#(also i have no clue if these would actually work as enamel pins?? just wanted to draw these for fun lol)

[petitelepus]

Hey, Lepus! Would it be possible to get a MTMTE match up for a polyamorous gay girl with brown hair + eyes, who often wears embroidered bomber jackets w/ matching snapbacks and enamel pins? A person who’s ready to stand by you through whatever and always down for a fight, and very much wishes to be friends with most people but struggles with trauma & intimacy and often doubts if people actually want them around. Any he/him using mechs with female avatars is also welcome for the matchup! TYSM ✨💖

I match you with Windblade!

At first, Windblade approached you purely in professional matters between Earth and Cybertron, but your quirky and unique appearance made you significantly stand out from the rest of the Earth’s people and that caught her attention on you. The first time you talked to her she felt like the deal was sealed. Chromia doesn’t at first understand why Windblade wants to necessarily talk only with you when you’re all talking about budget plans and she doesn’t understand how Windblade is daydreaming when you’re talking.

Takes a moment for her to understand that Windblade holds feelings for you and Chromia is both shocked and upset. She’s not sure if a relationship between human femme and Cybertronian will work out for either of you and she hates to see Windblade get hurt so she tries her hardest to keep you two away before the situation has even reached its boiling point.

You, on the other hand, have noticed how nicely Windblade’s paint job brings out her figure and how bold yet elegant the blue and red are on her. Saying you have quite a crush on her isn’t helping much either, I mean, Windblade is a total beauty queen by all the intergalactic standards there might be.

All these beautiful images of her bring out the insecure thoughts in your head. Why would she choose you over hundreds of more suitable suitors? You’re just a human woman, look at Chromia, she would be much more suited for Windblade. She really wants to spend time with her also when two of you are chatting so she must feel threatened by your being. Which is funny in a ridiculous way, you’re just a human and she is a catch also.

So you’re depressed and Chromia is being extra protective and attentive towards Windblade’s time, it doesn’t take her long at all to ask her friend why she wants to keep the two of you apart. Chromia awkwardly explains how she is worried that the relationship wouldn’t work between you two and that would leave Windblade heartbroken.

Hearing this Windblade assures her friend that she is more than capable to take care of herself, much other’s worry, but she backs off and lets you two do what you want to. She doesn’t want to stand in front of her friend’s happiness, she just wanted to keep her that way.

So Windblade comes up to you and you try to talk to her like everything is alright, which amuses Windblade when she asks if you would like to go flying with her. You have no clue what that means and you panic. Is flying between Cybertronians like an everyday thing or is it like a date thing? Windblade just grins at you and winks and you know definitely that it’s a date.

The two of you are maybe the weirdest couple anyone has ever heard of, but that doesn’t stop either one of you. If someone bad mouths you or Windblade then you’re ready to talk down the nasty person, but if it’s Cybertroanian you don’t really strike fear in them. So Chromia is quick to step up and defend you two. You and Chromia had your differences and she apologizes for keeping you and Windblade away from each other, which you just grin because she sounds like a single parent’s child and tell her that it’s all water under the bridge. Which meaning you have to explain to two of them.

Overall, it’s a healthy relationship with two mommas and one super protective baby Chromia.

THANK YOU ANON WHO BOUGHT ME 3 COFFEES!!! I HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR MATCH! This can be you, Anon or friend. Donate me a coffee and you get as detailed and long matchup like this.

[chaossmagic]

PROMPT TIME: Oliver trying desperately to hint towards Felicity and Team Arrow that he's queer (you choose which sexuality exactly) by using puns because he wants to come out to them so they can all go to Pride together, until he finally explodes after a few days of nobody picking up on it. Are his puns really that bad!?

oliver is just an awkward bi trying to let people know he’s queer

(Not) Straight As An Arrow

He started small, with a rainbow-coloured flag in a ceramic pot placed on his desk at City Hall the week that the city was in preparation for its first-ever Pride Parade.

