#i used mod podge for example

[witchkittymeow]

EVER WANTED TO OWN A LITTLE EUGENE FIGURE??? NO?? I DONT CARE YOU CAN NOW HAVE A PAPERCRAFT EUGENE BAMABMABAM

I worked hard on this template, IF ANY OF Y'ALL BUILD HIM PLEEEEEASEE TAG MEE HES SO TOINYYYY

(oh and if yall are struggling to build him feel free to dm me AWAWAWA)

[lemonbalmgirl]

Oh look, it's Friday. 🙃

I ended up helping Mom get the last of their stuff out of the apartment on Sunday AND Monday, but I can't gripe about her using my time that much since she's my mother and all. My friend Minnie also helped out some. And while Mom wasn't really able to get any cleaning if the apartment done, because they're moving for medical reasons AND there was some sort of discount when they moved in, their security deposit was only $99! So, if you ever going to say fuck it to getting your deposit back, THIS WAS THE TIME.

I hit a wall yesterday, because I'm running on fumes, and didn't donate plasma OR take things to my booth partner's after my bookstore shift. I WAS able to take a decent nap and then get some work on the final projects I want to get done. I also made a pile of all the stuff that needs to go to Booth Partner's house.

Today, Minnie is going to come over at some point and help me take stuff to Booth Partner's. While we're there, we'll also figure out which canopy is the broken one and see if the replacement bolt I got works. We'll also go through the boothing stuff in her garage and pull all the stuff we'll need on Sunday to the front. (For example, you can't sell knives at Pride, so we can move those bins to the back, etc.)

To-Do List:

Finish Progress Pride cross stitch earrings & pins

Take stuff to Booth Partner's

Enter new product into point-of-sale inventory

FINISH ALL CROSS STITCH PIECES:

Cut out from plastic canvas and trim edges

Seal backs with mod podge

Glue on pin backs to designated pins

Cut out felt

Sew cross stitch pieces to felt backing

Add earring & pin findings

Make & laminate new signs for Patches

[sof-ingtired]

Oh I love this !! This is a super useful guide !!

A thing I think folks could use too is folding canes ! My cane can fold up and it makes it easier to travel with ! But it also makes funny scenarios and annoying scenarios.

For example: I was going to an amusement part with my friends and they have metal detectors and because I kept my cane in my bag it set off the dector and I had to step aside and they looked in my bag and I distinctly remember this mans look of red hot embarrassment seeing my cane folded and me smiling "Sorry must have been my cane" ...

Also I completely second the decorate their cane !! Mine is covered in stickers on the top half and I used mod podge to keep them on!!

This is overall just super cool!!!!!

How to write a cane user character

(Written by a cane user)

A few months ago, I wrote a small guide on good disabled characters and why they were good that gathered quite the attention, and I thought that doing another more specific guide this time would be interesting for writers or just people that are curious ! This guide will include general informations, some things to do, some things to avoid and some ideas that might revolve cane users's lives.

Things to know about cane users

Cane users are pretty diverse, and putting us in little boxes usually isn't the best idea if you want to make a character that has substance and isn't just "the disabled one". Here some infos about cane users that might be helpful knowledge !

Canes don't have ages. Most cane users in media are portrayed to be old, but truly, anyone can have the need to wield a cane ! I've been using mine ever since I was 17.

Can users can have a large variety of problems for their canes. Some canes are used to avoid pain from effort. Some canes are used for balance purposes. Some canes are to make walking less exhausting (works the same as walking sticks !) And sometimes, it's multiple problems at once.

Not everyone needs their cane 24/7. Some always need it, some can make small efforts without it but overall often need it, and some people, like me, can spend quite a lot of time without it. I almost never use my cane in my house, and mostly take it outside !

People with canes can run. We're not necessarily slow, I'm even faster than a lot of my friends.

Not using a cane can come with consequences, but not always. Some people might be able to walk without a cane but then suffer horrible consequences, but for others, canes are just a commodity for specific occasions.

Canes don't have to be looked down upon. Look at some characters with canes that look cool as hell ! Arsène Lupin, Roguefort Cookie, Brook ... Their canes serve their style !

We can be pretty healthy. Some people can have canes just because they were born with a bent leg and that's it. Our cane doesn't define our health status.

Canes aren't a curse. Think of them as something positive. It's a tool to make our lives better. You don't see someone sitting on a chair and think "awh, it's sad that they need a chair". It's more something like "hey it's cool that this chair is here so they can sit down"

Things to do

Make them use their cane. And when I mean use, I mean that canes are just funky long sticks usually made out of metal. Have fun with it ! Let them use it as a weapon ! Trust me, one hit in the knees with a cane and you're DOWN. Use it to reach stuff that's too high for everyone ! Have fun. Be creative.

Let them decorate their cane. It's an extension of their body ! You usually put on clothes that you like, don't you ? It's the same for a cane. If they like cutesy stuff, let them paint in it pastel colors ! If they like a more flashy style, add some stickers on it ! If they're a fancy person, give them a beautiful crafted cane with jewels on it !

You can make them a little shy or uneasy about their cane. Some people don't feel worthy of confident enough to wield one. It's not rare to see people think they're "not disabled enough to do so"

But on the other hand, you can do the complete opposite !! Make them proud of that cane ! Make them act like they're feeling pretty and more confident with it ! One thing i like to think about with my own cane is that I look like a cool gentleman. That boosted my confidence immensely.

Things to avoid

Don't make it their whole world. And by that, I do not mean that their cane shouldn't be a defining trait of their personality. Think of Toph from ATLA. She is blind, and you usually can't think of her character without describing her as blind. However, that isn't her entire personality trait. Make cane users have a goal in life, friends who enjoy them for who they are and not just pity them, have fun ... Don't just make them the disabled one.

Don't try to make the character's life just a plain disaster unless it's the focus of your story and you really know what you're talking about. Having a character who's always in pain, who feels bad about relying on their cane and/or who's angry at the entire world for being disabled is a REALLY tricky subject to use if you don't want them to be either a mass of unhappiness and angst for no good reason or some inspirational porn of the character who inside is deeply tortured but outside keeps up a facade because they shouldn't cry to avoid making others uneasy.

Do not, and I repeat, do NOT try to heal them, especially in a magical way. Bad idea. A lot of disabled people's goal isn't to be healed. It's to live a normal life. Making it so the ultimate goal for them is to be healed makes it as if they were worthless as long as they were disabled. Making their situation better physically or mentally is one thing. Curing them completely is really bad. "But some disabled folks want to be cured !" True, true. But if you are able bodied, I'm not sure if you can have the right mind to understand all of the complex details about this situation that leads to someone's life choices and the end result may look like you think the only thing that can make disabled people happy is being freed from their condition. I think it's best to just avoid it altogether. If you need a more nuanced idea, try to give them a solution that still has a few downs ! For exemple, a prosthetic that feels like a real arm, acts like a real arm and basically replaces it perfectly is a full cure. But a prosthetic that takes time to adjust to, needs repairs sometimes and doesn't look 100% like an arm can be a better narrative choice

Smaller thing, but don't make the handle uneasy to wield if you draw the character design. You can decorate most of the cane, but if you have chunky spiky decorations on the place you're supposed to clench your hand over, you're gonna hurt yourself. I've seen quite a lot of jewel handles or sculpted metal handles and usually their not good. If it's detailed metal, your hand will end up cramped in little parts and it can hurt. If it's a jewel, it's so easy for it to slip out of your hand it's unpractical.

List of tropes/ideas of scenes/details about canes to help you write new situations !

If you walk with a cane during winter, you can't put your hand in your jacket to get warm and there's a high chance your hand will get freezing. So after a long walk, you get an excuse for another character to hold their hand and warm them up.

If the handle is metallic, you get the opposite problem during summer. You can burn yourself so easy ! Easy accident if you want someone to help and get closer to the disabled person without it necessarily involving their disability.

Canes are SUPER useful when you're walking upon heights. They make things really easy, just like hiking poles on mountains ! I live on volcanoes and whenever we clim on a harsh slope, I'm always the first to get up there. Good moment for your character to get a boost of confidence if they get all the way up somewhere before their friends !

