#apparently i needed to use the synthetic dye ^^'

[technicolorxsn]

kinda disappointed with how the sweater turned out://

[zylphiacrowley]

Long involved WoL BJD project update:

Order custom 3D printed head

Order body

Order Eyes

Buy safety goggles and new mask filters because

Uh oh! eyes don't fit in head so I need to sand out the eyewells to make them fit.

Buy RIT (or similar) dye because my boy is not that pale

Dye body parts

Possibly paint or pastel dye head (3D printed resin doesn't like being boiled apparently)

Faceup time! (The actually fun part! Buy more MSC if my current stock is expired)

buy synthetic fiber for wig making

Make wig with lace front and sides, possibly entirely ventilated (???) (thank god I already know how to do this and have most of the tools) - this will take a long time v.v

Make tail (??? How do? I have an idea but we'll see if it works???) and install with magnets.

Make or commission his main glams (learn just enough about leatherworking or figure something out using craft foam for parts)

Current goal is to have him finished by mid April of 2025.

[market-spy]

GCC Specialty Chemicals Market: Breaking Down the Billion-Dollar Chemical Conundrum

The Billion-Dollar Tease: 

So, there’s this report ID: SQMIR15E2390 that dropped in February 2023, with the promise of unraveling the mysteries of the GCC Specialty Chemicals market. Apparently, it’s worth a mind-boggling USD 799.4 billion in 2021 and is playing hard to get, set to climb to USD 1157.64 billion by 2030. Talk about a chemical love affair!

The Drama Unfolds: 

Why is this market behaving like the star of a Netflix series? Well, blame it on the growing investments in construction, oil, gas, and automotive sectors. Big construction projects, like the smart city escapade called NEOM, are making this market a hot cake. Even Henkel AG & Co. KGaA threw in a whopping USD 23 million to expand its soap and sanitizer empire. Because, you know, cleanliness is big business.

The Love Triangle — 

Specialty Polymers, Textile Chemicals, and the Gang: Now, let’s talk types — the cool kids in this chemical carnival. We have specialty polymers, textile chemicals, dyes, pigments, agrochemicals, and a few others gate-crashing the party. Agrochemicals, being the popular kid, dominated the market in 2021, probably because everyone wants to impress the growing population with fancy, chemically-enhanced crops.

Paint & Coatings — 

The Diva of the Show: Hold your horses, folks! The real drama unfolds in the application section. Paint & coatings, the undisputed diva, is stealing the spotlight with a CAGR of 5%. It’s everywhere — from buildings to cars, making the world colorful, one chemical at a time. PPG even introduced some fancy powder coatings because apparently, we all need premium-textured surfaces in our lives.

Asia Pacific —

The Chemical Kingpin: In the global arena, Asia Pacific is the undisputed kingpin, flaunting a market value of USD 291.2 billion in 2021. China, the chemical haven, is leading the charge with its raw materials and cheap labor. I guess it’s time to acknowledge that not all heroes wear capes; some wear lab coats.

Market Dynamics — 

The Good, the Bad, and the Toxic: Now, let’s talk about what’s driving and hindering this chemical charade. Construction activities are the knights in shining armor, boosting market growth. But, and there’s always a but, health and environmental concerns are playing the villains, putting restrictions on synthetic chemicals. It’s like a chemical soap opera — you never know who’s going to win.

Competitive Circus — 

Big Players Under the Spotlight: The GCC Specialty Chemicals market is like a circus, and our star performers include Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, and a bunch of other heavyweights. They’re busy acquiring companies, adopting new technologies, and making the chemical world go round.

For More Information: https://www.skyquestt.com/report/gcc-specialty-chemicals-market

Recent Developments — 

The Chemical Soap Opera Continues: The plot thickens as companies make strategic moves. Platinum Equity acquired Solenis for a cool USD 5.25 billion, creating a chemical powerhouse. SK Capital, the matchmaker, facilitated the union of Canlak Inc. and Valentus Specialty Chemicals. It’s like chemical Tinder, but for companies.

Conclusion — 

Chemicals, the Unsung Heroes: In conclusion, the GCC Specialty Chemicals market is a billion-dollar blockbuster, with construction activities playing the lead role. Health and environmental concerns are the plot twists, and big players are the showstoppers. It’s a chemical drama that keeps us on the edge of our seats, wondering what chemical concoction will rule the market next.

So, there you have it — the GCC Specialty Chemicals market decoded, demystified, and served with a side of sarcasm. Until the next chemical adventure, stay chemicalicious!

About Us-

SkyQuest Technology Group is a Global Market Intelligence, Innovation Management & Commercialization organization that connects innovation to new markets, networks & collaborators for achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Contact Us-

SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

1 Apache Way,

Westford,

Massachusetts 01886

USA (+1) 617–230–0741

Email- info@skyquestt.com

Website: https://www.skyquestt.com

[cannibalisticskittles]

was going to do a dye test today but i bought the regular fabric dye and apparently if the fabric is more than 35% synthetic, i need synthetic dye instead

and the fabric is 65% polyester

whoops.

it's not a total loss; i haven't gotten the shorts yet, and since they're going to be denim, they'll likely be cotton and so i can use the regular dye on those. but it does mean no dye tests today.

[salt-baby]

hey hey, I saw your post on customising your knee braces and was wondering if you could tell us about what you’ve done for your wrist braces and/or ring splints since you mentioned customising those too?

absolutely!

for the ring splints, I use the oval-8 ones, which means they only come in one color. while I'm fortunate enough that this blends into my skin tone, I found I really dislike the look of them, and instead of having them blend in I figured I'd make em stand out instead.

So, using one that was too big as a tester, I used black Rit Synthetic DyeMore to pigment the plastic. The process for this is pretty simple - in a well ventilated area, fill a pot with the concentrated dye and boil it. Suspend the rings in the dye bath (you don't want to let them touch the bottom) and let them dye for around 30 minutes (I'm happy to elaborate more on the process).

The color ended up brown, which I knew would happen from the test ring I did, and I'm super happy with it! I actually get compliments on these pretty often, partially because people don't realize they're medical.

Here's a picture I took shortly after dyeing them. The one on my thumb was my tester, which I dyed twice just to see what would happen (it didn't get much darker). The one on my pointer finger is the default color, and the ones on my other fingers were dyed once. The brown is a couple shades lighter in person.

[Image ID: a hand in a wrist brace, with four oval-8 ring splints on the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers. The ring on the pointer finger is a light beige, the rings on the middle and ring fingers are a medium brown color, and the ring on the thumb is a slightly darker brown. /. End ID]

Regarding the wrist braces, it was less customization and more a necessary modification. My wrist braces were too big for my wrists even at the largest size, so I finally got fed up and just shortened the straps.

I cut the straps, overlapped them by about an inch, and then used a very wide and short zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine to cover all the raw edges. the thread is a decorative rayon, which can be a little weak, but it's easy enough to just go back over the stitches if needed.

apparently I didn't take any pictures right after I did this, so here's what my wrist braces look like now:

[Image ID: a black wrist brace secured to a hand using three straps. The top and bottom straps each have two vertical rainbow lines of stitches, about an inch apart. On the top strap, one of the lines is worn away and unravelling. There are three brown oval-8 ring splints and one light beige oval-8 ring splint on the fingers of the hand. /. End ID]

This photo is more true to the color of the ring splints, which makes me wonder if the pigment is light-fast or something? You can also see that since I lose and add rings I'm usually wearing a mix of colors.

Anyway, thank you for the ask, and hopefully my answer was helpful to you! If you have any questions about the specifics of what I did, feel free to send another ask or a dm and I'd be happy to walk you through it.

[ashdoesfandomarchieved]

Two Bisexuals Are Your Co-Captains

ao3

“I solved racism,” Mariner says, kicking open the ready room door. This should not be physically possible, as doors have progressed past the need to be opened, and are, in fact, automatic.

Boimler, whose face is currently one with the synthetic wooden desk, gives her a thumbs up but doesn’t move beyond that.

“Okay, I lied, I didn’t solve racism,” Mariner admits. “It’s still a problem in our galaxy. But, I did solve our captain problem!” she tries. This does get Boimler to remove his face from it’s fixture on the desk.

“You did?” he blinks up at her, creases in his face from where it had been smooshed against the hard surface.

Mariner dumps an honest-to-god paper file on his desk. “Check it out, twink.”

Boimler swipes the file, frowning as nothing happens when he taps it. Mariner helps him out, flipping the cover over. “So there’s this really nifty rule back from like 2039 that allows for two acting captains to co-pilot the ship simultaneously.”

“Are you serious?” Boimler groans.

“As Legato Infection,” Mariner confirms. “It was apparently instated for missions where the crew is like. Separated or some shit and need more than one captain coordinating. Because Starfleet was also part of the air force for a while, co-captains were basically just co-pilots. Like this was a whole thing. But it got overwritten with the First Officer Act of 2048 that instated First Officers as a fill in instead of a co-captain, able to make decisions and delegate, but it was never technically outlawed. Meaning…”

“We could technically take advantage of the loophole and-”

“Co-Captains!” Mariner punches the air. “You know what this means?”

Boimler blinks at her blankly. Beckett applauds herself over the alliteration, as she throws an arm over his shoulder. “It’s our ship,” she whispers dramatically, already envisioning the communist flags with selfies of her and Boimler printed on them.

“Or it could just be your ship,” Boimler says, fear in his eyes.

Beckett grabs his collar, dragging him up to eye level. “Our ship.”

________

“Beckett no,” Freeman says flatly. Ever since The Incident--the one where the ship was overrun with the Pakleds that took out the entirety of senior command--she’s been in medbay, wrapped up in so many bandages she looks like a mummy from one of those really old movies Boimler is obsessed with.

“Beckett yes ,” Mariner says, taking a slurp of her cherry limeade slurpee. “You named me First Officer!”

“Then why does Boimler-”

“Ransom also named him First Officer!”

“So your brain jumped to Co-Captains ?” Mariner can’t see her mom’s expression, but from her squinty eyes she’s pretty sure it’s disapproving. “That is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“You can’t call your daughter dumb!” Mariner throws her hands up in the air.

“Mariner, you’re dumb.”

“That’s against parent rules! Everything I do is supposed to be a fucking delight!”

