#this is what I'm doing with my sculpture degree

[bitter-sweetener]

Look at this fuck ass doll I'm working on I love it so much 😈

[olailamajnoon]

Batman walks into the Cave before patrol. The kids are lined up in front of him. He glances up at them in frustration.

Batman: why are you all lined up like it's morning and I'm a bakery?

Red Robin: what celestial power determines the body my soul inhabits?

Robin: How do I know there are other consciousnesses besides my own?

Spoiler: How can we administer justice? Do we have an objective template for it, or is it simply something unanchored and fluid?

Nightwing: What is love? An accident, or fate? Destiny, or a puerile farce?

Red Hood: Do you believe in free will, or is evil too a slave to material and physical forces out of its control?

Bruce: ....

Bruce: what pocket dimension have I entered?

Dick, breaking his composure: YoU prOMIseD US! YOu sAID WE'd gO TO diSNEy LAnd this yeAr!!! ON fAThER'S dAY!

Bruce: oh god no

Bruce: ...

Bruce: is that what this is about.

The Batkids look at him with varying degrees of solemn tearful rejection and indifference.

Jason: We've decided to become existentialists to make you sorry.

Bruce: I didn't even know you all WANTED to go to Disneyland!

Damian, hotly: We don't!

Cass: It's the...the...

Everyone politely waits for her to finish her sentence. Cass takes her time to find the right word.

Cass: ....principle of the thing.

Bruce and everyone is amazed Cass is so articulate, but they all have the common sense to not patronize her by clapping or praising her. Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose.

Bruce: I have been strongly discouraged from visiting Disneyland by its CEO. Or any Disney parks.

The Batkids, looking down and away: Oh.

Bruce: Something about me attempting to unionize the Disney Princesses by talking to a pregnant actor about regulation maternity leave. BUT...there IS something we can do.

18 hours later

Clark, landing at the Fortress of Solitude: what the heck...!?

The Fortress is coloured salmon pink on the outside, with purple sparkles and a black pulsing heart painted on the door. Inside there are ice sculptures of Superman getting punched by Batman, in various stages of artisanship and disaster. One involves him almost slipping on a puddle of glittery goo, his cape compromised.

Clark: Oh Bruce. *shaking his head* What have you done.

[abby-howard]

Hi!

I don't know whether it is best to ask here or on the blacktabbygames blog, but since you're the artist behind Scarlet Hollow and Slay The Princess, I thought it might be best to come to you.

I know there's an artbook coming out, but ever since I found out everything is drawn traditionally, I just can't stop thinking about it. You've mentione dlearning digital painting for Reese's art in his toom in one of your posts, and his art is gorgeous! You definitely know your way around a digital painting program. Is there a specific reason why you predominantly use traditional art though? Is it mostly a preference, is it because it adds to the atmosphere of your games in a way digital art can't capture, is it genuinely faster for you??? I've never heard of traditional art being used in games before (at least to this degree) and as someone who approaches digital and traditional art very differently, it fascinates me.

Sorry if this has been asked before and I didn't see it. If this will be explored in the art book.... well, gotta prepare some spending money, don't I?

Have a wonderful day!

Hi there!

What a thoughtful question. I actually hadn't touched on the "why" in the art book, because I forget that this is unusual (especially in games,) so I've now included a little blurb about that! Thanks for asking this question, because I was definitely going to glaze over that aspect of the art XD

I think the main reason I prefer traditional is that it's what I've always used. I didn't have the funds for a tablet growing up and didn't see much use for one when I had a cheap scanner, ball point pens and computer paper readily available (I have since developed more expensive taste in paper and pens...) I obsessed over the way traditional linework was done and tried to emulate it, and it's always brought me so much satisfaction to improve at that!

I'll go ahead and post my little blurb rather than rephrasing it, fortunately the art book has more selling points that my Traditional Art Wisdom so I'm okay spoiling this:

"There’s something about traditional media that feels warm to me. The artifacts, the roughness, the energy of the lines all feel different in a way that makes the art lively. Too much can be changed with digital art, you can spend forever perfecting one line. Whereas traditional makes you commit at a certain point, accepting the imperfections that betray the human behind the page."

This also ties into why I don't do traditional paintings and scan them for, say, Reese's art... I don't like painting ToT it's stressful! You can always paint over mistakes, but I also haven't been building my skills in that department, outside of painting the occasional sculpture, which is half-done already since it's a 3D piece. Never been a big fan of the messy arts, anyway. Even graphite was pushing it....

[uthseikoashx-goingmyway]

HELP FOR MY MASTER’S THESIS: Hannibal fics recs?

hello everyone! :)

for my master’s degree in literature, i study artistic representation in fanfiction, especially in Hannibal (TV) fanfiction. my corpus features every fic published on AO3 that fall under the following tags: “Museum”, “Art”, “Painting”, “Religious Imagery & Symbolism”, from 2013 to june 2024. the aim is to find enough passages to build an interesting corpus of works to compare these texts. 

BUT, obviously, there are a lot of artistic depiction in fanfictions that are not tagged and thus not in my corpus yet. this is where and why i am calling for help. do you know any fic in which some artistic reference impacted you? 

i am searching in the Hannibal (TV) fandom but it may be of any rating, finished or not, etc etc. 

