#truly you will have better luck just printing it at a photo place yourself

[holmesillustrations]

Do you happen to know where you can get high quality resolution prints of some of SP illustrations? I've been dying for a copy of "What a lovely thing a rose is."

honestly not really? a lot of the uh. 'Art Print' stores online just scrape from wikimedia and pinterest and the oroboros loop of Other art print stores so theyre usually not any better quality than what you find there (if not significantly worse even) and theyre pretty scummy as companies so theyre really not worht giving your money to. And then these are also mostly illustrations that were printed pretty small in a magazine so even high quality scans are not easy to scale up.

That said, 'what a lovely thing a rose is' IS in pretty good quality on wikimedia so you could probably get that printed yourself? That's where i sourced most of the images for the bracket as well, and ones that are missing or poor quality there i tried to find in copies of the actual books or magazines on archive.org which is usually the next best option

[egcdeath]

opposites attract

pairing: steve rogers x villain!reader

summary: based off of the lyrics:

“you and i are two oceans apart

we're on earth to break each others hearts

in two, and it's hard

with you, when i'm too far

from you, i look at the stars,

do you?”

from ‘ferrari’ by the neighbourhood

warnings: injuries, sparring, mention of blood and bruises, angst, fluff, and banter

word count: 3.7k

a/n: i am a simple woman. i think of a hurt/comfort concept and am morally obligated to write it. (this is a repost from the other day so if you saw it before, no you didn’t)

if you’d like to be added to my taglist, click here! as always, comments and reblogs are always appreciated <3

Thick, cushioned, cream colored walls. You supposed this was an upgrade from your last room, with its harsh and reflective steel. Every time you made an appearance here, it seemed there was a new, yet futile, attempt to keep you contained.

As you studied the pillowy surface, you drummed your fingers on the wooden table that your hands were currently strapped down to, and secretly hoped for your captor to rear his head, even if he was peeking through the double-sided mirror to your left.

Your mind proved itself to be a powerful thing, as the door ahead of you opened, and none other than Captain America stepped in, looking valiant and proud as ever.

“Good afternoon, Captain,” you greeted.

“Flux,” he said in a matter of faculty tone, nodding his head at you before pulling the chair in front of you aside and sitting down.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” you asked, as if you hadn’t been tussling with him in the streets less than an hour ago.

“Y’know, just our biweekly catch up,” he shrugged, playing along.

“Can I suggest coffee for our next meeting?”

Steve scoffed, but you almost swore that if you squinted, you could see him blush. “Enough of that,”  he mumbled before opening a yellow folder and turning it to face you. “You ready to tell me about him?” Steve asked, pointing to a printed photo of Brock Rumlow.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Captain,” you responded, looking up and batting your lashes at the man. This routine was like clockwork for you two. Fight a little, get yourself caught after a moment of weakness, and end up in an interrogation room.

“Don’t play dumb with me Flux,” he warned in a snarl, wrapping his fingers against your wrist and making you yelp. That was definitely going to leave a mark.

“Ouch, Captain. You’re being rough today, even for you.”

“I’m always rough with you,” he insisted, raising a brow as he loosened his hold on you.

“You’re being rougher than usual, that’s what I just said,” you furrowed your own brows at him. “Something on your mind?

“You’re stalling,” Steve stated while squinting at you.

“I would never do something like that, Cap,” you closed your eyes and visualized the outside of the building. “Does it have anything to do with those accords?”

You opened an eye quick enough to catch a glimpse of his jaw ticking, “I didn’t mean to strike a chord. Oh my gosh, ‘a chord’, accord. I really didn’t even mean to do that.”

You opened your other eye to get a clear view of him glaring at you. “Okay, sorry, I’ll be out of your hair in a moment,” you gave Steve a sly wink.

He stood up from the chair in a dramatic fashion, leaning down to get right in your face. “No. You won’t. Tell me everything you know about Rumlow.”

“Cap,” you pouted mockingly. “You’re not very good at this. Really makes a gal wonder why they keep sending you in to interrogate me, when you don’t seem to get much out of me.”

He grit his teeth while looking down at you, your eye contact both intense and passionate.

“If it makes you feel any better,” you began, looking away at a plain wall in an attempt to focus a bit more on leaving, “I genuinely know nothing about him.”

Steve gave you a humorless look, and your eyes naturally flitted back to him, “really,” he said drily.

“Really,” you confirmed. “We don’t really work in that whole chemical warfare field. Especially with a guy like Rumlow? He’s bad news. Did you really think that all ‘villains’,” you made air quotations on the table. “Know the intimate details of each other’s lives and plans?”

“Hmm,” Steve hummed aloud as he moved back, seemingly convinced.

“I was serious when I said that I’m leaving, though. You and I both have better things to do. But please tell Wanda that she did a good job for me, okay? I mean, civilian deaths are never pretty, but I genuinely would miss having you around.”

“I hate how you talk so much, but literally say nothing,” he huffed.

“I’m not gonna take that personal, ‘cause I know you don’t really mean that,” you sighed softly and looked away to visualize the outside of the building. “Hopefully the next time I see you won’t be UN sanctioned. Farewell, Captain.”

With those words, you were gone.

——

For the next few days of your life, you hadn’t stopped receiving an earful at the Brooklyn base. Mainly from your teammates, who seemed to never let things go, and were the nastiest gossips you’d ever met. Currently, rumor had it that Cecelia, your boss, was preparing to have a strong word with you.

You cracked your knuckles anxiously as you followed a teammate, Amelia, down into the sparring facility, as an attempt to calm your mind before whatever bad news was broken to you.

You passively listened to the TV in the corner of the room while wrapping your knuckles in preparation of getting your ass beat, and listened to the rapid fire reports from hours earlier in the day, but mainly tuned into the fight between the Avengers at the Leipzig airport.

“Have you heard?” Amelia questioned, tying up her lengthy hair as she sauntered onto the mat.

“No, tell me more,” you followed suit on the mat, rising onto the ball of your foot to the heel of your foot in an alternating rhythmic bounce.

“I guess some of it is that UN thing, but it’s probably because of the Winter Soldier,” Amelia bounced similarly to you before charging forward and throwing a left hook at you.

“No way! I thought that guy just disappeared after that S.H.I.E.L.D shit,” you dodged the swing, and went to knee her. “I swear, I asked Steve about it once.”

Amelia rolled her eyes at you, and caught your knee, pushing you down to the ground in the process. “You’re obsessed with him.”

“I think it’s mutual. And you said you’d go easy on me,” you whined, grabbing her extended hand and pulling yourself back up.

“You’re delusional, and that’s why Cec is pissed with you. In fact, Cecelia was so mad, that she couldn’t even form the words to tell you. At least, that’s what she told Naomi.”

“Why, though? It’s not like I haven’t been caught by him a million times already.”

“That’s the problem, though. What happens when they decide to send someone else in to talk to you? And they start waterboarding you, or some shit? All the sudden the Avengers know everything about us?”

“Well that wouldn’t happen, because I would leave,” you shrugged after blocking a few punches.

“I hope you’re getting all your aloof-ness out now, because Cecelia is not gonna put up with this attitude.”

You huffed, and marched over to get a sip of water, dramatically squirting it in your mouth before heading back to the sparring mat.

“Just let me enjoy this while I can, okay? I know how to protect myself,” you swung your fist in an uppercut, and Amelia maneuvered herself out of the way.

“Well, I was just reading something before this. Apparently your boy is a fugitive of the law now. It almost looks like your time is already up,” Amelia commented, delivering a stiff jab to you at the same time that you crouched.

Hearing this news, you froze up, and the punch landed right on your nose, an unsatisfying crack reverberating in your ears.

“Y/N, you alright?” She asked, approaching you as you reached a hand up assess the damage, and pulled away an extremely bloody hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you mumbled letting her lead you off of the mats and to the connected bathroom, so you could get a better look at yourself.

You were dizzy with pain, and you pressed your hand to your nose, willing it to heal. Though not your most frequently used ability, it certainly assisted some of the pain. You squeezed your face in a cringe as your bone rearranged itself.

“Is he in jail?” you asked, watching her face screw up in the mirror.

“You’re not really- you are a lost cause,” Amelia scoffed.

“You could be a little nicer to the person whose nose you just broke.”

“You’re fixing your own nose! You’re fine, okay?” she exasperatedly brought her palm up to her forehead. “I’m gonna go take a shower. Be ready to talk to Cecelia as soon as you leave this room. A word of advice? Don’t mention your work husband unless she mentions it first, okay?”

Amelia set a hand on your back and pat it, “good luck with her. If you need a sofa to crash on after this, my place is always free.”

You shook your head at yourself as she left, your own personal healing already fixing most of the damage. As you hopped into your own shower stall, you couldn’t help but question just how bad this confrontation was truly going to be.

——

You walked into Cecelia’s office after receiving a text message from her assistant, inviting you to meet with her.

You were handed a disposable cup filled with piping hot coffee as you entered, and Cecelia beckoned you to sit down in front of her. You obliged, nervously rubbing your hands on your pants as you sat.

“Y/N,” she began in a sigh, “what has gotten into you lately?”

“Nothing, just-“ the older woman put an open hand out, prompting you to stop.

“No, Y/N. You’ve let Rogers become your biggest blind spot. You let him catch you off guard and capture you nearly every single time you go out on the field! I’m starting to think that you want him to catch you.”

“What if I do?” you shrugged, feigning indifference.

“It’s not a ‘what if’ anymore, dear,” Cecelia took a deep breath. “Especially after what happened in San Francisco.”

“I- Cec, you told me that you wouldn’t bring up California anymore!” you huffed and shook your head. “It’s not even like it’s a problem. They haven’t once received intel from me,” you added.

“Something tells me that you won’t be having the same interrogator for a while at least. We were gonna take you out of the field before this whole Avengers fiasco, but I think it’s time for you to just take a break as a whole.”

“So you’re firing me?” you huffed, “great.”

“No, you are taking a break. We can get you set up in the Prague safe house, and everything.”

You weakly threw up your hands and looked away from Cecelia, not even being able to bear looking at her for the moment. What a great day you were having.

——

You sulked the whole way up to your apartment, and reached in your jacket’s pocket with sluggish speed. It was as if you couldn’t catch a break today, which was all you seemed to be able to think about while grabbing your key.

You looked up at the door, and noticed something slightly off. The door was just the slightest bit ajar, as if it was deliberately cracked for you to see. Someone was inside. Waiting for you. You held in your groan as you came to this conclusion.

You really couldn’t catch a break.

Despite your better judgement, you devised a quick plan in your mind. You could probably protect yourself, right? You closed your eyes in a blink, and imagined your kitchen. The plasticky tiles on the floor, the dent in your countertop from dropping a mug, the wooden cupboards that you’d quickly fallen in love with. The next moment, you were standing in your kitchen, right next to your silverware.

As quiet as you could possibly manage to be, you slipped your sharpest and largest knife from its home in a wooden block, and defensively in front of you. Creeping out of the kitchen and into your hallway, you examined area by area for any sign of intrusion, pointing your knife with every turn.

After finding nothing and no one, at the end of the hallway you turned, walking back down and stopping in front of your living room after noticing a few dark stains on your carpet.

You took a deep breath before walking into the open space, the pit in your stomach growing at the thought of what it was that you were about to find.

With a few timid steps, you found a shirtless Steve Rogers, sat on your couch, head lolled back, eyes squeezed shut in pain as he released shallow breaths and attempted to apply pressure to a wound. With one look at him, you yelped and involuntarily found yourself back in the hallway outside of the room, your fear strong enough to force you into teleportation.

“Funny seeing you here,” Steve began, and you stalked back into the room, your steps slightly less fearful as you stepped over his discarded tactical gear.

“Steve?” You whispered, setting the knife on a random bookshelf before kneeling down on the floor next to him. You had a plethora of questions, but you couldn’t decide what was the most important. “I- Are… What happened?”

He shrugged weakly.

“Okay, well how badly are you hurt?” You questioned apprehensively.

“Pretty badly,” he responded.

You nodded slowly while you attempted to process the entire situation. You couldn’t tell if this was a scene from your wettest dream, or worst nightmare. “I’ll be right back,” you muttered, leaving the room to grab some water to help you speed up your healing process.

As you reentered your living room, you set down the bowl of water and squatted down next to Steve once again. Dipping your hands in the liquid, and placing them on an open head wound, you found it appropriate to question him.

“Steve,” you began, watching the forehead laceration quickly shrink into a small scar. “Why are you here?”

“I had nowhere else to go,” he put plainly.

“A hospital, maybe?” you added, pushing away the hand that was currently holding down a rather bloody wound on his upper arm, and exchanging it for your own.

“Something tells me that a hospital isn’t the best place for a guy of my legal status to be at right now,” he countered while you halted your attempt to reduce the size of the wound, cracking your stiff knuckles in preparation for the final push of closing the abrasion. “Besides, this isn’t the first time we’ve done something like this before. You remember S-“

“San Francisco. Right,” you cut Steve off, and brushed off the previous comment. “This is gonna hurt a little,” you warned. before setting your fingers down, and putting an obscene amount of pressure on the bicep wound.

Steve grit his teeth so hard that you swore you could hear it. His muscles clenched as you resumed your attempt to soothe the sore.

“Hey, look at me,” you used your free hand, and gently pushed his cheek so that he was looking at you. “If I distract you, it’ll hurt a lot less. Trust me.”

He seemed to agree with you, and took in a deep breath while the corner of his eye twitched.

“How did you even find my apartment?” you asked, using your pinky to tilt his chin up, and force his view away from the cut.

“It wasn’t that hard, I mean, we’ve been tracking you and that ‘financial firm’ you work in for years,” he spoke through clenched teeth.

“You sure it’s not because you like to keep a personal tab on me?”

“No! Why would I…?”

“Because if all the Avengers knew where me and my teammates reside, we’d all be locked up already.”

“Fine, maybe I pulled a few strings. It’s just because I think you’re the biggest threat to the general public.”

“Really? The woman with the least destructive powers of all of us, not the one with super strength? Or the one who could manipulate elements? Or even, I don’t know, the person leading us?” you chuckled a bit at the poor excuse.

Steve rolled his eyes fondly, but you could clearly see the soft flush on his face.

“It’s okay, Steve. We all have our favorite coworkers.”

“We aren’t coworkers, though.”

“It seems like you’re gonna need all the allies that you can come across. Don’t get picky with me now,” you tutted, finalizing your work on his peck, and leaving behind a small, pink scar.

You let out a breath of exhaustion as you pulled your hand away, and pointlessly shook out your wrists.

“You alright?” Steve questioned, adjusting himself a bit on the sofa and grunting at the rather simple task.

“Fine. What else needs attention?”

He gestured to the light bruising on his ribs that only seemed to be getting darker by the moment.

“We should take a break first, though. You seem tired.”

“I told you that I’m perfectly fine,” you countered, setting one hand on your chest, and pointing a lazy finger at Steve, “you’re the one that needs a break.”

Steve grabbed your finger and gently pushed it down, “I don’t really, but maybe we should take a break.” He gave you a kind smile, and your heart fluttered. Even bartered and bloody, Steve managed to make you feel like a schoolgirl with a crush.

“Well, any great Captain America plans to get yourself out of this mess?” you leaned against the sofa, and twisted your torso slightly so that you could get a good look at your visitor.

“Nope, not yet,” Steve pursed his lips slightly. “Any input from the lady who seems to get out of every rock and hard place she finds herself in?”

You snickered, and shook your head at this, “not at the moment. But you have me on speed dial, right? I can get back to you when I think of something,” you joked with a wink.

“I would laugh, but I’m honestly a little nervous that my lung might pop if I do.”

“Oh fuck, Steve,” you scooted away from him so you could be closer to the bowl of water once again. “Why did we take a break? You need urgent medical attention.”

“You needed a moment.”

You shook your head and frowned, catching the inside of your bottom lip between your teeth, “don’t do that again.”

You dunked both of your hands in the water, then turned back around and set your damp hands on the bruising on Steve’s ribs, closing your eyes in concentration as you addressed the damage.

Steve howled out in pain, making you flinch as a result. With the hand doing less work, you blindly pat around in a search for something to shove into his mouth and dampen the noises he was currently making. Eventually settling on a blanket, you shoved the fabric deep into his mouth.

“Sorry,” you uttered while the muted noise of his pain rang through your ears, “neighbors.”

The task wasn’t the easiest for you either, healing what seemed like such a large break or fracture following several other injuries was depleting your energy quickly. Your arms and hands trembled as you began to watch the splotchy yellow mark begin to blend into the rest of Steve’s skin, and you were becoming more and more light headed by the second.

Feeling somewhat satisfied with your work, you pulled your shaky hands away, and leaned away from Steve’s body before losing your balance, and falling back onto your plush floor.

Steve yanked the blanket from his mouth, sticking out his tongue for a second as he attempted to pull a spare string from his mouth. He sat up rapidly, and looked down at you with raised brows, and big, frightened eyes.

“Y/N?” he asked breathily, still exhausted from his own exertion, “you still with me?”

Your chest rose and fell slowly, and you were silent for a moment before responding, “I just need a minute.”

Steve relaxed back into the sofa with the knowledge that you were at least still conscious, and waited a few beats before he spoke again, “thanks,” was all that he managed to utter.

The two of you sat there in an extremely loud silence, the only other noise being your nearly synchronized panting.

“I’m gonna go shower,” you announced after what felt like hours on your floor. You slowly rose, and dragged yourself to the bathroom in your bedroom. Hitting the shower valve, then sitting atop your countertop you let the suite fill with steam, reflecting on your bizarre day, but most of all, your interaction with Steve.

You let yourself dwell on this while you stood in the shower, forehead pressed against the warm tile as you considered the implications of every word shared between the two of you, and how you’d let this tiny crush get so far ahead of you. Maybe it really was a good idea to take some time away from New York. You were so deep in your own thoughts that you failed to catch onto the sound of the floorboard that loudly creaked in your living room, or the soft click of your front door opening and closing.