It was perfectly innocuous, as most of City Hall was decorated in various technicolour posters and advertisements for the event, and several of the staff had been sporting rainbow-coloured pins to demonstrate their support, but Oliver’s palms sweated and his fingers shook as he fidgeted with his shirt cuffs most of the morning, tapping the toe of his shoe against the floor in a nervous tic that betrayed his anxiety over what he was planning to do.

Star City had never had an openly not-heterosexual Mayor before.

Oliver was planning on being the first.

After a lot of thinking and agonizing, and all of the things that had happened in the last year - how much he had learnt, how much he’d realized that he needed to be himself in order to be really, truly happy - he had decided that he was going to do something he never done and had always kept secret. Not even Felicity knew, and he had told her so many things about himself, his past, things he’d buried deep under the surface and he hoped would never find their way back…but not this.

He was going to tell the team - and the city - that he was bisexual, and he was going to attend the Star City Pride Parade not as the Mayor in an official capacity, but as Oliver, a person who had lived in so much shame and anger and hurt and fear for so long that he was ready to come out (pun definitely intended) from under it and be honest. One of the few times in his life he ever had been.

The team was his family, and he wanted to show his family that he could be truthful and proud to be who he was. That he wasn’t always going to be the reserved, guarded, aloof leader that they sometimes saw him as.

He wanted to be brave.

And he wanted to come out.

It was just a matter of finding the right way to tell people.

_ _ _ _

At some point during the afternoon, his assistant, Janine, knocked on his office door to deliver some paperwork for him to sign. After waving her in, he steeled himself for the inevitable conversation he would have about his newest desk decoration.

While handing him the stack of forms that needed his approval, she spotted the little flag waving in its pot and exclaimed, “Oooh, that’s adorable! It’s so great that we have such a supportive and open Mayor in this city.” She paused, before adding shyly, “My wife and I have been waiting for this for a long time. It really means a lot to us, Mr. Queen.”

Oliver smiled widely despite himself, placing his signature on the papers in front of him without much thought. He knew what it was; plans for a go-ahead from the Leisure and Recreation department for a public park in the Glades, somewhere for kids from rough homes to play and have fun away from the troubles their families might be facing. It always made him think of Roy, and how he’d grown up with a single mother with difficulties staying clean, with no safe place to go when things got too much.

“It - it means a lot to me to have your support,” he replied, feeling the nerves rise up in his stomach like bubbles in acid. “Actually, I - it’s a personal issue for me, too, and I feel like this is the right time to be honest with myself about it.”

“Oh, of course, because you’re friends with Curtis, right? Curtis Holt. He works with Felicity Smoak.”

Oliver sat back in his seat awkwardly, fidgeting with his suit jacket buttons. “Ah - yes, Curtis is a good friend of mine, but I was talking about….you know what? Nevermind.” He handed Janine back the paperwork, his throat dry with the words that he was trying to get out but just wouldn’t come. “I guess I’m just not quite good enough yet at being straight with people.”

Janine blinked owlishly, and Oliver saw the confusion clearly on her face. “Good afternoon, Mr. Queen,” she said quickly, turning and leaving, closing the door behind her.

_ _ _

“You sure you can take this guy?”

Felicity was apprehensive, biting at her lip worriedly as she studied the case file of the man in front of her. Giaccomo Felantini, a street dealer who had bad blood with the Irish mob due to a clash between their two powerful crime families a year or so earlier. He was deadly and good at dodging the authorities and, up until now, the Green Arrow, too.

“I can do it,” Oliver said with confidence. “Besides, I have the rest of the team to help if there’s any trouble.”

“You got it, boss,” Rene replied, performing a salute in Oliver’s direction. Dinah and Curtis both nodded in agreement.

But Felicity was still worried. “I don’t know, Oliver. He’s a notorious triple threat. Are you sure you don’t want more concrete back-up?” She leaned back, called out to where Digg was still changing into his Spartan gear. “Digg? What do you think?”

Oliver stepped up to Felicity, resting a hand on her shoulder lightly. He could feel the tenseness of her muscles, how on edge she was. Her skin was warm and soft where his fingertips brushed it. It was so nice to be able to be like this with her again, to have this intimacy and not have it be painful for either of them.

