#hand reconstruction

[tippingthescalesexotics]

Before and after, hand reconstruction surgery, left hand learning from the first 2 surgeries on my right we went with what was done on my second surgery. Luckily my left hand still has 2 goodish fingers.

[gabichanwrites]

I think that way too many people gloss over the reason why exactly those 6 men were such a big deal and a last straw for the crew and Eurylychous. Up to this point Odysseus made mistakes, yes, and people died because of them but never before has Odysseus made such a deliberate sacrifice.

Before this, he was still their Capitan - a bit arrogant, too prone to playing into Gods' Games and with a damnation right on his heels - but still on their side. Not to mention that this saga happens SO soon after Circe Saga, where he CAME BACK for them, put himself in grave danger and risked his return home to save THEM. Since the wind bag fuck up, this crew must have regained so much trust in him, Eurylychous must have felt so indebted and plagued by his own guilt because of his actions in Ocean Saga and Circe Saga. Because despite their doubts and question of How Much Longer Till His Luck Runs Out, their Capitan still came and saved them.

And then the Different Beast happens and it's ruthless and cruel but it's against their enemies, it feels like protection, no doubt. It's their Capitan making sure that they can make it home, that no other monster will follow them and make it impossible.

But then the Scylla happens and it never has been more clearer than there. Eurylychous would not be that furious if he didn't realize and he IS a second-in-command, he is not stupid. Six men who held the torches died and it was by Odysseus' order. This is no longer slaying every foe on the way home, this is Odysseus willing to sacrifice even them. Is it the same capitan who came back for them on Circe's island, is the same who always did everything he could to make sure they all made it back? How Are They Supposed To Trust Him Now?

This situation is so fucked and both sides have their point, I'm so sick of seeing posts putting the full blame on either side. They are all human and stressed and they don't know what to trust, what to do to come back home - and the worst part of it all, they probably never stood a chance.

After all, Zeus has already said they The Blood On Your Hands Is Something You Can't Lose, All You Can Choose Is Whose.

[desomniis]

Pre-wedding photoshoot for their very gay, Ferrari-themed, wedding

[yridenergyridenergy]

I did it! Heavily reconstructed artist photos for the release of 19990120. The thumbnails got blurred out; click for higher definition.

Needless to say, these pictures are available on demand for personal, private use without the watermark. But some would be utterly heartless and steal those if there weren't any watermarks...

[mathes0n]

How’s it going gamers I replayed Portal 2 the video game of all time and have been reminded of how truly obsessed I am with all the characters

So I present to you: Typical AU where everyone’s a normal human who works at Aperture but Glados and Caroline are sisters who are just barely keeping this company from going bankrupt

[intergalacticfop]

This jacket is the result of more than 2 and a half years of work, entirely handsewn! It represents the interest in equestrian and equestrian-inspired clothing as fashionable attire in Europe during the late 17th and into the 18th centuries.

I copied it from a jacket held by the Met Costume Institute, accession number 1981.314.2. When I emailed out to them for more information about the jacket, one of the collections people was even kind enough to pull it out of storage and take some detailed shots of the exterior AND interior (thanks Marci!!!)

The Met dates it to the 2nd quarter of the 18th century which could be true--but there are several features of this jacket that could easily be dated earlier to the late 17th century, like the button size and layout. I plan to mull over this more in a later post. At least, I would definitely place it in the earlier end of that 1725-1750 range. However, I chose to style it for the 1730s/1740s because it's Fun For Me 🙂!

One of the most fun parts was gathering accessories to go with the jacket! I steamed a wool hat blank into the tricorn shape and applied the silver trim, made some detachable undersleeves based on paintings by Pietro Longhi, and threw together a matching neck ribbon as if I was some kind of ornamental poodle

[yaboieif]

shoulda posted this earlier but what the frick

made this minecraft skin based off of @cajunfoxnight 's absolutely frickin argarhhgargahrhgarghargharh project:reconstruct au

highly recommend checking it out if you are a fan of The Lad and especially love to see him experience the horrors

[demigod-of-the-agni]

FF7 REBIRTH SPOILERS ft A THEORY OF MINE

"Emptiness"

I may be reading too deep into this but bear with me. Sephiroth doing his damned best to reinforce that Cloud is nothing, that everything he feels his fake, that he's a puppet pulled along by Sephiroth's strings with no real purpose of his own. "Your tears are empty" is a line that really stands out to me, because Sephiroth insinuates that Cloud isn't a person and has no true substance as an individual. He's a shell.