IF you know a piece of fic that is NOT Hannibal-related but would be very interesting to work on (a classic in the fandom? a particulary well-crafted piece? a perfect representation of what appears when you mix fanfiction and art?), i’ll take it, as it may be something worth comparing to my main corpus.

it has NOT to be in english and it can be a translation! EVERY LANGUAGE is good to go! plus encore qu’aux autres, je m’adresse à VOUS, fellow francophones :)

it may be a few lines, whole paragraphs, or an entire fic about it, as long as it references either what we consider artistic (vague remarks on painting, tableaus, sculpture… even in a non-artistic context — treating Hannibal’s tableaus as painting, or Will being described like a Antique sculpture counts — i'm taking these examples as i know it exists in the fandom) or a specific work (a painting in particular : descriptions, etc). 

i am especially curious about works featuring these passages that aren’t tagged with the previous tags; but honestly, i would gladly appreciate some recommendations tagged “Religious Imagery & Symbolism” or something i already mentionned, as it may help me to navigate the hundred of fics i currently have downloaded on my computer (lmao). 

feel free to mention AO3 locked fics as well as fics that are not on AO3 (that would be very much helpful). 

and, of course, you can refer to your own work!

to sum it up: have you any recs of Hannibal (TV) fics recs that include a moment about art / paintings / something treated as art even though it is traditionally not considered as such / etc?

thank you in advance, especially to those who answer and/or share this — and most of all, thanks to everyone who contributes to the fandom by writing, creating and reading <3

[johannestevans]

grumpy bc i was like "Oh i'm miserable and stuck at home, i wonder if there are any good virtual museum tours" and jesus wept the number of these things that literally have just. reflections and light shining off the glass panelling of all the art. what on earth did you think you were accomplishing

yes thank you. this is exactly what i, an ill disabled person, wanted to replicate about the museum experience from the comfort of my own home: the inaccessibility of the art as curated by some absolute fool who did NOT make the best use of their arts degree and/or their common fucking sense

basically every single art museum has a separate page where you can view the individual pieces of art, with a high definition scan or reproduction of the piece, sometimes in three dimensions for sculpture, full biographies of the artist, curators notes over the years, etc. this already exists

so what i foolishly assumed was that in attempting to create a virtual museum tour, you would, sure, attempt to reproduce the effect of walking around the gallery and standing in certain spots… but then you can't zoom in on the art. or even the plaques. you can't see half of it bc of reflections

if you already have an online database, why not???? connect them? have it possible to click on the individual pieces of art and then, you know, SEE the art??? READ the plaque????

i just looked at like a dozen of these things and they're all doing the same insane thing. what the fuck.

[mint-8]

Yandere Sculptor x GN! Reader

Content/Trigger warning: Mentions of stalking.

- Yandere Sculptor who has dedicated their entire life to the creation of their art. The ability to mold rock, clay, resin, plastic, and even cardboard, into beautiful figures, whether they are useful items such as intricate plates and cups, or to detailed and almost life-like copies of animals and people, or to the most abstract and confusing pieces, they can’t deny that they love their innate talent. Thanks to the support and encouragement from their parents from an early age, they have made a name for themselves in many art circles as an up-and-coming prodigy. With hundreds requesting their time and skill for commissions, from weddings, to museums and to private collections, their future was solidified in stone as one of the greatest sculptors of the decade… so why did you have to exist?

- Yandere Sculptor met you in one of their many art shows. Simple, you were intently watching one of their sculptures with a small glass full of champagne while they were talking with one of their fellow artist.

“I’m telling you, marble is way too overrated. Bronze and brass can be just as good of material as any other!”

“…”

“You’re not listening to me, are you?”

“Correct. I’ll leave for now, bye”

“At least try to be more polite about it!”

- Yandere Sculptor gets beside you and as you continue to stare at their piece. They want to talk to you so badly, but over a million possible introduction questions start fighting in their head over which one would be the most optimal until they realize that you have already left the venue and it's are about to close.

"Not so lucky today, eh?"

"..."

"Don't worry, you'll get them next time, champ. I'm sure they wouldn't mind an asshole who leaves their friend to go and try and fail miserably to flirt"

"... You're angry. I'll let you be so you calm down"

"Can't you even pretend to care?!"

- Yandere Sculptor meets you once again in another exhibition, this time with you seemingly talking with someone else. Perfect timing.

- Yandere Sculptor is determined to talk to you this time. They have prepared over 862 possible scenarios for the perfect conversation, which will definitely end with you completely enamored with them, their number in your phone and yours on theirs, and possibly preparing for marriage. Only for them to forget it all after you greet them back.

"..."

"Uhm... are you alright?"

"You're beautiful"

"Oh! Thank you, but-"

"Let's go out"

"Eh?"

- Yandere Sculptor has clearly won you over with their impeccable charisma, and you definitely didn't agree to hang out because you considered them adorably pathetic or felt bad for them. Yandere Sculptor then prepares for the date of their life with help from their friend. They meet you in the park the two of you agreed to go, on a full tuxedo, a bouquet of flowers and expensive jewelry in a cute little box.

"I think you over dressed for this"

"I didn't"

"Oh really? We are in 30-degree weather, and we were supposed to just get some ice cream and walk around the park"

"You are worthy this and everything else in the galaxy"

"... Unconventional but appreciated. Let's go to a cafe first, ok?"

- Yandere Sculptor really loves you with all their heart, but have a very bad time expressing it appropriately, or even with enough care so as to not embarass you in public.

"What's this?"

"A car"

"Yes, obviously. And why is it here?"

"You said you wanted one, so I bought it"

"... Are you an idiot?"

"Funny, my friend said the same"

- Yandere Sculptor will let you be the one with the pants in the relationship and wouldn't even dare to get in your way in whatever you wish to do. They might not get it completely, or at all really, but are very eager to spend time with you, so they will give it their all to make you smile.

- Yandere Sculptor sometimes uses their wealth and connections to protect you and make you happy fro the shadows, like getting a reservation to that show or restaurant you always wanted to go to, hire some bodyguards and detectives to make sure you are safe, bribe some cops to make sure that stalker of yours gets the death penalty, buy land so they can build the house of your dreams when you eventually get married. You know, small stuff.

- Yandere Sculptor does have a nasty side to them, of course. They might be blunt, somewhat stupid, and clueless, and they are completely head over heels for you, but they sometimes wish you would never leave their side. They wish they could keep you in their house forever, praising you and making art in your honor. They already have many sculptures of you (some with a more angelic or godly design than others), plus some portraits and photos from the many commissions they have paid to portray your beauty in new artistic angles.