The first time using your cane feels magical. If you have chronic pains, it makes you feel like your pain disapear. If you can't walk right, it feels like everything is suddenly alright. The moment where a character chooses to wield a cane can be huge for character development. It's a moment of fear because of the impact a cane has on their appearance, but also a moment of confidence and relief.

Canes fall. All the time. And after a while, it becomes fucking comical. Trust me, putting a cane against the wall, seeing it fall and doing it three times again in a row while it doesn't want to stay up makes you embarrassed but also makes you want to laugh because of how stupid it looks.

When you get a cane, you stop being invisible. When you walk outside, generally speaking, people don't look at you. They don't care about you. But when you get a cane, people start to stare at you for no other reasons that you have a cane. Half of them are just curious, especially if you're young. The other half has a very specific look. The "oh, you poor thing" look. Which is, trust me, particularly awful to get, especially when you're just existing and doing nothing special. How does your character react to this ? How do they feel about it ?

I believe that is all I had in mind. I may add some more details in the future if I get other ideas, but this should already be a good start. I would be thrilled to answer questions if you have some, either in my askbox or through DMs.

I will tag this post with characters holding canes that aren't necessarily considered cane users but that some people may be interested in writing as such. Feel free to tell me if you'd like to see tags being added !

Edit : I'm highly encouraging everyone to look at the tag section under this post where a lot of other can users are sharing their experiences !!

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on a show CBS should give a second chance and a show that perfectly complements it enough that they should stay together

So Help Me Todd (#savesohelpmetodd #renewsohelpmetodd #wrongdecisionCBS)

Interesting opening

Feeling sympathetically overloaded on Margaret's behalf

Is she going through some sort of Lesson Zero scenario

oy Todd, really, tacos

Nice meta reference to show's fate struggle

Now that's a different way to commit a crime

Of course Todd watches Ghosts (or their universe's version)

Todd and his ego applied to funeral arrangements, holy Hamilton

nice to see more Todd and Lyle even if it is "Lyle after dentist"

Ok Folding backstory please, why does he have a server despite not showing up at work

Of course Lyle's the sysadmin

LYLE SAID THE SHIPNAME!

What is with everyone and the really obnoxious patterns this episode (some might be fine on their own but not all at once!)

OK this just turned into a Shakespearean comedy

I really hope more seasons of this show mean more of Todd pretending to be a lawyer (perhaps as potential foreshadowing)

Did Todd-as-Folding, Susan and Lyle just pull a Leverage and let's go steal a client?

Hmm... wonder if more seasons might reveal some identity thieving ring shenanigans as that reminds me of Veronica and there's still the Tuttle case implicitly up in the air

Again, Allison, a little too relatable

Very Murder She Wrote of a case crack

instance #2 of Todd making himself come off as a lawyer that could foreshadow things in more seasons

and Todd figures out what I figured out

and proof of the Shawn/Gus inspiration for Tyle

sweet ending

Was the part about trust the product them pleading with the network

Elsbeth

doctors, dinner parties that almost feel like family dinners, rejected partnerships, what is this So Help Me Todd

Well hello another example of how "kids these days" are the Elsbeth writers' kryptonite

First Grey Gardens in E4 now a needle dropera (I guess it halfway-counts as the Musical Reference Of The Episode to have some Carmen show up), this show never ceases to amaze

And Elsbeth gets more and more neurodivergent every episode

Worst foe of anyone with ADHD, someone else using speech-to-text

Hey don't knock the polka dots

oh how convenient with the doctor thing

Further proof why the shows shouldn't be separated, that reenactment thingie was totally a Todd/Lyle move

Thank you texts on screen

Elsbeth standing out against the white and stimming with things she shouldn't

Elsbeth, they're lesbians

I'd be concerned about anything coming at my face

Sheep placenta, ew

is this whole episode just going to have a generation gap theme

Hello symbolism (and good taste) with Elsbeth's love for Alice In Wonderland and her climbing through the statue and hello clarification on what she's here to do

Kaia saw, Kaia sus or nah

either way another couple-or-just-besties-coded moment with the sneaking up behind and that close to her mouth

Smooth trying to sneak the insinuation at Wagner's guilty conscience

Ok so what's the wife got to do with anything

Oh so that's what (fake chart info)

Thank you other surgeon for not making Elsbeth feel insecure

sympathizing with um actuallying someone about the law

If the shoes fit

Girls bonding over mod-podge and Elsbeth spills the beans, let's see how this ripples

[dzpenumbra]

5/18/23

So... I left the window open night before last. And I was writing last night about how cold it's been getting. And... I think I left it open last night too? Either way... I woke up after about 5 hours sleep and... shit was just off. I couldn't really figure it out. But I felt hungry, so I said fuck it and got up and ate cereal and passed out in the comfy chair. I had a stream on and passed out with earbuds in.

I woke up to a recording of some True Crime thing they were playing on the RP stream. There's this whole PD corruption arc going on, and I'm guessing this streamer was using this as an example for her audience of what real corruption looks like? Either way, I woke up to an actual corrupt cop doing super sketchy shit with a young girl, and real voice recordings and shit... and it pulled me out of sleep. So... not the greatest note to officially start my day on. Adding to that, I physically felt like absolute ass.

I have barely recovered, honestly. Until about 1 or 2AM I have been feeling horrible. At my worst, I popped in my earbuds and had my phone ready to go and spend the night in the bathroom puking. And I mean that. I managed to slowly get food into my system, slow enough that I didn't aggravate the nausea to the point of puking. The nausea is still there a little, but not too bad. It started as serious heartburn and dehydration, and it feels like it's kinda tapering off back into the same shit. So... big-time nausea, what feels like a slight fever, tired. Not a fun day because of that.

I gave myself some slack and let myself just chill and watch the highly anticipated stream I was looking forward to, which did not disappoint. And I popped the heat on, no clue if that is helping too or not.

Luckily, because I started feeling better, I was able to push myself a bit to finish Mod Podging the beads. They're all done now. Now, all I need to do is remember how I was sanding them when I had a really reliable system, and do that tomorrow. I'm pretty sure all I did was pop them on a wooden skewer, dip them in water, then poke the skewer through some Carhartt pants that are too small for me, and slowly spin the bead while gently applying pressure. I remember that working really well, even better than 600 grit sandpaper which was actually tearing off the Mod Podge. So... I'll give that a try tomorrow.

I hope I get rested and feel better tomorrow. I know dreams were a factor yesterday, and stress, but honestly... this kinda just felt like being straight up normal run-down... like the edge of being sick. I had a day like this not long ago, I remember it pretty clearly, just... not how long ago. My big bowl is still out and on standby from that, so it had to be somewhat recently. I got a bit anxious that it might be part of a pattern, this out-of-the-blue run-down, nausea, fever kinda thing. But I was able to keep that anxiety well contained, which is good.

I did skip yoga today, though. So... you know what? I'm gonna go and do like 10 minutes by myself real quick and get a little bit of ice cream after. Fuck it. I was going to call it off, but honestly... Okay, I'm just going for it here. Yoga is not about doing a routine. It's about connecting with your body, syncing, all that. So... ultimately... my goal with yoga is to be able to have enough of an established language with it that I can get on the mat and just... do whatever my body is kinda asking for. Whatever my body needs that day. Like a tune-up. So if I'm feeling like garbage today and I just need to do some gentle easy stuff on just certain parts of my body? That's good. That's not lazy. This isn't training for a fucking triathlon. It's taking care of mind, body and spirit; whatever they may need at that moment. So yeah, I'm gonna do that when I wrap up here.