Then much later, in the dream-esque Sleeping Forest, Aerith wants to spend one of their final moments focusing on Cloud, focusing on "finding the real [him]". Then Cloud hands Holy to Aerith, and she gifts him the clear materia in return, presumably having taken up Holy before she leaves. Aerith theorised earlier in the game that Holy was probably powered by her memories and dreams, and having lost them to the Whispers, to fate, has rendered the materia useless.

Basically, Cloud aptly describes not-Holy with, "It looks empty".

An empty man holding onto an empty materia.

I don't know, man. The thing about being given an empty thing after being told and tortured with the idea that you yourself are an empty thing is getting to me.

Part 3 is most likely going to deal with the fallout of Cloud's broken psyche and piecing him back together to "find the real [him]". I'm theorising not-Holy is only restored once Cloud has finally figured out who he is and what he wants to do.

Because materia isn't just the crystallisation of mako and the Lifestream. It's the physical representation of hopes and dreams and desires. The Black Materia was created to deliver the Gi from their unending existence. The White Materia ensures the prayers of the planet are answered.

And now not-Holy belongs to Cloud, so that whatever he finds in himself will fuel not-Holy and provide it with new purpose, maybe even allow him to finally heal after over two decades of suffering, because as Aerith said, "it's about saving the world — and you"

That is all

[irevanity]

need more of them

[sforzesco]

Do you think Spartacus haunts Rome ?

honestly I'm kind of cooling on haunting (specifically What Haunts Rome) as a concept, I'm just not interested in that kind of thing wrt to Rome right now. but the idea of Spartacus probably did. the humiliation, for sure. an empire being brought to heel by a slave (and a gladiator, at that) definitely bothered Rome going forward (if the extent of erasure with Spartacus is anything to go by)

but I'm also pretty sure Spartacus just straight up cursed Rome as a whole, and that kind of thing sticks around.

Appian Civ. 1.117

Blood in the Arena, Alison Futrell

[tippingthescalesexotics]

Post 1st reconstructive surgery on the right hand. It didn't go as planned, my fingers crossed each other sideways.

[cyberkn1fe]

Blackwell: Epiphany

[kooki914]

your answer to the ask about the Mayor Knight theory got me wondering what your thoughts are on the Seven Days, Seven Knights theory (if you haven't heard this theory before, which is very understandable, the premise is basically that "Knight" is less of a name and more of a title and as such there are multiple "Knights" and with chapter 3 Kris is one of them)

This one is really interesting because there's an argument to be made both for and against it based on in-game evidence.

The arguments FOR this, (from my cursory glance because I haven't heard of this theory before), is that "Knight" is a title rather than a strict role, unlike Ralsei, Kris and Susie's roles in the prophecy are. No-one can be a Prince From The Dark like Ralsei, but ANYONE can open a fountain and be a Knight. This is supported by Kris literally opening a fountain in their house, and it would also explain why the Knight's identity is so enigmatic - once we find out who all 7 Knights are, it won't matter nearly as much as their actions would, like a sort of collective cry for help that speaks to a larger problem rather than a single culprit.

On the OTHER hand, the arguments AGAINST this is dialogue from people who talk about the Knight. Jevil most notably never implies there's more than one, referring to "the shadow of the Knight's hand" and how its moving forward, implying that future fountains and events are caused by the actions of the Knight that opened the first fountain. This is corroborated by King and Queen to an extent, King who is loyal to no lightners except the singular Knight (which wouldn't make sense if any lightner is capable of becoming the Knight), and Queen who wants to "make a new one" hinting that it's a somewhat novel concept to try and recreate the actions of the Knight (like there's only one Knight and its her personal quest to make a different person act like them).

