#Just the bladed portion (from top to bottom not left to right as shown here) is probably 5-6ft ~ around grimmjows height.

[deivorous]

[molagboop]

Long time no model post. Last time I did this, the image limit was 10. Now I am bound by no such constraints. Let's take a look at a statue from Ferenia. Specifically, chozosancstatuebig02mirror.

I'll preface this by saying I haven't done anything to make the textures look more like they may in-game (e.g.: making the gold portions look more metallic).

What we're looking at is a black and gold statue depicting a kneeling Mawkin warrior wearing a red cape. It holds a soldier's spear in its left hand, and its right hand is enclosed in a fist, touching the ground.

This statue appears in Escue's arena alongside two other statues: chozosancstatuebig02 (left) and chozosancstatuebig01 (center). chozosancstatuebig02mirror and chozosancstatuebig02 are identical, except the mirrored version is just that: flipped. sancstatuebig02 is kneeling on the left knee, and sancstatuebig02mirrored has its right knee touching the ground.

The subject of today's post is on the right-hand side of the above screenshot. We take a closer look at it beneath the cut, reaping the full advantage of Tumblr's spankin' new (several months-old now) 30 image limit.

The model is comprised of two meshes: the cape and the statue. It has no bones, as expected of a prop, and the textures are pretty low res because it's a background element that's not intended to be seen up close. This helps the developers save space on the cartridge, and the game doesn't have to render super detailed textures that you're never going to scrutinize in-game (at least not very closely).

I've removed the cape to examine the whole statue. It's modeled in full: unlike some larger props (and some NPCs: see Quiet Robe's chest), there is no vacant hole beneath the cape.

As you might have expected by looking at it during gameplay, its design doesn't deviate terribly from the Chozo Soldier NPCs. It's like someone posed a soldier, removed its bones, changed the colors, and crunchified the textures.

I gotta say, I appreciate the Mawkin's dedication to realism with this one. Some of their statues are styled or have a lot of edges and fancy details, but this is just a guy.

If I may be a nerd for a minute or two, it seems like this one embodies values that a warrior tribe may hold dear: gravity, duty, humility. In the boss room, two kneeling statues flank a standing warrior draped in cloth.

We're not given any context as to who they are or what exactly this represents, but the standing warrior in the center of the arrangement appears to be a figure of some renown: like a decorated officer flanked by a selection of solemn warriors. The Mawkin are warriors: their army seems to be a large part of their culture. Respect for one's betters, the act of honoring someone who stands out for their exceptional martial prowess: that's what I think of when I look at this.

I don't know who this is, but the arrangement gives off military ceremony vibes. According to "Adam", Ferenia is a temple complex, and the site of many ceremonies. Maybe one was held here.

The concept art shown here is from page 103 of the Metroid Mission Logs. The first image is on the top half of the page, the second is near the bottom. I can appreciate that they gave us two versions: the dramatic lighting in the second version is stunning, but I also like being able to see the room under more neutral light.

That's enough out of me. Here are some close-ups of the spearhead.

I tried to capture the detail in the front of the blade, crunchy as the textures may be. There are three pointed grooves in the center of the blade's front.

It doesn't appear any different from the... "living" soldier's spears.

The cape's going back on so I can talk about it.

The cloth rests just above the base of the neck, draped over the area behind the shoulders and falling over the back. The right foot is clipping through the back of the cape (from the leg with the knee on the ground), but that's a secret between us and the developers: you never see this during play.

I wanted to paint a better picture of where the breastplate ends and the cloth begins, so I took a few more shots.

You thought we were doing one statue today? No! We're also looking at chozosancstatuebig01.

This one also possesses two meshes, and they're the same as the last one: a cape and the rest of the statue.

As previously stated, this one differs from its companions in that it's standing instead of kneeling. The cloth is draped over its front instead of its back, but it doesn't wrap around the whole of the figure. It also appears tattered, like there's supposed to be more cloth covering the other half of the statue. The strands hanging over the left side could just be tassels or decorative drapery hanging off the main bit. Like it's wearing a cloak. Or a half-cape.

If you look at the concept art, that seems to be the case: there are gold stripes at the base of the strips, as well as at the top of the greater drape. If you look really closely at the red drape on the statue in the image above, you'll notice there may be traces of this idea left on the cloth, but they're not quite as golden as they appear in the concept art. The stripes on the tassels are hardly visible in the texture!

