#But i *can* put some squares on a paper and paint them

[kanene-yaaay-o-retorno]

what a beautiful day outside.

Perfect for making a sans cosplay

(:

[pleasantboatpress]

so, you wanted to start bookbinding?

so @princetofbone mentioned on my post for "factory settings" about wanting to know more about the binding style that i used for it. so i thought i might make a post about it.

i was as terrible as i always am for taking in progress shots, but i can link you to the resources i used in order to make my book. i would also like to point out that "factory settings" is my 120th bind, and i have been doing bookbinding as a hobby for just over 3 years now. unfortunately this means some of the methods that i used for that bind aren't particularly beginner friendly, just in terms of the tools and methods i have used, but i would love to point you in the right direction when it comes to resources. i dont say this to sound pretentious which i fear i might come across, just so that youre fully informed. getting into this hobby is fun and rewarding, but it can definitely be intimidating.

with that caveat, heres a list of links and resources that i have used for bookbinding in general, with additional links to methods i used specifically in regards to this bind.

ASH's how to make a book document. it gives you a great introduction into typesetting fics (where you format the text of fics to look like a traditionally published books) and then turning them into a case-bound book (the style i used for "factory settings"). it is comprehensive, and explains how to use microsoft word to do your bidding. it was invaluable to me when i was just starting out! currently i use affinity publisher to typeset/format my fics for printing, but i only bought and learned how to use that after i had been binding books for a year and a half. i made some beautiful typesets with word, and some of my close friends use it still and design stuff that i never would be able to in my wildest dreams (basically anything by @no-name-publishing)

DAS Bookbinding's Square Back Bradel Binding. a great style to do your first bind in! this method requires, when making the case, to attach the cover board and the spine board to a connecting piece of paper, which makes it so much easier to match the size of the case to the size of the text block (your printed out and sewn fic). using this method is what allowed me to get much more accurately fitting cases, and made me much more confident with the construction of the books i was making. a well-made book is something that is so wonderful to hold in your hands!

DAS Bookbinding's Rounded and Backed Cased Book. This is the specific method that i used to create my bind for "factory settings"! even before i could back my books, i found that watching DAS's videos in particular helped me see how books were traditionally made, and i was able to see different tips and tricks about how to make nicer books.

Book Edge Trimming Without... i trim the edges of my text block using my finishing press and a chisel i have sharpened using a whetstone and leather strop with buffing compound on it. i follow the method for trimming shown in this video!

Made Endpapers. i follow this method for my endpapers, as i used handmade lokta endpapers, and they can be quite thin, but they look beautiful! i used "tipped on" endpapers (where you have your endpaper and then put a thin strip of glue on the edge and attach it to your text block) i used for a very long time before this, but these feel like they are much more stable, as they are sewn with your text block.

Edge Sprinkling. this is the method that i used for decorating the edges of my text block. but the principle is basically clamping your text block tight and then sprinkling the edges. i do not believe you need to trim the edges in order to do sprinkles on the edges, and that's what makes it accessible! i personally just use really cheap acrylic paint that i water down and then flick it onto the edges with my thumb and a paint brush.

Double-Core Endbands. i sew my own endbands, which i followed this tutorial for. that being said, it's kind of confusing, and this video is a bit easier to follow, but it is a slightly different type of endband.

Case decoration. i used my silhouette cameo 4 to cut out my design for "factory settings" in htv (heat transfer vinyl). i also used my cameo 4 to cut out the oval of marbled paper on the front, as i honestly didn't want to try my hand at cutting an oval lol. i also glued some 300 gsm card with an oval cut out of the centre of it onto the cover before covering it with bookcloth, to get a kind of recess on the cover. i then glued the oval of marbled paper onto the top of the recessed area once it was covered with bookcloth, so that it was protected. the images i used were sourced from a mix of rawpixel, canva and pixabay. a more accessible way to get into cover decoration is by painting on a design for your cover as described in @a-gay-old-time's tutorial just here. or even doing paper labels, which look classy imo.

physical materials. sourcing these will depend on your country. i am located in australia, and have compiled a list with some other aussie bookbinders of places to buy from. here is a great post describing beginning materials for getting started binding.

@renegadepublishing. this tumblr is great! its what got me started bookbinding, and being in the discord has been inspiring, motivating, and honestly just one of the best online experiences i have ever had. it is full of resources, and most people in there are amateur bookbinders, with a couple of professionals thrown in. the discord is 18+, and anyone can join!

i'm sorry this post got so long, but i hope that this has a lot of information for you if you would like to get started bookbinding. its one of the best hobbies ive ever had, and i genuinely believe i will have it for the rest of my life.

[malachiteclouds]

🌟natal astrology observations part 2 🌟

thank you guys for being patient! if y'all wanna follow me on insta @eudaimonia.o i don't post astro stuff but i'd love to make some friends :)

jupiter conjunct mars people can have extremely inflated egos. they are very argumentative and can't stand being wrong

moon opposite pluto have such intense feelings but they feel so far removed from them. they have a really difficult time processing their own emotions. they can repress feelings, then revisit the topic and not even realize they felt so strongly about it

1H pluto/conjunct asc love masks. they're spectacular at hiding and going unseen. they are masters at stealth and reservation which is why they intrigue people because they have complete control over who gets to see what and how much

aries rising/moon x being called "hot headed" all the time. they can physically get red in the face a lot/while mad or have really bad headaches/migraines

pisces placements have a specific look and are easy to spot. it's in their teeth , i can't explain it

7H saturn most loyal placement ever. they are devoted to understanding you and themselves through you. they can see their partners blind spots really well and they tend to be very genuine in their attempts to better themselves as an individual and the relationship as a whole. when they decide to commit, they will stick by your side through whatever it is you're going through

mercury chiron aspects, you guys NEED to write and/or speak. i know you feel its your weakness but really it is your superpower

women with lilith conjunct/opposite/square venus can have a habit of competing with other women. they can also put blame on women and think women are constantly jealous of them. they can have an itch for male validation that they really need to do some inner work to dismantle, as a lot of it comes from a past where THEY felt/feel insecure in their femininity or they felt/feel othered by women

moon north node aspects can be known for their mom or for being a mom. disharmonious aspects(squares/oppositions) can be notorious or infamous for being a "bad mom". can be extremely ridiculed for parenting style

12H stelliums live in quiet. in basements. in small apartments with lots of books and messy papers everywhere. they live in silence. they live in solitude. they live in stillness. they live in seclusion. they live in isolation. they were put on this earth in this lifetime for deep introspection and exploration of singularity.

5H moons are amazing in early childhood education. talk about thinking on your feet. it's basically like "hmm it would be fun to dip some yarn in some paint and drag it on the paper... oh and these 3 year olds happen to be here"

[raglansragdoll]

Securitywaiter headcanons ! - The boys, Abby, and Sparky’s 🐶

. ★ .

Mike and Abby were already regulars at the diner, but once Mike started dating Ness the two ended up going every day.

. ☆ .

Ness is constantly giving the pair free food. He doesn’t realize it at the beginning of his relationship with Mike, but it’s really helping with Mike’s wallet while keeping Abby happy and oblivious.

. ★ .

Abby has gotten ahold of Ness’s name tag. It didn’t come out unscathed. Stickers of all kinds have been applied, even slightly obscuring Ness’s name. Ness refuses to take any of them off.

. ☆ .

Abby now has a large and impressive collection of the Sparky’s knock-off crayons and their children’s activity menus. She keeps them in a shoe box in her closet.

. ★ .

One time after breakfast, Abby said “Put it on my tab.” because she heard it in a movie and Ness brought her a little square of receipt paper to sign.

. ☆ .

Ness always puts smiley faces in Abby’s food if he can, which includes chocolate chips on her pancakes or painting smiles with condiments.

. ★ .

Sometimes if Ness and Mike get really into talking, Abby rolls her eyes and goes to sit at the counter where the croaky old waitress pretends to care about what she’s saying.

. ☆ .

Ness started bringing in cheap coloring books for Abby. He keeps them at the host station, despite grumblings from his boss.

. ★ .

The first holiday present Ness ever bought Abby was one of these bad boys ⇩

[ALT ID: An original box of Crayola crayons from 1997. It is a 64 count of crayons with a built-in crayon sharpener in the back of the box.]

My lovely best friend, @welcome-to-sparkys, is also my editor !

If you like what I do go give them some love <3

[heartfullofleeches]

Monster reader is my top fav of ALL readers.

Like just imagine if Monster reader just wanted food so they go into a place that looks like it has food. And somehow walks into a cult meeting that give their upmost dedication to some monster god that looks similar to monster reader lol.

“ Today, we have come together to give our upmost dedication and beliefs into our savior. Our savior who gave us our life and our creation! And that is why today, we will be sacrificing this fool who dared to disrespect- Door opens

“ Oh. Sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if you have any spare food?”

“….. OUR SAVIOR HAS FINALLY RETURNED!”

“ FORGIVE US FOR BASKING IN YOUR PRESENCE WITH ASKING MY LORD!! EVERYONE GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS!”

Lol.

(small mention of gore)

Two months, fourteen days, and five hours.