Freeman turns her judgy eyes to Boimler, who had been staring off into the middle distance, probably traumatized by all of the shrieking the mother and daughter duo had been doing since they entered medbay. Whatever, it’s not Mariner’s fault that her mom’s kneejerk reaction to her daughter charging into medbay with a bat'leth and no shirt on was to shriek like a goddamn banshee.

“You know what,” Freeman says, eyes locked on Boimler. “I’m already having a bad fucking week. Go ahead, make it worse I dare you .”

“Uhm-”

“We absolutely will do that,” Beckett promises, crossing her heart.

_____

“ ATTENTION ALL PERSONAL ,” Mariner says, over the ship’s speakers. D’Vana, from her position at the First Officer’s station, gives her a Disappointed Look. Mariner gives her a thumbs up back.

“ DUE TO OUR EXCRUCIATING CIRCUMSTANCES AND THE LACK OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOUR FORMER CAPTAIN AND HER FIRST OFFICER, ENSIGN BOIMLER AND I WILL BE YOUR CO-CAPTAINS TONIGHT. OR FOREVER, WE HAVEN’T DECIDED YET.”

“Mariner, what are you doing?” Boimler says, storming onto the Bridge. Mariner, who had hacked the Bridge speakers to play Demi Lovato’s Confident every time Boimler entered, is pleased to note that nobody had figured out how to turn that off yet. Unfortunately for her, however, Boimler didn’t recognize his girlboss powers, and had been yelling at her every time it happened.

“I’m letting the ship know about our change in command, oh Co-Captain of mine,” Mariner says over the booming bass and Demi Lovato’s dulcet tones. In the corner of her eye, the vulcan side character that everyone thought was a Cool Guy, bopped his head to the music.

Boimler sighs, pressing his palms into his eyes. “So we’re actually doing this?”

“Dude, I already made us friendship jackets. That shit had a no refunds policy.” She pulls a leather jacket that had been draped over their helmsman's head--bad for ship navigation, but good for dramatic effect--and throws it at Boimler. Boimler unfolds the pink monstrosity, sighing deeply at the neon-yellow glitter words Gatekeep Girlboss Gaslight emblazoned on the back.

“Is this really necessary?”

“It’s ABSOLUTELY necessary,” Mariner says, standing up. She turns around, showing Boimler her purple jacket which says Malewife Mansplain Manipulate in snot-green glitter.

“HOW DOES THAT MATCH.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOW DOES THAT MATCH.” Her voice echoes strangely, alerting her to the fact that the shipwide comms are still in use. She reaches over, flicking the switch off and turns back to Boimler, hands on her hips. “Is this an anxiety thing again? Do you need to go back on medication?”

“I don’t need to be on meds!”

“Then why won’t you wear our super secret special jackets!”

“Because mine is hot pink and says girlboss on the back!”

Mariner lets out a gasp. “Are you saying... Boimler are you adhering to GENDER ROLES?”

“No-no stop it -”

“You! You of ALL PEOPLE-”

“Mariner, cut it out!”

“LET IT BE KNOWN THAT BRAD BOIMLER IS A-”

Boimler pulls the jacket on so violently that he somehow elbows himself in the eye. The pink really does go with his hair-which Mariner knows for a fact he dyes himself every three weeks. “There! Happy?”

“So so happy.” Mariner hands him a martini from the tray she had brought in and nailed to the arm of the captain’s chair. The one she hands to Boimler has a rainbow umbrella in it. “So, first order of business. I think we need car seats for short people.”

“Excuse me.”

Mariner picks up her own martini glass and takes a chug, choking on the strawberry chunks she had grinded into it a few minutes before Boimler got here. “You know, car seats? That shit you put babies in because cars are a danger to humanity but we keep buying them? I think the shorties on this ship deserve some protection.”

Boimler drains his glass. “Fine, whatever, I don’t even care anymore.”

______

Mariner is commissioning the previously mentioned communist flags with hers and Boimler’s faces printed on them, when Tendi comes into the ready room. She is wearing the face of complete and utter defeat that everyone else had been wearing since the Co-Captains had been instated. Mariner insists it’s because they’re sad that she and Boimler wouldn’t get to be captains forever. Boimler says it’s because everyone’s writing their suicide notes to their familes.

“Mariner, we need to talk,” Tendi says, using the opening line to every break up Mariner’s been a part of and seen on tv. Which is really weird because she didn’t think she and Tendi were in a relationship.

“I’m all ears,” Mariner says, which is a dumb fucking line because clearly she isn’t , but people say that all the time.

“I don’t want to be your First Officer,” Tendi says, crossing her arms. “It was fun for the first week, but after you made it mandatory to do the Macarena during the first ten minutes of each hour, morale has been down.”

“Hmm,” Mariner pets Boimler’s therapy cat, Dishwasher, thoughtfully. “Okay, I’ll make that one optional. Any other requests?”

Tendi sighs. “No,” she admits. “To be honest, the ship is running at 98%, which is the highest any ship in Starfleet has ever run. I think Brad orgasmed when he heard about that.”

“You call him Brad ?” Mariner stares up at her friend, aghast.

“That’s his name?”

“Yeah, and his cat’s name is Dishwasher , but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to call her that!” Dishwasher growls at her name. Mariner shushes her, hands clamped over her ears. “She turns into a murder-rage machine when you call her by her given name! How do we know Boimler isn’t the same?”

“Because I call him Brad all the time!” Tendi hisses back, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Oh my god, he’s probably serial killing as we speak. I hope you’re ready to talk to the victim’s families and let them know that their loved one’s died because you couldn’t help yourself.”

Tendi stares at Mariner for a full minute. “Resignation,” she reiterates, pointing at Mariner. “I want to be a gross ensign scrubbing the deck again. Nepotism sucks .”

“Fine, you’re demoted. Go enjoy mediocrity.”

“I will.” Tendi storms out, kicking the door shut. Which again, is completely, 100% impossible because it’s the 23rd century or whatever-Mariner’s not keeping count-and automatic doors are now a Thing.

Mariner hacks their speaker systems to play the Wii Shop Channel Music-a reliac of the past only alluded to on private groupchats and servers- to play whenever Tendi entered a room. It’s the least she could do.

______

“As your First Officer,” a reluctant Rutherford says reluctantly, “I am here to remind you that that would be a very bad idea .”

“Rutherford, who’s the boss around here?” Mariner asks, hands on her hips.

Rutherford sighs. “You.”

“And as the boss, who makes all the decisions around here?”

Another sigh. “ You .”

“Then why are you being a killjoy over my decision to get down and dirty with my Co-Captain?”

Rutherford makes a shriek-y noise, like those boys who got their testicles cut off in the old days so they could sing opera. “Mariner, I’m serious, don’t do it .”

“Is it against regulation?”

“No,” Rutherford groans. “You’re both the same rank-”

“So what’s the problem?”

“You can’t sleep with Boimler just because you can!”

“That’s not why I’m going to sleep with Boimler,” Mariner waves him off. “I was sitting on his lap the other day-”

“Oh my god -”

“-in the Captain's chair--ooh we should look into getting another one of those, TWO chairs are better than one--”

“Mariner, to the point please.”

“Oh, yeah, so I’m in his lap and I maay have backed up a little too far and bumped up against-”

“Stop literally stop .”

“Yeah, so turns out Boimler is PACKING and I gotta hop on that train, so to speak.”

“Okay, you know what?” Rutherford shoves his padd at Mariner. “I quit, I can’t do this. I want to be a lower decks ensign again.”

“Wow, you’re like, the seventeenth person this week to quit. Which, coincidentally, is exactly how long I’ve been captain.”

“Yeah, weird coincidence,” Rutherford deadpans.

_____

“I may have fucked up, Mom,” Mariner shrieks, waltzing into medbay with all the grace of a duck pulling off a white bread heist. “I think you should take captaincy back.”

Freeman, who had fully recovered two days ago, but refused to engage in the chaos Mariner was purposely causing on her ship, looks up from where she’s reclining with her long island ice tea and swimwear magazines. “Really now?”

“ Yes . All of my friends hate me and I found out Boimler has purple pubs.”

Freeman almost drops her drink. “ What .”

“Tell me about it. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still fucking, but like. Wow, I thought he dyed everything. Turns out that shit is natural.”

Freeman covers her face with one hand. “No.”

“What?”

“No, you’re keeping the ship.”

“WHAT.”

“I already spoke to your father,” Freeman gives her daughter a shark-like smile. “We agreed that this position of authority has been good for you. And, considering, the ship is running better than any ship in Starfleet since the inception of the Federation, the Admiralty wants you and Boimler to stay on.”

“ WHAT .”

“They think it’s an interesting social experiment that merits more research. Congratulations, you and your fuck-buddy are now ginnypigs.”

___

“I think, as a sign of protest, we should rename the ship,” Mariner says, draped across the desk in the ready room. Boimler, sprawled out all over the desk chair, snorts. The room has been completely revamped in pride flags and the previously mentioned communist flags. Mariner thinks it’s her best interior design work, but Boimler claims it’s an eyesore.

“What would we name it?” he asks, humoring her.

Mariner considers it, taking a swig of vodka. “Okay, hear me out. Q and Picard’s Loveboat.”

Boimler grabs the bottle out of her hand, taking a chug. “You know what? This might as well happen.”

They submit the formal request on Boimler’s padd a few minutes later and are both pleasantly-at least in Mariner’s case-surprised that it goes through. It’s likely that the guy in charge of filtering these requests is either very very bored or very very underpaid and either way Mariner likes his energy.

A few days later, they have Q AND PICARD’S LOVEBOAT stamped across the side of the ship in comic sans-a truly underappreciated font from ye olden days that Mariner dug up one night on the wayback machine.

It takes exactly four weeks for the Admiralty to catch wind of it-by then she and Boimler had been Co-Captains for almost two months-and, well, there isn’t much they can do about it.

She does receive a rather long voicemail from her dad that she promptly deletes. She’s not about that energy.

_____

“Boims, Boims, Boims,” Mariner chants, crawling into his bed. Boimler lets out a shriek as her ice cold toes slide up against his bare thigh.

“So you know how our ship got renamed so easily?” she says, once Boimler had stopped screaming. “Well, I found the dude who approved it. Nice kid, I want his gender. Anyway, looks like my dad is getting a new ship and they're getting someone to christen it.”

“Oh my god,” Boimler says faintly, turning his face into his pillow.

“I may have gotten us on the list of possible people to christen it. As in, the kid hacked the server for me and we're the only people on that list.”