I wish the concept was translated with more clarity: I dig the idea of a soft, velvety, ceremonial drape with golden embroidery.

Something I find peculiar is the three circular indentations on the front of the chestplate, in the section between the concave indicators of where those red lights are on normal soldiers. There's one tiny hole on the left-hand side, and two larger holes on the right.

There are also two holes in the right bicep, a dent in the left bicep, and a big chunk taken out of the upper left leg. It stands to reason that these blemishes might be the result of long-term wear and tear: environmental damage, Silent Spear falling backwards into the arrangement like an idiot, that sort of thing. Who knows?

The blade on this one's spear is wider than the other statue's, and their construction is different, as well. The pole isn't visible halfway through the back of the blade on the other statue.

That about does it. Thanks for sticking with me, and expect more statueposting.

[destinysbounty]

Oh nooo I have two new Ninjago OCs, whatever will I dooooo

Anyway their names are Nato and Kascha, and I've only had them for a day but if anything happened to them I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

Details under the cut!

Nato (left/top) is a weary Ninjago City resident who's been here for several years and has pretty much seen it all at this point. She works a concerning amount of odd jobs - builder, mover, bus driver, tour guide, waitress, line cook, janitor...you name it, she's probably done it. She got bitten by a Fangpyre a while back, and while she managed to have the transformation mostly reversed she does still have some patches of scales scattered all over her body and her eyes are still a weird shade of green. She doesn't hold it against the snake responsible though, and they're actually on pretty good terms now. She is worryingly nonchalant about everything, and highkey disassociates to cope with living in Ninjago City. She's also a Darkley's student, but dropped out a year before Lloyd enrolled so they just barely missed each other. This probably factors into her inability to be phased by literally anything.

Kascha (right/bottom) is originally from Metalonia, but recently moved to Ninjago City to study history, so she is super involved in the academic scene. She's really into, like, history, and archaeology, and linguistics, and all that. Linguistics is her specialty, and as such she actually has a better grasp on Ninjargon than a lot of Ninjagians. But also she's very new to Ninjago City, and is very much NOT used to all the apocalypses happening on a weekly basis. Very panicky, on edge, and is constantly exasperated with Nato's nonchalance. She often used to visit Ninjago as a tourist in her childhood (her dad is a Metalonian trade ambassador so they had to travel a lot), and she ended up falling in love with Ninjagian culture. Of course, she is quickly discovering that being a tourist and being a resident are two very, VERY different experiences. Also she has a lot of metal jewelry, because y'know, her dad works for a metal export company. One time she broke a creepy porcelain vase while at a gift shop on one of her many trips abroad, and the shopkeeper cryptically told her that whoever breaks it will find themselves living "an eventful life" - and in retrospect she's like 70% sure that's why her life is so chaotic. There is a non-zero chance the SoG fiasco might have been caused by her curse, and she's not sure what to do with that information.

(For various reasons I am choosing to interpret the deserty wasteland Metalonia is shown to be in Korgran's flashback as being a more rural area, while Karlof and Kascha are from more urban regions. The fact that Karlof used to build Roto Jets suggests Metalonia is fairly industrial, at least in certain areas. It's probably similar to Ninjago in that way - major metropolitan areas act as major hubs of technological advancement and industry, while large portions of the country remain consistently and noticeably less so. Korgran comes from a more rural region, Kascha is from a big city, and Karlof is probably from a semi-industrial area like a factory town or something. Anyway, that's enough from me about worldbuilding theories.)

The fun thing about these two is that they're basically just kinda vibing in the background of all the canon plot while sometimes accidentally causing the plot. For example: Kascha interned under Dr. Saunders and was the one who set up the Yin Blade's clearstone display, and also helped put together the Hall of Villainy exhibit. Their hijinks caused the traffic jam that led to Pixal, Cole, and Zane being late for the boat ceremony in the beginning of season 10. Nato gave Vinny the idea to give Garmadon a plant, meaning she's indirectly responsible for Christofern. Kascha's cat gets possessed by Morro for a bit. They somehow join the Sons of Garmadon for a hot minute but purely by accident. They end up kinda adopting avatar!Harumi post-s12, but that was also an accident. Also Okino lives with them for a while. Nato and Tox are bitter exes. Kascha was also supposed to be on the expedition to the Island of the Keepers, but she overslept and missed the boat. They live in the same apartment complex as Dareth and were some of the first customers at Laffy's before it got overrun by SoG.