- Yandere Sculptor has so many artistic representations of you that are sure to last for decades or even generations thanks to their high-quality materials. But it's not enough for them. Just like any other human, you one day will die and leave this terrenal plain of existence to transcend to a more spiritual form, but they don't want your corpse to rot and destroy the beauty that they believe is the same as that of a goddes.

- Yandere Sculptor has a lot of experience with working with resin, so it wouldn't be too difficult to make you into a perfect statue that will never age and never get hurt. It's an interesting thought, an appealing thought, but then you call them to ask if they wish to go to an art exhibition, and they immediately forget it all to get ready for the event. Who knows, perhaps they will be happy to simply be buried with you in the cemetery, but to immortalize you and them into a sculpture...

"It would be beautiful :)"

[starry-eyesanddaydreams]

Day 16 of @deepperplexity 's Rickmas prompts

December 16: Keep warm.

Severus Snape x Reader

A couple days late this one, but life and work happened. Back on schedule now and time for some Professor Snape love.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

December at Hogwarts was a delightfully peaceful time. School was out for the holidays, only a handful of students were staying over Christmas and they had been content to entertain themselves around the castle. Severus was using the time to catch up on some personal research projects, as well as restocking the school’s medical supplies. The common cold had been making its rounds of the school towards the end of term, depleting Poppy’s supply of pepper-up potion. He set a cauldron aside over a low flame. It would need to simmer untouched for a day before he moved onto the next step. He stretched his tight shoulders, realising he’s spent most of the day inside his lab, and headed to the kitchenette in his chambers for some tea. As he waited for the water to boil, his eyes were drawn to main room of his chambers.  The living area was decorated with holly and pine garlands, a Christmas tree stood in one corner, decorated with shining ornaments. White Christmas candles dotted the room around the garlands. It gave the room a warm and cozy feel to it. Once, he wouldn’t have bothered with trivialities like Christmas decorations. That was before you’d joined the staff of the school. Before that stubborn, beautiful energy of yours had chipped away at his emotional walls and wrapped around his heart. You’d brought softness and simple joy into his life, pulling him bit by bit out of his shell. He still had his reputation as the fierce bat of the potions class, but with you he had started to enjoy the life he lived in a way he never could before. Which included you decorating your now shared living space with holiday cheer. His eyes were drawn to the tree again. Some of the ornaments were older, reused since your childhood or collected along the years. Some were new, Severus had bought some of them, not having any childhood trinkets of his own to add but learning how to build something new with you.

He was snapped out of his musings by the stove top kettle boiling and he was finishing making his tea when the main door opened, and you hurried inside. Severus looked up and just blinked a few times at the sight of you. You were bundled up in a wool hat, scarf and gloves…and his black winter coat. The overcoat, which was already wide in the shoulders and long on him, absolutely swamped your smaller form, reaching down to the floor and the sleeves falling past your hands. You set a basket by your feet and after you tugged your hat and scarf off you noticed Severus watching you. Smiling, you headed across the room towards him. Severus couldn’t contain his rumbling chuckle and his dark eyes were sparkling with humour. “What are you laughing at?” You asked s you reached him. “Just the sight of you in my coat. Looks like it’s trying to eat you.” He answered, still smirking. He couldn’t help it, you looked adorable. You huffed, “Gotta do something to keep warm out there, it’s bloody freezing now. It was this or there’d be a human shaped ice sculpture on the road to Hogsmeade.” Severus pulled you in towards him, deftly undoing the buttons on the coat and slipping his arms under it and around your waist. “We can’t have you freezing, can we.” He said, “Now, what can be done to keep you warm now you’re home?” You grinned up at him and snuggled in closer to his chest, “I can think of a few ways.” You leaned up, brushing his warm lips with your cool ones. Severus’s life had changed so much since you’d entered it. And he was grateful for every moment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reader is trying not to freeze in this and I'm writing it on a 37-degree day (98 Fahrenheit) Ahh the southern hemisphere.

[splat20]

drizzt reading update:

I blacked out and read two more books.

Entreri............ Entreri and Drizzt........... Did all that actually happen????? Did I dream that? Just....... WHAT?

This is so dangerous for me, Entreri is soooooooooooo....... He's so un-normal. The flavor. He might be the part that's taken me past the point of no return with these books. I can't do this, I can't fall for another awful little man with bags under his eyes large enough to hold groceries.

It's the way he manages to have sexual tension with everyone in the room just through the pure gravitational pull of his antagonism but is somehow 9000% asexual at the exact same time. No, not asexual. He's inventing a new kind of thing that's Worse. Fightsexual. Badchoicesgender. The primal rage of the retail night manager who spends his whole shift smoking behind the dumpster and yet somehow runs the tightest ship you have ever seen through pure spite alone. You make eye contact with him once and every dream you ever had about maybe going back to finish your bachelor's degree in ceramics and sculpture shrivels to dust within his vortex of hopelessness and directionless wrath.

You can't be serious, Entreri, you can't be serious about declaring Drizzt your ultimate soul rival for BEING A GOOD PERSON and you're not even aware that's what it is, you're just tying up his friend to an old-timey railroad track like "This is normal. I'm a professional. I'm not having a mental breakdown. This definitely isn't the most fun I've had in my entire life."

The way there's this sliver at the back of Drizzt's mind that prevents him from fully blaming Entreri because he can recognize that Entreri was created through utter lovelessness--the way that Drizzt can't help but have grace for that, but the very reason that Entreri is hunting him down is because Entreri cannot physically acknowledge his failure because he physically cannot offer himself that same grace. And what do you even do when you're torn to the very marrow and find NOTHING at your center? Nothing but the grace of the exact person you hate most for being exactly what you could not be? IT'S SO JUICY.

[fandomfluffandfuck]

Hi, S! You've talked a few times about being an artist as well as a writer on here. Have you ever shown any of your art on here or would you be willing to? :-)

Hey, sweetheart!

I am an artist! I have talked about it a little on here. It's what I'm in school for, actually. I'm doing an art degree focusing on traditional graphite/colored pencil drawing and ceramics (mostly sculpture, but I've been getting better at the potter's wheel along the way, lol).

