#Bulk Material Testing

[prachicmi2]

Asbestos Testing Market to Grow at Pace Owing to Stricter Regulatory Compliance

The Global Asbestos Testing Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 242.3 Mn in 2025 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.2% over the forecast period 2025 to 2032.

Asbestos testing involves the systematic analysis of building materials, soil, air, and water samples to detect and quantify asbestos fibers, protecting public health and the environment. Products in this market range from sample collection kits and laboratory reagents to portable fiber analyzers and advanced microscopy systems. These solutions offer high sensitivity, accuracy, and rapid turnaround times, enabling stakeholders to identify potential risks in older structures, industrial sites, and renovation projects. Asbestos Testing Market Insights include compliance with stringent workplace safety regulations, reduction in liability, and actionable market insights for project planning. As global construction and renovation activities accelerate, especially in urban redevelopment and infrastructure upgrades, the need for reliable asbestos testing grows in parallel. Continuous monitoring and periodic assessments help facility managers and environmental consultants mitigate health hazards, optimize maintenance budgets, and align with evolving regulatory drivers. Furthermore, the integration of digital data reporting platforms enhances transparency across supply chains and supports data-driven decision-making.

Get more insights on,Asbestos Testing Market

[heissenn]

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 hsr fem! characters x fem!reader a sneak peak of what its like dating your favorite hsr character. includes: himeko, serval, seele, stelle, bronya, march 7th, ruan mei, herta, robin tags: tooth-aching fluff, smut on robin's part

himeko

being in a relationship with himeko means being in a relationship with coffee. her caffeine addiction would lead to both of you going on coffee dates. although she would never force you to like coffee if you don’t prefer it. these ‘coffee dates’ just consists of her drinking her exquisite blend while you sip the beverage of your preference, whether it be tea or juice or even alcohol. the important part is that you both enjoy a relaxing time together.

as your relationship grow, these ‘coffee dates’ evolved into a ritual to go to cafes or bars to every planet you go to. there’s always a glimmer in her golden eyes that makes you wonder if she came to this planet to taste test rather than exploring it. himeko tries to hide it but she always looks like a little kid given a new toy every time her taste buds come across something new and himeko would never stop until she tasted all the coffee beans and coffee blends the planet has to offer, not forgetting to buy a bulk to stock in the express.

“darling, how about this? roasted beef and curry frappe. maybe this tickles your fancy?” himeko reads the obnoxious name aloud as she hand you the cup graciously. just the name makes you want to shake your head in refusal but himeko’s sweet smile brainwashes you into nodding your head.

you take a sip from the cup and it took you your everything to school your features. there’s a bubbling at the pit of your stomach and you have an inkling that its not the usual butterflies himeko gives you. “it’s amazing, love. i’m sure the others would want a cup.” you say imagining the others' reaction.

serval

serval would prefer dates that are a bit more hands-on. she would take a page from lynx’s book and take you out on a camping date to watch the aurora. it's been long since she went camping but the knowledge from when she was serving in the army still remains in her.

but instead of preparing the camping materials beforehand, she’d be the type to just go with the flow. she’d bring a few essentials and the rest will be decided along you go and with serval’s quick thinking. the camping goes smoothly for the most part aside from some hiccups like monsters and serval burning the food.

she’d bring her guitar along too, of course. she’d play for you with the aurora as witness and the hearth of the camp fire embracing the both of you with warmth.

“the view looks amazing here, serval. thank you for taking me here,” you look up at the countless streaks of emerald painting the sky. “yes, it’s breathtaking,” serval mutters in reply and you turn towards her to see her blue eyes already on you. she smiles at you before standing up and going inside the tent, leaving you confused. she comes back with her guitar.

“i know this is cheesy but i thought it wouldn’t hurt being romantic from time to time,” she plops downs and gives the acoustic a few strums. “i dedicate this song to you, my love.”

bronya

as the supreme guardian, she is always swamped with work thus there are only a few times when she goes outside. this also means that dates between the two of you are rare if you don’t count eating meals with her.

she can’t really take you on movies like normal couples because it would take the whole facility to be rented out and bronya’s nice enough to think about the other civilians whose plans might be ruined because of her personal endeavors. the times that she is able to go outside, she takes you for a walk in the gardens. you both walk down the flower path, talking about anything and everything. both of your hands are intertwined as the both of you admired all the kinds of plants that managed to withstand belobogs harsh climates.

at the end of the path awaits a picnic she readied herself, she insists that she should be the one to prepare without any help from the servants to add her personal touch. the act of preparing sandwiches and picking the right blanket has special value to bronya since she can’t be there for you to do acts of service most of the time.

after your appetite is satiated, both of you lay down to admire the sky. bronya falls asleep besides you peacefully, even sleep is a luxury the supreme guardian can’t afford nowadays so you’re glad to see her rest. you press a kiss to her forehead as bronya forgets the worries of the planet and the responsibilities of a huge title.

“peanut butter and jelly, check. grilled cheese, check. orange juice, check. apple juice, check.” bronya mutters as she goes through the menu she prepared for the third time. it’s not as grandiose as one would think when dating the supreme guardian but she prepared a little bit of each, to say the least, to make up for the simplicity.

she heard footsteps from behind and saw you approaching. she wipes her sweaty hands on her skirt, your relationship has been going on for quite a while but still you never fail to make her nervous. “sorry. i hope i didn’t make miss supreme guardian wait for too long,” you smile at her and bronya’s heart soars. “you’re just in time,” she pats the spot beside her. you sit beside her not before raising your eyebrows at the plethora of food baskets laid in front of you.

“bronya, you didn’t have to prepare all of this,” you were touched to find the amount of effort your girlfriend put. “this is the least i could do. i’ve been neglecting my duties to you, allow me to make up for it,” she takes your hands and kiss the back of it, a gesture she couldn’t do in public.

stelle

the perfect bonding time for stelle is rummaging through trash cans together but since not everyone can appreciate the art of opening trash cans she’s fine with something similar. that’s how most of your dates are: going to junk shops or thrift stores. she like going over all the trinkets even if the item doesn’t have any particular use or is unable to operate anymore. she’s more interested in the history: how it was made and how it ended up there.

i feel like she’s also interested with unopened safes or treasure boxes and she’d buy them just so you can both guess what’s inside and opening them together. think of blind boxes they sell online. then you’ll make up wild stories of the items.

she’s probably friends with the owners and the staff. everytime both of you go somewhere new you’d both make it a point to go to the local junk shop. it helps both of you to learn about the lifestyle and culture of the planet.

you probably have a pile of random things that stelle found in your room. most of the time they remind her of you something like “this toothbrush made me think of that one time you washed the sink” or somthing. the item doesn’t really correlate with the memory but its more than enough to prove her unconditional love for you

you hear a knock on your door and you open it to find your girlfriend beaming at you while holding up two trash bags. “look what i got, babe!” she smiles at you proudly. “that’s great, stelle! i’ll go prepare a bath,” you say as you automatically head towards the bathroom, you were used to this. “nuhuh, where do you think you’re going?” stelle drops the reeking trash on your bedroom floor and snakes her hands around your waist to pull you close to her.“

we’re not going anywhere until i get my kiss,” she blinks her eyes at you like a cute puppy and you sigh before grabbing her sides of her face for a passionate kiss. she hums against your lips as the weight of her body crushes you. you both pull away breathless only for her to pout at you like a kicked puppy, “one more."

seele

seele may not admit it but she likes hanging out with kids. she says they annoy her and the only reason she’s with them is because she doesn’t want them causing headaches to natasha, who already has a lot on her plate. sometimes she says there is nothing to do anymore ever since the underworld and the overworld has been bridged and most of her former work is being handled by the silvermane forces.

but you know better, you never miss her little scowl every time she doesn’t find where the kids are hiding or hear her small grumbles when they ask her to go around town to find scraps for their play house. but you also don’t miss how she looks at them with the fondest eyes paired with softest smiles.

and if there is one thing she loves as much as she loves playing kids that would be seeing you play with them. you see it evident every time you catch her eyes while you lift the kids up in the air or pat them in the head or let them ride you back. and seeing you and the kids smile reminds her of why she joined wildfire in the first place, to protect these priceless smiles. she looks at the scene and suddenly she’s thinking about ways on how she can ask if you wanted to build a family with her. a family she could give the love she had that she wasn’t privileged to when she was growing up.

seele’s hands trace the back of your palm as you both lay in bed. you recognize it as the behavior she does when she wants to tell you something but couldn’t. so you switch from your position of laying flat on your back to face her fully to let her know your attention is on hers fully. she heaves a sigh, squirm and squeeze your hand in a series of fast motion and before you can react she’d already open her mouth.

“someday, it doesn't have to be right now, . it doesn't have to be anytime even, if you don't want to," seele starts and her eyes fly around the room. you rest your hand on her cheek and caress it.

another sigh escapes her. "someday, would you like to have a family with me?” seele asks and there’s hopeful tone in her voice that makes you swoon. “if that’s what you want, yes,” seele replies almost instantly. “no, i’m asking you.” and you response without missing a beat as well. “yes, i'd love to have kids with you, seele.” you say as you stroke her features and seele feels her eyes become wet at your words.

march 7th

it goes without saying that march likes taking pictures. and her favorite subject is you. there is a whole album of you in her phone that contains so much pictures she needed to buy several memory cards. she likes taking pictures in bursts so there are a lot of similar photos but she never deletes them even if the difference is a centimeter change in angles, she argues that each photo is precious.

she picks out the ones she likes best to print out and put in her scrapbook album. she spends hours on picking the right one and there are countless times where she has to resist the strong urge to just print everything. she writes the date of when it was taken and some notes (more like whole paragraphs expressing her love) to commemorate what you did that day. she decorates them with things that reminds her of that day. for example, she would take a picture of you with a flower crown and the page is decorated with the petals from the same flower. below that is a little message of what the flower meant and how it suited you.

when she is finished she gifts them to you on your anniversaries. and when you’re away or she has to go on expeditions, she definitely brings it with her to browse through when she misses you.

march delicately flips through the pages, caressing the photos, the colorful letters and the little stickers she vividly remembers putting there. “i can’t wait to see you again,” you can hear the pout in her voice through the phone. “give me lots of kisses when i come back?” she hates being away with you but the photo books make it a little more bearable.

