#tussie-mussie

[sidewalkchemistry]

How to Make a Tussie Mussie

[A tussie-mussie is a] type of floral arrangement [which] comes from the Victoria era, and it was simply a new name for the older nosegay. During the Victorian and Edwardian periods, the language of flowers was an important part of social life and these small bouquets were often given as tokens of affection to friends and lovers.  In the 18th century and earlier a nosegay was often carried as a way to ward off bad smells, or miasmas, as it was thought that the pleasant scents from flowers and herbs would encourage good health. Tussie-mussies are often made using paper doilies or special small silver holders, but this modern version uses ribbon instead.

[tussie-mussie-trouble]

Welp

I added another 10,000 words to my already 50,000 word nanowrimo project during the editing process the past few days. Feeling pretty proud of myself. Took a drawing break. I'm getting there! and Hazel got to punch a ghost, so I'm really proud of her too. my little gremlin is growing up <3

[silentstaresfanficandfanart]

Tussie-Mussie is edited but like its being overviewed by my friends and family now hopefully its done after that im not made for editing im made for spewing countless words onto a page then sobbing tearfully and handing it to someone else and begging them to help me make what i wrote actually english

[janestvalentine]

A tussie-mussie I made at Herb Society tonight ☺️

[dominknitrix]

Hey dictionary.com? Are you….. uh…. Okay?

[b0nb0nni]

[anditendshowyoudexpect]

finally eked out a victory (by one point!) over the vicious TM automa

[yuri-is-online]

A Pocket Full of Posies and WTF is up with Rollo's Hankie

Before we begin, a slight disclaimer: yes, Medieval beliefs about disease and how it spread were weird. They did not have the ability to know about germs because those are literally microscopic and germ theory would not be "discovered" until the 1860s. THIS DID NOT MEAN THEY WERE STUPID AND IF I SEE YOU SAYING THAT WE WILL FIGHT. Anyway-

If you have been kicking around on the internet for a bit, chances are you might have heard the "dark history" fact that that the "Ring Around the Rosey" nursery rhyme is about the Black Plague. That's probably not true but the reason it was originally theorized to be the case has to do with Miasma theory, and the use of strong scents (typically herbs and flowers) to ward off the "bad air." What does this have to do with Rollo huffing that handkerchief every time someone talks about magic? Well we'll get there but first just what the hell do I mean by bad air?

Miasma Theory in Practice

The Black Death/Bubonic Plague was a roving pandemic that gets it's name from the first wave that bitch slapped Europe from 1347-1351. There were technically three forms of plague kicking around by I am not a scientist and we are here to talk about that. Given that this was, as stated in the disclaimer, pre-germ theory the ideas people had about why this was happening and how to prevent it wildly varied, but Miasma Theory was so popular it actually stuck around long enough to duke it out with Germ Theory when scientists started talking about that.

The basic idea is that diseases like the Black Death were spread from bad smelling air. This theory was proposed by Hippocrates, as in that guy from third or fourth century Greece we aren't even sure existed, but it was a pretty universal belief, we have sources from Ancient China that also reference the idea that bad smells can make you sick. This "bad air" was thought to come from decay; in the case of the plague, dead bodies were believed to have released it (hence all the "bring out your dead" stuff), as were cracks in the earth, and sewage. ALL AIR WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE A LEVEL OF MIASMA, but smell was the best way to tell if you were in danger of getting sick; basically if it smells like shit out then you are in danger because there is only so much of it you can breathe in before you get sick. So when you end 1351 with 40% (that we can confirm!) of the population dead, how exactly do you keep yourself from huffing in all that invisible miasma?

Roi du Mouchoir

Well you make the air you breathe smell nicer of course! And this is where we get to Rollo's hankie.