Changing into some more comfortable clothing, you exited the bathroom, and ultimately your own room ready to offer up your shower to Steve, and possibly even talk about your feelings in a serious manner with him. Yet, by the time you arrived at the couch that had held him just a half hour ago, it was vacant. In fact, your whole apartment was vacant. You’d checked three whole times.

Ending your fruitless search on your balcony, you settled down into the single plastic beach chair that you kept outdoors, and draped the blanket from your sofa that had previously been in Steve’s mouth around your shoulders. The chill of the night air contributed to the sting of your eyes when they welled up, and you told yourself that it was silly to ever think that this, you and him, could ever happen in the first place.

Gazing up at the stars, you cursed yourself for being so naive. For letting yourself fall so fast, and so hard for someone you knew so out of reach. The stars seemed to mock you, in all of their billions of years of knowledge.

Yet, part of you was comforted by the knowledge that Steve could be viewing the same constellations as you.

----

a/n: listen. i feel like these idiots have a lot of potential so if you want me to write any more of them i am totally down!

[wh6res]

Aggressive 10, Lucas

power trip | lucas

synopsis. where's your place, if not kneeling before him?

warnings. bullying, yandere themes, swearing, bones breaking, violence, slut shaming, lucas is a major asshole

for the most part, it was your fault. because as the saying goes, what you allow will continue. and fuck, he’s been getting away with how he treats you for the last four years.

the first time you step foot in the school, you immediately knew his name. it was impossible not to know lucas when he’s such a model student, how intimidatingly perfect he seemed to be—he’s smart; top of his class, athletic; he won the mvp award in basketball last year. his face and physique is a bonus in all its entirety. not to mention, you heard he's quite the sweetheart, always smiling, charming, with a loyal and dedicated fanbase. you thought these stuff can only be seen in dramas, but of course, the world works in such strange ways.

he was always aloof whenever he striked, pretended to be innocent with those huge eyes of his, partnered with the faintest pout on his lips as he preaches about doing no harm when he literally tripped you purposely only seconds ago. he’d say stuff like “you need help?” “are you okay?” “let me help you get to the nurse’s office” “i’m sorry, if it's my fault” all the while staring down at you with this dark glint in his eye buried deep from the surface of his facade, a look only you can recognize.

you doubt his friends were any help. after all, there’s no hope that lies on the people who look the other way. pieces of shit who lack the heart to help you. but then again, why would they, anyway? it wasn’t as if you could offer them anything, while lucas on the other hand, has everything they’d ever want to have—connections, reputation, popularity, money, the list can go on and on.

“i just don’t understand why you want to help me all of a sudden.”

because you don’t. you truly don’t. it’s been four years—you’re all graduating on the next month—and only now did hendery want to extend his help to you? is this some kind of joke? is this all part of one grand scheme, one last kick for lucas to enjoy seeing your crying face before going your seperate ways?

you didn’t want to trust him, not one bit. but he’d somehow won you over when he talked about all these plans of lucas messing with your college applications, about how easy it’ll be to talk to their deans regarding your “shady” high school life, how they’d be better off “giving the slot to a student more deserving” and hendery had even showed you screenshots and pictures of the evidence all found in lucas’ house.

and it was as if luck was finally shining down your path. finally, proof of all the horrible things lucas has done to you. although there is no hard-rock evidence of the four years of bullying, emotional trauma, and anxiety he gave you, this last plan he had of thoroughly ruining your life forever is a good enough manifestation of his true nature. and for once, you’re finally going to fight back.

there were no more students loitering in the school by the time you and hendery met up at the student council’s office now turned yearbook committee headquarters. you had snorted at the name they gave it and hendery, too, found the name rather comedic in a sense.

you were both here to print the photos you’ll use to show the principal to plead for lucas’ suspension or extermination. the both of you were in the middle of a lighthearted conversation when the boy got a phone call. he had quickly excused himself, giving you a good-natured pat in the head as he stepped out of the room to take the call, thankful with his back turned or else he would’ve felt the blazing heat off of your cheeks from where he’s sitting across you.

you’ve grown incredibly close to hendery for the last few weeks leading up to graduation as he played double agent between you and his friends. shooting you quick winks and small smiles whenever he thinks no one is looking—but of course, there will always be someone looking.

“of all my friends, baby? kunhang? i’m a ‘lil disappointed. that guy can hardly even act, much less help you devise a good plan to bring me down.”

it felt like a cold bucket of ice water had been dumped onto you when you see lucas walking through the doors, sporting casual clothings rather than the school uniform. has he been waiting this whole time? how did he know you’d still be here?

the foldable seat underneath you topples over when the back of your knees hits it. you try to remain indifferent, tried to square your shoulders as you stand a few feet away from your bully, hands braced against the table as you cover the few pictures splayed out.

“there’s no use for that,” lucas retorts, scoffing. “i already know everything. kunhang is…”

he trails, looking down on the rings on his fingers as he twirls one of them thoughtfully. you don’t like the smirk that starts stretching on his lips, his head shooting up to look at you with a gaze that sent great fear down your spine.

“he’s being taken care of… all because a stupid little bunny thought she can get away from all this.”

“what the fuck do you even want from me?!” you scream, taking steps back when he took steps forward. “i’ve never done anything to you. what the fuck is your deal—”

“my deal is how much of a bitch you are!”

you yelp when his hands darts out to fist the collars of your shirt. there’s a sting from the coming onslaught of tears but you don’t let it fall, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

“you walk around here looking at everyone and everything with this air of arrogance around you. thinking you’re so fucking high and mighty with that cold person act but i can see how much you’ve rolled your skirt up. it’s a;; pretty amusing, actually. what are you, a fucking whore? a slut? trying to get my attention is that it?

ah, there it is. the lovely, lovely sight of your red face and the crocodile tears streaming like waterfalls down your cheek as you fought against him. it gives him such a power trip to see

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!” you fight, voice barely stable. “i’m not a sl… slu…” fuck it, you can’t even say it. “i don’t want your attention! you’re a fucking bully!”

he laughs condescendingly, dropping you to the ground. “see, that’s where you’re wrong. i’m not a bully…”

you groan aloud in pain when you hit the floor and you sobbed louder when he harshly steps on one of your hands as you try picking yourself back up again. you shoot him a pleading look, one that sent jolts of sick pleasure down his stomach, but he doesn’t relent until he hears the joints of your fingers cracking under his boots.

“i’m a god. and that’s where you belong, worshipping me on your hands and knees.”

[virgomoontarot]

Mercury Retrograde Pick A Card Reading

At the height of this Mercury Retrograde, many of us may be facing difficulties with communication, hang ups or roadblocks, or ghosts of our past come back to haunt us. For a little guidance to get through what’s left of this challenging period, I would like to invite you to take a deep breath, bring your awareness to your body, and release any tension you may be holding in your back, jaw, shoulders, or anywhere else. As you open your eyes, feel yourself guided to one of the crystals or piles below, and see how you can get out of this retrograde gracefully...

Please keep in mind, because this is a group reading, not everything will apply to everyone. This reading is “just for fun”.

Fluorite

You entered this retrograde like a bat out of hell. You had a lot going on, and things have been picking up speed and moving right along. However, your subconscious has been murking up your communication. Have you been completely honest lately, or are you hiding something? Is there something buried that you’re ashamed of?You may face some road blocks that are karmic in nature, all you can do is ride them out and accept your fate. Fighting against things you have no control over won’t change anything, and will only perpetuate negative cycles. Slow down and focus on cooperation and collaboration. There are people in your life who are able to work with you to figure this out. I’m getting that in the past you’ve been let down by a father figure, and wounds from this relationship have been resurfacing. Reassess taking any new steps in your romantic relationships until you work through these issues from your past. You can’t avoid these feelings of betrayal and disappointment. You need to allow yourself some time and space to work through them. Have a good cry or write about it in a journal. Write a letter and burn it up, or talk to a trusted individual about these feelings. It’s okay to be disappointed and you’re allowed to be hurt, even if it all happened a long time ago. Once that is out of your system and you’ve taken some time, realign yourself through expressions of gratitude. Appreciate your growth and accomplishments. Take pride in yourself. Write a list of things in your life you’re grateful for. Write a list of qualities within yourself you’re grateful for. After you complete these exercises, you’ll be leaving this retrograde as if a weight has been lifted. You deserve to be proud of yourself and all you do. The universe sees you and is proud of you. I promise.

Citrine

You entered into this retrograde feeling nostalgic. Maybe you’re missing the good old days when you were younger, or maybe you’re just missing the pre-Covid freedom. But your communication is suffering as a result of maybe a little too much fun? You’re facing some roadblocks surrounding following the rules and regulations and routines. (Hangovers will do that. No judgement here.) Or perhaps you’ve overloaded your social calendar or you’ve taken on a few too many passion projects, and while you’re enjoying yourself, it’s becoming more of a distraction than an enhancement to your life. Slow down and stay home for a bit. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself, and in fact, you should! But try to focus a little more on enjoying time at home, especially with family for those of you who are close. I’m getting that some of you had a change in residence, and that perhaps you’re trying to drown a feeling of homesickness with all this merriment. But remember that home is more of a feeling than a place. Maybe try slowing down by calling a friend you miss. Or maybe print out some photos from your phone, frame them, and put them up in your new space. Others maybe didn’t move residence, but have moved on in their life stage, but are having a hard time accepting the need to slow down. During this retrograde, take time to revisit some harsh decisions you’ve made recently, and try to be open minded and diplomatic. I know life can feel unfair, and this reading might even feel like a call out (it’s not), but try to direct some focus inward and take a look at where this behavior is stemming from. Reassess the source of all this manic party energy. Is it coming from a place of trying to cover up some sadness? A place of loneliness? Realign by taking some contemplative alone time. Go for a walk, or spend some time under the stars. And try to be humble here. Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll be coming out of this retrograde with some new challenges. If you take some time to slow it down a little right now, it won’t be anything you can’t handle.

Rose Quartz

You entered into this retrograde really feeling yourself, but some folks may have misinterpreted your confidence for an attitude. Now you’ve got a little bit of drama on your hands, and you’re not quite sure how to handle it, especially because you meant no harm. You’re thinking you need to just give it some space and some time. Not a bad idea. Slow down and reflect on this relationship, and come up with a plan on how you might heal it when a little time has passed. Revisit that feeling of accomplishment that was fueling your confidence in the first place. You deserve to feel good about yourself! Could this person be a little jealous of you? Maybe in the past you’ve been a high achiever, or maybe you’re the kind of person who has always been goal oriented, not allowing anything to get in your way. Maybe this drive combined with recent accomplishments and confidence is what is really fueling this relationship turned rivalry. Reassess whether or not this relationship is truly serving you. Your confidence is a strength, as long as you learn to balance it with compassion, but it’s fair to let go if this relationship is holding you back. Realign with your true self through meditation. Trust your intuition. If it’s telling you to be patient and make more space for this person’s feelings, okay. But if it’s telling you that you’re just doing really well right now and you’ve got yourself some haters, that’s fine too! Listen to your deeper self to find the answers about what this conflict is really trying to show you. You’re going to come out of this the better person, no emotional loss. I want to advise you to be loving and gentle, like rose quartz, but the cards aren’t saying anything about that, so you probably have every right to stand your ground.

Some of these messages felt super specific, I hope they found the people they were meant for! Feel free to reblog, and best of luck riding out the remainder of this retrograde!

[thelioncourts]

title: the mannequin gallery fandom: captive prince pairing: damen/laurent rating: mature words: 5228 for chapter five (5/?);  30021 all together

“You’re going to put a hole in the floor of the car if you keep that up,” Damen said.

Nik was angled to face the left passenger side window and his right foot was the culprit of Damen’s warning; it hadn’t stopped tapping repeatedly and loudly since Nik had slid into his seat. Jord, who was driving them again, didn’t seem bothered by it, but Damen was bothered. The sound was distracting and made it hard to think.

“You need to relax,” Damen tried again. He got a grunt in response this time.

Luckily for Damen’s patience, it wasn’t a long drive to Etoile’s headquarters. The unlucky one because of that was Nik who simply didn’t have enough time to compose his nerves. In fact, the only lucky thing for him was that he also didn’t have enough time to worry himself to death. The car was being parked before Damen could find the words for another failed attempt at comfort or reassurance.

Damen was out of the car first and he watched Jord exit with mild interest. Would Jord have anything to say about this meeting if they asked? What had the previous years been like? Who came up with this system in the first place? Did the owner simply want to better the lives of unknown photographers or was it an idea proposed to him by somebody else? In hindsight, Damen thought as he took in the extravagance of Etoile once again, these were questions they should have asked long ago. And now, as Nik finally found his legs and climbed out of the car, there wasn’t time. Jord led them in.

Nik seemed composed enough as they strolled through the front doors. Anyone looking at him from the outside wouldn’t have guessed how he had just been in the car. But, looking down, Damen could see the grooves in Nik’s palm from where he had dug his own fingernails into the skin. The grooves were so deep that they stayed a stark white the entire time they walked toward the elevator.

They were both dressed much nicer for this meeting than they had been for their last one. For them, that meant they weren’t repping all athletic-wear upon entrance to one of the largest modeling and fashion agencies in the world. Jord, still leading them, seemed to have been right that first day though because no one gave them any more or less attention walking in dressed in button-up shirts than they had when the two had been donned in bright orange sweatshirts.

[Continue on AO3]

Once at the elevator, Jord abandoned them with notsomuch as a ‘good luck’ or ‘goodbye’ and they were off and up to the top floor. There was no petulant child awaiting them and, now knowing the way, it was easy to turn and sit in the available chairs nearest the office. There was an actual assistant at the desk this time and he looked up at them before glancing nonchalantly at a calendar. That must have confirmed who they were because he asked no questions and never once looked at them, not until they had been sitting for ten minutes. Then he said, “You can go in now.”

In the hours before leaving the hotel, Damen had asked Nik if he had found it odd that the man who owns all of this hadn’t been to a single minute of the sessions. Nik hadn’t seemed bothered, though he probably had had other more pressing things on his mind, and had cited all of the close right-hand people — especially those like Charls and Vannes and Herode — who had been there for nearly all of the three sessions. It had been easy to shrug off, at least for Damen. After all, he didn’t know anything about this business. But seeing the man behind the desk for the first time in five days, and for only the second time since their arrival in Paris, was jarring.

Damen noticed different things about the man this time than he had before. Sure, he still noticed the fineness of the man’s clothes and the air in which he held himself, but given the newer context of him being Laurent’s uncle, Damen noticed all the ways in which the two differed. Laurent, whose beauty had been startling, was nothing like the man sitting in front of Damen and Nik. Where Laurent was soft, his uncle was rough; where Laurent was sharp, his uncle was firm; where Laurent was head-turning, his uncle was refined; where Laurent was callous, his uncle was open; where Laurent’s words were rude, his uncle’s were welcoming. Had Damen not been told about Laurent’s familial advantage in the industry, he would have never made such a connection. It seemed impossible.

There wasn’t time to linger on thoughts of Laurent though. The sight in front of them was dazzling. All of Nik’s photographs from the three days of sessions were arranged out on the desk in piles, each pile dedicated to a different subject on a different day. Damen was blinded by golds and reds and more golds glittering from the shiny photography prints.

“There’s not much of a preface I can make here,” Laurent’s uncle began, his smile affable. “I’ve been informed by all three of my designers individually that I simply must hire you on for our upcoming event. None of them will take no for an answer and, with praise that high, I would be a fool to not listen.”

Silently, Damen had to commend Nik’s continued control. Though his eyes widened, nothing else about him gave away his surprise or relief at the man’s words. Instead, after a beat, then two, Nik breathed out a “Thank you,” before clearing his throat and following it with, “I would be honored. Truly. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Your talent speaks volumes in support of my designer’s words. You will be a most excellent addition to our team.”

He was fiddling with one of the photos, a group one from the first day. Nik had captured it as large cumulus clouds had covered the sun and changed the lighting in the room for only but a minute. In the photo, gold shimmered off of each individual like they were the newly discovered pieces from the inside of a treasure chest. But it was Laurent who had remained in the light and he shone brightest of all, like a crown of jewels amongst lesser coins.

Nik didn’t know what to say and neither did Damen. The silence spoke for them and Laurent’s uncle, for his part, seemed content to let them absorb the news. Then, after an indiscernable about of time, he huffed out a quick laugh and asked, “Is this really so surprising?”

“I mean,” Nik started, doing his very best to ignore Damen’s excited gaze, “yes.”

“Well, it would be wise to not be too surprised. Because your life is about to get very busy leading up into the big show.”

“What can I expect out of the next few weeks?” Nik asked. He seemed to have found his voice, but his eyes were caught on some of his own photos, an expression of almost disbelief that those were his creations out on the table. “The show’s not for another two weeks.”

“This next week won’t have much for you to worry about. There will be a lunch on Friday that will, no doubt, last a few hours, but besides that singular event, this upcoming week is free for you to do as you please. I will give you a map of the city with several important locations to Etoile marked on it should you wish to familiarize yourself with them. The real work, however, begins Monday morning of the following week. That week will be filled with meetings, dinners, rehearsals, parties,” the man trailed, reaching for another folder. Like the one they received five days earlier, it was expertly organized. Its most eye-catching feature was a calendar for the month which got progressively busier the closer they got to the beginnings of fashion week. “We have many photography sessions planned, as you can see. That is for the benefit of both you and our models. Here at Etoile, we have found the photographs become much more intriguing when a relationship is built between photographer and subject. So, whilst it will give you opportunity to hone in on your already quite successful skills, it will also establish that foundation we so desperately want.”

“Will we be interacting with the models at the other events, like the dinners and parties?” Nik asked. “I fear I won’t be able to achieve what you’re searching for if we’re only doing photography sessions. I tend to zone in on the process.”