As far as showing off art on here, I've done a little bit of that. You can find links to most of what I've posted, if not all, through my Randoms Masterlist or the "s arts" tag.

Almost everything I've posted has been sketches, though. I think the only real, finished work I've put on here was in answer to this ask.

(I'm somewhat weary of putting actual finished works on here because my work is distinct to me, obviously, and the fine arts world might not be open to tracing my identity back to a very overtly kinky blog, lol, but also just because my finished works aren't related to fandom)

Also, since you asked, have a few more recent fandom related sketches:

Please excuse the graphite shine and bubbly paper in that Seb drawing. It's literally done on shitty printer paper 💀💀

[deathbydarkelves]

Hi ! I've just discovered your AU, and as an unconditional fan of nigh elves, I'm absolutely fascinated with your worldbuilding.

I wanted to ask, does your AU include the return of the High borns in darnassian society ? How do people view magic and the kaldorei who can wield it ?

So sorry for the delay in answering this! I’ve been struggling with mush-for-brains-itis for the past couple weeks lmao. Thank you for sending this in!!

The way I write it, the Highborne really aren’t a thing anymore. It was an invented category to begin with, a name the elite and powerful gave to themselves. They weren’t any more capable of the arcane than any other kaldorei; they just had the easiest access to arcane literature and artifacts. But they did certainly say or outright believe they were innately gifted. And that was such a widely-spread idea that many kaldorei today still believe arcane ability can vary to that degree (it does vary, but no more than any other trait a person can have. If you have "just okay" muscularity genetics and you work out every day, you're gonna be way buffer than someone with really favorable genetics who never works out, y'know? Lifestyle is what actually matters.)

And there are definitely still people who call themselves Highborne, but the caste system that created them simply doesn’t exist anymore (note: I’m thinking of making modern kaldorei society on a surface level somewhat similar to Edo society), and most kaldorei tend to get weirded out when anyone does start throwing the terms “Highborne” and “lowborn” around. Perhaps for obvious reasons…

So, especially after secession and after Suramar and Kal’thalas (the kaldorei nation) opened trade, a lot of people who called themselves Highborne actually moved to Suramar. There still aren’t any “official” ways to learn magic in any great capacity in Kal’thalas, so Suramar is really the only option for people interested in doing so.

Like I said, I still need to sit down and design the feudal system of Kal’thalas, but I’m thinking it was designed in such a way to discourage a group like the Highborne from ever developing again. That seems like something Tyrande would do. As it is in my head right now — and I know the popular conception of samurai is completely inaccurate to the actual, shitty history — the Watchers function kinda like (romanticized) samurai. Necessarily, they’re also a much larger group in my AU. They own the land, they speak for the people who live there, and they communicate any threats to that land to the Sentinels, Wardens, druids, and each other. To function as a royal in modern kaldorei society, you have to first be deemed worthy of it by a society of centuries- or millennia-old warriors. And even if you get that far, and get through all the training and whatnot, you’re gonna have Maiev and by extension Tyrande breathing down your neck. That’s not very conducive to the Highborne ideals.

The system has definitely failed in the past, it definitely has cracks — there have been corrupt Watchers and even small-scale conflicts. I’m thinking there were even some outright wars during the Long Vigil. Issues can crop up when the ruling Watcher of a region is called away and has to put someone else in their place. But it mostly, usually, on average, works not terribly.

But magic usage is definitely more socially accepted now, as not only the political leaders but the majority of kaldorei in general have seen the other races demonstrate that it can be used responsibly. Younger and widely-traveled folks like Cathala and Tarinne basically don’t even give a shit. You might still get side-eyed as a mage if you’re a little too eager to show off your skills, but you’re not going to get mobbed by the guards lol. Enchanted objects are becoming more and more commonplace, from little glass sculptures that display what tomorrow’s weather will (most likely) look like, to kettles that keep the water at just the right temperature even an hour after you take it off the fire, to… ah, certain kinds of objects used in more private settings (in fact those were probably some of the first enchanted objects ‘on the market’ so to speak and definitely sweetened the deal for a lot of people lmao).

So I suppose in short: technically if you want to call yourself Highborne and practice magic within Kal’thalas’ borders, you’ll get along fine. Just don’t be too cocky about it. And honestly you’ll have a better shot at the kind of life you want to live in Suramar, or by associating with the kinds of organizations that tend to stay in the shadows. Ylrith runs one such organization. And though many kaldorei would disagree (such as Tarinne), the culture has shifted a lot in the short time it’s been exposed to the outside world. Arcane magic isn’t the taboo it was. It’s in people’s houses. Enchanted clothes and food and books on the arcane come with the trade ships from Suramar. There are respected individuals — scientists, doctors, philosophers — who learned the basics of the arcane during Kal’thalas’ time with the Alliance and show again and again how much of a boon this new angle has been to their work.

There are certain forms of arcane magic that get people jumpy. Or really jumpy. Possessing azerite in any amount is strictly forbidden, and any time a natural source is discovered, Wardens and druids swarm the place and no-one really knows what happens after that. But by and large: the arcane is a natural part of the world, and the kaldorei are gradually coming around to accepting that again.

[thebluestbluewords]

Jane’s Recipe Blog: Peanut Butter Cookies

(the recipe blog backstory)

Hi everyone! 

It's Sugar again, back with another easy-peasy cookie recipe! This recipe is only four ingredients, and it's super easy to make even if you're cooking in a dorm kitchen with the bare minimum of baking supplies. All you need is a bowl, a spoon, an oven-safe baking dish, and an oven! It's perfect if you're a busy student who's craving something sweet, or if you're living in a WICKED HOUSEHOLD OF EVIL with roommates who break all of your whisks and lie about it when you ask where they went 🙃

Not that I'd know ANYTHING about that. 

