#i don't use them as reference material unless I get completely lost

[mariana-oconnor]

Look, I don't care how fantasy names are "supposed to be pronounced". Maybe that's how they're pronounced in the version of the story that lives in your head, but these characters live in my head and in my head you're the one pronouncing them wrong. What do you mean "there's a pronunciation guide at the back of the book"? There is only the story. There is nothing else. Your imaginary friends can pronounce their names however you want, but I'm not renaming mine.

[garaksapprentice]

In search of compostable clothing closures

Making clothes that are 97% biodegradable is surprisingly easy. Pick a natural fibre fabric, buy some 100% cotton or linen thread, and you're there. (You can even get 100% cotton overlocker thread - though you have to go searching for it.)

Those last few percent, though? That can be tough. One of the biggest offenders is closures. While there are plenty of clothes that don't need something to hold them shut, I confess I like having the option. Below is a round-up of various closures, and their compostability.

Note: for the purpose of this article, I'm treating metal closures as "compostable", in the sense that they're 1) easy to remove before you compost the rest of the object, and 2) infinitely reusable on other things, unless they break - at which point they're usually recyclable using our current commercial systems. And remember, re-using things that already exist is always preferable to buying new, "better" items.

Buckles/Rings

While less common than other closure methods, I find buckles, D-rings and O-rings are great when used in the right context. They're usually metal or plastic, neither of which are compostable - but metal will last practically forever, if it's good quality. Plastic tends to degrade over time, especially if exposed to the sun.

I find rings especially quick and easy to use, and a set of D-rings can give a very fine-tuned amount of tightening. My favourite belt uses two square D-rings instead of a buckle closure.

Buttons

The humble button, while ubiquitous now, took a while to catch on. Buttons as a common method of closure didn't become popular in Europe* until about the early 1300s, around the same time that the tailoring revolution[^] happened.

Nowadays, plastic is by far the most common material that buttons are made from. It's cheap and sturdy, but obviously it doesn't compost. So what are some alternatives?

Liz Haywood, a pattern maker who focuses on zero-waste designs, has thought a bit about this conundrum here. There's photos of several different DIY compostable and recycled buttons in her post.

For a completely compostable garment, wood, leather, horn, fabric, and thread buttons are your best bet. If, like most sensible people, you remove the buttons from something that's about to be worm food before you ditch it, the options expand considerably - metal, clay, recycled bottle caps, even glass buttons are all possible. You can have a lot of fun with making your own buttons - to match an outfit, or contrast with it, or maybe you'd like a different button for every buttonhole...

Another, related option is cufflinks - 18th century shirts often used cufflinks on the sleeves and one or two small thread buttons on the collar. That way one set of cufflinks could be used on multiple shirts, showing off a bit of wealth, while saving them from the (admittedly harsh) laundry practices of the day.

[*]: I have no doubt that buttons became popular in other parts of the world, too, but unfortunately I don't know much about it. Europe in the 14-15th century is my main area of study, mostly due to the fact that the historical re-enactment group that I'm a part of operates in that time period.

[^]: The tailoring revolution refers to the period where garments for the higher classes underwent a dramatic change in the way they were cut out. The very short version is, fashion garments shifted from primarily rectangular construction to more form-fitting, using the precursors of many standard cutting practices used today.

Elastic

While elastic isn't technically a closure, it's used that way in many different objects. Most elastic nowadays is made from polyester and synthetic rubber. No composting there.

But, all is not lost! You can now find elastics made of natural rubber and cotton! (I was quite impressed by this, to be honest. I thought I'd have to give up elastic for good.)

The downside, as is usual when you actually give a crap about the planet, is cost. You'll mostly only find it for sale online (Etsy has several options), and it can be more expensive (especially factoring in shipping). Prices on the compostable elastics I found were comparable to a mid-range polyester elastic at Spotlight (before shipping). I think that's actually pretty good, all things considered. (I don't trust the cheapest elastic, it loses its stretch ridiculously fast. A fact I discovered to my sorrow only after buying a 20m roll of it.)