The longest you've ever went without food. If you were human, the time frame would have held a heavy tax on your body if not killing you out right, but all it did leave was dull pains in your abdomen. During said period, you found a nice cave to sleep in and recover from the injuries sustained in your escape from the facility that stole you from your home. The rest cured your broken bones and scrapes, but unfortunately like every living creature - you needed to eat.

The area you resided in didn't have much going for it in the food category. Most of the edible plants and berries had been picked clean, and you were took out of practice to hunt for your meal. Being locked in a white room with meat thrown at you randomly really put you out of shape in more ways than one. Your fears of having to leave the forest were extinguished with the discovery of an old wrapper found one evening near a neck of the woods you had yet to explore.

The guards at that place walked around with similar papers, filling you with unease, but that anxiety goes out the door the second your nose picks up on a familiar smell. Raw meat.

Climbing over some rocks, you spot a collection of wooden enclosures with strange symbols painted atop. The books the researchers made you read never talked about those. Their knowledge led you to the conclusion that these buildings were cabins and the one where that alluring smell was coming from was the closest to you. There was noise from the neighboring buildings, but if you acted quietly then maybe you could just grab enough food to hold you off for a while and they'd be none the wiser.

Creeping past the red tap that secludes the camp from the rest of the forest, a shrill scream pierces the heavens. It pins you to place, the memories of the cellmates you lost rushing to mind. Is someone hurt? Despite your experiences with others, you wanted to help, but you needed strength in case of any danger.

You hurry to the door, breaking the lock and flinging yourself into the darkness. Your advanced sight guides you through the shadows and straight to your prize. The blinding light from the icebox is the most beautiful pain you've ever witnessed. Forgetting the manners you learned overtime, you claw open various bags of dead flesh and wolf down whatever you can get your hands on. A few of the bags have names on them, but you're too hungry to care why. Bewteen the wet squish of your teeth gnashing shut, a hush blows through the crowd forming outside.

"I told you I heard something, dude. Probably a fucking bear or something. It's eating the reserves."

"Relax. I'll handle it."

The light flickers on. You've been found The guilt you felt for eating the human's food without asking turns into panic as the first thing you see is the barrel of a shotgun pointed square blank at your face. You drop the meat in your hands and cower against the back wall; your first week of freedom spent pushing bullets of the same caliber out your spine. Your lips curl over your teeth as it clatters to the ground in front of you, still afraid as if it could do anything without a handler.

"Could it be?..."

You look up at the robed figures filling the room, the creases of their faces twisted in awe or fright. The first to fall is the one holding the weapon, followed by the rest of their group as they fall to their knees, bowing their heads and rising their hands in prayer. One of the memb pulls out another still standing in shock above you.

"The day of your arrival has finally come. Forgive us, Master. We didn't recognize you at first in such a weak state. Please spare us of your spite."

Master? That's an odd name. You quite liked the one a kind human gave you once. Y/n rolls off the tongue nicer.

"If you still require sustenance, we will leave you to your feast unless you'd prefer the fresher product of our harvest. If I may offer a suggestion, we can mend your clothes and prepare you a bath to cleanse you of our tainted blood."

Bath. Those were the only highlight of the facility. Why are these people being so nice to you compared to them? It made you feel terrible considering you were the one that broke into their home. Hunger beating the conflicting emotions, you continue to eat the meat until your stomach could carry no more. You probably stopped a few bites before you reached maximum capacity due to all the eyes on you making you a little uncomfortable.

You step out of the cabin, wiping your mouth with the bottom of your shirt to be polite. The cult watches your every move, but not one person makes a peep. Considering you were the center of attention, they must be waiting for you.

"Um... hello."

The members of the cult collectively lose their minds.

"Our messiah! They speak! To lowly beings as us."

"It really is them! I'm sorry for ever doubting your presence, my lord."

"This form suits you best in my expert opinion. Let us gather in celebration for your arrival."

They gather around you, examining your claws and taking measurements of your body to prepare proper clothing for you. The questions and praise your bombarded with make your head spin, but soon enough you're led to a bathing house in another cabin and your stress is washed away by the warm water and those who tend to your mated clothes and hair. Not long into your bath, others come with robes for you to wear. They sob and shrivel beneath your words of thanks, everyone here does.

After dinner where you sit at the head of the table, too full to eat a bite of food, you're allowed to wonder the grounds until your cabin has been fully furnished. You enter the room where the screams originated from hours ago, shocked by what you discover.

A mural of a beast similar to you was painted on the far wall in fine paint and what smelled like blood. Dual irises, onyx fangs, the cross scar in the center of its chest. This creature was you, a bigger, menacing and all powerful you. Below the painting was a dead human spilt open from sternum to belly, the bones broken away and organs scooped clean. Backing away from the scene, you bump into someone.

"We are so glad that you've come to us, Master. Please grant us the lasting benefit of your presence for the rest of our days - and beyond

[wannaeatramyeon]

Could you please make another unhinged reader piece but this time with her going against Charles Choi? (I really love the one you did on Vin Jin!!)

Anon, so so sorry for the delay and tysm for reading! I've been putting off Charles in the first place cos it just seems big y'know?

Unhinged F!Reader links here (or check masterlist): Gun Park | Goo Kim | Samuel Seo | Samuel Seo Part 2 | James Lee/DG | Jinyoung Park | Eli Jang | Tom Lee | Ryuhei Kuroda | Eugene | Vin Jin

Charles Choi with Unhinged F!Reader

"Huh," Charles wonders, "Why do I hear final boss battle music?"

How long has it been since Charles has felt this?

An overwhelming, crushing helplessness.

To think his downfall would come from a nobody. Somebody so insignificant that their existence was completely unknown to him.

An easy, fatal mistake.

"Elite?" the sound of your mocking tone reaches his ears despite the blood trickling out. "Elite compared to what?"

Silly boys and their silly nicknames. They're all the same. Elite, Big Daddy, Rabid Attack Dog, the Legend.

Compensating much? Pathetic.

Some little boys just never grow up, having tasted an ounce of power and thought that was all there was. Such big fishes in a tiny putrid swamp.

Your fingers scrape along Charles' once carefully groomed beard, now smeared with blood and spittle.

"What a silver fox. Guess that's a benefit of you being so past your prime."

The words should hurt, but Charles can face reality. He's no longer the young man he once was. Not sure he would even be a worthy opponent for you if he was.

How strange that in these moments it is Gapryong that he thinks about. How he wasn't really a worthy opponent for Gapryong neither, needing to secure his way to the top with underhanded dealings and James Lee.

Charles drifts in and out, thinking about the Pre-Generation, about Tom Lee and Jinyoung Park.

About how nobody has warned him about you, how he didn't see you coming until it was too late. Swaggering towards him in a deserted street with soulless eyes and a chilling grin.

"Charles Choi?" you had asked, tucking away a slip of paper into your breast pocket, "Or should that be... Elite?"

And that was the beginning of the end.

Or maybe it was the beginning of the end years ago, and now his chickens are coming home to roost.

Charles felt your first lethal attack before he could see it, remaining arm snapping and the heat of blood gushing and pouring out. Voice screaming on reflex before he could register it was his own.

Now, even with you easily in touching distance, Charles can't bring himself to move. He has nothing left to give. And was there ever a time he ever felt truly depleted? Not trying to brute force or scheme his way to the very end?

All fight has left him now.

In his delirium, words escape and leak unhindered under his breath. Some names that ring a bell with you.

You chuckle. "Tom Lee? Jinyoung Park? Oops, I got to them too."

Then you lean down, closing the gap between your bodies, lips ghosting over his ear, sending shivers down his spine.

"Gapryong Kim though? I heard you got to him years before I could." You look Charles square in the eye, your words landing and his eyes widen in panic.

His final secret out.

With that you throw your head back laughing, uproariously and deranged. That is what he's worrying about now? What a wretched man.

"I'll give you anything you want," Charles pleads.

Your laughter abruptly stops and replaced with a scathing look. How fucking predictable. Ugh. This whole thing is starting to bore you.

"I've heard it all from that that twink already. Eugene or something. It didn't end well for him."

"Maybe," you think outloud, examining your hands caked almost completely in red, not remembering if you actually painted your nails that colour or if that is Charles' blood too-

"I want your other arm."

"...I see." are his final words to you, recognising any further pleas will fall on deaf ears. Tone calm yet all he can hear is the pounding of his own heart.

The last thing Charles see before he closes his eyes is the quirk of your lips and bloodlust etched all over your face.

In the darkness, he waits for you to decide his fate and for his empire to crumble.

[hms-tardimpala]

Ficbinding: A Complete Kingdom by Komodobits

The fic: SPN, Castiel/Dean Winchester, 85k

This fic had me staying up until 2am to read, it swept me up and flattened me. It's so well-written, so faithful to the characters, so well constructed that all you can do is strap in and enjoy the ride and hope you're not sobbing by the end (a vain hope). It's such a good story, period, that I think it can be enjoyed by non-SPN people. Mind the tags. Summary:

The sea; it swallows me. It comes up to my knees and it swallows me. The boys owe Jody a few dozen favours, and so when her niece goes missing near an old fishing village on the coast of Maine, Dean, Sam, and a newly human Castiel agree to take the case on. They settle into an old abandoned lighthouse-keepers' cottage, and slowly the tide comes in. (post-s8)

The bind: I'm so proud of this one, guys. I tried new things, pretty much everything worked, and I learned new skills!