As I mentioned before, Morro ends up possessing their cat at one point due to reasons that are most definitely their fault. That is, they broke his Hall of Villainy mannequin, and thanks to all sorts of convoluted magic rules this led to his spirit returning to the material plane and becoming trapped in the nearest living thing - that is to say, Kascha's cat. I'd like to think their first encounter goes a little something like this -

Kascha: Let me get this straight. The ghost of that one emo teen who destroyed a small coastal village last year apparently had his soul tethered to a random mannequin at the museum - so when we broke the manenquin, your soul got trapped in the nearest living thing. So now you're, what, stuck possessing my cat for the rest of time? Morro: Trust me, I don't like this either. As soon as I figure out how to un-possess this stupid body and get back to the Departed Realm, I'm gone. Nato: ...so...do we still have to get the cat neutered, or...? Morro: NO Kascha: That's your takeaway from all this?! Nato: What? It's a valid question!

Of course, Morro still sticks around even after they exorcise him from the cat because why not, because they're his friends now and maybe getting a second chance at life isn't so bad after all. That being said, he's not keen on interacting with the ninja at all, and has no intention of making his presence known to them. So yeah, Morro is 100% hanging out in the background without any of the ninja finding out and he wants to keep it that way.

The running joke is that Nato and Kascha keep encountering various background/supporting characters, and keep almost meeting the ninja but never actually do (except that one time Sascha had a late-night conversation about the meaning of life with Zane at the grocery store, but didn't realize who she was talking to until two days later). Like, they'll interact with pretty much every canon character except the ninja themselves, often just barely missing opportunities to meet them in increasingly convoluted ways. So many of their shenanigans directly influence the main plot but they just straight-up never realize this. They're just out here causing AND solving problems completely on accident, all the time. Ultimate chaos duo. Just a couple of oblivious dumbasses stumbling into the plot but without even realizing it.

Also! This is very important to me. Their dynamic is essentially "I'd follow you to hell but I just wish you'd stop going there" but in both directions simultaneously. They may be each other's ride-or-die, but that doesn't mean they're happy about it.

[lsvdw-blog]

Not a Minute More: Part I

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x f!MC

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings; Rating: Minor angst at the end; General

Premise: Ethan and MC are living in a honeymoon bliss and going about their normal routine. Then something happens that rocks Ethan to his core and threatens to change his life.

Author’s Note: New series comin' at ya! This is my first time writing fluff, so please excuse me if it's cringey 😅 Thank you to @choiceskatie for pre-reading!! I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading 💖

~ Monday, 7:00am ~

“Good morning, handsome.”

Serena walks up to an omelette-making Ethan, wraps her arms around his waist, and places a gentle kiss on his shoulder blade.

Ethan places one hand over hers, a smile spreading across his face, while the other wields a spatula.

He plates the omelette, turns the stove off, and turns in Serena’s arms to face her. He tightly envelops her, placing a sweet kiss on her lips.

“Good morning, indeed,” he smiles.

“Mmm, that’s my line,” she says, her hands moving leisurely up his bare chest, and her eyes trailing hungrily over his gym-honed physique.

Ethan lets out a hearty chuckle, turning slightly to grab their breakfast.

“As much as I’d love to take you back to bed," he gives her a quick peck, "you have a big day ahead of you, so,” he hands her a plate, “actual protein.”

“Buzzkill,” Serena pouts as she takes the ham, cheese, and veggie omelette from him. Ethan shakes his head in amusement and places one hand on her lower back to guide her towards the dining room table.

“For now, but in 10 hours…” he raises an eyebrow and smirks at her.

“10 hours and not a minute more,” she responds, sitting down, and giving him a stern look.

He laughs again. Something he’s been doing a lot more of since she came into his life. “Yes, baby.”

That seems to please Serena as she smiles and does a little wiggle in her chair, cutting into her omelette.

His apartment overlooks the glittering Charles River and the towering Boston skyline — a view people would kill for. But he’s not paying attention. His eyes are trained on the woman next to him. His t-shirt falls to her mid-thighs, her midnight hair tied at the nape of her neck, and the dainty gold necklace she never takes off is brilliant in the early morning glow. Serena shifts slightly and the faint smell of sunscreen wafts towards him.