“Not all of the models will be at the dinners. Etoile’s faces, as we call them, will be present at every event, but our newer models or our models not intended for the spotlight quite yet will not be in attendance. In all honesty, we’re most looking for your relationship to grow with Laurent, Ancel, and Aimeric.”

“Laurent, your nephew?” Damen couldn’t help but interject. Laurent’s uncle smiled.

“I see you’ve heard of our familial connection,” he said. “Don’t think of it as him, or myself, trying to hide anything. The two of us do try to keep as little conversation around our relation as possible as to not incite the chants of favoritism. And as you’ve seen Laurent, I trust that you are aware I am not simply playing favorites. He is quite beautiful. In fact, it was his beauty that compelled me to move from fashion into both fasion and modeling nearing a decade ago now.”

“He works well in front of the camera,” Nik said, politely.

“He has since he was young. Too young, if I’m being honest,” the man lamented. “When his parents died and he was turned into my care, I had no intention of bringing him near this world of couture fashion. It can be such a cruel world. But he was drawn to it and it allowed us to maintain a close relationship, something he desperately needed after all his — and my own — loss. It ended up being such a wonderful thing at first. He was able to come to work with me, he was inspirational in the growth of Etoile, and he made a name for himself. If only he had stayed as lovely as he had been in his youth.”

“He’s still very lovely,” Damen said, interjecting again. Nik elbowed him.

“Oh, yes, appearance-wise he is. But, as I said, the world of fashion is cruel and it made him cruel. I’m sure you witnessed some of his callous behavior.” Neither Damen or Nik confirmed, but they didn’t deny it either. Laurent’s uncle flashed them a sad smile. “It pains me that I couldn’t protect his innocence. I had thought I was doing the right thing in allowing him to choose his path in life but…” he trailed.

There was an awkward pause that went on just long enough to make it more awkward. Damen broke it.

“So are these dinners and rehearsals black-tie? Because I’ll need to go shopping.”

“Don’t worry yourself with attire,” Laurent’s uncle said. “As it is an Etoile event, we have all of our guests wear Etoile clothes. Someone, Jord no doubt, will take your measurements sometime this week.”

“It won’t,” Damen started, before pausing to find the right words, “it won’t be clothes like what the models wear, will it? I mean, they’re beautiful but —”

“No, no, no. Your clothes will be simple tuxedos. I’ll only allow Charls to perhaps find you both a burgundy or deep blue tuxedo but,” he scanned them both, “given your size, that may not be possible.” Damen, for his part, grinned.

“Understood.”

With the folder and its calendar and other contents in possession, Damen and Nik left after another ‘Thank you’ and ‘No need to thank me’ exchange. The secretary was gone from the desk and in the lobby no one still paid them any mind. Damen was grateful because he had a stupid smile on his face that wouldn’t leave; he risked a look at Nik and was thrilled to see the exact same expression. The moment the door to Etoile closed behind them, all bets were off. Damen launched all his weight at Nik in a clambering hug and Nik hugged him right back.

“Are you proud of my self-control?” Damen asked, stepping back to bounce on the balls of his feet once, twice.

“I am,” Nik said, still smiling.

“I was going to hug you as soon as he told you, but I didn’t.”

“I know. I’m very proud.”

“I’m proud of you,” Damen said. “I mean, I knew from the beginning that you could do it, that you would do it, but I also know you were waiting for this moment to believe it yourself. But it’s here now and I’m so proud of you. But, for the next week at least, it’s time to focus on me.”

“Good news, I take it?”

Jord looked nonchalent from where he was leaning against the car, but he had a miniscule smile on his face that betrayed everything else.

“Maybe not good news for you,” Nik said. “You’re going to be seeing more of us for the next little bit.”

“You’re not the worst people I’ve had to drive around,” Jord said. It was as much as a ‘Congratulations’ he was going to give apparantly.

The car ride back to the hotel was the opposite of their car ride earlier. Both Damen and Nik were chatting and dragging Jord into conversation and Jord was smiling and glancing at them in the rearview mirror. But, like earlier, it wasn’t a long journey and there wasn’t a lot of time to harass Jord who seemed both amused and a tad bit unsure of them both.

“Jord,” Damen started to ask. Jord had just parked the car and Damen had one foot out of the door. “Since our next week is free, do you have any recommendations for things to do in Paris?”

Jord seemed to really have to think about the question. “I don’t get out much. I know it’s a cliche, but the Seine really does give a stunning view of the city. And you can never get a bad meal at any of the smaller bakeries. But that means one that’s affordable. Any place trying to charge you over five euro for anything is a tourist spot thriving off of ignorance. Then again, that’s mostly aimed at the Americans.”

“Thanks for the heads-up,” Damen said.

Nik had already gone up to their room and when Damen entered, he heard Nik ordering a bottle of champagne from room service. Damen raised his eyebrows and kept them raised until Nik saw his expression.

“What?” Nik asked. “This is a cause for me to celebrate, don’t you think?”

“Definitely. But it’s not even noon. Bit early, don’t you think?”

“It’s not for right now. We can stuff it in the fridge and pop it open tonight. I just didn’t want to have to wait on room service tonight. You know it takes longer the later you call.”

“Remember that time we were staying in a real busy hotel when we flew out to California and we ordered room service and it took so long that we emptied the minibar and fell asleep on the balcony?”

“I do. That was the exact incident I was thinking of.”

“Well,” Damen said, his walk over to the singular desk in the room suddenly determined, “we have bigger things to be thinking about. We have a city to explore.” On the desk were maps Damen had taken from the concierge and had marked up to hell and back with circles and lines and all other kinds of strategic symbols Nik had come to know quite well over the years.

“What do you have in mind?”

“We have to hit the big stuff; the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, Arc de Triomphe, even head to Versailles. But I’ve been looking for some smaller places, the real parts of Paris. The problem is that there are so many places and things to do that I don’t even really know where to start.”

“Have you tried talking to anyone? That’s our usual strategy,” Nik said, coming over to look at the maps.

“I asked Jord before I came up here, but he said he doesn’t get out much. He said to do the Seine river rides for some pretty sights.”

“I doubt asking anyone from Etoile where to go would be our best bet,” Nik said. “They’re in an entirely different universe than most people living in the rest of the world.”

“They really are,” Damen said with a little chuckle. “Speaking of Etoile, have I said congratulations again? Because if not, seriously, congratulations, Nik. Everything you do is so far over my head, this more than anything you’ve ever done, but I know enough to know just how big this is. I can’t say congratulations enough.”

“Thanks,” Nik said. He ducked his head and when he lifted it back up, he was smiling. “I know I’ve told you before, but I don’t give two shits about fashion. But I do care about the colors and the process of honing in on those details in the clothes. It’s going to make me better and, after this, I’ll have a big event to put down on a resume.”

“And I think this guy will give you a great recommendation should he ever get a call about you,” Damen said.

Both Damen and Nik scanned over the maps still laid flat on the desk. Nik rolled his eyes when he saw the Moulin Rouge circled in red pen, but otherwise they chatted about all the big places they needed to go see in seven days. Their conversation wandered to the Louvre.

“I think we need a whole day for the Louvre,” Damen said, tapping the map three times on the spot. “There are three wings and at least three levels for every wing and the gods only know how many people are going to be there.”

“We could do it Friday. We’re supposed to go to an introductory lunch at Etoile, but nothing more, and Etoile is located only a minute walk from the Louvre,” Nik said.

Damen nodded in agreement before he spoke. “Were you as surprised as I was to hear Laurent’s uncle had raised him?”

“Yeah, a little,” Nik said with a hum. “I don’t think I’m as invested in his personal details as you are, but that wasn’t something I expected. His parents must have died when he was very young.”

“I’m not invested in his personal details,” Damen said. “I just found it surprising, that’s all.”

“Not invested in his personal details,” Nik mumbled. With a forceful throw, he hit Damen in the head with a jacket that had been lying over the back of the chair at the desk. “Come on, get ready. If we don’t go out today, I’ll never hear the end of how we wasted quality exploring time.”

Damen grinned. “Where do you want to go first?”

They had lunch at a French steakhouse called Il Etait Un Square and they both ordered burgers near the size of their fists. While they let their too-big-of-a-lunch digest, they wandered on foot, taking in the people and the sights. Nik, instinctually, snapped a few photos here and there. Eventually their wandering took them to the Seine and Damen chatted amicably with a group of twenty-somethings dancing on a low walkway right at the river’s edge. They caught a taxi to the Eiffel Tower and decided to snap pictures in front of it; the line to wait for the elevator was ridiculously long and neither of them were in the clothes to sweat as they tried to climb 674 steps to the second level. There was just enough time to stop by a nearby café called Carmine Café for a quick espresso before dinner which they had at a bistro called L'Assiette. They had a glass, or three, of wine before they began a journey back to the hotel under Parisian moonlight.

“I don’t know why we had all that wine,” Damen said, his arm slung heavily over Nik’s shoulders. “We still have that bottle of champagne to pop open.”

Luckily for them, they sobered up a bit before they got back because they got lost one, two, five times. A kind taxi driver, seeing them pointing stupidly at street signs before doubling over with laughter, took sympathy on them and drove them back to the hotel all before eleven. Damen tipped him graciously.

They laughed all the way back up to their room, laughing harder as they passed a group of people far drunker than they had been yet, and Nik beelined for the refrigerator he had stuffed the bottle of champagne in as soon as the door opened. It bubbled just a little down the sides, pooling and landing on Nik’s shoes.

“To fashion snobs,” Damen said, raising his glass for a toast. The flutes clinked together, the high note of their meeting musical.

“To fashion snobs,” Nik repeated.

Nik scrolled through photos from the night on his camera and it got them talking, comparing the city with ones they had visited in the past and pointing out the unique things that made it what it is: Paris.

“I still maintain we need to go back to Prague,” Nik said, moving to lean against the open door frame of the balcony. The air outside was just chilly enough that Nik could see his breath. “We weren’t there long enough.”

“You want to know where we weren’t long enough? Australia.”

“We were in Australia plenty long enough.”

“We only went to Sydney! What about Perth or Brisbane or places more inland, like all the national parks and nature reserves? What about ditching Australia altogether and heading over to New Zealand?”

They started arguing, arguing about travel and the timing of travel and Damen was making a very valid point of ‘It is our job’ when Nik quit responding for the sake of squinting at something from the balcony.

“Are you listening to me?” Damen asked when a solid minute went by with no response. He leaned forward from where he was sitting up against the headboard of his bed to pull out a pillow and toss it at Nik, missing him by a foot.

“Yeah, I just,” Nik started, trailing off and squinting harder as though it would make sense of whatever he was staring at. “I think that’s Laurent.”

Damen wasn’t above admitting he ran across the room. He almost slipped on the jacket Nik had hit him in the head with earlier, but he was next to Nik in seconds. Like Nik, he squinted in an attempt to make the vision across the street clearer and when that didn’t work, he moved to the balcony’s railing.

Across the street was an apartment building, another Haussmann building, and almost exactly across from their own room was a figure standing in the door frame of their own balcony illuminated by the warm light of a lamp. It was hard to be certain because they didn’t truly know Laurent that well, but it was definitely a possibility. The blond hair was more gold in the yellow of the light and the person was on the phone and pacing so it was impossible to keep focus in too much, but Damen was sure that aristocratic profile he kept catching glimpses of belonged to Laurent’s model-built face.

“If that is him,” Nik said as Damen continued to stare, “don’t you dare go over there in an attempt to run into him.”

“I think I’ve behaved quite admirably so far,” Damen said. He leaned over the railing, just enough to make him and Nik both woozy.

“Promise me you won’t go over there and attempt to run into him, or attempt to find out if it’s really him.”

“I promise,” Damen said. He was still staring.

Eventually Laurent, or whoever the figure was, left the space of the balcony window and not long after, the light went off. Damen remained leaning against the door frame of their own balcony, enjoying the night air while it got colder and colder and Nik’s voice got sleepier and his conversation more single syllable words like “Yes,” “No,” and “Hmm.” When Nik was finally asleep, Damen took in one more deep and sobering breath before closing the balcony doors and changing into something comfortable. Before making his way back to his own bed, he picked up the pillow he had thrown and fished in his black bookbag for his laptop he carried around for editing YouTube videos.

It wasn’t intentional, but it was intentional, to go to the search bar and type in ‘Laurent DeVere.’

75,909,000 results came up in 0.62 seconds. The first result that came up was an Instagram page (@laurentdevere) with only two posts, both from 2015, and with a quick scroll Damen deduced that that must be Laurent’s only social media account. The second result was a Wikipedia page that Damen clicked on.

There were only five sections on Laurent’s Wikipedia page, each one the ones expected: Early Life, Career, Personal Life, Awards and Nominations, and a whole one just for Etoile. ‘Laurent DeVere (born March 20, 2000) is a French model. In 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, he was voted “Model of the Year” by industry professionals,’ Damen read. And as much as Damen wanted to click on the Personal Life section, he was drawn to the Early life section which was long and detailed. It read, ‘DeVere was born in Paris, France to politician Aleron DeVere and former Swedish teacher Hennike DeVere (nee Kempt), and was raised in Paris. DeVere had an older brother, Auguste DeVere (born November 9, 1988 and died September, 13, 2013).

DeVere’s parents, Aleron and Hennike, were assassinated in a politically motivated assault on June 22, 2013. Aleron had been the President of the National Assembly for three years upon his death. No one has been arrested in the assassination, but there have been several people of interest interrogated. The situation continues to be investigated by the DGSI.’

After that, it was a rabbit hole Damen got lost within. He clicked on Aleron’s page, reading about the assassination before searching for the headlines. There was a video, but Damen couldn’t bring himself to click on it. He caught sight of a simple and blurry photo of Aleron and Hennike’s slumped over bodies and that was enough.

It was hard, almost impossible, to equate the Laurent Damen had met briefly with to the stories he was reading. Laurent — beautiful and cold and internationally known — couldn’t be the boy being written about here; it felt so separated.

Damen fell asleep that night thinking of Etoile, Laurent, and how Laurent’s uncle, the very one that took Laurent in, was only mentioned throughout the articles once or twice in passing. Damen fell asleep that night thinking of how Laurent’s uncle had lost his own brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and the only family member he had left gave him no gratitude.

Putting on a face the next morning was easy enough, however, when Damen remembered all they had planned. Once again, they exhausted themselves going around Paris. Damen took Jord’s advice and found a bakery, Blé Sucré, where they ordered Madelienes (which came in a bag of 6), a croissant, pinwheels, and two cappuccinos all for 9€. Then they went to more must-see places, like finally climbing the steps of the Eiffel Tower and paying a visit to Notre-Dame. After hours at just those two destinations, they went back to the hotel a little early to eat at a restaurant a block away they had noticed the day before. They finished the night similarly to how they had the night before, sipping on drinks while planning their next day adventure to Versailles. And if Damen hung around the open balcony window while sneaking glances at the dark apartment across the way, Nik didn’t say anything.

Tuesday, two days after the meeting at Etoile, their entire trip changed.

Everything that morning had gone to plan. They woke up, grabbed more caffeine and pastries from a nearby café, then went about getting ready and calling a ride to get them the forty-minutes to Versailles. The Palace of Versailles made Damen feel like he was drowning; there was so much design, so much unnecessary grandeur that wasn’t there to be anything but a bullhorn announcing all the way from the past, ‘Look how we lived.’ Damen told Nik this must be where Etoile got its inspiration from; as they walked through the throne room and took in the gold and the blood reds all around, Nik told him he agreed. There was so much to see in Versailles, so much space to cross, so much intricacy to absorb, that they were there nearly all day. Upon their arrival back in Paris, they decided to get more caffeine in their system so they could edit a few photographs from the day. They were walking back, eyes and feet tired, when they ran into him.

In Damen’s defense, Laurent was on their side of the road, not the other way around.

He must have been on his phone because it was the thing that Damen and Nik nearly knocked out of his hands upon bumping into him. Damen had immediately gone to grab for it, to make sure it didn’t hit the concrete below, an ‘Are you okay?’ on his lips that died when he saw who they had almost trampled. Laurent looked at them both coolly as Nik managed to ask what Damen had tried to sputter out.

“I’m fine. It appears my phone is fine as well,” Laurent said, not even bothering to inspect if his phone was actually fine or not before he pocketed it.

Damen wanted to say something to that, he did, but the words were lost as he stared. It was almost the same stare he knew had given Laurent the first minute he saw him all dressed in gold, but this was different too. It was different because Laurent wasn’t dressed in gold, in fitted clothes made for runways and magazines, in makeup that accentuated parts of his beauty and hid others. He was wearing a blue turtleneck sweater so deep in its color it was almost black, the same color of the very form-fitting pants he had on that stopped just above his ankles so the quality of his black boots could be seen. Folded over his arm was a black jacket, a thin but solid fabric, and around his neck was a loosely wrapped scarf made of a light blue material. It was all so concealing, so austere, and yet Damen was able to tell that he wasn’t holding himself quite as artfully; he simply radiated his own kind of natural elegance this way.

But it wasn’t even the clothes that had Damen staring. It was the lack of makeup on Laurent’s face. In the three days Damen had seen Laurent, Laurent had always had something on his face, whether it be eyeshadows or lipsticks or designs of some kind. But now his face was bare and it was so surreally beautiful that Damen felt as though the air he was trying to breathe was too thick to go down to his lungs. He felt lightheaded as a result. That blond hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, held with a singular clear band, and it drew all of the attention to the sharp lines of Laurent’s cheekbones, to the blue of his eyes, the fan of his eyelashes, and the fullness of his mouth.

Oh, Damen thought.

In his staring and his silence, Nik and Laurent took the time to talk — that is, if you can count such a stilted conversation as theirs talking.

Luckily, Damen shook himself out of his own stupor and was just honing back in on the conversation when he heard the tail-end of Laurent’s response to Nik.