The "posies" in that nursery rhyme doesn't actually refer to one specific flower. It's a type of small bouquet, which apparently are also called nosegays or tussie-mussies? It's also the technical term for those tiny groups of flowers that make up a corsage. The idea was that people would carry around things that smelled good, like flowers and herbs, and any time you smelled something bad you would bring the flower out of your pocket and hold it up to your nose just like Rollo does with his handkerchief. Literally, people usually kept those nice smelling flowers in "Plague Bags," which could refer to nicely sewn sachets or just neatly wrapped up in cloth. Eventually these got super fancy, and evolved into these really elaborate pouches people put potpourri in, but given how strict Rollo seems to be with himself (and everyone else) I've chosen in my own fan fic to interpret his posies as being the common kind, which would be rosemary and lavender. Today they are thought of as being soothing scents that calm you down, and that does seem to be what he is trying to do with all those deep breaths.

I got a lot of this specific information from this article here which is on a wonderful website curated by a professional perfumer I highly recommend poking around if you are interested in learning more.

Cool Story But?

"Sure Yuri, all of that is neat but isn't Rollo's handkerchief a reference to Esmeralda's scarf?" Yeah probably. I don't really think it has to be that deep, but I do think this stuff is cool and well-

Malleus's name is likely a reference to the Malleus Malificarum, a book I have a PDF of on my computer because of course I do that was published around the same time that this theory of disease would have been kicking around. It's about- well the author says it's about "witchcraft" but that's another paper for another time, and why they are super evil and bad and should all die. Specifically why they should all be burned at the stake, it's a fun read. And sounding oddly familiar to certain events...

That's all to say, sure it probably isn't that deep but with all the other really well researched and designed character choices, I would not be surprised if it was.

Semi Unrelated Fun Facts:

Bridal Bouquets are thought to have started, in part, as a way to ward off Miasma and keep the bride healthy on her wedding day.

Miasma theory was still super popular in the Victorian Era and lead to a lot of public clean up projects as people thought that they could get rid of disease if they got rid of all the sewage everywhere. And hey they were right, just not for the reason they thought they were.

Yes a lot of people thought the Black Plague was a punishment from God and a sign of the end times. I will remind you that 40-60% of Europe's population DIED IN FOUR YEARS. I'd assume something supernatural was out to get me too tf? Seriously these people were not stupid, they just lived in interesting times.

If you are wondering "hey I heard Plague Doctors stuffed herbs in the long beaks on their masks, is this why?" Yeah it is! Gold star!

I love you for making this far, thank you for listening to me friend and I hope to get back to entertaining you soon (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡

[havg02]

When that one girl won't stop playing with you so you have to hit her with your fairy wand to show you can curse her and blungeon her at the same time, but even though Marianne has been cursed to constantly have a bad hair or stub her toe painfully every hour won't stop her from poking at her every chance she has.

And not that I drew this as an excuse to draw Alice-rose using a chatellaine and wearing Vivienne Westwood gloves, and Francine in Dior boots and Chanel gloves.....by the way the flowers are called a tussie-mussie which is actually perfumed or has smelling salts in it which victorian ladies carried around bc fainting was common!

[the-engdyssey]

@hetalia-rarepairweek

Day 2 & 5: Culture and History

Sharing this disgustingly late after getting my degree and moving. But here is a work for Rare Pair Week from 2023. I was very inspired by Victorian Era wedding photos, so here is a drawing of Arthur and Elizabeth at their wedding in 1887. I’ve been wanting to draw Arthur and Lizzy in Victorian Era clothing for years, and I’ve finally done it! Arthur’s hair refuses to be slicked back, I’m proud of how Lizzy’s hair turned out, but her hair would be in an updo as a married woman in that period of time. I tried with the details of her dress.

As for the Culture portion of this piece: Lizzy is holding a very distinct bunch of flowers called a Tussie-Mussie. They were small bouquets of flowers given to women of all ages by gentleman callers. They had decorative vases which could be pinned onto their dresses. (Apparently they’re quite collectible nowadays). Queen Victoria popularized these courtship gifts that have medieval roots and have given ways to the larger bouquets we see today. During the 1800s, they went hand in hand with floriography.

