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Bathing in Moonlight - Andy Lovell

British, b. 1964 -

Silkscreen , 42 x 60 cm . 17 x 24 in. E d. 14 

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Reworked Floral Tea Dress made by Me

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Outfits I'm wearing this weekend at my local con! I'm excited. Also playing around with these flower stickers I forgot I had

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Beautiful, vintage copy of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca among some other lovely old books

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A lot of the stuff that I've learned so far about wearing lolita fashion and using a wheelchair:

I get some questions about this, so here goes:

Tip #1) No one is going to be better capable of knowing what your comfort and safety limits are than you. It's normal and pretty much expected that lolita fashion is going to be less comfortable to wear than cozy pajamas or sweat pants, but you're the person who has to decide if something is too uncomfortable. Also, any rules or guidelines should be ignored if following them would put you in an unsafe situation. You (and your medical care team) are the one who is responsible for your safety.

Tip #2 You are the person who is also the most capable of determining what does and doesn't count as disability accommodation. You're the person who can say, "I have to wear these kinds of shoes for safety reasons, and so I'm going to wear coords with these shoes," and that's the only justification that you need. "I'm doing this because it is a healthy decision," is a full sentence and does not need any additional justification. Disability looks different for everyone and what you need and what someone else needs are going to look different.

I've also found that people who aren't disabled don't actually have a place to say, "this is an okay accommodation for disabled lolitas, but it's not okay if you're not disabled, because that's really fucking shitty and 100% ableist. Everyone's disability is different, and it's not possible for one disabled person to make rules about what's okay for another disabled person to do. It's definitely not possible for one non-disabled person to make rules about what every disabled person is allowed to do. It's not acceptance to make different rules for disabled people; it's acceptance to listen to disabled people and help them in ways that they need and want. Every disabled lolita I know actually cares a lot more about, "how do I wear this fashion with my disability needs taken into account," than any abled person I know, so let's not have another Ballet Flat Spammer incident over here.

Okay, so now that we have the disability disclaimer for disabled and not-yet-disabled alike, we can get into:

Tips and tricks that I've learned about wearing lolita while using a wheelchair!

Part A) Petticoats:

This is the most often asked question I get: how do you fit the petticoat into the wheelchair?

The answer is that I don't. The lolita silhouette relies on the petticoat to get the right shape, when you're standing. It can contribute to getting the right shape when you're siting on a chair that does not have arm rests. If the skirt can drape over the sides of the chair, the petticoat will help poof out the hem, and keep the extravagant look with the hem fullness.

The petticoat does not contribute to the lolita shape if you're in a chair where the skirt cannot hang over the edge. This is probably pretty obvious, but if your beautiful lolita skirt is hanging over the edge of your wheelchair while you're scootin' around, you won't have a beautiful and clean lolita skirt when you get home. When we're talking about disability accommodations and safety, your clothing's safety should not be on the top of the list, but it should be somewhere on the list.

So, what does lolita look like in a wheelchair, when you're actively going out and about, moving and going places?

Pardon my "I'm not ready for you to take my picture yet," face. I don't look like I'm ready to take the picture, because I'm not ready to take the pictures.

This is how I tuck my skirt back to that it's out of the way and I have maximum mobility. My side guards aren't super tall, and later one of them cracked in half, so I have to really shove things under my backside to keep them out of the way.

There's a little bit of strategy that I've learned here, which is that if you can keep your knees covered, it looks much better. It's also usually a slightly more flattering angle to have someone take the photo from a bit above you (not normally a problem since everyone's taller than you in the wheelchair). When your skirt is above your knees and someone's on your level, you start looking a bit like everyone's taking an upskirt shot of you, which isn't really great.

I've gotten pretty used to sitting on a bunch of fabric, but it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, so when we've stopped for a while, i usually un-tuck the skirt.

Lolita dresses have a lot more volume at the waist than some other fashions, and having all of that volume hang out of the top of the skirt doesn't usually look super great. If it's casual, I'll pop the hem of the skirt out and then leave the back tucked behind the side guard.