Let's start with the colors. The story is sea-themed and stormy, so I chose black, dark blue and silver for the cover and light grey and light blue for the headbands and bookmark. I meant to use white for the headbands, but discovered I don't have white ones. It's the first time I do an overlap of fabrics and it turned out awesome. The silver stripe is a simple gift wrapper ribbon.

Typesetting:

The title font is so cool, with a droplet effect. For the part titles I chose a kind of blurry, hazy font because this story is about perception of reality and the loss of it. The chapter titles of the first part are solid, then they're altered in the following parts, to symbolize a slipping grasp on reality as time goes on.

I put headers and bottom-of-page numbers this time, which forced me to figure new things out in LibreOffice and do some maths 💪

The image of a lighthouse also changes in the three parts of the story. If you've read this fic, you know why.

Little wave as a divider.

Making the book:

I hadn't made a big book (printed at the A5 format) in a while and it felt amazing going back to that. It stretched my maths muscles. It's relaxing to do a book and not have to fight for every millimeter, like with small books. It's a more forgiving format.

Trimming went amazingly this time, I'm finding my footing slowly.

I had to sandpaper the edges to color them silver. I don't mind working with sandpaper, but it's quite brutal on the book, and wouldn't do it every time.

The edge painting was made with a silver marker, so I knew it wouldn't be perfect, but it looks good enough and doesn't peel away.

My corners are improving! They look almost perfectly square.

In reaction to the last bind I made, I augmented the overhang (still don't know if that's the word) between the edge of the covers and the edge of the textblock. From 3mm to 5mm. I'm very happy with this, it looks much better!

It's rare that I'm disappointed in a fabric, so I'll highlight here that I don't like this endpaper. It's pretty, but it's a sort of glossy magazine paper that didn't react to glue so well.

Overall, I love this book and this story deeply. I think it may be my best work technically so far.

Fonts: Rained (title), Moonrising (author name), Louis George Cafe (text), Brightness, Brightness Book and Brightness inverted (chapter titles), Snorter (part titles). Materials: 2mm grey board, 80g/m² ivory Clairfontaine A4 paper, synthetic ribbon and headbands (found on amazon), black and blue cloth and endpaper from Schmedt, silver non-textile ribbon (bought in craft store).

Feel free to ask me more about materialsand fonts (or whatever), it won’t bother me at all to tell you what I used, but I’m too lazy rn to write it in this post that’s long enough already.

[bunnycat4]

hobby ideas!

these are some fun ideas of things to do. I would like to do a little reminder at the beginning that if you want to start doing anything, or want to try something, that it doesn't mean you have to like it. you are allowed to try to pick up a hobby, but then decide it's not for you, and you don't want to do it anymore. then you can drop it! that's all cool! and that, it's something I often find, that if I'm not as good at something as people I see, I feel as though I don't deserve to do it- if that makes sense. [I think it's called imposter syndrome. unsure.] but that's not true! and we have to remind ourselves that something we do for fun needn't carry any pressure to it. there is no need to get to a certain level or certain achievement in anything if you don't want to. there aren't rules to enjoying anything! so, if you're bored or want something to do. I make a list of potential

the list starts with things I do, and then I will go through activities I may not actively participate in

of course the first thing I will say is beading. I love beading and if you don't get too excessive with it, it can be quite cheap. I use pony beads, and I like elastic string, but it isn't a necessity. you can get supplies at most dollar shops or art stores I would say. beading is my main interest/hobby, so if you have any questions I am. very enthusiastic and open :]]

review writing is also something you can do. I do it in a notebook or in Google Keep or the Notes app, but I think you can do that anywhere really. you can watch movies or shows or read books and review them on what you think, even analyse it a little if you want. or you can review products if you want. I think it's fun to do, and I pretend I'm telling someone or putting it in the newspaper.

you can also do other types of writing, like poetry or story writing. fanfiction is always an option. vignettes are also a pretty easy thing to do i think. fake news articles. honestly you can write about anything.

origami. im not the best at origami, i can only fold really simple things but all you'd need is paper. If you want to be fancy you can get patterned origami paper in different sizes, but otherwise you can cut anything into a square and fold stuff

fanart forever ✨ i draw a lot of fanart when i cant think of any original stuff to draw. just draw little guys a lot. i find it fun to imagine animal characters as more humanoid.

playing games, either board/card games [i am a board game and card game enthusiast, i would love to talk about them] or online games. it's a fun thing to do and you can get your friends/family involved, or not.

trying recipes is also a fun thing to do. I am notoriously a bad cook but that does not stop me :D I like to try recipes from magazines. This may be a more costly thing to do, check what you have in your cupboard. if you like your neighbours enough you can give them things you make to get on their good side

experiment with makeup. with a cheap eyeliner you can do quite a lot of funky things. try out different styles and shapes, follow tutorials, copy references, etc. if you have sensitive skin you may have to be choosy with what products you buy, and it may take a while to find something that doesn't irritate you. also, would recommend using makeup remover before you go to bed, or whenever you want to take it off

doing your nails. this is another expensive one, i think. nail polish costs a fair bit if you want to get different colours, but its a fun thing to do if your bored. im not sure if the chemicals in nail polish actually matters so i cannot advise on that, but i usually pick up a bottle from the health food store whenever im there.

paint anything. you could paint pictures or buy those things from art stores or bunnings that you can paint. I like painting coasters. you could also paint bottle caps and stick safety pins on the back to make little badges

make/decorate hair clips/pins/headbands. These things are pretty cheap i think, and you might be likely to have some lying around in your home. decorate by sticking stuff on them, like little toys or beads and other things you find

clay. im unsure about the actual price of clay. but you can do quite a few things with it. you can buy airdrying clay from department stores, it takes a couple of days to dry in my experience

loom bands. they are selling them again and they are pretty easy to do. you can spend days on end making them. there are many possibilities

knitting or crocheting. I can actually only french knit but i am learning to crochet. wool 👍 and whatever tools you need

journalling. I'm not sure if that counts as a hobby but i think its good. there are a few different types of journalling and you can find prompts. i have some journalling stuff from my therapist [you do not need to be mentally ill to journal. to clarify.] which i can share if anyone wants? but its fun to talk to yourself and feel more useful for it. just talk about anything

ah, another jewellery making thing. i should have organised this list better. I might redo it later. but you can make woven friendship bracelets by tying little knots and stuff in embroidery thread

you could also do embroidery with said embroidery thread. I dont really remember how to do it anymore but i could ask my friends. Yeah.

paper filigree. I tried this one time and never finished it. probably start by buying a kit. it looks pretty cool

customising clothes, if you have clothes you want to do that with. You could embroider on them or sew little cutouts of fabric on. tie-dye is also something you can do. unsure of how expensive that is.

making pom-poms! you can make them out of wool and a fork and scissors. also stick googly eyes on them to make lil soot sprites :33 which is cute. and hang them on your bags maybe

collaging, maybe. Cut up magazines and stuff, and glue

does going on walks count as a hobby? sometimes i do that when im bored. just walk to a park or a trainstation or anything nearby, or just in a circle. and talk to myself or listen to music or make up stuff about the houses around me, maybe talk to dogs/neighbours.

make flower crowns or clover crowns

make playlists! making playlists is really easy and you can make them for pretty much anything. i make playlists for incredibly specific situations and also for every month of every year. Its a greaaat way to keep track of your mental state as time goes on and ensure you dont get bored of your music. since you'll have loads of playlists. You can also make character playlists and oc playlists and playlists for everyone you know that you'd never show to them.

joining a club is definitely not a hobby but is something you can do for fun. and you get to talk to people which i know gives me a sense of achievement. and you can always drop out after one day 👍

make edits of characters, if that makes sense. like, play songs behind them and cover them in sparkles or something

colouring in, that's a good thing if you dont want to draw. you can buy a colouring book or download and print off of the internet. there are a lot of options in colouring in

gardening as well. you dont necessarily have to plant stuff, you could just weed your garden or pick flowers and put them on your dining table. or you could look after a succulent

do courses on random topics. again, may not be a hobby. but there are places you can do courses for free

reorganising things like your bookshelf, your furniture, your wall, your cupboards

on that topic, decorating your home is also something you can do! Stick things on your walls, line up things you collect. it has the benefit of making you feel more at home and express yourself. I find it calming

sewing stuff. I think this is also more costly if you want to buy patterns. buttt idk.

birdwatching or animal watching in general. you could list what you see or just observe, or even sketch/draw the creatures you find interesting or cool

is plantwatching a word? probably not. but you could walk around and see what little plants you see. and you could get little bits of plants you like and stick them in your journal or press them. you could even keep a plant journal.

nature photography, or photography in general. you could get fancy and use a fancy camera, or really just your phone is surely fine

you could make films maybe. I think that it wouldn't be too difficult to get supplies for that

that's all I've thought of for now! I might add more later, or feel free to add on if you have more ideas! remember that whatever you do, make sure to take breaks every now and again, drink water, eat, go to the bathroom, etc :))

tagging @sleepy-vix because she wanted to be tagged

[swordmouse]

Cosplay ear fins tutorial

I made ear fins for an Eridan cosplay, and a lot of people asked how I made them. I haven’t seen anyone else doing the same method I used, so I thought I’d share.