“SPF on the face is important!” He grins at the memory.

She spends most of her time at Ethan's place nowadays. It's more private, compared to her shared apartment, and there's more space for them to sprawl out and be a couple. They cook dinner together, with Ethan learning to make her favorite dishes and incessantly asking her to taste test to ensure he gets the flavor right. They've made loading the dishwasher and walking Jenner into a two person job. He's even caught her stashing away some of his clothes in her overnight bag before: "I'm borrowing them!"

On the off nights when she insists on staying at her place to catch up on laundry or spend time with her friends, Ethan goes home to a dark and unwelcoming apartment. There is no source of laughter, light, or warmth. He never noticed it before, but now, Serena is his source of all of that, and more. Home is wherever she is.

How did I get so lucky?

“Why aren’t you eating?” Her head is tilted to the side and her brows are slightly furrowed.

Her question brings him out of his trance. He stares at her for a beat, his azure eyes filled with adoration. “Just admiring the view.”

Serena rolls her eyes and goes to playfully smack his arm, but he catches it. Interlaces their fingers and brings it to his lips. Her eyes soften as they gaze at each other.

“I could get used to mornings like this, you know," he rumbles.

"Yeah?"

He nods his head. "Yeah. I love spending them with you."

"The feeling is mutual, Dr. Ramsey." She leans in, stopping a hair's breadth away from his lips. "But I gotta get ready for my big day now," she says with a glint in her eye.

Ethan tries, and fails, to catch her lips with his own as she leans away and gets up from the table. "You're such a tease."

"Am I? Or are you just getting slow in your old age?" She playfully retorts.

Ethan stands abruptly from the table, chasing after her. Serena squeals in surprise and takes off towards the ensuite.

~ 7:40am ~

Ethan is leaning against the doorframe, arms and feet crossed, admiring Serena as she applies the finishing touches to her makeup.

"How many times are you going to stare at me today?" Serena questions.

He pushes off the doorframe and walks over to her. "As many times as you'll allow Rookie."

He hugs her waist. "Are you ready for today?"

Serena sighs and leans back into him. "I'm a little nervous. If testing doesn't go well today, we'll have to start from scratch. All our work, gone."

For the past few months, Serena has been consulting on a classified research project headed by scientists and engineers at Harvard University. The team was incredibly impressed with her capabilities, shown in saving Dr. Banerji's life and being the 2nd youngest member of the renowned Edenbrook Diagnostics Team, and liked that she provided a younger perspective. They brought her on and Ethan makes the 15 minute detour to drop her off three times a week.

"You all are ready. It will go great."

She locks eyes with him in the mirror. "Thank you, E."

~ 8:15am ~

Ethan puts the car in park, turns on his hazards, and turns to look at her.

"I can't wait to hear all about how today was an absolute success. You don't need it, but good luck." He squeezes her hand.

She nods. "Only 8 hours and 45 minutes left."

"And not a minute more," he smiles at her before leaning in to kiss her.

Ethan pulls away first, not wanting her to be late, but Serena continues to go back in for more soft kisses. After the sixth one, she finally pulls away smiling. She opens the car door, swings her legs out, and walks through the secured entrance.

~ 11:00am ~

The Diagnostics Team currently has no patients, so Ethan's morning is mundane, filled with meetings and endless paperwork. He itches to call Serena to break up the monotony, but knows she won't have her phone on her until lunch: no cell phones allowed in the lab. He settles on sending her a quick text — it'll be waiting for her. He pulls up their messaging thread, sends the text, and his eyes wander upward to see the remnants of their last conversation.

She had gotten, and dressed, Jenner in a new bow tie. She then blew up Ethan's phone with photos of Jenner, photos of her and Jenner, and even a few where she was wearing one of Ethan's bow ties to match.

"Look, we're twins!!"

Ethan re-scrolls through all of the photos and can't help the smile that lights up his face at how excited she gets about a small accessory for his dog. God, I love her.

There it is again, Ethan thinks. The 3 words and 8 letters that he never thought he'd feel, let alone want to voice. This feeling has become overwhelming in the past few weeks. He's reminded of it whenever he inhales the lingering scent of her perfume in the office, when he finds one of her forgotten face products at his place, the small moments they share when she sneaks away to visit him, "just because." It consumes him and makes his heart swell.