As a bonus, supposedly natural rubber elastic lasts longer than synthetic elastics - this has been my experience with many natural vs synthetic things, but I haven't tested natural elastic specifically to know for sure.

The biggest downside here is the rubber - if you're dealing with a latex allergy, this is not the solution for you.

Hooks and Eyes

While these have fallen out of favour over the years, they do have their uses in a compostable closet. They're easy to buy, and easy to make if you can get hold of the wire - all you need is a set of needle-nose pliers.

Being metal, the hook/eye can be re-used until it breaks - which takes a while. Like buttons, they're easy to take off a garment and move to another one. Unlike buttons, they don't need a buttonhole - you can move both the hook and eye almost anywhere on a garment, really refining the fit of an item.

They are, however, somewhat limited in that application - hooks and eyes work best if they're under a small but constant amount of tension, pulling in opposite directions. I once tried to use hooks and eyes on a loose-fitting medieval tunic, and it just didn't work.

Laces and Ties

Before buttons became The Big Thing in medieval Europe (and for quite a few centuries after), laces and ties were the closure method du jour. Why did they stick around so long? The same reason pyjama pants often have a drawstring in them - they add adjustability to garments in a simple and easy to use (and create!) way. Stays and corsets are one of the most recognisable examples of this concept in action.

Lacing does work better on some things than others, but just about anywhere that you'd put elastic nowadays can likely use a drawstring instead. And there are some patterns (YouTube link) for adjustable garments that use lacing as an integral part of the design.

The main downside for me? They can be slow to use, and awkward, if you have difficulty with fine motor control. Mine is variable enough that I'll usually opt for a different closure, unless lacing or ties really is the best or only option.

Snaps

Confession: I adore snaps. They're fast and easy to use when my hands don't want to co-operate, and they can be wonderfully decorative as well as functional.

There are two general types - those you sew into place like you sew on hooks and eyes, and ones that are applied to the fabric using a press. The former takes more time to install, but can be replaced relatively easily if they stop working. The latter can technically be replaced, but it's a LOT harder and you risk damaging the fabric behind it while you try. They're also more likely to rip out of the fabric in the first place.

As for material, it's pretty much just metal and plastic (sometimes a combination). From a sustainability standpoint, metal is the better option - as long as you recycle it at the end of its life.

Zips

Zips are everywhere nowadays. They're easy to use, but can be hard to replace when they break. Putting them in correctly isn't always a cake-walk either. And in terms of compostability, the answer is definitely "no".

The vast majority of zippers on the market use a polyester or poly-cotton tape, with plastic or metal teeth set into it, and plastic or metal tabs and pulls. Because of the mix of materials, and the size of a typical zip, most municipal waste streams can't take them for recycling. However, textile recyclers` such as Upparel usually take zips (and the things they're attached to!).

I also found a couple of different manufacturers creating zips out of post-consumer recycled materials - a pleasant surprise, and a strong move towards closing waste streams. 

[`]: Clothing retailers are increasingly taking responsibility for their part in reducing waste by offering recycling programs through their stores. Recycling Near You and Frankie list some of the major programs in Australia, though it's worth noting that most of those listed only want whole textiles or large pieces - to my knowledge, Upparel is the only place that will take scraps, broken textiles, and related.

If I've missed a closure type, or you know of places selling compostable or truly recyclable versions of any of the above, I would love to hear about it. While I'm (currently) a far less prolific sewist than the blog name implies, I want to be deliberate and thoughtful in my sewing choices going forward. 

Also, as a last random thought, I wonder if anyone has started making bioplastic versions of any of the above? *Wanders off to do some research...*

Originally published at my blog: https://garaksapprentice.blogspot.com/2023/09/in-search-of-compostable-closures.html

[aihoshiino]

Hello everyone! With the absolutely incredible audio drama adaptation of Viewpoint B dropping earlier this week, I was able to revisit my initial translation of Viewpoint B and make various tweaks and improvements – my hearing comprehension is uh a lot better than my reading comprehension so the audio drama was incredibly useful in clearing some things up for me.