Boimler looks like he's regretting everything ever. He also looks like he's kind of in love with her. Mariner inspires that kind of duality in people. “What are we going to name it?” his voice has a tinge of fear in it that both of them get off on. The kink is strong with this couple.

Mariner grins.

_______

THE DADMIRAL: ACT OF REBELLION OR GENIUS?

Ash H. Beiggs

Many of you may remember the highly criticized decision Starfleet made when instating “Co-Captains” on the starship Q and Picard’s Loveboat ( formally known as the USS CERRITOS). Well, Captains Bradward P. Boimler and Beckett E. Mariner are back with bigger and bolder headlines to make.

The chaotic young duo are renowned Federation-wide not only for running the tightest ship in Starfleet, but for their unorthodox methods. Captain Mariner in particular has been praised for her innovating thinking and usual personality. When asked about her decision to name Admiral Mariner’s ship The Dadmiral she simply claimed that “Mohammad had his mountain, Jesus had his followers and [she] had a molotov cocktail and nothing to lose.” Captain Boimler declined to comment.

The actual christening of The Dadmiral was reported as a “spectacle to behold” by many onlookers. Captain Mariner was seen streaking through the aforementioned ship, with a bottle of vodka in one hand. Her Co-Captain was not far behind her, but was reportably more restrained. The actual christening was completed by Captain Mariner who “yeeted the vodka” into the ships warp core, shouting “ One of us. One of us,” in rapid succession until she was removed by security.

Neither Admiral Mariner or Captain Freeman are available to comment at this time.

[rrameyguerrero]

Worldbuilding: Clothing

The clothing in the world you are building should make sense for the weather, the materials available, and culture. Poor people usually don’t wear the clothes that more wealthy patrons can afford. Time period is important if you are designing something based off of something from earth. There might even be gender norms that you character can choose to comply with or not. Do your characters have accessories, like belts, scarves, or jewelry? Do they have a concept of modesty? Do they wear make-up?

Creating fashions for your world can be a daunting task. I suggest using tools, like Pinterest, to gather ideas. You can look up other people’s ideas for current and past fashions from around the world. One thing to keep in mind though, you never want to appropriate someone else’s culture. Taking inspiration is one thing but ripping someone’s culture off because it’s pretty isn’t ok. So make sure you are being respectful.

While creating your fashion, you might want to jot down traditions. Maybe your characters have dress clothes for special occasions, work clothes for work, and leisure clothes for leisure. Or perhaps, your characters simply wear what is comfortable all the time. Some people may only change their clothes every few days. Some people change their clothes multiple times in a day.

Perhaps your character is going to a special event like a festival, wedding, or ball. They might purchase a new outfit, make one, or wear something they already own. Special events are times to show off the fashion of a particular world.

Suppose your characters are going on a journey of some sort. Do they pack a lot or a little? I make a DND style bag with a list of outfits to keep track of items brought. My main characters only pack a few outfits for a journey, and they only change their clothes when they need to. The ruler of Wen packs a whole trunk. She has a different outfit every day. Her travel attire still reflects her status.

What materials are available to the country? For example, Charozod is a fishing country. They catch these massive rainbow fish, and they use the scales for their clothing. When it is cold, they wear beaver skin coats. In Wen, on the other hand, each tribe has their own prevalent fashions. Yerikuu with money often wear spidersilk tunics and brownspun pants. Yerikuu who live communally, wear willowfiber or cotton tunics with brownspun pants.

Think of the type of fur, plant, and synthetic materials that are available. Cotton is a plant native to tropical and subtropical climates. Without machinery, harvesting cotton is a labor-intensive process. Cotton used to be expensive because of this process. On the other hand, it dyes well. Hemp is becoming more popular, but in order for it to become processed enough to make clothes, it would require some type of technology. Linen comes from the fibers of the flax plant. It grows in a variety of climates. Grass can be used too, but I don’t know how durable this would be.

Wool is an animal-based product that can come from a sheep, goat, yak, reindeer, llama, alpaca, and even rabbits. Wool is versatile and usually takes dye well. Wool can be knitted, crocheted, or woven to various weights.

Leather can be made from any animal skin (almost). Snakes, cows, buffalo- anything. Leather is very durable and can be waterproof. It is advisable to use leather as outerwear and shoes. Furs can also come from any animal. So let your creativity shine. Furs are often associated with cold weather climates.

Silk is often made from a moth larvae that feeds on mulberry trees. But as I mentioned before, my world has spidersilk. So you can have anything. Silk has a smooth texture and takes dyes well. It can be worn where it is cold as well as where it is hot.

When making fashions for your world, it is important to consider dyes. What do they have at their disposal? How would they create the color that you envision? The easiest colors to have are earth tones, like browns and greens and greys. Some cultures make reds from beetles or tiny snails. Maybe if your characters live on the coast, they can use squid ink to make something close to black. Flowers can be used, it would take a lot of them to make one item.

Your character’s religion, magical, or social caste will also probably influence their dress. Maybe a certain group covers their heads for one reason or another. Maybe others don’t. Maybe a certain group wears robes all the time. Maybe others pierce or tattoo their skin once they reach a certain milestone. How do these groups perceive the other?

Climate is a major factor in what we wear, so it should be important to your character too. I live in South Texas- it is November now- and I am walking around in shorts. My uncles in Chicago have already had to pull out their light jackets. This is in the same country. So, it is important to know how large a region your MC’s homeland is.

For someone who lives where it rains all the time, they might own some type of rainboot and rain jacket with a hood. Waterproof clothing is a must for when it’s always wet out. Maybe they oil or wax their fabrics, or maybe they have extremely tightly woven fabrics.

Someone who lives along the beach may have multiple bikinis. Maybe they have sunglasses and sandals. Anyone who lives in a colder climate will have warm fabrics and lots of layers. Perhaps they wear a coat, cloak, scarf, and gloves to protect themselves from frostbite. Remember, dark colors absorb heat.

People who live where it is hot might wear loose, light fabrics. Perhaps they wear a head covering and sunglasses. Maybe they wear less clothes- or no clothes. Be mindful of the sun. There’s a reason people in the desert are covered from head to foot.

A person’s livelihood will influence what they wear. A person who is a potter will want to wear clothing that doesn’t matter if they get it dirty. But someone who spins silk will want to wear clean clothes that are unrestrictive. Maybe your characters work in an office building or something similar. Fashion may be more important to them.

If a person’s career is to be a farmer or gardener, they might wear loose fitted clothing. Pants are probably going to be preferred over dresses. They will want to wear clothes that are durable, that don’t rip easily and are easily cleaned. Stable shoes are a must, unless there is an express reason for being barefoot (religion, poverty, ect).

Someone who is a fisher or a pirate might wear short pants or skirts so they don’t have wet ankles. They will want to wear something that dries quickly. Durable clothing is important when they are at sea.

Someone who does any sort of fighting, like a soldier or a police officer, will want something that does not restrict their movement. Depending on their fighting style, they may have protective equipment like armor, but not every culture uses armor. Armor can range from leather to steel plates. Sometimes rank is apparent by the uniform of the person, but others are uniform.

Lastly, People in your world will have items of apparel that are shows of wealth. Certain colors and jewelry are only worn by the rich. In the past, girls ruffled their sleeves or wore corsets. These things are purely to be fashionable. Long nails and restrictive clothing can go to show that this person is privileged enough to not work. Elaborate hairstyles are also signs of the rich.

Whatever you do, have fun with it.

 Here are some resources:

https://artsandculture.google.com/theme/explore-traditional-clothing-from-around-the-world/-gLSnpTzzdkwJw?hl=en

 Here are some blogs I found:

https://humanvariant.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/worldbuilding-clothing-and-fashion/

http://www.artofworldbuilding.com/culture-and-clothing/

[rowanthestrange]

How To Make A Build-A-Bear Dye Without Killing It:

Me: If this is Paddington, why is he white?

Build-A-Bear: Oh my god Rowan, you can’t just ask why Paddington’s white!

Paddington is currently one of Build-A-Bear’s cutest and plushiest options. However he’s also significantly lighter-furred than either the recent movie, the classic television show, or even the original illustrations made him. My sponsor being a fan of the Paddington TV show, I was asked to experiment to see if I could correct this by dying him, in a long-lasting, no rub-off way, whilst maintaining the gorgeous fluffy texture of the fur.

And shockingly...yes. Yes, you actually can.

(Instructions and more adorable pictures under the cut)

Now as far as I can tell, if you can do it with this plushy baby, you should be able to do this with any Build-A-Bear. Probably any bear full-stop, but I’m not responsible if you re-dye that toy tiger you’ve had since you were a baby and it crozzles into a little plastic ball. Be smart, be responsible, be sure you can buy another one of whatever you’re dying in case you screw up. Remember even if it all works, you might still not get the colour you want. Dying’s a lottery.

Disclaimers over, you will need,

A Bear.

Rit DyeMore Synthetic in the colour of your choice. (Cocoa Brown if you’re doing this Paddington).

A big metal pot than can go on the stove. Bigger than the one you’re thinking of right now.

A cooking thermometer is highly encouraged - look you’re buying the dye, you might as well spring for this too, you’ll find uses for it.

Nice smelling washing-up liquid.

Rubber gloves if you’re not an idiot.

A big wooden spoon that can reach the bottom of your pot.

Basic sewing supplies (don’t panic, nothing arduous)

Ideally an extra person in case of emergencies (these include: when it turns out you can’t stir a pot continuously for over thirty minutes, when you splash yourself with scalding-hot dye and need someone to stir while you hold your hand under cold water, when you apparently don’t have the coordination to stir, check temperature, and keep track of time all at once, etc.)

And before you begin, offer a prayer and thanks to @tokozdragon whose own experimentations allowed me to stand on the shoulders of a giant. Theirs was one of the most helpful bits of information I came across in my research, and is how you’re gonna hopefully keep that fluff nice and gorgeous.

So. Build-A-Bears are seemingly synthetic top to bottom. Certainly this one is. I couldn’t find any tags saying anything other than 100% polyester, man-made fibres. Now this is a bad thing when it comes to dying, because the dyes can’t penetrate and hold in the same way. You wash it, everything’ll immediately rinse out. But Rit Synthetic Dye, does work. The only catch is, you’re gonna have to get it to just below boiling point. And if you’ve ever left a cuddly toy against a radiator before, you might know that these things do not like heat.