“of course, as many as you want,” you say on the other side as you look through your own copy of photo book. a pile of them from when march gifted then to you on your anniversaries or when she felt like it. “or maybe you’d prefer something more than that?” you add suggestively. march turns bright pink and looks at a particular black leather bound photo book.

ruan mei

ruan mei can get a little occupied with her research to the point that she ignores her well-being and sometimes you just have to remind her that she hasn’t ascended to aeonhood yet and her body is still human with human needs and human boundaries.

she is not used to having other people care for her so the concept of it is relatively new. she was definitely surprised when you come to her lab with some snacks or some tea. and the thing with her is that, at first, she thought it was hindering her progress. maybe it’ll take a fight for her to actually realize she’s taking it for granted and apologize with feeding you with sweet treats, made by her of course. on the other hand, you learn to differentiate the time where you should step in or not over time.

however, ruan mei would grow too accustomed to your presence in her lab and would actually starting want you there more and more. before she can even realize, she’s putting more hours in her studies just so she can see you barging in with your cute frown, becoming slowly addicted to the warmth she feels every time she receives your care.

“i’m just gonna leave it here,” you say as you gently place the tray of cheesecake and orange juice on the unused table. “take a five, babe. the cheesecake wouldn’t be as delicious if you leave it for too long,” you give her a peck on her forehead and the scientist leans to your touch a little more so she can feel your lips better while her eyes scan through papers.

you turn to head towards the door and take your leave but a cold hand catches your wrist before you could move further away from her. “stay,” her tone was more commanding than pleading and her eyes are still trained on the words in front of her. but you knew she wasn’t reading it anymore. her hand goes to the nearest chair to pull it beside her but her hands paused suddenly. her palms hovers in the air for a second before she retracts it and pats her lap. you raise your eyebrows in amusement but indulge her nevertheless. after all, who were you to refuse.

herta

even in your relationship, the great herta is a bit too prideful for her own good. that’s why she relies on her puppets to convey her emotions to you but even her puppets are emotionally constipated so there's not much of a difference. but it's herta so she still makes it work in her favor anyway. after all, she can just tell you its a ‘malfunction’. she makes them do her bidding such as keeping you company under the guise of ‘babysitting’ you or gifting you new technology that makes your life a tad bit easier which she likes to call ‘letting you test a prototype’ or giving you ‘leftovers’ that looks a little too fresh to be called one.

we’re talking about herta here so naturally she’s the first one to grow tired of the own arrangement she made. eventually, she feels her chest getting a little tighter every time she watches her puppets do acts of service for you doing you favors. she actually asks nous about the feeling and how to get rid of it. the aeon just laughs at her, saying ‘maybe you found your new research topic’. and the poor scientist just blinks at the higher being.

she’s a bit lost on how to overcome the feeling so she just pops up randomly throughout the day and stare at you because she doesn’t know what to do.

“she should go to the basement to find out what’s going on,” the puppet beside you comment as you both watch the horror movie playing on the large screen in front of you. you still don’t know how you roped her into this but here you were.

“what? no, that’s the worst thing you can do. that’s like the big no no in horror movies,” you argue as you look beside you to find that the small woman beside you is not a puppet anymore but rather the herta herself. you move back in surprise after a double take, “what are you doing here?” herta moves an inch closer. “it was my turn to babysit you,” the woman shrugs nonchalantly as her hand reaches for the popcorn on your lap.

robin

it’s only natural that the renowned singer dedicates songs to you and she does, there are countless songs and several albums singing her love for you. robin insists that no melody can truly convey how she feels for you but its the closest way of expression. she never release them for obvious reasons but there are some that are vaguely coded enough for the fans not to speculate that she releases. and her heart is full every time she sings her never ending emotions for you for the whole universe to hear.

but it doesn’t end there. no, robin is too much of a lowkey freak to keep things sfw. she has tracks, albums that recounts your nightly adventures with her. too explicit that anyone listening would probably have a heart attack hearing the sweet robin sing such filthy lyrics. she makes you listen to it in front her and she never tells you which kind of song it is because she enjoy seeing your face turn a shade of darker red with each beat.

oh and you best bet she incorporate your sounds as well, blending your moans and hers with the sound of vibrator over a slow, sultry beat mixed with her breathy voice that is a drastic change from her usual sweet, honey one.

“darling, you promised me you’d help me record a new song,” robin muses as she puts her hand over her mouth to giggle while her other hand curls inside you enough to hit that spongy spot. she reaches for the mic beside you and hovers above you. you watch her as she gives it a dirty lick and a kiss before putting the mic closer to your lips so your moans are transmitted to the speakers surrounding the studio room.

your amplified sounds echoed throughout the room and it drowns the sounds of your pussy squelching over robin’s fingers. “if you can last through two songs, i’ll give you a treat,” she sings in your ear.

[felidae-sims]

Resources for Creating: My Go-To things.

Update: I’ll be updating the list on this page from now on, since Tumblr can’t handle so many hyper-links in one post, on Dreamwidth - right here, so I won't have to update it multiple times. Please note: I keep updating this list, and updates aren't showing up on reblogs. Please check the original post for the most up to date list.

Sooo this is going to be a long comprehensive list. I got back to this game after a long time and with a different computer, with a dedicated graphics card, hurray! It made me want to return to making things, so while gathering back all the necessary stuff, I've complied this list. It might be is updated as I go along, but these are the main things I use. Maby one day i'll even finish something. So here are my go-to resources & tutorials; I'm posting it here for safekeeping, and hopefully others will find it helpful. Everything that's listed is here free. So many wonderful things for free under the cut.

Programs – General:

Creating: Blender. Blender Addons: 3D Print Toolbox – comes with blender, enable it from within the program. Originally for 3d printing. Good for fixing flipped normals, and some quick general repairs. Source Tools And source tools wiki – for exporting as SMD!!!! (SimPe: to enable bump maps for the mesh on import). GMDC Addon for Blender 4.0+ by Nopke.

GIMP. GIMP Addons: G'MIC-Qt. Resynthesizer. Nvidia dds?. Doesn’t it come with Gimp?

Other: Nvidia Texture Tools Exporter (iirc it works with all graphic cards that are compatible, doesn’t require Nvidia). For making Normal / Bump / Cube Maps. For high quality compression.

NormalMaps - Online, For making all types of maps, has good setting menus. A very cool tool.

Converting: Umodel, for Unreal Engine (Static meshes: export as gtlf.2. Animated meshes: export as psk. Requires Add-on). AssetStudio, for Unity. AC Viewer, self implied (+ USD Addon for blender). QuickBMS* and support forum, for basically everything else. (don't forget the required scrips, down the same page). *I haven’t tested it fully yet, but it was recommended here. A tutorial for it is listed further down. Works like a charm.

UV Mapping: UV Mapper, Classic (free) and the most recent Demo (for visualization).

Programs – Sims:

Never Mind the Bollox, Here's Osab and MAGIkarp to the rescue!

Latest version of SimPe, works with a non-default installation path. Chris Hatch's updates.

Home Crafter installation, Post by Huge Lunatic at Sims2Artists.

Repository Wizard, by Pick'N'Mix Mods. A game changer.

DBPF Compare, by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

Object Relocator, also by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

SMD Tools, by Lazy Duchess.

The Compressorizer, by JFade – Lazy Duchess's edit.

Bulk Rename Utility, to change file names in well, bulk. As explained by io here.

Lot Adjustor, by Mootilda at MTS.

Tutorials:

Override the game's graphic settings via Nvidia, as explained by iCad. The settings to Nvidia Profile Inspector she linked to at MTS have been deleted for some reason, here they are via WebArchive.

Meshing in Blender:

Mesh Optimization Info (and links), by Crisps&Kerosene.

Additional - Reducing Polycount:

Tutorial, by Flaming-Chickens (another username on other sites perhaps?)

Edge – Un-subdivide, a quick one by CG Link.

Transfer high poly details to low poly object in Blender, by 3Dnot2D.

Shrinkwrap Modifier - Blender Tutorial for Beginners - Basics, by in2vert.

Placeholder for this Addon that I want to try but haven't found, something for AR that was on facebook's defunct AR.

Scaling tips, by Blender Secrets.

How to fix inverted/ flipped normals, by ipaintsmallthings.

Converting: How to Extract 3D Models, Textures, Music from Unreal Engine Games, by iwanMods.

Extract 2D/3D/SFX Unity Assets fast & easy from your Unity Game, by iwanMods as well.

How to use QuickBMS, by darkhorse.

Guide to Converting 3t2 and 4t2 Part 01 and Part 02, by Chiaroscuro/tenlittlepandas.

Converting TS4 Windows and Doors, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Using Different Material Maps as Shading/Details for Base Texture, in Gimp or Blender, by Pineapple Forest & Crisps&Kerosene: https://www.tumblr.com/crispsandkerosene/764893644571525120/great-info-thats-the-reason-some-conversions?source=share

Texture Editing in GIMP:

Using Gimp Add-ons: G'MicQT. Resynthesizer. Both by Davies Media Design. This guy's channel for Gimp in general – here's a good one to begin with. And another one about layer masks.

Making a texture Tile Seamless: 1. My favorite - How to Make Seamless Textures for Cinema 4D - 3 Levels of Photoshop Wizardry using iPhone Photos, by School of Motion.

2. Simple Trick for More Realistic Texture Patterns in GIMP, by Davies Media Design – Quick and simple, using the Resynthesizer plugin. Good for patterns.

Making walls in SimPe out of a square texture, with minimal quality loss. To be written.

SimPe: Cloneable Objects: A List of Good Objects for Cloning, by IgnorantBliss at MTS.

Huge Lunatic's Tutorials, Her website.

Object Creation for Absolute Beginners, by Moune.

Sims 2 start to finish Object Creation Tutorial, by JWoods, Numenor, Lethe_s & IgnorantBliss.

The Material Definition (TXMT) Guide, by PixelHate – very comprehensive. Part 5 is about Bump/ Normal maps.

Null (Texture-less) Groups, by Skell. For bodyshop, for Objects see an elaboration by Midge the Tree below.

Crisps&Kerosene discovered how to add specular maps to objects! It's incredible there are still new things to discover in this ancient game.

More on Specular Maps, by Pineapple Forest.

Making new flooring & walls with SimPE, by Charisa. Includes adding Bump/Normal maps. She added a file to clone from in the comments below. It works for normal maps as well. Here's cool discovery in the game files.

Expanding footprint: a mini tutorial, by Deedee.