As a side note, do you guys ever feel betrayed by the people you're supposed to be closest with? Like, for example, you wake up in the dead of night, alone in the bed you're supposed to be sharing, and when you decide to brave the cold, dark house with only your fluffy slippers for company, you creep all the way down to the kitchen, only to find it empty? 

Like, super empty. Suspiciously empty. 

Drawers hanging open, missing my favorite whisk kind of empty. 

I'm a brave kind of girl, so I put on my big girl PJs, grabbed the big flashlight from the hall closet, and went exploring. I thought that maybe a baked good burglar had snuck in and kidnapped my boyfriend while I was sleeping, thinking he was some sort of spun-sugar sculpture, and then stole my whisk (and the perfect crackle-top brownies that I'd made the night before) along with him, but no. The house was still locked up tight. We didn't even have the chickens loose in the house this time, which ALWAYS happens whenever we leave the door open for longer than five seconds, so I thought that either this burglar really knows their stuff, or the baked good thief was coming from inside the house. 

Readers, I was betrayed. 

I snuck down, past the empty, whisk-less kitchen, past the living room where we USED to play games together, past the bedroom where our unsuspecting roommates were still sound asleep (I did check, and neither of them had been woken up by this blatant thievery!), all the way to the creepy, spidery basement. 

Finally, I found the light. And my boyfriend. And my brownies. 

Do you see what's missing from this list? Discerning readers may notice an essential absence of my favorite whisk. This isn't a mistake. My whisk was not present with the rest of the goods. 

OR SO I THOUGHT. 

My boyfriend, my beloved partner, my favorite person in the whole wide world, except for right now because I'm still mad about the loss of my whisk, was at his workbench. With my brownies, and the DESICCATED PIECES OF MY WHISK SCATTERED ABOUT HIM LIKE THE INSIDE OF A DOG TOY. There was wire embedded in the ceiling. 

(and his fingers. Send help, please. This boy cannot stop injuring himself). 

I'm pleased to report that I did not brain my boyfriend to death with my flashlight 🙂 I'm less pleased to report that yes, he did steal my favorite whisk for one of his mechanical projects, and no, he didn't understand that "I needed more wire" was not an acceptable reason to start sourcing it from my baking supplies. 

If you feel like sending a little extra goodness our way, please do. He’ll need it 🙂

Anyway, these are the easiest, tastiest peanut butter cookies ever! All you need is peanut butter, sugar, an egg, and a little bit of flour to bring them together. Find the full recipe below! 

Easy-Peasy Peanut Butter Cookies 

Ingredients: 

1 Cup Peanut butter (any kind will work, but my favorite is Darling's Extra Smooth!) 

1 Cup Granulated Sugar 

1 Large Chicken Egg 

1/3 Cup Flour (I used gluten-free, because we live the allergy friendly life here!! Any kind will work, these cookies are VERY forgiving. Unlike some people whom I won't name right now. Can you guess who it might be???) (it’s me).

Instructions: 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Or 180 degrees Celsius, if you’re using scientific measure. These cookies are the antithesis of science though, so I recommend whatever unit of measure your oven defaults to. You can even put them in a toaster oven if it has an accurate temperature gauge!

Add the peanut butter, sugar, and egg to a mixing bowl. Mix well. With a SPOON.

Cry about your whisk a little bit. It was the last thing you had from your dearly departed mother. (My mom is on a cruise with her acapella group right now, and I’m actually kind of glad she’s out of the country and not here to witness the shame I’m going through. My Good baking supplies, taken from right out under my nose!)

Mix the flour in a little bit at a time, until your cookie dough feels like a stiff modeling clay. You might need a little more or less flour. Once your dough can hold the spoon upright, it’s ready.

Roll the dough into balls. Measure with your heart- this recipe is an art, not a science! They can be whatever size you want. I like to use about two tablespoons per ball, but if you’re still in love and haven’t been cruelly betrayed by your boyfriend, you could even make one giant heart shaped cookie!

The cookies will spread a little bit, so if a mega cookie isn’t your jam, leave about 2-3 inches between the cookie balls on your baking tray. No need to grease the tray- the natural oils from the peanut butter will do that for you!

Dip a fork in a little extra baking sugar and smash the balls down into cookie shapes. Imagine what other balls you could smash with your fork. Get distracted. Learn that a salad fork fits nicely in the holes of a whiffle ball. Accidentally give the tweens you’re babysitting a new, extra dangerous game. Baking is fun!

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven and let set ON THE TRAY before moving to a cooling rack. This part is super important. The cookies will crumble if you move them too soon. For bonus points, you can sprinkle some chunky salt on top of them while you’re waiting. It’ll settle into the soft tops of the cookies and add a nice extra flavor.

I hope you love the recipe!

Learn from my mistakes— protect your kitchen with your life!

—Sugar

[laufire]

Yesterday I finally watched La virgen roja ("the red virgin"), a Spanish film based on the story of Aurora and Hildegart Rodríguez Carballeira, a mother-daughter duo who lived in the early 20th century, specifically set during the time of the Second Republic.

I have mixed feelings about this film. On the one hand, I think it is a good film. Stunning visuals, compelling acting, and a good soundtrack that all together immerse you in its period, which is what I ask of historical fiction. But as historical fiction, its adherence to facts is something that merits its own scrutiny, separatedly, or maybe in addition, its artistic value (something I do not dispute).

It focuses on a harrowing and rarely discussed event; despite generally being interested in this period and it hitting, frankly, an eerily accurate interesction of my interests, I only found out about it on January of last year. The film reignited my interest, and I'm sure it's awakened many others', which is a huge point in its favour. But it's also made me think about how women's narratives are told, the shape they form, and why that is; something I think about a lot, regardless, but of which this particular film has become a good case of study.

To be as brief as possible: Aurora raised Hildegart on her own, conceiving her with eugenist goals in mind, desiring to shape "the first free woman" who would ~change the world and liberate us. She raised her by strict rules, and the result was a prodigy. Hildegart had a law degree at 17, when she started another few (philology and languages, medicine). She published sixteen monographs and over 150 articles on politics, sexology, and other matters. She participated in politics, joining leftist parties and advocating for women's liberation. She spoke multiple languages and wrote and established professional relationships with famous authors of the time, such as H.G. Wells or Havelock Ellis.

