doesn’t go bad, doesn’t get gross, and things can’t be introduced into it. Two Different Armies: Vegetable vs Chrome Tanning Now, vegetable tanning and chrome tanning make two different kinds of armies. Vegetable tanning – remember I said it was important that the tannins are big and fat – they’re so big it takes a long time to actually get into the hide and start this cross-linking process, start making all of the soldiers. So you have to leave the hides in this solution for a much longer time, but there are a lot of benefits to vegetable tanning. There are also some to chrome tanning, but they’re different. The Iron Snail Vegetable tanning, if we’re sticking to this army analogy – a huge, huge army, an extensive massive army, and all the soldiers are holding hands, and they cover the entire battlefield. That makes a very stiff and very rigid leather, and also, since they’re holding hands, there are pockets that make the leather more breathable than chrome tan, which we will talk about in a second. But it’s a very stiff and moldable leather. If you get it wet, you can mold leather to a different shape. The vegetable tanning process is also much more natural, which results in a much more natural leather. It patinas over time, darkens, and can get water spots because it’s porous – water can enter more easily. The Iron Snail Chrome tanning is essentially the complete opposite of vegetable tanning. It’s incredibly fast, and it’s not natural. It doesn’t use tannins – it uses chromium salt, which gets into the leather – well, gets into the hide and boom, then it becomes leather in like a day, when the vegetable tanning process is way, way, way longer. And that means the cross-linking that happens, the army that is forming, is different from vegetable tan. The chromium army would not be as extensive, it wouldn’t be as huge and widespread, but it’d be very highly trained soldiers very, very close together, almost bonded together. So they’re a specialized impenetrable force, which means the leather is softer and more pliable because it’s not this extensive network of rigid people all across the battlefield. Also, since everything is so close together, the leather is less breathable and more water resistant. The Iron Snail So, both have cons and pros. Oh, drat, those both sound so cool – I wish I could have both at the same time! Well, guess what? You can have both at the same time! But when I called Horween, I said, “You can have both at the same time,” they said, “Yeah, but that’s not good enough – we can do even more!” So they did even more. That’s not the end of how Chromexcel leather is made – there’s one more thing that makes it cool. Let’s Get Technical About These Boots The Iron Snail To put it simply, these boots are constructed in a very peculiar way, and these are not cheap boots. These are very luxurious boots. They are expensive boots, do not get me wrong, but they feel expensive. They are beefy tanks constructed interestingly. Obviously, we know the outer leather is Horween Chromexcel, but these are also leather-lined, and the leather lining is half as thick as the outer Chromexcel lining. However, that’s very thick – these are thick boots. This is actually a combination of two different things. So this is a Blake stitched boot through and through, all in all, but it’s also sidewall stitched, which you see if you look at your sneakers, there’s usually a sidewall, the rubber that comes up onto the upper, and you see stitching around that. That’s exactly what’s happening here. The Iron Snail So when you are repairing these or resoling them or whatever, the actual shape of the boot never needs to get modified, and it’s cool – it gives you a little bit more water resistance, which I will test in a second. You’re not undoing the Blake stitch, and you’re getting the sidewall stitch out, pulling it off, popping another one on, and restitching it. So, really, these aren’t the most water-resistant boots – they’re not rubber boots or anything like that, but they are very water-resistant even past the sidewall. They’re really water-resistant up until the Puritan stitch is on the side. You could stick your foot in the water right up to the Puritan stitch for a pretty long time, and you’re okay. I, of course, tested it, and my hypothesis was held up! The Secret Sauce – What Makes This Leather Special The Iron Snail So you have chrome tanning, you have vegetable tanning, and then you probably know where this is going based on what I said before – you have the best of both worlds, which is combination tanning. You start by chrome tanning this leather, and then you re-tan it through the vegetable tanning process, and that gives you the Hannah Montana special – the Best of Both Worlds! Leather that is still water resistant but now a little bit breathable, it’s also a little bit moldable, it also patinas, it also stays soft but is strong – it is the best of both worlds. That is why it’s the Hannah Montana special. That’s a song that she released, I think, in 2005. The Final Secret – Hot Stuffing and Oil Rigs The Iron Snail But Horween didn’t stop there – they have their combination tan leather, but they also hot stuff it. They fill this leather with oils and waxes, so much so that the leather looks wet when you have it, and so much stuff is packed inside of this leather that when you move it around, it’s a pull-up leather because you’re displacing all of the oils and everything, so you see the actual color change. It has the properties that make really high-pressure jobs want to use this over plastic or rubbers for gaskets and seals and motor seals, especially in World War II, but even now today, according to Nick Horween, the reason Chromexcel leather – and it’s not pure Chromexcel leather, it’s not this beautiful leather that’s on boots, it’s a slightly different kind of leather – the reason it’s used on gaskets and seals on oil rigs and stuff like that is because there isn’t catastrophic failure. The Iron Snail Vegetable tan leather, chrome tan leather, some plastic, some rubbers, whatever it may be – I’m baffled that there’s not a modern technology that beats it – they fail or could fail abruptly. So if you’re on a machine, a very important gasket in the engine could just fail, which sucks. But Chromexcel, what they’re using, fails slowly, so you can hear it fail over time, and you can anticipate when you need to replace a gasket, thus saving the life of whatever machine you are working on. Which is very important when you have big giant tanks and planes and trucks and stuff in World War II and the oil rigs of today. What I’d Change About These Boots The Iron Snail The first thing that I want to change – luckily for us, or you, if you like this change too, you can just do this change. Goral is a small enough company where you could request different things on your boot, but the first thing I would change is I think adding a different color sidewall stitch adds just enough pop. They look a little bit more like Doc Martens – I don’t know if you noticed that, but I do think it is a good look, and Doc Martens does it for a reason. So I would change the sidewall stitch – on the black boot, I want mine to be a really dark green, like just enough where you could see it. The Iron Snail The only thing I would like to add to these boots are speed hooks on the top three, so I can just lace these up quickly and take them off quickly. I love speed hooks – I know it’s an aesthetic thing not to put speed hooks on, but your boy likes speed hooks. Watch This Review Final Thoughts To end this Goral Sharman boot review – I would recommend these boots. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to tell you some code. I’m not trying to sell you bad boots. You can see them cut in half, and you can see them built. These are awesome boots made in Sheffield, England. Anyhoozle, thank you so much for reading. I’ll see you very soon! This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here. The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered. Source link