It's not impossible to imagine there's a separate Knight for each opened fountain, but I think that's partly because none of us have ANY information about the Knight. The most we know is that they're probably a lightner and have a hand that can stretch forward. That's an extremely low bar, and the enigmatic-ness of their actions sort of compounds that instinct to look for an answer. Like, currently, the Knight is no-one, so it's very easy to say the Knight is Everyone. Not a bad thing, but also not a theory I'd put my bets on in the long run (we'll see if I have to put my clown wig and nose on when the full game comes out, though)

[mesterspets]

This winter I may have done a little reconstruction of a painting by Swedish artist Carl Larsson, famously depicting the story of a human sacrifice (not pictured above).

These pictures are taken at the supposed historic site as well.

[ninjakitten1699]

For the first time in forever I made an original video and it’s Time Triplets content. Heard the audio a couple of times and thought of them the last time I did.

Anyways, here’s Phoenix, Acronix and Krux, the Time Triplets, the Three Hands of Time. (Krux is the hour hand, Acronix is the minute hand, and Phoenix is the seconds hand).

[intergalacticfop]

Dating a Jacket, Part 1

The Eighteenth-Century Assumption

Part 2 here

Sometimes you come across a piece of clothing and the date just seems a little too ambiguous. That was the case with this jacket, number 1981.314.2, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is said to be from the 2nd quarter of the 18th century. The good people at the Costume Institute within the Met were kind enough to take detailed photos of the jacket for me, including details of construction. These images were invaluable in allowing me to create my own version, but have also given me some questions about their chosen date. I am not allowed to share the images they took for me without express permission, so if necessary I will include photos from my own jacket.

First, let us remind ourselves of what the jacket looks like:

Left: jacket, Italian, 1981.314.2. Dated 2nd quarter 18th c. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Right: my own recreation of the same jacket.

The Met gives the original jacket a moderately wide date range of 2nd quarter of the 18th century, so between 1725 and 1750. And I can see what influenced them to make that decision. At first glance, the overall shape has strong similarities with the examples below of wide-necked riding jackets.

Left: Casaquin, textile 1710-1720, garment 1720-1730. Right: Casaquin, c. 1730-1740. Both from Palais Galliera

Left: Agnieszka Emercjanna Pociej ascribed to Ádám Mányoki, before 1722. Right: Lucy Pelham-Holles by Godfrey Kneller, 1722.

Left: Sophie Marie von Voss by Antoine Pesne, 1746-1751. Right: Maria-Antonia von Fürstenberg by Franz Josef Weiss, 1758.

Please note, however, that regional fashion changes do exist and none of the examples are Italian. I could not find any images of similar jackets from Italy. If anyone does have images of riding habits/jackets from Italy in the first half of the 18th century, I'd love to see them! However, these images do show at least a moderate geographic distribution of this trend: France, Germany (Prussia and Swabia), England, and Poland. All of the examples feature a wider neckline than the close-to-the-neck style found in men's coats and in some other women's riding jackets, and also feature metallic trim embellishing the front and cuffs. So far, so good, right? Well--let's dig deeper.

First, what do I mean by "riding jacket?" I am using the phrase to denote these and other women’s jackets from the 17th and 18th century that are inspired by menswear and originally used for the purpose of riding and hunting. Some of you may be more familiar with the term "riding habit" in which the jacket is worn with a matching petticoat and maybe a waistcoat to create a complete outfit.

Many of these jackets have trends directly borrowed from menswear like pockets and button-fronts, and fasten at the center front without a stomacher. However, as riding jackets and riding habits became an acceptable part of fashionable dress, some of these characteristics may have been adapted, or vanished almost entirely, as is the case with the two French casaquins seen above. These jackets represent the way that practical garments adapted to fashionable tastes. You can see Mme Gaspard de Peleran wearing a very similar jacket in this sketch by Liotard–its equestrian nature is denoted by the long riding whip she holds in her hand.