“— told Nicaise I would take him out for dessert and the devil doesn’t seem to care that it’s well after the time people are supposed to go get dessert.”

“Who’s Nicaise?” Damen asked. Laurent turned his gaze in Damen’s direction.

“A tiny devil of a boy. I believe he interrupted one of the photoshoots last week,” Laurent said. Both Damen and Nik seemed to, at the same time, remember the horrid child from Etoile’s office bombarding the photoshoot that second day. “From the looks on your faces, you’ve met him.”

“At the office,” Nik said.

“Is he your brother?” Damen asked, knowing that it wasn’t. It was odd, he thought ever-so briefly, recalling what he knew of Laurent now. All the information still seemed as though it was about someone else.

“No. He’s merely one of my uncle’s prodigies.”

Damen and Nik moved to the side to allow a group of people to pass. Laurent stayed where he was. After stealing a look at his phone, he then looked up at Damen and Nik and asked in a tone that said, ‘I'm just killing time really,I’ “Where are you two off to so late? Not tired of Paris yet?”

“We’re just getting back, actually,” Nik said, waving the camera in his hands once as an explanation.

“We were at Versailles all day,” Damen said. Laurent huffed out a laugh, one that pulled tightly at his mouth and sounded insincere, and Damen asked, “What?”

“I suppose it was my own ignorance that had me making the assumption you two weren’t necessarily common tourists. I appear to be mistaken. Pray tell, what other famous sights have you seen and not seen?”

“We’ve seen most of the big names,” Damen said. “We haven’t gotten to Sacré-Couer, and we have plans for the Louvre on Friday, but —”

Laurent crossed his arms over his chest, pressing the jacket into the blue of his sweater. “If you truly want to see Paris, you cannot limit yourselves to that which you see in movies. You need to go to the parks, the markets, the open-air concerts, and the book and poetry readings. You need to Galerie de l’Instant and you need to simply go on walks. Tourist attractions are famous for reasons, yes, but you’ll never learn about a city like Paris that way.”

“Why don’t you show us around then?”

Damen hadn’t meant to say that, to ask that, the words seemed to have slipped out of his mouth on their own accord. From the look Nik was stabbing into the side of his face, Damen guessed it had come out the way it had sounded in his head: a flirtatious challenge. Nik was going to kill him if Laurent didn’t.

Laurent, for his part, didn’t seem taken aback by the question. He did shift his stance, moving his weight from one foot to the other, but there was nothing else but that bored expression on his face.

“I mean, you clearly know the best spots and the fastest ways to get to them.”

The words continued to come out of Damen’s mouth on their own volition. It was a classic case of word-vomit and Damen was making a mess. Then Laurent said, “Why not?”

It was Nik who double-taked and managed to mumble out an, “Excuse me?” and thank the gods he did, because Damen was, once again, speechless.

“You’re clearly a lost cause,” Laurent said, stealing another look at his phone, “and I’m certain my uncle gave you a speech on the importance he places on model-photographer relationships. You’ll get to see Paris and I’ll not have to endure near the wrath I would receive next week when I spend our Friday luncheon ignoring most of everybody.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Damen said, finding his voice. Now Nik seemed to have lost his.

“Perfect. I’ll be here early Thursday morning.”

Damen thought, watching Laurent walk away without another word, that it probably would have been wise for them to have exchanged phone numbers or, at the very least, given Laurent their room number.

“Seriously?” Nik deadpanned.

“What?” Damen asked, defensively, but he was smiling and that wasn’t helping him right now. “We always take advice from locals. It’s always gotten us to the best sights and food, you know that.”

“Did I not just say, oh, two days ago that asking people from Etoile where to go probably wouldn’t be our best bet because they’re in an entirely different universe?”

“You did, but —”

“And did you not agree because you’re the one who first brought up the snobbery I’d be dealing with?”

“Yes, but —”

“Damen.”

“Nik.”

They stood there for a moment in silence, the only noise that of the moderately-busy street around them, and then Nik said with a sigh in his voice, “At least it seems he’s getting something out of this so he might not be too awful. Though I’m not sure how good I feel about helping him get around his uncle in any way.”

[celawrites]

Day 37

It’s 12am and my phone is buzzing and I cannot sleep. What the fuck is going on.

You have 20 new notifications

I click open our class chat first, and to my surprise, it’s all birthday messages.

Clown: Did you guys actually have to type me a whole essay? Thank you tho <3

Pebble: A well written essay!

Sam: Time well spent

My phone vibrates and I’m invited to a call from a handful of friends.

Joining Your Neighborhood Pizza delivery service’s call…

“It’s 12am let me sleep”

“Are you not happy that we’re wishing you happy birthday at 12am?”

“I am, it’s just I’m also exhausted for no reason”

“You’re going out for a McDonalds run right?”

“Yeah. You guys woke me up halfway through”

“Sorry”

“I’m sorry it’s 12am and I really wanna know who’s in this call right now”

“Ah! It would be Estelle, Beanie, Min, “

“Your son”

“Mint”

“Sun”

“What the fuck are you guys doing awake?”

“Admiring the stars”

“Sure. Totally believe you”

“Cressie it’s your birthday.”

“One year closer to my demise I guess”

“You’re insane”

“So I’ve been told”

“Ah. Check your mailbox in the morning! There should be a couple things in there”

I yawn. 6 hours of sleep isn’t enough to run on.

“Alright get to bed. Sleep your last 3 hours and I’ll be waiting for you at 3am”

“Mint you’re the most punctual out of all of us why are you picking me up?”

“I’ve never had a McDonalds run with you. Besides, It’s Friday.”

“Alright I’m sleeping now good night”

“Good night birthday girl!”

“That’s so cheesy ksjdfalfa”

Sure enough, at 3am, I wake up and find Mint outside my door, vibing in his car. I shake my head and lock the door.

“Good morning Mint”

“Morning”

“You’re mean you know that?”

“Happy birthday Mint”

“Right back at you”

“HEY REMEMBER WHEN YOU JUST STRAIGHT UP LEFT ME ON READ WHEN I WISHED YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY-”

“I THOUGHT WE WERE OVER THAT ALREAY”

“My salty ass could never”

“Alright what do you want for your birthday?”

“Neither of us give anything-”

“Our Asian ass could never”

“HOnestly”

“Ah. I do have a present for you though”

My hand reaches into my backpack and I pull out a scrapbook.

“In true Crescent fashion, I present to you our scrapbook”

“What?”

“A collection of all the photos we have together with little commentary along the way. This is now yours” I beam.

“You’re joking”

“Nope”

“I didn’t even get you anything like his I-”

“You don’t need to”

He snickers and hands me a small box.

“I found it while shopping online, and it reminded me of that one time A gave you a rainbow rose so I figured I would give you an eternal one”

I stare at the rose. It’s rainbow, and I was surprised he even remembered that his brother had given me one.  I tear up slightly, maybe its because I wasn’t used to getting gifts from him, or the sudden change of heart but I mean-

“I’m crying”

“You’re always crying”

“SHUT UP KDFSKFSHDJF”

My hands clink at the glass softly, and Mint hums in appreciation as he flips through the scrapbook.

“Where’s this photo from?”

“Hm?”  He points at a photo where both he and his brother are jumping on the trampoline while I’m sitting.

“Your mom sent it to my mom a few years back”

“Ah”

There’s a comfortable silence that passes over us, and I decide to answer all the texts that I had received about my birthday while he flipped through the book.

After about a dozen thank you!’s and 4 conversations, I finish. Mint snickers when he flips to the last page.

“You just had to put that one last huh?”

On the last page lies Mint and I at Junior prom last year. It was a tradition to go with eachother, and my friend had taken a photo where we were pretending to make out.

”Why? Don’t want your future wife seeing it?”

“No. It’s just you saved the best for last” he snorts.

“Of course” I hum.

“Alright what do you want from McDonalds?”

“Ice cream”

“You’re literally bleeding this week no”

“Uhhh. Fries?”

“Sure”

Mint starts his car and we head off. The sky is a calm blue. A dark shade that leaves you wondering if there’s more out there. It was ironic that I had met him so long ago. It was even more surprising when he moved here for junior and senior year. I was horribly confused, and the only explanation he could muster out was a job change for his parents. But I was pretty sure they just wanted to have A mature in a different environment.

“Lost in thought again?”

“Mhm. You never told me how and why you moved here in detail”

“Nothing really. It was a job change on my parents part, and a new path for A”

“What about you?”

“I wanted to chase the only person who never gave up on me”

“You’re disgusting”

“Better than confessing to my crush every day for a whole year”

“LEAVE ME ALONE”

“You’re the one who brought up how I chased you all the way to California”

“I still wonder how you can pin after someone like me”

“At some point I realized you saw me as a brother”

“I wish I could do that.”

“You’re a hopeless romantic. Have some fun every once in a while”

“Are you implying I should have a one night stand?”

“Once you’re a legal adult sure”

“Bad decision making except it’s Mint giving me bad advice as a joke”

“I hate you”

“Love you too~”

“You’re disgusting”

“Bleh”

HE pulls up at the McDonalds drive-through and I scream.

“dEAR ARE YOU ALIVE?”

“OMG HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING! EVERYTHING’S ON ME TODAY”

“WTF DEAR NO”

“NO OBJECTIONS. IS MINT WITH YOU?”

“I’m here”

“Happy birthday Mint darling anyways what do you guys want?”

“The usual”

“Nothing new?”

“Nope”

“Alright! See you at the second window!”

“Cressie darling I got you a gift!”

“I- what?”

“Gift.” He tosses something through the car window and it lands in my hands.

“What is it?”

“Check”

I click open the box and I find a small pendant with a moon.

“I thought you were a broke high school student?”

“But the boss gave me a raise and told me to get something nice for my lover and like I don’t have one so I mean-”

“I don’t deserve you” I sniff.

“Stop crying darling you’re scaring me”

I really hope you find yourself a lover this year or I will fight everyone around me I SWEAR”

“You’re being too loud again Cress”

“Sorry”

He hands us our food and waves us goodbye. It was funny to me. I had so many friends around me now that I had grown.

“Are you gonna make a birthday post?”

“Oh for Serenity!” I gasp.

I type away and Mint steals a couple fries from me. I hiss at him while typing.

“Too bad” he shrugs.

School rolls around and I ‘m met with 20 happy birthdays and a couple gifts fro my other friends. Surprise surprise I have other friends. Z and Sun’s gift surprises me the most.

“Cress” Sun calls for me after school.

“Hm?”

“Happy birthday” He hands a medium-sized box to me.

“You always make us scrapbooks for our birthdays so I thought I’d try to make one for you”

“Have I ever told you how much I love you-”

“You remind me pretty often but yeah”

I open the box and a seat little scrapbook sits inside. There’s a white pen, a silver one, and a gold pen rolling around next to it, and there’s a small letter. Z tackles me from behind and I crash into Sun’s chest.

“Z what the f-”

“Language” Sun glares.

“Your gift!” Z hands me a small photo sized box.

“Photos?”

“You made a whole batch with notes on the back for me so I decided to print a bunch for you!”

“Thank you Z” I sniff slightly.

“What’s wrong! Do you not like it?”

“No no! I’m emotional haha” I muster up a smile. My cursed birthday luck was gonna catch up with me soon. I just felt it.

“No worries! It was the least I could do” Z smiles.

I nod in response. The rest of the day carries out like normal, and I find myself tired by the end of the day. My classmates threw me a party, and at the end of the day, my friends threw me another one. I enjoyed it, but I was waiting for my cursed birthday luck to catch up to me, I could never be happy until it occurred.

“If you’re thinking about that birthday curse of yours again, I’d advise you to know that with me, there’s no chance of having bad birthday luck” Mint hums. His birthdays had no bad things. It was like the universe favored him.

“I know. But I can’t truly calm down until I get to bed”

There’s a comfortable silence that settles down before Mint speaks up again.

“I’m sorry”

“Why so?”

“You had always wished me happy birthday so consistently, and I never replied and I just feel really bad and all-”

“Don’t worry about it.” I tap at the red solo cup in my hand. “I probably deserved all that”

“You don’t and that’s why I kind of. Um”

“Mint you’re my editor what did you do-”

“Bought tickets back home?” I gape at him. My jaw is dropped, and he seems to panic. “My home’s open and all! I know your house is rented out and the renters for my place just moved out and we have thanksgiving in a month so I figured I would take you back for the break and I’m sorry! I probably should’ve asked first and all but-”

A choked sob escapes my lips. I’m shocked, I hadn’t gone home in so long. How did he know? A stream of incoherent words escapes my lips and Mint tries to soothe me.

“You know.” I managed to force it out. “Some days I question why I stopped crushing on you. You spoil me rotten, and I don’t even deserve someone who cares for me and knows me like you and you always seem to know how I’m feeling and-”

Mint rubs soft circles on my back, and I let out my emotions. My birthday curse wasn’t a curse. It was a tradition. A tradition to cry at least once on my birthday, and for the first time, I was crying tears of joy. A couple minutes pass, and I feel my emotions slowly draw back.

“Thank you” I mumbled weakly.

Serenity made a new post!

It’s my birthday! Thank you to all of you who sent in birthday wishes (and death threats)! Another year has passed and I truly wish that I could thank you all face to face for the support!

Once again, my lovely editor Leaf shares a birthday with me so go ahead and send in some birthday wishes to him as well. For today’s gift from me, you all get a blast of joy! Much love!

-Serenity

Previous : Masterlist : Next

[peonyrice]

Designer Tips: 10 best ways to find your Wedding Dress!

Amazing you are engaged! Congratulations and you must still be walking on air i am sure, so many things to plan. There’s the wedding location, date, who to invite, what kind of wedding ??? all these questions.... and as everything starts to fall into place - you need your wedding gown. Where do you start?

Here’s our 10 tips to help you on your way. There are many options and you are not sure where to start, you have either been scrolling over pages and pages of images on pinterest falling in love with different backs, styles of dresses....it brings up a whole world of possibilities but which is realistically your dress??? or perhaps you are feeling totally relaxed about the whole wedding and don’t want to make a big deal of it you know you will find that gown as you still have time!

Either way  - Stop procrastinating, our advice is better not to leave it to the last minute and give yourself time to prepare all the other little things.

Haven’t a clue where to go?

1. Referrals - Talk to your friends, girlfriends, sister, mum, work colleagues and see where they suggest to go. Within your inner circles - they are likely to have some recommendations or places that they may have liked the style or service. Referrals tend to be the best way.. especially if you know or see that someone has a similar taste or style as yourself... its usually a great indication that you may also like the same designer or boutique.  Make an appointment and go take a look.

2. Online research - check out local wedding blogs, Wedding planners, Wedding photographers, Brides may share their story with all the details of the big day and the events running up to it. Be inspired and you can draw from their experiences and get some great tips on making it your special day. Read magazines, most bridal magazines from print to online versions, instagram there will be plenty of visual of bridal boutiques and bridal designers that are recommended in the big cities. Decide who you like and make that appointment.

3. Wedding Planners & Wedding production houses, Wedding Photo Studios - you may have them planning or involved in some aspect of your wedding and the themes. Some companies may include the gowns as a part of the overall wedding package - but this may also dictate that your gown has to “fit” the theme of your wedding... all part of the beauty. It’s a great option to not have to think too hard about your dress.. but be warned - you will be the star of the night... make sure you are comfortable and beauty will shine.

4. Multi Branded Bridal Boutiques These are stores that carry numerous bridal brands. You can either decide if you are a classical, modernist, boho type of girl as some stores maybe curated by a certain aesthetic and styles are rounded up from several designers..or some more by a more general range of bridal gowns assorted by price point. It’s great if you are not sure what kind of style you think will suit you and there’s likely to be a variation of styles... or if you have a definite idea of a certain look or a designer that you absolutely love, then you just need to find who’s stocking them! Think about your budget. Some stores maybe purchase only or some may also rent. Generally the stores will have a sample size gown for you to try on for an idea and then book the closest standard size which would need to be adapted by a seamstress to fit you well.

5. Designer Boutique - If you are lucky to live in a big city - then there may be many bridal designer’s flagship store whereby you can make and appointment and see the latest offerings from that designer. If you know the style and have identified the vibe then its just working out how to get your hands on the dress!  There may also be a possibility if the designer is around to make an appointment directly and get the best advice or if you wanted to even have a special gown designed for you. Most designers will offer made to measure service from their own ateliers and include alterations and fittings. Please check directly.

6. Wedding photo studios - Perhaps you want to try out a few different bridal gowns and looks before your big day for pre wedding photos or engagement photos -  Wedding studios are specialists at making you look great and with surreal surroundings or perhaps even with travel to the countries of your choice with all inclusive package of as many gowns as you may need -  sounds great.  These tend to be rental, alterations will be minimal unless you are purchasing the dresses.

7. Rental Wedding Gowns - many local stores will offer rental options which maybe beneficial to your pocket and budgets. If you need more than one gown for the wedding day or perhaps you have two weddings to prepare for - they will have options for your reception gown, main wedding gown, first dance - evening gown, toasting gown and off course the tea ceremony attire.... so this can lead to quite a splurge - some gowns and dresses being options that you can wear again and would like to invest in them for the future to rewear again. Or it maybe a pure lack of space, that its easy for rental and you do not need to worry where to pack and store the gown after the ceremony.

8. Vintage gowns - Even better, for something old.... something borrowed,  as the saying goes, perhaps there’s a family heirloom from your grandmother or mum that can be adapted for your special day. Worth to ask! Some of you may really love vintage wedding gowns and all their amazing details, if you have an idea of the type of era you like, you can try exploring local vintage stores especially those specializing in that period and maybe by luck you will find that beauty. We especially love the 1920′s deco period and many of these gowns were a little more easier to wear but be prepared that you may need a great seamstress to help you fit the dress perfectly.