How to add correct drop shadows to objects, by Yuxi, via Wayback Machine.

Making Objects Viewable in Neighborhood View, by iCad.

Making Objects Visible In Build/Buy Mode, Invisible In Live Mode, by Midge the Tree.

Making Seasons-Friendly Trees, by Echo.

Io/ Serabiet's resources list, mainly for Bodyshop but not just.

Pineapple Forest's Tutorials, useful tips for efficiency and optimization.

MTS modding forum in General.

The Sims 2 Tutorials, on Tumblr. A database, is more updated.

Sims2Artists tutorials section.

LeeFish modding forum.

Garden of Shadows, Tree of Knowledge section.

Troubleshooting: What to do if you get a System.OutOfMemoryException Error, SimPe Forum, via WayBack Machine. Thank you @fanseelamb for the find.

How to read object error logs: I just want to know what causes it!!, by Episims.

Common TS2 errors, by Midge the Tree.

General game fuckery: How to Stop Sims 2 Crashing (Memory Allocation Fix and 4GB Patch Repair), by Jessa.

Graphics card problems, LeeFish forum.

Graphics help - DIY, by Kiri. How to fix faulty Texture Memory allocation, and the problems that stem from it. Tumblr can't handle anymore hyper links so here it is: https://celebkiriedhel.tumblr.com/post/189431721483/graphics-help-diy

General: Switching between save folders without renaming them, by Nopke.

Resources:

3D Models Online*: Various furniture designers' websites: Porada, Zanotta, Muuto, Hay, Poltrona Frau, many luxury furniture designer basically.

3D Warehouse, belongs to Sketchfab (get the Collada files).

Scan the World.

Wikimedia Commons. And more.

*(NOT OPTIMIZED).

Textures: Architextures.

Fabrics & Wallpapers: Natural Stones: Wall Plasters:

iCad's Woods. Shastakiss's Cluedo Metals, Yeti Metals, Pirate Woods. Goat's Woods.

Textures from other games: Dishonored, Thieve and much more, by Saricoya at GoS. Dreamfell by io.

Resource sharing threads at Garden of Shadows.

SimPe - General: CEP Extras list, HugeLunatic at Sims2Artists.

TXMT settings for different materials, by Hafiseazale.

Extended SimStandardMaterial Shader for the Sims 2 + Optionally Brighter Sims, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Custom CubeMaps, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Shiny TXMT Settings & Cube Maps Packs, by Pineapple Forest.

Build/ Buy: Templates for Recoloring Maxis items; MTS Templates sction, Hafiseazale (+cc), ZeroDark.

Template for Seasonal Trees, Gwenke at Sims2Artists.

Making Roof Recolors, Tutorial & template by Numenor, great template by iCad.

Pack for making food clutter usable, by DeeDee.

CAS: Default Makeup Packages - BYO Packages, by Huge Lunatic.

Body shape, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Skin template, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Hair texture, iCad.

Color Actions, Pooklet on Tumblr.

That's it for now.

Edit: forgot about CEP extras. Added more links. Edit 02: Added Troubleshooting section under tutorials.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

How the Sooseeji is Made: What's it Like to Work as a Japanese-to-English Media Translator?

I'm a bit under the weather today, so in lieu of working, I thought it'd be fun to write about the practical aspects of working in localization. What's a day in the life like? How does this affect the translation itself? Why do translators conduct themselves in public the way they do? How does all this differ from fan translation?

This was something I wish I'd known more about before I started working, and I think a lot of it is quite interesting even if you're not planning on working in this field. Let's dive in!

(Note: This is part 1 of 3! Later parts will be reblogged onto this post.)

How does your manga get made?

The overwhelming bulk of manga translation is contract work. Tiny publishers may have one or two dedicated translators as salaried staff, but virtually every other publisher will assign a given manga series to one of many translators within a large freelance pool. Generally speaking, a manga series will only have one translator at a time, although there are a handful of siblings and spouses who translate in pairs. Very famous series will sometimes scout a particular translator for related materials--for instance, a new Sailor Moon spinoff manga might warrant seeking out main series translators Alethea and Athena Nibley--but high demand for certain translators, cramped production schedules, and (to be frank) universal internal disorganization means this isn't always the case. It's not uncommon for a translator to translate one part of a franchise but not another--even if they're available and interested!

This can lead to term mismatches or slightly different writing styles. In public, this is often chalked up to gross negligence on the part of the translator, but the truth is often not quite so black-and-white. In some cases, publishing staff may assign a weaker or less well-equipped for the series translator. This could be caused by a lack of familiarity with the translator--perhaps this translator is a new addition to the freelancer pool or has never been tested on this kind of material--or, more frequently, too much work on the publisher's end to devote a significant amount of time to a single series. Publication staff are grossly overworked and (frequently) underpaid as a rule.

Other common errors stem from a poorly curated or else totally missing glossary. Every manga series has a glossary/term bible that contains common series-specific Japanese terms, their set English translation, and other information that could be useful for the translator. A typical glossary looks something like this:

(Please note that all images of example resources in this post are made by me for the express purpose of this post and are not indications that Hypmic is or will be licensed in English.)

A good glossary is super handy! Let's imagine a parallel universe where Hypmic is licensed and I'm the translator. Presumably, I have a lot of other projects and may go months between translating each volume. I may forget how I translated a term or some rule I decided for character voice. If it's all written down, I can always go back and refer to it! Now let's suppose I have to leave the series for whatever reason, and a new translator is assigned to the project. If they have these notes, they can pick up right where I left off and continue using the same spellings, terms, and style rules. Score!

However, that "if" is carrying a lot of weight. Glossaries don't always make it to the next translator in line for one of three reasons:

As glossary maintenance is unpaid labor, the previous translator may have neglected to keep their glossary up to date.

The overworked publication staff have lost the glossary file or neglected to share it with the new translator.

(As is often the case with spinoffs or franchises like Hypmic with multiple subseries) The glossary belongs to another company, and requesting a copy of the glossary--or a living document between companies--requires approval from the Japanese publisher or too much red tape to be worth anyone's time.

If any aspiring translators reading this take away only one thing from this post, then have it be this reminder to keep your glossary updated. I know it sucks. I know you're not paid to do it. I know it's only slightly less painful than having your fingernails torn off with rusty pliers. But you will forget details, even if you think you won't, and if you have to leave a series and give the next translator 30+ hours of labor fixing your glossary before they can begin, the next translator will hate your guts. ("Slug, are you subtweeting someone in particular?" If only! If I never fix another glossary in my life, I will die happy.) Update. Your. Glossary.

As alluded to above, manga translators may have large gaps in their schedule between books and grow fuzzy on details. (This is less of an issue for simulpub translators, who work on a new chapter every month or week. We'll talk about simulpubbing more below.) This could happen naturally, ie whenever the English release is caught up to Japan and the translator is simply waiting for the next volume, or the translator's schedule is too packed.

Wait...packed with what? What else does a translator have on their plate but the one series?

Usually, a separate job or a whole heap of other series! Manga pay fluctuates depending on a variety of factors but is generally in the ballpark of $1000 USD for volume. Translators are expected to complete a single volume every month-ish, although this is "ish" is again doing a lot of heavy lifting as publisher timelines have a lot of variation. (Some pubs will ask for a full volume within a week, which is actually not unreasonable--I don't think it's difficult to knock out a volume for most series within a single day, provided you have nothing else to do--but the assumption is that you're busy and really only squeezing in two or three work sessions in across the course of your assignment period. This can be challenging to do in a week if you're really and truly booked up.) For most people in the US or other high CoL parts of the world, $1200 a year is nowhere near enough to live comfortably on--and that's assuming there's enough books in the series to give the translator an assignment every month. It's not like translators are being unfairly shafted, either. While there is some amount of corporate greed at play, the fact of the matter is that quite a lot of manga is produced at a loss, and even the profitable ones don't make huge sums of money. Many publishers are sustained on cash cow series like One Piece or Naruto, which subsidize the rest of the publication's lineup. There just isn't enough money in manga to sustain a translator--to say nothing of the editor, letterer, and all sorts of support staff--on a single series.

Therefore, the vast majority of freelancer translators juggle numerous other translation/editing/writing projects, work a whole other full-time job and only translate for the love of it, or are subsidized by their spouse or parents. This is why superfans will often end up more knowledgeable than translators about their favorite series and may be upset when the translator makes a goof. Should the translator take steps to avoid errors? Yes, absolutely. At the same time, it's important to remember that some amount of human error is inevitable in any work, and in the media translation industry, overwork is the rule, not the exception.

Simulpubbing can help to mitigate this, as the relatively predictable publishing schedule gives a translator a guaranteed source of income. Having one or two simulpub series to fall back on eliminates some of the scramble to cram in as many books as possible to avoid the famine end of the feast-or-famine freelance cycle. But simulpubbing isn't without its own challenges, the most annoying of which being the overwork on both Japanese and English publisher ends leading to files coming in incomplete, late, or both with astonishing frequency. Turnaround times can be very, very tight--sometimes a matter of hours--and a non-Japan-based translator may be required to stay up into the middle of the night to receive files and turn in the translation before US/EU morning.

Simulpubbing, or any manga translation where the work is caught up to Japan, also has the thorny issue of a lack of context. It may come as a surprise to learn that manga translators typically have no contact with the author--and may be forbidden from speaking to the author at all! (This latter issue stems from issues of harassment. Some publishers, as a blanket rule, forbid any contact so that any negative interactions between authors and English-speaking fans can in no way be traced back to the publisher. This enables them to maintain working relationships with the Japanese publishers.) This frequently causes issues for mystery manga or manga with nebulous text like Jujutsu Kaisen. The translator doesn't have any more idea what's going to happen next than the reader! How do you lay foreshadowing when you don't know whodunnit? How do you futureproof upcoming reveals when the source text doesn't give you essential information like gender or singular/plural? A translator has to develop workarounds, but even the best translators will inevitably slip up and occasionally make the wrong assumption. Oops!

Now, with all that complaining out of the way, how does a manga actually get made?

In virtually all cases, a manga translator creates a script formatted in such a way that it's clear to the letterer and editor precisely what needs to be done. The average script looks something like this:

It should be noted that the above format does not match any one particular publisher's, but the vast majority of them look similar to this.

As you can probably imagine, the formatting can be just as time-consuming as the translation itself. Many manga translators use macros or scripts to speed up the process, but it can still be annoyingly tedious.