But he knows she's been extremely stressed with project duties, on top of handling the Diagnostics Team and regular patients. It just doesn't seem right to blurt it out when she's juggling so many things. But if all goes well, her portion of the project ends on Thursday and she'll be back to her normal workload. That's why he's been secretly making romantic plans for this weekend, not only to celebrate her success, but to also finally tell her how he feels. He wants the first time he utters those words to her to be special. Magical. Extraordinary. Just like her.

Just then, his pager beeps and he's pulled out of his second Serena trance of the day. He sets his phone down on the table, pulls out his pager, and is met with a message from Dr. Delarosa, asking for a consult. Just as he exits through the door, his phone lights up with a photo of Serena and her incoming call.

~ 2:15pm ~

The consultation with Ines turned into admitting the patient under the Diagnostics Team and the rest of the afternoon was spent running through possible diagnoses. Before he knew it, it had been over 3 hours and Ethan hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning. He can't help but think how much easier this case would be with Serena here and her perspective. Not only does her presence help keep him calm, but she always comes up with suggestions that would inevitably lead to the correct diagnosis. He throws his glasses on the table and pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.

He begins to stand, wanting to make his way to his desk, intending to call Serena on the off chance she picks up. However, before he's even able to reach his full height, Dr. Banerji walks in.

"My boy, are you busy?"

"No. Am I needed somewhere?"

Naveen looks at him for a beat too long, causing Ethan's confusion to spike. Naveen walks to the center table and switches on the TV. There, panning around the screen is an aerial view of the Harvard University lab complex, surrounded by police cars and SWAT members, as well as multiple aircraft. In bold letters, scrolling endlessly across the bottom of the screen is: Possible attack at Harvard University labs. On lockdown.

Ethan gawks at the screen with wide eyes and his pulse immediately picks up.