But there is a trick to this. You’re gonna diverge from your dye instructions just a little bit, but it’s going to work so long as you’re really on the ball.

First of all, check to see that your bear will fit in your pot - physically put it in there - and check if it could move freely and be covered with water. No? Then you’re gonna do what I did, and frankly what I suggest: You’re going to unstuff your bear. Get a clean box, find a seam (the BAB tag is perfect for this if it’s still got it on) pull until you see threads, have courage, and snip. You can put them back together, I promise. I left the head and arms stuffed for Paddington because it would fit, and they’d be more difficult to restuff. You might want to as well. Keep your heart (and tracking barcode) safe, as well as all that stuffing. Now you may have someone who looks like this:

Next, it’s bath time. No, don’t skip this step. Get a little of your nice washing-up liquid, just a small drizzle, and some warm water. Nothing hot, not close to hot - baby bath temperature. Give your bear a gentle wash, to remove any coatings or oils or dirt, and rinse them out well under more warm water. Make sure to squeeze it through any remaining stuffed bits too. You don’t need to go overboard though, a bit of soap left over is gonna be fine.

While you’re doing that, you’re going to heat up your dye to just below teddy bath temperature.

This is where we start to deviate from instructions.

You’re gonna put that dye in right away, while it’s still cool. I needed about 5 litres of water for my pot, and used about a quarter of a bottle of dye (somewhere between 6-8 tablespoons). You can see how Cocoa Brown turned out here. Obviously if you want a weaker colour, use a few spoons less. If you don’t get it perfect straight away, don’t worry about it, you can add more later if you have to, but again remember your ideal colour is not guaranteed.

Then add a small trickle of washing-up liquid to the dye. Less than a teaspoon, but it’s going to help the dye catch.

When your dye is just about bear-temperature, still really low, you are going to immerse your bear, while the temperature’s still going up. That’s right, we’re doing it now. What we’re trying to do is not shock the fur by giving it a sudden temperature change - plunging it into 90°C dye like you’d usually do. Instead we’re gonna boil it like a frog in a pot.

You are gonna stir this baby continuously, and treat it like a video game level you can’t afford to fail. Bits that float, squeeze em and squish em back down. Nothing stays still. You stop stirring? You’ve failed. And never, ever, ever, let it touch the bottom of the pot for even a second without you moving it away. Treat this early temperature where you can still put your hand in it as your test, and get a rhythm up. Using your gloved hands (or not, but it’s gonna make your nailbeds look weird for days), squeeze the dye thoroughly through your still-stuffed areas, make sure everything’s evenly covered, because once this dye goes past 50°C you’re going to be using your spoon only.

Then just keep stirring. If your arms get tired, this is why you have your emergency standby buddy. Check the temperature occasionally. When it gets up to about 80°C this is when the dye will actually start activating. Keep the heat going, but check your time. If you can’t easily see a clock and don’t have a buddy, you definitely can’t afford to stop stirring now, so start counting one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, up to about 240-Mississippi. For everyone else, go to about 4-5 minutes, maybe having your buddy check the temperature as you go. If you hit a boil - you’re seeing bubbling - turn the heat off. What we’re aiming to do is give it about 4 minutes in the 85-max 95°C range, so you choose when to shut your heat off - you know your cooker better than I do.

After your heat is off keep stirring as it drops its temperature, remembering it’s just as delicate a procedure as when you were heating it up, it still can’t touch that hot metal for too long. When it gets down to about 60°C, if you or your emergency buddy can easily (and I mean easily, with no difficulties at all) lift that pot to put it in a cold water bath in your sink, you could do that, but if your wrist suddenly gives out or something that is a hell of a lot of hot water that will mess you up. If in doubt, you gotta just keep stirring for as long as it takes for the pot to cool back down to bath temperature. Don’t try and lift the bear out and put it in the sink early, just do it properly.

Once you’re down to relatively cool again, lift the bear and squeeze the dye out. Then transfer them to your sink. Run water at about the same temperature, and rinse them thoroughly.

When the worst of the dye stops coming out, then it’s time for bath time yet again. More of that nice smelling washing-up liquid, soap them up good, and watch that sink get all colourful again.

Then keep rinsing them, replacing the water until it stays clear and free from soap.

And then all you need to do is wait for them to dry!k

(If you don’t have a hairdryer that works on a cool setting, then just squeeze them with paper towels to get the worst of the water out, and fluff em up a little bit every now and again, moving that fur, and making sure it ends up roughly in the direction it should be so it doesn’t dry too oddly.

Then the next day when they’re dry, brush them up a bit, and give them a re-stuff, making sure to give that heart-wish a little booster when you put it back in. (And put that odd little barcode you probably found in there right next to it - that’s one of the ways a lost bear can find its way back to you. You never know). Then to stitch up the hole, use a ladder stitch. Google it to find instructions that work for you, but that’s the clever invisible stitch you’ll need. And if you can’t do that last bit for any reason, I’ve never found a Build-A-Bear shop that won’t help fix up a bear (and they’d probably be interested in your dye test. You could probably even get a scent put in if you’re good at sweet talking).

And voila, one spiffy bear.

Who in this case, had all his stuffing given a rub down with sweet orange essential oil, the perfect scent for any bear who carries an emergency marmalade sandwich.

Of course if you’re going the full Classic Television Paddington, then a bit of work with some black felt and ribbon is still required. The red hat should be enough for you to mirror a pattern. I suggest 2mm or 3mm thick felt (and you’ll need a metre/whatever rather than A4 if you want to do the...sticky-up-bit of the hat all in one go like the red hat). And 1.5-2cm ribbon (but I had 1cm so that’s what I used). The brim is about the size of a dinner plate, and you could cut the circle for the top out of the middle of that if you’re trying to conserve materials.

Bonus cuteness: I think Orlando the Thirteenth Doctor Bear makes a very good movie Paddington.

[raiswanson]

Character Ask Game

Tagged in by @etjwrites to answer some questions from this tag game, and like the overachiever I am.....I’m just going to answer them all. :D

Let’s interview Rewill shall we?

1) if they could choose a new name, what would they choose?

[Rewill leans forward and looks directly into the camera] How about one that the author can pronounce consistently. That sounds like fun.

2) what’s a surefire way of making them happy?

Lots of things make me happy. Game night, spending time with friends, going to the diner back on Victorious. Look, I know the food looks like absolute ass but it’s good, I promise, once you get past the chalkiness of the powdered eggs they aren’t so bad, and the ham isn’t really so tough once you get used to it--Okay why are you looking at me like that. Fine, no diner special for you then, judgeypants.

3) what’s a surefire way of making them sad?

Well...again, lots of things. The usual things, I suppose. People being rude or aggressive for no reason, looking at the state of things in the outside world, seeing things in the news about the cruise starship “accidents”...I don’t...really want to get into this subject, if that’s alright.

4) what do they do when they feel sad?

What, you mean other than cry my eyes out? I dunno, I guess I talk less? Jiy always says I veer between dead silence and doubling my sass, but I don’t really see it. I just mope around feeling miserable until I get out of my funk.

5) how do they choose their friends?

That’s easy. I look around for someone interesting and go “that one. I’m going to talk to that one” and then I hang around until my endless charm wins them over and can’t bear to be away from me. It’s what I did with Maika! [sound of a fist banging furiously on the interview window] She’s a work in progress. But I’ve almost got her, I can tell.

6) what kinds of food do they like?

I like what everyone refers to as “space trash”, but they’re just snobs. There’s nothing wrong with a good old fashioned hot dog from a food district stand, or a greasy burrito from a shady little joint in the back end of the manufacturing quarter, okay? Way out here in space the stuff you can get there is just as fresh as whatever you got at your fancy restaurant, and you can’t get that flavor anywhere else.

7) who is the person closest to them?

Jiy. We’ve been together since we were small, and we’ve been through a lot. We share...mostly everything, and what we don’t share the other can usually kind of sense?

8) what kinds of music do they listen to?

I like all sorts of music, but anything with energy you can dance a tango to has a special place in my heart. Personal sentiment, you understand. That and whatever’s going on with those old school scifi films. That electro...synth...thing. I love that.

9) if logistics and money weren’t an issue, what kind of animal would they keep as a pet? (includes fantastical animals like dragons as well btw)

Hmm. I might have said dragon before all of this started, but I think that might be disrespectful to Pry? I wouldn’t call him a pe-- [Rewill pauses, staring straight ahead, then turns to scowl at the door] I am not your pet, Pry, don’t be rud--Lok, I’m pretty happy with the android hounds I have back on the ship. They’re polite and don’t get sassy with me and I wouldn’t dream of anything else.

10) what does the landscape of their mind look like?

Uhhh, probably not a lot like most, considering all the hardware I’ve got in there. It varies between a blank dark space with floating thoughts, and a literal console screen full of memory folders and input/output and stuff. It depends.

11) why do they like themselves?

Because I’m awesome? I’m an absolute delight and joy to be around. I bring light to every room I enter, enthusiasm to every task, and my smile could power an entire field of solar panels. What’s not to like?

12) what do they dream of doing if they had anything and everything open to them?

I’ve always wanted to travel. Like, through space, I mean. I’ve always wanted to be out there, but first I had Jiy to look after, and then Mach’s crew had to stick to the area for obvious reasons...but I dunno. I want to go out and see what’s out there. Everything is so big. I want to explore it all.

13) what fashion choices do they make? do they go more for comfort or style?

I enjoy a blend of both. I like to look good, but it I can’t move around easily I won’t go for it. That’s why I usually for a nice spacer suit and a jacket, maybe a utility belt if I need to carry a few extra things. I don’t really understand the fashions on the colonies, and up on the stations it’s really just suits or absolutely wild eyesores. I just want to be able to do my job and not get my ten foot long train covered in every snaggly material under the sun caught on every door I try to walk through, you get me?

14) if they had to go somewhere without a map, what’s the likelihood that they would make it there without getting lost?

I’m pretty good with following directions without a visual aid. You kind of have to be in my line of work--if you sneak into a cruise ship to swipe something from the vault and pop out in a room full of guards, you don’t get very far, you know? I can find my way around. I’ve always had a good head for it.

15) what types of people do they attract?

People like me, I guess. People that have an inherent need to help out and stand up for the people around them. Oh, and smart-talkers. Can’t forget that. Everyone around me is always full of wisecracks. Seriously, they never stop. It’s always aimed at me, too. Help.