While they’re very poorly drawn, the flowers Lizzy is holding in the Tussie-Mussie that Arthur gave her are; a red rose for love and appreciation, larkspur for strong bonds of love, lily of the valley for happiness and sweetness, and marigold for comfort and protection. These are all qualities that Arthur think Lizzy possesses, and what he promises to always give her throughout their marriage.

[tussie-mussie-trouble]

Now that I've had a few days to recover from what i just did to myself i can proudly announce- on a new blog because I don't want my main blogs being associated with this project because one of my lives greatest achievements really probably dosen't belong my incoherent screamings into the void.

On that note. I beat this freaking nanowrimo thing in like six days. no I did not mean to. a friend was coming to visit by the seventh and i PANICED on the last three days. I was already overdoing it, but the last three days were a freaking doozy.

Image description: a terrible little graph showing a brief upwards slide, then a little cha cha slide to the right as it evens out briefly, which depicted my first 4 days of nanowrimo, followed violently by an uppercutting-punch to the face line that has a little pop up window under it saying i reached 50,018 words by november the sixth.

So heres a fun little question and answers session made up of the questions I thought were most suited to this acheivement.

are you okay? my hand briefly went numb. Somehow I was under the impression a fifteen minute walk was all I needed to do to fix that- it wasen't. i kept writing anyways. I think i've mostly recovered now- but to answer your question I am undefeatable and also i slept for ten hours afterwards so I think I'm basically done recovering

what is the plot A victorian professor lady, a ghost with emotional issues, and a college age whole entire freaking lady who just got adopted against her will by this professor try to solve the mystery of why the ghost guy cant move on and how he died

what was the most hours you wrote during this

12

4. did you take a brea-

no. no i did not take a break.

and while obviously i'm not the fastest person to have ever beaten this challenge i'm feeling pretty good right now. : ) i've always wanted to be able to write novels really fast and that's been the biggest thing standing between me and writing *more* novels. you know?

and yes the specific 'part' of the victorian era I chose is in fact, none of them. that was intentional. theres a lot of great things in the victorian era and this isint even a one to one copy of it. theres no specific town this takes place in, theres no specific time period this takes place in. just vaugely 'victorian era' so I could shove all the ten thousand things i've researched into one little area. its probably not even really earth. so like, good disclaimer to put there. don't go into this expecting great historical accuracy. though most is based on some sort of thing i learned about this fabulous era of history (yes im aware of the horrors too, It's not as if I want to live in lead face paint land and eat little arsenic wafers for my complexion or something- I don't need to be reminded that humanity did not briefly free itself from all the evils of this world so that humanity could drink tea and say things like 'tussie-mussie' and wear hat pins- I just think the victorian era is neat)

so yes I'm very proud of myself rn and hope to blog about my blorbos here to keep myself wanting to edit this thing.

speaking of which. This thing i've done to myself is called Tussie-Mussie.

[silentstaresfanficandfanart]

What if i just post my story in full online for free as an apology for not editing it more thoroughly then you throw money at me so i can keep writign would that be ok

pros: i dont have to edit more and i can get money and i can write and you get books with CHARACTERS and PLOT and THINGS that happen and QUESTIONABLE historical accuracy validation for my efforts

maybe if lucky: Comments

also you get the occasional BRAND NEW WORD i made up in my brain because im right and it should exist

i write MORE and you get MORE book per write and faster (more than 10 x faster!!!!!!!!!!!!) cons: i dunno if anyone would actually give me any money for my writing the grammar the spelling the punctuation the capitalization the-

less money probably

probably not done very often for a reason

[talenlee]

Goncharov Card Game Concepting

I am tired and my brain hurts and I am exhausted as I try try try to make graphic work for Bloodwork happen. The website is down and up and down again and that’s maddening as hell, and the dog is weird and the dishwasher’s replaced and aaaaaa so what I decided to was exorcise a brain worm about a Goncharov card game.

