#this actually turned into more of a textile post

[kakusu-shipping]

Sorry to say that I am once again coming to bug you about the Swatchlings specifically jgufhgjgk

The mental image of them parading you around is just sooooo cute to me and I must know more about your dynamic!! Whatever you’ve got on them!!

Also you should share about Watanuki and Doumeki, if that’s not too much!!

NO THANKYOU FOR BUGGING ME ABOUT THE SWATCHLINGS I FINALLY HAVE MORE TO SAY ABOUT THEM THEN JUST "Colors... pretty <3"

First of all I just found this term yesterday but it's perfect so; All the Swatchlings are Butler Caregivers.

They like to take care of a little like they're nobility. Bring them fancy desserts and finger clean foods and teas on silver platters. Button their shirts and tie their shoes just so. Follow them around exactly two paces behind, hands off unless absolutely necessary or directly asked for.

They like to use names like "Young Master/Mistress" or royal variations if requested, and play up the act of the cool collected butler who diligently watches over the house's perfect little bundle of joy.

They do tend to be. Pretty excitable though.

If their young master is looking particularly cute that day they can't help but squee over them. Cooing the sleepiest babies, or repeatedly pouring compliments over a little's hand chosen outfit that they put on all by themselves.

They're also all big Commit to the Bit types. Give them a role in playing pretend and they will play it as straight as Shakespeare, as serious as the most committed stage hand. This is their life now. Should they be the biggest bad in all the seven kingdoms or just a humble guest to a tea party, they are committed, and they are dramatic.

Their favorite activity is painting with their little, though will have a moment of panic if the baby, or surrounding area, gets too filthy. Their least favorite is Hide-and-Seek, just because they're all very quick to assume they've lost the child forever and will never find them again. Also if one of them looks in a hiding spot and sees a Maus then everything goes to chaos.

Each Swatchling is a little different of course, and I just tend to break them into the 6 colors to talk about so for specifics

Red is overly romantic, they love a story to read bedtime stories about princes who save princesses from dragons, or better to act at the princess being saved by their heroic knight. They're the best cook of the six but get depressed if they're missing baby time because they're in the kitchen making all the tiny food, so they tend to shove their responsibilities off on the other Swatchlings. They get lonely easy and tend to be just a bit clingy compared to the other 6, they need more hugs, kisses, and gifts than the others by quiet a bit.

Orange is a perfectionist who loves to pick out his little's perfect outfit, button their shirt, and tie their shoes just so every morning. He'll also brush and style their hair with little ribbons and bows if he's allowed. They're the first to go hands off when a little gets too messy for them, opting to go find a change of clothes for someone else to put them in to, that they'll then adjust as needed after they're all cleaned up. The most he'll do is gently wipe his little's face with a napkin while they're eating, but even that they may have to change gloves afterwards

Yellow is a lot more about the stuffie parties, especially ones he made. Serving over tea parties with all his little's stuffies, setting up movies and placing every guest so they can see the screen. He enjoys a good pillow fort with soft blankets and hot tea and quiet sleepy nights. What she hates is being the one who has to clean it up because she's the Caretaker so it's up to her to put everything back where it goes when blue eventually comes in and carries the baby back to their big plush bed. He just wants to go to bed but he's gotta take all these pillows back to their original rooms...

Green loves to be outside with a little. She wants to set up an easle and a canvas and watch her young master sit peacefully in the rose garden weaving flowers together to make wreaths and bracelets and crowns. She enjoys the babble of the brook and the rustle of leaves in the wind and the warmth of the sun. All idealized versions of the outside she adores. Heavy forbid though her little prefer to dig in the dirt, or stomp in puddles, or run and be loud and messy. She's more of a nice calm picnic in the sun outside type, not so much tag and red light green light red rover play outside type.

Blue's a music lover, they love to sing to their little or play the piano for them, write them little songs about how great they are or how fun it is to do basic chores like brush your teeth or eat breakfast. They're more of a bedtime caregiver, they love a sleepy little to listen to their lullabies, to rock gently and tuck comfortably into bed. They're the shortest of the six Swatchlings and just a little touchy about it, so little things like not being the first choice for carrying the little or struggling to place dangerous things out of a baby's reach would get to them. They're also the only Swatchling to place and uphold rules like Bedtime, Clean up, and Time Outs (if need be). They're the leader when Swatch isn't around.

Purple is the odd one out of the Swatchlings. She LOVES a chaotic baby, she loves a mess, splatter paint and mud and food fights. She loves bath time with an entire bottle of sudsy soap and lavender lotion. She loves toys all over the floor and snacks on every surface and open but not yet finished juice boxes. She comes across a lot more like an older sibling CG than a butler. She tends to get scolded a lot by Blue and is usually more on clean up than play supervision, however she's the only Swatchling willing to deal with a messy baby meaning she eventually has to be the one to step in and change her little's clothes, help them wipe up a spill, or get them ready for bathtime. She's the oldest of the six and the most mellow (but she still can't handle Maus)

[seumyo]

museum dates with bf!tsukishima.

NOTE. oh, certified tsukishima luvr @solvisun for u <3

You hated museum dates. 

No, really—loathed them with a passion that only grew with every agonizing hour you spent trailing after your boyfriend through echoey halls and glass display cases. It wasn’t even that museums were boring. That wasn’t fair. You liked the exhibits, genuinely. The restoration work was incredible, the artifacts were fascinating, and it was kind of cute how your boyfriend lit up every time he got to explain something. Which was often.

Because Tsukishima Kei, your darling pain-in-the-ass boyfriend, worked part-time at the Sendai City Museum, and apparently that gave him a divine license to deliver play-by-play commentary like a snarky academic podcast with legs. Tall, spectacled legs. One with particular moles that even make a heart (not that you ever told a single soul, because you knew he would be after you if you did).

“So this piece,” he would say, already a few steps ahead, pointing casually at a weathered samurai armor set, “was from the late Edo period. See the difference in the breastplate design?”

You would squint through bleary, dry eyes, clutching your water bottle (which he somehow allowed—through sheer persuasion and outright begging on your knees) like it was your only link to life. “Yeah,” you mumbled. “Looks… shinier?”

Tsukishima turned to you, shrugging. “You didn’t even look.”

“I did!” you insisted. “I just… I’m not a samurai historian like you, Kei.”

“You should be grateful,” he said with mock arrogance, adjusting his glasses. “People pay for this kind of tour experience.”

“I’m paying,” you said, trudging after him. “With my soul.”

But you followed him anyway, like you always did. Through the samurai wing, the early Jōmon pottery, and the textile restoration gallery. He knew you were flagging when you started leaning on the handrails more, moving slower, and falling behind like a rebellious school kid on a class trip. You would never think that he thought you were awfully cute like this.

A true sadist in the making, really.

“Hey,” he called, halfway through the Meiji industrial section. “Are you dying?”

“I’ve been dead since the third hour,” you grunted. “My ghost is haunting your dumb little tour.”

Tsukishima turned to you, walking back a few paces with his hands in his coat pockets. “We’ve only been here two hours and forty minutes.”

“Time doesn’t pass normally in museums,” you said. “It’s like a black hole of walking and standing and standing and walking. And it’s too cold.”

He snorted, then took your hand. His palm was warm, steady. It feels perfect against yours. “Come on, we’re almost at the dinosaurs. You like the dinosaurs.” as if he’s talking to a child—trying to coax and/or motivate a reaction out of you.

“I like sitting.”

But you went with him anyway. Because, yeah, okay, you did like the dinosaurs. Not in a prehistoric nerd way, but in a watching-his-face-light-up-as-he-explains-how-paleontologists-determined-the-size-of-a-femur kind of way. It was kind of endearing, the way Tsukishima got subtly excited. His voice would go just a pitch higher, and he’d push his glasses up with his knuckle like he was restraining actual joy. 

“There,” he said, stopping in front of the towering fossil of a Futabasaurus. “That one’s my favorite. Native to Japan.”

You blinked up at the enormous skeleton, rubbing your shoulder. “Big,” you said.

“Articulate,” Tsukishima deadpanned.

You yawned, long and unashamed, before leaning into his side like your bones had turned to jelly. “If I die here,” you muttered, “bury me under the plesiosaur. Let my suffering be remembered.”

“You’re so dramatic.”

“I’m tired.”

“You didn’t have to come.”

You pulled back just enough to give him a weak glare. “I wanted to come. For you.”

He looked down at you, something shifting subtly in his expression. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“I’m a very good girlfriend.”

“You just took pictures to post on your socials and barely listened to what I’ve been telling you.”

“I thought I could be one of those museum lovers—and academically inclined aesthetic girlies on Pinterest.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, but you caught the way his thumb brushed lightly over your hand, how he slowed his pace after that. Maybe it was a little thing, but you noticed it. You always did.

By the time they left the museum, dusk had settled in, and your legs were practically jelly. You said nothing, just collapsed into the passenger seat of his car, and groaned like an elderly crypt keeper.

“You survived,” Tsukishima said, starting the engine.

“Barely.”

“Want to go again next weekend?”

“I will stab you with a fossil.”

-

So you were right.

A fever was heading straight to you after that whole museum date. Oh, and you felt like your body was boiling from the inside out.

You lay in bed, cocooned in three blankets and clutching a half-full water bottle like it was the only thing that could save you from ascending with the light. Your head was pounding, your skin too warm and too cold at the same time, and every time you tried to sit up, the world tilted sideways like you were on a carnival ride from hell.