But clear directions for letterers--many of whom are using scripts themselves and not reading the text in full--are absolutely vital. Translators and letterers rarely have direct communication with each other, so clear direction is crucial.

In fan translation, this may not be necessary, and as such scripts are often much more relaxed. Here's the same text in the style I used in my scanlation days:

Once a script is complete, the editor gets to work on it. Many editors in the publishing side of the industry are (overworked) salaried employees and generally are not as fluent in Japanese as in game editing, where editors are often strong enough in Japanese to translate themselves. As a result, it's vital that translators check their own scripts for accuracy and provide explanation for liberties taken or potential points of confusion. Editors may have the ability to query translators, and some editor/translator pairs may corroborate directly (sometimes without publisher approval), but there generally isn't the time for the translator and editor to confer over every line. (Additionally, sending and addressing queries is unpaid labor.) Many famous mistranslations were introduced in the editing stage--where a translator, having written confusing text, is often just as much to blame as an editor.

How does this happen? Say I had been awkwardly literal with Jakurai's final line on page 1 and written "Yes. No doubt both teams have gone up in skill." (There's a katakana "sukiru appu" I rephrased.) The editor would have--correctly--flagged this as strange and set about trying to fix it. But what does "skill" mean here? Is it referring to their talent or the Rap Abilities which, annoyingly, the Japanese manga occasionally mislabels as "skills"? If it's the latter, what does it mean for an Ability to "go up"? Hypmic doesn't have a leveling system, but maybe Abilities can get stronger over time? Assuming as much, the editor might rewrite this as "Yes. No doubt their Abilities have grown stronger, too." Uh-oh. Now we have an error that, while technically not being something I wrote, still resulted from me doing my job improperly.

Outside of the primary editor, there may be others who attend to the script at this stage, like adapters or copyeditors. Adapters are line editors skilled in reworking overly literal translations into natural-sounding English--thus facing similar challenges as in the above paragraph--while copyeditors ensure adherence to grammatical rules and style guides.

When a script has been edited, it passes to the letterer. Letterers typically start their work in InDesign, a program used for adjusting book layouts, and replace all Japanese dialogue with dialogue from the script. Many letterers have automated programs that assist with the tedious copy/pasting aspect. Next, letterers recenter and style the text as necessary before addressing the SFX, signs, and any other bits of text that require extra TLC. A lot of SFX work is done in Illustrator or Photoshop and later linked into the InDesign file. Unfortunately, while the Japanese dialogue is layered in InDesign, there's no guarantee SFX will be layered in the (often flat) source psds or tifs. Many source files look something like this:

^ From a volume bonus in the FP/M+ manga

While some of the text has been removed, the letterer still has to contend with the ポs and the 飴 surrounding Matenrou. Some publishers require these to be retouched, meaning the letterer places the English SFX on top and then redraws the surrounding image until all trace of the Japanese SFX is gone. However, this is a lot of work, and as such it demands an extra fee that many other publishers can't or won't allocate funds to. In such cases, the letterer places their SFX near the Japanese SFX and styles it in a similar fashion. For SFX-heavy series, this can easily look busy or overwhelming. Both options could be nightmarish in a series like Hypmic. The volume of retouch work would be atrocious, and assuming most rap pages would be delivered as flat files, it would be difficult to squish all the text into the few blank spaces on the page. The Korean localization of the manga tries this latter approach, and it's a little visually underwhelming.

(Image from this blog post)

Other publishers opt for unstyled SFX or simply including a chart in the back of the book. I feel like this is a shame, as well-done SFX are such excellent storytelling tools.

At this stage of the process, the book enters some form of QA and layout/production. The exact workflow will vary depending on its publisher and whether the book is slated for digital, print, or webtoon-style release. However, the overall process follows a few basic steps. A uneditable copy (like a pdf) of the lettered book is sent to a proofreader, typically another freelancer. The proofreader's comments return to the editor, and the editor--who has some lettering ability--makes the necessary changes to the book's files. (Some publishers may choose to send the proofreader's comments to the letterer and have them make these changes themselves.) Then, once the book is in good shape, a layout and production team add in the cover, colophon, and all the other bits that make up a book. Finally, the volume is sent to the printers or digital distributors. That's it! Not long after, the book reaches stores and is in your hands!

In the interest of time, I'd like to wrap up here and continue at a later date. This will probably be a three-parter, with part 2 focusing on game localization (ideally, also touching lightly on anime and prose books) and part 3 talking about self-marketing and expected conduct in fan spaces.

Thanks for reading!

[anonmousegosqueak]

Im going for the pasta and don't dare you ruin everything! (/j) You can add your own headcanons on how they cook pasta too:)

Ghost: Thus fucked barely knows how to cook eggs, or not burn milk, so i guess I have to say that he probably has watched a tutorial every time he cooked something outside of those two things and that by such his pasta is usually just either plain penne or broken spaghetti, usually with some tuna or just cut tomatoes because he doesn't know how and when to add the sauce

Price: he knows just enough to not make his mother's souls hunt him for the rest of the month (she knew how to cook decent pasta compared to him). He probably tried conchiglie and orecchiette more for their form than for their paracticality when eating, but je found that when he is on leave, if he ears slower, he gets less stomach aches, so he uses these "hard to eat" shapes so he paces himself better.

Nik: this man has had fresh pasta with soup for a good half of his life (cheap and relatovely easy to buy) and by this he cannot cook it any way that doesn't contain soup. So he often eats stelline or mini macaroni in either thick or thin soup.

Roach: This man is American. I do not believe in any way that he would be able to cook pasta in a way that I can describe without having a heart attack. Two words. anonmousegosqueak. Airfrier.

Soap: because his mother taught him some level of pasta cooking he can cook spaghetti without breaking them and if he is doing something fancy he might add some swordfish (it tastes much better than it sounds)

Gaz: husband material, he can cook and he can make it taste incredible, the only problem is that he doesn't read the minutes on the box and his pasta is always overcooked, and by this it is usually too soft to feel good in your mouth unless it's the feeling you are going for.

Red: Australian man near the stove? Yeah… no… Red ge the fuck away from the stove, you are going to birn down the whole house!

Hehehheeee-

(same characters, we're going in my order though)

Price:

He can cook... Decently well? Nothing fancy, he's not a cook, but he can definitely boil boxed pasta (*sigh*... without breaking it). Sauces aren't very good though. I'm talking mostly he just melts a slab of butter and calls it a day, maybe some canned tomato or something but that's only if he's trying to get in Nik's pants later. Doesn't salt the boiling water, will run cold water over the strainer noodles to cool 'em faster.

Ghost:

You said it best- no cooking skills. Now, it's not like he's a total man-baby, he can take care of himself, but that 'taking care' is mostly just knowing what food to order that is healthy. I also see him as the kinda guy who unironically eats those bulking protein meals you see on tiktok. Like yeah, unseasoned chicken on his broken and overcooked spaghetti. It's easy and simple and it... Well it doesn't taste good but he can choke it down. He's more of a desserts and baking kinda guy, doesn't care too much about savory food.

Soap:

Unpopular opinion but this man can cook! I'm not saying he's Scottish Gordon Ramsay, but he knows his way around the kitchen just fine. Listen- mamma MacTavish is a brilliant woman who can work a kitchen, she wanted to pass those skills down to her kids. So when her toddler son wandered in while she was trying to teach his older sister how to cook an egg... Well I guess he's her new student! Johnny was always the most interested in cooking, way more than any of his sisters. Now he's wowing Simon on their date with his fancy hand-made pasta and fresh pesto sauce (he gets some good head in return)

Gaz:

MY HUSBAND. Literally! He's the cook in his and Red's relationship- making dinner almost every night. (Don't worry, Red cleans up in return). He loves to experiment, always finding recipes and putting them to the test. He really does excel in sauces though. His pasta...? A bit overcooked. Still tastes amazing though, the flavor beats texture every time. He also definitely makes those protein bulking meals- except it actually tastes good. His spice rack is full (not a euphemism (unless you want it to be)) and so is your belly. Red doesn't mind the texture problems as well, their shitty teeth thank him every time. It's actually why they've never corrected him, they like being able to eat without their jaw hurting. Everyone else suffers but they don't care, it makes Gaz happy whenever he gets compliments on his food.

Nikolai:

Nikolai. Can. COOK. Makarony po-flotski from home, ravioli from Italy, fuck- he can even make an amazing macaroni and cheese like the AMERICANS YEEEEHAAAWWWE- (I'm talking enough butter to give a horse a heart attack and enough cheese to kill a dead horse. Breading as well). He's traveled the world, picked up recipes all around as well. And even before then? Well he was a starving man who quicky learned how to make a lot from a little. Everything is a stew with some sort of meat, vegetables are optional (he couldn't always get fresh veggies) but preferred, but always *always* some sort of pasta. I'm sorry but you do not get to that amazing size from eating like shit- a proper bear needs proper meals. He knows quite a few recipes just from memory as well- and again, from all different types of places.

Roach:

Roach... Roach is allergic to everything (especially tomatoes) and an American (sometimes). You really think he can make pasta? Boxed Mac&Cheese (not Nik level), broken spaghetti, and everything is always overcooked. He can make some good sandwiches though!

Red:

It's not even the Australian! It's the pyromaniac-y-ness. Besides, they never really learned how to cook with spices. I mean, when you live in a tiny compound that grows all its own food, you don't exactly get a lot of cooking experience. They can make bread! But pasta? They're lighting the noodles on fire for fun before Gaz kicks them out of the kitchen or Topino kills them and feeds them real food. The only time they even tried to make their own fresh pasta, they were drunk out of their mind and made a semi-sweet orange flavored monstrosity. Red and Roach are banned from the kitchen, Gaz cooks food because he cannot trust them (and cooking brings him joy)

Topino:

Italian.