One last thing that's on my mind. And I'm a little anxious about this one, but... stream of consciousness, so here it is. I read the post of someone I follow on here when I went to write this. If you're reading this, hi! Sorry for not commenting, I got anxious and didn't reply because... I didn't want to be a buzzkill and was afraid I couldn't phrase it properly. They recently set up on TikTok for art stuff. They got hit with DMCA, which I got legit angry about, like... they're doing DMCA on fucking social media now? Like... that isn't even for money... I don't understand how they can make an argument on that one, it's gotten so fucking petty and shameless. It's like no one is even challenging it anymore. ANYWHO. This guy is really talented, and I mean that. Very creative, very original style, very recognizable. I envy how natural his character design is, it's inspiring. He got some traction on TikTok. Like... a very decent amount. And that's a huge rush, and it makes you feel really fucking good about yourself, your creative self. It's a massive affirmation. And in his case, he definitely deserves that! That and more! And... you're waiting for it... the "b-word" is coming... But... That is exactly what TikTok wants you to think and feel.

I know it sounds conspiracy or whatever, but like... it's literally how the app is designed, and there's plenty out there to corroborate this, unfortunately. And I didn't know this until I read a post on an art forum on Reddit about a week ago, and this is apparently commonly known. Your first posts are "boosted", giving you a big jump in algorithm placement. If you don't catch a massive wave there... yeah... So... I wanted to... warn him. Not to kill his buzz, though that likely would be the outcome... but to... god, this is so hard to phrase. To let him know that he is talented, and he should be getting this much attention, but... that a major social media company was essentially creating a false feeling... an illusion... to get him hooked. And it's working. Because just watching it, as a bystander... it's... I'm sorry, I just don't know what to do.

I want to think telling someone that they aren't really getting attention, that it's just a lot of people getting something new forced into their feed and they swipe through it like any other post... I want to think that telling them that is like... merciful, a good thing. Grounding. The truth. But like... it feels like telling a kid Santa isn't real. And I'm not the bad guy here. That fucking company that literally targets children with this system, that shit is fucking evil. It's dirty, man. It fucks with peoples' mental health, their self esteem, their self worth; it's literally designed to do that, to get you excited, to keep you engaged. You give them a huge boost of "I'm popular, people like me, I'm worth something, these people value me!" For like 4 days. Long enough to get them hooked. Then you drop the "training wheels", the artificially inflated views. The viral shit goes viral, the rest... not so much. And then they think... --- and this is why I wanted so badly wanted to reply --- they think it's their fault. They think they've gone from thousands of views to 10 because of a drop in their quality, or a drop in their creativity, like "whoops, had spinach in my teeth during the job interview" kinda thing. And with something as personal as genuine art? Art, of course, being a glimpse into the artist's personal experience of life. Yeah. That is what I was seeing. I was seeing 3-4 days from now, when this poor guy and his legitimately exciting inspiration to do animated storyboards with music - dude, if you're reading this, do it! It's a really cool idea, one that I've wanted to get into but can't keep my attention on it long enough! And if you do, please post them here, or at least link them! - when those posts... that he put a tremendous amount of his heart, soul and labor into... get a fraction of the public response... I just... I know he's going to blame himself. Because if I didn't know this shit about TikTok, I would too. I would do the same thing. "Guess no one gives a shit about this piece, must be something wrong with it." That's not correct. It's just not reaching people who appreciate it.

So yeah, that whole tirade wouldn't fit into a reply, and I didn't want to kill the buzz. I just didn't know how to respond. So I was planning on... if he posts in a few days about how his new projects flopped, to reassure then. As much as I want to... forewarn, to help soften that blow. And hell, maybe he strikes gold, I don't know. I really do wish the best to him on that, he truly does have a lot of talent. But I guess my conscience needed to get that off my chest.

I'm so conflicted on this new habit of like... writing really heartfelt shit to people online in comment sections... and then deleting it and never posting it. It's mostly because I have done it so many times in the past and had it just... go unnoticed. Or even gotten pushback. Because so many idiots are out there literally just looking for a fight. And I just... I want to be careful, and thoughtful. Intentional. And all my intentions are always benevolent, philanthropic, well-meaning. But they aren't always received that way. And... I guess my faith has been a bit wounded as of late. So, to those out there with kind hearts who would not be offended by my input... sorry for assuming. It's my problem, a byproduct of the problems of others, not yours.

Alright, with all that out and done... I'm gonna go do some quick yoga, water my plants, get a quick bite of ice cream and then head to bed. The newest necklace should be done tomorrow (hopefully), I'm very excited!

[iristhewonderblunder]

This is by no means an exhaustive list but here are a number of suggestions to help you on your art journey! Feel free to contact me for clarification or examples and I will happily provide them.

Check under the cut for many creative options and keep on creating, everyone!

Collage is pretty accessible, if you don't have old magazines/newspapers of your own libraries often have some they were just going to throw out anyway

Drawing/painting can be intimidating but also lots of fun, again your local library might have "GOOS" paper (good on one side) that would just go to waste otherwise. You can also paint on random trash, rocks, jackets/jeans, or scrap fabric to make patches to sew on your stuff

Textiles like sewing & embroidery are a very cool outlet that gives you skills in repair as well as fun finished products like stuffies or custom pockets, you can use scrap fabric or buy a cheap pack of felt to start out, can't go wrong with a classic sock monkey.

Crochet and knitting are good repetitive options that leave you with practical creative products in the end, you can make little guys with Amigurumi once you get the crochet basics down, and you can unravel and redo the same skein multiple times until you are comfortable!

Dig into your recycle bin for cardboard and plastics and you open up a whole world of sculpture, you can make miniature scenes, cardboard accessories/armor/faux animal mounts. Even furniture if you have enough cardboard. When I was younger my friends and I would use applesauce cups and hot glue along with random scraps/trash to make boats which we would race through big puddles

You can go for a nature walk and gather components for sculpture as well, a bit of jewelry wire plus stones and twigs can go far. You can also try whittling or woodcarving with dry wood scraps and a sharp knife, safety gloves recommended.

There are many types of clay you can sculpt with, be it pottery or figurines. Stuff like plasticine never solidifies, so you can keep working on it, other clays air dry or oven bake so you can set it permanently. I love a material called Cloud Clay, the Crayola version crumbles but any other one I've used has been good. It dries super light so it's great for jewelry or little guys to carry around with you. It is sensitive to moisture so I'd recommend clear coating it once it's dry to keep it safe. I accidentally ran a piece through the washer and it survived mostly intact thanks to clear coating it.

Mod podge, pliers, a bottle cap, a safety pin, and a pop tab can be put together to make your own buttons sans-buttonmaker.

You can play with fashion, costume, cosplay, prop making. I personally do Live Action RolePlay in organized groups, you can see if there is one in your area, it has been a fantastic outlet for me creatively and athletically because I'm not big on traditional sports and I love a good camping weekend.

Pick one jacket you have and just have fun expressing yourself, paint on it, sew stuff on it, add studs or jewelry, put buttons on it, stitch your favourite quotes, make it yours. It could also be a vest. In the punk scene they are called battle jackets.

Origami is fun and there are tons of books out there about it, it can be practical too, there's a way to make a paper cup with it to carry snacks in, you can make little gift boxes, it's very fun.

Build a puppet! Storytelling is part of our nature and what better way to do it than with a little guy? You can make finger puppets, hand puppets, sock puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, your own Muppet, the list goes on!

Pop up books/cards are a fun challenge that mostly use paper and glue. You can combine this with collage as well.

There are many different ways to use or decorate eggshells from Faberge to Pysanky eggs, painted eggs are even in the official clown museum to show registered clown's makeup so no one has the same look.

Journaling or sketchbooks are great outlets, you don't have to just write about your feelings you can just play with calligraphy, short fiction, typography, poetry, character design, and you can decorate the pages with gel pens, stickers, etc.

Make a zine! It's short form, very flexible, you can tell a story, send a message, info dump, or just put words to paper, there's no wrong way to do it.

As we go into spring you can press flowers to preserve them and also use those in all manner of art, even press a flower between two pages and smash it with a hammer to transfer the pigment to paper and work from there.

how do i get creative in a traditional way no electronics used

[kedreeva]

Peahen Painting Commissions by Artemis P. Fowl

Have you ever wanted a peahen to paint you a picture? Have I got some good news for you! Artemis here is opening limited-slot commissions for a painting made by her very own peet (peahen feet)!

Details and pricing for her 2022 run are below the cut.