16) what types of people are they attracted to?

Well, looking at my track record, apparently that would be people that can beat me up and trash talk me while they do it, hahaha. But seriously, I think I just like people. It’s a problem. Jiy used to get really jealous until I convinced him I only had eyes for him~

17) what is their greatest fear?

Ah. Yeah. I suppose part of that’s already happened, so I guess...losing Jiy. I can’t even...imagine...what I’d do if that happened. Even after all the close calls we’ve had, just thinking about it makes it hard to breathe and sets my heart rate off, and--yep, there it goes, I’m seeing malfunction warnings now, what did I tell you?

18) what kinds of body modifications would they do if they could? (e.g. tattoos, dyeing hair, piercings, etc.)

Ahh, ha, yeah, I think I’ve had enough of those for a lifetime. Considering how much of my is either metal internally or something hooked through my skin, I’m about done with making personal tweaks. I used to have a few more tattoos before, but after I got the synthetic stuff I never really bothered to replace them. I’ve thought about it, but...eh?

19) what are they insecure about?

I think I come on a little strong sometimes? Sometimes I wonder if I’m pushing too hard and no one wants to speak up about it. Or that I’m speaking over people and not realizing it. I think I’ve spent half my life hearing Jiy tell me otherwise, but, I still wonder.

20) how do they treat people/beings who have less power than them?

Power is kind of hard to quantify, isn’t it? Someone less physically strong might be able to run me in circles with another method, and vice versa. Someone with political power can still be taken down if you play your cards right and sweep it out from under them. Erm. I guess what I’m trying to say is I wouldn’t really consider anyone as having “less” power than me, so I can’t really answer that question. I’d treat them like I treat anyone else, because that’s who they’d be. Just another person.

And the tag games tag list!! You can answer either a few of all of the questions, go nuts!!

@helenpowers | @typeaadventures | @tundra-tiger | @jesse-is-inarguably-purple | @inkandkeyboard | @lilymaidofgallifrey | @booksaremymeth | @otramble | @dqwrites | @jade-island-lives | @jaidynwrites | @lady-redshield-writes |  @authorloremipsum | @thewitchthetimeladythehuntress | @midgardianthief | @sincerestaffect | @universalfanfic | @siarven | @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword | @authordai | @vulpixofwin | @incandescent-creativity | @dove-actually | @fictionshewrote | @ren-c-leyn | @kirabauthor |  @etjwrites | @homesteadchronicles | @asttralwriting  

[isthisyoursnack]

They realized, this is one of the most unstable parts of the world

And they wanted stability And they gave this building more stability than any other in the city

It was also the tallest Because it had the strongest foundation Dug many feet deep With hands

Our religion though isn’t Catholicism Our monks aren’t monks They’re businessmen They pray with firearms

That’s pretty dramatic! This connection between the landscape, the plants, and humans.

Single file so you don’t damage the roots of the plants! So you don’t puncture yourself

We are one of the cradles of agriculture in the world

Notice that we don’t have any sharp angles And we don’t have any curves either Always square corners We wanna do a Mexican garden We wanna do a distinctly Oaxacan garden The stepped frets And then there’s a hook It curls around  

Weaving imposes a grid on you This is the art of weaving This is the art of women This is gender equity. There have even been women military leaders Warriors.

These plants aren’t planted by people No one saves the seeds They seed themselves People don’t weed them There’s no word for them in English They are quelitas They are the reason people here have had a good diet in spite of the absence of large animals We are vegetarian by force They account for why people here do not suffer the nutritional diseases

Disculpe Lo siento

(Once the Europeans invade they bring of course pigs)

Mexico is the center of the best cosmos This is a dye plant The source of the best yellow Chia is the source of a high quality oil Not for for frying But for painting

Elfcorn This has been modified the most by people No crop had been as altered

What is maize for u Fuel for our bodies For our other machines For plastics and textile fibers U just drop It into the compost bin And u don’t feel guilty about it

People developed a wonderplant Genetically incredibly flexible Fast growing It is the most human plant The most humanized plant

What do you eat in secret What do you secrete so privately What tiny cancers are you spoon feeding into your mouth

We should not be threatening that diversity At the expense of human health For financial gain

They perform beautifully They start suffering if it rains too much

I also want to point out that we don’t have labels We don’t want you to read about the plants Labels are really difficult We want you to experience the plants

What language will you use and at what levels How much information And who will you address And why not Zapotec?

We started suffering biopiracy To propagate in a lab a very valuable cactus This is a genetic treasure of Mexico So why should someone benefit

What do you do with quicklime? You slake it!

450 years ago you made your own mortar We want to relate the landscaping and the selection of plants To what has happened here.

If you don’t go to the markets you won’t understand the people here You boil your hard dried maize kernels As much as your family needs In limestone pots To get full nutritional value An alkaline treatment to gain an amino acid and a vitamin Which otherwise you wouldn’t get

It’s crucial

It allowed civilization to develop

But how did they figure it out? THAT is the question.

It’s time It’s time It’s depth It’s alchemy

These plants only grow on limestone That plant is the source of the sleeping mats

Same holds true for the agave This has no English name It’s called vichitachi

We are well within the tropics. We are below the Tropic of Cancer The Spaniards were very good record keepers

Family by family Hamlet by hamlet Over 90 percent of the population died Because of the violence of the Europeans Because of the diseases Disease after disease The people in Americas were isolated They were unexposed They were defenseless

This is the biggest population loss in human history It changed history overnight If it hadn’t been for that, Mexico would have been a dramatically different country. The Americas would have been a dramatically different country

It set the stage for Europe’s storms For Europeans to flourish They wanted to restore the buildings to their original beauty But no body knew how to do it They had to recreate it from trial and error

The tallest tree is in alignment with the master line In this way there is a conversation going on Between building and garden We facilitate this dialogue This is a terrestrial bromeliad Don’t get next to it. It has stinging hairs It’s again a petit croon A protection against large animals It is loaded with toxins. Cycads

They will eat the new flush of leaves And it will not taste bad to the cow The cow will eat away It’s a slow acting poison It’s a nerve poison The cow starts walking funny It drags its limbs Days later The muscles that allow you to breathe No longer work And the cow dies of suffocation   The cattle ranchers are furious.

These are the plants or the season between the autumn equinox and the spring equinox That doesn’t have to do with Christianity That must have to do with indigenous beliefs In ceremony in ritual in dance

How clever are the indigenous people? How long and intensely they have interacted with indigenous plants.

They leech out the poison They use the starch in the tamales for day of the dead The quesillo happened in the late 1800, by accident.

A little girl was making cheese And she made a mistake And what she made was better than the original Nobody had the most remote notion that the Dominicans were doing this here Apparently there were no windows.

Majolica embodies the fourth cultural root of Latin America: The arabs.

The rainfed cistern  We’re going to see afterward.

Al heeba From Arabic To talk about water management, we rely on Arabic.

Azucar, Anil or indigo All from Arabic

I knew this because the trees were whispering in harsh beautiful throat tones Sbah el-hair

Good morning Good morning 7 sbah And I thought of Bouchra rolling her frog tongue Bred from thorny ancestors These are thornless cactus These are prickly pear

This is an insect It’s a parasite A pest This is wild cochineal This is called carmenic acid It’s blood red Unlike blood It will not turn brown It will not turn grape

Think about al the reds in nature Carrots, more Try to paint with beet juice It will turn black It will turn ugly

This explains what you see in Santa Domingo This is a stable molecule Despite the sun

The domesticated cochineal It requires people Like maize To care for it

Juan Cortez receives a letter From the emperor in Spain They had heard of a red dye It was second only to silver and gold

But oro and plata are nature’s process This is man made

Everybody wanted it It when to China It went to Europe They were mad for it Colored candy Rouge and lipsticks In painting

All the masters all the way to the impressionists Even though by the late 1800s they are had the synthetic reds But they preferred this Blacks and purples and reds

It gave unique depth Traditionally done with the tail of a deer Because it’s so soft To brush off the bugs

They hammered all these rocks into the ground so they wouldn’t move or shake. 

--- this has been a transcription of a poem I was told in April of 2018 during a tour of Oaxaca’s botanical garden, with slight editorial additions

[zedecksiew]

Lenek Lauk, East Lombok

In June 2019, Sharon spent three days in East Lombok, learning the weaving art.

The village she visited, Lenek Lauk, is crowded houses, a mosque in use but half-finished, waves of paddy. When they aren’t out in the fields, the women of the village dye and weave.

In recent years, with NGO assistance, they have run a cooperative to support their work -- to share skills and labour; to buy thread in bulk; to find markets for the things they make.

Locals prefer fabric coloured with synthetic dyes, because it is more affordable. 

“But foreigners like the ones made from natural dyes,” one of the Lenek Lauk women tells Sharon, savvily. “So we make those.”

+

For dye, the weavers of Lenek Lauk collect mahogany, jackfruit wood, banten bark, mango leaves, ketapang leaves, indigo.

Boiled and fixed, these dyes stain the thread in earthy hues: reds and browns and blues -- often dramatically different from the materials they come from.

The thread is wound into balls.

The warp is prepped using a tool shaped like an upended table; the fabric’s eventual pattern is programmed here, on its upturned legs.

The warp is rolled up for the loom -- an operation that takes at least four bodies; raw, steady strength; and sharp eyes, to make sure things are even, exact, that nothing is broken.

Only one person may operate the loom. But the art of weaving is not possible, alone.

+

Sharon had me tagging along, so I got to witness these processes.

I sat and spun the andir, the tool used to wind balls of thread. This was the easiest task available. In a weaver’s hands, the andir is a whirligig. In mine, it start-stopped and quickly got stuck.

The weavers giggled in Sasak and scolded me and helped me untangle my skein. I sat for two hours: spinning, spinning, spinning.

It never left me, the feeling that this was an incredible privilege. To sit, welcome in the women’s house.

+

Most places, weaving is considered a women's art.

Watching how the weavers of Lenek Lauk assemble their warps, seeing how procedural and algorithmic it is; how deft and practiced they are --

Yeah. No wonder weaving gave us the loom and punch-card, the foundations of modern computing.

These women, with their hand looms and their meticulously-programmed warps? Their art played an integral part in building our modern, rational world.

Why did women wind up with a reputation as the "less logical sex”? How were they shackled to that vicious lie? There has been a theft of attribution. Men squat on the credit women deserve.