At the moment the prototype starts with an ordinary deck of playing cards, face cards removed. Face cards are your character, which get played face down in front of you, and we’ll get into what that means. At the start of the game, you deal everyone a face down character card from the available options, and your character determines what you value, and the kind of scenes you want to have.

Then you shuffle the numbers, every player draws one card, and you start the drafting.

The gameplay loop goes:

You draw two cards.

From two of the three cards in your hand, you shuffle, then pick one to present to another player face down, one face up.

You’re going to get to do this to every single player once each round – so you get to make choices that way.

That player picks one of the cards, face down or face up, and adds them to the set in front of them, in columns to represent each player who’s given them a choice.

You get the other card, in a corresponding column.

Once you have a card in your column, you can look at it!

During this period, you can talk about what you shared and why, and you can even lie about what you were handed.

You’re trying to collect different kind of scenes with different people – Icepick Joe wants to have a violent scene with everyone, Andrei wants to try and share romance and violence with Goncharov and gets no points for scenes with Katya, but can make mileage out of scenes with Sofia.

That’s the basic engine. Next question:

How big is this game?

If there are fifteen cards in the deck, then you get to give every player a round of sending drafts, but they don’t get a round of receiving each. At the minimum play experience, for five players, one round of drafting fully means that each player should have 2x the number of players cards, meaning that the minimum card pool gets bigger quick. In five players, each player gets 8 cards, plus one extra, per round, so that’s 45 cards to start with.

That means a normal deck of cards is just barely big enough to have everyone have a scene with everyone else, but also, everyone gets two scenes with everyone.

There’s also a matter of information leakage. There’s a reason players are goin to want to hoover up cards of a particular type. Also, this could be made Fantasy Realms style, or Tussie Mussie style where every card has a simple mechanic on it that makes other cards better, with your character card represents a single big advantage – Goncharov may get a bonus point for each suit he can collect, Katya may get bonuses for every heart she has, Mario may want diamonds, that kind of thing.

Similarly, cards can be character specific, and therefore, you might have a reason to want to keep something in hand. Like hey, this card says Katya and Sofia get 2 points? Well, maybe that stays in your hand because you’re playing Icepick Joe. But maybe you could offer it to someone else when you see the players you think are Katya and Sofia are in last place, and therefore bum them with a dead draft.

That’s the basic idea.

Now here’s the funniest thing here:

With 45 cards at base, and 7 cards for characters, the game gets to look like a 52 card deck of cards, and a maximum of 5 players. So the mechanical limits for a very simple draft game are right there in a standard deck size.

The problem is:How do I get art for this.

There’s a ton of cool as fuck fanart for Goncharov. There’s definitely an aesthetic for it too! It’s so mangled and weird and ostensibly uncreated, there’s a case to be made for using stock art for it, maybe. Or a particular film aesthetic, maybe, and instead abstracting everything. But there are some symbols that are seen as very important to Goncharov, like the clocks.

One of the things I love about Goncharov as a memeplex is that the artistic representation of these intense scenes deserve to be platformed. I want people to see them and enjoy them and I think it’d be amazing to make a card game that looked like them.

But also: I can’t print cards for free! I can’t make this game and distribute physical copies of it for free (like, literally, I can’t afford it). And the overlap of Goncharov fans and card game fans? Probably not necessarily huge! And you can’t go to a fanartist ‘hey can I pay you for the rights to your fanart’ when it’s not really fanart, it’s original art that just happens to somehow all have a shared corpus of inspiration. What’s more the most iconic piece of Goncharov art is something the artist has more or less said ‘go nuts’ about, but it’s transformative art of a bunch of other posters so I’m not sure how far it gets me from the actual generative art discussion!

At the same time, man, man, it seems so close to attainable. The Goncharov poster style, the entirely arbitary name of the game, the lore and fiction, it’s already meant to be an homage to the greatest mafia movie ever made, rather than anything that anyone could actually account for.