I started out with some wire. I don’t know the exact gauge off the top of my head, but I don’t think it particularly matters as long as it’s thick enough to hold its shape but thin enough to shape with your hands/pliers. Cutting up a sturdy wire coat hanger would probably give you workable material.

Here are the bases I made. I put some paper over my ears first and sketched a loose outline to get the size I wanted, but I didn’t end up following it too closely. It was mostly a lot of trial and error. I decided on four tines for each ear fin, but you could do a different amount or longer tines if you want. I used round nose and needle nose pliers to shape the wire, but I mostly used my hands and you could probably do this project without pliers if you don’t have them. The ends are curled to avoid stabbing myself in the ear with wire. You want the ear fins to go in front of your ears, and then the wire at the ends loops around the back of your ears to hold them in place. Getting this right took a lot of trying them on and adjusting them, but I eventually got them to where they would stay on without any adhesive but didn’t squeeze my ears too badly.

Next, cut up some old pantyhose/tights to get nylon material. You don't need too much material for this, so sock-style pantyhose would be enough. I happened to have some old tights with holes in them so I just cut out some non-holey pieces. I used black tights since it was the closest I had to gray. You’ll color over these later, but try to get a base shade as close to your desired ear color as possible to make things easier later on. I wouldn’t recommend buying new tights in the exact color you want since that’s expensive and wasteful, so you’ll probably be choosing between black, beige, and maybe white, but just keep in mind that you’ll have to color over it and the coloring method isn't completely opaque. Like, don't use black tights if you want white ears.

Stretch the nylon over the wire bases. I used a roughly square piece of nylon for each ear and folded it in half, then scrunched the excess to pull it tight and used binder clips to hold the material in place. Then use a thread in the color you want the ears to be and sew along the whole open edge of the nylon, anchoring it to the wire frame as shown below. Keep the nylon stretched tight over the tines while sewing so it has those divots in between tines. Cut off excess material and sew the raw edges down.

Try the ears on again and adjust as needed.

Paint the fabric with Mod Podge (I used matte but I think other finishes would work too.) Take extra care to spread the Mod Podge around the sewn edges to really glue things in place. Wait for the Mod Podge to dry on the nylon. This creates a hard, chalkboard-like surface that you can color on, but keeps some of the transparency of the nylon. I used a combination of chalk, pastels, and eyeshadow powder to color the ears. If you’re going for ears that match your skin tone, foundation powder would probably work. I was just using whatever art supplies I had around, but any powdery pigment should do the job.

I started with white chalk all over the surface to lighten the black color into grey. Then I used white pastel to make highlight lines on the top of each tine and black pastel to make shadow lines below each tine. This added some definition and made the tines look more three dimensional. I filled the spaces between tines with some purple pastel, which I blended into the grey shade with my finger. I then put a layer of shimmery purple eyeshadow over it to give it a nice sheen.

Once you’re done coloring the ears, seal the whole thing with some hairspray and you’re ready to go! You could probably also add some earrings to them if that’s the look you’re going for.

Here’s my final result! I was able to wear a mask with them and they were relatively comfortable to wear all day. Let me know if you have any questions and if you try this tutorial, definitely send me pictures of the results!

[donutz]

Craftycorn x male reader

Request from Wattpad-! Here you go Glcheairs123☆

—☆You are a smiling critter in this, if u want to know which one(but don't know what animal or insect to pick) you could start out as a sheep!

Waking up as early as 4 am, you all need the time to discuss the main activity for the day.

Dogday is the one to discuss that though. Then the workers come in and instruct the topic for today.

Dogday just adds on to it and explains it better. No shame to him though (ﾉ´ з `)ノ

You and Craftycorn collected art supplies and put them on the children’s tables.

“What stickers do you think the kids will like, Crafty?”

“Uhm, maybe rainbow ones? You should give multicolored stickers to each table, so no kids have to fight about which colors…”

“Hm. That’s smart. Thanks.”

“Mhm!”

Little conversations like that can really accentuate your friendship with Crafty. Some could say you two were a good duo. Quiet, good with art, somehow good at small talk.

Anyways, for today’s art activity, the kids were supposed to draw a bear. However they wanted, it could be yellow, pink, they can even just draw Bobby.

It’s the creativity that matters(ai ‘art’ type moment😂).

As you and Crafty were quite the creative bunch, you could help the kids with anything. Ideas, colors, shape, you name it.

“Sheepy!”

“Hm?”

“Should the bear be a square or a circle?”

“... Well what do you want it to be?”

“A square!”

“Then you draw a square shaped bear.”

“Okay!”

Since you and Crafty let kids be creative with art, you two were quite liked. Especially by the older kids who are artists.

They like you two so much they come up to you both to ask about their art, do you like it? “Could you give me some constructive criticism?” or “Could you help me figure out my art style?” Stuff like that.

Art is very important. In every way possible, it expresses your creativity.

Maybe I’m getting off track.

The kids were doing the art activity, and the both of you were speeding around, helping kids who needed it. In fact, you two were going so fast that you crashed into each other!

The kids saw and started laughing. Luckily, neither of you were carrying paint, so there wasn’t really a mess. Other than the many crayons and color pencils spilled on the ground.

Crafty started apologizing so much— you couldn’t even get a word in!!

“Crafty. It’s okay.” You interrupted.

“We both crashed into each other, it’s not your fault.” She raised her eyebrows and stopped rambling.

“Let’s just clean up these art supplies, okay?” She then nodded her head, and stayed silent.

“Also don’t feel sad for me saying that.” She was feeling sad but never mind.

Finally, at least for a second you two could rest.

“I guess handling art supplies can be tiring…” Crafty stated, “Yea, apparently.”

An awkward ‘silence’ filled the air. The younger kids didn’t really make the room seem silent. But it was silent between you two.

“... Crafty, what’s the meaning of art?”

“Oh! Okay. That’s a deep question— uhm…”

“Well I guess it’s a way to express creativity. Visually, emotionally and physically. Like drawings! Emotionally could be through music! Music is art. And then physically? It could be a sport!” You asked that question specifically just to hear her ramble about it.

Crafty is a nerd when it comes to art, mainly visual art but she can talk about other kinds of art too.

You also said it to end the personal silence.

But you were quite impressed by her knowledge. “Crafty, can you show me your art pieces?”

You couldn’t have said anything better to an artist.

Unless if you’re talking about older art pieces then… I’m not sure about that.

But of course, she said yes and rushed you over to her corner.

It has a bunch of colorful papers hung up on the wall, and beautifully colored canvas’.

Other than the beautiful art hung up on the walls, you could see the scrapped and crumbled up pieces of paper on the floor. What an emotionally relatable art piece!

She had drawers that are different colors, they’re color coded. That’s a smart idea, maybe you should do that too with your art. But there was one drawer that wasn’t colored at all. It was just white.

White isn’t a color.

“Since you are very dear to me, I wanted to show you this!” She shows you her very first art she made when she was created.

Now that— makes you VERY special. Appreciate it while you can.

It was a picture of her. She drew herself. No matter if it looked like a 5 year old drew it, it looked fantastic! Every art is beautiful, even if it is drawn by a beginner artist. Especially since people like to negatively judge a beginner’s art, for some reason…

“That’s so cool…” Hearing that from her best friend was a big confidence booster. You could see the sparkles in her eyes, adding onto her wide smile.

“REALLY?! Thanks!! Here, I’ll show you some more—!” Then a kid yelled out Crafty’s name, not giving her a chance to show you her cool art.

“Oh…” Then she had a small frown on her face.

You put your hoof(because you’re a sheep in this) on her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, I can look at your really good art later. I’ll bring it up myself, no worries.” You reassured.

The stars in her eyes came back, “Okay!” Then you two rushed over to the kids to help them out with the activity.

By the time the kids were at lunch, now Crafty can show you her art.

You two went through every. Single. Piece. Crafty didn’t get tired of it one bit though.

[braisedhoney]

please tell me about the pigments i would love nothing more than to hear you talk about that one shade of red you like and the process it took too recreate it

... oh, op. you have no idea what you've unleashed.

alright. here we go.