[telugxrl13]

really super bored in the car so

cabin 6’s hangout activities!

be aware that all of these activities involve competition. the athena cabin can’t go without a little challenge or two over the summer!

hosting debates

probably the children of athena’s favorite activity to do when they’re all sprawled around on a cool summer day without anything to do. time to host a debate! they call over one of the children of nemesis to judge, then pick six of their best speakers to split into two teams. fifteen minutes of research and prep prior, using only the books in their cabin. it’s super intense—even the spectators can feel it—and winner is free of cabin duties for the rest of the week!

read-a-thons

a competition between every member of cabin 6. after a bulk amazon order of a book agreed on by everyone, they all sit around, grab their teacups, and start reading. with dyslexia, it’s hard enough, but everyone is up to the challenge. whoever wins has to give somewhat of a lecture on the book’s topic, quoting page numbers as well. everyone else gets to check the book while they speak, so if they get anything wrong, they’re switched out for the second fastest reader, and so on. they keep talking until a timer of ten minutes is over, and the person who is speaker when the clock hits ten minutes is the winner!

gift exchange

this activity is simple enough, but starts a month before, in july. everyone is given names like secret santa, and they have to follow their person around for a month without noticing and make them a gift with what they find around camp. the point is to make your gift as fast as you can before you get caught, but you still have to follow the person around even if you’ve finished your gift. (from the wise words of some athena kid, nothing is perfect and everything can always be improved upon.) if someone suspects that someone else is their gifter and gets it right, the gifter gives them however much of the gift they’ve made. then, they become a team, trying to find the gifter’s gifter, and so on. if you’re not caught, you give the gift on the last day of the summer, so you have something to go home with if you weren’t able to catch your gifter. (gifts consist of poems, statues, artwork, etc.)

forcing someone to read a book

every athena kid’s name is shoved into a civil war helmet. every other occupied cabin’s god’s name is shoved into another. both are randomly picked at the same time. if your name is picked, you have to convince someone from the cabin picked to read a book, and they have to end up liking it. this is difficult when you get, say, the hypnos cabin. imagine getting them to read a book! but it can be any length, language, and topic, so cabin 6 uses that to their advantage. the chosen kid has to bring someone out of the chosen cabin into the middle of the cabins so the rest of them can comfortably watch from their cabin. it’s a test of speaking skills and persuasion, because it doesn’t depend as much on the book, but rather how the kid presents it. when they finish, the other cabin kid has to come to the athena kid and tell them if they liked it or not. if they did, said athena kid is named champion of the cabin! if they didn’t, another name is picked from the hat.

bonus!

historical reenactments

yes those hats actually come to use! an athena kid picks a non fiction book off the shelf with their eyes closed. they have to choose a team to reenact that scene with limited preparation and the materials around them!

[clarissaexplainingitall]

lancer character extreme ramble edition below but the tldr is yeah yeah everyone makes the jokes about tgirl horus pilots but what about a horus mech that actually does very much trans your gender. character so fun and complex i had to draw a diagram:

the long version:

we had to rework some things due to a last minute module switch (he was going to be a little older and number and due to needing to be in mech school we had to roll the timeline back to immediately after the incident, but in summary:

CALLSIGN: Firebird

The Royal Karrakin Foundries were conducting some experiments on a Horus-pattern Pegasus class unit, referred to as "The Asset" which had a dual-pilot chassis (very very weird).

One particular graduating class at a low level flight and mechanic school academy was targeted and graduates were offered a high paying job requiring a degree of security clearance very far away.

This is what we call a bold-faced lie

On record everyone is just working somewhere far off and deployed on secret tasks. Firebird is aware that there was a number of unquantifiable "mistakes" (there is a lack of appropriate records) that resulted in the death of multiple rounds of test pilots alongside some of the mechanical staff.

Eventually, two graduating students (Aphra and Mavet) were selected as the next round of candidates due to situational proximity of seemingly random biometric markers (CBC, LDL, ESR, CRP-, and some unknown)

This seemed to work, and Aphra and Mavet began to build a coworkerly relationship, though they also had fairly good chemistry, and Aphra at least began to develop feelings for the man.

Both chose callsigns for each other based on a shared affinity for old music - Aphra was CALLSIGN: Faun, and Mavet was CALLSIGN: Firebird

The rationale for Aphra's callsign was never explained to her.

During a test instance, there was what is referred to internally as "The Incident." It is unclear to both pilot and observers what occurred, but the surviving pilot suspects there was a certain degree of raw, hardcore interfacing with something in the machine.

OOC, Mavet made unfiltered contact with the unshackled Ushabti Omnigun and the mech reacted.

Three things happened as a result:

Aphra's corporeal form was reduced into a smear of meat.

The person who was once Mavet was effectively killed - theoretically. It is possible he was incorporated into the Ushabti Omnigun, or one of 20 other options, but what is known to the surviving pilot alone is that his mind was effectively wiped from his corpse. His body also sustained significant blast damage and some degree of permanent neurological injury.

The Pegasus, henceforth dubbed RITE OF SPRING, exploded, incorporating the bulk of Aphra's body into surviving parts of its chassis, eliminating a secondary seat, and patching Mavet's corpse with material from the mech, preserving the mind that was formerly Aphra's in his body.

Legally, Aphra is dead. Metaphysically, Aphra is still around, but would never admit it because legally, Mavet is still alive. He prefers to go by (now his) callsign as he feels if nothing else, he earned the transfer of that name. Firebird is now attempting to reconstruct the Pegasus chassis in pursuit of closure and an attempt to make contact with whatever remains of Mavet.

The Royal Foundaries are overjoyed and consider the experiment a complete and utter success. Mavet was diagnosed with a mild case of memory loss as a result of neurological injury or potential integration of schrapnel. They suspect nothing at this point in time. However, we now have extremely fucked up blood test results due to maybe having a bit of Pegasus meat in us but that's not shared outside the experimental team.... as far as Firebird knows.

And now for the gay pining section of this lancer character:

And this is how the Horus Pegasus-TM made me gay and transgender

What if you can't hate the body you are now stuck in because you loved it before it ever was yours? (It isn't yours)

What if you like it better this way but liking it better feels like an unfathomable sin because This all comes at the expense of someone you never got the chance to love.

We were late on day one of mech school due to guessing our own shoe and shirt size wrong.

Multitrack drifting my body as a prison-temple. Haunting reminder, unfulfilled everything, object of mourning, constant horrible just in your face forever... but you can't change any of it. It's not yours to change and it'd be disrespecting his memory. Blah blah blah blah blah I'm going to go insane.

Current vibe is "everything happens so much" and "can you guys please leave me out of antagonizing the nobility they already hate me and i want to retain my ribs unbroken."

He's retained his own personal memory, etc, personality, but inherited Mavet's muscle memory and preferences. Which is such a blessing-curse because it's like. Oh you never had the chance to ask what food he likes? Well Now You Know. But not because he told you.

Anyway since we're here this is why the naming went the way it did:

Rite of Spring as the ballet about a person chosen to lead their own sacrifice and consumption by the earth. Points also for the funky choreo and ungodly music and riots resonating with Horus Weirdness. That one line about the lead ballerina dancing, instead of out of love of leaping, as if she hates the very ground she stands on. The mental breakdown barely avoided during the choreography. The multiple people quitting production.

The unfathomable pitching of the bassoon. The superimposing of a dominant 7th on a major triad half a step higher. Alternating 2, 4, 2, 5, 1, 6, but notating in 8 sometimes. How many times do you want to change signatures and tempos? Yes. What do you think about constantly going in and out of 5/16. Let's do 444 time signature changes and oh a delicious bar of 11/4. Fuck it, submelody referred to as the Sentence of Doom.

Firebird callsign is 1 bit phoenix joke (why it was retained) and 1 bit it also being a production involving the ruination of a man's career and several marriages. The endless searching in some versions for the live bird based solely on one tail feather. Faun is for the prelude to the afternoon of, because both involved Nijinsky and were the fucketh around with ballets.

Everybody say thank you to Frank Bidart

[pucksandpower]

hello! this is kinda outside the medical questions, but im in my last year of high school and i plan on pursuing medicine in the future. do you have any tips you can share on possibilities of studying or even reviewing for upcoming tests/exams? and any tips for when to apply to med school!

Hi, my love! I answered a similar request about tips for applying to medical school before, which I will link here.

When it comes to studying, it really does depend on finding what works for you! The majority of my classmates use Anki for the bulk of their studying. While I do find Anki useful for memorizing certain things, I discovered quite quickly after beginning medical school that it may not be the best option for me when it comes to my lectures.

What I like to do is watch each lecture once without taking notes, just listening to the professor speak and absorbing what I can (first pass). Then, I go back to watch the lecture recording and take notes (second pass). After this, I use my notes to answer the objectives given for the lecture (third pass). Once I have done this for every single lecture that will be on a particular exam, I review them all one more time by simply reading over the notes (fourth pass).

Practice questions are also so helpful! Everyone says that the best way to figure out if you’ve learned something is application, and it’s so true. I am fortunate because most of my professors provided their own practice questions, however when those that don’t will typically link a textbook that they use for their material which almost always also includes some practice questions that are relevant to the specific content.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your studies!

[unhinged-diaries]

Business Guide:

How to get started

When you have a business name in mind look up the domain name to see if it’s taken. You don’t want to spend money on an LLC just to find out that your name is taken. Thats a waste of money because you also have to pay to dissolve it.

If the name is not taken, great, don’t file an LLC yet. Go online and get a virtual business address. Why? If you’re running your business out of your home like I am, just know that it’s public information if you use your address to file your LLC. A virtual address should cost like $10-$20 a month. Use that to file your LLC.

Once you’ve filed that LLC get your Ein. That’s your Employee Identification Number. It’s your businesses tax id. It’s free to file on the IRS website. Don’t fall for the scam websites you guys.

Once you’ve gotten your EIN go to Google domains and get your website name aswell as 3-4 emails. An email for your social media accounts, an executive email for yourself, an ecomm@businessname.com for things like your business bank account, Shopify account, etc; and maybe a customer support email. I use the social email as a customer support email. All of this should be like $50/month.

Once you’ve don’t that get on Canva and make that logo bookie. Personally I paid someone on Fiverr to make mine because I’m a “soft business life” kind of girl and I’d rather pay the professionals. Thats just me though.

Once you’ve got your logo go ahead and get them social media accounts going. Instagram, tiktok, Facebook.

Alright now this is where it gets specific to clothing brands because that’s what I own.

Time to find a manufacturer. Head over to alibaba and search what kind of product you want to sell. Be sure to add “oem” if you want a manufacturer that customizes. Look for the amount of orders they’ve gotten on that product. If it says zero orders that’s ok. Some styles are new and thus haven’t been ordered yet. Check any reviews they have for other products. Also check the total revenue they’ve done. It’s on the store profile. I can’t tell you what the sweet spot is yet bc I’ve only used one manufacturer so far but I’d look for mid six figures and up if you wanna be real safe.