Please read everything before messaging!

DETAILS

There will be 10 commission slots available. These will be the only commission slots available in 2022. We may do paintings for ourselves or others, but they would be sold as-is.

*NEW* Slots are no longer limited to 1 per person, but will be completed according to which are already paid.

Artemis will be bathed and diapered before beginning (so the painting will be clean), and bathed afterward (so she will be clean).

Base commission canvas size is 16x20, and the cost is included. We are happy to use any size canvas, but you will then be responsible for paying the price difference.

We are using Tempera paint, since it is non-toxic and washes off the bird completely, which means that we are somewhat limited in the colors we can use; you can preview Tempera paint colors online to determine what we may have access to. When you contact me, you will be asked what color(s) you want, so please have some idea before messaging.

You may choose up to 3 colors at no increase in cost, but you are not required to choose 3. You can choose just 1 or 2 if you want, or 3 shades of the same color.

*NEW* We now have access to blue or green glow-in-the-dark paint and for an additional charge we can mix it into another color or have her leave a few “secret” footprints over the top of the painting so that they glow when the lights go out.

Paint colors will mostly be mixed up as in the above examples, but we’re happy to take directions like “mainly purple with a little pink” or similar. We can include one (1) pure color (the first color down) for no extra charge.

The paintings will be sealed with mod podge spray because that is what the internet said was safe to use with Tempera.

Each painting will come “signed” with one of Artemis’ own feathers in the lower right corner. You will get a preview image of your painting without the feather, so that you can choose the orientation before the feather is attached (you are also welcome to let us choose what we think looks best).

Each painting will come with a printed card of authenticity that is dated and numbered (#X of X, 2022), with information about Artemis and the painting. These will vary in appearance by year!

I will send you a digital photo of Artemis P. Fowl standing beside her creation (like the above examples), and possibly in-progress shots if I have patient help during the process.

I may place a few smaller canvases around the bigger ones while we work, to create miniature side pieces that will be unique and NOT have prints made (and also because she’s always getting paint on the floor anyway when she steps off). Price will vary by piece but be discounted to the commissioner before they go to market. Please ask in advance if you think you might want one to go with your main piece, because I will forget otherwise.

PRICING

Each base commission will be a flat cost of $120 shipped. This covers the time to give Artemis baths before and after, setup/teardown of the workspace, actual painting time, treats for Artemis, curing/sealing work and materials, one 16x20 canvas, paint up to 3 colors mixed, packing material, shipping cost in the continental US, drive time to the PO, and PayPal fees.

Again, a larger canvas will cost more to purchase as well as to ship. A larger canvas may also increase significantly in cost if it will take us more than one session to complete.

Additional colors beyond the first 3 will be $2/each. Glow-in-the dark paint use will be $5/ea.

Special requests which require additional time and stress (for both me and Artemis) may cost extra. For example: if you want multiple pure colors (footprints that are a single color, not mixed), that will require drying the painting at least some, and extra baths, so would be charged per-color. I reserve the right to decline any special request if it is something we cannot do or that I think would stress Artemis too much and as such, any special request must be made before payment is settled.

Payment must be made before the painting begins, and is not refundable once the painting has been painted.

Extra Information/Disclaimers

Because I am working with a live animal, I cannot guarantee that paintings are free of pet dander/dust or waste. Artemis does get bathed before and after, but birds are constantly shedding feather sheaths and feather particulate, and while she is diapered and as clean as I can get her, she’s still painting with her feet.

Because I am working with a live animal who has sharp toes, your canvas may have indentations or small punctures. So far we’ve managed to avoid punctures except one small one in a corner, which I patched with paint, but you should be aware of the possibility. If a painting is badly damaged, like with a visible hole, I will start over at no cost to you.

Because I am working with a live animal, I cannot guarantee where the paint goes on the canvas. She walks where she wants to go, and while I can try to tempt her in certain directions with treats, Artemis will do what she wants. The most control I have is if you want a sparsely-printed work, I can end the session after a little while, if you want a densely-printed work, I can let her keep walking around, and I can usually get her to leave some white space to create shapes. I can’t promise what shapes.

Because we are using Tempera paints to keep Artemis safe, the painting may be sensitive to light or water damage if placed in a sunny location or if it gets wet. I WILL seal the paintings before mailing, but you should be aware of the material limitations of your piece due to the nature of its creation, and plan accordingly.

Tempera paint has a long cure time (supposedly??). I will be letting them set and dry for at least 2 weeks, at which point I will seal them and let the seal set for another 2 weeks. After the seal has cured, I will be taking them to be photographed for prints (which means you will also be waiting for all of the paintings to be done, so I don’t have to pay for the photography more than once), and then I will add the signature feather, package them for mailing, and send them all out. I will communicate with you along the way, but be prepared to be patient, you will likely get the painting in May, 2022.

I will be making prints of all of the commissions, and the patterns will be offered on items in Artemis’ Redbubble shop. You will receive the original, but this does not extend licensing for similar use to you.

All of the money received from this endeavor goes straight back into use for the birds. It is used to pay for things like their staple chow, scratch grains, treats, bedding, toys, and associated costs like lumber and fencing for improving or expanding their pens. This particular set of commissions will still be going toward building a protected outdoor flight pen off of our barn, so that Stan and Artemis will have access to outside without having to be supervised or moved into an old pen. Any leftover will spill into their feed fund.

If you are interested in commissioning Artemis, please send me an ask, tumblr message, discord message (Kedreeva#4912), or email me (preferred!) at ItamashiiSparkle at gmail dot com. I will ask you to move to email eventually, in order to keep track, so it’s best if you can start there.

[gar-trek]

AMT U.S.S Enterprise model kit built part 1 :0

Warning, this is probably going to be very boring to the vast majority of you, I just thought it might be fun to track my process on this project.

Like I posted about before, I picked up this kit from the antique store. It seemed like at some point someone had built this thing, because all the pieces were put together, but then they ripped it apart again so it would fit back in the box. They also never put the decals on or decorate it, which I’m very happy about, otherwise I’d have a lot more work to do.

This is everything that came in the box (except for the little front piece, which I was already working on when I took this picture, woops) everything is in pretty good condition except for one of the arms that attached the engines, which got snapped off from the hull. I’m assuming (hoping) it’s not going to be a big deal and glue will strong enough to keep the two parts together.

I’ve never built any models other then some Gundam Robots, but those are snap together so the process is very different from this. I just kinda did a lot of thinking about what I wanted to do with this, and how I was going to do it. First of all I wanted it to be sick as hell. I cannot just slap glue on it and call it a day, otherwise it’s really not worth the 30 something dollars I spent on it. Second I wanted lights. This model isn’t really made to light up, but I knew it was possible and something a lot of people do add to their models. Also, my dad had a pack of tiny LED lights laying around the house he said I could use (thanks dad). I also wanted to spend as little money as possible, as I always try to do when making crafts.

With all that in mind, I’ve formed a very half baked plan. First if all, there are parts of the ship that are supposed to glow, but obviously won’t because the whole thing is made out of opaque plastic. There are tiny holes in the saucer section, which I think will do nicely as windows if I just stick a light in there and let it glow through. All fine there. Looking at imagines of the ship, there is also a big blue light near the back of the saucer. My plan there is to just drill a hole and let one of the LEDs stick out. But, my biggest concern was for the thing in the front to glow, it has to glow.

My original plan was to make a mold of the front piece out of silicone caulk and then use resin to remake the whole piece,,,, but this time see-through!!! Mostly this plan was born out of me already having all the stuff necessary to give it a try, but I didn’t have that much faith in it. And for good reason too cuz it failed!!! Well kind of. Silicone caulk is used to fill up cracks and gaps in walls, not for resin molds. It came out better then expected but it smelled like vinagre and it got all over my hands in the process which made me mad so I just scraped that idea before I wasted my time actually pouring the resin.

Anyway then I thought why am I wasting time trying to MAKE the piece when I can just find a already made replacement, because really it was just a small slightly curved piece of plastic. So thankfully I was able to find this big plastic ball thingie I knew would work fine.