[chilimili212]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. The Iron Snail So why do some mechanics prefer to use 111-year-old leather on vital oil rig seals to keep everything closed instead of modern plastics and rubber? Have you ever had a wine or tea that makes your mouth feel dry? The reason your mouth feels dry is because there are tannins in those wines and teas, and similar tannins go into this leather we’re talking about today. This leather is some of the most magical leather on the entire planet. I’m assuming when it came out 111 years ago, the world lost its mind, and I’m correct because even to this day, 111 years later, this is one of the most popular leathers on the planet. So What’s Up With This Ancient Leather? During World War II, 18 million square feet of this leather was being produced per month. That’s more than what this factory has produced in many, many years. This leather changed everything – from being worn in boots to being in tanks, to being in airplanes, to being in trucks. Oh, and speaking of absolutely insane stories: 3 years before the Second World War, in Krakow, Poland, a man said, “Hey, I think it’s a great idea for me to start a footwear company,” and everybody said, “Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything’s going to go wrong soon.” And then World War II happened, especially in Poland, and somehow this company still exists. That company’s name is Goral Footwear. The Iron Snail My Journey to Sheffield and These Sweet Boots They moved to Sheffield, England in 2005. I flew to Scotland in 2024. Goral reached out to me and said, “Michael, why don’t you swing by England? We’ll make you a pair of boots, and then you can leave.” I said, “Okay, Goral, that sounds great. I’ll be right there.” I got on a Scottish plane where the seats were made of Harris Tweed. I flew to Sheffield, England, then went into a factory in Sheffield, England, where people only speak Polish, and got boots made for me. What a crazy journey Goral had so far – they survived World War II, and now they’re surviving the internet! Let’s Break Down Today’s Boot Review The Iron Snail The boots I got are called the Sharman boots, and I wore the black ones in Scotland for the entire time – every day, on the plane, when I got home, everything through rain, sleet, snow, ocean water. Obviously, they held up fantastically, and the brown ones on my feet are going through their maiden voyage right now in Vermont (by right now, I mean about half an hour ago when I was brainstorming this article). Let’s get into thisGoral Sharman boot review. So anyways, this is today’s agenda: Number one – what happened 111 years ago that made the US military want 18 million square feet of this leather per month? Number two – sorry, Goral, but your boots are made weird, but that’s not a bad thing. Tricked you, tricked you! You should have seen your face! They are made weird. I’m not lying, but there is a benefit that I like to them. I do it on every boot article. I’ll talk about it later, and this is a little better than most boots. Number three is called catastrophic failure – that is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article. We’ll elaborate on that more. And number four, there are two things that I would change on these boots to make them the perfect boots for me in this style: the combat Doc Marten alternative, whatever you want to call it. Let’s Talk Horween Leather The Iron Snail If you’re a big fat leather nerd, you already know what I’m talking about, but this is Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel, CXL, whatever you want to call it. Horween was founded in Chicago in 1905, and they sold mostly shell cordovan because people used it as a razor strop, but then Gillette came along and said, “Hey, screw the straight razor, what about disposable razors?” and everybody was like, “Ah, that sounds better.” And in 1913, what got really popular after it was invented, of course, was Chromexcel leather. The Science Behind Leather Tanning (With Spaghetti!) The Iron Snail This wouldn’t be a completeGoral Sharman boot review if we didn’t talk about leather so here we go. When Horween was making this leather, they could have processed it in two different ways: they could have chrome tanned it, or they could have vegetable tanned it, or technically, they could also have brain tanned it or oil tanned it. They did none of those things, but at the same time, they also did vegetable tanning and chrome tanning and sandwiched them together. But to truly understand how vegetable tanning and chrome tanning come together to make Chromexcel, you need to have a basic understanding of how leather tanning works. We are tightening spaghetti. The Iron Snail By the way, a lot of this information comes from Nick Horween, Horween themselves – there’s a really awesome podcast called the Full Grain podcast where they talk extensively about Chromexcel leather, which I highly recommend. But anyways, on one of those podcast episodes, they were talking about what tanning leather actually does, and the example that they gave is: picture a big bowl full of spaghetti that you can wiggle. It’s loose, it’s all over around and everything like that. When you tan leather, lock all of that spaghetti together. You can’t, you know, sift your little fingers through it or anything like that. It is now locked, and it’s a strong piece of leather. The Army Analogy – How Tanning Really Works The Iron Snail I’m going to use soldiers as an analogy instead (the spaghetti one just kind of grosses me out). The phrase “tanning leather” stems from one of the original ways of tanning leather – vegetable tanning. In things like tree bark and tea and wine, like I was talking about before, there is something, or are something, called tannins – big fat molecules that make your mouth feel dry. Those tannins in the vegetable matter bond to collagen molecules and essentially lock everything down. The Iron Snail To go to my analogy, picture a bunch of people in a wide-open field just running around crazy. They’re running amuck and picture me, a bad guy in this scenario, walking on the field. I can get past everybody pretty easily because people run by, I wait, and then I go in, and I can get into the center of the field. And that’s what happens when a dead animal’s skin is not processed – it rots, bacteria come in, and anything can get into it and destroy it. But if we introduce tannins to those people who are running around like crazy in the field, all of a sudden, they are an army, all locked together hand in hand, not letting anything in. So the now-leather doesn’t go bad, doesn’t get gross, and things can’t be introduced into it. Two Different Armies: Vegetable vs Chrome Tanning Now, vegetable tanning and chrome tanning make two different kinds of armies. Vegetable tanning – remember I said it was important that the tannins are big and fat – they’re so big it takes a long time to actually get into the hide and start this cross-linking process, start making all of the soldiers. So you have to leave the hides in this solution for a much longer time, but there are a lot of benefits to vegetable tanning. There are also some to chrome tanning, but they’re different. The Iron Snail Vegetable tanning, if we’re sticking to this army analogy – a huge, huge army, an extensive