In terms of doing a big, dramatic drape, some skirt shapes just lend themselves to that a little bit better than others. Skirts with a wider frill at the bottom, tiered skirts, and flared skirts tend to do a little bit better than gathered rectangles. You can make it work, but anything where the hem circumference is bigger than the waist really just shines.

I'm also ambulatory, so I can take pictures outside of my chair. In all the wheelchairs I've been using in these posts, I had somewhere between 0" and -4" of wiggle room in the seat width, so that didn't always showcase my skirts to their best of powers. I managed to get better coord photos by finding somewhere to sit or to stand for a few minutes. In the standing picture up there, I'm holding my skirt out so that it's not as obvious that I don't have the petticoat going on.

So that's the petticoat issue right there: I don't wear one, I just pretend I am.

Some other wheelchair lolita stuff:

Soap doesn't get wheelchair dirt out. Oxiclean doesn't get wheelchair dirt out. You need to get a brush and mechanically scrub it out. Good luck.

Shoes: I have to walk to the back of my car to get my wheelchair out, so I have to wear shoes that I can stand in and lift an awkward and bulky thing with. I like wearing fun platforms and I think they balance out looks pretty well, so I'll put my socks and shoes on after I get the wheelchair out of the car. If I'm wearing tights, I'll wear cheap socks over the tights and take them off before putting my shoes on.

If you're getting a new wheelchair and lolita is of a concern to you: If your wheelchair fitting or your doctor says to get a chair the exact size of your ass, you can still wear lolita fashion with it. There's a little bit more care that has to go into tucking it in, and a little more wrinkles to get out of the back of your skirt when you're home, but it's doable. I have a 17" butt that was in a 14" chair for a lot of these pictures, and it was great. However, if you're considering getting a new wheelchair and one of your concerns is lolita fashion, it can help a LOT to have a tiny bit of wiggle room on the sides. Tall side guards really help.

I don't like arm rests, but when I was borrowing a wheelchair with arm rests, they did really protect my clothes pretty well. If you're getting a wheelchair for yourself, and you know it'll have arm rests, get ones that flip back. This way you can get them out of the way when you want to drape your skirt for photos.

My first wheelchair was sour apple green and I never felt like it held my coords back. Get a wheelchair in the color you love, because it's not going to ruin your coord to have a pink dress and a green chair.

If you're picking between low profile side guards and taller side guards, you probably want taller.

If you really want to wear a petticoat in a wheelchair, you should probably do a late pledge on Puvithel's kickstarter for the accesible petticoat.

Anyway, that's about it for wheelchair lolita stuff on my mind. Just remember that EGL fashion is open to everyone that wants to wear it for the joy of the fashion, and that being disabled in lolita fashion means that you sometimes have to do things differently, but it doesn't mean that you can't do it.

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Tutorial: plastic keychains

I know a ton of you have been waiting for this one. Teaching you to make your own plastic keychains!

To start off, I think the biggest question everyone has is what I use to make them. I work with shrink film. You might be familiar with Shinky Dink brand shrink film as a kid. I use Grafix brand white inkjet shrink film. The inkjet kind is relatively pricey compared to the regular kind. If you’re using regular, I don’t recommend you stick it in your printer. Sharpie markers would be good for that.

Alright, now open up the file with the images that you’re working with. Make sure your images are a lot bigger than you want your finished product to be since they shrink significantly.

You’ll also want to lighten the opacity to about half. I go somewhere between 50-60%.

Now print your image out! I’ve found that it works best for me when I have it at the plain paper setting, and standard print quality.

Holepunch with a ¼" holepuncher BEFORE you shrink them. It’s so much more work to have to punch holes when your plastic is thick!

Cut out your design, leaving the amount of border you want.

Set them on a tray for convenience. An aluminum foil sheet works too, but I recommend cookie trays because they are easier and quicker to get out of the oven.

Preset heat. Your shrink film package will tell you what temperature to set it at, but I find that it isn’t always accurate for me. I generally set temperature to 350 degrees or so.

Put them in the oven. Remember to keep track of time! I leave them in for about a minute and a half.

After time is up they should be super small! Magic!

If your charms are not flat, put something heavy on it right out of the oven when they are still hot and malleable.