The first picture is half the ball, the small piece I cut out, and the un-altered front piece. I drilled out the front piece with a dremel, then sanded both pieces smooth till they could fit together nicely. Easy easy!!!!! (Well, a little time consuming, but easy). I made some transparent paint out of mod podge, food coloring, and a little bit of water and slapped that on the clear piece and well-

She glows! Of course it’s a bit of a hack job, but not too bad for random crap I found in my house, and I either way it’s a lot more accurate then the original. This front part was very important to me, so I’m glad it turned out okay with no major disaster (tho I could nit pick all day…. That big ol 5 on the front for example 😭) but anyway that’s it for now…. Yep that much writing to tell you about one piece, I warned you this was gonna be boring! I’m going to try and find something for thrusters (engines ? Those things that stick out on either side) next, because those are also supposed to glow. If I can just find a groved clear plastic somewhere in my house, we’re golden. Then it’s on to installing the LEDs, putting it together and painting, yayyy!!!!

[howtolongfurb]

How to Long Furb

For whatever reason, furbies have taken over the internet. It’s beautiful and terrifying and I desperately want one. Original 1998 furbies are hard to acquire but that doesn’t mean you can’t make one of your own. Imagine the potential for neck pillows with long furbies! I’m going to walk you through step-by-step how I acquired the supplies and compiled these monstrosities. Note, this is not by any means a comprehensive guide, just my personal experience. I am an ameteur. There is a huge community of furby fans online with tips and tricks on executing a variety of furby modifications. Read more below!

I will start off by saying there were many points throughout this whole process where I got frustrated and set the project aside for weeks at a time. I initially started hand-sewing long furbs but was disappointed with the poor craftsmanship. That’s when I impulse bought a cheap Singer over the 2020 holidays and retaught myself how to use the machine. The point I want to make here is to persevere. Every furby is beautiful! Crooked faceplates and chunky bellies just give a furby more personality. They say practice makes perfect, right? So let’s get started. The main components of a furby are:

1) The faceplate: unless you can get your hands on an original furby, finding a faceplate for your project can be tricky. There are a variety of people online selling furby faceplates. You can also 3D print faceplates using files from thingiverse. I’ve even seen faceplates pressed in resin. My favorite faceplate is from MrDsPrintedCreations on Etsy. The iris of the eyes are recessed so you can easily insert glass eye chips. The first thing I do with my faceplate is glue a piece of fabric behind it so it’s easier to sew into the head. I paint my faceplate with acrylic craft paint and top it off with a clear gloss coat. 2) The spine: for a poseable long furb, there needs to be a flexible inner piece. I thought thin wire from Menards would do the job, but once it’s in the plush it doesn’t hold it’s shape. I found plastic doll armature works well as a spine. It even creaks when bent for that extra spritz of cursed, spooky energy! You can also use a flexible coolant hose as a spine. I’ve ordered doll armature online from CR’s Crafts: the 1/8th and 1/4th size works well. The 1/2th inch armature is hard to stuff around. 3) Fabric! Fur and belly piece: In order to make furbs, I knew I first needed a sewing pattern. Tumblr user Cavity Sam created a template based on the 1998 furby and I used this to make my first furb with my new machine and scrap fabric lying around. My friend Gunnar 3D printed a rudimentary faceplate to use. After using Cavity Sam’s sewing template, I modified the pattern to use for long furbs specifically. You can download that sewing pattern here.

You’ll need the following supplies per one 3-foot long furby:

quarter of a yard faux fur fabric (9 inches x 44 inches)

patterned fabric for belly, ears, feet (~3 inches x 44 inches)

sewing machine (thread, needle, scissors, pins)

faceplate, 14mm eye chips, eyelashes

E600 glue, scrap fabric

paint (acrylic or nail polish), paintbrushes, clear top coat

spine (plastic doll armature)

cotton stuffing (I cut open cheap pillows from Walmart)

Step one: Use the sewing pattern to cut fabric pieces for the head and body. When cutting on fur, make sure to trace the pattern on the flat backside of the fabric with the fur flattened in the right direction. For example, the hair on the Y-mane piece (back of the head) should be pointed downwards. I made notes on the paper pattern pieces where you can eyeball more or less space. The mane piece should have more rounded corners, for example. I made my furbies 3 feet long, so the front belly piece was 2 inches wide by 3 feet long. The back fur was 6.5 inches wide by 3 feet long.

Step two, feet and ears: Depending on how small you cut your fabric, it can be really hard to combine two separate pieces. For the feet I folded a piece of fabric in half and sewed the C-shapes before cutting them out. Using tweezers made it much easier to turn them back right-side-out. After cutting the ear pieces (making sure the hair on the fur was pointed in the right direction, inside out) I pinned them together before sewing. Turn back right-side-out. 

Step three, head: Line the pattern pieces up so the Y-mane is in the middle. Sew the sides of the head to the mane first. Once that is one solid piece, fold it in half to sew the top curve of the head. I have pinned these pieces to ensure they don’t slip when going through the machine. Slow and steady wins the race; make sure to turn the fabric as you’re curving the top of the head. Finally you can sew the piece under the ear together, leaving a gap for the ear to go in.

Step four, ears: Everything up to this point has been done on the machine. I haven’t figured out a way to attach the ears with the machine, so this step was done by hand. With the ear facing right side out, pin the ear to the inside-out head. Make sure the patterned part of the ear is facing outwards (where the faceplate goes). By hand, sew the ear to the hole in the head. After the ear is secured, turn the head right side out and voila!

Step five, body: Lining up these pieces is important and a little tricky. You’ll want some excess belly fabric on the top to merge with the bottom of the beak on the faceplate. See the diagram; rotate everything 180 degrees to begin sewing. The fur hair needs to be pointed upwards and the belly fabric pattern is facing down on top of that. After sewing the belly fabric to the fur, fold it over to sew the other side. The fur should be on the inside of the sausage/ body piece. Once you’re finished sewing, the finished piece needs to be turned fur side out.

Step six: Faceplate break time! This step can be done at any point in the process, up until you hand sew the faceplate into the head. To start, glue a piece of fabric behind the faceplate. The faceplate itself should just be the eyes and the beak, making it easier to sew into the head of the furb. You don’t need that extra plastic around the bottom of the beak (or at least I haven’t figured out how to sew that in convincingly). I used grey scrap fabric and E6000 glue to adhere the faceplate. Then you need to paint the faceplates. In earlier furbs I used acrylic paint topped with clear DecoArt gloss varnish on top. You can also use colored nail polish with a clear coat on top. In the pictured furbs I tried sealing the faceplates with mod podge but it dried tacky/ uneven. Optional: you can accessorize your furb with jewelry!

Step seven, inserting the faceplate: You need to sew this part into the head by hand as well. Start from the top center (head inside out, faceplate facing into head) and work your way down the right. Make sure to use a thicker needle and poke the needle through as close as you can get to the faceplate to ensure the fabric fur is flush to the face. The needle may be stubborn (poking through the hardened glue) so use a thimble or bottle cap to help push the needle. When you get to the bottom corner of the eye, the fabric may not line up perfectly. Use excess fabric to sew a seam, effectively acting like a cheek. This part takes a little finessing. Finish attaching the fur fabric one third of the way down the beak. This is where the belly piece will connect to. The final step (later) will be to put the eye + glass chip in. 

Step eight, attaching the head to body: I was able to use the machine for this part. Turning the head inside out, pin the head to the outside of the back fur. The head and back should line up so a gap is left for connecting the patterned belly to the bottom of the beak (that step comes later). After the head is connected to the back, I do a second pass to make sure there isn’t any gap in the seam. When turned right side out, you’ll see that excess patterned belly spills out the top. Keep the furb inside out to connect under the beak. 

Step nine, connecting the belly to the beak: On the excess patterned fabric sticking out the top of the body, trace the shape of the “M” to cut out. See the highlighted yellow portion in the picture, as well as the printed sewing pattern piece. The piece directly below the beak needs to be done by hand. If you can manage it, you can sew a diagonal line with your machine before trimming the patterned belly. I found it easiest to start from the right and work my way to the left. The acute angle under the cheek will need finessing, but with small and tight enough stitches the end result is good. Turn the furb inside out to see your long sausage of a creation!