"Isn't Serena at Harvard labs today?"

~~~~~~

Disclaimer: I know Ethan starts his day and gets to the hospital at an ungodly hour, but let's ignore that bc I am my MC is not a morning person 😅

[lazuliblade]

“Figure Skating Fan” Magazine 2018-2019「羽 から生まれる」Translation

This is the interview with costume designer Satomi Ito on the construction of Yuzuru Hanyu’s Origin (and a little on Otoñal) costume featured on pages 42-43 of the February issue of フィギュアスケートファン (Figure Skating Fan) magazine released Dec. 22, 2018. 

I’m formatting this to resemble the original formatting in the magazine.

Words after a long dash ------ are the interviewer talking/asking questions.

Words in「Japanese quotation marks」are Satomi’s responses.

Where text color changes for emphasis, I’ve used bold italics.

The interviewer tends to put technical terms, concepts, and key words in “quotations”. Which means: 

When they bring up titles of literature, program names, and quoted phrases, those are in 『blocky quotes』instead. 

Anything within (parenthesis) was originally in parenthesis within the article.

[words between brackets are my translator’s notes] 

Following English conventions, I’m writing her name as Satomi Ito. For reference in Japanese: 伊藤聡美 いとうさとみ Itou Satomi The interviewer/writer is いとうやまね (Itouyamane) - a writer unit composed of Itou Miho and Yamane Seiji.

I’ve left the honorifics. They refer to Yuzuru as “Hanyu-senshu” (athlete Hanyu) throughout the entire article. -senshu is the respectful term for athletes. -san is the general honorific (Mr./Ms./Mrs.).

---------------------------------------- I agonized over capturing the ways they said certain phrases, but even so, I’m just an amateur translator, which means there are some turns of phrase I probably could have translated better. I originally wrote this all by hand, so there’s no Japanese transcription typed up, but if you’d like a specific section to see what exactly they said, send me an ask or a message and I’ll be happy to type that up. For more learning, sewing/fabric/technical terms will have a glossary at the bottom, along with various notes. 

INTERVIEW[<---the original text is actually in English, but misspelled as INTERVEW]

Costume Designer・Satomi Ito

「羽 から生まれる」Born from feathers

Here is Origin’s “temporary-stitched”[baste-stitched] costume. Black lace on a flesh-toned base, and velour pants. In costume designer Satomi Ito-san’s atelier, she let’s us see the “idea’s prototype.” Interview/text: Itou Yamane

100 feathers

-----Black and white feathers are being attached to the lace on the upper body, aren’t they! Although it’s surprising that the feathers are all handmade.

「I made all of them here. First, I cut leaf shapes with a rotary cutter, then I cut into the sides with scissors. The black is [made of] PowerNet, the white is a 2-way with a bit of thickness. Both are fabrics with elasticity. One by one, I would sew this by hand.」

-----It must be a large number of feathers isn’t it?

「I wasn’t counting, but it’s probably around 100. I don’t know the exact number of feathers that I’ve cut each and every time. I’ll feel like “it’s not quite enough, huh” so they increase. The entire weight is light, though.」

-----When I first saw what Hanyu-senshu was to wear, a structure, or should I call it a construction?, I thought “it’s like an architectural structure.” By way of intricate three dimensionality, there’s a sense of great depth.

「I’m doing that quite consciously. If you just simply put the feathers down it won’t feel very 3D, so I kind of group creases to make it feel like the feathers float. When it’s just right, I pin it.」

-----As for the white feathers, there’s also a gradation on the front side, huh.

「The appearance would be too jarring if white abruptly appears on the black fabric, so I put in a bit of airbrushing. Filling just the center part with black. Furthermore, there’s factoring in the sketch too. Whatever pattern there is. I’d try and put it on the [mannequin] torso and it’s like let’s place this feather on this area.」

-----You do the airbrushing on the styrene boards by the wall, right?

「I’ll fasten with pins. Lining up a large quantity.」

-----On these boards, numerous......starting from Hanyu-senshu, [Shoma] Uno-senshu, [Marin] Honda-senshu, [Wakaba] Higuchi-senshu, [Mai] Mihara-senshu, and others. Thinking about the airbrushing for the various costumes, I’m deeply moved. I thought “is this fine art”?

「It’s not. (laughs)」

-----The inlet-like form of the chest is wonderful isn’t it. I was impacted by the inlet being composed of black feathers.

「To start, I cut the lace on the chest area roughly, then apply the feathers there. In the middle of that process, I also cut hole shapes here and there in the lace. It’s a sense of torn holes.」

-----Also on the lace itself there’s an intricate pattern of light-and-dark, furthermore, you make light skin-tone portions. This is the secret of “depth” isn’t it.

「And I put feathers on top of that. I’m pretty interested in this technique. Of all the costumes I’ve made for Hanyu-senshu so far, this one is my favorite.」

-----The curves on the back are also technical. The detailed flow of gold is beautiful. It’s a little terrifying.

「I kind of thought it’d be nice if it looks a bit bone-y. I could do lines which run along the shoulder blades. Then in addition the crawling-like gold stones and bugle beads, and putting in purple rhinestones too.」

-----At the sketch stage, did you have an image for the white feathers? 「At first I was thinking of just black feathers. But because that didn’t really stand out, I kind of thought maybe adding in white feathers would better bring out the “sense of feathers being attached.” I’m glad I did put them in.」

-----It’s effective. The amount and arrangement are also nice.