Your phone buzzed on the nightstand. You groaned and fumbled for it with the coordination of someone wearing oven mitts.

Grumpy [10:12AM]: How’s the museum hangover?

You didn’t reply immediately. It took real effort just to squint at the screen. Instead, you turned over with a muffled groan and tried to sleep again. You really had no energy to even quip even a single like emoji.

An hour later, the doorbell rang. Twice. Thrice.

So maybe if your dorm was on fire, you really didn’t care right now.

You, still feverish and fuzzy-headed, dragged yourself to the door in a hoodie three sizes too big (which was definitely Tsukishima’s; his brows furrow in that accusatory expression whenever he sees you wearing it, but he decides to let you keep it because he isn’t a total jerk of a boyfriend, duh) and mismatched socks. You cracked it open and blinked blearily at the tall figure standing there with a plastic bag and an expression caught somewhere between concern and guilt.

“Kei?” you croaked.

“You didn’t answer your phone,” he said, stepping inside before you could tell him not to.

“I’m sick.”

“Yeah, I figured.” He reached out and pressed the back of his hand to your forehead. “Jesus, you’re burning up.”

You swayed a little under his touch. “Told you I was dying.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “You were already exhausted yesterday. Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling well?”

“Because I wanted to see you. And dinosaurs.”

Tsukishima let out a slow sigh, setting the bag down on the kitchen counter. “That’s stupid. I guess idiots really do get colds.”

“You dragged me across natural history for three hours. I’m not the stupid one.”

“I didn’t drag you.”

“You gave me a guided death march through time.”

He looked at you, arms crossed, then unfolded one to hand you a small bottle of sports drink. “Drink this.”

You took it, pouting. “You’re only being nice because you feel guilty.”

“Yes.”

You blinked at the bluntness.

Oh.

Oh?

“I feel extremely guilty,” he said flatly. “I thought you were just being dramatic.”

“I was being dramatic.”

“You also had a fever brewing, apparently. And I laughed at you. So now I’m going to cook you porridge and feel bad for the rest of the week.”

You blinked at him. Again. “…You’re going to cook?”

“Don’t look so alarmed.”

“I just… didn’t think I was hallucinating yet.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and moved into your kitchen, already unpacking the bag. Rice, eggs, green onions, a tiny bottle of sesame oil, and some store-bought pudding cups.

“I wasn’t sure if you had groceries,” he muttered. “So I brought my own.”

You leaned your head against the wall, watching him, hugging (more like wanting to become one by just leaning into it) the cold surface to cool your temperature. Your throat was sore, your skin felt like it was in flames, but somehow you still found the energy to smile. Of course, you weren’t going to miss the chance of still being pretty in front of this man.

“You’re kind of sweet when you feel bad.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

“I won’t. You’ll annoy me again by Thursday.”

He looked over his shoulder at you, deadpan. “Wednesday, probably.”

You chuckled weakly, then let out a sigh as you slid back into your bed, the bottle still in hand.

“You’re forgiven,” you called out hoarsely. “But next time we go to a museum…”

“I’ll bring a wheelchair?”

“Or a coffin.”

From the kitchen came a long-suffering sigh, followed by the sound of a pot hitting the stove.

But Tsukishima stayed. All day. Quietly watching over you with guilt etched between his brows and the same quiet steadiness he brought to everything.

And though you hated museum dates, truly and deeply, you didn’t really mind the fever. Not if it meant he’d look at you like that, hovering in your doorway with a bowl of too-thick porridge and a stubborn determination to take care of you. 

Worried boyfriend Tsukishima in your fever arc? Finally unlocked.

SEUMYO © 2025. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, PLAGIARIZE, MODIFY OR TRANSLATE.

[rottenraccoons]

since uve been sharing mouse hole gang trivia id like to ask abt my own fave npcs. any fun facts or lore about Bruna and Rufus?

There's this older post about Bruna's origins as the owner of the Leaping Bear, but let's drop some new information onto the pile!

When Bruna was still getting her start at the Leaping Bear she inherited a bunch of business connections. Great! But she wanted to get access to better linens in particular, so she sought out and started a romantic relationship with a textile merchant specifically so she could get access to quality materials. Which she did.

The romantic relationship definitely didn't last; she stopped making much of an effort once she got what she wanted. But the business relationship actually worked out! Turns out when someone who runs an inn can recommend a specific textile merchant for their quality linens (and the client knows they're quality given they just slept in them), the textile merchant starts getting more connections, too. That said, they definitely don't like each other personally, either.

If Rufus has had romantic escapades, he keeps them to himself.

[psychhound]

worldbuilding in spiritkeep

okay howdy again :) the second place winner of the spiritkeep poll was to talk about worldbuilding!!

for new folks, spiritkeep is a multiplayer campaign ttrpg designed around inducing therapeutic emotional growth

if you want to learn more about the playbook options you can find the write up here and the deep dive into the lonesome playbooks and the minder playbooks here

so … worldbuilding!!

collaborative worldbuilding is actually the first stage of play, even before you make your characters. i took inspiration from yarnspinner by edda mendes and spool by jade ravens especially, as well as the community building aspect of songs for the dusk by kavita poduri

there are a few things about the world of spiritkeep that always stay the same:

1) this is a fantasy world with low/no tech, and medium-high magic (i think some people would call it low magic because the pcs aren't terribly powerful, there isn't a spellcasting system, and also because they're used to thinking of high magic as looking specifically like medieval european fantasy. but there is actually a lot of magic in this world even if a typical human isn't particularly high powered)

2) there are various lineages of human, but all the pcs are human. (a notable exception is the othered archetype, which includes paragons for werecreatures, changelings, and ghosts. these characters are still humanoid though!) the lineages include what we would think of as regular humans and then various kinds of people, diverse in appearance and beliefs, who are descended from humans blessed or cursed by spirits. we'll get more into that next time!!

3) the world is inhabited by humans, animals, and spirits. the worlds of spiritkeep are animist and inspired by nature religions. in particular, i took a lot of inspiration from slavic paganism, shintoism, and various indigenous american religions but most specifically diné religion. in spiritkeep, many aspects of nature and daily life have spirits, from homes to rivers to trees. many spirits have minor magical abilities, and most will stay fairly hidden or out of the way, but there are rarer spirits who are quite powerful. parties will have to interact with spirits sometimes, such as doing favors for or solving problems for them to get boons

4) humans also have their own spirits. there are times when these spirits become independent & tangible enough to interact with. this is how pcs get advancements, boons, and can change playbooks. your spirit can also be harmed, though, so watch out!

5) the game always takes place in a community that is struggling and in need of repair

the rest of the world is up to the players to flesh out during the session zero!!

the session zero includes worldbuilding and community building. players will decide on details about the major cities, cultures, and geographic features in the area. they'll also work together to decide on more thematic elements like conflicts between groups of people, spiritual traditions, or the presence of bigotry within the world (yes, there can definitely be explorations of bigotry in spiritkeep. i am not an ascriber to cozy game escapist fantasy culture and i dont think those work well for the purpose of this game)

after a broad sketch of the world is laid out, the group turns to building the community. here, they'll focus on a few aesthetic features of the community, community values, and a few major features (does the community have a doctor or no? do they have a post office? is this a farming community or do they trade textiles? what are people's houses made of? etc)

i have a general idea on how to make the collaborative worldbuilding process approachable, cooperative, and safe, but it definitely needs playtesting before i explain :) im approaching this with the mindset of 1) players hard no's will have already been discussed in a separate process 2) players might be strangers to each other and might have never played a ttrpg before. i also want it to be feasible both in person and on a vtt. so i'm still working that out :)

so that's the basics! a baseline that all games follow, while the cultures and settings within the world are still pretty flexible

next up i'll be talking about the lineages, or the different kinds of human you can be!!

i also have a bunch of stuff on sale right now to fund spiritkeep in its early stages!!

you can support this sale to fund more promo material like art, and this sale to help me pay to become a certified therapeutic gm!!

thanks for reading :)

[adachimoe]

what does junes bring to inaba?

this started as a reply to @psychedeliclulu in the cmts on this post but it uhh got really long and turned into a post of its own haha

this is partially based on inaba's pre-existing world building, partially based on anecdotal experience from my couple weeks in the japanese countryside, and partially based on the things that go unspoken in the game.

i believe what the npcs were talking about was how large, convenient, and varied that junes is. not to mention, it is also a community space.

the big pull that junes has, IMO, is that it's a multi story department store with a 24/7 hr grocer on the first floor. just by going on what the characters get in-game, aside from groceries, we know they also sell electronics and clothes. we know they have the roof with the food stalls and a children's play area, and even an event stage. in fact, if the protagonist works at junes during summer vacation, yosuke says something about a costumed hero show which is likely taking place on the event stage. from this, we learn that junes gives the community a reason to come there aside from just shopping, establishing it as a community space. (but i'm sure yosuke's dad surely wants you to spend money before/after the costume show.)

before junes came to inaba, they probably had to go to multiple different specialty stores that didn't quite have a variety. or they relied on getting deliveries, like from namatame's family business. and aside from the events at tatsuhime shrine and the yasogami school festival (per persona club p4, outside vendors can have booths at the school festival), we don't know what else the community has. so junes is functionally a lot of stuff, all in one.