9. Online Shopping - if you are feeling brave, and you absolutely know what kind of gown you want and perhaps the designer may have a great selection online. Get started to find that look, many online retailers as netaporter, matchesfashion, lanecrawford all have a small fashionable bridal collection, ooozing alot of style and designer coolness perhaps for a more contemporary brides who are looking for some thing different. Be prepared for alterations

10. Bespoke Bridal gown design - Nothing more original than having the chance to make your own wedding dress. Make it truly your own vision with the designer. Spend some time to research your gown and find a designer with a similar aesthetic to yourself.

For us, we love Bespoke designs for our clients, it’s an intimate process and every time we get to work on a gown that has the client’s style in mind and seeing the results are stunning!

[flooringinstaller101-blog]

Choosing a Reclaimed Wood Floor

To make sure you are trying to choose what kind of flooring to pick out? Maybe we can help you with a little primer on some personality differences with reclaimed wood flooring from the perspective of a manufacturer like ourselves who specializes in making wood flooring from reclaimed lumber. Did you see a picture that you like and now you have the bug that you want that special floor? The good news is that it may well probably be made for you, but before you go a long ways down the path of choosing which floor you want and inquiring a display room full of samples, ask about some price ranges. There is a common misconception that since reclaimed wood is definitely supposedly salvaged it should be cheaper than virgin wood floors. If you are buying a quality kiln dried and precision machine made product, generally that is not the case. The only cost savings would be if you found some scraps or did some salvage succeed yourself, you might save some costs. For example you might find a gym floor or planks out of a barn existen loft that you want to nail down on your floor. The material might have been next to free, but how much time are planning to have in making it usable and pulling nails? Are the results what you want? In this article we will be discussing several different categories of lumber flooring. Solid wood flooring is one board with no glued up laminations; it is basically wood board that has been size and profiled to a certain dimension. Engineered flooring has a on the top whatever species and texture you want, and this might be glued to a plywood backer on the bottom. Engineered is still all wood but is made with multiple layers which were laminated for better stability and dimensional accuracy. Floors that we will not cover here are laminates or any grp composite products which are often not wood entirely through the plank or may be made with a photo printed surface. We also will not necessarily cover vinyl, carpet, stone, or tile. Hardwood flooring is often a generic term that could apply to any type of wood floors. Hardwood trees (oak, maple, cherry, walnut, elm, chestnut) are generally trees that had leaves which fall off of in the winter. Softwood trees (pine, fir) have needles that may stay on all year and usually they generate cones. Hardwoods are usually more dense and more durable than softwoods. Of course, there are exceptions to these generalities. Within our product line the hardwoods cost more than the softwoods. As a reoccurring theme in this article you will find that you often get genital herpes virus treatments pay for. Admittedly, the higher end price point products ($11+/sf) from more rare woods are not necessarily better quality although we find that up to that point quality improves with price. Our solid wood floors range in price from $4-9 per square foot and our engineered ranges from $7-15 per square foot. We will discuss software programs below, but our point is that you need to have a realistic budget when shopping. Sometimes a nice alternative if you have ones heart set on an expensive floor is to use less of it and put it just in key areas. Don't complete the whole house. Maybe just do the main high traffic areas and use a cheaper alternative in bedrooms.. If your primary price-point is not even in the same zip code, maybe it is in a different state, start shopping other options. For instance if you are in the $1-2/sf range look at the deep discounters or laminate options. The FSC certified 12mm exterior birch plywood that we use to manufacturer the engineered flooring costs us that much alone, not counting all the other labour and materials. Also when pricing a floor be sure to factor in the whole installed cost and the lifetime cost. Allow me to share examples of some variables that could alter the total costs: With reclaimed material waste factor is a huge variable. The amount of effort does the manufacturer take to give you a 100% usable product? Poorly milled with very little defecting and culling executed on a solid wood floor that costs $6/sf and has a 15% waste factor actually costs more than a similar item that is milled better costing $7/sf with a 2% waste factor. That extra wastes costs more in delivering and labor to defect. This is one of the hardest things to demonstrate to a customer that the face value costs doesn't necessarily make up the actual raw material cost unless one is truly comparing identical quality and specified products. For the second changing here is a controversial opinion: we do not end match our flooring which means there is no tongue and groove on the closes of the planks. Since we recommend our floor be glued down we say this is an unnecessary charge for the customer. End matching reduces the yield in production and raises labor costs. Most end coordinate profiles are milled so loosely that they really don't hold the floor in place anyway. The biggest benefit to the installer is certainly that the plank can be cut in half in any place and reused anywhere without have to mate up to a complementary language or groove since the end is just square cut. This means all end trim pieces or any waste may be reused. Therefore on our engineered flooring product the waste factor is virtually nothing unless there are facets or radiuses to work around. We also help with waste factor by usually supplying a random width system so when one gets close to the end of a room they can plan the width combination patterns out to not ought to rip much off the last row. The third variable is installation costs. Our engineered product has labor financial savings over our solid wood product because it is pre-sanded and milled to tighter tolerances. It is also prefilled in the cry and has next to zero waste. On the other hand you may have a little more in cost of gluing it down in addition to nails, nonetheless this is just a step in direction of better quality and peace of mind during the install. Fourth, factor in the cost of refinishing the ground later or doing touchups. This is a whole another article. Some finishes can be spot touched up like most of the oils while others require a full sand over the whole floor. Some finishes require a professional installer and may have serious odor during the cure. If you live with the floor for very long, factor these decisions in for the type of finish for you to select for lifetime durability and the cost & effort to refinish. Fifth, compare overall thickness and the height in the top of the tongue or nail groove to the top of the face on the floor. On an engineered floor this is generally the thickness on the wear layer. Most solid wood floors are 3/4" overall before sanding (but some are less) with 1/4" above the nail groove. Our engineered floor is manufactured to equivalent measurements but most engineered floor surfaces have a thinner wear layer. This comes down to how many times the floor can be sanded. What kind of finish and texture and consistancy you want on the floor factors into how deep you will re-sand the floor during refinishing. A number of our reclaimed wood floor coverings are sold with an original texture that shows the old saw marks and character in the floor, so very likely you won't want to sand this out. As a rule of thumb, the thicker the wear layer then the longer a floor will last. Sixth, compare the cost of a character grade virgin floor to reclaimed. The reclaimed may cost even more up front, but the additional variability, texture and character in it may hide or mask the abuse better. It could actually therefore last longer because of the forgiving nature in the inherent look of the reclaimed material. What is resale value to having a specialized product installed? You may alienate some buyers by taking a risk or impress others with the customization. Seventh, considering a do-it-yourselfer? Think through every step of the process to be sure that you can do it yourself. Usually the install can be done using relatively moderate skills and simple tools like a chop saw and rented flooring nailer. The finishing approach is a whole different matter. The sanders and buffers take some special skills to operate. A normal price range with regard to labor and materials to install a wood floor is $4-5 per square foot. It is possible to build your own perspiration equity into a floor install. Maybe this is where you choose to use our engineered product for example because it is presanded to more accurate tolerances than a solid wood product. It can be touched up with a hand held orbital sander rather than commercial floor sanders. Then if you are doing the finish yourself, you will want to consider using a finish that may not require as much buffing between coats. Here is a word on prefinished product if they factor into your decision. If you come up short on your get, the next lot that you buy may not match your previous batch. This is especially a problem on the lower end price surfaces and import floors. Good luck trying to blend it in with your previous floor. So if you go this route, end up extra accurate on your measurements. Right now the rage is lifetime warranties on flooring. We stop to think is without a doubt that really even possible? First will that importer or manufacturer really be around a lifetime? A lot of products are produced oversees; the warranty is only good if there is somebody still around for the life of the warranty. Are you going to be able to take the warranty? Also, do you really think that a finish can last a lifetime? For example take a nail and try scraping it across the surface. Sure it is a durable, well applied finish, but it is impossible to make a product that won't get hold of abused at some point in its lifetime. Do you think that the only serious trial your floor will ever see can be a stinky sock? Read the fine print on the warranty and regardless of what it says consider the true replacement cost on the floor. The idea probably only covers the cost of material of the specific damaged product under normal wear and tear. Your product may not be produced exactly the same later (trends and product lines change) to replace the section that is warrantied, so you may have to replace the whole floors years later. You will have labor cost along with displacement of trim, cabinets, and appliances. Also most of these lifetime closes cannot be repaired or sanded because of a micro bevel put on the edge of prefinished floor. Our advice will be instead to buy a quality product that can be refinished and repaired because something will go wrong in the lifetime of the floor; do not get a false sense of security. We personally do not care for prefinished flooring due to installation problems associated with the idea, so our product requires site applied finish. This means that your floor finish if site applied will be better to sand and refinish than a prefinished floor. Also you do not have to deal with that micro bevel groove between each table that tends to fill up with dust and crumbs. Most prefinished hardwood floors really can't be refinished easily. To help sand it off means that the wear layer has to be thicker than the height of the nails and have room to help sand off the micro bevel between boards; that amounts to a lot of sanding. You also will not be able to spot sand and touch up parts of the floor. In a reclaimed product the engineered flooring really shines. Since the nature of gotten back material is rustic with splits, various height, warps and so forth by doing an engineered product we can take away those issues. We match the texture and color that you want in the floor but you don't have to put up with the built in problems that come with installing and living with a reclaimed wood floor. A number of solid wood reclaimed floors have warped in addition to twisted boards, gaps between rows, height difference between rows, holes, and other "nostalgia and romance" that may end up unwelcome after living with the floor for a while. Due to our precise sanding during the lamination process for the engineered product along with after, pieces are more consistent in height, more uniform in texture, fit together tighter, no waste, holes and even cracks already filled, and no sanding necessary after install unless you want to do a light screen or buff.

[shonarollo-blog]

S

panning Kensington Market is not just a market, but a vibrant, living community, home to numerous waves of immigrants over the years.When visiting, I was struck by how many different people from all walks of life gather here to work, eat, live and play. With so many cultures and generations all layered on top of each other, the whole place has a DIY feel you don’t really find anywhere else.

As a destination for art, global street food and community events, there is so much life tucked into every corner of this bustling neighbourhood. It’s nearly impossible to take it all in at once… so, where to start?

Make the Most of Kensington Market

Golden Patty

Eat your way through a world of food

Although Kensington Market has some finer dining establishments such as Grey Gardens, more casual spots that only specialize in one or two items are really where it’s at. True to the market’s immigrant roots, you’ll find mom and pop restaurants serving quick street food and authentically cooked meals that bring a taste of their home countries to you.

Seven Lives is a neighbourhood favourite for getting Baja-style tacos, and they’re in demand. This cash only counter has mouthwatering tacos loaded with all the right toppings, and lots of hot sauce options to pick from. Another popular street food, empanadas, are perfect for a quick and affordable snack. At Jumbo Empanada, you can get a taste of Chile for as little as $1.75 for one of their mini pastries.

Fish and Chips from Fresco’s

As a Montrealer I also have to mention NU Bügel. They serve classic Montreal bagels wood fired to perfection and topped with the works, if you wish. Fresco’s Fish and Chips has meanwhile mastered and upgraded a British classic with an optional extra crispy batter made from Miss Vickie’s “crisps.” Then, Golden Patty will deliver on all your flaky, spicy, delicious, beefy needs.

Kensington Market also has a lot of options for vegetarian and vegan eats. Options like Urban Herbivore,  Hibiscus and King’s Cafe are sure to make your little plant-based hearts sing.

Kensington Market & Chinatown Toronto Food Tour exploring the back alleys

Take the Kensington Market and Chinatown Toronto Food Tour

If you’re new in the area or want to get to know it from a different perspective, taking a tour can be the perfect way to connect with the place. You’ll get to know the stories and the history that helped make Kensington Market the way it is today, and get a taste of what a community like this really means. Plus, it’s clear there’s a lot to taste in this high density foodie destination.

Food samples on the Kensington Market & Chinatown Toronto Food Tour

On the Kensington Market & Chinatown Toronto Food Tour, you’ll have the chance to visit 7+ different food stops to taste delicacies that are inspired by global cuisines, and yet take root at a small local business, each with its own story. No single restaurant could bring you a seven course meal this diverse! You’ll definitely get plenty to eat, but you’ll also be enriched by the guide’s insider knowledge as they take you to explore off the main streets and into the real heart of Kensington Market. Have a look at Local Toronto Food Tours.

Outside FIKA

Take it easy at a local cafe

You might need some extra energy to soak in as much as you can of Kensington Market, so why not treat yourself to a delicious cup of coffee, and maybe a scone?

My favourite place to refresh as I explore the market is Moonbean. The locally owned coffee shop and roastery brings the streets’ energy inside with a sprawling chalkboard menu, loose leaf teas lining the walls, and a cozy art-filled room in the back. They also have two patios, front and back, plentiful baked goods, and just about every drink you can think of, even smoothies. Plus, if you need to make another kind of rest stop, you’ll find kind messages from strangers scrawled all over the bathroom walls.

Another great coffee shop is FIKA, a bright and stylish Sweden-inspired spot that’s a favourite for studying, reading a book, or simply taking it easy. They serve specialty drinks such as a spiced cardamom latte, lavender white hot chocolate, and a mean iced coffee, too – perfect for enjoying on their airy patio in the summer.

Other local favourites include famed Toronto chain Jimmy’s Coffee as well as i deal coffee, Cafe Pamenar and Livelihood Cafe.

Exploring the alleyways of Kensington Pl.

See where creativity spills onto the streets

Music, street performances, murals and more fill the streets of Kensington Market with endless inspiration and photo opportunities. With so many artists around, you’ll be pressed to find wall space that doesn’t boast even a speck of paint. They’ve truly made Kensington their own.

Some of my favourite murals are a photo collage on Kensington Ave off St Andrew and a huge Alphonse Mucha inspired mural at Augusta and Oxford. Parked in front the latter, you’ll also find Yvonne Bambrick’s infamous Garden Car, a teeny tiny city park/community art project which has been sprouting in the same spot each summer since ’07. Make sure you keep your eyes up as you explore hidden corners and back alleys, you never know what else you’ll find!

Street performers

While street performers and pop-up concerts may be a little harder to track, if the sun is out you’re sure to stumble upon some talented buskers at Bellevue Square Park. To increase your odds, come by for Pedestrian Sundays. The whole market is blocked off from traffic on the last Sunday of every summer month, opening it up for people and their experimentations. Support artists directly, too, by checking out the Kensington Market Art Fair.

The Winter Solstice Festival also takes over the market annually on December 21st, lighting up the longest night of the year with creativity and passion.

Lanterns on display at Dancing Days

Shop around for locally made goods

Naturally, the storefronts in Kensington Market sell products by people just as diverse as its residents. Creativity is concentrated at a few charming stores offering handmade and locally produced goods that range from artwork to accessories to home decor, and more.

First off, Kid Icarus is a sweet, stylish screen printing studio and gift shop all in one. They focus on paper products like greeting cards and stationary, but you’ll find pins, soap and other creative crafts, too. Everything in store is made by Canadian artists and artisans, and it’s irresistibly cute.

Painted house

Outside of Dancing Days

Another good place to pick up Canadian-made gifts is The Blue Banana Market. The giant store is practically a warehouse for locally made goods and novelty items from around the globe. Then, for comic book lovers, manga fans, and graphic novel enthusiasts, there’s The Beguiling. You’ll find the famed comic book store just a couple steps from the market on College Ave. Even if you weren’t looking for any of those, there’s something about it that just draws you in.

Finally, if you’re looking for some unique jewellery, you’re in luck. One Love is one man’s tiny storefront selling handcrafted goods and jewellery, with a smile. You can also find other similarly handmade pieces displayed on tabletops around the market. Follow your instinct as you stroll the streets and see what speaks to you!

One of Kensington Market’s many fruit stands

Pick up some specialty ingredients

Grocery shopping might be an underrated form of entertainment, but one of the big draw-ins of Kensington Market is its high density of specialty grocers. There’s nothing better than treating yourself to some of the freshest ingredients you can get. Whether you’re cooking up a special meal or just having a snack, you’ll see the difference that freshness makes.

Even if you don’t have a kitchen at your disposal, these spots can help you feel right at home. There’s nothing better than fresh bread from Toronto’s favourite Blackbird Baking Co. topped with your favourite creamy delight from the Global Cheese Shoppe just around the corner.

Global Cheese

For carnivores, Sanagan’s Meat Locker is your local go-to. They emphasize building relationships with farmers, meaning you can trace everything in store back to its source. All that’s left to do is let the helpful staff guide you to picking the perfect cut. Next, you’ll find fruit and vegetable stands all around the market to add a little colour to your meal, while House of Spice will help bring the flavour. You’re sure to discover something new while you’re in there, too.

If you’re looking for place to shop that’s a little better rounded, 4 Life Natural Foods has it all when it comes to organic goods. With spacious aisles, wooden shelves and so many ethically sourced food options, the whole experience of being there is simply a pleasure.

Kensington Mall

Discover the wonder of thrift shops

Kensington Market is truly a haven for lovers of vintage. With shops selling unique finds around every corner, its no wonder the area’s residents all look so cool. Plus, buying secondhand clothes is a simple way to take it easy on Mother Earth.

Perhaps the most well-known vintage shop in the area is Courage My Love, a cozy and colourful store perfect for finding cashmere pieces, theatrical accessories, beads, buttons and other DIY necessities, as well as the perfect pair of cowboy boots. Another favourite is Sub Rosa Vintage just next door, which boasts a hand picked selection of clothes more in line with today’s fashion trends. Meanwhile, Vintage Depot has top tier threads in just about any shape or colour, including some designer finds, Exile delivers on the costume department and Bungalow mixes the old with the new making it a one-stop shop for any lover of retro style.

If you’re in the mood for a little shopping spree, you’ll find the highest concentration of other vintage shops on Kensington Ave around Courage My Love and Sub Rosa.