My next goal will be to complete my own translation of 45510 to go alongside Viewpoint B and I am also interested in translating some of the Bluray and artbook materials if anyone is able to provide them. If you have anything official you think would be cool to see translated, feel free to drop it into my DMs!

TL NOTES:

1) As mentioned previously but is worth reiterating here: in the process of adapting Viewpoint B into English, there are places here and there where I lightly reordered or combined certain sentences in to flow a little better in English. For example, there's times where a character's monologue will be interrupted by some single sentence aside in the narration that makes things read a little stuttery and occasionally confusing as to which character was speaking. The content should still be largely the same, I just wanted to make sure nobody got lost in the more dialogue heavy exchanges (as I almost did!)

2) Various tweaks to spelling, phrasing and word choice were made. Nothing is massively different but with the audio drama to reference, I had a better idea of dialogue tone and mood and made some changes to my phrasing to better match Takahashi's interpretation of the text.

3) Ai's age is referenced twice in this story, once as fourteen and once as fifteen. I initially assumed this was a typo either in the original text or transcription of the pamphlet as the relatively short timeframe the story takes place in makes it unlikely she would've had a birthday without comment. However, Takahashi can clearly be heard saying both 14才 (juuyonsai) and 15才 (juugosai) in the audio drama so I have no idea what to believe anymore!!! As such, I kept my initial translation of 'fourteen' when her age is first mentioned and changed the second occurrence to the more neutral 'teenage girl' because I genuinely don't know what the intention is here. Unless the birthday celebration that gets mentioned in the story is Ai's?? Is Ai's birthday that close to Christmas???? I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE

4) There are a few sentences and lines of dialogue that were a little ambiguous in terms of subject and who was speaking. Two of these lines I accidentally mistranslated or misattributed (Kanan's first speaking line, a mention of management dictating B-Komachi's romance-first focus) have now been fixed.

5) A line in Part 3 was accidentally erased during a previous editing pass and I didn't catch it while proofreading. Whoops! It's not a major line but obviously it should be in there, so it's been restored.

[noahpologiste]

By everything holy in this world, witness how fucking wonderful Ophelia's writing is. Slowly, things come together, like the pieces of glass mentioned so many times, with gaps that will only be filled by a veil of words woven by the golden seamstress herself.

《 "Matt threw his arms in the air with a sigh of annoyed defeat, using his coat sleeve to wipe the mist forming across his eyes.

I need your help. 》

Matt... is still quite the mystery. He pierces through Noah's being easily, without being transparent himself. What's sure, is that he's a shattered material close to collapsing.

《 “Um,” Matt said, struggling to find his friend’s eyes, “No, I just..I guess I thought I did.”

"Old hookup?" 》

I wheezed loudly, and it's two in the goddamn morning.

《 “Of course I do, dipshit. He’s my little baby cousin. Why? You dreamin’ of him again?” 》

Ooh, this line - it made me laugh again. Matt is wriggling his way with words, but Nick just. Straight up slams him with a metal wall sjsjh;; It's one of the many ways to get someone to talk, I guess? lolol

《 “They were eating something. This fucking disgusting... rotting corpse.”

“...what the fuck..."

“I see his face, Nick. Over and over. That guy in the bar? That’s him.” 》

I froze, honestly. Not in surprise, but by the blood-freezing mental image, which reports itself well on what we know of Noah's situation, and his mental, spiritual status. A decaying prey to the materialized ghosts hunting him. Ripping him apart piece by piece. But the question remains... As though "Jane" feeding on him is understandable, why would Vinny appear to do so?

《 There's something about glass, though, something sinister at the best of times. It's a portal, a mirror, reflections cast in each bend of the light. But once it's broken, the pieces never quite fit again. Instead they're missing shards, leaving nothing but gaps and sliced palms. But we tried, right? Maybe it's not fixed, but it's better, right? 》

Not really commentary... but I believe that broken glass, pieced together, forms a completely different piece of art that reflects light differently. It's definitely not what it used to be, and won't return to what it used to be, but it can be equally or even more beautiful from what it was before. Perhaps the glass itself doesn't realize, until it sees the luminous kaleidoscope it is. My beloved, deceased aunt used to make decorations out of broken glass. Had you given her anything, an old glass, a shattered mirror, a transparent plate, a crystal chandelier shard - she would stain it, color it, piece it together, and a piece of art would be born.