“Felicity,” he said. “I can do it. I’m used to going two ways.” His lips lifted into a half-smile, his eyes intent on her. Please understand what I’m saying.

This isn’t just about the mission. It’s about me.

“What does that have to do with catching an Italian drug-dealing mobster?”

Oliver repressed a sigh. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”

_ _ _

He was getting rather irritated with people not being able to understand him.

For days he had been dropping hints and leaving clues, wearing a rainbow pin proudly on the lapel of his jacket and telling the bank teller when he’d gone to check the city accounts that he was particularly excited about the Parade scheduled for that weekend. But all he got were blank looks or people mistaking him for being a very enthusiastic straight ally, which, while he appreciated that it was important to have such support within the LGBT community in Star City, he really wished people wouldn’t assume any more things about him than they already had.

It all came to a head in the bunker one evening.

A meeting had run over at City Hall so he’d arrived late, finding Felicity, Diggle, Dinah, Curtis, and Rene well into the plans for that night’s vigilante activities. He hadn’t had time to change and so had arrived still wearing the little enamel pin he’d bought from a girl with the bisexual pride flag painted on both cheeks selling Parade merchandise outside Star City National Bank - who had also taken it upon herself, with a dazzling smile, to tuck a rainbow-patterned scarf into his jacket pocket, thanking him for his support as Mayor and telling him it was free of charge ‘for the first Mayor we’ve had who wasn’t a total dick’.

He’d vaguely wondered what the city might say if he turned up to work with similar face paint, as that was probably what it would take for anyone to get the hint.

It was Curtis who noticed it first, gushing “Oh wow, cool,” as he pulled the brightly-coloured accessory from Oliver’s pocket. “I knew you were a decent guy. I mean, I always knew you were a decent guy, even if you kind of terrified me, but this -” he took a deep breath, and mortifyingly, Oliver saw tears well up behind his glasses. “It means a lot to me, man.”

“Um,” Oliver said, mostly because he didn’t know what to say - and also because he knew that if he didn’t do it now, he never would. “Curtis, I - well, everyone. I have something to say.”

Five pairs of eyes looked curiously in his direction. He slowly took the scarf back from Curtis and twisted it around his fingers absently, letting the softness of the fabric and the crazy colours of the design ground him.

“The Star City Pride Parade means a lot to me, but not just because I’m the Mayor. I’ve been trying for the last few days to drop hints -” he looked around at the group, his friends, and steeled himself. “And make some jokes but, uh, I guess they fell a little flat?”

“I don’t get it,” Rene said with a shrug. “Does anyone else get it?”

“What are you trying to say, Oliver?” This was Digg, calm and mellow as always, pointing him in the right direction.

He lifted the scarf, waved it slightly in his fist like - well, like a flag.

“The only thing that’s straight about me is my arrows.”

Curtis laughed, “Unless your aim is off, then -”

He paused, his eyes wide as saucers. Everyone was dead silent. And then he said, “Oh. OH.”

Oliver nodded.

And the penny dropped.

“Right on, boss!” Rene shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

“I got your back, Oliver,” Dinah said with a nod. “If they don’t like it, I guess they’ll get to hear what a Canary sounds like.”

“Wow, you really need to work on your coming out jokes,” Felicity shook her head, but her cheeks were pink and she was smiling.

“I’m glad you told us, man,” Diggle added, clapping him on the back in a one-armed hug. “You’ll get no judgement here.”

“But seriously, Felicity’s right. You do need to work on your coming out jokes.”

[spicyhoneyheart]

Bloom

Hiiii! I'm happy to say that I've finally found structure to my days in quarantine, after last week expressing my lack of motivation. I wake up, have coffee, and walk Lusia before I go to work on studio projects. Because of the nice weather we decided to carry up stuff from the basement to the outdoors, which opens up a more comfortable place for me to work. Most of the floor is dedicated to printing, but I'm very happy that I finally have a spot to warm my wax for mold pours. I print for most of the afternoon, and then I work with waxes in the evening while watching something. I made a little octopus while watching The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance for the 6th time now. I also finally finished the last component of the claw ring, so the preparation of that part of the project is complete. Yesterday and this morning I rubber casted it along with the octopus, so I'll be able to test them out later today. In the meantime, once I upload this post, I'll go print the second layer of the Lonely Hydra. The first layer was just a blank plate, to set up for the etched image. Wish me luck!

