#learning!

[brownie-starlight]

nervous boy

[silhouette-cosplay]

learning how to join 4-in-1 chainmail and it SUCKS because hand for scale 😅😅😅

I need some better tiny pliers for sure

[londonsimblr]

RIP...

I girlbossed too close to the sun:

But I learned a ton of Blender techniques in the process...

... and rest assured my Sims will still be visiting Taiwan. Just a Taiwan that won't crash our computers

[defectivegembrain]

Academia will have you going I need to find a book on medieval Croatian medical history for like half an hour and then after you sit and have a break you're like actually all I need to do is write a sentence referencing this one bit in the paper I'm talking about

[catboynecromancy]

Did some tie dying 😌

[lightofraye]

History of Halloween

I love learning history, and purposes of holidays. Some are shocking at how much they've changed (Christmas comes to mind), or how we hide the hideous abuse behind such events (Thanksgiving).

But Halloween has always been fascinating! I like History Channel's explanation. So I'm sharing it here!

[artsbymalorie]

Paper Techniques Workshop Day 1!

In Cleveland this weekend for a two day paper techniques workshop at the Morgan Paper Conservatory. Lately, I’ve been experimenting more with the paper I use while creating my prints, and this workshop seemed like the perfect way to continue that exploration!

For this workshop we've been experimenting specifically with inclusions and pulp painting and it’s been great fun thinking about how to use these techniques to create paper that would further my printmaking work. I brought a ton of dried plants to use as inclusions, and also some old maps that I’m thinking of using in tomorrow’s batch.

The workshop is really kinda of a free for all. We got a basic demo and then spent a solid like 4 hours just pulling sheets. There was definitely a learning curve for me since this was my first time paper making but by the end I was pulling some solid ones! Even though day one was more for getting the hang of things I do think I did get a decent amount of usable paper made.

We got to play around with three different fibers (cotton, flax, and natural abaca). The more natural fibers I liked more for my plant inclusions, but I also did make sure to pull a number of plain sheets just to have around. I leaned overall more towards the cotton as it was the thickest and easiest to couch (transfer from mould to pellon). I also like using lots of vibrant colors in my work so I felt like cotton would be best for bright inclusions, like the fabric scrap 'sprinkles' I got to use on some sheets. SUPER hoping tomorrow we can do some colored and confetti cotton sheets because those are just fun to have for prints. Pulp painting is fun on the cotton too, especially the shape designs like the star one above.

The pulp painting interested me less than the inclusions overall. I like that it added color, but the pulp consistency was so varied it made it hard to control. I think it'd be more fun to work just with dye to make the sheets less bulky.

Of the plants I brought with me, I had some dried dinner plate hibiscus petals, roses, cherry blossoms, lavender, and some ferns. I didn't want to use it all up the first day, since I knew I had some learning to do. I'm glad I have plenty of materials left to make more paper tomorrow now that I have more an idea of what I like and don't like.

I tried a couple different inclusion techniques and I specifically think I liked the results from almost sandwiching the inclusions between wet sheets. With just one layer the inclusions were just a little to present to be super great for what I had in mind for them. I do want to experiment with what I've made, but tomorrow I want to try to use what I've learned to make sheets that will be good for some more conceptual prints I'm working on.

I was super lucky and got to take this workshop for free through the Morgan Equitable Artist Fund, but even if I had paid the full $250 it would have been well worth it for all I’m learning and all the paper I’m making.

Some things I learned that I want to remember:

Carriage House Paper is a great place to buy paper making supplies, specifically items like sheets of fiber and sizing liquid (helps paper to make the finished paper less absorbent, so that ink or paint does not run or feather.)

Deckle goes on the flat side of the mould, so that you can couch with the wet sheet flush to the pellon

Helps to wet flat side of mould before couching first sheet

Helps to wet back of mould if paper isn't coming off cleanly

Beating fibers is better than using a blender (beating is better than cutting basically)

Beating fibers for longer can make them more translucent!

TLDR Paper making is fun but also I want to remember everything so I made this long blog post!

[shorterstrides-fasterpace]

Choices

Last night I went out with friends it was what I expected. But I was sad/mopy the whole time. I really enjoyed coffee and studying before hand, but drinking at the bar was not that fun and made my tummy hurt. Plus I stayed one drink and 1hr longer than I should have and missed the gym this morning. I dis-respected the promise I made to myself of just one drink+Food and stay only an hour instead of 2. I had a good time at the coffee place studying before hand though!

I will do some stretches and still be to work on time. Gym after work and studying? We will see.

[nixierain]

I love personality quizes~

They are fun, and I just do them at whim when I want to, especially if it corrisponds with my intrest at the moment... Which is reaserching about like love and stuff ig. idk. I'm just unmotivated to be doing what I said I was going to do (Game idea).

Then again I am compleatly torn on some of the questions rn, cause I like relate to multiple.

[sufferingink]

moving away from a super conservative area to somewhere better is just trying to figure out if the historical misconceptions you have are from your community or they came pre installed with the American education system

[an-na-ko]

Saw it was make a terrible comic day today (June 24 2025) so meet my cats

[elexuscal]

"what did students do before chatgpt?" well one time i forgot i had a history essay due at my 10am class the morning of so over the course of my 30 minute bus ride to school i awkwardly used by backpack as a desk, sped wrote the essay, and got an A on it.

six months later i re-read the essay prior to the final exam, went 'ohhhh yeah i remember this', got a question on that topic, and aced it.

point being that actually doing the work is how you learn the material and internalize it. ChatGPT can give you a short cut but it won't build you the the muscles.

[catmask]

i dont consider myself a 'fashion guru' by any means but one thing i will say is guys you dont need to know the specific brand an item you like is - you need to know what the item is called. very rarely does a brand matter, but knowing that pair of pants is called 'cargo' vs 'boot cut' or the names of dress styles is going to help you find clothes you like WAAAYYYY faster than brand shopping

[minicy]

I love talking to kids about disability bc

1. they often just Get It, and

2. they have 0 concept of disability as a tragedy or something pitiable.

I've watched kids get into an argument with a teacher bc they thought wheelchairs were cool. I told a kid that I can't stand for too long sometimes and they replied, "That's okay, I can't do cartwheels sometimes, but I just do other stuff then. You can sit down with me if you want". Today a girl asked me what the headphones on a classmate's desk were for and I told her that headphones are important for some kids because noises bother them, and she said she wished she had headphones at home, because her baby brothers make a lot of noise and it makes it hard to think. The idea that different people could use tools at different times is intuitive and simple and when accessibility aids are explained neutrally, kids don't see them as bad or unfortunate, they're just things that are useful.

Even mental disability!! In Kindergarten the other day one of the kids asked me why his table partner got stickers when nobody else did. I started off by saying, "Well, when you do your work well, it feels good, right? That's your brain giving you a reward," and the kid just right away went, "Oh, and the stickers are like his reward?" YES! You are 5 and have a better grasp on ADHD than most adults! Kids blow me away every day.

[ryderdire]

Really interesting thing I glimpsed on rednote today

I think We- we’re developing international class consciousness