If you’d like to, you can seal them now. In my last two batches, I used clear topcoat nail polish. The problem with that is that I need between 3-5 coats of it, and it takes a while to dry. I’ve been experimenting with modpodge.

For lariats, you can use jump rings or lobster clasps.

Here is one that I made that wasn’t sealed. The finished texture after shrinking is a little bit rough. There’s nothing wrong with leaving them unsealed, but because they are inkjet printed, the colors wash right of without protection.

This is one that was sealed with modpodge. The colors become a little more vibrant and smooth and water resistant. Things often get stuck on when applying or drying so be careful.

These ones down here were sealed with clear nail polish. They come out shiny if you put enough coats, but the grainy texture will still be there.

Well, there ya go! Have fun making your own keychains!

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Mie Nakano

Our July calendar is now ready!

This month I drew a picture of homemade lemonade, which I want to make when the lemon fruits in my garden grow. They are still small and green, so it will be a while before I can make them, but it is fun to watch them grow from flower to fruit.

ナカノミエ

7月のカレンダーが完成しました

今月はお庭のレモンの実が育ったら作りたい、自家製レモネードを描きました。まだ小さくて青々としているので、当分先になりそうですが花から実に育っていく様を見るのは楽しいです。

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having bad days won’t erase your progress. taking a step back doesn’t mean you won’t keep taking steps forward.

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How I style the same JSK for summer and winter! ♡

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#illustration #arice 

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i've been playing style boutique 2 obsessively for the last few months and it's actually one of the best games of all time

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Crystal Dream Carnival from sakuraikirby

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Pride and Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright

REST IN PEACE DONALD SUTHERLAND (1935–2024)

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esta es mi idea de worldbuilding: un reino místico conocido como Las Tierras de Plata

anon eso es literalmente la mitad de mis proyectos

Pero acá hay algo interesante. Según el libro América Mágica (que pueden encontrar en el puesto instalado en el hall del teatro), los españoles y otros europeos que venían a América estaban obsesionados justamente con encontrar reinos de plata, porque aparentemente habían conquistado dos ya, por que no tres, o cuatro, o cinco, capaz toda América estaba hecha de oro! Y ahí empiezan las leyendas de las Siete Ciudades de Oro, El Dorado, y más cercanos a nosotros las Sierras de Plata, el Rey Blanco, etc. etc. todo relacionado con la plata. El Río de La Plata se llama justamente así porque se pensaba que era la entrada a las Sierras de La Plata. Y técnicamente no estaban tan equivocados.

Lo que los españoles cegados por el oro y la conquista no se daban cuenta era que ya habían descubierto el "reino de la plata", era justamente el Tahuantinsuyo de los incas. Francisco de Orellana, cuando recorría el Amazonas, encontraba pueblos que le contaban que había un reino de castillos de piedra lleno de oro y plata, lo que los españoles no entendían es que la gente del Amazonas le estaba hablando justamente, de los incas, el imperio que recién habían conquistado.

Los pueblos nativos sabían muy bien que los españoles estaban obsesionados con las riquezas y que eran violentos (realmente es horrible leer las historias de los españoles que destruían pueblos enteros por simple capricho) entonces una táctica registrada que tenían, sobre todo en las zonas andinas, era esconder todas las riquezas, pretender que no tenían nada, y contarles a los españoles que había riquezas en otro lado para que se vayan lo más rápido posible. Es muy posible que muchas de las leyendas más locas de los reinos de oro, plata, etc. etc. salieron de ahí, y por supuesto de las propias alucinaciones de los europeos que posiblemente no podían creer la cantidad de oro y plata que sacaron de Mesoamérica y los Andes, y creían que existía hasta el infinito.

Pero de vuelta, esto está todo mejor explicado en el libro América Mágica de Magasich-Airola Jorge y Beer Jean-Marc (que pueden encontrar en el puesto instalado en el hall del teatro)

(y por "puesto instalado en el hall del teatro" me refiero a Anna's Archive)

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Here is the pattern for a bell-shaped petticoat! 

Instructions over here: https://strawberryscans.tumblr.com/post/673235265180057600/from-otome-no-sewing-book-6-these-are-the

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