Step ten, spine insertion and stuffing: Now THIS is where I may have messed up (i.e. got frustrated multiple times) and need feedback from the furby community. The furby is essentially complete, it just needs the butt and feet attached to seal it off. Because of this long sausage of a furb, it was hard to push stuffing all the way up into the head/ ears, even using a yard stick. Maybe if I printed my original sewing pattern at 115% or 130% size, the completed project wouldn’t have been so narrow. (The ears are a perfect size now that I think about it, so maybe just the head pieces need to be bigger.) This resizing would make for a larger in diameter, plushier furby too. I thought I could insert the spine after stuffing, but the opposite is true. Insert your wire or doll armature after the ears and head are stuffed but before you begin stuffing below the beak. Alternatively, you can fasten the top of the spine behind the faceplate before stuffing. I taped a cup to the end of a yard stick and that helped push handfuls of stuffing into the furb at a time. Leave 2 to 4 inches of the bottom unstuffed so it’s easier to sew on the bottom circle. We will leave a small gap for the rest to be stuffed before totally sealing it off. 

Step eleven, connecting the feet and bottom: Stuff the feet and seal them off with a couple stitches. Don’t stuff the feet completely full, the top seam should lay flat. Place the two feet on the bottom of the belly, pointing upwards. Sew the feet onto the belly in a straight line. Now comes the part that takes more finessing, the bottom. When you line up the bottom circle, make sure the hairs of the fabric are pointed backwards. If you can manage it with the machine, sew the bottom circle to the bottom of your furby where the feet connect to the belly, about a third of the way around the full circle. The fur of the circle should be facing down, touching the belly of the furb. Once you’ve attached the circle to the feet, you can fold the circle back to see the butt starting to take shape! You can give it another pass on the machine, sewing the opposite side/ flip the furby so you can see the backside of the belly. Leave enough room to stuff the rest of the cotton and close the gap by hand sewing. Now that your furby is essentially complete, you can add the finishing touches! I always leave the eye chips for last so I don’t scratch them in the process of turning my furb inside out. You can print or paint the eye designs to place behind the glass chip. Use clear glue like superglue or E600 for the best results. Gluing eyelashes on with superglue is an optional last step.

Aaaaaaand the furbies are done! Again, I’m an ameteur sewer who’s learning as I go. I’m always open to suggestions and feedback; if there’s a way to revise this process to make more efficient and better quality furbs, I’d love to know. Thanks yall and enjoy making these cursed friends!

[wukodork]

Good news, you can get most of what you need at something like walmart! If you have like a gaming store that sells minatures they're also a really good place to get supplies, although they'll be more expensive usually. (You'll also run into people that paint minis at a gaming store, who will also be able to help).

In terms of sealant- whatever you get may need to be watered down some. The key thing is that it dries clear, I've actually considered using Mod Podge bc I've had good experiences with their glue and they also make matte and gloss sealants. Citadel and Army Painter are brands that mini painters use a lot, but I'm not sure how easy it is to get those offline or if they come in non spray versions.

In terms of paint/pencils....You need acrylic paint. You can get the cheapest possible, as long as it's acrylic. The difference in quality between cheap and expensive acrylic paint is how watered down it is and you need thin layers of paint if you don't want brushstrokes to show os that doesn't matter.

As for pencils.....it really depends on what kind of look you want? Watercolor pencils are popular, but you won't get bright colors with them without also using a TON of sealant. (Each time you seal it's like adding a layer in an art program, and these need a LOT of layers to look good). Watercolor pencils are nice, but I'd honestly just use them for sketching things out.

If you want like a subtle gradient in parts (like if you or someone you know wears blush, that kind of look) you will, at some point, want some pastels. Not oil pastels, the hard ones. Bc you can lift pigment from them with a brush and dust it on. Again, cheaper ones have less pigment, but you honestly don't NEED the super expensive ones for this.

Etsy is, weirdly, a good place for hair! Shimmerlocks and CustomDollHairAU are two stores I personally use and reccomend in general. The second is based in Australia, but they do free shipping on orders over $35. This is for like, doll hair fiber (saran, synatra, nylon, etc) but you can also use yarn. If you do use yarn I highly reccomend making sure you can stand how it feels and that it's not mixed fibers (so 100% acrylic, 100% wool, w/ as long as it's 100%).

This is a really good tut on making yarn wefts, and this channel also has tutorials on making wigs in multiple styles as well.

If you're not using wefts (you can make wefts out of doll hair too, but it's better of you sew those instead of using glue), then you'll likely use either the tension method or the needle and thread method.

The tension method is the one you'll see more custom doll vloggers use. You take a few fibers of hair into the broken eye of a needle and stab it into one of the hair holes. It can actually feel pretty fun sometimes or be super tedious (depending on how stabby you're feeling that day). If you see someone mentioning a "reroot tool" they're likely using this method and talking about a needle thats stuck pointy end into some kind of handle and has the eye of the neddle cut at an angle. You can make your own, but lots of places that sell doll hair will sell one as well if you'd prefer someone else do it. (No video linked here bc this is so many doll custom vids and every one I can think of isn't just the reroot). Keep in mind you HAVE to glue the inside of the head after you're done to secure the hair.

The other rerooting method, needle and thread, is less common. In addition to the doll hair, you need an intact "doll needle" which is a pretty long needle. I found some at walmart, but if it's easier to go to a crafts store than your walmart equivalent they should have them too. You also need a sturdy thread (I've also heard extremely thin fishing line works). Here's a good example of a needle and thread with pictures.

Uhh I think that's everytbing you asked?

Hello dollblr! So I’ve been wanting to do my first doll custom and well I wanted to ask y'all what kind of supplies should I get? I mean I do know the standard supplies but I’m looking for alternatives. Like I can’t buy Mr.Super Clear even though I know it’s highly reccomended (I don’t have a ventilated area to use it so spray sealant is off the list for me.) Also things like paint and pencils, what’s something good quality I can get for a fair price?? And hair rerooting/wig making where do I even start with finding hair??? Also please anyone experienced in doll customization please give me some tips, tricks, and further advice, thank you!

[simply-sithel]

Do you ha e any recommendations on tutorials on how to add titles or anything on covers and spines? I just started book binding, and am still puzzling through most things with it.

Helloooooo! (sorry for delay)

Alas! I have only first-hand tales of failure to report back... Second-hand stories of success almost all involve the Cricut. Personally I feel like I’m at a titling precipice and am surrounded by bad ideas with the distant peeks of ‘Cricut’ or ‘Traditional Leather Tooling’ being my only options but also horrifically far away... though @marvinhere just shared on the Renegade Discord a lovely mod podge printed title example that I’ll perhaps try next... 

Some examples of attempts made so far:

My metal font for stamping is cute but very tiny, too thin to print well on book cloth and I’ve not the skill to make a good impression in metal. In fact- even when I had access to a kwikprint hot foil machine at the bindery I never once got a book cloth result I liked. There’s a certain type of (borderline tacky) charm to embroidered titles but my weak eye for color/patterns undermines my attempts.

Not pictured was my paper inset attempt (using my typewriter-- @marvinhere​‘s white text on black looked waaaaay better than my black text on white) and hand-writing using a hot foil pen I nabbed from Amazon. The pen attempt’s failing is only my own- it showed fine on book cloth but the rounded tip and my subpar handwriting does not produce results that please me. I know a lot of people paint or write the titles on the spine by hand (or cut templates) but I’ve no interest/hope in that... 

I’ve been a big fan of the dust jackets I’ve seen shared on the Renegade Discord (particularly by @kate2kat!) but I fetishize my hinges/case too much to want to cover everything  just for the take of a title.

So in short- I’m absolutely not the person to ask this question as I’ve yet to find an answer...  Both Cricut and Traditional Tooling would be non-trivial investments (though you might be lucky like @ficcinghell and have a local library that will rent/grant you access to a Cricut) For arbitrary, personal reasons I’m staying away from the Cricut and learning leather working is probably a decade or two out for me... 