massive army, and all the soldiers are holding hands, and they cover the entire battlefield. That makes a very stiff and very rigid leather, and also, since they’re holding hands, there are pockets that make the leather more breathable than chrome tan, which we will talk about in a second. But it’s a very stiff and moldable leather. If you get it wet, you can mold leather to a different shape. The vegetable tanning process is also much more natural, which results in a much more natural leather. It patinas over time, darkens, and can get water spots because it’s porous – water can enter more easily. The Iron Snail Chrome tanning is essentially the complete opposite of vegetable tanning. It’s incredibly fast, and it’s not natural. It doesn’t use tannins – it uses chromium salt, which gets into the leather – well, gets into the hide and boom, then it becomes leather in like a day, when the vegetable tanning process is way, way, way longer. And that means the cross-linking that happens, the army that is forming, is different from vegetable tan. The chromium army would not be as extensive, it wouldn’t be as huge and widespread, but it’d be very highly trained soldiers very, very close together, almost bonded together. So they’re a specialized impenetrable force, which means the leather is softer and more pliable because it’s not this extensive network of rigid people all across the battlefield. Also, since everything is so close together, the leather is less breathable and more water resistant. The Iron Snail So, both have cons and pros. Oh, drat, those both sound so cool – I wish I could have both at the same time! Well, guess what? You can have both at the same time! But when I called Horween, I said, “You can have both at the same time,” they said, “Yeah, but that’s not good enough – we can do even more!” So they did even more. That’s not the end of how Chromexcel leather is made – there’s one more thing that makes it cool. Let’s Get Technical About These Boots The Iron Snail To put it simply, these boots are constructed in a very peculiar way, and these are not cheap boots. These are very luxurious boots. They are expensive boots, do not get me wrong, but they feel expensive. They are beefy tanks constructed interestingly. Obviously, we know the outer leather is Horween Chromexcel, but these are also leather-lined, and the leather lining is half as thick as the outer Chromexcel lining. However, that’s very thick – these are thick boots. This is actually a combination of two different things. So this is a Blake stitched boot through and through, all in all, but it’s also sidewall stitched, which you see if you look at your sneakers, there’s usually a sidewall, the rubber that comes up onto the upper, and you see stitching around that. That’s exactly what’s happening here. The Iron Snail So when you are repairing these or resoling them or whatever, the actual shape of the boot never needs to get modified, and it’s cool – it gives you a little bit more water resistance, which I will test in a second. You’re not undoing the Blake stitch, and you’re getting the sidewall stitch out, pulling it off, popping another one on, and restitching it. So, really, these aren’t the most water-resistant boots – they’re not rubber boots or anything like that, but they are very water-resistant even past the sidewall. They’re really water-resistant up until the Puritan stitch is on the side. You could stick your foot in the water right up to the Puritan stitch for a pretty long time, and you’re okay. I, of course, tested it, and my hypothesis was held up! The Secret Sauce – What Makes This Leather Special The Iron Snail So you have chrome tanning, you have vegetable tanning, and then you probably know where this is going based on what I said before – you have the best of both worlds, which is combination tanning. You start by chrome tanning this leather, and then you re-tan it through the vegetable tanning process, and that gives you the Hannah Montana special – the Best of Both Worlds! Leather that is still water resistant but now a little bit breathable, it’s also a little bit moldable, it also patinas, it also stays soft but is strong – it is the best of both worlds. That is why it’s the Hannah Montana special. That’s a song that she released, I think, in 2005. The Final Secret – Hot Stuffing and Oil Rigs The Iron Snail But Horween didn’t stop there – they have their combination tan leather, but they also hot stuff it. They fill this leather with oils and waxes, so much so that the leather looks wet when you have it, and so much stuff is packed inside of this leather that when you move it around, it’s a pull-up leather because you’re displacing all of the oils and everything, so you see the actual color change. It has the properties that make really high-pressure jobs want to use this over plastic or rubbers for gaskets and seals and motor seals, especially in World War II, but even now today, according to Nick Horween, the reason Chromexcel leather – and it’s not pure Chromexcel leather, it’s not this beautiful leather that’s on boots, it’s a slightly different kind of leather – the reason it’s used on gaskets and seals on oil rigs and stuff like that is because there isn’t catastrophic failure. The Iron Snail Vegetable tan leather, chrome tan leather, some plastic, some rubbers, whatever it may be – I’m baffled that there’s not a modern technology that beats it – they fail or could fail abruptly. So if you’re on a machine, a very important gasket in the engine could just fail, which sucks. But Chromexcel, what they’re using, fails slowly, so you can hear it fail over time, and you can anticipate when you need to replace a gasket, thus saving the life of whatever machine you are working on. Which is very important when you have big giant tanks and planes and trucks and stuff in World War II and the oil rigs of today. What I’d Change About These Boots The Iron Snail The first thing that I want to change – luckily for us, or you, if you like this change too, you can just do this change. Goral is a small enough company where you could request different things on your boot, but the first thing I would change is I think adding a different color sidewall stitch adds just enough pop. They look a little bit more like Doc Martens – I don’t know if you noticed that, but I do think it is a good look, and Doc Martens does it for a reason. So I would change the sidewall stitch – on the black boot, I want mine to be a really dark green, like just enough where you could see it. The Iron Snail The only thing I would like to add to these boots are speed hooks on the top three, so I can just lace these up quickly and take them off quickly. I love speed hooks – I know it’s an aesthetic thing not to put speed hooks on, but your boy likes speed hooks. Watch This Review Final Thoughts To end this Goral Sharman boot review – I would recommend these boots. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to tell you some code. I’m not trying to sell you bad boots. You can see them cut in half, and you can see them built. These are awesome boots made in Sheffield, England. Anyhoozle, thank you so much for reading. I’ll see you very soon! This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here. The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered. Source link