...I'm crying. It got personal, I'm sorry.

《 She smiles at me, I know she's sad. Kisses the top of my head and waddles away. I wonder if she's sad for me, too. I think about how sad it will be to see Jane's gravestone considering she's named after her. What would it be like to see a marker with my same name? 》

Grandma is so cute...

Oh, Ophelia... What would little Noah think if he knew he'd see his own grave in between, eh?

《 “I will never be mad at you for anything about Jane. Do you understand? This is not your fault, Noah Alexander. Do you hear me?” 》

Contrary to the sous-entendu ingame, his father doesn't seem so bad... and he also seems to know something's definitely wrong with Darlene.

And, uh, Ophelia? Noah Alexander? I screeched?

(Totally not because I thought of Alexander David Turner of Arctic Monkeys. Totally not. Yep. Why would I?)

*'Anyways' plays in the distance*

"You can call me Alexander,

It's nice to meet you all"

I'm sorry. Bear with me. I lost my train of thought.

...I should stop making AM references especially when I kNOW NO ONE (?) WILL GET THEM

《 She taught me that a light is only a light if you don't blow it out.

There is no such thing as sincerity. There are always motivations. Hear that? 》

A child is but hot metal. Mold it askew, and it'll remain so forever, unless it's melted hot again. His mother whipped an abyss of uselessness and guilt into him. A hatred of existence. The remaining dust nestled in his lungs. But isn't she molding him into... another version of herself?

Broken, cold and empty. She lashes out at her son, makes him bear the brunt of the guilt and pain, isn't she in dark denial? Her mind masquerades her broken state into hatred towards her son. It's his fault, of course it is, he should have died, not her, she wouldn't have died if not because of him... or would she?

Misdirected hatred and pain from a parent hits too close to home.

《 Matt yells, running over to the place where Noah sits in the kitchen, nails digging into his arm enough to draw blood. 》

...That sounds familiar... Oh.

《 “You know something? Over this past week I've really learned something about you, Noah. Something that makes you special. You hate the idea that other people can exist without despising you. It almost seems like you want everyone to want to kill you. And yeah, I can use that bachelor's in psychology I got with the insurance money from my dead mother and my dead brother to justify your behavior. I can say, as a professional, that you definitely have several unaddressed mental illnesses but that's not what you need right now. What you need is to be told to get the fuck over yourself.” 》

What do you want? It's been burned, molded into him, and the untreated acid of his mind deepens the crater, and the effects won't disappeared unless, until, he's melted back and molded again. You're an useless husk of a boy, nobody cares and no matter what they say, they despise you to their core and your death would be their happiness. The undoing of their troubles. You're nothing but a piece of rusty metal floating aimlessly across the dark sea of life that's been given to you, taking in exchange the shimmering life of a gracefully graven gem, draining it into your dullness.

To get over yourself... no matter who you are and what you struggle with, the first step comes from yourself. It's easy to wallow in murky water and to play with bloodied, dusty shards of glass. It's hard to get up, too. Even harder to clean the cuts and bandage them, and the healing seems to take all the time in the world. But if you don't... who will? What will?

Whatever you fight against... your struggle is valid, but letting yourself 'mistake' someone reaching out to you is not. Never in any way.

《 He terrifies me, freezes me to the bone, twists my falsity and pools together the truth and the truth about me, no matter which way you spin it, is that I've wanted to be ruined for far longer than I've ever wanted to live. 》

Il n'est que l'ombre de lui-même. Le temps a laissé ses vestiges, et la douleur se présente en lacérations sur son corps et son cœur, et il n'en fait rien. Il l'accueille à bras ouverts. C'est cela, être un miroir brisé, teinté de fumée.