「As for the design image, the [costume’s] flow changed a little. The result: I was correct that the feeling of ascending/rising would come out more than before. Entering production, I mostly don’t look at the design image. I won’t know the full picture not putting it on the [mannequin] torso and making it. Although because there is the initial image, there are times where I do more-or-less stick to it. That’s why the completed piece isn’t faithful to the sketch.」

The concept is from the “surname”

-----As for these costumes, for stuff like attaching feathers, or setting rhinestones, to give some examples, was there an assistant?

「For 『Origin』, the craftsmanship is brutal, so I did it all myself. For the Short [Program] 『Otoñal』 I received help.」

-----This is about the part most essential to a designer. Can we say that the design’s concept comes from Hanyu-senshu’s “surname”?

「『The nonhuman born of feathers』. All along I’ve thought I want to make a costume with that theme. This time it came true.」

-----Hanyu-senshu feels superhuman doesn’t he. He’s not an ordinary human. Shae-Lynn Bourne also said as much.

「The Hanyu name, isn’t that by itself cool? The song’s starting pose too, it has the air of spreading one’s wings. Although I knew absolutely nothing of the choreography, so having the image link pretty well was surprising.」

-----I thought you must have heard the concept for the choreography beforehand. It seems Shae-Lynn conceived it from the 『Kojiki』. Without establishing some [sort of] story and image with the choreography, the world won’t unfold, I heard.

「Design is like that too, isn’t it. With nothing, you can’t create. That is the same. Hanyu-senshu is Hanyu-senshu, so he likely has yet other different ideas.」

Each Individual 『Origin』

-----From this one piece various worlds unfold, it’s wonderful isn’t it. I as well, from the concept 『born from feathers』and the 『Kojiki』information, researched various things on birds coming from Japan’s creation myths. I also more-or-less tried reading the English version『KOJIKI』. Because I was interested in how it’s conveyed to foreigners.

「Was there something?」

-----Quite a lot of birds appear. Within those, the black Yatagarasu and the golden kite, after that I came across the egret that Yamato Takeru, on the cusp of death, metamorphosed into and flew away. I thought “this is nice,” and I wrote it in the [article] column.

「There’s a story nature to it, right? Exactly. Although, I didn’t consider it to that extent when I designed [it] (laughs).」

-----Hanyu-senshu himself likely wasn’t thinking of the『Kojiki』either. I think it’s good that the performer, creator, narrator, and fans each have their own 『Origin』. As for the design check-in, did you send the image to the person himself [Yuzuru]?

「This time, because I was able to take the time to meet personally with Hanyu-senshu, the design image and fabric were shown at the place to him himself. As for baste-stitching, it’s done when he’s in Japan at ice shows and such.」

-----What about the final fitting?

「That’s also just before he flies to the actual competition. The product delivery itself is passed on through the manager.」

-----About how long did it take to design and construct the costumes this time around?

「The ornamentation alone takes 1-2 weeks. From design to product delivery it takes about 2 months. For 『Origin』 the image solidified relatively quickly, but the Short kinda ended up taking a lot more time.」

-----The blue of the Short is pretty too, isn’t it. Rather than fall, [it’s] winter-like. The crackling line of rhinestones is characteristic.

「It’s the image of ice crystallization. And you can also see it as the tracings left by blades on the rink. He’s the champion of the ice, so I thought it would be nice if [the costume] could have that symbolization. Because he’s the young noble of the ice.」

-----We can say the fundamental [costume]order was the blue and black-gold of the tributes’ original designs from Johnny Weir-san and Plushenko-san, but could you also be making alternate versions?

「The Short and Free each have two [costumes]. The B version too is a similar feel.」

-----I’m looking forward to the day we can see those too. First off, wishing for Hanyu-senshu’s return from his injury.

(Itou Satomi) Costume designer. [After high school] enrolled in the Esmod Japon school of fashion and design. The ‘08 Kobe Fashion Contest special choice award winner, studied abroad at England’s Nottingham Trent University School of Art & Design. After her return, [while] at Chacott she came to be engaged in figure skating costumes; [has been] independent for 15 years. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glossary/Notes:

Baste-stitching - a temporary loose stitching to hold the pieces of fabric together while the initial form and alterations are being made.

PowerNet fabric/PowerNet mesh fabric - a type of high compression 4-way stretch fabric

2-way fabric - fabric that stretches in 2 directions, meaning it has some elasticity (4-way fabric stretches in all four directions)

bugle beads - the thin tube-like beads often associated with embroidery

the title of the article 羽から生まれる“Born from feathers” or “Born of feathers” is a pun on Yuzuru’s last name: 羽生 

In a previous interview, Satomi talked to Itou Yamane about her past work focusing on fashion as architectural structures, and deciding which kind of architectural design to use as a motif. Which is why the interviewer brings up “structure, or should I say construction?, architectural structure”

I translated this 王者 as “champion,” because it’s slightly different from the court title “king”王様. Satomi is giving reasoning behind her expression of ice crystallization - saying that he’s a champion (“ouja”) of the ice, then adding further: “because he’s the young noble of the ice”- which would sound a bit odd and redundant if she had just called him a “king.” 