[oliviajoyice21]

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. Any products or services put forward appear in no particular order. if you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. The Iron Snail So why do some mechanics prefer to use 111-year-old leather on vital oil rig seals to keep everything closed instead of modern plastics and rubber? Have you ever had a wine or tea that makes your mouth feel dry? The reason your mouth feels dry is because there are tannins in those wines and teas, and similar tannins go into this leather we’re talking about today. This leather is some of the most magical leather on the entire planet. I’m assuming when it came out 111 years ago, the world lost its mind, and I’m correct because even to this day, 111 years later, this is one of the most popular leathers on the planet. So What’s Up With This Ancient Leather? During World War II, 18 million square feet of this leather was being produced per month. That’s more than what this factory has produced in many, many years. This leather changed everything – from being worn in boots to being in tanks, to being in airplanes, to being in trucks. Oh, and speaking of absolutely insane stories: 3 years before the Second World War, in Krakow, Poland, a man said, “Hey, I think it’s a great idea for me to start a footwear company,” and everybody said, “Yeah, doesn’t seem like anything’s going to go wrong soon.” And then World War II happened, especially in Poland, and somehow this company still exists. That company’s name is Goral Footwear. The Iron Snail My Journey to Sheffield and These Sweet Boots They moved to Sheffield, England in 2005. I flew to Scotland in 2024. Goral reached out to me and said, “Michael, why don’t you swing by England? We’ll make you a pair of boots, and then you can leave.” I said, “Okay, Goral, that sounds great. I’ll be right there.” I got on a Scottish plane where the seats were made of Harris Tweed. I flew to Sheffield, England, then went into a factory in Sheffield, England, where people only speak Polish, and got boots made for me. What a crazy journey Goral had so far – they survived World War II, and now they’re surviving the internet! Let’s Break Down Today’s Boot Review The Iron Snail The boots I got are called the Sharman boots, and I wore the black ones in Scotland for the entire time – every day, on the plane, when I got home, everything through rain, sleet, snow, ocean water. Obviously, they held up fantastically, and the brown ones on my feet are going through their maiden voyage right now in Vermont (by right now, I mean about half an hour ago when I was brainstorming this article). Let’s get into thisGoral Sharman boot review. So anyways, this is today’s agenda: Number one – what happened 111 years ago that made the US military want 18 million square feet of this leather per month? Number two – sorry, Goral, but your boots are made weird, but that’s not a bad thing. Tricked you, tricked you! You should have seen your face! They are made weird. I’m not lying, but there is a benefit that I like to them. I do it on every boot article. I’ll talk about it later, and this is a little better than most boots. Number three is called catastrophic failure – that is the answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article. We’ll elaborate on that more. And number four, there are two things that I would change on these boots to make them the perfect boots for me in this style: the combat Doc Marten alternative, whatever you want to call it. Let’s Talk Horween Leather The Iron Snail If you’re a big fat leather nerd, you already know what I’m talking about, but this is Horween Chromexcel leather. Chromexcel, CXL, whatever you want to call it. Horween was founded in Chicago in 1905, and they sold mostly shell cordovan because people used it as a razor strop, but then Gillette came along and said, “Hey, screw the straight razor, what about disposable razors?” and everybody was like, “Ah, that sounds better.” And in 1913, what got really popular after it was invented, of course, was Chromexcel leather. The Science Behind Leather Tanning (With Spaghetti!) The Iron Snail This wouldn’t be a completeGoral Sharman boot review if we didn’t talk about leather so here we go. When Horween was making this leather, they could have processed it in two different ways: they could have chrome tanned it, or they could have vegetable tanned it, or technically, they could also have brain tanned it or oil tanned it. They did none of those things, but at the same time, they also did vegetable tanning and chrome tanning and sandwiched them together. But to truly understand how vegetable tanning and chrome tanning come together to make Chromexcel, you need to have a basic understanding of how leather tanning works. We are tightening spaghetti. The Iron Snail By the way, a lot of this information comes from Nick Horween, Horween themselves – there’s a really awesome podcast called the Full Grain podcast where they talk extensively about Chromexcel leather, which I highly recommend. But anyways, on one of those podcast episodes, they were talking about what tanning leather actually does, and the example that they gave is: picture a big bowl full of spaghetti that you can wiggle. It’s loose, it’s all over around and everything like that. When you tan leather, lock all of that spaghetti together. You can’t, you know, sift your little fingers through it or anything like that. It is now locked, and it’s a strong piece of leather. The Army Analogy – How Tanning Really Works The Iron Snail I’m going to use soldiers as an analogy instead (the spaghetti one just kind of grosses me out). The phrase “tanning leather” stems from one of the original ways of tanning leather – vegetable tanning. In things like tree bark and tea and wine, like I was talking about before, there is something, or are something, called tannins – big fat molecules that make your mouth feel dry. Those tannins in the vegetable matter bond to collagen molecules and essentially lock everything down. The Iron Snail To go to my analogy, picture a bunch of people in a wide-open field just running around crazy. They’re running amuck and picture me, a bad guy in this scenario, walking on the field. I can get past everybody pretty easily because people run by, I wait, and then I go in, and I can get into the center of the field. And that’s what happens when a dead animal’s skin is not processed – it rots, bacteria come in, and anything can get into it and destroy it. But if we introduce tannins to those people who are running around like crazy in the field, all of a sudden, they are an army, all locked together hand in hand, not letting anything in. So the now-leather doesn’t go bad, doesn’t get gross, and things can’t be introduced into it. Two Different Armies: Vegetable vs Chrome Tanning Now, vegetable tanning and chrome tanning make two different kinds of armies. Vegetable tanning – remember I said it was important that the tannins are big and fat – they’re so big it takes a long time to actually get into the hide and start this cross-linking process, start making all of the soldiers. So you have to leave the hides in this solution for a much longer time, but there are a lot of benefits to vegetable tanning. There are also some to chrome tanning, but they’re different. The Iron Snail Vegetable tanning, if we’re