+

Soon after returning from Lombok, I posted on social media, saying versions of the stuff I've said above.

Those were immediate sentiments. Obvious and easy ones.

A feeling that wasn’t so easy to parse -- one that is still difficult to express clearly, now -- was my feeling of shame.

+

When Sharon and I were in Lombok, locals told us about the island’s close relationship to Malaysia.

It isn’t a neutral relationship. Year after year, men from Lombok island cross the sea to the Peninsula. Sometimes they have papers; sometimes not. They cross the sea, to work.

“Men from Java work in construction, but men from Lombok work farms and plantations,” Haji R told us. He was our driver, the days we were there. “I was in Johor, in the 1990s. I worked in a chicken factory.”

Haji R did not have papers. He told us stories of being pulled over by police; of the need to pool money with his friends, to bribe officers; of how he squeezed savings from his meagre salary.

+

Later, we were told that all but two of the three-dozen-odd women in the Lenek Lauk weaving cooperative had husbands working in Malaysia.

Some had not seen their husbands in years. Sometimes remittances would arrive; sometimes not. The weaving cooperative helped them be more financially independent.

Ibu K, maybe the oldest and most knowledgeable weaver there, told us about Lenek Lauk’s signature motif, Sari Menanti -- “Sari waiting”:

“Sari waits for her husband, who has been away from home a long time,” Ibu K said. “She waits, and thinks, and weaves.”

“Who is Sari?” Sharon asked.

“A woman who lived long ago,” Ibu K replied.

+

Once colonies serving separate Western powers, the nation-states of Southeast Asia now leech off each other’s hinterlands -- a circle-jerk of exploitation.

Working-class Filipino women clean middle-class Malaysian homes. Malaysian soil literally underlies Singapore’s land-reclamation expansions. Indonesian sweat cements our cities, waters our cash-crops.

These are not equal exchanges. The metropoles take as much as they can, for as little as they can get away with. Last century’s colonialism is this year’s global economy.

+

Sharon came to Lombok on a commission from a Singaporean gallery, as part of the corporate-social-responsibility programme of a Malaysian bank.

It felt uncomfortable to be welcomed into Lenek Lauk. Here we were, people from a place that had already taken their men and sons, asking to take still more.

One of the weavers, a short woman with a cheeky smile, kept asking me: “Sweets, where are my sweets?” Hand open, expectant.

“Sweets?”

“You come to visit me. But no gifts? You should give me sweets!” She was just teasing. Good-natured. But knowing.

+

I have to sit with my discomfort. I hope it doesn’t paralyze me.

I know and speak the right vocabularies. I could hand-wring at length about privilege, about my complicity in capitalist systems. I’d likely be lauded for my self-awareness.

I hope I do not abstract the women I met into object lessons. Reduce them into Twitter-thread-worthy Rules For Standing In Solidarity With The Working Class.

What does true solidarity look like? I still don’t know.

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The work Sharon created, in collaboration with the Lenek Lauk weaving cooperative, currently hangs in a Singapore National Museum atrium.

Strips of woven cloth, each 2.5cm wide -- a multitude of them, made by forty pairs of hands. “I asked 40 weavers if they could ...  weave negative space on the loom. What is not apparent is as important as what is obvious,” Sharon writes. 

The work is called: “Yang Tersurat dan Tersirat (Kolaborasi dengan Ibu-ibu Desa Lenek Lauk)” -- the seen and unseen; the said and unsaid.

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( Photographs by Sharon Chin. )  

[davey-dammit]

Fashion often changes in broad, pendulum-like swings, and this is a good example of the phenomenon. But while the question is deceptively simple, the answer is complex, because it involves explaining several social and historical convergences. Bear with me, if you will, and I hope all will become clear: In the early 70's, there came about, pretty abruptly, a strong visual backlash against the electric, high-chroma,"psychedelic" colour palette that was such an iconic feature of the late 60's hippie culture; in short, the style got old very fast. The reasons were multiple: America was now deep in a quagmire of war; thousands were being drafted and returning home in coffins, mere weeks after their induction; protesters were being beaten and jailed; every day, the newspapers (!) revealed our leaders to be ever more egregiously stupid crooks, liars and fools. Madness and anarchy seemed to lie around every corner. Somehow all that celebratory, fun, acid-saturated colour now seemed ... silly and self-indulgent. It became as inappropriate as wearing a "Smile" t-shirt to a schoolbus rollover. And all the gentle social upheaval and genial questioning of institutional values that those bright colours once cheekily promised? Well, they no longer carried much appeal. In fact, they seemed frightening - just more uncertainty and conflict, in already uncertain and conflicted times. People were suddenly in the visual mood for something more muted, contemplative and restrained. The faintly mournful "autumn" colour palette - dark orange, oxblood, copper, brown, harvest gold, avocado green - filled that need so well that, as you point out, it literally became symbolic of the decade. Perhaps simply because it reminded folks of a less complex time, when subtle, visually digestible, vegetable-based dyes coloured our surroundings, rather than incomprehensible, knock-your-eyes-out chemical pigments (whose colours were actually meant to approximate the livelier visual effects of a hallucinogenic experience!). Concurrently with the shift in colour preferences, smaller, meticulously repeated patterns once again began to appear on fabrics and wallpapers, as sharp stylistic counterpoint to the free-form, Yellow Submarine-esque, "supergraphic rainbow" visuals that had overwhelmed every available wall surface during the previous decade. Those autumn colours also thematically supported, and were cross-fertilized by, the decade's nascent "natural" movement. Still inspired by the lofty ideals of their older siblings' recently failed hippie paradigm, and boosted by the first vague stirrings of the modern ecology movement, '70s boomers forsook (at least temporarily) their parents' blatant consumerim, and instead embraced the generationally dormant, homespun handicrafts of their grandparents: macramé, crochet, bargello, weaving, leatherworking, cutting down old beer bottles into drinking glasses. The handicrafts they created and proudly decorated their homes with were mostly made from organic materials, so they just looked better when surrounded with earth-tone colours. Chromatic colour was out, because it detracted from the workmanship - which was, after all, what differentiated handmade-and-unique from factory-extruded and common. This attitudinal shift towards muted, "homemade" colour and texture, and away from slick, obviously industrial colours and finishes was, at least in part, probably a subconscious side-effect of the 70's generation's fast-growing resentment of both the politician-buying industrial complex, and its ongoing material support for a war they despised. (Yes, the war ended in '75, but resentments lingered.) It was, if you will, a form of protest, or boycott: a generation's tentative, somewhat pathetic attempt to re-exert control over their own visual destiny, and to wrest whatever tiny part of their environment they still could, away from the overbearing and apparently malignant industrial and commercial forces that were threatening to overwhelm them socially, financially and politically. At the same time as these colour and design changes took hold in home decor, people began gradually shifting their wardrobes back to natural wools and cottons. After a decade and a half of collecting increasingly slinky, shiny, uncomfortable, odiferous and obviously synthetic garments - which were themselves a pendulum-swing away from the ossified white-cotton-shirt, gray-flannel-suit ethos of the two decades following WWII, the fabric-choice pendulum was again swinging back. And in clothing, as in interior design, autumnal, natural colours were generally seen to be more complementary to natural materials than chromatic colours. That all being said (whew!), the prevalence of the autumnal palette wasn't really as all-encompasing as retro media like That 70's Show would have us believe. (Btw, what was up with the anachronistic, so-90's, industrial loft-tech, cheese-grater kitchen lights? Obvious clanger.) Designers frequently go kind of over-the-top when they try to recreate a period look, a generation or more later. Frankly, even Mad Men, though certainly very well researched, is visually a little overbearing in its representation of the period; after all, not everything in the Sixties was of the Sixties; some of it hailed from the Fifties and Forties, even the Thirties. Just as we still occasionally see an 80's wood panelled Buick land-shark station wagon in the Walmart parking lot, or a suitcase-sized VCR parked under a friend's tube TV, I long to see a cheap postwar suit on some poor agency schlub who supervises the steno pool. Instead, everybody wears Brooks Brothers. All the time. It is also instructive to realize that within any fashion era "look" you'd care to examine, competing visual ideas constantly jousted with one another for dominance. Visual style is a roiling river, not a still pond. Remember that the "natural, homespun" 70's were also the era that gave birth to platform boots for men, polyester lounge suits, "designer" jeans, disco, the New York Dolls, foil wallpaper, smoked glass coffee tables, naugahyde sofas, spherical stereo speakers, shag carpet, gold-veined mirror tiles, chrome overhead lamps, and pink Christmas trees; and may God forgive my generation for those particular stylistic trespasses. For further proof, take another look at Goodfellas, with an eye to the set decoration and costumes; it is a veritable omnibus of questionable 70's design. (And a showcase for some very clever designers!) Next instalment: why the theme colours of the late '50s and early '60s were red, pastel green, chrome yellow and teal, and why commercial printers suddenly stopped putting type into straight lines. Source: Lived through it all. Also, history of design in theatre school.

theartfulcodger (reddit post from 2014)

A really well thought out and interesting answer to the question “Does anyone really know why brown and orange were so popular in the 70s?”

[ottobooty]

axiolotl replied to your post

“Hi, my name is Otto, and I put far too much thought into how clothing...”

what are your thoughts, friend

THIS IS GONNA BE LONG, BEAR WITH ME.

BUT IM GONNA TALK ABOUT FASHION.

THE MOST COMMON MATERIALS THAT’D BE USED TO MAKE REGULAR CASUAL CLOTHES WOULD BE STUFF FROM COTTON OR WOOL IN ADDITION TO SYNTHETIC FIBERS OR SYNTHETIC FIBERS THAT MIMIC NATURAL ONES.

Mostly due to how a lot of the knowledge on how to MAKE such fabrics or weave them is either lost because it’s pre-golden age, or the engrams that hold the knowledge sell for a shit ton of money. But let’s take silk and talk about that, since at the moment in this manic typing, it’s the fanciest fabric that i can think of.

In order to make silk, you need silkworms. Cute little things that apparently have been domesticated so much, they no longer exist in the wild, but we’re going to ignore that for the sake of the argument. Sure, they’re all over the world, but primarily they were found in China. And sure, you can have other animals that make silk, but silkworms are the ones people use for textile work.

If you’re like me, and follow the theory that The Last City is located somewhere near India/Russia/Southeast Asia, you’re in luck! You can get silkworms because they’re there. Now you can make silk, right?

