#the curator rambles

[historical-fashion-polls]

okay so this isn’t like an official “from the desk of the curator” post but i did just want to pop in to say that i’ve been queuing a bunch of the “very historical” fashion polls today and i’m so excited about them!! there are so many good ones and i think y’all are going to really enjoy them! 🥰🥰

also, to the person who (quite some time ago) asked about featuring armor on the blog, if you’re still here, let me just say that i’ve now got you covered — let it be known that there shall be armor on the blog! 🫡🫡

anyway, the first of this new batch of “very historical” historical fashion polls is posting in a few hours! 💕💕

[foldingfittedsheets]

Making black bottom cupcakes for my beloveds belated birthday! They’re gonna be so decadent. The recipe was boring and called for water replaced with goat milk, no flavorings other than chocolate added lemon zest, just cocoa powder added 1/3 cup of melted dark chocolate, and vegetable oil I used coconut oil. Oh and I added an extra 2oz of cream cheese, obviously.

They’re baking but the batter smelled so gooood.

[husbandohoarder]

My self insert, living the life I wish I had:

Me, living the life I didn’t ask for:

[neiptune]

keep in mind that these are stories... that people are writing as a hobby... for free... most times for you to bust a nut...............

[swollenbabyfat]

Making a bunch of bad art is just as important as making a bunch of good art, so regardless of how yours comes out today I'm glad you made it.

[manhattan-gamestop]

The fact that some people can equate an entire musical genre to just its stereotypes and never listen to it is baffling to me. Like no, metal isn't just screaming, country isn't just trucks beer and misogyny, rap isn't just sexualizing women and getting money. When will people learn to escape their comfort zone oh my god

[canisalbus]

Which is your favorite platform? (of the ones you have accounts to post things I mean. I can't imagine it being Instagram since you don't really post there which honestly fair)

Tumblr, Twitter (X?) bluesky? Something else?

I think I'm going to have to go with tumblr, and it's not just because we're here. Twitter and Bluesky are nice and my experiences on both are overwhelmingly positive. But tumblr has an atmosphere that encourages originality, sharing your creations and talking about things in depth.

[jesncin]

Aah I got so much love today over Lunar Boy's book birthday!! Lots of friends getting their copies in the mail or finding my book in stores! A book birthday is like a birthday, I get people congratulating me and celebrating. But instead of me getting presents, it's everyone else who gets a gift (that I made!). So really, it's better than a birthday haha.

[kishiar-la-orr]

personally speaking, there are 3 parts of kishiar la orr's character that makes me find him really fascinating.

first is how he is technically a troupe but a subversion of a troupe at the same time? male leads in romances, whether its het romance or a BL romance, are usually like. cold northern duke who is super strong, super smart and opens up to the main character very slowly because of the main character's kindness, blunt and at times rude. instead, we have kishiar — who is also a northern duke and super strong and super smart, but i'd argue between kishiar and yuder, the one who made the first move to further advance their connection is kishiar? as in, he extends his thoughts and feelings genuinely, expresses wanting to be close to yuder, which are all an olive branch yuder can accept, a sign of trust and (to a degree) vulnerability and real intent to form a connection.

yes, part of him plays into the common male lead troupes, but other parts of him honestly reads more like a female lead? he's the one more emotionally in touch, he's the socially savvy one, he's sunny and smiley. which is just fun, in my opinion, when compared to other BLs i've personally found over the years.

the second thing is my unending fascination with kishiar's complicated tango with mortality. being sickly from childhood, there must've been a sense of impending doom — especially when it's practically public secret among nobles that imperial family members usually die young because of vessel issues. kishiar was on super fast track to the same recorded fates those other people had. but then, in the prev. game, he survived! became healthy! only to not long after take two steps backwards as his health arguably got worse. sometimes i think being killed by yudrein in the 1st tl could be considered a mercy to 1st tl kishiar.

and in the 2nd tl, he went from sick to healthy — and that is it. i think with the blooming romance with yuder, it emphasizes the core characteristic of kishiar that is: he does everything for the people he loves, their future and happiness whether it's with or without him in the picture. ideally, of course it's with him. and in the 2nd tl, he's finally granted this. you can really tell when you see the prev. game flashbacks and go back to the present timeline that kishiar is just much more alive and not just in the physical sense — there is a drive and a sense of liveliness that wasn't there in all of their past life sections, in my opinion.

i just really get fascinated with character struggles with mortality, man. i think kishiar especially has a lot to offer in this department, there are so many things from canon that you can deconstruct or things not yet answered that you can headcanon — everything to play around and explore further about his character and its deep ties to death. even down to the way that he talks, to me, is due to his isolation because of the very vessel bursting issue that also foresaw his impending doom. like, he talks like a person who's alone a lot while growing up? the eloquence and all. it is so fun. naturally, this also includes his expertise with emotional processing and expression — i also think this can also be tied down to his intricate dance with mortality.

finally, the last layer is that kishiar, by all accounts, should be a gary stu — a male version of a mary sue character — and should maybe be boring to read about. he can do practically everything from magic, swordsmanship and aura, divine power to awakener ability. he is sociable and politically wise, able to play the 5D chess of nobles and high society and extract information from enemies and allies alike easily with his multi-layered words. he is smart, he is emotionally intelligent, he has a lot of strong allies, he is kind. but... he isn't boring to read about? not at all. his struggles may have passed, but they are struggles anyway. they contribute to the way i perceive him as a character and only cause me to be even more fascinated by him. and this very 'perfection' kuyu sets him up with — especially the being super strong and able to wield all the powers in their world like a goddamn avatar — is set up to be a major flaw: the very reason his vessel couldn't hold it for the majority of his life and in the 1st tl. everything just colors a very interesting picture of a character that i ended up beyond obsessed with.