Chat with them and order a sample. Even if you buy from a vendor list you’ll need your own sample to make content with. I suggest buying one and first. It’s worth the wait because if you buy multiple and end up not liking them you’d have wasted money that could’ve gone into testing a different manufacturer.

Do not launch with more than 2 products. Even 2 is a stretch, wallai start with one.

This is because if you’re doing the preorder, which I suggest, you’ll be depending on customer orders to pay for the bulk order. Manufacturers do their moq by color or style. If you have too many options in your website and customers order a mix of things, you better pray you have enough money to cover the bulk for all those different styles. Stay safe and give them 1-2 options to choose from.

Pre order method is great if you don’t have a lot of cash to start with because the orders pay for themselves. Bulk orders start to wrack up. Especially if it’s a custom style or material. You don’t want to break the bank for something that might not sell.

Once you’ve gotten and approved your samples choose a launch date. 2-3 weeks before that launch dates post consistently. At least once a day but remember quality over quantity. Now don’t be tricked. Quality doesn’t mean a full cinematography. It means connecting with your audience and relating with them to a point where they’re like “this business gets it”. Either that or attaching yourself to an identity they want to have. “It girl ig influencer”, “feminine soft life babe” “clean girl Pilates princess” whatever the fuck it is embody ur as best as you can. When customers attach your product with an identity that is aspirational to them they will buy it without rationalizing. It’s why the luxury market makes so much off of ppl who can’t afford to buy it twice.

Focus on the backend

If you have a goal of getting an influx of orders and making a lot of sales, be sure that your business is structured in a way that can handle it happening at any given time. You know those tiktok businesses that get one viral video and sell out over night? That could be you but if you’re not prepared ppl are going to be upset. I suggest working backwards:

A customer service platform/inbox so that you can answer them right away with frequently asked questions.

Have stock so that you have something for customers to buy once they finally land on your website.

Have a well presenting website so that ppl don’t think you’re a scam. I’m going to do a post on this bc some of these business websites drive me fuckin nuts. Color theory ppl, color theory.

A social media page with some kind of social proof ie reviews from customers in some way shape or form. Ppl are going to be looking for what others have to say about your brand. Hire UGC creators to make videos that you can post on your page. They’re cheaper than influencers but still know how to convey the message well. You’ll have to have extra samples and items on hand to send them. Also check out their usage rights. Some will allow you to use their videos in ads but you have to pay extra and it’s only for a certain amount of time. But if they do it right, you’ll get a great return. Scared money don’t make no money.

A social media page that shows the products in movement and different lighting. I need to be able to imagine myself in the item before I buy it. Where would I wear it, how will it fit on me. Even when I’ve already ordered something I stay going back to the businesses social media page just to see the clothes again. I might even search it up to see other ppl wearing it.

Packaging

No need to go crazy with the packaging in the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, branding is important but as a beginner you may not have the money for that yet. You need to focus on spending money on what will give you the best return. Just get regular poly mailers from Amazon in your brand colors. You’ll also need:

A stack of 6x4 shipping labels

A thermal printer

A scale

When your manufacturer sends you the clothes they will most likely be in their own little bags. If not you can get those from Amazon too.

Later on you can go to alibaba and find a manufacturer to print you custom poly mailers for that extra edge. Put your logo, a cute message, and your social media handles on the bag and that’s it. Good to go.

You can also design your own thank you cards as well. I won’t be doing that.

Little things to remember

Don’t feel like you have to keep up with big brands. You don’t need to launch something every two weeks. As a matter of fact I advise against emulating super fast fashion brands. I only launch a new item once the pre ordered items have been shipped out to customers.

Be nice to your customers. You’d think this was obvious but it’s not. Some ppl are rude, ghetto, and uncouth. If you hate authority and have a smart mouth I think you should either take a customer service course or hire a virtual assistant from the Philippines to do your customer service for you because no customers = no money.

I’ll update this as I learn and grow:

12/18/2023

Influencers

Not every influencer with a mass follower base is going to be your influencer. It’s possible that you pay $5000 for an influencer with 75k followers to post your product on her page but that post makes you less than $3k. That means you’ve net negative $2k. What a fuckin waste of money.

This is why it’s important to develop a persona for your brand. What is your brand identity? Who is your target audience? What are their psychographics?

Where do currently shop? What are there favorite social media apps?What is their race? Their age? Their ethnicity? Are they in college or highschool? Do they have parents that support their lifestyle or are they hustlers? Are they concerned about price or quality more? Are they married? Do they have children? Are they environmentally conscious?

You need to embody Joe Goldberg and peer at them through their window. Acquaint yourself with every part of their life.

Also, you might not be your target demographic yet and that’s ok. The girls that shop with my brand have social lives. They go out with their friends and need outfits to wear. I don’t have a social life. The only clothes I wear are my work clothes to go to work and my robe when I’m at home.Or a sweat set and a bonnet to run errands.

Don’t think to yourself “ I would never wear that.” “I would never buy something at that price point”. That’s fine cuz someone else will. A lot of people will.

Another thing is your demographic could change once you start your business. It might be that you create content that attracts a different type of person than what you originally planned and that’s cool too. We don’t live in a perfect world. As long as they’re close enough to what you had predetermined it’s ok. Sometimes our business comes out different than we hoped but it’s just as good if not better. It’s like child. Don’t destroy its greatness trying to turn it into something it doesn’t want to be.

User generated content

Love, love, love her down. She’s that sweet spot between making content yourself and having an influencer with a large following make the content for you. UGC is a form of social proof which is something you need for an e-commerce brand especially. Ppl can’t just pop into your store and try on your stuff so they need the opinions of “regular” people to sell them on it. They want to see that person try it on, do a close up of the fabric, wear it to a social setting, etc;

What I like about UGC is that I can pick someone who fits into my brand persona to represent my brand even if I don’t. Someone that appears aspirational but still relatable. Like I said previously, you yourself might not embody your brands persona but you can pay someone who does.

A little translate for yall: I do not live in a nice apartment. My room is small, and dark, and filled with boxes. My living room has mix matched decor and I myself am not the body type I’d like to be (pls don’t hit me with body positivity babe). What I can do is pay a girl with the opposite of all those things and knows how to sell a product.

I have a girl right now that I’ve inquired to make posts for me and she’s got it all. Her rate for one video is $100 with an extra $30 for 90 days of usage in ads. $100 is the new 50 and for the return I’ll get on her, THATS A STEAL.

If you need to find a UGC creator search it up on tiktok and Twitter. Most of them have a portfolio of past work they’ve done. If you feel like they match your brands vibes, keep their info for when you’re ready.

I suggest to have a roster of them because if ppl keep seeing the same person over and over, the thought that that person is just a regular degular customer leaves their mind and you lose the magic of UGC.

Update 12/21/2023

I’ve been sick but yall ain’t paying me so it’s ok. Here’s the update.

Website

Your website is your home babe and when you’re preparing for guest you can’t have your home looking any type of way. Not only does it need to be clean but it needs to be cohesive and inviting.

You know how many times I’ve opened someone’s booking page on Instagram and I click off. Not only am I not reading through all of that small ass text but my head hurts cuz you’ve got a black font on a hot pink background.

Some of yalls websites to not comply with accessibility guidelines so pay attention to that bc you can be sued. Ppl should be able to read what you have on there without getting a headache.

Good rule of thumb is to have one primary color, and then black and white. Don’t over complicate it. Your primary color will be your logo, think twitters blue, then your secondary colors should be black and white, for your text. You might have an accent color like gold or silver, this should be used sparingly for a little dazzle.

If you’re a clothing brand like me, keep the text short and sweet. Think about it, when you go shopping on your favorite website are you bombarded with a soliloquy on how the collection came to be? And even if you are do you stop and read the whole thing? I don’t bc I don’t care. That’s what your Instagram story is for.

All I want to see is the attention grabber and a short,but convincing, tagline.

Example: Ski Resort 2023-“Stun the slopes and stand out on the ski lift with best sellers spotted at St. Moritz”

Let you images tell the rest of the story.

Don’t overwhelm them with options

Guys this is so important. The more options ppl see the less they buy or the less likely they are to buy. Why? This is the thought process.

“Omg the stuff on this website is so cute! Let me go through their catalog and add to my cart as I go”

5 minutes of scrolling

“Ok I have too many things in my cart let me just save to a wishlist instead”

Another 5 minutes of scrolling

“Ok I’ll just stop here and go back to my cart and decide what I’m going to get rn”

Goes to cart

Spends 10 minutes deciding what she’s gonna get bc there’s so many good options

Takes 10 items out of her cart and only buys two basics bc she knows those are less likely to disappoint.

And scene

That is if she didn’t leave after the second five minutes of scrolling. Nowadays five minutes on a non stimulating website is a lot, don’t let it take that long.

Obviously this also depends on the customers budget. Some people have the money to just buy everything in their cart (I wish- one day), but most are just window shopper you hope to convert with your nice styles, images, and prices. Don’t make it harder for people to give you their money.

I have more but I’m tired of writing so I’ll update yall tmrw.

[bigmammallama5]

Got all the white mugs finished and on the shelf, threw teapot lids and spouts, and got my latest wild clay tests back with a beautiful 13% shrink rate. I’ll start the water absorption test tonight but I’m pretty sure it vitrified to the correct non-porous state. Now I feel I can order one of those materials and finally throw it in bulk!

[quirkwizard]

What do you think Class 1-A's action figures would look like in universe?

Non-quirk related question haha. What do you think class 1A's barbie-ken taglines would be? Not sure how to frame the question but for example for Tokoyami it could be, "This Ken is gothic" or for Ochako it could be, "This Barbie is on cloud nine" (due to her quirk)

I mean, I'm not sure if there is much to say on that. I feel like any taglines for actions figures would just be pretty generic, but I can talk about action figures.

Sato: Comes with a series of small snacks that you can feed him to cause him to bulk up and you pop open the stomach to get them back.

Koda: Just a simple figurine of him with a bunch of small animal models that you can play with as well. Comes with a button to play animal sounds.

Mineta: Orbs on the head are removable and the toy comes with arms that catapult the orbs forward. Possibly with a pointless target pad that no kid will use.

Sero: His tape dispensers can be pulled out like a rip cord, letting the action figure pull itself to whatever you put the doll on. Filling them with regular tape did not work well with test audiences.