On June 9th, 1933, at the age of 18, Hildegart was murdered by her mother while she slept.

The facts as we know it paint a picture of a rapidly deteriorating relationship. Aurora was extremely controlling, and as she grew into adulthood, Hildegart chaffed more and more against it. Things came to a head when H.G. Wells invited Hildegart to come with him to England, and not Aurora, something that would let her step free from her mother's shadow in a definite way, and that increased Aurora's rapidly growing paranoia about people wanting to steal her daughter. As well as, possibly, her disappointed in Hildegart herself: she apparently described her as a "failed project" and, as an sculpture who sees an "imperfection" in their work, tore it down.

The movie, rather than in Hildegart's professional ambitions, or in an intrinsic desire for freedom after a lifetime of such strict control, put much more focus on a romance.

The real facts on this seem dubious at best. There has never been a definite confirmation of its status. Aurora seemingly denied it on the trial and refused to discuss it further; the man himself, a lawyer and leftist politician called Abel Velilla, denied it on an article shortly after Hildegart's death. Given Aurora's... everything, and that Velilla was 13 years older than Hildegart, I don't consider those denials the most trustworthy. And as a narrative, it makes sense. It makes sense that someone like Aurora would consider this one more failure and betrayal on Hildegart's part. It makes sense that Hildegart, 18yo, saw in this man another avenue for freedom.

When I say "it makes sense", I mean that it's a familiar story. A story we've all been familiarised with, have expectations about, and thus, that it makes sense to pull on this thread for a film, a structured, fictionalised story.

But I find it a good example of how restricted women's narratives often are. How creatives turn to the familiar, the romance, man and woman, to tell their story. How it romanticises this dynamic (painting them more like peers than a teenager and the 30yo man they were in reality) to portray a classic tale of young love versus jealous and controlling mother. How it blurrs the line of Hildegart's possible infatuation with Abel being a manifestation of her desires to escape her home or the cause of that desire existing at all.

How a story about a woman that removed, or even minimised, the romantical aspect, or treated it more cynically, might have struggled more to find its audience, or even to built up its own narrative, by rebuffing more familiar structures.

Another nitpick I have, less important to me than the above, but plenty relevant in terms of historical fiction trends IMO, is the choice of actresses to portray Aurora and Hildegart. They're good actress and do a good job, to be clear. But boy, they look NOTHING like their real-life counterparts. They're not even prettified-within-characterisation versions, women who look similar but fit beauty standards (and specifically Hollywood beauty standards) much better. They're straight up nothing alike. And with Aurora, I can't help but think this would've been a double-edged sword (I can just imagine what a film would've done with an ugly woman in this role), but with Hildegart, the choice of going with a waif-like actress that in no way looks like the photographs we have of a chubby, baby-faced Aurora seems very, very pointed to me.

[strangegutz]

Apologies if you've answered an ask like this before, but I've noticed that your drawing style and your dollmaking are very different, with your dolls being more stylized. Would you say that developing an art style for your dolls was easier/harder/different than finding a drawing style, and is there a reason you gravitate towards a 3D art style so different from your 2D one? I ask because I've always drawn in a semi-realistic style but want to make dolls, and I was wondering what it's like to make the jump. Personally, I feel like I struggle to unlearn/make myself get over the rules of proportions and anatomy in order to make more stylized stuff. Sorry for rambling a bit!

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out a good way to answer the first part of your question, about developing the separate art styles- I might get back to you on that if I can think of anything later (particularly difficult bc theyre both styles ive had for a Long Time that have just evolved over time so it's hard to pinpoint feelings on the development)

As for why they're so different, it's mostly because most dolls you see are pretty realistic, to a degree. I think it's more fun, visually striking, and just all around easier on my brain to make them styled out of a bunch of cobbled together shapes- it tickles something in my brain, and it feels like I'm making something fresh. That being said, it's also my skill level, I couldn't make a 3D version of my usual 2D art style if I tried- drawing noses at all angles is hard enough, sculpting them? I'd explode.

Also with them having bendy wire for bodies, it feels more fitting to be extra stylized, rather than something realistic with rubberhose arms

I'll also add that I can/have drawn 2D work in my 3D style, but haven't in a while- it's easier to jump around to different styles on paper than it is with full on sculptures, haha

I do want to make dolls of a couple of my cowboy characters, it'll be interesting to compare the two styles side by side!

[jasper-book-stash]

December 2024 Reading Wrap-Up

I've read eight books this month, and most were entirely neutral to good for me...with one exception. That means that my grand total of books for 2024 was 103, though I only enjoyed somewhere around 30 of them. Anyway, here's the December list:

Religious Text

None applicable.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny | Mark Stavish

Just gonna link this...

2/10 - Trash

None applicable.

3/10 - Meh

None applicable.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Seventy-Eight Degrees Of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey To Self-Awareness | Rachel Pollack

I respect what this book has historically done for tarot and tarot reading, but as a standalone book outside of that context, I didn't...enjoy it.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

Scorpions Of Medical Importance | Hugh L Keegan

A very fascinating book on scorpions from 1980. Despite this, not every scorpion depicted here is deadly. What I thought was most fascinating was the fact that it called the deathstalker (Leiurus quinquestriatus) the only species in Leiurus...because 18 out of 19 of the other ones were only discovered after the book was published. It is pretty outdated as far as listed places with antivenins goes, though.

Scorpions: Plus Other Popular Invertebrates | Jerry G Walls

A decent book on caring for scorpions, considering it goes really in-depth despite only having 88 pages. I did skip over the appendices at the back about other invertebrates though, because while I'm not scared of scorpions, I'm scared of many of the other bugs and arachnids in the back. No thank you.

Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack, volume 25 | Jim Davis

I picked this one on a whim from the library I work at because I love Garfield comics. Fuck you. The caveat I have for this one is that if you don't enjoy reading 286 pages of mostly-three-panel-comics, it won't be enjoyable. I had fun though.

9/10 - Very Very Good

The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art Of Decluttering And Organizing | Marie Kondo

I actually found this book surprisingly helpful??? Which was irritating to me, because I'm always surprised when popular things are actually...good. Though Marie Kondo's theory doesn't work for everyone since it's very focused on how you feel, and if you're struggling to feel anything for any reason, it's not gonna help much. I do think it's very funny that she outright encourages you to send her book away if it doesn't spark joy either. Incredible.

Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture | Ludwig Goldscheider

This is a series of photographs of many, many of Michelangelo's works, and the quality of the photos are gorgeous. I found this on the free table of the library I work at and enjoyed flipping through and admiring the details.

Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated, volume 1 | Katsura Ise, Takuma Yokota

Yes, yes, this is a new printing of an old Magic: The Gathering manga about players playing the game. I didn't expect the prophecies of Nostradamus to be a major plot point. And I fucking loved it.

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

None applicable.

[five-rivers]

Seascape Chapter 1

AO3

Same kind of premise as Baroque and Turpentine, but AU to them. I'm going to do this one in chapters.

.

After they finished sparring, and Danny was laying in the snow, trying to get his energy back, Frostbite floated several feet overhead, looking at something down past the edge of the island.  

“Are you, um,” said Danny, breathing hard even though breathing was at least somewhat optional for him, “are you looking for something?”

“Not precisely,” said Frostbite.  “More… examining something.  I believe your color vision is better than mine.  Would you mind checking something for me?”

Danny peeled himself out of the very comfortable snowbank and flew up to hover next to Frostbite.  “What is it?”

“There,” said Frostbite, pointing.  “Do you detect any difference in color in that direction?”

“Um,” said Danny, blinking, squinting, and tilting his head to one side.  “It’s a little bluer than usual, maybe?”  He turned to look in other directions for comparison.  “Yeah, it’s bluer.  Kind of that sea-blue-green whatever color.  Is that a bad thing, or…?”

“Oh,” said Frostbite, beaming.  “No, no, it’s excellent.  Excellent news.  I thought I might be deluding myself.”

“So… what does it mean?”

Frostbite blinked at Danny for a moment.  “Ah, yes, I forget that you are young enough that you have never seen the turning of the age.”

“Uh, yeah.  Yep.  I can confirm that I do not know what that is.”

Frostbite nodded.  “It is… something like changing seasons, only less predictable.”

Less predictable did sound like the Ghost Zone.  

“So, is it going to be, like, green-blue season or something?”

“To be entirely proper, it is a cyan age,” said Frostbite.  “Although some people also call it a blue age.”

“And things will just be… cyan?”

Frostbite chuckled.  “There are a great many more changes than that.  I think you will like this age.  Cyan ages tend to be… peaceful.”

Danny tried to imagine a color change making any of the ghosts he knew less violent, and failed miserably.  “How’s that?”

“It’s, hm.”  Frostbite scratched his chin.  “It can be a little difficult to explain all at once.  I believe we managed to retain some sculptures and murals from the last cyan age that you can see.  In the meantime, I will do my best to explain as we return.”

“Sure,” said Danny, with a shrug, starting towards the village at a sedate pace.  He was trying to be, well, cool, but his curiosity was well and truly piqued.  

“An age,” said Frostbite, after a moment, “is like a season.  But it is also a change to how the Realms work, how they are structured, how they behave.  The ambient ectoplasm color is something of an indicator, showing the character of the age we are turning to long before any major changes.  Green ages, of any shade, tend towards the chaotic, diverse, and individualistic.  Some would call them natural.  Others say they are merely anarchic.”

That did match more or less with what Danny had observed of the Ghost Zone and the ghosts.

“You mean, it’s not always people wanting to fight all the time?” asked Danny.  

“Well,” said Frostbite, scratching the back of his neck, a character tic he’d picked up from Danny, “not all the time, Great One.  But, yes, the turning of the age comes with altered appearances and instincts for most ghosts, and although the core of who we are does not change, much else does.  For example, red ages engender very hierarchical, stratified societies with a great emphasis on obedience.”

“That doesn’t sound great,” said Danny.  

“Red ages aren’t all bad,” said Frostbite.  “But I imagine that going from a green age to a red age would be quite a shock, especially for you.”

“What?  Why?”

“Because despite the nature of green ages, you tend towards attempts to be social, even to fit in, to some degree.”

“So… a red age would make me, what, more social?”

“You might find it difficult to resist the instincts of your new form, yes,” said Frostbite.  

Danny grimaced at the reminder that, somehow, they were going to get new forms.  Whatever that meant.  “But what about blue ages?  Cyan ages, I mean,” he corrected himself, wanting to use the right words.  “What do they do?”

“Specifically with regards to society… City states and democracies are very common.  But with regards to everything else…”  He paused, thinking.  “Most ages align with one or more, how should I put this, human conceptions of the otherworld.  To fantasies.  Red ages tend to appear hell-like, to use it as an example again.  One persistent fantasy is that of a world under water.”

“Like the Drowned Quarter.”

“Very like the Drowned Quarter,” agreed Frostbite.  “But vast.  An ocean that encompasses all the Realms.”

Danny… wasn’t sure how that would work.  “So, kind of like it is now, but… wetter?  Floating in water instead of in the air?”

“No,” said Frostbite.  “There is a reason I wanted to show you the murals.”  They had reached the village again.  “Come, Great One.”

They entered the cave complex that also hosted the Infi-Map and a number of other artifacts the Far Frozen protected, but peeled off the main tunnel, taking a smaller one that Danny had never been down before.  There was a square cave at the end of the tunnel with a statue in the center, each of the cave’s three uninterrupted walls covered by a large mural made of gold, ice, and stone.  