sticking to this army analogy – a huge, huge army, an extensive massive army, and all the soldiers are holding hands, and they cover the entire battlefield. That makes a very stiff and very rigid leather, and also, since they’re holding hands, there are pockets that make the leather more breathable than chrome tan, which we will talk about in a second. But it’s a very stiff and moldable leather. If you get it wet, you can mold leather to a different shape. The vegetable tanning process is also much more natural, which results in a much more natural leather. It patinas over time, darkens, and can get water spots because it’s porous – water can enter more easily. The Iron Snail Chrome tanning is essentially the complete opposite of vegetable tanning. It’s incredibly fast, and it’s not natural. It doesn’t use tannins – it uses chromium salt, which gets into the leather – well, gets into the hide and boom, then it becomes leather in like a day, when the vegetable tanning process is way, way, way longer. And that means the cross-linking that happens, the army that is forming, is different from vegetable tan. The chromium army would not be as extensive, it wouldn’t be as huge and widespread, but it’d be very highly trained soldiers very, very close together, almost bonded together. So they’re a specialized impenetrable force, which means the leather is softer and more pliable because it’s not this extensive network of rigid people all across the battlefield. Also, since everything is so close together, the leather is less breathable and more water resistant. The Iron Snail So, both have cons and pros. Oh, drat, those both sound so cool – I wish I could have both at the same time! Well, guess what? You can have both at the same time! But when I called Horween, I said, “You can have both at the same time,” they said, “Yeah, but that’s not good enough – we can do even more!” So they did even more. That’s not the end of how Chromexcel leather is made – there’s one more thing that makes it cool. Let’s Get Technical About These Boots The Iron Snail To put it simply, these boots are constructed in a very peculiar way, and these are not cheap boots. These are very luxurious boots. They are expensive boots, do not get me wrong, but they feel expensive. They are beefy tanks constructed interestingly. Obviously, we know the outer leather is Horween Chromexcel, but these are also leather-lined, and the leather lining is half as thick as the outer Chromexcel lining. However, that’s very thick – these are thick boots. This is actually a combination of two different things. So this is a Blake stitched boot through and through, all in all, but it’s also sidewall stitched, which you see if you look at your sneakers, there’s usually a sidewall, the rubber that comes up onto the upper, and you see stitching around that. That’s exactly what’s happening here. The Iron Snail So when you are repairing these or resoling them or whatever, the actual shape of the boot never needs to get modified, and it’s cool – it gives you a little bit more water resistance, which I will test in a second. You’re not undoing the Blake stitch, and you’re getting the sidewall stitch out, pulling it off, popping another one on, and restitching it. So, really, these aren’t the most water-resistant boots – they’re not rubber boots or anything like that, but they are very water-resistant even past the sidewall. They’re really water-resistant up until the Puritan stitch is on the side. You could stick your foot in the water right up to the Puritan stitch for a pretty long time, and you’re okay. I, of course, tested it, and my hypothesis was held up! The Secret Sauce – What Makes This Leather Special The Iron Snail So you have chrome tanning, you have vegetable tanning, and then you probably know where this is going based on what I said before – you have the best of both worlds, which is combination tanning. You start by chrome tanning this leather, and then you re-tan it through the vegetable tanning process, and that gives you the Hannah Montana special – the Best of Both Worlds! Leather that is still water resistant but now a little bit breathable, it’s also a little bit moldable, it also patinas, it also stays soft but is strong – it is the best of both worlds. That is why it’s the Hannah Montana special. That’s a song that she released, I think, in 2005. The Final Secret – Hot Stuffing and Oil Rigs The Iron Snail But Horween didn’t stop there – they have their combination tan leather, but they also hot stuff it. They fill this leather with oils and waxes, so much so that the leather looks wet when you have it, and so much stuff is packed inside of this leather that when you move it around, it’s a pull-up leather because you’re displacing all of the oils and everything, so you see the actual color change. It has the properties that make really high-pressure jobs want to use this over plastic or rubbers for gaskets and seals and motor seals, especially in World War II, but even now today, according to Nick Horween, the reason Chromexcel leather – and it’s not pure Chromexcel leather, it’s not this beautiful leather that’s on boots, it’s a slightly different kind of leather – the reason it’s used on gaskets and seals on oil rigs and stuff like that is because there isn’t catastrophic failure. The Iron Snail Vegetable tan leather, chrome tan leather, some plastic, some rubbers, whatever it may be – I’m baffled that there’s not a modern technology that beats it – they fail or could fail abruptly. So if you’re on a machine, a very important gasket in the engine could just fail, which sucks. But Chromexcel, what they’re using, fails slowly, so you can hear it fail over time, and you can anticipate when you need to replace a gasket, thus saving the life of whatever machine you are working on. Which is very important when you have big giant tanks and planes and trucks and stuff in World War II and the oil rigs of today. What I’d Change About These Boots The Iron Snail The first thing that I want to change – luckily for us, or you, if you like this change too, you can just do this change. Goral is a small enough company where you could request different things on your boot, but the first thing I would change is I think adding a different color sidewall stitch adds just enough pop. They look a little bit more like Doc Martens – I don’t know if you noticed that, but I do think it is a good look, and Doc Martens does it for a reason. So I would change the sidewall stitch – on the black boot, I want mine to be a really dark green, like just enough where you could see it. The Iron Snail The only thing I would like to add to these boots are speed hooks on the top three, so I can just lace these up quickly and take them off quickly. I love speed hooks – I know it’s an aesthetic thing not to put speed hooks on, but your boy likes speed hooks. Watch This Review Final Thoughts To end this Goral Sharman boot review – I would recommend these boots. I’m not lying. I’m not trying to tell you some code. I’m not trying to sell you bad boots. You can see them cut in half, and you can see them built. These are awesome boots made in Sheffield, England. Anyhoozle, thank you so much for reading. I’ll see you very soon! This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here. The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered. Source link