in game, we're told that junes is new and is driving stores in the central shopping district out of business. the things we know about that are currently in the shopping district are:

moel gas station

daidara's store where he sells fish swords to teenagers

shiroku's general store / night time small town bar

rise's grandma's traditional tofu store (this is likely also her grandma's house, and where rise lives while shes in inaba)

kanji's family's textile store (also the tatsumi's family home)

yomenaido bookstore

aiya chinese diner (restaurant)

souzai daigaku (prepared foods)

the shrine

konishi liquors

marutake hobby shop

we dont see any grocers in the central shopping district in-game. is what we see in-game everything there is to the shopping district, or is like how the average rpg town only shows the player what they need?

tbh, i guess you could take hashino's answer to mean there *is* a grocery store in the shopping district, but the player never goes to it lol.

also, some of this is lost in english cause the signs aren't translated, but if you poke around the central shopping district, interact w/some of the buildings and read the signs outside, you'll get messages about what they are, such as:

big stone, a bicycle shop

ichikawa electronics

a store in-between ichikawa and konishi that's closed but its unknown what kind of store it was

a barber shop

nakanishi drugs/pharmascy

an unknown store next to nakanishi (the banner in front of it just says "central shopping district")

a building that i thiiink says "fuku[something; this would be a family name] real estate", next to maruktake

a building with no sign, to the left of aiya

a coffee shop / cafe / "kissa" in the background between the bookstore and daidara called something-hoshi/sei?-something (i cant read handwriting fonts LOL)

all of these have their shutters down, but i'm not sure if they're all closed for good. like in yukiko's new years romance, for example, she'll tell the protagonist they should go to a cafe, which suggests that either the smth-hoshi-smth place is actually open, or there is more to the shopping district than what we're allowed to roam around.

altho, it's also reasonable to assume that some of these shuttered shops we encounter have closed down due to junes. we see in-game that junes has stuff like an electronics department, which might have driven ichikawa electronics in the shopping district out of business. i imagine junes carries products like alcohol too, hence why saki's family would feel threatened by their presence. and when you do the fox's quest for the hobby shop owner, he says that when kids want to buy toys, they just go to junes, so we know junes also sells stuff like that. (there's also adachi's dialogue that might have gotten removed in golden about junes selling toys and kiddie magic kits.)

from the world building stuff, we learn that the junes grocery department is open 24/7 and they put out ready made foods (like to buy and eat at home) at 4pm/7pm/10pm. i believe on november 5th, you see yosuke working late at night at junes, stuck on grocery stocking duty cause junes' grocery is always open. (i dont think i ever translated this before, but in the "junes newsletter" in persona club p4, there's also a submission from sayoko who says she appreciates the grocery dept being open whenever for when she gets off her shift at the hospital late at night.)

i think just having a "24/7 hr grocery store" is kinda huge, as from my exp in the countryside, a grocer otherwise closes at like 8pm. inaba likely does not have much else that's open 24/7, or even that late at night, and golden only has shiroku's store and aiya being open later at night. i touched on this before in a post about yukiko's family ryokan, but the stereotype goes that ryokans are in remote locations and offer breakfast/dinner service to guests because there likely aren't many other places to get food in that area, especially later in the evening. (hence why yosuke assumes yukiko can cook, and why chie assumes yukiko knows what she's talking about when they grocery shop.)

anyway yay more rambling

[dresshistorynerd]

i saw your post on greenwashing and one thing that stood out was the talk abt polyester. im trying to not buy fabric for sewing (im just resizing clothes) but im wondering if its worth using any old polyester clothing item? i dont like the idea of throwing them out or donating a garment thats not going to last long to ppl who need long lasting clothes

I'm so sorry I had completely forgotten this (and multiple other) asks into my very full drafts! (I'm trying to go through them at the moment to make it a little more manageable.) At this point I'm sure my answer won't matter much to you, but perhaps someone else has a similar thought!

I definitely agree that it's worth using all clothing till the end! Polyester and other synthetic fibers have the issue of spreading micro-plastics which are devastating to environment and likely cause long term health problems in humans too. I don't really know what's the best option to deal with them since when in use (especially when washed) they shed microplastics and when thrown in the end of their life into a landfill, they also shed microplastics, in both cases they will end up in nature to cause multitude of issues, and to our food eventually. Perhaps the best would be to burn them in some controlled facility, where maybe the particles and likely toxins too they release could be somewhat controlled. Obviously that's not the ideal solution either though. But when the options are using synthetic fabrics longer or throwing them to landfill (or putting them to recycling where they might go faster to landfill (the more there's clothes in recycling, the more of them will end up never recycled actually)), I definitely think using them longer is a better option. At least that way you have to get less new things and you're putting less textiles to the cycle. I also have some old clothes from synthetic fibers I'm trying to use till the end.

I honestly think we should ban synthetic fibers (though there could be some exceptions, and maybe even transitional period, when there's more exceptions, but I'm getting into the weeds here). We already have a devastating amount of synthetic textiles in use and in landfills that are turning into a microplastics every second, and dealing with them won't be easy or simple, so the least we can do is not to add to that amount. To be clear, I don't won't hold it against anyone who buys clothes with synthetic fibers. It's practically impossible at the moment to get underwear, outdoor wear or sports wear without any synthetic fibers, which is precisely why I think there should be legislation to do something about it.

For more details on the effects of microplastics and synthetic fibers in general, I made a post on the effects of the fashion industry, where a lot of it is unsurprisingly related to synthetic fibers. There's also like sources and numbers and stuff.

[reallyhardydraws]

2023.

i hope any of you reading this will forgive the essay. i started posting to this art blog ten years ago in 2013 when i was just at the very end of high school, uploading short animations i'd made for one of my final projects, preparing myself for art school where i was gearing up to become an illustration/animation student.

i went into my art foundation course in 2014, still thinking i was going to be going into storybook illustration or with faint hopes of becoming like a concept artist for game/animation, although even then i'd started thinking about patterns...

and then in 2015 i did go into my BA, going in for that illustration with animation degree that... usually when i talk about it in real life, i say didn't really feel like the best place for me. if i think back, the best things i got out of it were two of my best friends, one of whom is now my partner. looking back on my BA era, there's some bits of sketchbook stuff...

and while i was at university my main fandoms were thunderbirds are go and x-men for a bit... these are from the end of 2015 into the beginning of 2016...

then for a little while i was doing this still sort of pastel-ish lineless situation:

and i alternated between that and this thin fineliner type work (pretty sure all of the linearted pieces were done on paper and scanned, and all the lineless were graphics-tablet-only) - it was in this style that i started to offer commissions for the first time too.

and i also had fineliner-lined work in sketchbooks that i coloured with marker and posca pens, the colours of which were generally a bit more intense just based on not being able to slide the hue/saturation around on paper:

also 2016 was when i discovered the spongebob musical just after it's trial run in chicago (which ended in july of 2016) and i started making fanart at that point... which would have the biggest effect on the way i drew (and i did end up handing in a piece of spongebob musical fanart as one of my art school homeworks lmao)

from summer 2016 until early 2017 things were still quite soft and pastelly in my digital art, colour-wise:

and then suddenly everything got whacked up to 100% on saturation. also i was using the binary tool to give everything really thin pixel lineart for some reason.

then i went on vacation in summer 2017 and didn't draw for maybe a month? just short of? and when i came back i decided to change everything up again... giving characters blobbier, more ugly-cute faces with large squinting eyes and big nostrils and i was worrying a lot less about making anything look smooth, lineart-wise. i turned off the pen stabiliser in SAI and let it wiggle.

then... the spongebob musical opened on broadway in late 2017, i went to see it live in person for the first time... and my whole brain was ENTIRELY consumed by my love of it. i was putting that david zinn inspired pattern explosion into everything, even if it wasn't sbm fanart.

as we go into 2018, i started colouring my lineart. my biggest interest was still broadway musicals (with spongebob at the top of the list)

i think summer 2017 - early 2018 is probably my favourite art era, i was at my most bright and colourful and exciting... although i know in my actual real life i was struggling a lot with my home situation and i had been for some time. art was definitely my escapism back then, and i think a lot of the time i drew really bright, joyful stuff to try and inject that feeling into myself.

as for my university work, i was putting my focus into 3D paper-mache puppets:

and i was also starting to do more repeat patterns, mostly inspired by things around me. i'd learned how to make patterns actually tile and repeat in 2017, so made a few during my time at uni just to accompany some of my projects, but never as the focus of them. one of my university tutors told me that maybe i should put more focus on doing surface pattern, and maybe applying it to textiles, but i said i wasn't interested.

i graduated from my BA in the summer of 2018, and immediately began volunteering at the whitworth art gallery doing anything i could - stewarding, helping with arts and crafts, dancing with families...

in 2019 i was still very colourful... i was trying out more chunky colouring on characters skintones that i think was def inspired by tumblr artist jadenvargen:

but the blobbyness and ugly-cute style of drawing faces was gone by here, and i think... the way i drew characters probably had better *anatomy*, proportions were maybe a bit more realistic...

in 2020 i started adding the black shading to under the chins and some other places on characters' bodies because i started watching the anime my hero academia with my brother, lmao (and i was starting to pastelise colours a bit again, these are the most pastel-ish examples) my lineart has really smoothed back out too, though i never turned my pen stabiliser back on in SAI. i think my hand just adjusted. probably seems a bit insane to miss that, but i do.

by the end of 2020, the almost-year of lockdown over cobid had... made me a bit insane, i think, and i moved out of my mother's house and into a flat with a friend from university.

in 2021 i think things were much the same... i think from this point on is where things have sort of settled. i don't want to say stagnated, but i do think things have been very... like this for a while.