Aoyama: Armor is made of a super reflective material that shimmers and has a flashlight in the belt to replicate his beam. Also comes with a lot of costume variants and accessories at Aoyama's instance.

Hakagure: Like Aoyama, her toy is very reflective, almost like a giant prism that gives off colorful lights when put up to any light. A stocking issue made it a hard to find collector's item for a time.

Ojiro: The tail can be curled up and then released, causing the action figure to fling forward. This curling can be used to make it hang on stuff as well. His tail also comes with "kung fu action grip", because of course it does.

Denki: Comes with a bunch of flashing lights and sounds for his electrical attacks. Has a swithcable head for his regular face and his low power face, much to Denki's chagrin. Batteries are not included for some reason.

Jiro: Definitely has some music aspect for it's main gimmick, like being able to use her jacks to plug your MP3 player into it to play music on it or having recordings of her songs on it when you press a button on it.

Kirsihima: Either has a bunch of plates on it that you can put on him to harden him up or you push a button to pop them out of the toy. Had issues in production because of how dangerous the hair spike was for kids.

Mina: Has an action figure with a lot articulation. It's main feature is a goo that comes with it that kids are suppose to put in and fire out of the toy. They fill it up by removing head and pouring the goo in, much to Mina's horror.

Shoji: The main feature would obviously be his arms. They'd either work like super stretchy arms or have a much of attachments that a kid could connect and stack on top of each other to add on whatever organs they want.

Iida: This figure with a set up buttons that can kick the legs forward, able to demolish any stack of cups that you happen to set up. He happens to be bundled a lot with overly complex, Ingeium themed cars, much to Iida's confusion.

Tsuyu: Has a lot of suckers on the hands and feet so you can stick it to surfaces. The tongue can be shoot out as well to grab onto stuff, kind of like those sticky hand toys. Yes, it is water proof and a popular bath toy for young children.

Tokoyami: Probabley has a standard figure with Dark Shadow with larger versions of it being sold separately. The parts of Dark Shadow can be removed and put onto Tokoyami for his armored form. It has a glow in the dark feature, without a doubt.

Shoto: Comes with fire and ice attachment to simulate shooting it out of his hands and feet. The scar was on the wrong side of a better part of it's run and it's occasionally bundled with Endeavor toys to help increase Enji's poor sales.

Momo: Her costume had to be changed on the figurine in order to be sold in stores. She comes with a massive amount of accessories to have her wield, along with little facts and tidbits about them. Momo demanded that her toy had some educational merits.

Katsuki: Probably has some spring power launcher in his arms that you can use to fire out plastic darts. Definitely has something that screams out catchphrases like "Die!" and "I'll kill you!" that would have to be rewrite and recorded several times to get them published.

Uraraka: Has a button that makes her hands glow like she does when she uses her powers along with has wench systems like Sero for her grapple hooks. Probably has a weird spin off line based around it, like Uraravity's Space Adventures featuring the Alien Queen Pinky.

Izuku: The most popular and with the most variations, though the standard ones glows with a button press, has spring shoots for the boots, and an spring in the hand to fire plastic air blasts. Sometimes comes out with special versions that come with other Quirks he had.

[insanelyadd]

The Collector's Hat Sewing Pattern and Tutorial

Image of the pattern I made with measurements:

As a little heads up to people with big/small heads and/or more voluminous hair, this was based on measuring my own head which has a circumference of 22 inches which is dead on the average and my hair is completely straight and relatively flat. You may need to do some adjustments of these measurements because the final fit is very fitted, in that it can be easily put on and taken off but does not fall off on it's own under typical circumstances.*

This pattern is meant for knit or other stretch fabrics, I did not make a completed version with woven or stiffer fabrics, so quality may vary depending on the material you select. I recommend knits.

If you are new to sewing or this is one of your first projects you are doing without a physical pattern, I recommend following the given measurements and drawing it out on some type of paper first and then using that as reference for yourself. I am an outlier when it comes to not making patterns and drawing the shape of what I want out onto the fabric directly, and you shouldn't follow my horrible example. This hat is actually the first time I've even made a muslin prototype.

When you are going to cut out the pieces you need to make sure, like double and triple check, that if you were to lay them pattern/top side up, that they would mirror each other like in the above picture. If you don't then you'll have two lefts or two rights.

The first actual step for sewing is taking the straight lines from the V shaped notch in the top of the hat, and lining them up by folding the piece in half so the patterned/top of the fabric is on the inside of the fold, like in the picture above. You do this on one half at a time. When they are lined up sew them with a straight line stitch a 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) in from the cut, starting at the fold towards the top of the hat.

After that you want to lay them pattern to pattern, and pin them into place to make sure it's aligned properly on both sides. To reduce bulk I recommend making the excess fabric from the darts (the V cut-out) point in opposite directions, as shown in the above picture.

After you've sewn the sides together there is an optional step that I did to make sure the seam lies flat on the top of your head. I opted to sew both sides down onto the blue half of my hat because my machine was being picky and skipping stitches on they grey fabric if there was no blue fabric as well (I got around this on the hem by inserting thin pieces from the blue's selvage into the seam). But if your machine isn't being picky or you are hand sewing this, then you could split the excess and sew them down onto their corresponding half. Example above, as usual.

Optional step that MUST go here. If you are attaching a ribbon, or lace for a trim to edge you have to do it now. I do not recommend this step to beginners. I recommend sewing it down while rolling the edge to create the hem, and then securing the other side of the ribbon/lace further into the piece because this guarantees a better placement and straighter lines. If you are doing this step along solely the bottom or front edges then let the lace/ribbon stick out further than the edge of the fabric, so you can fold it under the hem.

The final required step is to hem it, just fold what remains of the raw edge and sew it down.

Final optional step is for adding little trinkets. I added trinkets to the front corners and the floppy bit in the back like the Archivists are depicted as having. I used embroidery thread and slid the needle to go between the seams and tied it off on the inside. If your trinkets are not detachable, like the little stars on my hat, you need to thread the needle through the ring before putting it back into the hat and tying off the thread. Thinner cord or thin ribbon could work as well.

*I actually just did some tests and I have to be tilted further back than lying flat on my back for it to fall off. I was able to bend over and look through my knees and it didn't fall off. I tested it's wind resistance against my two strongest fans and neither could knock it off my head even when I shook it. So I think it will stay in place just shy of someone pointing a leaf blower at you.

Enjoy these pictures of the finished product, including a glamor shot of me wearing it backwards while I fumble with my phone for a picture.

[hunieday]

Isumi Haruka Rabbitube Mini - Rabbit Chat

Please note that I am not a professional translator and I'm only doing this to share the side materials to those who cannot access them, if you notice any mistakes please let me know nicely. Enjoy!

Isumi Haruka: Thanks for your hard work. do you have free time rn? (1)

Isumi Haruka: Right now*?

Momo: I do have time rn

Momo: Right now*! ;P

Izumi Mitsuki: Same, I’m free rn

Izumi Mitsuki: Right now*! 😆

Isumi Haruka: Sorry, I accidentally sent the predicted text...

Momo: Don't worry about it at all! I thought maybe Harukacchi felt comfortable with us, so I was actually happy 🥺

Izumi Mitsuki: Me too! I felt like I was talking to Tamaki, feel free to be casual! 😆👍

Isumi Haruka: As if I were talking to Yotsuba!? lol

Isumi Haruka: No, that would be dangerous,  we always talk about who's gonna treat the other 💦

Momo: Sounds fun~~~~~~ I wanna go back to high school and play rock-paper-scissors to decide who buys juice at the store ‼‼😭.

Izumi Mitsuki: I know right! Then go buy sweet red-bean soup and play tricks on each other! 🤩

Isumi Haruka: Sounds like you guys were really enjoying your time

Isumi Haruka: Um, onto the main question! Please let me conduct a survey on what would be good for next week's Rabbimini after-party!

Isumi Haruka:

1. visiting a ramen shop 

2. Panda-man taste testing

3- Divination

4- All-you-can-eat dim sum brunch

Izumi Mitsuki: Ooh~~!!

Izumi Mitsuki: You really thought this through! Thanks 😭 well, we still haven’t decided on anything yet!

Momo: Let's go to aaaall of them!! your big brother here will treat you guys to everything 😭‼

Isumi Haruka: Nah if we go to all of them our stomachs will be too bloated lol

Isumi Haruka: I wanted to do something for you two since you guys took me out for yakiniku after the shoot

Momo:Isn’t he so admirable? ol’ friend Mitsuki-san…

Izumi Mitsuki: What a lovable boy, ol’ friend Momo-san… (2)

Isumi Haruka: You're becoming grandpas lol

Momo:

Izumi Mitsuki: 

Izumi Mitsuki: Alright then, do you have any recommendations among these choices?

Isumi Haruka: Erm...

Isumi Haruka: Panda-man. They look cute and I think it’d be fun

Isumi Haruka: I know it’s somewhat childish but...

Momo: It’s fine, I wanna chomp chomp it!! It's cute like Momo-chan, right!? 😍💕

Izumi Mitsuki: I might have seen it featured on TV! 😆 They have different panda faces on them right?

Isumi Haruka: 😉🥺😤

Isumi Haruka: ↑ Yeah! Like these

Isumi Haruka: People take pics of themselves making the same face as Panda man as a trend

Momo: Oh no we totally have to do a photoshoot too 🫰

Izumi Mitsuki: Now you sound like a gyaru lol

Momo: But it's been a while, so teach us how to take photos 🥺 waaggghhh

Isumi Haruka: I'll definitely teach you everything 🫰

Izumi Mitsuki: By the way, there's a photo of the three of you in our fridge! The one you, Iori and Tamaki took together 😆.

Isumi Haruka: Huh!? The fridge!?

Isumi Haruka: At the IDOLiSH7 dorm!?

Izumi Mitsuki: That's right! lolol you took it to commemorate getting a large king pudding stuffed plushie right?

Momo: Wait a minute!! You’re telling me you can see that incredibly cute picture if you go to the IDOLiSH7 dorm ⁉

Izumi Mitsuki: You sure can 👍

Momo: We'll bring a hot pot set and come visit you.

Izumi Mitsuki: We'll be waiting 👍

Isumi Haruka: Please stop, it's embarrassing lololol

Isumi Haruka: But I wonder if Izumi got mad when you stuck it there?