[bat-kidsarebi-kids]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. Get to know your mutuals and followers.♡

leigh i am so sorry i'm answering this fifty years after you sent it to me, my askbox is always empty and i never check it like the bastard i am. better late than never? maybe? anyways.

my partners. i have two wonderful partners, one of which i've been with since high school and one who was my college best friend, of 8 and 3 years respectively. they are the best thing that has ever happened to me. i've been writing for 10 years and i still don't have the words for how life-changing it's been to have the privilege of walking beside them for the years i have. every day i'm a better person because i know them. every day i can't believe i'm lucky enough to love them. there is good in the world i have seen it & it is alive in the people i've given my heart to. not to get so real with you on tumblr dot com but. yeah.

my cat piper. i've added pictures for tax. me and one of my partners adopted her a few months before covid hit. she is greedy and clingy and a ball of living sunlight. she has broke many things i love. she yells at me constantly. i don't know what i'd do without her.

school. i'm a huge fucking nerd about school. i genuinely love learning and the time i've spent in college has been the happiest of my life. i'm going to grad school rn to become a therapist and it's brutal and i love every second. i've met the most amazing people and i learn new things every day and it's amazing PLUS i'm on my way to doing the thing i've always dreamed about. jazzed as fuck.

rocks. i have a massive rock collection of over 300 different rocks. i've also included a picture for tax. i've loved rocks since i was a kid and now i've spent an Inadvisable Amount of Money on them. they're all over my house and they bring me so much fucking joy. that came from the ground!! that was in the ground and now it's in my house!! a very improbable series of events happened that made this beautiful colorful shiny chunk come from the dirt and now it's mine! amazing.

connecting with fandom people online. if you've ever tried to speak to me on tumblr or ao3 or the like, this may not seem true since i am Atrocious at responding but my executives just hate to function in that direction, there are actually few things i love more than making connections with people over our shared love of the bastards on our screens. i'm awful at reaching out first bc my silly little brain tells me no one wants to hear from me, but i genuinely love getting to know my moots. i love getting comments on ao3 for the same reason. seriously, a comment on ao3 will make my whole week even if it's "just" a keyboard smash or emojis. i write for the love of it but i post to connect with people. if you've ever read my stuff please talk to me about it.

[the-wardens-torch]

FFXIVwrite2023 Battle Plan

tl;dr - Late start, microsoft blows, I may may not be out of ideas, I want to do 12 this year, but I'll consider 10 a success.