2022 - got the most exciting examples out...

also i was very into these little frames in 2022.

and then on to 2023! in 2022, i did begin trying to shift gears a bit -- hoping to put more energy into sewing and making products (like my tutor has suggested back in uni, even though i'd really resisted the idea.) i sold at a few in-person markets during winter of 2022, but got disheartened by the amount of money i had to sink in up front to sign up for a spot...

which has made me VERY grateful for the people who have supported me via online sales. it has really helped me stay afloat in 2023 - AND it has felt more wonderful than i can describe that there have been people interested in my work... especially when a lot of it has been my original designs, rather than the fanart that i expect a lot of people initially followed me for.

i've also... in the past 2 years... branched out a bit more when it comes to 'being an artist' - and have had the opportunity to deliver arts & crafts workshops with local refugee & asylum seeker support charity, afrocats. it's taken me to their home base in a church to hotels across the city where asylum seekers were temporarily placed while waiting on their new homes, and of course to my beloved whitworth art gallery, where we welcomed visitors from all backgrounds: from the typical white middle class visitors the gallery usually expects, to all the refugee visitors coming into the space for the first time.

and through my volunteering at the whitworth, i showed up so often they decided they might as well pay me. so i've also become a facilitator of... creative play sessions, my favourites of which have been outdoors. monthly, year-round, we have 'outdoor art club', where i get to paint with mud and make potions from leaves with kids & families - here you can see me tell you a little bit about it in this video below with 'crempog' a puppet character that makes videos about activities for kids and families around manchester (my bit starts at 01:10 although i am in the intro and thumbnail haha)

and then of course the summer 'PLAYTIME' activities we've had the past two years: scrap studio in 2022, and play market in 2023. it's the best freelance gig ever -- just to hang out and encourage families to be creative and have fun.

in working more in these new avenues... outside of being - as i've called myself for a long time - "an internet artist"... i've found myself more interested in this sort of thing. in being a "real world artist" too. in doing surface pattern design, and being a workshop facilitator, i find myself wanting to put more energy into these sorts of projects.

in 2023 i've also dabbled a little bit more in youtube videos! i have had a channel for a while and have made videos in previous years, but 2023 has been the year i've done the most in. admittedly most of them haven't been about my art, and more just like... random things that interest me (the spongebob musical in particular) but i've really been enjoying video editing. that's kind of an art form too, so i'm including it here!

moving forward, want to keep putting even more of my energy into other things. my shop, with a bigger range of products to offer. workshops in real life, where i can make a difference.

as for my art blog... i feel like i've done the least drawing in many years in 2023, and... well, things have been weird and complicated for a bit in my real life. i hope to draw for fun a bit more again very soon, and to return to doing things in more of a wild and crazy way, to be more creative and exciting with the way i draw things. still, here's some of my favourites from 2023:

thank you so much to everyone who has borne witness to my art journey this past decade!!! i hope you will stick with me, who knows, maybe for another 10 years if tumblr holds out. especially a big thank you to everyone who has ever commissioned me, or bought anything from my store, you literally keep me able to make art at all and i cannot, cannot, cannot overstate how much it means to me.

i'm moving homes soon, possibly into very cramped temporary conditions for a little while before HOPEFULLY starting my real life with my partner. if i can take one more moment to plug my work, then [here is a link to my online shop] and [here is my ko-fi page too.]

cheers, cheers, cheers!

- LOREN 🌈🍍🎉

[recluses-corner]

Funny spidersona introduction post

The them ^ art commissioned by @scramratz he did a AMAZING job I would highly recommend their services

Funny guys under cut!

Lacey o,Neal🎻 aka recluse🕷️

(Who’s actually more closely related to a jumping spider…)

Age: 14 at the start of vigilante career 

Gender: if given choice between male and female on a form they would cross both and just write Lacey they/them

Skills: skilled violinist, and music enthusiast, has an interest in textile hobby’s (sewing knitting etc) avid reader of fantasy novels.

abilities: super strength, wall crawling, organic webs, heightened senses,“spider sense”, venomous bite, ten foot vertical leap, extremely enhanced vision, the ability to communicate with spiders (this turns out not to be very useful except for talking to buttons Spiders aren’t exactly social creatures)

Lacey is a runaway living on the streets of New York City with their best friend buttons. A former foster kid, (sources at bottom) Lacey gets their spider powers after getting kidnapped while on the road to the city (this will be what the first chapter will be about) after they decide to use their new spider powers to protect the unprotected.

Buttons🐀 aka circuits 🔌

(Lacey insisted that she also needed a hero name)

Age: … like four maybe five? (how is she supposed to know!)

Skills: engineering, chemistry, coding, drawing.

abilities: Genius-level intellect, super strength (for a rat), wall crawling,

Gender: gender is a very human concept that buttons doesn’t really care about, she just tells people to use she/her

a former-class-pet-turned-lab-rat-turned-spider-rat. Buttons met Lacey when they were kidnapped by buttons former principal, after they decided to travel together to New York, buttons later becomes Lacey’s tech rat.

(Comm by @beebfreeb)

Art made by my amazing wonderful @sweet-tea-skitty !!! Who is the only reason this story is being written at all <3

Sources.

Patterdale, Sassafras, et al. Kicked Out. Homofactus Press, 2010.

Finkelstein, Marni. With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets. Langara College, 2008.

Beam, Cris, To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care. Mariner Books, 2013.

[literaryxbones]

Forest Ink Update

For those out of the loop, I made a post discussing Angela Benedict's Forest Ink Haul (Sponsored) video. Angela is a goth subculture Youtuber who's been apart of the scene since the 90's.

There, I talked about and investigated the ethics of Forest Ink clothing. I wanted to know whether the company's claims of slow-fashion, sustainability, and ethical work environments were true.

A Bit of Digging

Human Rights

Forest Ink prides itself on honoring human rights within the textile industry. They have an active SA8000 certificate, given to them by Social Accountability International. SAI is a non-profit registered in New York. They oversee working conditions and helped establish the standards the company claims to follow. Inspections occur in-house every 3 years.

SA8000's measures forbid child labor, slavery, discrimination, and unreasonable working hours. A living wage must be provided to all employees.

In an email I sent out, a representative told me that their clothing is manufactured in Guangdong, China. After products are assembled, they are shipped off to their New York headquarters.

(Parts of these images have been lightly censored to avoid doxxing of myself and Forest Ink employees.)

I don't know how much the overseas employees are paid. There are some promotional images of the factory on the website, which I found interesting.

The SA8000 certification indicates that Forest Ink most likely respects human rights in the workplace.

Environmental Sustainability

Forest Ink asserts that it uses"100% biodegradable" packaging to mail orders. When shipping, clothes are contained in primarily corn-based wrappings that are plastic free.

Mail orders are made of different compounds, specifically PLA (Polylactic Acid) and cornstarch. The slips must be sent to an Industrial Composting Facility to properly degrade over time. Regular plants won't have the equipment required to process this material.

Before purchasing from Forest Ink, make sure that your local composters take PLA.

It also goes without saying that gas-based transport is unhealthy for the environment. C02 emissions released during travel contribute to global warming and pollute airways. Almost every business involved with online ordering refers to gas-powered vehicles.

Now, what about the products themselves?

Polyester, Spandex, and Nylon are the most frequently used fabrics. As far as eco-friendliness goes, they are detrimental to the environment. Their production chain unleashes lots of carbon and other fossil fuels. All of these variations derive from plastic.

Purchasing decisions like this need to be made carefully. If you rush to buy clothes you don't actually want or will often wear, you'll leave behind a piece of plastic unable to biodegrade. This is why I advocate for second-hand shopping and an informed public.

We need to consider how resources are used in order for this world to survive. Most are finite. Often, a resource used is a resource lost.

Blog Updates

I'm going to be ordering 1 article of clothing from Forest Ink so I can review quality. This upcoming showcase will be impartial. I am not officially sponsored by Forest Ink and I would never accept a sponsor without conducting a background check.

Also, I am still planning to post Sims 4 gameplay, I just haven't fully set up my game world yet. I want to turn Willow Creek into a community made up of alt subcultures. There's going to be alt subculture based makeovers of Bella Goth, Bob and Eliza Pancakes, and Don Lothario. The Landgraabs of course will be The Establishment (The rich billionaires no one likes lmao.)

-Written by SORDID

-Information sourced from Forest Ink's Website and Gardening Latest.

(If you want to know more about PLA, I'd highly suggest reading Gardening Latest's blogpost on it. Their guide is extremely thorough and easy-to-understand.)

Citations:

Forest Ink. (2024). Forest Ink. https://forestinkclothing.com/

About us. (2024). Forest Ink. https://forestinkclothing.com/pages/about-us-1 Sustainability. (2024). Forest Ink. https://forestinkclothing.com/pages/sustainabilty

2. General Gardening. (2021, April 11). Gardening Latest. https://gardeninglatest.com/

Hardy, K. (2022, May 10). Composting PLA: How Do You Compost PLA. Gardening Latest. https://gardeninglatest.com/composting-pla-how-do-you-compost-pla/

[aoishiitake]

Intertwined - Sol (Shadow Milk) x Silas (Pure Vanilla)

Chapter 1: Tingles

divider's from this post/person

Note at the end

School; not much to it, is there? Sol’s had this opinion since elementary school, and it’s clear it won’t change any time soon. The same loud crowds of people rushing to their next classes with occasional gossip here and there. Perhaps he felt school was unnecessary because of how little he had to do to get a good grade. The only classes that he truly enjoyed were art and textile design, a.k.a. the classes where he had creative freedom. Other classes are spent in boredom, waiting for the horrendously sharp bell to ring. 