As someone just starting though I’d definitely advocate for either experimenting wildly or avoiding it entirely. An untitled book is just a surprise encouraging you to glance inside because you’ll never figure it out from the case alone.... 

Good luck!!!!

[the-cookie-of-doom]

@tinylionsed doing this in a post bc it’s WAY easier 

The absolute BAREST essentials to make a book: 

Needle & Thread (Embroidery floss works great, you should technically wax it, that makes it last longer/prevents degradation, but you don’t have to.) 

Awl for hole punching. (Could probably be improvised, but you may as well spend the like. $5 to buy a real one.)

Davey boards: This is for your cover. You can get a big ass set of them online for pretty cheap. You want at LEAST 9x6 inches. That’s about the size of a standard cover. I got mine bigger than that, but not big enough to cut one board in half for two covers, so I end up wasting a bunch of board. (I save the cuttings for spine pieces and jigs later. Keep your scraps.) 

Book Cloth: $5 for a sheet on Hollanders.com, comes in a ton of colors, and if you do half/quarter bindings (yours were quarter bindings), one sheet will last you a long time. Comes in a million colors. 

Cover paper: This gets pricey-er. On Hollanders, it costs the same as cover paper. You can also get it on etsy, (which is where I found yours), which is where it starts to cost $$$. “Lokta” is the magic word. It’s a specific kind of paper that holds up really well, and is beautiful. You can also just use card stock/decorative paper from your local craft stores. All up to you. (You can also save the craps from this for various projects. I’m going to make a scrap cover once I have enough pieces, and they make for fun accents in partial bindings.) 

Glue: I bought the smallest bottle of Mod Podge at walmart, which is like 4? oz? And I got several books out of it. You can also make your own paste with 1 part flour and about 4 parts water (hmu for details), which is Ye Olden Method, and works pretty good. I like to use the mod podge for the spine, and then then paste for gluing on the cover paper. It goes farther, and it pastes the paper down really well. (Unless you use cardstock, in which case you’ll need to line the edges with glue to really stick them down. Cardstock is stubborn.) 

Nice to have but not really necessary

Bone Folder: Most of my life I literally used the clipy part of a mechanical pencil. You could use a ruler or some type of card. You could use your nail. It doesn’t matter. You just need a straight edge of some kind to get crisp folds.

Mull: This is a... good idea... strongly recommended... but you could probably get away with not using it. I didn’t use it on Ten Lashes, but I did on Cursed, because that was a heftier book. It’s there to reinforce the spine, so smaller books don’t need it, but thicker books do. It’s the cheese-cloth looking paper, also pretty cheap. 

Book Tapes: Like mull, it depends on the size of the book. Again, Ten Lashes didn’t have it, Cursed did. It reinforces the spine, and thick books absolutely do need it. I would say once your book gets to about 1″ thick, that’s when you should use them. 

Headbands: These are the black strips at the top and bottom of Cursed. They also serve to reinforce the spine, when you actually make them yourself, which is a whole complicated process. You can also buy them as little tab to put on the ends of the book, which is what I did, and it makes the spine took nice and tidy/cleans up the edges. Preeetty much superfluous and there to look nice, you absolutely don’t have to buy them. 

I’m pretty sure that’s it for supplies! All in all, it’s sort of a large upfront investment, but the supplies carry over. The only thing you’ll be re-purchasing are the book cloths/papers, really, if you order to project like I do. 

I don’t want to be crass and literally outline the costs of your gift, but if you’re interested in average costs I could?? 

But like as an example, the cover paper cost me about $5 + shipping, and I was able to make your 2 books out of it, with enough left for 2 more. The book cloth will vary more because the amount you use depends on how thick your book is: Ten Lashes used about an inch less then Cursed, I think, but all in all I was using about 4″ wide strips, and I have plenty left over. So as long as you start off with supplies you know you’ll reuse (such as neutral black spines, with more decorative covers), you can stretch the costs. 

Also a note on the thread, bc it was my first mistake: Buy white/a light off-white cream. Trust me. You want it to blend with the paper in the beginning. and do NOT get pre-waxed, bc they always over-wax the hell out of it. You’d do better to get your own (linen) thread or floss, and wax it yourself. But get a light color. It looks the best, unless you want to do a contrast color. (Ex. I’m probably going to use a wine shade for my next book. I sadly didn’t have a good shade that would’ve matched the covers for yours T_T) 

[jesuisgourde]

love your collages! any tips on how to make them? do you print any of the material or you find them all in magazines etc?

Thank you!

A have a massive collection of clippings (4 XL accordion folders plus a few smaller single slot folders) that I've amassed. Most of the images I use are from magazines or art/photography books that I buy from thrift stores or used bookstores. I really only print things when there's something really extra specific that I'm looking for (like when I was working on @lesmiscollageproject and wanted specific things for the scenes I was interpreting). For a long time I only had one much smaller folder that I used, but in the last couple of years I haven't picked up my camera as much, and I started getting more into collage than photography. Last year I went on Craigslist and put out an ISO post for National Geographic magazines. I ended up buying 9 boxes of magazines from the 60s-80s for about $20 from a couple who were moving. It’s bougie as fuck but there’s this magazine called Kinfolk that has really cool artistic photos in it a lot of times, so I sometimes buy that. I also keep my eye out for anything interesting on the ground, which has been surprisingly lucrative. I also work in a used bookstore, so some stuff that I have comes from clippings or postcards or notes that people leave in books they sell to us. In each of my big accordion folders, I also have a smaller folder where I only keep clippings of text, just so I don't have to hunt for all the tiny clippings I have of like a single word or sentence.

(Extra sidenote: now that my collection is so large, my folders are separated by what type of clipping is in each. So I have one for black & white photos of people, one for color photos of people, and then one each for color or B/W photos of scenery/abstract images/any image without people.)

Before I moved to Chicago, the city I was living in had a "maker store" called Tinkertopia that was basically a creative reuse store. The guy who owned it sold all sorts of weird industrial scraps or bits and bobs that people would use in projects, like scraps of felt, or a whole barrel of corks, or keys, or color chips, or pieces of piano keys/hammers, or old photo slides, or bits of broken jewelry, etc. So I also have a lot of stuff from that shop that I use, although most cities don't have a shop like that. (Random story: When I moved across the country I learned that it's impossible to sell a piano, so instead my housemates and I smashed it apart and gave the guts to the Tinkertopia owner because I knew he sold piano parts.)

In terms of actually making the collages, sometimes I sit down with an idea already in mind (the one with all the flowers is based on a Jean Genet novel, for example) but usually I flip through all my clippings until something catches my eye and then build from there. Sometimes I go through my text folders and pick out a line or two and build from that instead of an image. The "patina of roofs" one was a phrase that popped in my head the first week I moved to Chicago, so I made that collage based on it. But usually my collages are just dictated by the whatever first image catches my interest, and then what I build off of it.

Also, in terms of tools, I have a cutting mat that is great because it's plastic, which means I can wash all the glue or paint off of it (but I didn't own one until last year and mostly just used a piece of cardboard when I was gluing things). Matte mod podge is your best friend because it dries clear and not too glossy and you can brush it on and be really accurate. And Exacto knives are also great if you want to get really accurate cut-outs. I do the majority of my collages in my journals, but I've also done collages just on printer paper/construction paper, on a random piece of baseboard I found in one of the houses I moved into, on a brick I found by the train tracks, on canvas, etc. I really like collage because you can pretty much use what ever you want and whatever you have!

But yeah! My collage materials collection started out very small, just photo/text clippings from some Nat Geos and a couple of old photography books and maybe a few random nonfiction books from Goodwill. That's a really good starting place!

[jacethewitch]

How I Dry Herbs and Flowers

I was asked recently how to I like to dry my flowers, and my explanation just got longer and longer, so I decided to make it a post. These are my personal methods, but they’re certainly not unique to me!

Hanging

Hanging is one of my favorite methods, especially for full-bodied flowers that won’t press well, like roses or baby’s breath. Hanging works with nearly everything I’ve done it with! Example: roses, lavender, basil.