Am I going to get sued by a bootleg shoe company?And if I ignore the inspiration, what’s left? An interesting emotionally complex mafia movie kind of game generator, but it somehow feels so much more artificial to imagine I’m a fan of any of those that I’m not actually that into. Mafia movies aren’t my thing, I don’t think.

But I do love Goncharov.

Weird.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[small-artist-oc-showdown]

Hold on... what’s that? Something smells...

...suspicious.

It’s @frogdaqueerfloof’s sussy little EYE!! It’s a shiftian [alien species] who goes by it/they!

‘Where? Any sus?’ you ask. Well I found the information in electrical!

“The Shiftian society is based on an idealistic version of the future where everyone has all of their needs met, and they only have to work if they choose to because that's how well the people are taken care of. Everyone gets education, food, housing, and all necessities, and a small salary, and only need to work if they want extra money for luxury items [gaming computers, decor, jewelry, extra clothes, etc etc], Shiftians are allowed to be whoever or whatever they want 

They're allies with a ton of species in the universe, and everyone is happy 

However, when the earth government joins in on exploring the universe and using space as a trading route, they soon begin to see the Shiftain government as a threat to their "democracy" 

The gov is afraid that humans will see this alternative government that does way better than they ever could think to be and stage a revolution. 

To keep this from happening, the gov sets up a propaganda campaign against Shiftians, and then eventually they start a war against Terrotia to destroy Shiftians and their society so they can't be a threat anymore. 

The people of Terrotia and their allies band together and join in space armies to fight against the humans to protect their planets. 

Eye, a Shiftian joins in the army like a lot of others on their planet. Being assigned to be an impostor on a human ship, Eye was originally on the side against humans, but learnt that humans weren't actually bad and it was their government, and helped teach their human crew that they were actually on their side and that their government had lied to them, and now they're vigilantes”

And why should you vote for this sussy aussy bussy cussy dussy eussy fussy gussy hussy iussy jussy kussy lussy mussy nussy oussy pussy qussy russy sussy tussy ussy vussy wussy xussy yussy zussy sussy baka?

“It's an among us oc! It's very silly and lovable, and prefers baking for its friends over any kind of violence. They originally were a sona but at this point its became its own blorbo due to all the lore i've came up with for it. It may be an Imposter, but it sure as hell ain't sus!

VOTE FOR MY ALIEN SILLY >:]”

[thesquireinvictus]

“settlers used Oswego tea (M. didyma), also called bergamot, in place of true bergamot (a citrus) to make a version of Earl Grey tea.”

“They are handsome summer- and fall-bloomers, and clumps look good near water. Their flowers are long-lasting and striking in arrangements. Both leaves and flowers are used in potpourris and tussie-mussies (a bouquet of herbs).”

[dagneyrobertson]

Tomorrow is the 90th the anniversary of the day my mother was born. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home tonight, intending to pick up a bouquet to cheer myself up. None of the sweet potted flowers by the door were priced, and I fingered a lovely mini-bouquet. But my eyes wandered to the bakery section. Right next to me was a rack of Racine Kringles. In the 18 months Mom lived with us, I bought a Racine Kringle weekly. It was something I could count on her eating, and a bit of sunshine in her day.

The story I heard, for the first time, (of which there were quite a few as she regressed), was of her father traveling from Kenosha to Racine once a week, carrying with loaves of Grandma Hilde's bread. (I imagine it was pumpernickel or seeded rye, because those are what Mom favored throughout her life.) Well, Grandpa Albert took loaves of bread to the baker at Racine Bakery to barter for Kringle because that baker loved Hilde's bread so.

I think it's clear that I spent my $12.99 on a Raspberry Kringle instead of a tussie mussie. Although it would have been nice to have something to barter with, inflation at is. I've cut a slice and placed it on a makeshift ancestral alter in my living room. So cut a slice, pour one out, as you wish in honor of Mom. Hold your loved ones close while you can. And find ways to build joy into each day, even if it's only a small slice of nostalgia.

Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you, too.

-Dagney