I wanted to do this post on the 31st, but I was too busy seething with rage at the fact that I have to use conversion software to be able to display all of my old writing on my new computer which means going through and rearranging 100+ pieces by hand. I should cave and just get scrivener, but I'm sick of spending money since I've already shelled out $1,300 (which took me years to save) for this new comp and its various peripherals and I'm so very tired.

Then I didn't do it with the first 2 days due to being too busy with nerd pursuits (such as that of Strahd Von Zarovich by my 7 foot tall ginger half-orc Ranger girl) and dork hobbies (like staring at Harris hawks and border collies for 3 hours.)

I feel like this will be the year I finally run out of ideas, but I've said that for the last 2 years already so I might surprise myself.

There are a few remaining bits of Fal's backstory I desperately want to get out. The biggest of which is what got him to go to Carteneau and therefore pick up Bahamut's power. I could go with a prophetic dream (perhaps courtesy of his deceased duskwight grandmother who sometimes messes with him in his dreams,) but that seems too obvious. I'll probably try to do that for one of the free day prompts unless I get one that's really on the nose.

And there's also the obligatory things I do every year; a folktale (probably about Azeyma,) a free-verse poem, and a collection of 4-5 dirty limericks (I love doing those but they're SO HARD.)

I don't have much of anything to distract me IRL this run… Unless you count Baldur's Gate III, which my partner bought it for himself as a b-day gift. I'm dying to start playing it when he's done since it looks like the first D&D based game I'm not too stupid or uncoordinated to play. I think I might use that as my reward for finishing 10-12 this year.

[preciouslittletoonette]

I know a thing or two about not understanding social interactions, heh. Like right now, I'm swinging between not completely understanding what they're trying to say or actually doing the opposite of what they're saying because that's simply how I am.

Like, why not focus on the information? I'm sure the other person would appreciate the interest you have in the topic they're talking about. And why not just treat boys as people? They're people in the end.

For some words of comfort about romance, I am an avid believer of someone somewhere out there will find you intriguing and attractive as you are. Yeah, they may not be The One or the one made to be with you (I like to think there is such a thing but the practical side burned into me refuses it; and sometimes being practical is a social life saver), but they will have found you interesting. I hope you don't mind me relaying my own experiences here. If you do, just skip to the end.

So I have no experience in proper romantic relationships. BUT I do have experience in crushes and attraction, whether I have them on someone or someone has them on me. Like I had a thing about two weeks ago. I was at a party and I kept being approached by this boy. I don't know if it was the fact I wore make up or a nice dress, Idk, but I got approached. He was interested. Now the kicker for this tale is the thing he told me on the 2nd time we were speaking.

"I noticed you were staring off at the ceiling. I was watching you for most of the night, seeing you so lost in time and space. I was interested to know what was going on in there (my head)."

Lemme tell you, I was internally so embarrassed someone was actively watching me space out like that. The last guy who noticed me spacing out called me a creep and crazy (I wasn't even staring in his direction- asshole). But this guy seemed very genuine in wanting to know me, despite my very obvious, bizarre first impression I gave him (I have got to stop spacing out during parties). Made me feel so warm (I hope you'll feel that warmth too- you're such a kind girl I find it hard, possible neurodivergency [feel you there] aside, that you won't find someone to be with). I didn't get his number sadly, but I feel we parted ways both having a great time talking to each other.

As another, more longer example, I knew a guy in school. I was friends with him since grade 8. 3 years ago, he confessed he had a crush on me since that faithful day we met. I was shocked. He was crushing for 5 whole years. And let me say, I treated him like such a close friend, which meant I did reveal a lot of quirks about myself I wouldn't let a potential boyfriend see. But still, he saw me as someone he wanted to be with despite all of that.

So basically what I'm trying to say is, you'll find someone or someone will find you. Sometimes the person that finds you will be too scared to approach for their own reasons. And sometimes the both of you will think there's no interest on either side when there is. And other times it'll be you. Take your friend's advice about the confidence (though I personally think they could've been a whole lot more softer and sensitive on how they gave it to you- but that's probably just me being a sensitive pop), if you feel comfortable with someone, the confidence will usually follow naturally (even without you realising it). But most of all, you should still do you. Be Ana. Be that cartoon nerd, girl. A person’s got to like you for every part of you if they wish to stick around long.

Sorry I can't be more helpful regarding flirting. I suck at flirting too. But I hope I was little helpful with the rest. To give you some faith that you will find someone. Have a good night, Ana

I am supposed to be doing my homework rn but I can't concentrate. I have pent up feelings inside me and I feel like they are eating me up on the insite. I need to vent. Having nowhere else to turn to I decided tumblr.

WARNING: This is very LONG. I don't know what I'm even saying, I'm just ranting nonesensically at this point. If you don't want to read about the identity crisis of an overwhelemed teenage girl then feel free to ignore.

It all began a few days ago, Monday I think, when I went out with my two best friends (girls). One of them had just broken up with her bf (she wasn't too sad about it) and we were chatting about boys. Both of them had dated before, had flirted and kissed guys and even more. I have never done those things (although I sometimes wish I had someone) so I whistfully said 'When's gonna be my turn to have a bf?' This statement started a whole conversation.

They told me that I can't just wish for a bf, that things don't just happen and that I need to stop daydreaming all day and take action. At first, I didn't know what they meant. Then they started telling me that I am basically too childlike, seem too innocent and don't even try to attract guys. They told me that when I have conversations with them I don't even try to flirt or look at them with doe eyes (I suck at this), I just talk to them nicely, as if they are just my coworkers or classmates. This shocked me because I have never even thought about it that way.