Ah, right. He's in math class right now. Better act like he's doing the paper. Mr. Dark Cacao, whom everyone just calls Mr. Cacao, was in front of the blackboard teaching the class how to solve exercise one's equation. He usually leaves Sol alone and doesn't force him to solve anything for the class, because Mr. Cacao knows that he is very ahead of his peers.

Mr. Cacao's explanation came to an end, and the classroom got louder. People left and right were turning around in their chairs to talk to their friends. The big and muscular guy in front of Sol being no exception, unintentionally flipping his long, black, spiky hair as he turned to him. 

“So, how’d you think you did?” McCoy asked with his gravelly voice, his mouth twisting into a smirk. 

Sol stared back at him with his mismatched eyes, lowering his gaze shortly after to pick at the gunk under his nails. "On what? I wasn’t paying attention.” 

"The math test, obviously." His eyes rolled lazily in annoyance.

"So that's what you mean!" Sol enthusiastically replied, his face plastered with a wide grin, eyes looking up for a split second. "Dunno, didn't study for it."

"What?" The bigger one was astonished. "You're telling me the school year's started and you didn't study for the first math test!?" 

His voice became more whimsical. "Yes. Are you deaf or something?" Sol teased his classmate, his hands coming together at the side of his face and tilting his head, still smiling.

McCoy's bushy brows furrowed increasingly more with each passing second. For a bit, it looked like he was actually mad. His face softened into an amused expression. 

"Well, well, well! Let's see who gets the better grade on this test then." His laugh bounced off the walls in the room, making a few people turn to look.

"The loser pays for the other's snack of their choice." 

"Ha! Deal."

They waited and discussed things unrelated to math. Of course, Emmalyn came up. The already graduated ex-senior with impressively taken care of pink hair. Quite talented at catching people's attention, which is why she's taken the path to become a marketing expert. Sol and McCoy think she'll make millions with her ideas. She'd come by every now and then to say hi whenever she had time, but that was unfortunately quite rare. Caught up in their conversation, Sol hears a paper put down on someone's desk.

"You did okay." 

Everyone's heads turned to where they heard Mr. Cacao's voice from. 

The first math test was being distributed.

Suddenly, as if it were nothing, everyone straightens up in their seats, quickly dismissing their previous conversations with their friends. Now, only the sound of their math teacher's footsteps was to be heard. Sol realized he could even hear his own breathing. 

Out of everyone in the room, he was probably the calmest. Yeah, he understood what the stress over tests was for, but he never got it himself. He imagines it must be overwhelming; he knows what that's like, at least. 

One by one, tests are put on their respective owners' desks while getting a small comment from Mr. Cacao. It doesn't look like this test went too badly. Only some people are getting the "Something didn't work out" comment, even occasional good comments. 

"Haha! Try to beat my grade, Sol," a proud voice said, turning to face him again. Next to his face were his hands holding up the test, a big circled 89 written in the top left corner. "Well done, Coy. Actually quite unexpected from you," Sol giggled.

"You don't get to me that easily anymore, twink." McCoy spat back, lightly pushing on his shoulder while laughing. 

"Sol, full marks. Good job."

Absolute silence in the room for the second time. He grabs the paper and quickly puts it away in his bag. Mr. Cacao keeps distributing the papers. 

McCoy's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. It looked like his eyes were about to pop out in shock. 

"Dude, I've gotten full marks in math since elementary. Are you still not used to this?" Sol chuckled, not too surprised by McCoy's reaction, though. You learn a thing or two about someone when you've known them since first grade.

"But I was confident I would beat you this time! Especially since we got a new set of teachers this year," he argued. 

"Coy, you still did really well. You'll be fine."

McCoy puffs his chest up and raises his hands up in a sort of victory pose. 

"Next time, I'll beat you!"

"Kay, okay, let's go get my well-won chips now."

They both got up from their seats, McCoy kicking his chair in and bending over to get his wallet from his backpack. A sigh leaves his mouth as he hands Sol the cash, and they head towards the classroom’s exit. Hand on his shoulder bag’s strap, happily stepping foot out of the wretched math classroom. 

A hand is placed on his shoulder before he gets to leave. 

Sol turns around to see a blond with a pair of milky, mismatched eyes. His hair is no longer than collarbone length with long curtain bangs that go outwards. As did everyone, he had the school uniform’s blouse on, the only actually mandated piece of clothing for the school's dress code. Unlike them, though, he had a tucked-in sweater vest on as well, paired with slightly baggy light blue jeans. His rectangular glasses sat low on his nose, reflecting the light from the classroom. 

“Apologies for stopping you, but do you happen to be the one who got a 100 on the test?” He asked, his light lashes swaying. 

Sol feels like he’s paying too much attention to how this guy looks. Does it seriously matter that his pants fit him perfectly, his vest is evenly tucked all around, and his hair smells really good? How does one get their hair to smell like vanilla? is a better question, in his opinion. 

“Wait, I don’t think we’ve spoken before,” the blond added after realizing there was an awkward silence for a bit. “My name is Silas, last name Pure Vanilla. I believe I know your name already, but I wanted to ask anyway.” A smile on his soft lips. Soft...

“I’m Sol, what do you need?”

“I was wondering if you could help me out in math. I know it’s a lot to ask for, but—“

“Hmmmmm,” Sol hummed, his voice pitching up at the end. “Why should I help you? You seem to be a pretty good student already.” He posed, trying not to show any signs of nervousness.

“It’s always good to strive for better, don’t you think"?” he chuckled lightly. "Other than that, I must admit that I do admire how well you work in school." Silas' eyes looked to the side, a bit embarrassed with that confession of his. "So, if you're free some time, I'd be more than happy if I could be taught a thing or two by you." 

"I'll consider it."

Silas grabs a piece of paper from his pocket and places it in Sol's free one. His skin felt tingly in contact with the blond's. Silas grabbed a felt pen and started writing on the small paper. "Here's my number if you do agree to it. Thank you again."

Sol just stood there. On the outside he looked perfectly calm, but his internal screaming was close to becoming external. The tingling his hand had felt prior slowly left him, longing for more of the touch. Silas simply smiled and walked past him to go through the door. 

No more vanilla scent in the room.

"Uhm, are you going to come, or do you not want your chips anymore?"

Back on track to get the chips, McCoy started going on a rant about how Ain is annoying him again. Sol didn't really pay attention, giving him nods and an "Uh huh?" every now and then to stay polite to his roommate. Every now and then he'd hold the scrap piece of paper Silas had given him up to his face. Why is texting a boy making him this nervous? He'll just add the number to his WhatsApp later in his dorm, no big deal at all. It's literally typing numbers into an app and saving it as a contact. Was it always this nerve-wracking?

After getting the chips, they exited the schoolhouse and headed to the other side of the campus, where the housing was. A big building with enough rooms for all the students to share a room in pairs. Sol was lucky enough to have had the freedom of choosing who he wanted to pair up with. 

McCoy unlocked the door to their room, walking in and throwing his bag across, it hitting the space between the window and the floor. Sol instinctively went to half-close the window blinds; a bright room was the last thing he needed after a long, surprisingly eventful school day. 

He put the paper from Silas on his bedside table.

Tomorrow's mission: successfully text the blond guy.

Thank you for reading! You can find me on twitter at @/muffinndayo or on ao3 at @/muffindayo. Feel free to send gimmicks/asks :)

[purechaoswitch]

Breaking the Fast Fashion Curse

Welcome to another week of digital sorcery, my fellow mystics! Today, we are brewing a potion to break the fast fashion curse - the one that makes us believe we need that $5 Zara top (that will unravel faster than our self-control at a sample sale).

How Social Media Fuels Overconsumption

Social media influencers have become the high priests and priestesses of fashion, weaving their digital spells to dictate what’s “in” and what’s so last season. With a single Instagram post or TikTok clip, they can turn an obscure clothing item into an absolute must-have. Think back to the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge, where millions attempted to replicate her signature pout only to end up with bruised, swollen lips. Now, shall we replace lips with fashion, and you get the fast fashion formula: see it, want it, buy it before it disappears into the abyss of forgotten trends.

Nowadays, influencers promote micro-trends that fast fashion brands online like Zara, H&M, and Shein churn out at lightning speed, leading to a loop of impulse buying, fleeting satisfaction and eventual waste (Bruns & Burgess 2011). This cycle pushes consumers to chase trends rather than develop a personal style, creating a never-ending cycle of overconsumption. For illustration, a viral top seen on a celebrity today will likely be discarded next month, either because a newer trend has taken over or because the low-quality garment has already fallen apart.

The Dark Side

And behind every $10 dress is a hidden cost. The fashion industry produces 10% of global carbon emissions (Maiti 2025) and dumps millions of tons of clothing into landfills every year. Beyond the carbon footprint, textile production is also responsible for massive water consumption and pollution, with toxic dyes and microplastics contaminating rivers and oceans. Additionally, let’s not forget the human cost and workers, often underpaid and overworked, are trapped in unsafe conditions (Clean Clothes Campaign 2023). The tragic Rana Plaza collapse back in 2013 (which killed over 1,100 workers) is a haunting reminder that cheap fashion comes at a price.