CN Tower seen from Chinatown

Explore neighbouring Chinatown

A mere block away from the heart of Kensington Market is another bustling urban community. Chinatown is full of family-owned business of all sorts, but the main attraction is definitely the food. While the number of restaurants serving different variations on the same cuisine was a little overwhelming at first, after a little exploring I’ve narrowed down my favourite spots, depending on what you’re looking for.

Chefs working at Mother’s Dumplings

Dumplings? Try Mother’s Dumplings, and watch the little bundles of flavour be made right in front of your eyes. Noodles? Despite the name, Chinese Traditional Buns serves some awesome Dan Dan Noodles, without the frills. Soup? Phở Hưng has all you could want, and more. Sandwich? Banh Mi Nguyen Huong serves Banh Mi that’s quick, cheap and most of all delicious. Buns? Now, those are top-tier at Mashion Bakery.

The post What to Do and See in Toronto’s Kensington Market appeared first on To Europe And Beyond.

[tailsbeth-writes]

A Hairy Halloween (Bughead Request)

Request: ‘I’d love a story where it’s Halloween and Betty and Jughead wear some hilarious couples costume that no one expected!’ - @confessions33

I really liked this idea, I hope you like it!

Characters: Betty x Jughead, Veronica x Archie, Kevin

Warnings: Kissing.

Word Count: 1558

Masterlist     Read on Ao3

Despite her innocent surface, Betty Cooper was the queen of Halloween. She loved everything about it; the candy, scary movies and most of all the costumes. It was her opportunity to get crafty, every year she took on a new challenge. This year’s challenge; getting her boyfriend Jughead Jones into a costume.  

It was a week before Halloween and the gang were at Pop’s discussing costumes. Queen of parties Cheryl was holding her annual Halloween bash and thanks to the girls’ river vixen status, the gang had an invite.

‘I can’t decide if I want to go scary or sexy this year.’ Veronica announced, the gang chuckled a little.

‘Well I vote sexy.’ Archie replied squeezing Veronica’s shoulder, she turned to him and gave him a little peck.

‘Sexy it is then.’ Kevin rolled his eyes at the couple, he wished he still had someone to try and impress.

‘So what are you dressing up as Betty? I expect big things as always.’ Kevin asked. Betty winked at him.

‘It’s top secret.’ Kevin was very intrigued.

‘Big things?’ Veronica enquired, this was the first time she had celebrated Halloween in Riverdale.

‘Oh yeah, when it comes to costumes, Betty rules.’ Archie told her, Betty helped him pretty much every Halloween since they were kids.

‘Is Jughead going to dress up? He doesn’t seem like the type.’ Veronica asked. Betty bit her lip, she hadn’t even discussed Halloween with Jughead yet. With him transferring to Southside High, they spent a lot less time together.

‘I’m not sure. We’ve barely even talked about Halloween. We’re seeing each other tomorrow so I’ll bring it up then. I was actually thinking we could do a couples costume.’ She blushed a little.

‘That would be the cutest!’ Kevin squealed. Archie glazed his eyes over. He knew this wouldn’t go down well with Jughead.

‘Good luck with that Betty.’ He said bluntly. Veronica elbowed him in the side, he winced and caught a cross look from his girlfriend. Betty frowned, concerned that Archie might be right.

‘I’m afraid Archie has a point. It’s a struggle just getting Jughead to go to a party, never mind a costume party. We’ll just have to wait and see.’

The next night Betty sat sewing on her bed. Her concentration was at its peak, focusing on every stitch. She hated the ‘perfect’ reputation she had but when it came to her costumes, she didn’t mind it so much. Betty smiled at the thought of this year’s character, it was one from her childhood she’d dreamed of making one day. She was knocked out of her daydreams by a sound at the window. That would be Jughead, she thought. Betty quickly hid away her fabrics and opened the window to let him in. He greeted her with a passionate kiss, cupping her face.

‘I missed you.’ He said, grinning at her.

‘I missed you too.’ She leaned in and kissed him again. They’d never been the most touchy-feely couple but nowadays they enjoyed every moment they had together. Betty put some music on and they sat down on her bed. She curled up in Jughead’s arms, his fingers lightly stroked her back.

‘So what’s new in the life of Betty Cooper?’

‘Oh, nothing much, I’ve joined the circus, been to the moon and I even had time to get an A on that English essay you helped me with.’

‘I knew you would. I’m obviously talking about the circus by the way, not that essay.’ Jughead chuckled. Betty fake punched him a little, she liked Jughead when he was in a playful mood.

‘Seriously, thank you. Shakespeare sounds like another language to me so I’m really grateful.’

‘You’re welcome, Juliet.’ He took her hand and placed a delicate kiss upon it. Betty’s cheeks flushed a little at his romantic gesture. She quickly moved on from the moment, remembering the request she had to ask. She left the warmth of Jughead’s body and sat upright.

‘So Juggie, do you have any plans for Halloween?’ she asked optimistically. Jughead gave a light shrug.

‘I’ll probably delve into some horror movies. Why?’ he tensed up a little, he had a slight idea of where this conversation was going.

‘Well… I kinda got us invited to a costume party.’ Betty beamed a face of pure innocence at her boyfriend. He gave her a glare before putting his head in his hands and looking to the ground.

‘Betts, you know how I feel about parties. Can you not remember the disaster that was my birthday?’ He practically spat out the words. Betty let out a sigh. This is how she’d expected this conversation to go. She had one last idea to try and sway him.

‘I know Jughead but listen to me for a second.’ He looked up at her, his face looked grumpy.

‘I absolutely love Halloween, have done since I was a kid. My favourite part has always been the costumes. You of all people know how much I hate my girl next door reputation, Halloween gives me a chance to be someone different, anyone I want to be. Jughead, I know you hate parties but think of it this way it wouldn’t be you going, you could slip in someone else’s shoes for the night. Doesn’t that sound exciting?’ Betty was standing now, she’d gotten a little incensed with her speech. Jughead couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He gave a slight smile, admitting defeat.

‘I guess it does.’ Betty couldn’t help but grin.

‘Thank you, Juggie.’ She leant down and kissed him, lingering a little to show how thankful she really was.

‘So whose shoes are we slipping into then?’ Jughead questioned, knowing full well Betty was likely to be prepared. She turned around and opened her wardrobe. Jughead’s mouth opened in shock.

‘What have I got myself into?’ he spluttered out. Betty giggled at him.

‘Don’t panic Jug, I even made you a special beanie.’

‘We should be on our way by now, what’s taking them so long?’ Veronica asked, annoyed by her friends’ unusual lateness. Archie had offered to drive the gang to the party, they were waiting in the truck in front of Betty’s house.

‘You know Betty, every detail has to be exact.’ Kevin told her. He adjusted himself as he was sitting on one of his prop guns, this year Kevin was a cowboy. It was an easy costume and he knew he could pull off a plaid shirt.

‘Or she’s struggling to get Jughead out the door. I’m still amazed he agreed to come at all.’ Archie chipped in. Veronica and Kevin nodded in agreement. Veronica took out a small mirror and checked her eyeliner cat whiskers were in place. As promised, she’d gone for a sexy costume, you could see every curve of her body in her leopard print leotard. Archie placed a dishevelled hand on her thigh which she quickly shooed away.

‘Did you really have to go as a zombie? It’s not exactly attractive Archiekins.’ He laughed at her and then gave her a light kiss on the lips. A sharp buzz came from Veronica’s clutch, it was her phone.

‘Betty just text me. She says they’ll be two minutes. This better be worth the wait.’

‘Jughead’s coming to a costume party, it’s definitely worth the wait.’ Archie said, he was aware of how much of a leap this was for his best friend. Betty’s front door opened with a creek, the gang looked towards the house.

‘Oh my Disney.’ Kevin gasped. The couple stepped out, barely recognisable. Betty wore a chocolate brown wig, styled in an updo with a long yellow gown and gloves. She was instantly recognisable as Belle. Her beast came behind her. Jughead wore a ruffled white shirt, a blue tail coat, a golden waistcoat and sleek black trousers. It was all topped off with a beanie, but not Jughead’s regular crown shaped one. This one was extremely hairy, it draped down at either side and had ears and horns attached. They walked down the path, Jughead sheepishly behind Betty. Archie honked the horn at the couple.

‘Looking good!’ Kevin yelled from the window. Jughead stopped in his tracks. Betty turned and grabbed his hand, giving it a little squeeze.

‘You look amazing.’ She whispered, her face beaming at her princess dreams becoming true. Jughead bit his lip.

‘So do you.’ He smiled, and they continued to walk hand in hand to the truck. Jughead opened the door for Betty, remembering to stay in character for her. She slid in and he followed. The others sat there in shock.

‘You’ve truly outdone yourself Betty!’ Kevin started to stroke at her gown’s fabric. Veronica had her phone out, she started taking photos of the couple.

‘This is too much, I can’t believe how good you both look.’ She said, smiling at the pair. Jughead blushed at all the attention they were getting, he never let go of Betty’s hand. Archie started the car and they headed off to the party.

‘So how did you even convince Jug to dress up? You have to tell all.’ Archie asked. Jughead gave the back of Archie’s head a short glare. Betty looked at her boyfriend, full of admiration and pride.

‘Oh y’know, that’s a tale as old as time.’

[teesturtle]

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[topfygad]

17+ Brilliant Issues to do in Kensington Marketplace Toronto [Full guide]

S

panning Kensington Marketplace is not just a current market, but a lively, dwelling neighborhood, dwelling to several waves of immigrants around the years.When going to, I was struck by how a lot of distinct men and women from all walks of life get below to work, take in, dwell and perform. With so quite a few cultures and generations all layered on prime of each other, the whole put has a Do it yourself truly feel you never actually obtain anyplace else.

As a desired destination for art, world avenue food stuff and group activities, there is so a great deal everyday living tucked into just about every corner of this bustling neighbourhood. It is nearly not possible to acquire it all in at once… so, in which to start off?

Golden Patty

Even though Kensington Current market has some finer dining establishments this kind of as Grey Gardens, additional relaxed spots that only focus in one or two things are truly wherever it’s at. Accurate to the market’s immigrant roots, you are going to discover mother and pop eating places serving quick road meals and authentically cooked foods that convey a flavor of their dwelling international locations to you.

7 Lives is a neighbourhood favorite for having Baja-fashion tacos, and they are in demand from customers. This income only counter has mouthwatering tacos loaded with all the ideal toppings, and lots of sizzling sauce possibilities to decide on from. One more well-known street food items, empanadas, are great for a speedy and affordable snack. At Jumbo Empanada, you can get a style of Chile for as very little as $1.75 for one particular of their mini pastries.

Fish and Chips from Fresco’s

As a Montrealer I also have to mention NU Bügel. They serve basic Montreal bagels wooden fired to perfection and topped with the operates, if you desire. Fresco’s Fish and Chips has meanwhile mastered and upgraded a British classic with an optional excess crispy batter made from Pass up Vickie’s “crisps.” Then, Golden Patty will deliver on all your flaky, spicy, delightful, beefy demands.

Kensington Market place also has a lot of choices for vegetarian and vegan eats. Possibilities like City Herbivore,  Hibiscus and King’s Cafe are absolutely sure to make your little plant-dependent hearts sing.

Kensington Industry & Chinatown Toronto Food items Tour checking out the back alleys

If you are new in the place or want to get to know it from a various perspective, using a tour can be the perfect way to link with the position. You will get to know the stories and the historical past that served make Kensington Industry the way it is nowadays, and get a flavor of what a local community like this genuinely suggests. Furthermore, it is clear there’s a good deal to flavor in this substantial density foodie place.

Foods samples on the Kensington Market place & Chinatown Toronto Food Tour

On the Kensington Marketplace & Chinatown Toronto Meals Tour, you are going to have the chance to go to 7+ various foods stops to taste delicacies that are inspired by world cuisines, and however consider root at a compact community enterprise, just about every with its individual tale. No solitary cafe could deliver you a seven program food this diverse! You are going to surely get lots to consume, but you are going to also be enriched by the guide’s insider know-how as they acquire you to check out off the main streets and into the genuine coronary heart of Kensington Sector. Have a seem at Regional Toronto Food items Excursions.

Outside FIKA

You could possibly will need some excess power to soak in as a lot as you can of Kensington Industry, so why not handle your self to a delightful cup of coffee, and possibly a scone?

My favourite place to refresh as I take a look at the industry is Moonbean. The domestically owned coffee shop and roastery brings the streets’ power inside with a sprawling chalkboard menu, free leaf teas lining the walls, and a cozy art-loaded space in the back. They also have two patios, front and again, abundant baked items, and just about every consume you can think of, even smoothies. Plus, if you need to make yet another kind of rest quit, you will obtain form messages from strangers scrawled all more than the lavatory walls.

Another wonderful coffee shop is FIKA, a vivid and stylish Sweden-influenced place that’s a favorite for finding out, examining a guide, or only taking it quick. They serve specialty beverages this sort of as a spiced cardamom latte, lavender white hot chocolate, and a suggest iced coffee, as well – best for experiencing on their airy patio in the summertime.

Other nearby favourites involve famed Toronto chain Jimmy’s Espresso as nicely as i deal coffee, Cafe Pamenar and Livelihood Cafe.

Exploring the alleyways of Kensington Pl.

Tunes, street performances, murals and far more fill the streets of Kensington Current market with countless inspiration and photo chances. With so several artists all-around, you’ll be pressed to discover wall room that doesn’t boast even a speck of paint. They’ve certainly made Kensington their personal.

Some of my favorite murals are a photo collage on Kensington Ave off St Andrew and a substantial Alphonse Mucha influenced mural at Augusta and Oxford. Parked in front the latter, you will also obtain Yvonne Bambrick’s notorious Back garden Car, a teeny very small town park/local community artwork task which has been sprouting in the exact spot every summer season since ’07. Make absolutely sure you continue to keep your eyes up as you examine concealed corners and back again alleys, you under no circumstances know what else you are going to discover!

Road performers

Though road performers and pop-up concert events may perhaps be a little more durable to monitor, if the sunshine is out you’re certain to stumble upon some talented buskers at Bellevue Square Park. To maximize your odds, arrive by for Pedestrian Sundays. The whole market place is blocked off from targeted traffic on the very last Sunday of just about every summer month, opening it up for folks and their experimentations. Support artists instantly, as well, by examining out the Kensington Sector Art Fair.

The Winter Solstice Competition also normally takes above the market yearly on December 21st, lights up the longest night of the year with creativity and enthusiasm.

Lanterns on display screen at Dancing Days

Obviously, the storefronts in Kensington Sector market products and solutions by individuals just as assorted as its inhabitants. Creativeness is concentrated at a number of charming retailers providing handmade and domestically manufactured goods that variety from artwork to components to dwelling decor, and extra.

To start with off, Child Icarus is a sweet, trendy display printing studio and reward shop all in just one. They target on paper products and solutions like greeting cards and stationary, but you’ll come across pins, soap and other creative crafts, far too. Anything in retail store is manufactured by Canadian artists and artisans, and it’s irresistibly adorable.

Painted house

Outside the house of Dancing Days

A different superior area to pick up Canadian-manufactured gifts is The Blue Banana Sector. The giant store is practically a warehouse for domestically designed merchandise and novelty goods from about the globe. Then, for comic reserve lovers, manga supporters, and graphic novel fanatics, there is The Beguiling. You’ll obtain the famed comedian book retail outlet just a couple methods from the current market on College Ave. Even if you weren’t hunting for any of those, there is anything about it that just draws you in.

Lastly, if you’re looking for some unique jewelry, you are in luck. One Appreciate is one man’s very small storefront marketing handcrafted merchandise and jewellery, with a smile. You can also come across other likewise handmade pieces shown on tabletops close to the market place. Adhere to your intuition as you stroll the streets and see what speaks to you!

1 of Kensington Market’s numerous fruit stands

Grocery browsing may possibly be an underrated sort of amusement, but just one of the large attract-ins of Kensington Marketplace is its high density of specialty grocers. There’s almost nothing far better than managing oneself to some of the freshest ingredients you can get. No matter if you’re cooking up a distinctive meal or just having a snack, you’ll see the difference that freshness makes.

Even if you never have a kitchen at your disposal, these places can support you really feel appropriate at dwelling. There is practically nothing better than contemporary bread from Toronto’s favourite Blackbird Baking Co. topped with your favorite creamy delight from the World wide Cheese Shoppe just all over the corner.

Global Cheese

For carnivores, Sanagan’s Meat Locker is your local go-to. They emphasize developing relationships with farmers, this means you can trace almost everything in shop back to its source. All which is remaining to do is enable the practical workers guideline you to picking the ideal slash. Next, you are going to find fruit and vegetable stands all close to the marketplace to incorporate a minimal color to your meal, whilst Residence of Spice will assistance bring the flavour. You are guaranteed to uncover a thing new while you’re in there, as well.

If you’re seeking for place to shop which is a tiny superior rounded, 4 Life Purely natural Foods has it all when it arrives to organic and natural items. With roomy aisles, picket shelves and so several ethically sourced foodstuff options, the complete experience of currently being there is just a satisfaction.

Kensington Shopping mall

Kensington Current market is genuinely a haven for lovers of classic. With retailers marketing distinctive finds all around each corner, its no ponder the area’s residents all glimpse so amazing. As well as, buying secondhand clothing is a straightforward way to get it easy on Mom Earth.

Potentially the most perfectly-known vintage shop in the spot is Bravery My Love, a cozy and colourful store best for finding cashmere parts, theatrical components, beads, buttons and other Do-it-yourself requirements, as perfectly as the great pair of cowboy boots. Yet another favourite is Sub Rosa Vintage just up coming doorway, which boasts a hand picked choice of apparel much more in line with today’s style trends. Meanwhile, Vintage Depot has leading tier threads in just about any condition or color, which includes some designer finds, Exile delivers on the costume office and Bungalow mixes the outdated with the new generating it a a person-halt shop for any lover of retro type.