OKAY SO THE RED PIGMENT. pr206. my beloved. my dearest friend. it was an absolute bastard to find because there are so many of these. however many you think there are, there are MORE, and that's only if you don't count the many many scenarios where colors are known to be multi-pigment mixes, usually varying in tone/shade/intensity depending on the brand and manufacturing style. some colors are more consistent than others, but there are situations where a color can be named the same and contain the same pigments and STILL look wildly different depending on the ratio, binder, and paper you use. and that's not accounting for the way the pigment is processed. some pigments (like pv19 for example) can come in so many shades it's frankly kind of ridiculous.

anyway, my quest begins when i am, admittedly, in an edgier phase. i want a blood red, but not specifically because of that—no, i want it because it is THE IDEAL COLOR (to me) for a perfect, warm, slightly muted but still intense shade to add to a muted autumn watercolor palette. and... if you look at my whole theme, you probably know how much i love warm colors. i want to paint mushrooms. i want to dim down some of the brighter greens to make them autumnal. i want the perfect red to put as an undertone.

the search starts in earnest.

the immediate issue is this: reds (and purples and pinks) have horrifically bad lightfastness. not all of them, mind, but many are NOTORIOUS for fading under uv light, which means they will also fade if exposed to sunlight even in passing should it happen often enough. and—in especially bad cases where they're essentially working with dye and not pigment—they can even fade inside your notebook. inside of a drawer.

so not only are we working with an unfortunate pigment base (i'm simplifying here, there's way more nuance to this but shh) but we are working with one that skews heavily toward floral pinks or oranges. the red i'm searching for is warm, but not orange. dries dark but not brown. is transparent, not opaque. that last part is agonizing, because i also desperately do not want a color that will fade on me or generally destabilize, and most of the stable dark red pigments are EARTH pigments like red ochre (pr101) or the like. which, while fascinating because of their historical usage in things like pottery and even cave paintings that last to the modern day, are VERY OPAQUE. this is an issue with my preferred style of watercolor painting specifically, because opaque pigments tend to lift easier off the page and limit layering.

the search continues. pigment after pigment breaks my heart for one reason or another, drying too close to the cooler purpleish-red tint of wine at best. i think i find it in perylene maroon, but the drying shift (the difference between how a color looks wet vs after it dries on the paper) is so extreme that it loses the luminosity AND it's more opaque than most. i languish.

for a while my search turns to creation. i try and mix as many of my single pigment colors as i can into something that vaguely resembles what i'm looking for—so i take quinacridones and mix them with napthols, with nickel azos, with dashes of ultramarines and burnt sienna. everything turns out either just a bit too opaque, just a bit too muddy (that happens with multi-pigment mixtures, and is why so many people swear by single pigment colors. it's personal preference, really, great art can be made either way.)

still, nothing works. failure haunts me. i sit before a pile of used up watercolor paper that is literally covered edge to edge in nothing but similar red squares with various gradients and blooms as evidence of when i tried and failed to convince myself my efforts were close enough. i admit defeat.

in the meantime i shift my focus. i try and appreciate different color palettes and profiles, experimenting with things like fully transparent palettes (personal favroite) to fully opaque ones that function more like gouache. but despite finding appreciation for it, i still think about the damn red that i could never recreate. it kills me.

and then one day, a youtube video. a pigment is being discontinued, and the watercolor community is distressed. this happens a lot, because pigments are actually not always popular because of artists—sometimes beloved colors are put out of production because larger markets like car companies no longer find them popular enough to invest in. this time, the casualty is pr206, aka brown madder, aka quinacridone burnt scarlet.

let me tell you a little about quinacridones. they are genuinely remarkable colors. they have their own cult followings because of how bright and abnormally stable they are under uv light. they're transparent. they're luminous. they come in mostly shades of red and pink and purple, though there are a couple oranges and yellows in there. (there are no quinacridone blues, as far as i'm aware, but the phthalo blues have that category covered.) they also rewet beautifully, so you can put them on your palette and let them dry and not worry about it turning into a useless little rock of color that you can't get any pigment from anymore.

quinacridone magenta (pr122) is probably the most popular of these, the most often used besides maybe quinacridone violet (pv19). a few years prior we suffered the loss of quinacridone gold (po49) and since then people have been On Alert when it comes to losing these colors. i am one of them, because i never got the chance to even see po49 in person, and now the tubes are so stupid expensive that even the student grade versions go for Ridiculously High Prices on ebay, and the professional brands are being hoarded like (ironically) gold by anyone lucky enough to have a tube left over.

but back to our main character. not me, the pigment. pr206. i have legitimately never heard of this one, which to be fair is probably because i try to limit the random colors i fixate on since the hobby can easily get VERY expensive if you aren't careful. but it's a quinacridone, and that catches my eye.

i open the video.

now, i'm sure any artist out there will be familiar with the fact that screens don't display color consistently. it depends on your device, but most can agree that something that looks cooler on one may be warmer on the other, it's just what happens. but i see this color being swatched, and my brain implodes.

it's almost a perfect match.

it could work. it could. years of thinking that same thought have left me bereft and mistrustful of this specific quest marker, but the thought refuses to leave me. probably because the 'discontinued' label flashes like a neon sign.

i resist for about six months, and then i cave. at this point i have genuinely been trying and failing to find this color for upwards of five years. i am desperate, and the color might not be available anymore soon anyway, and apparently i am weak to sales pitches. (note: the color IS now unavailable in some brands, but others bought a decent supply and should have it available for at least a little while, alongside po48 which is quinacridone burnt orange, a favorite of mine and probably one of the only oranges i use regularly. both are discontinued officially, but they'll still be on sale till those supplies run dry.)

the color arrives. i grab my favorite brush. i pull out my stash of paper that i save for special occasions.

it's almost perfect.

i mix it with quinacridone burnt orange.

the result is, i swear, a perfect match for what i have been searching for.

it's warm. it dries dark but not dark enough to look brown. it keeps its luminosity (thank you quinacridones). it's fully transparent (thank you quinacridones). i genuinely feel the urge to weep, but i don't because i am clinging at last to the dredges of my sanity and also salt makes watercolor pigments behave differently and i will not risk this glorious moment. finally, after all these years, bill cipher has a gun i found the goddamn COLOR.

i mix it with warm yellows and with my favorite blues. with the pinks, just to laugh. life is beautiful and i am painting its sunsets, and i do not care if they look ridiculously messy. i have won.

the moral of the story is to never give up. or maybe it's to remember you never actually know everything about even the fields you love the most, because this color totally blindsided me despite being much more common than i expected. or maybe it's that i seriously needed to chill out for a while.

but yes. that is the tale of one (1) of the colors that has taken up residence in my soul. i hope you don't regret asking now lmao.

[fernifox]

I made a box! >:)

It won me judges choice in a cosplay masquerade,,,, hit them in the feelings you know?

How I did it under the cut

First things first! I cut out 0.5cm EVA foam squares that were roughly 11 inches on each side (I used paper as a template just to make sure I get a proper right angle). It makes a decent sized box but not too big to carry around (the actual box from the episode of sabo is a little bit more rectangular but I wanted to make it easier on myself). I couldn’t find my heat gun at the time so I just flattened it out with an iron (Put some parchment paper in between to reduce the risk of leaving iron marks on it). It’s probably easier to iron it flat anyways, also be sure to put something flat and heavy over it so it will actually stay flat (I used this glass clay/cutting mat I have).

Next I sketched out where each board would. I chose to divide it into 6 boards wide (each board was roughly 2 inches, last board was a little thinner but you wouldn’t notice looking at it). There are two boards with a cross and two that are just bordered. Then you’ll want to take an exacto knife and cut semi deep cuts along each board (not all the way through!). Then a little lighter you’ll add the wood grain marks (don’t be me and forget to sharpen your knife while cutting them, if it doesn’t cut the top layer your marks will disappear when you hit it with the heat gun). They don’t have to be perfect, just simple flowy lines with the occasional tree knot.

On the other side you’ll want to figure out how you want to put your box together, the front and back pieces are the cross pieces, make sure the boarders are on the top and bottom (neater panels on the most visible sides). Your left and right pieces will have the boarders on the sides and the top piece and bottom piece will have the boarders touching the front and back pieces. The top piece and all of the edges touching it will not be cut. On the side pieces and bottom pieces you will need to measure and mark about 0.5cm away from the edge and trim it away and an angle, so when you assemble the box they’ll fit together nicely (once again do not cut away the top edges because that’s where you’ll put the hinge and Velcro so you can open it and store stuff inside!). Once you’re done you can use a heat gun on the wood grain to open the cuts so it’ll define each board and groove. Lastly you’ll sand down the pieces so the paint and glue will stick (also so you can smoothen out the edge cuts if you aren’t good at cutting angles like me).

When I glued it I used a cement glue to make it a bit sturdier and cleaner than hot glue would be and then I filled in all of the seams (on the inside and outside) with some cosplay foam clay. I decided I wanted to make it a little bit sturdier so I took a bunch of popsicle sticks I happened to have laying around and glued them together to make a frame around the inside edges of the box and then glued it in. Once the foam clay was dry I sanded down it a little to make it smoother and so paint would stick to it.

I didn’t take a picture of this but I preemptively cut slits into the back of the box where the straps would go in. I used some basic nylon straps that I got and cut them in half so they were a good length to use as backpack straps. I tried to mark where I cut on the image below. If you cut in the board seams then it makes a kind of invisible hole to slip the straps in later (try fitting the straps in now just to make sure it is the right size, this will hopefully reduce damage to the paint later).