INCORRECT! You have to know how to: 

Find them

Get enough that you can breed them to establish enough of the ADULT moths so you can make sure you have enough silkworm larvae for the next bit.

Find the knowledge of how to care for bugs.

Find the plants they like

Find the specific tools that are used in silk production and know how they’re used.

Find the specific tools used to DYE the silk.

Here’s a (albeit sped up) video of one of my favorite youtubers that I watch making silk herself.

Now, as far as I know, a lot of the knowledge of how to do things Pre-Golden age is Hella Lost to time, so you’d have very few people in the world that even know how to cultivate silkworm silk in order to produce garments.

It’s expensive, it’s hard to do, it’d be hard to find enough of the things TO be able to produce enough that it’d be somewhat accessible to the public beyond those that have the Glimmer to pay for it.

AND THAT’S NOT GETTING INTO THE PRODUCTION METHODS OF OTHER TYPES OF TEXTILES!!!!

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[diamondherpanacine]

Five essential ways to support your skin this summer season.

Five essential ways to support your skin this summer season:

Use organic, high quality, chemical-free sunscreen to protect your skin. I’d like to think anyone reading this knows how important sunscreen is for healthy skin; in addition to a healthy life.But for anyone who doesn’t know, the CDC and every other reputable health organization recommends sunscreen use to prevent seriously raising your risk of developing skin cancer – depending on the strength of the sun and the length of your exposure. The CDC specifically recommends something     (SPF) 15 or higher but personally from what I’ve read I would say (SPF) 30 or higher to be safe.

This is mostly common knowledge, but what I – and I’m sure many of you – am confused about is which sunscreen brand is the healthiest for our skin? How do we find that out? So, in sitting down to write this today I hope to answer this question for you.

The first thing I did was I looked up “What are the best organic high quality chemical free sunscreens on the market in 2019?” After doing some digging, I found what in my opinion is a really great list, based on comprehensive testing and research into each sunscreen brand to find the top 40 on the market. (https://www.skincareox.com/40-best-organic-sunscreens-non-toxic-natural/) I think this is a great source for shopping for a superior sunscreen as well as reading into what makes that sunscreen so much healthier and safer for your skin and body.

Many studies commissioned by the FDA have found that widely used chemical sunscreens (oxybenzone, avobenzone, and octocrylene) are absorbed into the bloodstream at potentially toxic levels after just one day of use. Imagine if you got sunburnt and then go to put on sunblock to prevent further burns and your sunblock has toxic chemicals hurting your precious skin even further? No more! Don’t be like me and just grab any sunscreen that you see on the shelf! No more just going straight for the cheapest! You and your skin are beautiful and are worth a couple more bucks to protect, I promise you.

Don’t forget that your lips need protection. I often neglect my lip care and I’m left with seriously chapped lips, whether it’s in the winter from the  cold wind or in the summer from the dry air. Don’t be like me! We have to  do better, it’s summer people! I think it’s pretty much universally     understood that summer is kissing season and kissing someone with super chapped lips is not the move. (Unless you love them) So get your act together!

I found another great top 40 list and I really hope you can use it, just like I did, to find a perfect organic chemical free lip balm at a reasonable price point. Love your lips right or no one else will! Now, I don’t know about you but the reason I didn’t use sunscreen often in the past is because I felt it was a waste of money and only made my lips even more chapped, and apparently there is some truth to this.

In my research, I discovered that organic lip balms offer the same (if not greater) effectiveness at repairing and protecting your lips as their synthetic equivalents without any of the ingredients like petroleum or alcohol or any potentially cancer-causing agents that could be toxic to the body. You can’t forget that anything you put on your lips ends up in your mouth and eventually in your body. So, remember when it comes to your luscious lips there is no equivalent use an organic chemical free lip balm and protect your lips starting today!

If you get sunburnt be sure to find the purest organic aloe vera to heal your skin. I know I’m not the only one who didn’t listen to my parents’ summer after summer and basically had to bathe in aloe every other night in agony. It was not pleasant and as an adult I use aloe at the slightest sign of redness when I get home from being in the sun, but up until recently I like many others thought all Aloe Vera is made equally. But I was wrong. (https://www.skincareox.com/5-purest-organic-aloe-vera-gels-for-face-skin/)

According to another comprehensive well tested list, top 5 this time, it is very tough to find 100% authentic Aloe Vera that is free of any chemical additives, dyes, or fillers; none of which are good for the healing process the Aloe Vera is supposed to be providing to your skin. For example, some Aloe Vera brands contain Potassium Sorbate and a lot of research has come out to show that for certain skin types that chemical can lead to further skin irritation instead of relief and repair.

I’m going to use that list as a baseline in further research to find the perfect Aloe Vera brand for my specific skin type, I think it’s essential you do the same. Just in case you don’t listen to your parents! Or your significant other! Or anybody else looking out for the safety of your skin this summer besides myself.

Before and after going out in the sun don’t forget to apply quality organic chemical free lotion to your body and face. An article in the Huffington Post, Is Sunscreen More Effective if you Apply it Before or After Moisturizer, found that sunscreen can be more effective in protecting your skin from the sun’s harmful rays if applied after moisturizing properly. Even more so when used within a proper and regular skincare routine.

However, there is some disagreement on whether to moisturize before or after using sunscreen. I say before. Now, the question again is, we know we need to lotion up, but what lotion should we use? How do we avoid the harmful chemicals and needless dyes many brands continue to pump into their products? I personally have found that doing your online research – or letting me do it for you – and finding well recommended lists with well-reviewed products is the way to go. Don’t be afraid to spend a little for the sake of your skin but don’t let them convince you to break the bank. Organic is affordable. (https://www.skincareox.com/best-organic-body-lotions-butters-serums/)

Protect your skin internally year-round in preparation  for the summer sun. Everything I’ve talked about so far has been common     knowledge. The only issue was finding the right brand with the right     quality that our skin deserves. The last point on this list is one that I and I think the great majority of people completely overlook. That is, protecting your skin internally in addition to protecting it externally.

Like I said, I think we all know to use sunblock and lip balm. But did you know that Herpanacine dietary supplements use the finest quality, gluten-free, non-GMO vitamins, herbs, amino acids and antioxidants? They protect your skin year-round from the inside out; when taken daily. I’m happy to say as someone who’s had dry skin off and on throughout my life, after getting hired by Diamond Herpanacine and having the opportunity to read and write about their product Herpanacine Skin Support ® it is definitely something I’m going to be adding to my daily skincare routine and I think you all should as well.

You protect almost everything else in your body with daily dietary vitamins and supplements why doesn’t your beautiful skin deserve that same protection? Find a quality made longstanding chemical free organic product with

Herpanacine Skin Support ®  Order today to try it for yourself, you won’t be disappointed! (https://www.diamondformulas.com/herpanacine/    By: Austin Gromberg

[abigblueorganicmagnet]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm finally actually wrote somethin’ with mah lawbutt Watson (Thanks again @bliss-bayou!!!). Also has my deer toon Aiushtha and tall black cat Oblique Feline. Been working on it on and off for.... a while. Hope it’s well received!

Watson silently sifted through one of the many, many, MANY file cabinets in the DA office they were working in. An office C, to be exact, fourth floor. They pulled out a few legal briefs that they would need for later, and slid the drawer shut again. Watson, a level 10 legal eagle, had been working in said office for a number of years. They were a capable lawyer, with an impressive success record, but honestly preferred working behind the scenes, prepping cases for higher-ups. Not because they didn’t like working in the courtroom specifically. There was something inherently gratifying about successfully nailing a prosecution, a feeling ingrained in the programming of all lawbots. No, Watson just didn’t like interaction, period. Working a case up front meant talking to other cogs, or worse, toons! They despised it all, so instead got a job working in one of the offices preparing legal briefs and prepping cases. For someone who didn’t like discussion, Watson was a very skilled argumentative thinker, and their wicked twists of logic had won plenty of cases. The logical compromise was to have Watson prep the cases while other cogs delivered them. Of course, 9 times out of 10 those cogs took credit for everything, but ultimately Watson didn’t really care. They weren’t invested in the cases or the recognition that came from winning them, they just wanted to earn their pay and be left alone.

That was the best part about their job, as far as they were concerned. The fourth floor was pretty quiet, the only real regulars being the occasional big wig or the clerk himself. Usually their boss would send Watson down the details of a case and give them a few days to put together a brief with airtight arguments and assertions. On a good day, Watson would be the only one on the whole floor, left to their work with no interruptions. Judging by the characteristic “Ding” of the nearby elevator, today wasn’t one of those days.

Watson turned to see who was entering the floor, anticipating a few high-ranking lawbots from above. What they didn’t expect was to see four fairly short skelecogs, sellbot by the looks of them, toolboxes in hand, to come pacing in. Watson grimaced, and casually stepped into the entrance to the hall, blocking the skelecog’s path. “Aren’t you runts a little far from sellbot HQ?” they sneered. The biggest of the group, a gladhander skeleton judging by proportions, stared up at them with the emotionless gaze that only a skelecog could pull off. “Here for stomper maintenance. Just need to run some diagnostic tests, make sure everything’s lubricated, check for wear and tea-” “Yes, I know what maintenance is,” Watson cut him off. “Just don’t be too loud, and don’t set off any of the virtual skelecog traps,” they said, going back to their papers, not giving the skelecog crew any more of their attention. They hated sellbots. The whole branch had this habit of talking too much and not saying anything worthwhile. “Right,” grunted the gladhander, leading the way deeper into the office.

Watson grew irritated merely by knowing the sellbots were there. Of course someone scheduled maintenance and didn’t tell anyone. They just hoped that none of those sellbots got any of their greasy little skelecog hands on any of the books in the office. Grease was impossible to get out, and some of those legal tomes were out of print. The very thought of it ruffled Watson’s synthetic feathers. As if on cue to further their irritation, a particularly skinny skelecog walked back into the room and began bugging them. “Where is your security stomper switchboard?” it asked. Watson rolled their eyes. “Two rooms down, probably behind a few boxes of paper on the right side wall,” they replied, not even looking up. When the sellbot tried to prompt for further instructions, Watson just waved them off. They couldn’t be bothered right now, there was a financial dispute between a couple of cashbots that needed resolving.