So this time I'll be rambling about glass painting. You can paint on glass with whatever you want, but if you want it to last forever on it (no flaking or discolouration), you use enamels. Enamels are finely-crushed glass powders of various colours, and you can get it in powder form to mix into a paint yourself  or get it pre-mixed. Most people are acquainted with enamel on lapel pins and the like, it's a similar thing. There are transparent and opaque palettes depending on what type of glass and function you want, and you can either paint or screenprint depending on the viscosity of your paint. I personally like painting more than screenprinting, despite being a printmaker... mostly because, for me, it takes up a great amount of room. I would have to have a room specifically dedicated to it so that no contaminants or cluttering could interfere. There's an amazing enamel artist who actually ran a workshop in my 1st year, Joseph Cavalieri, and he sparked my intrigue in painting with glass.

However, my first serious exploration with glass enamels was frustrating. We had an experimental class in 3rd year where we picked up a technique we didn't know and worked through tests throughout a term. I did not use the enamels Cavalieri used but high-fire Reusche paint, which came in powders. Enamel painting wasn't taught at Sheridan; instructors had a gist of how to mix, apply, and fire, but it was mostly self-taught, hit-or-miss. My tests were more or less a successful endeavour, and by that I mean I gained a greater understanding of firings, but the results were still not what I was looking for. There was not really any point of choosing high-fire enamels when low-fire enamels can do a similar, if not better, trick. ​ When I worked for Cheryl at Rubyeyes Kraftwerks, she showed me low-fire Reusche, and it was a lot more conclusive. She showed me step by step, gave me one of her designs to try painting and get used to the application, and allowed me to make my own enameled piece. I didn't have to spend so much time on testing, which was nice for a change.

​She also introduced me to silver-stain, which I immediately fell in love with. Enamel painting is technically a fusing, whereas silver-staining is a chemical reaction with the glass. The silver-stain is actually invisible; the reddish hues of the pigments are merely terracotta dust to help visually for where you want to apply it. I love the golden warmth that a window with silver stain brings in natural sunlight, even on rainy days. My time with Cheryl motivated me to have one of my thesis projects to be done using enamel and silver-stain together. ​

During my final year of Sheridan, anyone who needed my help knew where I'd most likely be, and that would be in this tiny room with a sandblaster and an even tinier fume hood. I hogged up that fume hood all the time, which I feel bad about since enamel painting doesn't give off fumes. The ventilation was great for sucking up any particulates, but I mostly worked there for the privacy. No one seemed to mind though, and I was always willing to move if someone needed it for spray painting and such. People joked that it was my office, and that it still is even after graduating, which I find endearing. The space was just big enough for me to work on Self-Vanitas, one sheet of glass at a time. The final ones, which were exhibited at the Sandra Ainsley Glass Gallery in Toronto, each had three sheets of glass, the image divided into fore-, middle-, and backgrounds. I also have iterations where the whole image is on one sheet, but they're not mounted yet. Stained glass is something I truly wish to pursue, but it's the least accessible for me right now, especially during quarantine. The most I can do is prepare illustrations for when the time comes, in the same way I make rubber molds for the time I have a fully-functioning kiln. If I were to exhibit at places like Toronto Outdoor, One of a Kind, or The Artist Project, it would be with glass objects. Silver-stain windows, glass-casted sculptures and vessels, and integrated glass prints. Man, I really hope I get there. In the meantime I will just keep developing my skills. Right now I've been really studying Alphonse Mucha and his style, because that's the direction I want my illustration work to take. Between studio work and reading, quarantine isn't gonna hold me down. And that concludes the last of my mediums!! I have no clue what the next blogpost will be, but we'll see when the day comes. Step out for a little sunshine!! Gosia