As consumers, it’s easy to be tempted by cheap prices and trendy pieces, but every impulse purchase contributes to an industry built on environmental destruction and worker exploitation. Is the true cost of fast fashion really worth it?

Slow Fashion Movement Saves The Day

Fortunately, not all influencers are fueling the fast fashion frenzy. A growing number of ethical influencers and activists are challenging the industry’s wasteful ways and encouraging people to think twice before they shop. Campaigns like #WhoMadeMyClothes are pushing brands to be more transparent about where and how their clothes are made, while influencers like Venetia La Manna are calling out companies for greenwashing as known as the practice of making misleading sustainability claims to appear more ethical than they actually are (Henninger et al. 2017).

Even luxury fashion houses like Chanel and Christian Dior have started integrating sustainability and eco-friendliness into their marketing, pledging to use eco-friendly materials and ethical production methods. However, are these high-end brands truly embracing change, or just using clever PR tactics to maintain their image? While some have made genuine progress such as investing in recyclable fabrics and carbon reduction initiatives (Prada), others still operate within a system that prioritizes exclusivity and mass production over true sustainability (Kapferer & Michaut-Denizeau 2014).

Breaking The Cycle

Consider this your invite to the slow fashion coven. You actually have more power than you think in this story. Every time you choose to buy a clothing piece, it’s like casting a vote for the kind of fashion world you want. Will you support the dark, destructive magic of fast fashion, or will you channel your inner good witch and support ethical, sustainable practices? Here are a few actions that you can consider taking:

- Thrift and upcycle instead of buying new.

- Invest in quality pieces over fast fashion hauls.

- Hold brands accountable—ask #WhoMadeMyClothes.

- Repeat outfits with pride (because fashion spells should last longer than a TikTok trend).

So… go forth and make fashion magic that heals rather than harms. The next time you’re tempted by a cheap, trendy piece that you know won’t last, pause, breathe, and remember the spell we’re trying to break. Choose differently, and encourage those around you to do the same. Together, we’ll weave a new fashion future, one stitch at a time.

References

Bruns, A & Burgess, J 2011, ‘The use of Twitter hashtags in the formation of ad hoc publics’, 6th European Consortium for Political Research General Conference.

Henninger, CE, Ryding, D, Alevizou, PJ & Goworek, H 2017, Sustainability in Fashion: A Cradle to Upcycle Approach, Palgrave.

Kapferer, JN & Michaut-Denizeau, A 2014, ‘Is luxury compatible with sustainability?’, Journal of Brand Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 1-22.

Maiti, R 2025, ‘The Environmental Impact of Fast Fashion, Explained’, Earth.Org, viewed 26 Feb 2025.

[microwavablefork]

Hello! Your art is very beautiful. Please tell us more about your COTL AU Nomadic Faith. Seems very interesting! Are you asking for art requests? May a kind month come to you. Eat your fruits and vegetables.

HII!!! omg this is my first ask about my cotl au (and first ask in general yippee!!) you have just released a demon my friend. (and tysm :3)

OK SO! I was kinda reading the lore tablets in game and didn’t understand what the fuck was going on so I decided to make my own lore and run with it! :3 I always thought it’d be interesting if the Sheep never worshipped the Old Faith, instead I envisioned them more like Plimbo or some of the NPCs who have livelihoods that overshadow any cult like behavior. Or at least any that abided to that of the Bishops rather than their own culture.

I took inspiration from nomadic groups like the romani people and other eastern tribes in terms of clothing and style. (which i have yet to post my designs oopsie…) The idea of nomads kinda flowed into that idea of a ‘herd mentality’ sheep carry by having them travel and bond together like that. They’re very musical and are insanely talented at detailed wool cloths and textile crafting and trading herbs and spices. (Also the little earrings you see my lamb wear also speak to their wood workmanship! Each earring has a specific meaning whether it accords to age, family, etc. But by the time the lamb becomes a god.., they forget half of it :( )

Once Narinder had split off from the Old Faith and began to get more greedy with his power and start to question the Old Gods, that’s when Shamura had the vision of the prophecy and the reaping began. So The Lamb (i don’t have a name for them yet but I’ve been thinking of Ewe = Eve like from the bible), is born during the reaping, and has very much grown up with a more hurried ‘on-the-road’ lifestyle.

Most of the Sheep actually turned to Narinder’s faith (that was separate from the old faith) because they saw comfort in death being something they could believe in. Sheep are prey animals by default, so the idea was even more instilled into the herds once the reaping began.

(ALSO! Narinder is very fond of sheep in general as they made for the most loyal of followers.. plus they made him really pretty garments and wrote songs as offerings)

I’ve just realized i’ve probably talked your ear off into oblivion (big apologizes to anyone who’s reading this far 😭) but yeah I’m just very passionate abt this au of mine.

So anyways! Once the reaping gets more severe, the herds begin to break off smaller and smaller to protect one another. Usually it would’ve been 4-6 big families and family friends traveling together, but by the time The Lamb was born, they’d only travel is groups of 1-2 families. Though she did get to experience the culture of her kind up until her early adulthood when her sister was kinda… slaughtered 💀 They had been the last two sheep unknowingly, and after much running, hiding, and crying alone in the woods. The Lamb was captured, brought to slaughter, and everyone knows the rest.

Though they did buck out at the Bishops and put up a decent fight beforehand.

There is MUCH more in regards to cult life, my au version of narilamb has a lot of meat to it, but I’ll spare the yap for another day HFHSHD


THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK THOUGH!!! may a kind month come to you too :3

[cordcorvid]

hi! i hope this doesnt come off as a bother or anything . but do you have any mask making tips or tutorials you could reccomend ?? (like for materials, jaw movement, and how to see out of there) im planning to do a raven named Goose :D

ive been finding some resources here and there, but i thought it wouldnt hurt to ask !!!

Absolutely not! I'd love to answer all your questions. :D I have not looked at that many tutorials, I mostly looked at pinterest pictures of raven costumes to see what I can come up with. One that really inspired me to get things going is actually another Tumblr user I found on there who has posted some helpful tips that I followed along with! They too have a raven costume and they got their resin base from the same manufacturer (Crystumes, they have a website where you can shop for their blanks) Since this post is awfully long, I'll do a read more from here on:

The tutorials I followed the most is this one by Rah-Bop:

Rah-Bop has some tips about adding feathers, making foam-feathers, adding claws to your gloves, making gloves or feet. In terms of material: I used the hinged resin base by Crystumes which by itself cost me +/- 200USD, they sent me a pair of customizeable glass eyes and a tongue.

Crystumes has some additional tutorials specifically regarding their masks on their website! Crystumes also lists some of the materials on their website that I used and where to get them (Like the apoxie clay to do the eyelids, the glass eyes etc.) I did mess the eyes up though the first time I did it so I had to order them from delviesplastics.com (As suggested by Crystumes) Since I ordered the base with hinges I'm not sure how to do them myself but I will have to figure it out for the second fursuit I'm cooking! In terms of other material I bought some long rooster feathers and hair jewelry off of Etsy. I bought a pair of long faux leather gloves from Ricardo (which is a swiss second hand online shop) but you can buy the gloves anywhere else or even sew them yourself by tracing your arm and hand on a piece of paper, then trace the pattern twice on any somewhat stretchy material like faux leather or spandex and sew those two together for one glove each. I bought black fur in another Swiss textile / sewing shop named Alja (not sure if it's actually Swiss) since it's cheaper (around 60$ for 4 yards) than to ship fur from America to Switzerland (Which amounts to 100-200 for the same amount). But if you can afford it: Take a look at Howl's Fabrics or Big Z Fabric. Both websites offer samples! I personally don't buy from them as the shipping costs for me are devastating. I suggest looking at general "furring" tutorials or "how to fur a fursuit head" tutorials on youtube. Most of them will tell you to make a duct tape pattern on your base, draw on the patterns then cut those patterns out on fur, sew the fur together then glue to the base. Crystumes once made a twitter post about it as well I think but I'm not sure I'll find it. When cutting fur in general just make sure you keep the scissors as close to the backing as possible to avoid cutting any fur fibers in the process, it will be visible otherwise. I made a fur top / shirt by tracing one of my long sleeve t-shirts onto the fur I bought and went with that. For the back of the head I used an 80s Mullet/Rockstar wig I bought from another Swiss online store. Other fursuit makers mostly sew fur even to the back of the head but my personal Raven fursuit is literally just a mask with a wig to cover the back. Which in turn makes the whole mask less hot. To keep the mask ON my face and to keep it from slipping down I used the adjusteable part of a biking helmet or climbing helmet. and attached it to the mask by using a lot of hot glue, I eventually had to use some stronger glue as it kept falling off. Since the mask was fairly big when I bought it and rather uncomfortable I used thick felt sheets and glued them inside the head as padding material! Foam works as well, whatever floats your boat. I went with felt since I could easily cut some feather patterns into them as a nice easter egg. Not sure anymore what exactly I used to cover the holes by the beak that I see out of, but it was some kind of very fine dark and flexible grid that I bought from the swiss equivalent of home depot. In terms of being able to see: The crystume base has holes between the beak and the eyes that you can look out of or you can even look through the mouth, both works pretty well and the mask allows for a lot of visibility from within- Out of all my fellow furry friends I'm the only one that doesn't necessarily need a spotter since I can see pretty well. In terms of clothing I pretty much sewed nothing by myself and only assembled a bunch of my own outfits that would fit the raven costume. Sometimes I did buy some costume specific stuff from online clothing stores or went into the thrift shop to buy some costume specific clothing pieces. In general, for your first raven costume just go with the flow and try to keep it budget friendly, as your first will unlikely be perfect. And that's about it! Not sure if I missed something but I tried to cover everything as much in detail as I could. Hope it helps!