Time passed and thankfully the skeletal intruders had been fairly quiet. Either they actually knew how to do their job without making a huge fuss, or they were all still trying to move the painfully heavy boxes to reach the switchboard. Regardless, Watson was happy that no one was interfering with their work. Their beak tightened into a dry smile, they were happy with what they had completed. The briefs on this file, if used correctly, would cost the defense every cent to their name, and garnish their earnings for at least a few years to come. Knowing that their efforts would lead to such misery made it all worthwhile. Watson grabbed their copy of “Cog Financial Legislation Vol. IV” and went down the hall. The shelf where this book went was, unfortunately, passed the stompers that those grubby little sellbots were working on, but if Watson was lucky, they could slip by without a word. What Watson didn’t expect was to find the stompers still shut down, tools scattered across the floor, and no skelecogs to be found. Those slackers probably took a break to discuss what brand of oil they like best, thought Watson. They crossed to the other side of the room and nearly tripped on something. Glancing down with no subtle hint of irritation, Watson saw a couple of sprockets that looked to be about the right size for a telemarketer. They were covered in whipped cream. “Toons…” Watson hissed. Just what they needed. They snuck further down the hall, careful not to make too much noise. Eventually they heard what sounded like a conversation happening in the next room…

“...Yeah, this is all new stuff! Thanks again for the help getting up here!” said one voice. It was slightly scratchy, and right on the cusp of what would be considered a ‘deep’ voice. “Oh of course! It’s great to spend time with you!” Replied another, smooth, feminine voice. “Though, we should also try to hang out in places outside of lawbot HQ?” Watson crept around the corner, staying as silent as they could, to get a view of the intruders. One was a brown deer toon, wearing an obnoxious getup of rainbow and tie-dye items. The other was a tall black cat, dressed in a more subtle color scheme, a mix of dark blues and maroons. The two seemed to be sifting through the enormous collection of books that lined the shelves of the room. Watson sneered at them, they didn’t even think toons could read, honestly. “...How about ‘Cog Zoning Laws: Revisions After the Peltzer Act’?” asked the deer in her satin voice. “Uhh…. how old is the publish date?” replied the cat. The deer pulled the tome from its shelf and flipped to the first few pages. “...A few years ago?” The cat seemed to rack his brain for a moment. “I mean…. Cog law revision is a pretty slow process… could still be relevant? Couldn’t hurt to look into it?” he shrugged. The brown deer handed him the heavy book, which looked to have at least seven or eight hundred pages in it, and that was low-balling it. Watson watched the cat open it to a random page and skim over it. What did these conniving toons want with cog law books? “...Oooh! Yeah, okay. This is good stuff!” smiled the cat. He chuckled. “Get a load of this. Apparently by cog law, businesses can purchase rights to land planned for infrastructure and/or utilities if…” Watson had heard enough. Though they weren’t sure WHY these toons were in here seemingly studying the laws of cog society, they DID know that these intruders needed to be driven out. Not by them, of course. If these toons had made it this deep into the facility, then they had to be packing some pretty powerful gags. Thinking quickly, they slipped back into one of the nearby rooms, one with virtual skelecog traps. While they weren’t sure if the cog projectors could reach into the room the toons were in, the alarms would at least likely scare them off. They stamped a metal shoe onto one of the red skulls that lit up the floor. Immediately, alarms started to blare, and the cog projectors crackled to life. “ALERT! THE DOCUMENTS YOU ARE TRYING TO ACCESS ARE NOT PUBLIC RECORD. YOU WILL NOW BE FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM THE PREMISES!” spoke the hallow voice of a projected skelecog, expecting to be greeted by toons. Watson silently pointed down the hall, toward the toons, signaling them to move. “PATROL RADIUS RESTRICTED TO THIS ROOM!” while Watson made eye contact with one of the skelecogs, the voice itself came from a speaker off to the side. They rolled their eyes at the projection’s insolence. “Then reroute some goons! Unless you want a bunch of grubby animals going through the office’s library,” The projection flickered for a moment before loudly stating “THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE INTRUSION! LAWBOT FORCES WILL ARRIVE VIA ELEVATOR SHORTLY. DO NOT ENGAGE THE INTRUDERS!” the four virtual cogs flickered out as the trap reset itself. The alarms continued to blare. “As if I needed you to tell me that,” grumbled Watson.

Oblique Feline jumped at the sound of an alarm from another room. His friend, Aiushtha, gave him a worried look. “Are… we not the only toons here?” she asked. He shrugged, slamming the book shut. “I don’t know. Just grab a few books that seem pertinent and I’ll sort the rest out later!” he said, sliding it into his backpack. Aiushtha gave a short nod and grabbed a few random books from the shelves. The pair quickly snagged what they could carry. Oblique Feline glanced at the nearby elevator, and saw the display overhead show that something was going up, probably on its way to their floor. “We gotta split!” he said, hurrying them along. “I’ll meet you back at the estate?” asked the deer. “Yeah, I’ll take those off of your hands when you get there!” replied the cat before the two quickly placed and hopped into their respective teleport holes.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a pair of high level, elite looking cogs. A spin doctor and the clerk himself, a big wig, who entered the now empty room, followed by a small brigade of goons. Watson peeked around the corner to see if the toons were gone. “You!” grunted the big wig, who noticed them immediately. “Did you sound the alarms?” Watson huffed, and confidently sauntered down the hallway to meet them. “Yes. The intruders just teleported out,” they reported. The spin doctor frowned, “Why didn’t you remove them yourself?” he asked, rather pointedly. “My priority is to stay in one piece. You sacrifice pawns, not the queen,” they shot back. “What were they up to? Hoarding jury notices as usual?” interjected the big wig. Watson shook their head. “No, no. They were… stealing books,” The two elite cogs glanced at each other. “Are you certain?” prodded the spin doctor. Watson rolled their eyes and pointed to the empty spaces on the shelves. The doctor’s frown intensified as he sneered at the empty spots, trying to remember what was once there. Most advanced cogs like him had near photographic memory, it was just a matter of ‘retrieving’ it. “They stole… zoning law records? Why?” Watson was growing increasingly exasperated, how would they know?! “Do they even know what those are? Can toons even read?” the doctor turned to his wigged boss, who hadn’t said much. The goon troop returned after sweeping the office. A series of short, harsh beeps told everyone that there were no toons in the area. “I want security increased in this office, and I’m going to convene with other clerks to suggest the same. Order more goons, and have more hologram traps installed. Have the interns take inventory on our library, so we know what else is missing. I want to know what these loons are looking for,” the big wig rattled off. The spin doctor nodded and re-entered the elevator, taking the goons with him. “And you,” the clerk said to Watson. “Cancel any plans you have for the night. I want a detailed record of what you saw happen delivered to my office by tomorrow. Tell me what they looked like, and if you have names, share them,” Watson sneered but accepted. “Good,” the big wig joined the spin doctor in the elevator. Watson signed as the doors closed. This was going to be a long night.

[refresh1122]

When It Comes To Thinning Hair, Which Brush You Use Matters

Believe it or not, the kind of brush you use really makes a difference in how your hair grows and remains healthy in the long run. Brushing your hair may seem like a menial task, but the importance behind it is always swept under the rug. Especially when it comes to thinning hair, what kind of brush you use matters. Below we have know-how’s on what brush you need to save your thinning hair and how to brush it.

Why does brushing help with thinning hair?

This may be a question you’re pondering as you read this. Before you click away, here is why brushing hair is so important for thinning hair:

Prevents hair loss - usually hair loss is due to genetics, stress, state of health, or blood circulation. Since hair loss is usually occurring at the scalp level, brushing your hair actually stimulates the blood in your scalp, allowing for nutrients and oxygen to reach the roots of your hair and therefore making your hair healthier and stronger.

Gets rid of buildup - your scalp is also a place for dirt and impurities to hide away on. Brushing can help to scrape away any product build up, dead skin cells and dirt off, leaving your scalp much fresher and the pores up there less clogged.

Natural oils - your hair is probably low on its natural oils if your hair is thinning; brushing helps to redistribute the natural oils in your hair evenly so that every strand is moisturized and conditioned, which is why when you brush, your hair often feels much softer and easier to manage afterwards.

What brush should I use for thinning hair?

For thinning hair, you want a brush that’s going to help give you volume. We have a few options that are great for when it comes to thinning hair:

Keratin brush - these kinds of brushes have hair fibers in the bristles, which attach to your hair and add volume and help your hair grow.

Round brush - this brush is especially great for those who have thinning fine hair. If you’re using a hair dryer on your hair, a metal round brush especially as it helps to retain heat. A tip when getting a round brush is that the longer your hair, the larger the barrel of the brush.

Teasing combs - this comb is quite small and doesn’t seem to do much for thinning hair, but this comb specifically adds volume when styling your hair.

Oval brush - large brushes such as oval brushes also help add volume. Brushes with natural boar bristles as they help stimulate hair growth by evenly spreading natural oils, massaging the scalp and getting rid of impurities.

How do I know I’m not using the right brush?

Sometimes it might not be apparent that you have the wrong brush for your hair type. One way to know that the brush you have isn’t right for you is if  your hair gets tangled when brushing rather than untangled. It’s most likely due to the type of bristle the brush has. For fine hair, it’s best to steer away from synthetic bristles such as nylon and plastic and more so with natural bristles made of animal hair.

How do I brush my thinning hair?

You can’t just rush brushing or run through your hair a few times and call it good. Brushing your hair is a bit more elaborate than that and doing it the right way really makes a difference.

Brush your hair gently - brushing your hair roughly and quickly can cause damage such as removing protective layers, split ends, etc. Doing so can make your hair weaker and more susceptible to heat damage from styling tools and UV rays and overall damage from dyeing hair. Start from the opposite end all the way to the roots when brushing if you want to avoid tugging and breakage.

Detangle hair - it’s best to detangle hair when it’s wet, but do take care when doing so as when your hair is wet, it’s most vulnerable to getting pulled out compared to when it’s dry. Use a wide tooth comb or brush to separate strands without tugging too much on the roots.

Clean your brush - a step that most people aren’t aware of is that you should clean your brush. Often brushes accumulate dead loose strands of hair and makes your brush less effective. A few ways you can clean your brush is running a comb through a brush, rinsing the brush with warm water and leaving it to air dry or scrubbing the brush with an old toothbrush and shampoo.

Hopefully this article was able to help you figure out how to help out your thinning hair with a simple brush change, brushing technique change, or overall a new step or two added to your grooming routine!