When I started painting I painted the inside a solid brown color just so you wouldn’t just see white when you open it (you don’t have to get fancy with it tho). On the outside I mixed up a lighter brown color and placed it as the base, then I went back and mixed in darker shades of brown and some lighter shades of yellows brown to add onto the texture of the wood. It took me an entire day to do and I’m glad I didn’t run out of paint (every side is painted with texture, even the bottom).

Once I was done painting I decided that in order to help strengthen the straps I wanted to add to the box I cut of some foam bits to stick on the ends of them (that way if the glue on the straps fail then the foam bits would keep the straps in the box) and I painted them a solid brown so they wouldn’t be too visible on the box. Then I sprayed the painted box with a clear glaze that way it’d make the paint on the box sturdier (less scratching) and so it wouldn’t stick to stuff and rip off. I let the glaze dry overnight (going to continue this in a reblog because I ran out of images).

Here’s the link to the full post

[junebug-is-on-jupiter]

Merry Christmas, My Love | Jake Kiszka

Merry Christmas Eve for all who celebrate/Happy Holidays to everyone! Thought I would post a little christmas coziness with Jake to mark the occasion.

Warnings: None, all christmas fluff!

Word count: 1.4k

Playlist: 

The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) - Nat King Cole

"Jake," I hummed, shaking my boyfriend's shoulder as I lay in bed, just having woken up. Jake groaned but simply rolled over, dragging the majority of our grey comforter with him.

"You can sleep in on any other day of the year, it's Christmas morning!!" I insisted. "Santa came!" I added when he just grunted again.

"Santa isn't real," he argued from where his head was buried in a pillow.

"Okay, that's rude. “I huffed. He just gave a lazy grin in response, eyes still closed. “Fine, I guess I'll just have to open gifts on my own because there is no way I'm waiting on your lazy ass," I said, flinging the small amount of blankets I had left off of me and pulling on a sweater of Jake's that was carelessly strewn on the dresser.

"Well hold on," Jake insisted, his head popping out of the mound of blankets. "Just give me a minute, it's probably like 6 am," he complained.

"It's 9 o'clock," I laughed, turning the clock to face him for proof.

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes before his head disappeared again.

"You are... unbelievable." I grinned and shook my head. If he couldn't get up, then I would carry on without him. He would join me eventually. I made my way to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee, peppermint bark flavored, as well as pulled out some bagels to toast. As the scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted its way around the house, I heard some banging from the bedroom and a curse followed swiftly after.

"You okay?" I called, my eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Yeah, this dresser fucking attacked me." he yelled back.

I smiled, "Wow, well tell it to stop or it's gone in the next yard sale. No hostile furniture in this house."

"Hear that you bloody piece of wood?" I heard him ask the inanimate object.

After I had plated the bagels and placed both them and two mugs of coffee in the living room, Jake padded down the hall and stopped in the doorway. "Hey, come take a look at this." he called me over, leaning in to look at the door frame until his face was nearly touching the paint.

"What's up?" I asked, coming over to stand in front of him.

"It's right there," he said pointing to a spot on the wood.

"I really don't see-" He cut me off by standing up straight, grabbing me around the waist, and pulling me in flush to him. My arms when up to his to grab for balance.

"There's nothing on the wall," he said simply.

I raised my eyebrows, "Oh really?" I asked sarcastically.

"Unfortunately not, but there is something above us. What's this? Looks like mistletoe" he asked, looking up. The sprig of mistletoe I had put up two weeks ago and forgotten about loomed over us.

"Real slick," I assured him.

"I try to be," He slid his hands up to the back of my neck and gently pulled me in. The kiss was slow, it was a quiet morning and the soft fall of snow. It was perfect.

He pulled away after a moment, "Now what were you going on about presents?" He asked.

I smirked, "Well since you asked, I want you to open yours first. I've been waiting months without telling you, but I'm about to just blurt it out if you don't just open it." I insisted, pulling him to the couch where he sat, and I dug under the tree for his gift.

"Okay, now I'm nervous," he murmured.

"Me too, I hope you like it." I said, finding it and handing it to him.

It was a thin, square package, obviously a record or two, but I had sandwiched something between them as a surprise.

"Hmmm what could it be?" He teased, taking it from me as I sat down on the couch next to him.

"Open it and find out," I said. So he did, ripping off the paper and tossing it to the floor.

"The Nat King Cole Story? No way, that's awesome. It has all our songs on it." He said picking up the first vinyl and flipping it over to see the back with the list of songs.

"Thank you. I love it," he said, putting the gift down to wrap his arms around me in a hug and kissing the side of my face.

"You're welcome, keep going." I urged.

"Okay okay." he laughed, turning back to his gift.

He placed the vinyl on the coffee table and went back to his treasures. On top of the next vinyl was a printed receipt for a hotel as well as two plane tickets.

"What's this?" He asked, picking them up to inspect them.

"Well, we just loved Australia so much, and we talk about it all the time, yet we didn't get to do all the things we wanted to with your touring schedule and me having to leave early, so I took a look at your calendar and saw you had a break in the spring. So I got to thinking and I got us tickets to go back to Australia, but this time, just us two and entirely for fun. I mean, if you want to that is..." I waited for an answer, but he just stared at the tickets in his hand. "I got insurance just in case you don't want to go and it was really just an idea." I rambled getting nervous.

"Absolutely not," he responded, his head whipping up to look at me. "We are going on this trip, are you kidding? This is like the best gift ever!" He said dropping the papers on his lap as he tackled me back to the couch. He squeezed me tight and said thank you over and over as I laughed and told him he was welcome.

"I can't breathe," I whispered finally after he had calmed down.

"Oh sorry," He apologized, pushing himself back up and reaching back to pull me up by my outstretched hands.

"So I take it that you like it?" I asked, wanting to make sure before I got my heart set on Australia.

"I love it. Thank you so much." He smiled at me.

"Good, one more thing," I said pointing to the last vinyl that got thrown to the coffee table in his rush to thank me.

"Oh right," he said picking it up and pulling off the rest of the paper.

"Arctic Monkeys," he read aloud. "I love them," He said, flipping it over to take a look at the back. "Thank you." He said, placing it on the coffee table with the rest and getting up. "Your turn," He said giddily.

"Oohh," I giggled, reaching for the wrapped gift he handed me after a moment.

"I don't know it you'll like it, but they seemed like you and I just couldn't resist," he explained as I tore away the paper.

It was a shoe box and when I flipped up the lip, the most glorious satin, multicolored boots stared back at me. "Shut up!" I exclaimed, picking the top boot up and feeling the smooth texture. "I love them! Thank you so much, Jake. They are perfect." I said putting it down and it was my turn to tackle him.

He simply laughed but quickly pulled away. "That's not all." He said getting back up.

"What?" I asked, wondering what else it could be.

"Here," he said sitting down and handing me a small wrapped box. I pulled off the wrapping and saw that it was a jewelry box.

I opened it to find a delicate oval locket inside with an intricate floral design etched into the face.

"Open it." He urged.

I undid the clasp and opened it to find a picture of Jake and me from our one-year anniversary a few months ago, taken in front of our favorite restaurant in Nashville as we smiled into a kiss.

On the other side was an aging white petal tucked into the metal.

"What is the flower from?" I asked, my finger ghosting over the side of the necklace.

"It's a petal I saved from our first date. That was when I knew you were the one so I saved some mementos." He shrugged.

"Jake..." I trailed off, at a loss for words. "That's so sweet," I said, my voice cracking from emotion. "Help me put it on?" I asked, standing up and holding out the necklace.

He stood up and took it, so I turned around and gathered my hair so he could see. His fingers were butterfly wings on the back of my neck. After he had clasped it, his arms found their way up around my shoulders and pulled me back to lean on him. We were facing the window and watched the snow start to slow its descent, but still leaving the ground covered in a fine layer of white fluff.

"Do you like it?" He asked.

"I love it," mimicking his answer from earlier. "Thank you".

"You're welcome, I'm glad you like it," he answered.

"I really do, Merry Christmas Jake." I told him.

"Merry Christmas, my love," Jake said back.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Research Story

[ID: The banner of the game research story, drawn in anime style. It shows a person next to the game's title, looking at a yellow flower through a magnifying glass, papers in hand and a black cat with a sprout on its head on their shoulder. End ID]

You move into the cozy little village Shimmerbrook as a researcher. Unlike in other farming sims, that means you don't purchase seeds/animals, you have to pick up a plant/animal/fish part, start researching, observe, learn how to forage seeds and how to tame the creatures, then grow the plants and bond with the creatures by fulfilling their needs.

Once it likes you, every creature has a different perk, from giving you bonus seeds when foraging plants, over finding mushrooms, over automatically fertilizing soil when planting seeds, over finding treasure, over…

[ID: A screenshot of the game. The artstyle is pixel graphics, the colors are muted because it's after nightfall. The player character, with pink hair and yellow and pink clothes, walks across a meadow towards a house looking like a giant tree stump. A chicken, a rabbit, and a fox are following them. End ID ]

Different plants/creatures appear depending on weather, location, season & time of day. Some plants only grow next to water, some fish only appear in caves at night. All creatures have multiple possible traits, for example needing a buddy to be happy, and some being sheltered by a nearby tree. The more things you research, the more your rank increases, unlocking more things - like weekly fetch quests for villagers.