Amen, Amen • Blood

Catch Up : Reckoning | Rum on the Fire | Like You’re Made of Glass | Unfolding | The Fraying

Character(s) : Noah Marshall, Jane Marshall, Matt

Rating : MATURE. THIS STORY WILL NOT BE NSFW, but it will be dealing with mature themes, such as death, possession, mental illness, suicidal thoughts, murder, and other graphic elements. Language warning. Please read at your own risk. I’m issuing a general trigger warning for the entirety of this story. *This chapter deals with self harm. Please be aware of this before reading and do so at your own risk.

Time : This takes place 14 years after Jane’s death and roughly 5 years after the events in ILITW. Noah is 22 years old.

Word Count : 3,800

Author’s Note : Thank you for your patience. This chapter is informational and left me quite emotional and I really hope you like it!

Key : Perspective switches will be marked with ** | Time jumps will be marked with –

Soundtrack | Chapter Inspiration

Afficher davantage

[garaksapprentice]

Compostable Clothing Closures

Originally posted at my blog: https://garaksapprentice.blogspot.com/2023/09/in-search-of-compostable-closures.html

~~~

Making clothes that are 97% biodegradable is surprisingly easy. Pick a natural fibre fabric, buy some 100% cotton or linen thread, and you're there. (You can even get 100% cotton overlocker thread - though you have to go searching for it.)

Those last few percent, though? That can be tough. One of the biggest offenders is closures. While there are plenty of clothes that don't need something to hold them shut, I confess I like having the option. Below is a round-up of various closures, and their compostability.

Note: for the purpose of this article, I'm treating metal closures as "compostable", in the sense that they're 1) easy to remove before you compost the rest of the object, and 2) infinitely reusable on other things, unless they break - at which point they're usually recyclable using our current commercial systems. And remember, re-using things that already exist is always preferable to buying new, "better" items.

Buckles/Rings

While less common than other closure methods, I find buckles, D-rings and O-rings are great when used in the right context. They're usually metal or plastic, neither of which are compostable - but metal will last practically forever, if it's good quality. Plastic tends to degrade over time, especially if exposed to the sun.

I find rings especially quick and easy to use, and a set of D-rings can give a very fine-tuned amount of tightening. My favourite belt uses two square D-rings instead of a buckle closure.

Buttons

The humble button, while ubiquitous now, took a while to catch on. Buttons as a common method of closure didn't become popular in Europe[^1] until about the early 1300s, around the same time that the tailoring revolution[^2] happened.

Nowadays, plastic is by far the most common material that buttons are made from. It's cheap and sturdy, but obviously it doesn't compost. So what are some alternatives?

Liz Haywood, a pattern maker who focuses on zero-waste designs, has thought a bit about this conundrum here. There's photos of several different DIY compostable and recycled buttons in her post.

For a completely compostable garment, wood, leather, horn, fabric, and thread buttons are your best bet. If, like most sensible people, you remove the buttons from something that's about to be worm food before you ditch it, the options expand considerably - metal, clay, recycled bottle caps, even glass buttons are all possible. You can have a lot of fun with making your own buttons - to match an outfit, or contrast with it, or maybe you'd like a different button for every buttonhole...

Another, related option is cufflinks - 18th century shirts often used cufflinks on the sleeves and one or two small thread buttons on the collar. That way one set of cufflinks could be used on multiple shirts, showing off a bit of wealth, while saving them from the (admittedly harsh) laundry practices of the day.

[1]: I have no doubt that buttons became popular in other parts of the world, too, but unfortunately I don't know much about it. Europe in the 14-15th century is my main area of study, mostly due to the fact that the historical re-enactment group that I'm a part of operates in that time period.

[2]: The tailoring revolution refers to the period where garments for the higher classes underwent a dramatic change in the way they were cut out. The very short version is, fashion garments shifted from primarily rectangular construction to more form-fitting, using the precursors of many standard cutting practices used today.

Elastic

While elastic isn't technically a closure, it's used that way in many different objects. Most elastic nowadays is made from polyester and synthetic rubber. No composting there.

But, all is not lost! You can now find elastics made of natural rubber and cotton! (I was quite impressed by this, to be honest. I thought I'd have to give up elastic for good.)