Madame Gaspard de Péleran by Jean-Etienne Liotard, est 1738-1742 (my estimate is based on Liotard's residence in Turkey from 1738 to 1742, where the subject's husband was French Consul in Smyrna)

So where do my doubts about the Met's jacket come from? Well, it's mainly the construction. When we look at extant riding jackets, however, the vast majority of the (admittedly few) originals have front waist seams, something absent from my own. The brocade casaquin above? waist seam. The pink casaquin? can't say, hidden by lace, could be either. This 1730-1750 riding jacket from the Snowshill Wade Costume collection was even patterned in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion Volume 1, pp 24-25, so you can really see the waist seam:

Whether plain or ornate, you'll probably find a waist seam!

Left: Riding Jacket, 1740s, John Bright Collection. Right: Riding Coat, 1750-1759, V&A Museum.

I found exactly one riding jacket which clearly does not have a front waist seam, and it's from very early in the period:

Jacket, 1710-1725, Palais Galliera.

If we look at paintings, we do find a few more examples that seemingly don't have a waist seam. Some of these might be artistic license or simply the artist not wanting to paint every single seam, but I'm inclined to believe at least some of them, like this painting by Nicholas Lancret:

Picnic After the Hunt (detail) by Nicolas Lancret, 1735-1740, National Gallery of Art.

Why do I trust it? The waist wrinkles. Ask me how I know...

Okay, so, a waist seam of lack thereof isn't proof one or the other about dating. But there are other oddities of construction as well. For instance, looking at this picture of my own jacket, do you see the pocket? These pockets have no flap and are cut straight across, whereas every other example I've shown so far has a pocket flap. This is much more in keeping with men's coats from the same period:

Left: Coat, British, 1720s, Met Costume Institute. Right: Coat, German, 1720s-1730s, LACMA.

Also, where are the rest of the buttons? The jacket held by the Met has 100 buttons total--33 along the front, 8 along each pocket, and 17 along the side and back vents. These men's coats, the most button-heavy of all the examples shown here, have buttons along the fronts, below the pocket flaps, and along the top cuffs, but none running along the vents:

In addition, the Met jacket has large contrasting cuffs, which does not seem to be as much an element of jackets from the 2nd quarter of the 18th century, unless it matched a waistcoat.

Top: Le Repas au retour de la chasse (detail) by Nicolas Lancret, c. 1725. Bottom Left: Anna Katarzyna Orzelska by Louis de Silvestre, c.1730. (red waistcoat matching cuffs is just visible at front opening below lace). Bottom Right: Coat, c. 1735, National Museums Scotland.

None of these cuffs have a heavy trim around the edge though, like the pleated pink ribbon and silver braid on the Met's jacket. It is possible that the cuffs and trim are a later addition, but just comparing the braid on the cuffs to the braid on the rest of the jacket, they appear to be the same 4-strand silver metallic braid.

While this does not rule out the possibility that they were an addition made at a different time, it does make it, in my opinion, most likely that the cuffs are contemporary to the rest of the jacket. In addition, most cuffs of 1725-1750 jackets and coats are cut separately to the sleeve and then attached, whereas the cuffs of my jacket are cut in one with the sleeve and folded back.

So where does that leave us? Well, the Met appears to be correct in noticing that wide-necked riding jackets are largely a phenomenon of the early-to-mid 18th century. The large turned-back cuffs and lack of a waist seam would probably push this earlier in their proposed date range, closer to the 1720s than the 1750s. In my next post, however, I will introduce another possibility--what if the jacket is earlier? Maybe even much earlier?

Part 2

Additional Resources:

Images of more riding jackets found at the 18th Century Notebook from Larsdatter

@vincentbriggs has detailed posts on 1730s coat construction here and here, and in general is a font of knowledge for 18th-century tailoring.

jeannedepompadour.blogspot.com has a good collection of images of early 18th-century riding jackets.

Janet Arnold, Patterns of Fashion vol 1. Originally Published 1972, reissued 2021 by School of Historical Dress.