There's:

Research (d'uh)

Farming

Fishing

Mining

Crafting

Decorating

Festivals

Dating

Looking at it objectively, no feature is extremely deep (though I believe some will be expanded before 1.0). There's only a limited selection of decor items, no farm buildings, different requirements make large-scale farming tedious, and the fishing minigame is very simple. Dating is still getting expanded (no marriage yet), and crafting is rather limited, mostly things you need for research like different kinds of feed, bait, soil, and crafting stations. There's no cooking yet other than throwing a few basic items into a campfire to get a roasted version, and only a few equippable items as rewards.

[ID: The same player character stands in a small, square house against a black background. The house is furnished with a bed, a bedside table, a desk with a pot of pink flowers on top, a painting, a pale yellow rug, and several wooden chests. End ID]

But, at least for me, it all fits together incredibly well if you accept the research part as the main goal. There's just enough of a carrot on a stick I want to keep playing.

Shortly after release, I already put about 25 hours in and didn't even reach the first year's fall. That was before a lot of the content updates, so there's definitely enough to do for the price tag. I want to earn more money because I want to buy some furniture, and I need those recipes because and I want more sprinklers, and oh my, I forgot upgrading the scythe gives a chance of getting insects, I need insects, so I need more ore, two more days and my research is done, oh yay I reached the next mine level and can finally get sand, and why is it 2am?

Now to be fair, the gameplay loop is - as so often in those kinds of games - rather repetitive. Feed animals, water plants, forage whatever grows today, fish and mine, talk to some people, day's over. Especially feeding the creatures is tedious at the start, since some food items are rare, you have to hand-craft the food, and each pen only holds 2 servings.

But later, there's sprinklers, and feed crafting stations, and autofeeders, and also - creatures don't die. If you don't need the creature's perk, you can just ignore it (Sorry, Rock Salamander!)

[ID: A screenshot of the town in the game, showing 4 different houses to both sides of a river. Two are built out of wood, one being a tavern, the other a potion ship with a small garden in front, and two are built out of stone, one with a forge, the other with masonry tools in front. The player character stands next to the river, fishing. End ID]

As for the game world, it's incredibly cute and the artstyle is minimalist but adorable. The town itself is by far the highlight - other areas have a bit much open/empty space. Speaking of maps, the mini map is great: not only does it show you the opening hours of each store, once you befriend people to a certain level, you can also see their position on the map.

In general, this game has so many convenient features. Excellent auto-stacking and quick transfer into chests. A bell tool to send creatures back into their pens. You can adjust the length of day and amount of energy in the settings (at the moment with no achievement penalty, though there might be one in the future requiring to play with default settings). Energy itself is on the lower side, but you're supposed to use food, not hoard it like a little raccoon as I do. Oh, and - you can save anytime, anywhere. Yay!

[ID: A screenshot showing the dialogue window of the character Teagan in their potion shop decorated with purple furniture, shelves with potions, and various potted plants as well as a big cauldron. The portrait is drawn in anime style. They have pale skin, long, pale pink hair with blonde tips and are wearing purple clothes and a headband with feathers and a bird skull. They ask: What can I do for you? End ID]

The controller support (and, therefore, the steam deck support) is great. Everything works, and what little hiccups there are I expect to be gone by the time it leaves early access. Cloud save between the deck and a pc work as well. The only thing missing is the 1200x800 resolution, which is really no good reason for an "unsupported" label.

I really love this game. Sometimes I don't want to build a farming empire. Sometimes I just wanna crawl in the dirt while watching a little bunny poop so I can pick up the droppings and figure out what it eats.

[ltwilliammowett]

The Christmas Tree aboard the Anna

One account of the use of the Christmas tree by sailors comes from Captain Fred K. Klebingat, a Cape Horn sailor and captain of the early 1900s. He also wrote a book called Christmas At Sea (1974) and he describes in detail how his watch made a Christmas tree in 1906 aboard the four-masted barque Anna, far from home in the South Atlantic: “We ought to celebrate Christmas right, and make a Christmas tree," said Carl Schroeder, Top Dog, and the oldest sailor of the port fo'c'sle... Carl was more than willing; the Christmas spirit had gripped him too. He immediately set to work building a first-rate base, handing me a piece of pine about two inches square and about three feet long. "Take an axe", he said, "and plane this piece a little". Next we picked out a piece of straight grained soft pine that was about a metre long. We split it into fine pieces and now notched the edges of these splinters so that they looked like pine needles....   We got some green paint, diluted it with turpentine and painted the branches. Now we put the tree together. Carl cut out a beautiful star from a margarine can and we put it on top. At that time everyone knew how to cut out chains from paper, we did that too. We made pretty little baskets out of the silver-coated wrappers of our tobacco packets. Since we didn't have nuts to put in them, we used iron nuts. "We should also put biscuits on the tree," someone said. "I have them," replied another. "We can cut them out of this piece of yellow laundry soap. For the sugar, we can crush some rock salt from the salt barrel..."   ...About a day after Christmas, one of the men from the starboard watch was lying in his bunk on his watch below deck. The more he looked at the tree and the biscuits, the more he wanted one. Being on the starboard watch, he didn't know that we had cut them out of laundry soap and sprinkled them with rock salt "sugar". "They won't miss anyone," he thought. He looked around; his comrades seemed to be fast asleep. He loosened a "biscuit" and stuffed it in his mouth - and what a reaction! He choked and sputtered and spat and jumped out of his bunk and rushed to the fresh water bucket and cursed and cursed, and what he had to say about the port watch was nobody's business, and the names he gave them are not to be found in any dictionary. We all had a good laugh at this outcome of our Christmas party! And the remaining biscuits hung on the tree into the New Year.

[rubykgrant]

Hey, I can put all my pin-up pictures in one post now!

I spent a couple of weeks drawing these, sometimes trying multiple poses until finally they looked right, and then I had to travel to scan the pictures... and the scanner was really wonky. It washed out certain colors, while over-saturating others. It was just really weird. So, the only solution was to try to edit and fix the scanned images on my computer, and since I only have MS Paint with no layers, this was a challenge. I basically had to add the colors, then go over my lines so they would be clear, and finally erase around the edges. It took another few days to fix them all, but I did it!

(some descriptions for each character design below)

Church gave me the most trouble… and why wouldn’t he? This CHURCH, after all. He lives to be difficult. I knew I wanted him to have the “mud-flap babe pose”, but I kept messing up his face, and didn’t realize how bad I messed up until after I inked and colored it in… at one point, I tried to re-draw the face and cut out the one that didn’t work, and paste the two pieces of paper together. It wasn’t worker, so I finally just traced over my own lines, did the face all over again, and he looked half-way decent. SO, I’m done with Church! Look at that smug expression, he knows he’s a jerk. Seriously though, I love how he turned out!

When it comes to his design, I have my whole RVB story-line with a scenario in which Church and Tex get to come back with synthetic human bodies (specifically, when the Epsilon AI was deconstructed, all of the data from his memories WENT somewhere; it was downloaded back into the original AI units, which weren’t “dead” after the EMP, just deactivated. revived by Epsilon’s data, all the AI were able to reactivate, including Alpha! now HE is the one who is carrying on with the memories another part of him left behind… whoops, that’s sad, but don’t worry! he now also has the chance to feel better~). His was based on the DNA of the Director, but he’s not a clone, exactly. There’s a similarity for sure, but they’d probably look more like brothers. Church is considerably shorter, and even when he was “fresh out of the oven”, he’s more chunky too. As time goes on and he’s able to eat REAL FOOD, Church gets nice and chubby. He also wanted to be strong enough to actually pick Tex up, so that was his whole motivation for muscles. He has fairly long hair at first, and later cuts and styles it to this (imagine it feels like a silky-soft hedgehog). He wound up with some face-fuzz, and wasn’t sure of he should keep it or not… he doesn’t want to seem like he intentionally looks like the Director, but also? If he tries to avoid looking like him on purpose, he’s still letting that dude influence his decisions. Church finally asked Carolina (only fair, because she has to look at him), and she said it kinda suits him, especially since he has a squared jaw. So, the face-fuzz stayed~

*

The first rule of face-designs for RVB characters; Tucker is the prettiest. This is law. He definitely is really into the whole romantic-pose thing, so he’s both flirty and totally relaxed. “Yeah, I know, you want me. Don’t worry, plenty of Tucker for everybody!”. I like imagining his features as being a little aquiline, but still soft (he’s one of those people who looks about 10 years younger than he actually is, and even when he’s an old man, he’ll barely look 40).

