borninwinter81

[borninwinter81]

Bat ear weights/hangers

Oh wow, I just got my first set of ear hangers. I honestly never thought I'd want any, but I saw these when I visited my body piercer on Saturday and I couldn't stop thinking about them after I left, so I had to go back and get them.

They were not cheap but I never buy expensive jewellery (all my stuff is thrifted and home-made) and I was helping a small business so I feel as a one-off it's OK. And just *LOOK* at them, even the backs are super detailed and beautiful. I've seen a ton of bat earrings online, but never anything quite like this! These are not temu/Ali Express/wish rubbish, they're super high quality.

I will definitely have to train myself to wear them as they're pretty heavy (75g each). I have no experience of wearing heavy hangers or weights and I know you need to work up to it - maybe only wear for an hour at first then don't wear them again for a few days, increase the time you wear them very gradually etc.

I might make myself a necklace or choker that I can attach them to so I can wear them even when they're not in my ears.

Edit: when I showed them to my husband he immediately said he'd give me the cash for them as an early anniversary present 🎁 🥹💜

[borninwinter81]

Dude, this looks incredible! Of course I may be biased because I have the same colour scheme in my "library" 😁

I love that you've not only decorated but come up with an entire theme and story for your room. I can't wait to see the full video!

I never do this but I’m really excited for my vid I made so I’m posting the intro as a teaser cause . I can’t wait but also it’s not done. !!! :D so this is my unlisted compromise lol

(Will delete soon but not to fret the intro will be part of the video when it’s done!!!) :D

[borninwinter81]

I'm wearing these a great deal again this summer, I still love them!

Modded Buffalo sandals

In general, I hate sandals. I walk a lot (never learned to drive) so I need them to be comfortable and good enough quality to stand up to the number of miles i put in. Most sandals don't cut it. Also I just don't tend to like the way they look on my feet.

Last year I went on a mission to find some I liked, and came across these Buffalo ones on depop. I'd never worn Buffalo before so had no clue about the quality, but they were secondhand so I figured I wouldn't be too out of pocket if they fell apart. (This is a stock photo, not mine)

Theyre reasonably alternative already, quite cyber, but the brightly coloured tabs weren't really my aesthetic, so I covered them with black electrical tape (easier than painting them) and then I used my leather punch to make holes for spikes, and safety pinned some chains to them.

I'm pleased to report that I wore them all summer and they're still going strong. I'm looking forward to the weather getting warmer so I can start wearing them again.

[borninwinter81]

No, but seriously, do you know how amazing Vincent Price is?

Not just as an actor, although he was a blast to watch in everything he did.  He’s one of those actors who’s just clearly having a whale of a time, no matter how bad the film is.  He’s just genuinely happy to be there (it makes his villains a particular delight, and he played a LOT of them).

But did you know that he was also on the PFLAG board after his daughter came out to him?  And that he was one of the earliest celebrities to speak out against the silence surrounding the AIDS epidemic?

Did you know that when his daughter came out to him, he admitted to her that it had been difficult for him during his first two marriages, because his wives had not been pleased to find out that their husband was just as interested in men as they were?

That’s right, kids, Vincent Price was BISEXUAL AS FUCK, and it was one of those open Hollywood secrets.  And his wife Coral Browne?  The one he grew old with and wrote cookbooks with and was basically ridiculously sweet with?

Also bisexual as fuck.  They were the queer power couple of Hollywood in the 70s.  His daughter, Victoria, grew up around Rock Hudson and members of the LGBT community.  When she came out, Vincent Price became a board member of PFLAG and was just about the most accepting and awesome dad.

Did you know that Vincent Price played Oscar Wilde in a one-man play, and when it was denounced by anti-gay activist Anita Bryant, he dismissed her right back, saying that Oscar Wilde had already come up with a term for her: a Woman of No Importance?  Because Vincent Price was deliciously witty and an awesome person.

Let me conclude with a quote from his daughter (from this article, where I got a lot of this information):

‘“In a funny way, and I think I’m going to cry, he understood me at 22 better than I understood myself then,” Price concluded. “Of course, he was in his 70s and lived a hell of a lot longer than I had, and he understood that at the end of the day it’s about who and what and how we love. And I have not been a person who has been very successful at conventional relationships, but loving well and loving deeply has been the most important thing to me.”’

Happy birthday, Vincent Price.  You were a gem of an actor, and an even greater human being.