If you are in the temper for a little buying spree, you will discover the best concentration of other classic shops on Kensington Ave close to Bravery My Enjoy and Sub Rosa.

CN Tower witnessed from Chinatown

A mere block absent from the coronary heart of Kensington Market place is an additional bustling city community. Chinatown is entire of household-owned small business of all sorts, but the major attraction is undoubtedly the food items. When the number of restaurants serving diverse versions on the same cuisine was a tiny overwhelming at 1st, immediately after a minimal discovering I’ve narrowed down my favorite spots, relying on what you are hunting for.

Chefs functioning at Mother’s Dumplings

Dumplings? Test Mother’s Dumplings, and enjoy the small bundles of flavour be created right in front of your eyes. Noodles? Inspite of the name, Chinese Common Buns serves some awesome Dan Dan Noodles, with out the frills. Soup? Phở Hưng has all you could want, and additional. Sandwich? Banh Mi Nguyen Huong serves Banh Mi that’s speedy, affordable and most of all mouth watering. Buns? Now, people are major-tier at Mashion Bakery.

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Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Brandon Wong of Photobooth Supply Co., a brand that makes and sells photo booths.Ever been to a wedding or event that has a fun photo booth? Well, these guys design a very fancy version of those photobooths.It's also an interesting business model - not only did they design these photobooths on their own, but they sell them to other entrepreneurs - those that want to make some decent money.Some stats:Product: PhotoboothRevenue/mo: $300,000Started: March 2013Location: Orange County, CaliforniaFounders: 2Employees: 10Hello! Who are you and what are you working on?Hello! I’m Brandon Wong, the CEO and part of the husband and wife team that started Photobooth Supply Co.Trying to start a business? It can be complicated, expensive, and time consuming. We provide a meaningful business opportunity through a photobooth that allows you to capture memories while making some serious profit!In this experience economy, the event industry is exploding and nothing is coming up faster than photo booths. In fact, from 2005 to 2012 more people searched online for photo booth rentals than for wedding DJs. It’s not uncommon to see seven figure photo booth rental companies, and six figure ones are a dime a dozen. We specialize in making that happen for you.If you’re only familiar with the old boxes with black and white prints, you’d probably be surprised to see our flagship photobooth, Queso. It looks more like an Apple product than something you’d see in a train station or mall.And we take not only beautiful photos, but videos, boomerangs, GIFs, and more… all shareable instantly on social media via it’s secondary share screen.I think the most important thing about what we do is the fact that we’ve transformed over 1,000 people’s lives. It’s not about the money for me, it’s about the fact that the company I started with my wife has given so many fantastic opportunities for people to achieve their full potential, while having a lot of fun while at it.What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?My wife and I were wedding photographers. If you’ve been to a wedding lately, you’ve probably seen a photobooth.The same was true 8 years ago. We saw booths everywhere, and started thinking… why not add one of those? We purchased the “old” style photobooth, the enclosed box. It became clear very quickly that at least two things could be done better. It wasn’t really portable and it didn’t take the prettiest pictures.I contacted a few metal suppliers down here in Orange County and asked if they could put something together for me. I wanted something sleek and portable, but it also had to be able to take gorgeous pictures.My wife and I spent weeks trying to get the photos just perfect and we built a few very interesting looking prototypes. Right away, our friends came asking if we could put something together for them as well.So, we took everything out of our savings account and got a tiny space at the largest wedding photography expo… which was happening in three weeks at the time.In that time, we created a website, branding, literature, promotional videos, a trade show booth, a prototype unit, sales pitch, pricing, everything. At the show, we sold over 10 booths and doubled that number the week afterwards. A month later, we hand delivered one of the booths to a customer in Vegas and I used that money to buy an engagement ring. We were married six months afterwards.My wife and IFrom that trade show, we just kept spending time to create more resources and more value to help our customers make more money. We started including marketing materials, sample contracts, attendant training videos, educational webinars, and more. Things like that really set the entire product apart, but everybody came to it for the picture quality and portability.Within a short matter of time, we evolved from selling photo booths to selling a turnkey business opportunity, all without any franchise fees or the need for a large initial capital investment.Describe the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the product.I’d argue that no one would buy anything unless it solves a problem. So our job as entrepreneurs is to identify which one we wish to tackle, survey, and then execute.As you can imagine, the process gets much easier when you are encountering the problem yourself. Our photography business was not scalable and unfortunately hit a revenue cap that was hard to break through. Creating additional services was the only way to move past this. Of course, this is where the photobooth came in.LPT (Life Pro Tip): Read UX Strategy: How to Devise Innovative Digital Products that People Want by Jaime Levy.DesignI’m hugely inspired by legendary product designer Dieter Rams. One of his principles that I live by is “Good design is as little design as possible.”Using that strategy, we started with the electronics of the booth that were mandatory (Computer, touch screen, camera, flash, printer, etc.) and devised a product that was the expression of those core components in the most elegant manner possible. Nothing more, nothing less.Moreover, I would draw inspiration from products that have similar functions to yours. I browsed kiosk designs, floor lamps, cameras, robots in sci-fi movies, and more!PrototypeWe did a quick Google search for a local fabricator to create our first alpha unit. Because our initial unit did not need any tooling, we had very low initial costs.An early prototypeKatrina is very glad that we didn’t release this.Within the three weeks leading up to our first trade show, we were able to execute a few rapid prototypes. We started as simple as possible and made things better from there. These quick iterations got us to market quicker and allowed us to do multiple rounds of UX testing which ultimately resulted in a better product.LPT: I’d recommend downloading Sketchup for a hardware product or Sketch for a software product. Use those tools that to make your first round of iterations. It doesn't have to be pretty, but it can communicate more effectively than a napkin sketch or even verbally.Moreover, it may help you discover new opportunities in your design. Doing this before making a prototype and hiring an engineer can save you thousands during the initial phases when you are strapped for cash.ManufactureWe really lucked out because that same fabricator was looking to grow from making one-off parts to a being a large manufacturer. It was a third generation family of welders who gave us the undivided attention we needed despite being a start up and having a low order quantity.In hindsight, we were lucky to start with a US based manufacturer. This removed the issues of language, distance, shipping, tariffs, and customs that come with using an overseas vendor.LPT: Use Maker’s Row, an Alibaba for US based suppliers to aid your search.Describe the process of launching the business.We first started off using Squarespace, which is by far the easiest, cheapest, and most elegant beginner web design solution I’ve ever encountered.Two years of using this service gave us the experiences to know which platform served our needs best. After much evaluation, we switched to Shopify for the powerful integrations and backend experience.I’d highly recommend a couple things:Website AuditHire someone off Fiverr to audit your website. For a few bucks someone will record their experience on your online store and critique it. This is valuable information.Moreover, you can test it with friend and family to see how they’re interacting with it. You want to see if they are clicking the right places and landing where you want them to go.Third Party LogisticsFocus on what you are good at. I doubt your company was built to do logistics well, so find a third party logistics company to pack, store, and ship for you. Amazon does this beautifully as well, but our product was not made for that type of infrastructure.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?We were lucky enough to have two major sales channels. We attend trade shows and gain customers that way, and we have a strong SEO presence. Let’s talk trade shows first, since they are a pretty big unknown for a lot of businesses.Trade showsA trade show is like having access to hundreds or thousands of hot leads, all at once, and while every competitor is right next to you. It’s brutal, and it’s exhausting, and it’s amazing.You truly have to stand out as a product, and as an experience, and as a company. We might spend $10,000 on a space and another $10,000 on staff, setup materials, and experience. Then we still have to have a show special and use that to drive sales. The margins get a lot tighter, but if you’re picking good shows, the kind your current customers go to, you’re going to do well.That’s the best advice I can give for picking shows—just ask your customers where they’re going to be, and go there. Partially to sell, and partially to meet your people in person. You can never spend enough time getting to know your customers. There is no more valuable time you can spend on your business than learning how to truly help people with what you do.We love attending photography focused trade shows. I think photographers are probably some of the most creative entrepreneurs out there. There is the business side, which takes a remarkable amount of creative skill, and there’s the actual photography.When you get a chance to talk to them, they realize very quickly that they’re entrepreneurs at heart and we’re a great solution!The best advice I can give anyone looking to stand out at a trade show is to make a booth that you’d want to go into. I know it’s pretty common and boring advice, but let think about it--what kind of trade show booth would you want to go into? And if the answer is, “I wouldn’t go to a trade show” then you should hire a marketing director to handle this part.Trade shows don’t have to be your thing to be profitable. Your company should mirror your spirit and interests, but sometimes we all have to do the things that are necessary for success.Moreover, there is a wonderful opportunity to iterate on your sales pitch. You are sometimes talking to dozens of people in person every day. By seeing their body language and how they interact with your product, you can immediately tell what aspects of your pitch are effective. By the end of it, you should have some solid strategies for your sales reps, ads, and website.SEOSEO is a pretty difficult world to understand. I suggest finding the best talent you can and letting them do what they’re best at.Sometimes that means bringing the service in house, sometimes it involves an outside agency. For us, the ROI on our spend here is huge. It goes back to what I said about picking the trade show your customers attend. Pick the channel your customers use.Don’t worry about what you like, where you think you’ll find them, or anything like that. We started hearing from our customers that they found us by searching and so we had to honor that. It has worked very well. The kind of entrepreneur who does research and compares their options tends to land with us. That’s great. Our SEO has changed alongside Google, of course.When we got started, a lot of people found us through our photography company. They eventually started landing on us for searches about which photobooths had the best picture quality. It’s a natural transition for sure. Trust is big with Google, and people immediately trusted a photographer to have made a great photobooth. It makes sense.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?We are doing fantastic! The launch of Queso, our flagship photo booth, really brought photobooths a huge step forward.I love to share that over 80% of Queso’s early adopters already owned our previous photobooth. Those are loyalty numbers comparable with Apple! Apple was at 86% on phones last year, and for car companies, Subaru was best at 67%. I could go on about stats forever.We have a 97% customer satisfaction rate on the post support surveys we send out. Globally that number is 86%. That all comes from us putting a focus on customer experience.Speaking of that customer experience, I think that a lot of questions tend to come up around the profit margins on something like a photobooth. How much of that $1,100 booking fee ends up in the pocket of our owners? We’d look at a booking fee like that and break it down like this in a very general sense:$1,100 - FeeIndividual Costs$100 - Attendant wages$15 - Paper for the printer$15 - Gas and transportation$10 - Misc (Business cards, equipment wear and tear, lost props)Amortized Costs$25 - Software$20 - Website Hosting$10 - Yearly Business Registration Costs$905 - ProfitMost people look at a breakdown like that and ask where to sign up. It’s not always that easy, or that clean cut. You do have to pay taxes. But there’s no reason to see this as a side hustle rather than a profession, if you put in the work. Four events a month is just somewhere to start. We have tons of owners with 6 or 8 booths. They’re working 300+ days a year.My biggest fear was that photo booths were a trend, but that’s just simply not the case. Our company has been growing every year since our inception and 2018 is looking to be the best year yet. We see this growth not only in private events, but also in retail locations, restaurants, nightclubs, and any other location where there’s a gathering of people.The future is exciting. We haven’t been resting at all, we have already gone into beta on an upcoming product for a completely different market segment. I can’t say too much about it, but it’s going to have a massive impact on the industry as a whole. I’m so excited that it’s going to be on the market soon, and it’s somewhere we’ll really be able to expand the horizons of Photobooth Supply Co.Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?Action over InactionI’m a big fan of saying yes and figuring out how to do it later. I understand that this method is highly controversial, but it forces you to figure out a way to accomplish goals under unreasonable circumstances.Stop being in your head and start taking action. The more you let things stop you, the more things can stop you. Sometimes it’s okay to be unreasonable!Develop a RoutineMore than likely you will be working from home. You can gain a lot of productivity from building out a routine for yourself.I find that waking up the same time, showering, getting dressed, and drinking that coffee at the same times every morning will allow you to stay focused throughout the day.It’s also a really good idea to segment your web browsers. You can use Chrome for business logins and Firefox for personal ones. It saves you a ton of time and helps keep you from browsing Reddit instead of working!Self AwarenessIt’s difficult to grow your company without discovering what it’s lacking. To do that, you will need to understand your strengths and weaknesses.If you’re like me, you’ve probably never taken the time to sit down and think about that. Luckily, there are wonderful tools out there like StrengthsFinder, Myers-Briggs, and the DISC assessment that access that for you.Once you discover your double edged sword, you’ll know what to delegate and whom to hire. My double edged sword was impatience and optimism, so I surrounded myself with meticulous pessimists. They consistently bring value to our meetings and overall strategy.In the beginning stages this might mean figuring out what tasks to farm out to services like Fiverr or a Virtual Assistant. A fantastic book to read is of course, The 4 Hour Workweek.What tools do you use for your business?I don’t think we use anything unique on the grand scale. We host our online store on Shopify, we do customer support through Zendesk, have HubSpot as a CRM…I’d really like to make a suggestion here. Go with the best tools. It’s never worth holding your entire business back to save 10 or 20 bucks a month on an inferior platform. When the numbers get really big, like they do with HubSpot, you can definitely assess that platform constantly.For us, every time we do a review, we fall back in love with most of our tools. Anything that we aren’t using, we cut. We broke up with Later as soon as Instagram included scheduling tools. We just recently stopped using our VOIP platform because HubSpot offered recorded calls, and they were clearer. It would have cost more, but we negotiated on price until it cost less. Win-win!We now have over 15 team members who mostly work remote. Luckily, we use tools like Slack, Flow, Google Hangouts, and Google Drive to ensure that communication and tasks are transparent throughout the company despite not being physically next to each other.To increase the amount of interactivity, we deemed it mandatory to have all meetings done over Hangouts. This aids the loneliness that can come from working remote and increases communication through the use of body language.Don’t be afraid to negotiate the price of many of the services you use. It’s one of the best tips I can give you. Paying up front for a full year? Sometimes that’s worth 20% or more off the total price, as long as you talk to an agent about it.Need only a single feature from a higher tier of a SaaS service? Ask for it to be included with your current tier. If you don’t have these conversations, you’re going to overpay.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?I always recommend a trifecta of books to entrepreneurs:How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleZero To One - To help you think bigger. This book can single handedly increase the size of your business tenfold just by making you think from a different perspective.Building Your Storybrand - Hands down the best book on marketing I’ve ever read.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?There are two schools of thought here. I could tell you how to avoid all the mistakes that I made, or I could tell you to make mistakes. I personally believe in the latter. If you go out and try to truly achieve great things, you’ll survive a few hiccups along the way.Our first trade show went smoothly, but there were so many things going on behind the scenes that went wrong. Any product launch is really just the sum of all the overcome failures.At the same time, you’ve probably heard that advice before. Let me talk a little bit about building a team, since it’s a difficult and complex topic. Here are a few suggestions.Hire people who can disagree with you. If everyone you hire thinks exactly the same way, you’re never going to get the feedback you need to confirm or reject an idea.In hindsight, Katrina’s analytical and pessimistic outlook on life perfectly balanced my impatience and optimism. If it wasn’t for these clashing perspectives our business would have been bound for failure. Always hire someone who can challenge you and isn’t afraid to do it. We were very fortunate that we had this naturally from our relationship.Hire people that you think are 11/10. Don’t tolerate anything less than being blown away every day. Let other companies hire people who phone it in. You deserve the best employees, and you should pay and compensate them fairly for turning in work of the highest caliber.Hire slow, fire fast. Don’t be afraid to move on from someone who shouldn’t be there any more. We give everyone chances to improve and learn. If they aren’t invested in turning things around, they aren’t invested in the company. I can’t have that.Build a culture deck and a set of core values. We use our culture deck as part of an interview, letting people suggest a new slide they’d like to add. It helps us to know whether someone would truly be a good culture fit.Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?We are always on the hunt for incredible talent. While half of our team is based in Southern California, we are always open to bringing in remote team members!Creative DirectorVP of SalesInside Sales RepresentativeOutside Sales RepresentativeSuccess ChampionWhere can we go to learn more?Instagram: @photoboothsupplycoTwitter: @pbsupplycoLiked this interview? Check out more founders that shared their story on StarterStory.com.

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Printing the Impossible: Evolution of a Fidget Cube

Today’s How I Made It post explores a journey to 3D printing a fidget toy. Fidget toys have been trending since October, and it’s amazing to see our community come up with ever-more-brilliant ways to keep those hands busy during deep thoughts, Netflix binges, meetings….

I usually start my designs by prototyping at home with a desktop FDM/filament 3D printer. But some models are really, really difficult to print on a filament-based 3D printer, and my “Fidget Cube” model is one of the worst: it has enclosed hinges that point in every possible direction, and pieces of the model that have to somehow print floating right above other pieces. On an SLS/nylon powder printer like those used for Strong & Flexible plastic prints at Shapeways, such “impossible” prints can be printed with great success rates. But at home, different desktop filament printers, different filaments, and seemingly even different days of the week can have an influence on the success or failure of 3D printing Fidget Cubes.

In this post, we’ll track the evolution of one particularly fidgety 3D design over the past five years, from an assembly model to print-in-place on FDM machines, to multicolor variants, and finally all the way to SLS printing at Shapeways, where we will be able to level up our idea of “impossible” to include the printing of a fully-functioning Yoshimoto cube!

2013: Pieces

Our story begins with a 3D-printable Folding Cube by the legendary emmett. This model prints in eight separate pieces which you then click together to assemble.

This model is based on the popular “photo cubes” that you might have made out of paper and tape when you were younger. If you want to make a paper one, check out Magic Folding Photo Cubes on Instructables. Emmett’s Folding Cube is a beautiful model that is really fun to fidget with, but because I’m not good at rotating or visualizing objects mentally, I had a really difficult time putting the pieces together properly. In fact, I was so bad at it that I vowed never to do it again, and set about to create a remix that could print all in one piece, fully assembled.