He is indeed a manlet short king, thank you very much. He wasn’t always so muscular, but after training with Wash, Tucker has some definition going on (glorious calves, after all). I think the main thing with him that I keep in mind, is; yeah, in the beginning, he definitely wasn’t an “ideal fighter”, but he’s proven to not only be capable, but FANTASTIC… and it isn’t just about fighting. It isn’t just flirting, either. Tucker genuinely has so much depth, and a thoughtful side that makes him really care about people. So, even when I draw him looking strong, or confident, I want him to have a gentle touch in there~

*

When I thought about what kinda pose I wanted for Tex, I knew she had to be FLEXING, obviously. For the rest of the body, I used reference for some drawings I did many years ago in a Human Figure class, with models who posed while we sketched. I always liked the way this one sketch I did showed the line in the back follow all the way down the leg, so I elaborated on this for Tex. I really wanted something to show the full body, and standing up so you get the feel for how imposing/intimidating she is. I think she’d approve~

Like Church, I imagined a scenario in which she gets to return in a synthetic human body, hers being based on the DNA of Allison (rather than turning out identical, they simply share similarities). Ironically, Tex looks more like Carolina than Allison did (I like to think Carolina takes after a great-grandmother on her mom’s side, and Tex just kinda wound up inheriting those traits in her new body, too). Tex is very TALL, and once she was able to, she was determined to get BUFF. Tex is a built like a brick house, heck yeah!

*

I wanted to do another full-standing pose for Caboose to really show how tall he is. For a while, I wasn’t sure what to do with his hands... like, him holding them up over his head didn’t seem to work, on his hips didn’t look right... finally, I sketched them clasped behind his back, and it was perfect! Nice and casual, but also really cute. It also show’s off his arms REALLY good~

Like a lot of people, I imagine Caboose as being BIG. It just kinda fits with how strong he is, and since I made Tucker and Church both tiny, Caboose can totally life them both up on his shoulders! Little boy blue? Nah, big boy blue! Sarge is tiny too, so I love the idea of him standing next to Caboose, who is his favorite Blue (Caboose is son-boy). Caboose is also pretty comfortable with himself, so I just wanted him to calm and happy. He deserves it~

*

We never got a good look at Wash back in Project Freelancer, but at some point, somebody came up with blonde-freckle-man, and a lot of us latched onto it. I am no exception… and I really went all-out with his freckles! It was once mentioned that he grew a beard, so I decided to keep that. It is a little more full and fluffy than I usually draw it, but hey- maybe he’s growing it out a bit. That foot ticked me off, but whatever, I’m done with it. Also, yes; I gave him a catboy pose~

I imagine Wash also being tall, and fairly lean. Certainly athletic, but also agile. The dude has also been all over the map in terms of his character arc; Freelancer Dork, Mr Serious Recovery One, Villain Guy, Church Impersonator, and finally- a dork yet again, but now he’s more comfortable to be one! After living with the Reds and Blues, he’s found a way to sort of… not feel awkward about being awkward? It makes sense when you know this group. Also, I’m not sure how much I would elaborate on it in my story-line… but I kinda lean toward trans Wash~

* 

Kai was actually the first one I did (originally, the only one... but then I kept going haha). I had this specific pose in mind for her that I thought was really cute. Somehow, the sketch turned out alright on the first try, and after I added all the ink and color, it was still good! The process I used to draw her was repeated for each picture; pencil sketch, then go over the lines I like with this one almost-dry brown marker (honestly, it looks like drawing with charcoal, but thankfully it WORKS like a felt pen. charcoal is so tricky), erase unneeded pencil lines, add more defined lines with the colors I want to use for the character (for Kai, this one goldenrod pen I have), and continue with the details, mixing different pens and colored pencils for the shading. It was a WHOLE thing.

I love how her pose turned out, she really looks like she has actual form. I wanted to express the fact that she is beautiful, and she’s also chubby with stretch-marks, thank you very much. I also imagine she and her bro have like... very fine body hair that you can barely see (seriously, they have baby hair on their arms and legs). As for the hair on her head, man- I LOVE drawing hair, and hers is so pretty! I like how it almost looks like gold~

*

Sweet Caroline, bah-bah-bah! She’s one of the few characters who shows us her face, so I know what she looks like, but I still wanted to play around with my design of her. I decided short hair works for her (and although I’m just using the aqua-blue here, I imagine that she starts dying it a darker red). She’s usually very tense and tough, so I wanted to let he show a slightly more dainty side with the pose. When I finally figured out how to make legs sort of over-lap in different ways, I started having fun doing poses like this. You can still see her impressive arm muscles, though~

Carolina has definitely taken some battle-damage over the years, with a few scars here and there… also, I think she just doesn’t care about shaving, so enjoy the leg hair! She was arguably the easiest to draw. Thank you for that, Carolina~

*

I struggled with this pose for quite a while… my fault for deciding on something difficult, but come on! I had to go with a push-up. Also, a one-handed push-up at that, because Sarge has to show off. I actually showed my mom all these pictures as I finished them (and she cracked me up, she’d say “That’s a very cute naked person, honey. Now, go color another one” like I’m drawing unicorns or something haha). When she saw Sarge, she said “He looks like a big silver back gorilla”, and she had no idea how ironic and hilarious that actually is.

I imagine Sarge being the shortest of the group, very beefy and very boxy. He’s also got the most body hair of the group. Plenty of scars as well (the ones on his knuckles are from punching so hard while wearing older armor, his hands would get scraped on the inside. newer armor has better padding). I wanted his face to look smug, like he’s saying “Yes, I know you’re looking at me, I can’t blame you”. As you can see, he doesn’t have much of a butt… and what is there is a tight little brick haha~

*

Grif obviously needed to have a very chill pose, so he’s kicked-back, relaxing with his legs crossed, and arms folded behind his head. I’m so happy I’ve gotten better at drawing soft mass, because fat characters are beautiful (and as a chubby person myself, I want to do different body-types justice). Grif is indeed a big guy, and although he’s very calm here, I hope you can kinda tell he’s got some strength in that body too.

Like Simmons’ prosthetics, I wanted Grif’s limbs with the skin-grafts to be clear and easy to see. Over the years, his body has sort of “absorbed” the organic tissue Simmons donated, so Grif has evened-out (though you can kinda tell, his lighter foot doesn’t quite match the one he “grew” himself, but he’s not as lop-sided as when the surgery first happened.) Just like Kai, I loved doing the curls in his wavy hair~

*

Donut was the second one I made after Kai, because he pretty much took over my brain and DEMANDED to be drawn in a pin-up pose. What kind of pose was easy enough to figure out (imagine him spread out on a bead). I totally screwed up on his feet, and didn’t want to re-draw the whole thing… but I also didn’t have white-out, or even white paint. I wound up using this craftwork enamel stuff… which is OK, but really tacky (I don’t mean like it looks bad, but tacky as in it takes forever to dry and stays sticky for too long).

I imagine Donut is what you get if Barbie had a baby with GI Joe; totally adorable, and also impressively buff (especially his arms). His face has the scar from the grenade incident, and after having his hair lop-sided for a while, he started styling with a side-cut and letting the rest grow out. He also has a scar on one of his hands (from when he got hurt from the vehicle). His face naturally makes the cutesy kitty mouth~

*

If you want to imagine these pin-ups as being for like… and actual calendar that exists within the RVB universe, the only way they could get Simmons to be part of it was by intentionally acting like they weren’t going to include him. This would kick his fears of being ignored into high-gear, so he would INSIST on doing it too. He’s still a little uncertain… so, a shy pose for the shy nakey boy~

I wanted to make sure we could clearly see his cybernetics (and I’m so happy with how the foot turned out). Like a lot of people, I imagine red-head Simmons, and I think he probably had short hair most of his life… but around Chorus he didn’t have time to keep trimming it, and after Iris it totally got away from him. One day he pulls it back, to figure out how much needs to cut off, but instead he went “Oh, pony-tail?”. So yeah, long hair Simmons! He used to be a string-bean too, but years of running around and trying not to die helped him put on some weight (he totally doesn’t even realize he has actual muscles~)

*

When I decided to do sort of leaned-over pose with Doc, it was hard to make it work… but finally, I had something that looked decent. I also wanted to show a wink and smirk, because O’Malley is there too! He probably would have rather done some kind of pose in a graveyard to look all creepy, but Doc won with the cute pose.

I like the idea of him having really thick, fluffy, and curly hair. Also, a very defined nose. His legs are really strong (being a former track runner and all), but he not as muscular as some of the others. In fact, Grif is the tallest of the short group, with Doc just a little shorter than him (after that is Church, Tucker, Kai, and Sarge). I’m really happy with how all the shapes of his forms turned out, his tummy, his shoulders, his legs~

*

I really wanted to do an especially cute pose for Locus, because he deserves to feel pretty~ He’s probably about as shy and awkward as Simmons in certain ways (certainly confident when it comes to fighting, but social situations? he’s a dork). So, he’s sort of closed-off here, but hey- popping that leg up, because yes! Locus can have fun, too! His legs turned out really nice too~

We know what he looks like in the show, or at least, what he looked like working with Felix before Chorus. So, I had that to bas his design on. I feel like while Chorus stuff was going on, Locus actually lost a lot of weight, being so stressed-out and not even recognizing how unhappy he was. He’s always been beefy and buff, but now that he has some new friends that actually give a heck, he’s put on some weight, and is just a bit more chubby than he used to be (which is a good thing~)