“Here we are,” said Frostbite.  “These were made in the last cyan age, which was quite some time ago.”

“Huh,” said Danny, walking around the statue.  It was made of ice and a bit bigger than Frostbite, with wide, flipper-like paws and a substantial tail.  It looked a lot like a cross between a polar bear and a sea lion… and maybe… Danny glanced back at Frostbite before turning to the murals.  

All three were seascapes, icy ones, with huge glaciers both above and below the water.  Beings like the one in the statue swam through waves, but they weren’t alone.  Mermaids and mermen with seal-like tails and strange patterns on their torsos swam alongside them.  Overhead…

“Is that another ocean in the sky?” asked Danny, who was half sure he was interpreting the picture correctly.  

“It is,” said Frostbite.  “It is not a constant feature, but it is quite common in cyan ages.”

“Right, right.  Um, are these…?”  He hesitantly pointed at the polar-bear-sea-lion beings.  

Frostbite chuckled.  “Yes, that is what we yetis become.  In fact, our tribe’s history indicates that we were first founded in a cyan age, which is perhaps why we enjoy them so much.”  He sighed, happily.  “Ah, and it may be of more interest to you to note that those are halfas.”

“Wait, what?” asked Danny, head whipping back and forth between Frostbite and the mermaids - merpeople? - Frostbite was pointing at.  “Really?  How?”

“Halfas are much more common in cyan ages,” said Frostbite.  “For one, natural portals in the ocean become much more common, and historically sailors–”

“I get it, I get it,” said Danny, quickly.  “But… you said for one?  Are there other reasons?”

Frostbite nodded.  “Many halfas born in cyan ages do not remain in contact with the Realms when the age changes.  They, ah, in cyan ages the transformation halfas use is changed quite a bit.  So, when the age changes, they can choose to stay human.  Most do.  But when the age changes back, their descendants tend to return, called back by the water.  I do hope they do this time as well.  It has been a long time indeed, and I think it would be good for you.”

“Uh huh,” said Danny, who, if Frostbite hadn’t said something super concerning, would probably be asking dozens of questions about the families.  “But what do you mean my transformation is going to change?  Am I going to be stuck?”

“Not at all!  Not at all!” said Frostbite, reassuringly.  He patted Danny’s back.  “The ones I knew transformed by removing their skin.”

“What,” said Danny, not at all reassured.  

“Their- Not in the way you are thinking, Great One.  They would have a sort of garment, usually a coat, which they would put on when they wished to transform.  It would… meld with their skin and change them to the form you see here.”  He pointed at the murals again.  “Then, to become human again, they would take it off.”

That sounded awfully familiar.  Something Sam mentioned, maybe?  Something to do with seals…  He shuffled through his eclectic mythological knowledge.  “Selkies,” he said, finally.  “That’s what you’re talking about, isn’t it?”

“That was one word that was used,” agreed Frostbite.  “But you can see why it would be very easy for them to simply… not wear their coats again.”

“Because they didn’t want to be changed.”

Frostbite nodded.  

“That’s, um.  That’s.  That’s a lot,” said Danny, looking at the murals.  He… genuinely didn’t know how he felt about all this.  He wasn’t sure if he could say he liked the Ghost Zone as it was, but it was familiar, at this point, and…  “Frostbite, how is that going to happen for me?  I mean, am I just going to transform one day, and then I’ll have, like, a sealskin coat flop off of me?”

“I confess, I’m unsure,” said Frostbite.  “As I said, few halfas ever stayed through the end of the age.”

“Cool,” said Danny.  “That’s… cool.”  Maybe he’d just have his suit be his ‘coat’ or something.  Hopefully.  He could be lucky sometimes.

“But as a positive for you,” said Frostbite, clearly sensing Danny’s lack of enthusiasm.  “You won’t have to deal with ghost attacks anymore, yes?”

“I mean, the portal is still going to be there, so…”

“Very few will go through it,” said Frostbite, confidently.  “In addition to no longer being able to fly–”

“Wait, what?” asked Danny, that little casual piece of information much more upsetting to him than the skin thing.  “I won’t be able to fly?”

“Many powers are altered in these changes,” said Frostbite, apologetically.  “But, again, as ghost becomes mer, attacks on your town should stop.  Very few of us can stand to be on dry land during cyan ages.”

“But I won’t be able to fly?”

Frostbite gave him a cautious pat.  “I’m afraid not, Great One, but swimming is very similar.”

Danny, somehow, had doubts.

[itsalongwaytotipperary]

What do you think a modern-day AU Ángel would be like? Career, education, fashion sense, living situation? I'm so curious!

Thank you so much for this question anon!! honestly i don't have a whole lot of ideas of modern AU Ángel, but I'll try my best:

For career, the main idea I have for him is an Interior Designer, maybe an Artist on the side (for fun, because unless you're famous art doesn't usually pay that much). I think Ángel's privilege as the son of an upper class and assumedly wealthy woman (if we assume the backstory with his mother is similar to that of the s1 1899 universe, which I do) means that he has the sort of connections to become well known as an Interior Designer and actually make enough money off of it to live comfortably.

For education, I think he has some sort of art degree (fine arts or digital), which he completed in secret while getting the degree his mother actually paid for his education to get (my theory is engineering). As someone with little to no fashion sense, there's really not much I can say about Ángel's style. I think the general aesthetic he has in season 1 he probably also has in a modern au; classy, put together, etc... he probably likes jewelry, but has no piercings due to a fear of needles (no tattoos, either). That one isn't my idea though, it belongs to @admiraleyk, who has a lot of good ideas about 1899 characters in a modern AU!

As for his living situation, if you assume he makes good money as an Interior Designer (which I think he would, for several reasons), he can probably afford to live alone and in a relatively expensive apartment. There aren't a whole lot more ideas I have about him, but I do think he's very interested in sculpture as a medium. I think he would try it out, maybe in clay? There's definitely other people you could ask about their modern au Ángel headcanons (especially his fashion sense lol), but I hope this was a good answer!