[darcymariaphoster]

Hetalia/Hunger Games Crossover

I'd originally started this for a friend some years ago, but I lost that friendship and the motivation to write this. It was a behemoth of a concept to start with, which is why I'd decided to rush the beginning and focus mostly on the games. According to the notes I made for this, I didn't actually create most of this cast -- I'd sent my friend vague character notes and asked them to assign a Hetalia character to each one and then built the cast off of that. Which is kind of a cool concept for a gift for a friend, tbh. This was when I was still into Hetalia the first time, so it's actually not Nordic-centric for once. 😅

Below are notes and the beginnings of the idea.

This was written in 2014. (Someone tell me they can tell a difference in my writing from 10 years ago to now. 😭😂)

Happy readings!

CHEAT SHEET

District 1 *career*: [luxury items] Francis Bonnefoy & Matthew Williams

District 2 *career*: [masonry, weapons, trains] Arthur Kirkland & Elizabeta Héderváry

District 3: [electronics, mechanical] Kiku Honda & Heracles Karpusi

District 4 *career*: [fishing] Lovino Basile & Antonio Carriedo

District 5: [power] Lars Janssen & Amelie Lemmens

District 6: [transportation] Peter Dalton & Basch Zwingli

District 7: [lumber] Berwald Oxenstierna & Tino Väinamöinen

District 8: [textiles (clothes)] Roderich Edelstein & Gilbert Beilschmidt

District 9: [grain] Belle Vogel & Chloe Walker

District 10: [livestock] Wynn Taylor & Demarco Hughes

District 11: [agriculture] Sadiq Adnan & Gupta Hassan

District 12: [coal] Ludwig Glockner & Alfred Jones

→District 13: [nuclear weapons]←

Ludwig’s little brother: Alarick Glockner

Person at home who is in love with Ludwig: Feliciano Vargas

Previous Victor: Markus Marino

“Effie Trinket”: Jakob Sigurdsson

Personal Designer: Feliks Łukasiewicz

Game-Maker: Yao Wang

President: Ivan Braginski

Host: Mathias Densen

~

[Cheat for names:

Chloe: Wy

Amelie: Belgium

Belle: Liechtenstein

Mathias: Denmark

Alarick: HRE

Markus: Grandpa Rome

Jakob: Iceland

Wynn: Australia

Demarco: New Zealand

Lars: Netherlands]

~~

The Reaping

I stare around town, standing on my front porch. Light is barely breaching the horizon, dyeing the wispy clouds orange and pink while it casts an eerie glow across the land. A few people are already up -- mainly the miners, along with the butcher and baker -- but I know the rest of the town is trying to avoid the inevitable. The Reaping is today and everyone dreads it. Every year it happens; the same person -- Jakob Sigurdsson -- comes in, all dressed up in his Capitol clothes; two people are picked to represent the District. He always makes it sound like a good thing, something to be proud of, when you’re picked. And for a select few Districts, it is. But we aren’t one of those few and we see the Hunger Games for what they are -- a slaughter.

My District -- District 12 -- is one of the poorest in Panem. Nicknamed the Seam, we produce coal for our country. The entire town always seems to be covered in a thick layer of coal dust, making it look dull and grey. I watch the miners make their daily trek from home to the mines, most carrying lunch-pails but not everyone. All look tired, worn, done. I don’t know what it takes to be a miner, not really. Thought my father was one, I barely remember his schedule and his exhausted face is fading from my memory. Instead of spending all my days in the mine, I get up early to do a different task but one no less important.

I hunt.

Hunting is technically illegal because it’s past our borders that all the animals dwell. But even Peacekeepers want fresh meat and are normally fairly willing to turn a blind eye if they get a cut. So I hunt and trade for other things my family needs.

Slowly, I wander through town, heading for the border. This “border” is just a ten-foot high wire fence with “Caution: Electric” signs posted here and there. And that’s an absolute joke, since our District is lucky to get more than two hours of electricity in the evenings. Still, as I approach the fence, I pause to listen for the hum that means the wire is live. When I’m sure it isn’t, I go to the bushes that hide the weak spot in the fence -- one of many; this one just happens to be closest to home. I crouch down and step through the hole.

Once beyond the fence, I jog to the first line of trees. Coming to the woods is a reprieve. While the town seems to lack color, the woods are full of it. Greens and browns of every shade surround me and I feel okay again. I retrieve my bow and arrows from a hollow log and head deeper into the security of the trees.

“Ludwig!” I turn my head toward the voice and spot my best friend, Feliciano, waving from a small break in the trees to my left. I smile slightly, something I only seem able to do around him now, and wander over to him. “I got something for us!”

“Funny, do did I,” I say, reaching into my pocket for the goat cheese my little brother had left on the table for me early this morning. My little brother, Alarick, owns a goat that I’m grateful for because it means cheese and milk we can either use or trade. Plus, it keeps Alarick busy now and again.

Feliciano beams at me as he produces a loaf of bread from behind his back. “Ta-da! Fresh from the bakery! I traded a squirrel for it!” he explains happily.

I momentarily forget about the cheese, too surprised by this amazing treat, as I take it from him. Most of the bread we make at home is different from the bakery's, being that the Capitol takes most of the wheat for their own bread, leaving oh so little for us. This is real bread; less dense and slightly sweeter. “He must be in a giving mood…” I mutter, my mouth watering. It’s still warm. I reluctantly hand it back.

He rips it in half and gives me a section. I pull out the cheese and we sit down. “Well, I think everyone wants to feel close again,” he muses, nibbling on the bread and cheese. I rip my section in half and pocket a portion, intending to share it with Alarick later. “Considering the day and all…”

“It’s a funny time to desire that,” I mutter, looking around. I spot a bush with some blackberries and stand, going over to collect a handful for us. I offer them to him as I sit again. “I mean, shouldn’t we want to feel that all the time, not just right before a death sentence?”

Feliciano sets a berry on top of a bite of cheese and pops it into his mouth. “Maybe we’re too scared to,” he says finally. “Maybe the idea is normally just too much but, on this day, we forget to be scared of the whole thing because we’re all too scared for ourselves and our families.” He looks at me. “It’s stupid, huh?”

“It’s probably true,” I sigh, picking at the bread. “How many times did you put your name in?”

He looks uncharacteristically upset for a moment, torn between a triumph and a sickening dread, as he admits, “Eighteen.” I gape at him, horrified. “I have my siblings to think about, just like you have Alarick. So how many times did you put yours in?”

I’m reluctant to reply. I feel a bit selfish, now. See, every time you enter your name into the Reaping, your rations temporarily go up. With six other siblings, Feliciano has reason to. But I only have my mother and brother. “Eleven,” I mumble and shove some cheese and a few berries into my mouth.

He laughs, my favorite sound in the world. “We’re horrible. Our chances are so high and we do this every year!” His smile is sad when I look at him. “Let’s just go. Let’s just run and run…”

“And go where?” I ask, wishing more than anything that I could be as optimistic as he is about the idea. But I know there’s nowhere to run.

“Anywhere,” he answers easily. “There’s got to be something else besides here.” He leans back, watching the trees quiver with the slight breeze. “Anything must be better than here…”

I nod thoughtfully. “Probably. But… What about Alarick? And your family? We can’t just leave them…”

He pulls his knees up to his chest and sighs deeply. “I know. We could take them with… Maybe in a few years, when the littlest can run.” He glances at me.

“But, for now, it’s the Reaping day,” I remind him. “And the odds are not in our favor.” The words are a twist on what Jakob always says before he draws names. We look at each other and smile. I almost laugh but the sound doesn’t quite make it to my lips.

x~x

Everyone is gathered in front of City Hall. Even the miners came home early for this. We’re all dressed in our best clothes. THe youngest group of only twelve years stands in the front of the crowd and it goes back until eighteen. Parents and children too young hover behind everyone else nervously. A giant screen has been erected off to the right of the City Hall building. We’re all waiting anxiously for Jakob to step onto the stage. The waiting part of this drives me crazy. They put on a big show just to draw names. Maybe that’s important to other Districts -- like the career Districts -- but for us, it seems like a waste of time. I shift restlessly from one foot to the other, until I bump into the girl next to me and receive a dirty look. But, finally, Jakob waltzes onto the stage and taps the microphone, smiling his tiny smile when we all cringe at the backfeed it gives off. The cameras all start rolling, some on the crowd, others on Jakob.

This year, Jakob is wearing a turquoise-blue suit with gold trim. He’s done up his eyes in a similar fashion, making the dull grey of his irises that much more noticeable. His ever-changing tattoos are gold swirls up his neck and on the sides of his face. He looks ridiculous to me but I know he must be in style in the Capitol because he’d never wear anything less. “Happy Hunger Games,” he purrs into the microphone. “And what a special time. This marks the 75th annual. Exciting, isn’t it?” No one so much as coughs in response. He’s kind of used to this now, though, and his expression doesn’t change. “Let’s go straight to the clip then, shall we? We’ve changed it a bit this year so I suggest you keep your eyes open.” The way his Capitol accent highlights the last part and how his eyes seem to sparkle a bit makes me shiver. I’ve imagined that Jakob had not originally wanted the job he’s got -- doing the Reaping for District 12 and showing the tributes how to live a short Capitol lifestyle. I’ve always thought he probably wanted to be a Game-Maker and the idea that he’d be good at it makes me glad he’s stuck with us.