[borninwinter81]

I forgot that we used to do this in the 90s/Y2K era. Must've been fun for the person developing our camera film (no-one had digital cameras then)

x

[borninwinter81]

A nice little addition: a friend recently came back from France, and because she wanted to get gifts that were slightly out of the ordinary and potentially useful, she brought me this cleaning cloth from the Paris catacombs. It's supposed to be for phone screens etc. but this is definitely now my plug cleaning cloth! Just the thing to get rid of all the fingerprints that end up on them.

Plug collection

I reached my goal size on my left ear a few months ago (right has been this size for ages), and recently I've discovered that I'm able to wear some of my double flares in it, though unfortunately not all of them just yet, so I thought I'd do a post where I show some of them.

I also had my forward helix pierced in February and I am now able to swap the ends, so I've got a couple of different ones of those here too. Any redness is just from changing the jewellery, nothing is irritated!

NOTE: some of these are resin, however as resin may be unsafe if worn in contact with skin for a long time, I only ever get ones that are inside a metal tunnel.

First pic, amethyst stud and a resin plug with real mushrooms and moss in it. Second pic, jade stud and dragons blood jasper plug. The stud in my lobe is quartz.

First pic real tiny shells and sand, second pic paper butterfly, both in resin.

And here are some of my right ear. First pic labradorite teardrop, second a snake hanger. The stone in the stud is onyx

First pic hematite teardrop, second real leaves in resin.

And because I don't feel like trying everything on, here's my full collection.

If anyone wishes to know where I got a particular item from feel free to ask! I'm in the UK so almost all of these came from UK sellers.

[borninwinter81]

Reblogging as this hasn't had any interactions yet!

UK Anti trans court ruling, consultation survey

I'm sure many people around the world are aware of the new anti trans court ruling that has recently happened in the UK. Essentially it says that under the Equality Act trans people are considered their assigned sex at birth, while simultaneously trying to claim that the Equality Act is still being upheld in a way which is inclusive and non discriminatory. Like those aren't a contradiction in terms.

No trans individuals were permitted to speak at the hearing. The UK actually has a former High Court Judge who is the only out trans judge in the country, and calling her to speak would have been a no brainer, but this was not done.

The ruling also completely fails to take intersex individuals into account.

A trans friend of mine posted this survey for people to complete - I don't know what legal ramifications doing so may have, but it certainly can't hurt to let voices be heard. I am unsure whether anyone outside of the UK is able to complete it, or if their answers will be counted, but please feel free to try.

Here is the actual wording of the bill. This may be upsetting to read as it uses terminology like "biological sex" throughout, but it is kind of necessary to familiarise yourself in order to answer the questions.

Finally, as this is a legal matter, emotive language, appeals to feelings or just saying "it's wrong" is unlikely to be helpful, so a wonderful person has written a full blog post explaining the best way in which to complete it in order for your answers to be seriously considered rather than discounted.

This may take a while to complete and it may be upsetting, but if you're able to take the time please do so, and share and reblog these links widely, not just here but everywhere you can online. It might make a difference.

[borninwinter81]

UK Anti trans court ruling, consultation survey

I'm sure many people around the world are aware of the new anti trans court ruling that has recently happened in the UK. Essentially it says that under the Equality Act trans people are considered their assigned sex at birth, while simultaneously trying to claim that the Equality Act is still being upheld in a way which is inclusive and non discriminatory. Like those aren't a contradiction in terms.

No trans individuals were permitted to speak at the hearing. The UK actually has a former High Court Judge who is the only out trans judge in the country, and calling her to speak would have been a no brainer, but this was not done.

The ruling also completely fails to take intersex individuals into account.

A trans friend of mine posted this survey for people to complete - I don't know what legal ramifications doing so may have, but it certainly can't hurt to let voices be heard. I am unsure whether anyone outside of the UK is able to complete it, or if their answers will be counted, but please feel free to try.

Here is the actual wording of the bill. This may be upsetting to read as it uses terminology like "biological sex" throughout, but it is kind of necessary to familiarise yourself in order to answer the questions.

Finally, as this is a legal matter, emotive language, appeals to feelings or just saying "it's wrong" is unlikely to be helpful, so a wonderful person has written a full blog post explaining the best way in which to complete it in order for your answers to be seriously considered rather than discounted.

This may take a while to complete and it may be upsetting, but if you're able to take the time please do so, and share and reblog these links widely, not just here but everywhere you can online. It might make a difference.

[borninwinter81]

Plug collection

I reached my goal size on my left ear a few months ago (right has been this size for ages), and recently I've discovered that I'm able to wear some of my double flares in it, though unfortunately not all of them just yet, so I thought I'd do a post where I show some of them.