The downside, as is usual when you actually give a crap about the planet, is cost. You'll mostly only find it for sale online (Etsy has several options), and it can be more expensive (especially factoring in shipping). Prices on the compostable elastics I found were comparable to a mid-range polyester elastic at Spotlight (before shipping). I think that's actually pretty good, all things considered. (I don't trust the cheapest elastic, it loses its stretch ridiculously fast. A fact I discovered to my sorrow only after buying a 20m roll of it.)

As a bonus, supposedly natural rubber elastic lasts longer than synthetic elastics - this has been my experience with many natural vs synthetic things, but I haven't tested natural elastic specifically to know for sure.

The biggest downside here is the rubber - if you're dealing with a latex allergy, this is not the solution for you.

Hooks and Eyes

While these have fallen out of favour over the years, they do have their uses in a compostable closet. They're easy to buy, and easy to make if you can get hold of the wire - all you need is a set of needle-nose pliers.

Being metal, the hook/eye can be re-used until it breaks - which takes a while. Like buttons, they're easy to take off a garment and move to another one. Unlike buttons, they don't need a buttonhole - you can move both the hook and eye almost anywhere on a garment, really refining the fit of an item.

They are, however, somewhat limited in that application - hooks and eyes work best if they're under a small but constant amount of tension, pulling in opposite directions. I once tried to use hooks and eyes on a loose-fitting medieval tunic, and it just didn't work.

Laces and Ties

Before buttons became The Big Thing in medieval Europe (and for quite a few centuries after), laces and ties were the closure method du jour. Why did they stick around so long? The same reason pyjama pants often have a drawstring in them - they add adjustability to garments in a simple and easy to use (and create!) way. Stays and corsets are one of the most recognisable examples of this concept in action.

Lacing does work better on some things than others, but just about anywhere that you'd put elastic nowadays can likely use a drawstring instead. And there are some patterns (YouTube link) for adjustable garments that use lacing as an integral part of the design.

The main downside for me? They can be slow to use, and awkward, if you have difficulty with fine motor control. Mine is variable enough that I'll usually opt for a different closure, unless lacing or ties really is the best or only option.

Snaps

Confession: I adore snaps. They're fast and easy to use when my hands don't want to co-operate, and they can be wonderfully decorative as well as functional.

There are two general types - those you sew into place like you sew on hooks and eyes, and ones that are applied to the fabric using a press. The former takes more time to install, but can be replaced relatively easily if they stop working. The latter can technically be replaced, but it's a LOT harder and you risk damaging the fabric behind it while you try. They're also more likely to rip out of the fabric in the first place.

As for material, it's pretty much just metal and plastic (sometimes a combination). From a sustainability standpoint, metal is the better option - as long as you recycle it at the end of its life.

Zips

Zips are everywhere nowadays. They're easy to use, but can be hard to replace when they break. Putting them in correctly isn't always a cake-walk either. And in terms of compostability, the answer is definitely "no".

The vast majority of zippers on the market use a polyester or poly-cotton tape, with plastic or metal teeth set into it, and plastic or metal tabs and pulls. Because of the mix of materials, and the size of a typical zip, most municipal waste streams can't take them for recycling. However, textile recyclers[ ^3] such as Upparel usually take zips (and the things they're attached to!).

I also found a couple of different manufacturers creating zips out of post-consumer recycled materials - a pleasant surprise, and a strong move towards closing waste streams.

[3]: Clothing retailers are increasingly taking responsibility for their part in reducing waste by offering recycling programs through their stores. Recycling Near You and Frankie list some of the major programs in Australia, though it's worth noting that most of those listed only want whole textiles or large pieces - to my knowledge, Upparel is the only place that will take scraps, broken textiles, and related.

If I've missed a closure type, or you know of places selling compostable or truly recyclable versions of any of the above, I would love to hear about it. While I'm (currently) a far less prolific sewist than the blog name implies, I want to be deliberate and thoughtful in my sewing choices going forward.

Also, as a last random thought, I wonder if anyone has started making bioplastic versions of any of the above? Wanders off to do some research...