I simply thought that if I am nice and if I have great ideas people will be attracted to me and like me. I bond with people over deep conversations, shared interests, ideas, concepts and things like these. But apparently this whole approach is wrong. Apparently, people during a conversation don't focus on the information, but on the person and on the body langauge. Small talk (which I don't really like tbh and I kinda suck at it) is appaerntly like that: NOT the information matters, BUT the person, the way they talk, how they move. This blew my mind.

They went on to say that I focus more on the information than the person (therefore I focus on the wrong things) and that gives boys the impression that I am not available or intersested. "You need to find the woman in you" they said. "We don't want you to change yourself, you are great the way you are, but you need to better yourself and evolve. You are not a child anymore".

Moreover, not only that I do this with boys but with everyone (well, duh, because I thought that this is how you are supposed to interact). They said I talk to everyone like they're a coworker or a classmate (I don't view people like that, I didn't know it looked that way) and that I always seem more interested in the information I recieve, not in bonding with the person (even though that is the way I bond).

The thing is, I also tend to zone out during conversations when they don't particulary interest me. I love to daydream (I do it for hours, while pacing back and forth, flapping my hands repeatedly and listening to music) and when the conversation gets boring, I start paying less attention to what is being said and mkre attention to my thoughts. Even with conversations that interest me, sometimes, I have to resist daydreaming (although it tends to happen less if I am very involved). They told me that that is wrong and "no wonder no one's interested in you since you don't look interested in them". Apparently, people do and should pay attention even when it gets boring?? I didn't know that! Why did no one tell me! (of course if I am one-on-one I do keep the conversation going to prevent it from becoming awkward, but if I'm in a group setting then I don't make a lot of effort. apparently that's wrong.)

The overall message was that I need to stop daydreaming so much, be more confident, improve my social skills, try to pay better attention to my surroundings and to the people around me and practice my flirting skills on boys (even if I have no idea how to do that or where to start). And the thing is, they, along with the majority of the girls around me, seem to be doing these things so effortlessly, they have a natural feminine charm, a way with people and I just don't know how to act, what to say, how to say it. It's incredibly weird. I tried to follow their advice ever since then, but it's not really working. I can't really pay attention to my surroundings, to people, all the time. It's overwhelming and exhausting. I still wind up daydreaming. Now I'm afraid that I'll never succeed and I'll remain single forever, that no one will be attracted to me or like me that way. I just don't know how to put myself out there.

This conversation also made me realize how differently I percieve the world and human interractions compared to my friends. I've always seen people as people. Boys, girls, it didn't matter to me. Apparently, that's not how it works. "I treat boys as if they are just normal people." I said. "Well, that's the thing," they said, "you mustn't treat them like people. You must treat them like boys." While I understand the logic behind it and what they are trying to say, it simply never occured to me to do that or think like that. Or that, if I don't act that way, then boys won't like me and percieve me as just a friend, a nice person, no attraction there, sir.

Tbh I've always felt a bit different. Different than them, than my classmates, than the world. Ever since I was young I was the weird one, the one kids picked on, the odd one out. Everything I did was just not right, the way I was and acted was wrong and I needed to change. Thankfully, I've adapted and now I don't do certain things in public (e.g flapping my hands) like I used to. I've understood that certain things are not socially acceptable, I've gotten better at human interractions (when I was in primary school and a bit of middle school, I was a disaster) and my social skills have improved. But I still feel like I'm almost always two steps behind everyone else, like there is something I just don't get. I don't know what it is and it frustrates me.

I thought that I might be neurodivergent, maybe autistic, but after a lot of research, I feel like I'm in between. I don't meet all of the criteria in order to be diagnosed with autism. I can interrpret facial expressions, figures of speech, hand gestures, most social cues, read between the lines, comfort people, get sarcasm and jokes (most of the time) and I can feel and show empathy (I'd say that I'm actually too empathetic). I DO have certain problems with certain stimuli but never to the point where it's actually hinderring. The only symptoms that I seem to have are stimming (hand flaping, pacing back and forth, ricking etc.), a niche interest (I've been interested in cartoons my whole life to the point that I read and know a lot about them and I only want to talk about them and I feel very connected to them and invest almost all my time and energy in them), perhaps executive dysfunction and a few problems here and there with some social norms and cues. I do have a fiery temper and I am very emotionally sensitive and I do have a lot of breakdowns, but I don't know if they can be classified as autistic meltdowns....

Idk where I'm going with this man... I guess I just feel very lost, like I'm neither neurodivergent nor neurotypical, like I'm stuck in between, like no matter what I do I'll never belong in any place, nor in the autistic community, nor with the NTs. Like no one will ever get me (I know I might seem self-centered but this is how I feel). I don't want to self-diagnoze (hello, imposter syndrome), but at the same time the thought of opening up to my friends and family, even to my therapist, leaves me petrified. I'm not scared of being judged. If I were neurodivergent I'm sure everyone I love would accept me. I'm actually afraid of being dismissed ("stop it, Ana. you're fine."). It would hurt just as much as exclusion.

Like I said, Idk where I'm going with this. It's just me veinting so I can get this off my chest and concentrate on my homework afterwards. Probably tomorrow I'll be back to rebliogging cartoons, completely ignoring this rant.🙃