I also had my forward helix pierced in February and I am now able to swap the ends, so I've got a couple of different ones of those here too. Any redness is just from changing the jewellery, nothing is irritated!

NOTE: some of these are resin, however as resin may be unsafe if worn in contact with skin for a long time, I only ever get ones that are inside a metal tunnel.

First pic, amethyst stud and a resin plug with real mushrooms and moss in it. Second pic, jade stud and dragons blood jasper plug. The stud in my lobe is quartz.

First pic real tiny shells and sand, second pic paper butterfly, both in resin.

And here are some of my right ear. First pic labradorite teardrop, second a snake hanger. The stone in the stud is onyx

First pic hematite teardrop, second real leaves in resin.

And because I don't feel like trying everything on, here's my full collection.

If anyone wishes to know where I got a particular item from feel free to ask! I'm in the UK so almost all of these came from UK sellers.

[borninwinter81]

[borninwinter81]

A rare dagger for rituals, France, mid 19th century.

[borninwinter81]

Its strange to me that people aren't aware of this, and/or think it's piracy! In the 00s when MP3 players were the thing everybody did this, in fact you were encouraged to do it, at least for music. All computer media players had a "rip CD" function on them.

I remember I even got a program which would rip movies and then convert/scale them down so their "screen size" was the same size as my iPod nano screen and they would take up less memory. There must still be programs around today which do that.

I'm not subscribed to any streaming service (though I use bandcamp and occasionally the free version of spotify and of course youtube as a "try before you buy") and I still buy physical media or downloads and use my phone like an MP3 player. I have a high capacity memory card which means I can fit my entire music collection on my phone.

you guys know you can get USB connectable CD, dvd, and blu-ray players right. and you can buy external hard drives with crazy amounts of space for an amount of money that would make the average person from 2009’s head explode bc of how cheap it is. and if you do this and get ripping software such as handbrake for CDs and DVDs and makeMKV for blurays you can both own a physical copy of whatever media you want and make it accessible to yourself no matter where you are. do you guys know this

[borninwinter81]

[borninwinter81]

I'm glad to have seen this, I found out about the origin of "love languages" a few years ago.

As a former psychology student I'd always felt the concept was deeply flawed, that people identify with them mostly due to Barnum statements, and that they're used to justify a lot of toxic behaviour in relationships.

A lot of folks seem really invested in them, so it's important to get the message out. As a previous reblogger says, yes we all have different ways of expressing love. But the "love languages" concept is a vast oversimplification and not one you should be basing your relationships on.

[borninwinter81]

This drawing I posted yesterday is now done. I filled out the tree a little more and by putting it on a darker background I think it works much better.

Inspiration:

"Our shadows seep into the dusk like cranes that melt into the pool; a black lake in which they descend pale ghosts caress the nidstång in the dark, its face scarred by the ages, its curse sent with heathen breath to poison the waters of the black lake. We are... we are the faces below the ripples, A deep sorrow travelled through the woods, And found a home in our humble grave."

~ Agalloch, Black Lake Niðstång

[borninwinter81]

It's been a while since I posted any drawings.

This is a somewhat different style for me, but ever since I was a young teen and saw some Turner paintings at The National Gallery in London I've had an appreciation for indistinct impressionist art where the focus is on the *idea* of something, rather than the thing itself.

It never occurred to me that I could try making art like this myself until a friend suggested it recently. I've always tended to stick very rigidly to realism and using photo references. I think this might be the first time since I was a very young child drawing with crayons that I haven't done that, and my first time ever that I've attempted anything remotely abstract.

The inspiration came from listening to the Agalloch track Black Lake Niðstång this afternoon. I had a very clear idea in my head of the dark shape on the bottom half of this picture with the tendrils coming off it, and I'm quite pleased with how that looks.

The tree is because I remember drawing trees like that as a child, and I thought it might fit, but I'm not really sure if it does.

I don't think the picture is finished yet, I'll post again if and when I get some inspiration and add to it.

[borninwinter81]

Thank you 😊 Tell Caige the artwork of his you shared reminds me of Clive Barker's paintings from the Abarat books - it's awesome! Barker is all about learning to see the appeal of "ugliness", that's one of the reasons he's usually way more sympathetic towards the alleged monsters in his stories. His supernatural beings are almost never beautiful, but they're real and relatable

New video out! A bit different than my usual format, but I’ve been having a lot of thoughts lately and wanting to explore a bit of different style vids - let me know what you think!