Isumi Haruka: Ah, I mean the little brother! Iori-kun

Izumi Mitsuki: It's confusing since we're both Izumi! 😂 

Izumi Mitsuki: He was a bit nervous about it, but Tamaki told us that you three worked really hard together to get that stuffed plushie, so he was really happy and wanted to stick it everywhere!

Izumi Mitsuki: He couldn't help but forgive him when he heard that ✨

Momo: That's so precious... I'll bring beer in bulk on top of that hot pot set.

Izumi Mitsuki: Thank you!? lololol

Isumi Haruka:

Isumi Haruka: 

Momo: Haruka sounds embarrassed! so cute (*σ･ω･｡)σ

Izumi Mitsuki: This is youth :pudding cheer:

Isumi Haruka: I'm not embarrassed!!!

Momo: What other poses do you usually strike? (*σ･ω･｡)σ

Isumi Haruka: Well, since Izumi doesn't pose so much, Yotsuba and I go extra to make it more exciting, or something...?

Izumi Mitsuki: more exciting lolol thank you!!

Iori smiles when he looks at the picture in the fridge, so I’m truly happy!

Isumi Haruka: Is that so

Isumi Haruka: Yotsuba said he's gonna be fine, but there were times when I wondered if I was pushing him too hard. I'm glad!

Momo: Mitsuki,,,,, I think I'm going to cry,,,,,,

Izumi Mitsuki: Me too,,,,, the big bro in me is so happy,,,,,

Isumi Haruka: p-please don't cry!!

Momo: 

Isumi Haruka: I wanna take a picture with a pose that only three people can pull off! What do you think 😳

Izumi Mitsuki: Sounds good! I think we should pose like we did in Rabbimini, right?

Isumi Haruka: Maybe we could clasp our hands together in front of our chests and strike a kung fu pose? Like what we did at the start of Rabbimini! 🙏

Izumi Mitsuki: That's a good idea! I practiced a lot while watching videos! 😆

Momo: You could doodle something cute like ramen, that’d be adorable!! 😆💕

Isumi Haruka: I'll draw a panda too 🐼

Momo: That's the best!! What will you draw, Mitsuki!?

Izumi Mitsuki: Uh, something related to Rabbimini !? let me think

Izumi Mitsuki: A colander,,,?

Momo: a colander lololololololololol

Isumi Haruka: lolololololol

Izumi Mitsuki: I'll practice drawing it lololol

Momo: looking forward to seeing the result of your practice lolol

Momo: Momo-chan and Mitsuki are gonna drive and pick you up from school on the day of the shoot! ✨

Izumi Mitsuki: I’ll rabbitchat you when we get there! 😆

Isumi Haruka: You were serious about that?!?!

Isumi Haruka: I'm happy, but I think Izumi and Yotsuba will get jealous lol 🫣 🫣

Momo: I was serious about it, Harukacchi…!!

Izumi Mitsuki: They’ll definitely be jealous, so I’m gonna spoil them by making their favorite things before and after the outing 🥹 I'm sure both of them will understand that it’s to celebrate your hard work at the shooting!

Isumi Harukai: Um, just to be clear, please be careful not to stand out! Yotsuba told me that when Momo-san came the other day, the whole school was talking about it!

Momo: no way...!! I'm gonna park a little further away from the school so I won’t bother anyone.

Izumi Mitsuki: Let's put on a disguise so that we don't stand out!

Momo: 

Izumi Mitsuki: 

Isumi Haruka: I'm getting really excited for some reason..!

Momo: I'm glad! After the shoot, let's go to the arcade together when we’re less busy >u< I like that one game! The one where you kill zombies!

Isumi Haruka: Isn’t it great?

Isumi Haruka: I compete with Yotsuba in the high score board, so I'm good at it!

Momo: Huh that’s cool!! Haruka can really do anything >u<

Isumi Haruka: Hehehe

Mitsuki-san, is there something you’d like to do if we go together?

Izumi Mitsuki: Ah! Then, the crane game! I know a guy who’s gonna be over the moon if he gets a Kokona-chan or something 😆 you'll have to teach me all the tricks!

Isumi Haruka: Yes!! I'll take care of it 🙌

Momo: Then Mitsuki, give me tips on how to draw a colander ;P✨

Izumi Mitsuki: I don’t think there are any tricks to that lololol i’ll think about it lolol

Isumi Haruka: lolololol

In the original text, Haruka sends a casual text to the group chat, then corrects his tone by adding “ですか” (desu ka) in a separate message. Momo and mitsuki tease him about it by sending casual messages then following it up with “ですか”. This kind of polite speech doesn’t exist in English, so this was the closest way to convey the OG conversation’s tone

This is another joke that can’t be properly conveyed in English without further context, Momo and Mitsuki start adding “や” (ya) at the end of their messages which is a form of speech under a style called “yakuwarigo”, used in manga/anime (amongst other forms of media) to indicate age. The “ya” in this case is added to elderly characters’ speech, hence why I chose to add the “ol’ man” so that Haruka’s comment makes sense.

[gingericywolf]

YAZ YAY DAY - part 5

“Ok guys, break time” she said.

Kenji cheered quickly moving to one of the trees around camp, the grass under it already squished in a kenji-shaped form from the many other breaks in the prior days. The resting tree waited them in the shade of it’s branches.

she climbed down but before the end of the ladder two arms reached in her direction. She let out an huff but let Sammy take hold of her and helping her to the ground in a softer way than she would have done herself. at least her ankle thanked the gentle landing and the walking stick help, as the two girls walked over and sat close to the close-eyes boy. 

“It was really needed,” mumbed Mr.vip, stretching and relaxing even more. Yasmina shook her head but smiled, her back resting on the tree trunk, Sammy lying down like Kenji, one arm going to cover her eyes from the sun. “siesta time” she laughed. Only the birds and slight breeze sounded around them and a few minutes later everyone fell to the lullaby of the jungle for a short slumber.

time passed and between the chirps, Darius' voice came back floating through the wind.

“and the differences in the horns between species living in the same environment as the same time are clearly for them to distinguish between themselves and each group-”

Yasmina opened an eye, in fact saw the dino-nerd and super-star back from their scavenge run at the observation tower. and it seemed to have been fruitful with the long zipline rope rolled around brooklynn’s arms and the metal piece going with it pushed by darius.

“Alright lazy people time to get back to work.” she said slamming one hand on Kenji's leg, “boss’s back.”

“I never went anywhere” Kenji said waking up.

“Ehy guys, everything went okay here?” Darius asked reaching them, 

“oh yeah, we fixed up that creaking pole.” she pointed at the bulk of bamboo and bones supporting the structure of the floor. Darius' eyes lightened up as he recognized the leg bones of the T.rex cast from the former common room. “you also put them correctly!”

“We tried, brings a certain bit of aesthetic to the place.”

“A dinosaur leg holding up our house, it sure does!” Darius beamed, “ We found material for the pulley system to help bring upstair the materials!”

“That's fantastic! it’s really needed!” Sammy said, “it’s definitely going to help with the flooring.”

Quickly they all got back to work, mounting all the needed pieces. It was a struggle to get the pulley system to stay but once they did, it was time to test it.

[Prev]-[Next]

and we are back to this

[spockandawe]

Now. Here's the big project! I made a test notebook for once in my life, but I've never enjoyed making notebooks and I'm always chasing that sweet, sweet dopamine. So the test notebook was like... 90% in parallel with the actual book, just rehearsing each step real quick before I did it on the real thing. And what I did was a fresh binding of 'it's about the bones 👌' by @sunderedstar. I had a typeset file ready to go, I'm in the middle of relistening to the audiobooks, it was perfect! And then I zoned out and accidentally cut a whole cover's worth of leather and not just a spine and the whole project ESCALATED 🤣

First, the k118 binding went beautifully. I really do recommend it. It can be done with an oxford hollow to give you a breakaway spine, but I... didn't do that! I stuck to the old timey examples I've seen where it's a tightbacked style and, yeah, it still opens SO far, it's an absolute doll. The style is characterized by vellum strips on the spine used to attached the cover boards and give them the security and flexibility without added bulk. I got impatient trying to differentiate between PAPER vellum and ANIMAL vellum in search engines and just said screw it and went in with the paper vellum. I still have actual vellum getting shipped to me, but truly, the paper stuff worked amazingly. I'm not sure how durable it is, in terms of years of life, but if feels REAL good now. Also. Finally had a thematic excuse to use this beautiful lacquered paper.

I also remain very proud of my typesetting for this book. Warning that you can glean HtN and NtN spoilers if you read the text closely! But scope out that hand I subbed in for the emoji in the title, that's important.

Because now that I was committed to all this leather. Something I've been procrastinating on for MONTHS is learning how to properly tool leather. I have a set of brass stylus tools that ought to be up my alley! Freehand drawing was my first creative hobby of note! This interest dates back to like, fifth grade, and it was time to GO for it. So. I modified the ninth house skull to have some sick shades, made the IX on the forehead more scrawled and scratchy, and drew a skeleton hand over the art I used for the title page. I printed my lines and traced them through printer paper with unheated tools. This was extremely rad, but I couldn't stop there. The next day, I went back over my lines with heated tools, and the level of crisp was SO delightful. I'm still very new to this, still learning how these tools and the material even handle, but oh man. I am actively antsy to find the next project to do this for, this was SO much fun, I enjoyed it so much, and I love this book to pieces!

[sirpuntine]

Have you tried Woobles? I haven’t, and likely never will. Here’s why:

🧶 Generic patterns and instructions with similar or better FREE versions online

🧶 Price of one kit = multiple projects’ worth of material

🧶 The “pre-started yarn” lends more to instant gratification than to learning a vital technique that helps you grow BEYOND Woobles. Does the kit include instructions and alternatives for magic circles? Also, how does the company “pre-start” the yarn in bulk? Is it done by hand, and if so, by whom?

Woobles’ appeal is convenience. I’d personally only recommend them as gifts, or for noncrocheters to test the craft without much commitment. That isn’t to say there aren’t people who appreciate these kits; however, I generally wouldn’t recommend Woobles for beginners greatly interested in pursuing crochet further, or as practice for crocheters above beginner level.

This is my opinion and is not meant to disparage the creators, employees, or customers of Woobles. I’m happy for every crocheter, old and new, and would love to hear about your experience!! At the end of the day, it’s about self satisfaction - if you are crafting happily and responsibly, then Wooble on, my friend.