[roseytoesy]

since I’ve noticed a bunch of negative energy on tumblr lately ima post something sweet.

I found the love of my life because of vore. I like vore because of the way it comforted me during times when I felt so alone in my own head. That online sonas and stories I would insert myself into and daydream about being so wanted that I’d be devoured and held on all sides. So cared for and loved and appreciated.

vore can be whatever we want and so can our tumblr experience. Let’s keep making things despite the drama. If people wanna whine let them. Just ignore and move on. They will shut up eventually.

I love this community despite the ups and downs. Maybe one day I’ll draw shitty little stick figures or rough outlines of vore on my phone to share and try and make someone laugh.

just keep going. That’s how we win

[sexygaywizard]

Another reason I get so pissy about people being like "well actually wizards are x y and z" on my shit is because you don't see me fucking going on to other people's posts and telling them their shit is wrong or that they need to follow my rules for shit. Because I respect that people can have their own interpretations of shit and express that within their own space. But people give me these dumbass lectures on my posts all the damn time! Make your own fucking post I don't want to see it

[historical-fashion-polls]

hello once again dear anon! 💕

to respond to this last part of your ask, I'm going to first direct you to my second point in this post on the general style of fashion plates 💖💖 I address this more thoroughly there, but essentially if we're looking at fashion plates, the human body is depicted in a way that best sells the garment rather than in a naturalistic way, so for much of the time period covered by the blog, that means a thinner body. unfortunately, just as we see in a lot of marketing today, there is not a ton of interest in realistic and diverse representation of bodies in these kinds of illustrations

a place where you might have more luck is with historic photographs, which do record a much broader range of people and their appearances ☺️☺️ however, these types of photographs can't always be featured on the blog since the main qualification for posting on the blog is that the garment is displayed clearly enough to be easily compared, and that's not always the case with photographs, since they often focused on capturing the person rather than their clothing. if anyone knows of any good databases or collections of photographs that anon could explore, feel free to drop them in comments! ☺️💕

as for sewing patterns and materials, I fear I am not enough of an expert to give any further information on that 😔😔 some plates do feature written descriptions of the materials used, and I know there are folks who sell vintage patterns on ebay and etsy. there are also some historical patterns posted online, but as I've never used them, I'm afraid I can't point you to any (but again, if anyone else has resources, feel free to put them in the comments! ☺️💕)

and thank you for your super kind words! 🥰🥰 I'm so glad you're having fun on the blog! 💖💖 I hope my responses have been even a little bit helpful, and please do feel free to reach out if you have further questions! ☺️☺️

[otrtbs]

applying to jobs in the art history field like

“preferred PhD. must have 8+ years experience in [insert extremely niche art historical subject area here]. must speak/read french. must work weekends. must have references from 5 other museums minimum. must sell ur soul to us. annual pay: $35,000”

[violet-catsarelife]

red hood Tim aus get me so bad bc in why on earth does this privileged dead guy care about crime alley? what weight does it hold to him???? it only makes sense to have steph be the second robin realistically.

It kinda feels like I'm inviting discourse by replying to this, so lemme just do an obligatory disclaimer: people are free to create what they want, and they're allowed to have different tastes and interpretations. That's what fandom is. Okay? Okay.

That said.

Personally? Red Hood Tim is... yeah. Does not spark joy. Aside from the Rich Boy in Crime Alley aspect, I guess I'm just not a fan of people making up trauma for Tim so he can be the Saddest Boy, especially when they're taking traits from Jason (which, actually this might be a gripe that spilled over from other fic tropes and not something I have against rr aus, specifically.)

In my opinion, reverse robins is a great setup for us to explore not only the differences but also parallels between the Robins. In that sense, Steph, with her background similarities to Jason, has so much more potential for a Red Hood story.

I wanna know how her morals would play out, how they'd differ from Batgirl!Steph's or RH!Jason's. What are her views on criminals and crime? Does RH!Steph hold the same contempt against her dad like Spoiler!Steph did? What ties her to the city and its community? I wanna see what her dynamic with Batman is like, when she isn't pushed into the shadow of another 'failed' robin, but is instead the First Robin Who Died. How would the effects of her death differ from Jason's, given that she's neither an orphan nor adopted by Bruce? I'm also curious about her relationship with Damian, if it mirrors the mentor-sibling style Batgirl!Steph had with baby Dami. Do they bond over being the few people who knew Batdad before the Tragedy, as opposed to canon where they only ever got to know the post-robindeath version?

So much story potential!

In short, Red Hood Steph is an awesome concept and I wish there are more fics with her. Thanks for coming to my ted talk I guess

[rainedroptalks]

Everyday I think about Penelope Everpetal and feel like ripping my hair out

[thegreatyin]

behold: the ultimate sketchy yin art antics. now featuring the scoundrel's final form (a bat having an existential crisis)