The clip, a short history of Panam and why the Hunger Games are held, does not seem any different to me. Jakob’s expression changes ever so slightly, causing him to look completely blissed out. When the video ends, he stares back out at the crowd. “I love that. It’s so powerful,” he murmurs, and I’m not entirely convinced that he hasn’t momentarily forgotten the microphone in front of his mouth. “Now,” he says, seeming a bit more alive. “Let us get to what we’ve all been waiting for! Let’s draw some names. And, of course, may the odds be ever in your favor.” Everyone stands a bit taller, more rigid, as he walks to the bubble holding all the names. He spins it twice and the sound echoes. Then he reaches in and pulls out a slip of paper. He moves back in front of the microphone and unfolds it. No one is breathing. “Alarick Glockner,” he announces gleefully and everyone except me lets out a collective sigh of relief.

I stare at the twelve-year olds, picking out the shimmering blond of my brother’s hair easily as he steps forward with a prompt of, “Come on, don’t be shy,” from Jakob. He looks like he’s trembling.

Everything in me shuts down and so I feel nothing as I frantically push through the crowd shouting, “Alarick, no! I volunteer! No! I volunteer!” Peacekeepers try to stop me and I see Alarick look back at me, horror on his face. “I volunteer!” I scream, pushing against the Peacekeepers in an attempt to get to my brother.

Jakob stares at me consideringly. “Let him through,” he says at last and I’m released. I immediately run to Alarick and hug him briefly before passing him to Feliciano, who has appeared just as Alarick is getting hysterical. Still feeling rather numb, I hear Jakob call me forward; I walk on leaden legs onto the stage. As Jakob takes my arm and chirps, “What’s your name?” I remember the cameras broadcasting this to the entire nation live and feel sick.

Shakily, I answer, “Ludwig Glockner…”

He’s practically beaming. “I’ll bet that was your brother, eh?” I nod. “Well, very brave indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, District 12’s first volunteer!” While he claps, everyone else in the crowd touches three fingers to their lips and raise them into the air toward me. I don’t feel brave. I definitely feel like I might pass out. I know the sign they’re giving me and it scares me. It’s a sign of respect and -- more importantly -- a sign of passing within the Districts. It hasn’t been used, to my knowledge, since the mine blew up a decade ago. It’s almost rebellious.

I glance at Jakob, to gauge his reaction, and am surprised to see that he seems uncomfortable. Rather hurriedly, he declares, “Let’s draw the second name.” He goes back to the bubble and spins it twice before fishing for a slip of paper. He finally snatches one and steps back to the microphne. “Let’s see who will be joining Ludwig this year…” He unfolds it and reads the name, “Alfred Jones.”

A blond boy, around my age, slowly steps through the crowd and I try not to roll my eyes. His expression reads uncertainty and mild fear. He walks to the stage adjusting his glasses, and, when he does, his entire persona. By the time he’s standing beside me, he looks determined and taller than my first impression had suggested. “And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen,” Jakob announces cheerfully, his comfort level back to normal. “District 12’s tributes for the 75th annual Hunger Games!”

[such-a-daydreamer]

Haha so like, I was originally gonna post the inktober stuff one by one like everyone else is but like, I forgor :/

FIRST WEEK OF INKTOBERTALE!!

Just know that like, it is a lot. So continue under the cut if you wanna see my absolute shitter of an art dump

//-------Day One-------//

Prompt: Ink (warm up)

The second one was more of a warm up really, I just wanted to get myself in the mood. Especially love that fell drawing in the corner.

//--------Day 2--------//

Prompt: Pumpkin carving

Yes. Yes that is error and ink kissing on the pumpkin.

//--------Day 3--------//

Prompt: Medicine

Hehehe my original idea was to have ink covered in colourful splotches and be on the floor and have the medicine be his like vials. I ended up thinking "that's too easy" so that turned into him wearing one of those sexy nurse outfits then I made a last minute decision to NOT do that

//--------Day 4--------//

Prompt: honey

Little to say about this, other than I love him a lot💕💕

//--------Day 5--------//

Prompt: Theatre play

Yeah the caption says enough.

//--------Day 6--------//

Prompt: Stickers

Yeah I uh, forgot that this whole thing was like a pun on inktober and y'know the character ink and this whole thing is called inktobertale, derailed a lil bit but 'm gonna get back on track after this I swear😭

//--------Day 7--------//

Prompt: Gingham

Yeah I basically know my ass to my elbow when it comes to textiles and stuff like that so I had to research some things. Anyways, Gingham is cute :3 tempted to make that skele an actual oc but like I can't be bothered.

Here's the prompt list btw

Yeah so uh, see ya next week til I've gotten the next batch done ... unless you wanna have it done one by one? Idk, tell me your thoughts. ALSO HAHA bit reluctant about showing this cuz of the MASSIVE sidetrack for like the majority of the week

[pandoramsbox]

Sci-Fi Saturday: The Man in the White Suit

Week 30:

Film(s): The Man in the White Suit (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, UK)

Viewing Format: Streaming - Kanopy

Date Watched: 2022-02-18

Rationale for Inclusion:

Given that Ewan McGregor has been playing Obi-Won Kenobi in live-action Star Wars media off and on since 1999, would anyone under 30 years-old be able to place Alec Guinness by me saying, "You know, Obi-Won Kenobi in Star Wars?" To Millennials and older geeks this lack of cultural touchstone would hurt our brains, but the knighted, most accomplished character and dramatic actor himself would be relieved that Star Wars (Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, Dir. George Lucas, 1977, USA) may not be what he is remembered most for in 2024, as it was not his favorite role despite the financial stability it enabled for him. Granted, I don't know what other example of Guinness' filmography I would use for someone under 30 who doesn't attend classic cinema film festivals. Star Wars is still better known than Lawrence of Arabia (Dir. David Lean, 1962, UK) or Kind Hearts and Coronets (Dir. Robert Hamer, 1949, UK) by the mainstream populus of the United States.

I begin on this note because this week's film, The Man in the White Suit (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, UK), stars Sir Alec Guinness in a comedic role, which while not unusual for him, especially in the 1950s, is not the work for which the mainstream consciousness most remembers him. A chance to witness more of Guinness' incredible range was part of the reason for selecting this film, as was the fact that the last British sci-fi satire that we watched for the survey, Once in a New Moon (Dir. Anthony Kimmins, 1935, UK), has been one of the great discoveries by my partner and I on this cinematic journey thus far. Plus, according to the British Film Institute, The Man in the White Suit is the 58th greatest film to come out of its country.

Reactions:

Being familiar with Guinness' dramatic work, it came as no surprise to me or my partner that the actor turned in a brilliant performance as Sidney Stratton, a research chemist bent on creating an indestructible fiber. The number of lab explosions and subterfuge Stratton undertakes gives his comedic timing ample opportunities to shine.

The emphasis on chemistry led to the inclusion of the "Guggle Glub Gurgle" song to accompany the chemicals burbling, moving and bubbling. My partner and I assumed that it must have been the work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, who created the music and sound effects for Doctor Who and both the radio and television versions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. To our surprise, the experimental and pioneering electronic music and sound production company was not formed until 1958; 7 years after the release of The Man in the White Suit. Instead, the creative composition was created by sampling sounds made by actual equipment, which may make it the most widely heard example of musique concrète.

The slapstick humor transitions more into satire when Stratton successfully completes the first batch of his indestructible, radioactive fiber, and makes it into the suit of the title. The viability of cloth that does not stain or wear out causes a panic amongst everyone from capitalists, to textile workers, to little old ladies who take in others' washing for a bit of money. The economy and culture would be upended by it in a way that was too massive for people to handle. Luckily for the conservative minded, a flaw in the formula causes the cloth to gradually break down over a few weeks. With Stratton's firing, the threat seems to be neutralized. Except, Stratton has a revelation whilst looking at his formula notes, and at the end strides off, presumably to seek out a means of creating a second version of the indestructible cloth.

Stratton continues the tradition of the mad scientist, but instead of upending morals and religion like his predecessors, he upends capitalism and commerce. Given the post-World War II industrial boom many countries experienced, and the Cold War being configured on communist versus capitalist lines, it's an evolution keeping with the times in which the film was created. He is nevertheless just as antisocial and obsessive as his predecessors Henry Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein.

He also carries on the mad scientist tradition of experimenting on himself by wearing a suit made of his indestructible fiber. Stratton is not merely daily driving his cloth, the way new products are tested for their practicality, because the fiber includes radioactive elements. The long term damage of radiation exposure through patent medicines containing radioactive elements and working with radioluminescent paints was known by the 1930s. It is entirely possible that Stratton could have developed a version of the formula where the cloth would not deteriorate, but the person wearing it would do so horrifically. At that point his cloth would not only be a direct economic threat, but a direct threat to public health.

My speculating and interpreting of the invention central to the film aside, The Man with the White Suit is a fun piece of sci-fi and satire, managing to be equal measures funny, smart, and thought provoking. It's widely available on streaming and home media formats, and definitely worth a watch.