2014: Print in Place

After a lot of trial and error, I ended up creating the design from scratch in OpenSCAD. Clearances between hinge parts and adjacent surfaces have to be just right for the Print-in-Place Fidget Cube to print successfully, and getting your slicer settings and model clearances to hit that sweet spot is a fairly advanced 3D printing challenge.

It probably isn’t going to work on your printer, with your filament, on the first try, but once you find the right settings and clearances you should be able to print these Fidget Cubes reliably with a low failure rate (or, you can obviously go straight to Shapeways). If you decide to print it at home, the Print-in-Place Fidget Cube model we put on Thingiverse is customizable so that you can tweak sizes and clearances and try to find what works for your machine.

2015: Yoshimoto

The folding action of the Fidget Cube is the same as that of the Yoshimoto Cube, an incredible model that takes advantage of the fact that a cube can be evenly dissected into two Stellated Rhombic Dodecahedra — and in fact, that those two Stellated Rhombic Dodecahedra can themselves be folded inside out to form cubes of the same size as the original cube. You kind of have to see it to believe it:

You can make a Yoshimoto Cube using origami or you can purchase a truly beautiful version from the MoMA store. Unfortunately, you can’t make a Yoshimoto Cube by carving up a Fidget Cube into two pieces, because the hinges protrude out of the shape and would interfere with the nesting of the pieces. However, we can carve out a Stellated Rhombic Dodecahadon shape from the inside of our fidget cube to form a Fidget Star that folds one way into a cube and the other way into a Stellated Rhombic Dodecahedron.

Here it is in action. This piece isn’t any more difficult to print than the Fidget Cube, but it seems a lot more impressive and surprising when the entire shape of the object changes as it turns inside out.

2016: Embedded Hinges

Next in line is the Kobayashi Fidget Cube by pkobayashi, which prints in one piece and has flat hinges! I think you still couldn’t make a good Yoshimoto Cube out of this, but this version should be much, much easier to print than the Fidget Cube. This design isn’t a remix of mine or of emmett’s, but it is definitely an improvement on both:

Designer pkobayashi later created a Dual Color version, which you print in pieces and then assemble:

2017: Multicolor

What about two-color print-in-place cubes? As of this year, that also exists. MosaicManufacturing has been making beautiful Multi-Color Fidget Star prints! Design-wise, this was made from the Fidget Star just by splitting the model into two pieces (a cube surrounded by a shell). But, printing it is a serious accomplishment:

They made me one, and it’s huge! Thank you, Mosiac Manufacturing!!

They handled the two-color printing with a Palette, a device you can use for pre-processing filament to send to your 3D printer. The Palette actually cuts and assembles pieces of colored filament at exactly the right lengths for switching colors in the correct places while printing.

If you have a dual-nozzle 3D printer then you can download Mosaic Manufacturing’s Multi-Color Fidget Star model and print it yourself. Here is one I printed on the lovely dual-nozzle Ultimaker 3. I happened to print it very small, and on fast, low-res “draft” mode, so it’s nowhere near the highest quality that the Ultimaker 3 can produce, but it still looks pretty good and it works!

… And Beyond: Shapeways!

Printing any of the Fidget Cubes above on an FDM printer can be a difficult process that involves a lot of trial and error, skill, and luck. A lot of the problem lies with the fact that the model has to print without support material for the hinges to operate, which means that the many overhangs and bridges on the model have to print without that support. These problems melt away if you print with a “powder printer” such as the SLS Nylon printers they use at Shapeways to print in Strong & Flexible plastic:

Having industrial-grade 3D printers makes a huge difference in what you can print successfully. Here’s a wonderful, tiny Fidget Cube Stress Reliever by brandutchmen on Shapeways:

Even better, with the SLS printers, we can get to the holy grail of Fidget Cubes: Nesting hinged models that combine to make a Yoshimoto Cube! VeryWetPaint created a fully functional, two-piece, nesting Yoshimoto Cube model that prints in SLS Nylon at Shapeways, called the Yoshi prime box. His open-style design very cleverly allows both pieces to be hinged so that they can nest together. It’s amazing!

Shapeways people, what’s next? Can you push this design to the next level? What even is the next level? Let us know in the comments and we’ll see which designers dare to take fidgeting to new heights…

The post Printing the Impossible: Evolution of a Fidget Cube appeared first on Shapeways Magazine.

Printing the Impossible: Evolution of a Fidget Cube published first on http://ift.tt/2vVn0YZ

[iamyemzi]

#YemziGirl Feature 17 (July) - Tania, Graphic Design Student & YouTuber from Benin

1. Please can you introduce yourself including your name (and age if you comfortable)

Hi, my Name is Tania TEVOEDJRE and I’m 22 years old. I’m from Benin and I currently live in Paris. I’m a fashion and graphic design student and an Artistic Director to be (by God’s grace though lol). Apart from that, I’m also a fashion blogger and Youtuber.

 2. Tell us about the dream you are pursuing…

My biggest dream is to become an amazing Artistic Director and establish a creative agency in my country (Benin). This is obviously a concept which does not exists yet in Benin so, I want to be the first to bring it and build something based on what I love and what I’m passionate about; fashion and design.

Our generation is filled with so many entrepreneurs, people who want to build, invent, create and bring new stuff to my dear continent Africa, and a lot of them do not have the means, or do not know how to make all of these projects visually interesting, attracting, etc. And that’s what I want to change. I want to be the person who give life, an identity, a story to all those projects.

Apart from that, I want to see the world. One of my other big dream is to travel, all over the world, discover and learn new things. I want to see as many countries as possible, because I personally think that evolving implies changing, learning and discovering. And the best way to do that for me is travel, as soon as possible. I may not afford to travel as often as I wish to today, but nothing is impossible, especially when you have God in your life. As we say, "You make your own luck," and that’s exactly what I try to do every single day.

3. Apart from following your dreams how do you stay fulfilled?

First thing first; God. Lol

I can’t say I’m the best christian ever. Far from that. But, all I know is that, everything I have, every opportunity, every blessing in my life comes from God. He’s the only one who knows what is good for me, what I need nor what I want, what I’m supposed to be or become, and he’s the only one who will always be by my side, no matter what I do. He’s there, even when you think he’s not. So, I let him take control, I let him guides me, and I try my best to always bring him in everything I do.

Also, doing what I love, and sharing it with my followers, friends, family, etc is for me a way to stay fulfilled. I try to go out often, meet new interesting people, see new things, and stay away from people who are not good for me or for my self-fulfilment and who do not support me or push me to become a better version of myself.

4. Which places do you call home and what do you love about those environments?

The one and only place I can really call home is definitely and obviously Benin. This is where I grew up, this where I come from, this where my parents live. It’s part of who I am.

Yes, I live in Paris now, but, it doesn’t really feel like home, since I know that I’m here only to get my degree and then go back. I do not see myself living in Paris forever.

So yes, Benin is definitely the place I would call Home.

What I love about Benin? Well…everything…lol

Maybe not EVERYTHING, but, I like the way I feel when I’m in Benin. It’s a small country, so everybody knows everybody. It’s like a big family. Lol

I love the weather (maybe not too much though, lol), I love the fact that in a few minutes you can go from urbanisation, city to little paradises with beaches and stuff.

I love the fact that in the same tinny country you have so many ethnicities, languages, cultures. I love the history of the country (even if a lot of people don’t actually knows it).

I love the fact that life can sometimes feels so much easier than in Europe for example. Anyway, I love so many things about Benin!

5. 3 things you love most about where you live?

I’ve been living in France for 5 years now, and in Paris for 2 years, and the 3 things I love about this city are, the fact that there is so many things to do, so many events to go to, actually, you never get bored in Paris. I love the fact that you have the possibility to travel in so many European countries for low prices, and finally, I love the food! Dah! French food is everything! Haha

 6. When is it best in Paris, Cotonou and Dakar?

Personnally, I’m a heat person, I don’t like winter, since I grew up in a warm climate, so for me, Paris is definitely better in the summer. There are so many things to do, a lot of rooftop parties, walks in the parcs, festivals, etc…And I think visiting monuments and historic places is better when it’s sunny, especially for the photos, it’s better! lol

I prefer Cotonou during christmas holidays. One thing you have to know is that, to have fun in Benin, you must know people or have family there. If not, you can’t know where to go or what to do, and it can quickly become boring. Christmas holidays is the period when most Beninese come back to spend the end of the year with their family, so everyone is there! And since last year, we have our own fashion week now, and it’s actually in December! Also, summer time here is actually rainy season in Benin,so yeah, December is for me the best period to come to Cotonou.

I lived in Dakar for one year only but it was the best year of my life! I went to high school there and it wasn't even as fancy as it is today at the time! But still! I fell in love with this city!

I haven’t had the time to go back there since, but it’s definitely on my bucket list!

I think, Dakar is good all year! Lol, whenever you want to go to Dakar, GO! There are so many things to do and see!

7. Where is your happy face?

My year in Dakar was the best year of my life! So I think if I go back, it’ll still be an amazing experience! So, I think my happy face is in Senegal somehow. Even if Benin is my home, Dakar has something magical! And I can’t wait to relive it again, especially now that I’m all grown up and craving for new experiences!

8. What makes you a #YemziGirl?

My love for Africa, Fashion, Design and Originality and my desire to become my own kind of amazing.

The fact that I do what I love no matter what people think and that I can be so strong and so vulnerable at the same time.

 9. Do you have a favourite Yemzi piece of clothing or collection?

Your SS17 collection is definitely my fave! I do like colors, but I think that black is the ultimate classy color! And if I had to choose one piece of clothing, I think I’ll go for the boubou and the hight waisted pants!

 10. Are you more of a plain or printed type of girl?

Both I guess. I love african prints! So much! But plain fabrics are kind of an everyday life choice. I don’t think I could be wearing prints ALL the time. So yes, both.

11. Can you explain your passion for design and fashion?

Frankly, I don’t even know how to explain it lol, I just love it. I’ve been loving it since I’m a kid. I knew I was going to work in fashion or design. I always knew that’s what I wanted to do and what I was good at. For me, fashion and design are everything. There are means to express yourself, where you come from etc. And what I like about these, it’s that, there are no limits. You can never stop creating in fashion and design, and nothing is too original. There are so many shapes, structures, shades, and all of it is driven by taste, history, culture. It’s amazing.  

12.What is your favourite creation?

Wow…that’s a hard question…

I don’t think I have like ONE favourite creation. That’s the magic of fashion I guess. I love so many pieces, creations, etc…so I don’t know how to answer to this question…lol

 13. How do you maintain your hair?

I just cut and dye my hair every two or three weeks. I even published an article on my blog where I explain all the process to obtain my haircut. Between that, I just make sure that it is always moisturised and to use the right products to avoid, yellow reflects since I have blond hair. Extremely short hair does not requires a big hair care routine. That’s one of the reasons why I decided to cut my hair in the first place.

14. Nature or nurture?

Once again, both I think.

We all come from somewhere, with a background which defines us. But I truly think that nature can be changed by nurture, in other words, by what we go through, what we have seen and what we see during our life, what we experience. We don’t all come from the same country, family, we don’t all have the same genes, but we also don’t experience, learn, see the same things. So I think it’s the combination of those two factors that makes every human unique.  

15. And finally, what's your favourite quote?

My favourite quote is quite long, since it’s more like a paragraph or something so pardon me, but I can’t cut it because it’s the whole idea of it which makes it so powerful:

"They keep saying that beautiful is something a girl needs to be. But honestly? Forget that. Don’t be beautiful. Be angry, be intelligent, be witty; be klutzy, be interesting, be funny, be adventurous, be crazy, be talented. There are an eternity of other things to be other than beautiful. And what is beautiful anyway but a set of letters strung together to make a word? Be your own definition of amazing, always. That is so much more important than anything beautiful, ever." - Nikita Gill

[breakingwavesofchange-blog]

The History

*2/2017

We met the summer before my junior year of college. I had created a half hearted dating profile for a competition with my roommate from sophomore year 6 months before. (We had a board of guys and tried to get the most responses). He reached out to me and sent me a photo. He was handsome, smart and seemed like a good guy. I liked that he was older and seemed settled in life and knew what he wanted. We hit it off our first phone conversation, so we met in person. I was even more attracted to him in person and we had fun together. We hung out every day after that. I moved in with him when I graduated college and before you know it we were married. There were a few red flags: a semi-flirty email to an old female coworker I had found and some periods where he lost his temper.

One month into our marriage was the first time I found out. I got a call from a friend. Started out as small talk and then she sent me a photo and asked if that was my husband (they had never met). I looked at the photo and told her yes and asked why she was asking. She then told me that they had met online from a dating site and they had been talking about going for a drink. When she saw the picture she thought it looked like him from other pictures she had seen. My heart sank and I felt Iike I was punched in the stomach. I drove, out of state, to my parents that day. I felt so deceived and heart broken. I wanted a divorce. I talked to my family and friends and his Mom and after much thought I decided to work it out. I tried to get him to go to counseling, but he wouldn’t go. I pushed at first and then gave up. He was the type that if he didn’t want to do something there was no talking him into it. I thought he had repented enough and saw how much he hurt me that he wouldn’t do it again. 

 One year later we were renting a condo while building our dream home and I found an email on his computer. He had been talking to some girl, for at least a few weeks, but no proof of in person contact. I was crushed again, nauseous. I didn’t know what else to do so I called his Mom. I told her what happened. She told me that her son loved me and that it would all be okay and that she was going to call him. He called me soon after. I couldn’t talk to him, I was disgusted and upset. He came home and apologized the rest of the night. He also blamed it on me and my night shifts and felt like I wasn’t around enough. He said he would get bored and lonely and needed to talk to someone. I had an internal battle with myself on whether I needed to walk away this time or to give him one more chance. How could he do this again when he knew it hurt me so badly the first time? I tried again to get him to go to counseling, no luck, so I went to see if I could get over it this time. Counseling helped a little, but I don’t think I ever really trusted him after this. I honestly think this was the beginning of the end. Our relationship was never the same and the physical pasts of our relationship suffered. I was able to get over it enough to continue to try my hardest to make it work, but I don’t think I ever loved him the same way.

We had our first son a year later, I threatened to leave and take him if he did it again (I don't remember why this came up, but I remember that it did). I thought that would maybe scare him enough to not consider. (It's pretty damn sad that these were thoughts after having a baby).  I’m not sure if it happened anymore between this, but about 4 years later he had been a little distant and acting strange. He was getting jealous over a male classmate and our study sessions. He said one night that he didn’t want us studying together anymore, so I told this guy that I couldn’t meet up to study for tests anymore. One night he went out with some friends. I got this gut feeling to check up on him. I went online, created a fake account and looked for guys in my area with stats that would fit him. There he was. Real picture, fake name, fake information, but same damn dating site he always used. I couldn’t believe it, but I could. I called a friend and she told me to calm down and what if it wasn’t him and someone had stolen his picture. She paid for the full membership, so I could message him and see what happened. It was him and I almost got him to agree to meet up that next night. I called my parents to get advice. They told me to give him an ultimatum and to tell him that he needed to go to counseling this time or that I would leave. I confronted him and he lied to my face. He said it wasn’t him until I told him I had proof of his profile with a picture printed at work. He then sobbed and said how sorry he was and that it was because he was so jealous of my classmate, that I wasn't understanding enough and felt like he needed his ego rubbed. I fell into his trap again. He twisted the conversation back on me, like he always did. I thought that maybe it was partially my fault, that maybe I wasn’t giving him enough attention. I told him I wanted to do counseling, he initially agreed and then back tracked and said that it really wouldn’t help. By this point I was manipulated into thinking that he would finally change, that he really saw how much it hurt me this time and that he didn’t want to lose me. (Writing this makes me feel crazy! I'm sure some of you will think I was crazy! How could I stay this long? How could I give someone so many freaking chances? My cousin once said, "a tiger can't change his stripes. Once a cheater, always a cheater." Why the F*@k didn't I listen to her? I'm still trying to figure this part out myself, but I realize now that part of it was that I was stuck in this toxic cycle and didn't know how to get out. He was a good manipulator and knew just what to say to get me to stay and sweep it under the rug. He was the king of putting on a great show for me and others. Secondly, I am a fixer, in personality and career, and I honestly thought he would change. I also felt like we now had a child to consider and it was harder to just walk away like I once threatened to do. My parents were/are still married and I think part of me felt like it would be a failure on my end. I didn't like to fail.) 

A year later things were okay, but never great. We had our ups and downs. We had our second son. Over time he started to talk to me in a more condescending tone, lose his temper more often, was stressed with work and I was constantly walking on egg shells to make him happy. It was getting worse. I went through periods where I felt content, but I was never truly happy anymore. I started to get anxious, have periods of situational depression. I started to think that maybe he would look for attention online again.  I finally decided to write him a letter to tell him that I was unhappy and make it my last attempt to ask for counseling to try to fix things for good. I was scared to death to give it to him, I didn't know how he would react. I told him I couldn’t live like this anymore and that we owed it to ourselves and each other to REALLY try. He gave me a long speech about what we each could do to make things better, but denied my counseling request. He smoothed things over and gave me some hope. I told him that I would do my best at what he was requesting of me, but that there were no promises that it would fix anything on my end and how I felt about “us.” I had a feeling that things were nearing the end. I started to imagine my life without him. I looked for condos, apartments and smaller houses online and imagined being able to do whatever I wanted in my new place without having to ask permission to buy something as little as a pillow. I started to separate our things in my mind on what I would ask to keep. It excited me a little. I had never done this before and this was strange to me and felt kind of bad. I talked to a friend who had recently gone through a divorce and she told me that this was a natural stage. She told me, "I think you're mentally preparing yourself. I think you're finally done." I told her, "I think I am too, but I just can't seem to pull the trigger and walk away. I think I am waiting for him to do something stupid again." It only took 9 more months.