It’s super easy! Take your flowers or stems of leafy herbs and cut them so they’re about the same length. I usually do about a foot, but if you have at least 8-ish inches, it should be good! When cutting from a larger plant, cut diagonally to protect the original plant. If drying flowers, strip off any excess leaves. 

Then get some twine or rubber bands and bundle them together, like max 7 per bundle, less if you want to play it safe, but it really depends on what you’re drying. Wrap the twine / rubber band once or twice around the end of the bundle that doesn’t have the flowers on it, then once or twice around each individual stem. 

Hang upside-down in a cool, dry place with decent air circulation. If you care about keeping the colors, hang them in a place away from sunlight, which will bleach out the colors. Check back once every week or so until dry, usually 2-3 weeks.

Pressing

Pressing is better for flat flowers or individual petals. This is a little too tedious for herbs. If using full flowers, cut as much of the stem off as possible unless it’s really thin. If drying individual petals, just pluck them off the flower. 

You’ll need a large book or two flat surfaces and something very heavy. Place a few layers of paper towel (preferably without pattern) on one flat surface (or one side of an open book), lay out your flowers / petals in a single later on the paper towel, making sure they don’t overlap, and cover with more paper towel. Then place the other flat surface on top (or close the book). Put some heavy stuff on top. This takes about 2-3 weeks as well. Be careful when opening to check on them as the petals might move around. 

Oven

This is best for herbs that you need soon. You can also do with flower petals, though I don’t like doing it with full-body flowers because they can become flat on whatever side is pressed against the oven tray. 

Preheat your oven to it’s lowest temperature, usually 250 degrees F. Get an oven tray and cover with a sheet of parchment paper. Strip your herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme, basil) from the stems and lay them out in one layer. Place in the oven for about 30-40 minutes then take them out and give them a stir / flip. Bake for another 30 minutes, or until dry. Leave the oven door cracked open while drying to release moisture. 

What to do with your new dry stuff?

I like to use hung flowers for decorations... like wall hangings. You can also make potpourri, or burn them as an offering. There’s tons of other decorative uses! With flattened ones, I love gluing them into my notebook with a very, very thin layer of Mod Podge applied on the paper and on top of the petals / flowers. I’ve always wanted to put some in snail mail, but I never send mail. You could also frame them! Oven dried herbs are great for spells, cooking, etc. 

Make sure to store your dry herbs in an airtight container. 

[star-veil]

How do you make a custom funko? I saw your Witcher!Jaskier and it looked amazing!!! I’m really impressed and also curious 🧐

Thank you so much! I use target store brand acrylic paint to paint them and a bit of sandpaper and scissors to chop off bits I don’t want. I also separate the head and the body (even if I’m not switching the head to a different body) to paint them separately. I do this using the boiling water method which you can find on YouTube! You should probably seal and prime your funko with mod podge or a sealer and primer from a hardware store but because my W!J is just going to sit on my desk I didn’t bother sealing him.

Here’s an example of the pre painting phase where I’ve separated heads and bodies and taped up parts of the bodies and heads I dont want to accidentally paint while I’m repainting the rest of them.

The second photo is the painting phase where I use several coats of acrylic to get his hair all nice and solid. I did the same for the body. Then I let him dry, popped the pieces back together, and tada!

[striderification]

How I make my Homestuck troll horns - Painting

This is the last major step! The big whammy: painting.

It can also be the most daunting though (definitely not what causes me to avoid working on them for weeks). You’ll have to set aside a good chunk of time for this, it usually takes much longer than the molding to get it right. For me, the right coloring can make or break troll horns, and the exact hue is really hard to get right (it just takes a lot of time and anger. lmao).

Basically my advice boils down to about the same as the molding; stare at canon depictions of the horns while mixing paint, getting an understanding of the hue and value before committing it to the horns. 

However, before all of that, I’d recommend adding a layer of matte Mod Podge. It seemed to make the paint I used less prone to soaking into the horns (necessitating additional layers), and smoother because it filled in the left over holes from sanding. Disclaimer here: My horns from years past did not have this, and the paint generally stayed fine. While my recent sets of horns that prompted the demand for this tutorial look much smoother, I can’t vouch for the longevity of the paint with such a step. Time will tell, and I’ll update if my horns appear to be suffering from the craft glue/finish under it.

For some reason, my photos of this step are corrupted, which is really unfortunate, but luckily it doesn’t take many visual cues to explain. After the Mod Podge is fully dried, you can sketch out lines where you think the sections of color will go. My general advice for this: most of the horns seem to have a general pattern of the lightest/top color having the most area. It’s not exactly in thirds!

Some examples:

Once you think you have them adequately sectioned off (make sure to compare them with each other; the most important thing is consistency within your own design!), you can move on to mixing.

Let’s start with the troll color palette:

Some things I like to remember while coloring troll horns (for both art or cosplay):

The bottom two colors are fully saturated in a digital depiction, the lightest is offset somewhat with white. However, most “fully saturated” paint mixes for troll horns end up looking brighter than canon, somehow. I offset all three with white (not much).

All three colors are more orange than you would expect. This is the biggest one, for me. I see a lot of interpretations of the horns as “red, orange, yellow” when really they’re just red-orange, orange, and orange-yellow. (Some breakdowns of the colors from a basic color picker off google below)

While I’ve kind of relentlessly insisted on canon adherence, it’s more important to have the colors internally agreeable. In most cases, it’s hard to tell when they’re off if all three work well together and the other tips are kept in mind.

So after you think you have a good understanding of what colors to mix, try out some combos! This is what I started with for the red-orange and orange-yellow:

These mixes are certainly not what ended up being the final mix, but they were pretty close and only needed minor adjustments on my end. As you can probably tell, I have several paints for red, orange, and yellow, and I kind of mix them in here and there to prevent the color scheme from looking too “primary”. 

Now, for me, with this latest attempt, I already had recent horns to compare back to, and I know that isn’t the case for most others. A general rule that I follow though is to have the “base” color as red, orange, and yellow, but add more orange to the red and yellow, and some yellow to both the red and orange. Then usually I will offset it with some white (sometimes the amount pictured, though more is typical too).

The general order I work in is bottom to top, or “darkest” to “lightest”. However, this process generally requires that you have all three shades at once and work on them in one sitting to be able to correct errors in your lines. It is also occurring to me now that you could use painting tape for this. Unfortunately, I’m stupid.

A mix for the middle color.

Since I had a former pair to compare back to, I used the base of one of my Kanaya horns to test my new mix. Again, I know this isn’t possible for others, but it may be helpful to see what the troll palette looks like off-screen, and wet vs. dry.

After deciding that the mix was satisfactory, I went through and painted the first couple layers of the bottom shade.

Letting that dry somewhat while still comparing it along the way with my former pair.

Comparing this mix to the last batch on the Kanaya horn.

It’s probably common knowledge that all of them will need multiple layers, though for me it depended on which types of paint I had mixed for each color. In this case, I think the middle orange needed the most coats.

Drying the final product! It should be noted that canonically, the troll horns do not appear to have any shine. Even matte Mod Podge has a shine to it, and for that reason, I do not add anything further to seal on top of the paint. While this may possibly compromise the horns’ safety with time, I felt that as long as I take good care of them, it’s worth it to have a more accurate look.

And now, comparing the latest pair with my ones from a few years ago before declaring them finished:

These previous horns had a foil core, hence the large crack in the left horn, exposing the foil at the center there.

Mounting is an even more subjective step, but if you wanted to see how I wear them, continue on to the next step.

Up next: Mounting!

If not, then thank you so much for reading! Please let me know if I seemed to make a mistake in my explanations or neglected to mention something, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions about my process. As a reminder, I’m not a final authority on anything, lol, I’m just some 19 year old cosplayer that’s just been doing this for over 6 years and there’s definitely people out there more experienced than me.

As always, I can be found on instagram under @striderification​ as well. As I only intend to use this tumblr for longer posts such as these, that is the best place to find me.

Again, thank you all! <3