Yamato Takeru and the egret - "isn’t it a swan?” The Japanese text is 白鳥 which normally would mean “swan”(hakuchou), but in parenthesis the interviewer clarifies the reading as “しらとり” (shiratori). It seems the white bird that’s referred to as 白鳥 in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki is considered to be referring to the bird 白鷺 (shirasagi) in modern Japanese. Here’s a site (JP only) about the myth, with pics of the shrine.

the interviewer tweeted pics too

The column that the interviewer mentions, I think they’re talking about how they wrote down the birds to mention in this interview column itself. They’ve written various pieces before for magazines and online articles, and they published a book last year called   氷上秘話―フィギュアスケート　楽曲・プログラムの知られざる世界 (secrets on the ice - knowing the world behind figure skating songs and programs). They dig up information on the music, art, design, history, and legends (basically, an entire meta book on theories and relevant links), and shed light on the actual choreography and program’s concept. So it’s possible they could be writing something else too.

I want to include photos of the full two pages, but I feel that’s probably something I shouldn’t do... so I’ll wait a while longer and then edit this post. 

[boiwribitch]

That makes it worse...

Hey y'all! This is my first written thing on my writing blog! This is going to be a lot of self projecting feat. Klance. You might understand why, or maybe not? I dunno, we'll see :)

It was a night of diplomatic affairs. Aka, not something Keith was excited about in the slightest.

Allura and Coran were throwing a party, in the castle, to welcome an alien race into the the fight against the Galra empire. While Keith himself wasn't a part of Voltron anymore, the Blade was also invited to dine and be present at the meeting portion.

Keith didn't want to go at first, in fact he kinda still didn't want to be there. But there was one changing factor that ultimately triggered his need to be present. And that was a certain Blue eyed boy and his friends.

It was a formal event, so that indicated that everyone had to dress in a suit or a dress. When Keith arrived, in a suit that the Blade provided for him, he quickly saw people pouring in and out of the ballroom area. Immediately his nerves go still at the thought of being stuck in a room with not only most of an alien race, but also a quarter of the Blade. Not to mention his teammates.

Before Keith had the chance to scan the room for a group of humans, assuming they would all stick together in a mass, he heard a shout from his left. There, standing in front of the food table, was Lance, Hunk, and Pidge waving him down. Keith quickly broke away from his Blade posy to greet his old team.

As he walked up to the group, he got a better look at their attire and appearance. Pidge was in a dark green cocktail dress that had a trim of silver on the bottom and top, while the chest area had a silver sequence design of a rose. Her hair was combed and in a high ponytail with a lighter green headband, on her arms were long white gloves that came up to her elbows. Pidge's neck was shown to have a dark green collar which had designs painted with silver glitter. She looked stunning and mature, despite the fact that Pidge also sported tennis shoes with long white socks with the entire look.

Hunk wore black slacks with a light red belt, alone with a sunflower yellow dress shirt that was accompanied with a red and red striped tie. Hunk also had a dark brown vest that loosely draped over his shoulders, and was left unbuttoned. His shoes were black dress shoes with a golden buckle near the ankle. Keith noticed that Hunk was not wearing his usual orange bandanna and instead had his hair slicked back into a low ponytail. Hunk looked about as nervous as Keith felt, he didn't exactly look comfortable, but he was smiling as bright as Keith remembered.

And then there was Lance, and it's sad to say that Keith's first reaction was to do a double take just make sure that what he was seeing looked as good as he thought. Lance wore something slightly more flashy and scandalous than Pidge and Hunk, but that was only to be expected because... Its Lance. He had a sky blue sleeveless vest that was slightly unbuttoned at the top. On his neck, there were gold and pearl chains hanging loosely, whilst is looked like there was one that only had a string and a small shell. His black pants looked slightly tighter and maybe a size too small, but still fit his form to perfection. Lance also... Wasn't wearing shoes? Interesting? Anyway, his hair seemed to have been slicked over to the left of his head while sporting a single earring on his right ear. Needless to say, Lance absolutely looked stunning and gorgeous.

Keith almost felt embarrassed, his outfit was just a simple dark blue suit with light magenta trim.

Before he could get lost in his own thoughts, Hunk hands him a drink and makes some off handed comment about how boring the party has been.

“You look good...” he hears Lance mumble, and blushes slightly. Keith turns to see that Lance is looking anywhere but Keith and instead at a group of alien ladies that looks to be whispering among themselves. His slight bit of hope was quickly demolished and any reason he had to arrive all of a sudden seems pointless. But, Keith had to remember that he wasn’t just there for Lance; he was also there to visit his Castle family. While he doesn’t like to admit it, Keith absolutely considers the people he has been fighting alongside in this war, as his family.

Lance and Pidge had gone off to mingle, leaving Keith and Hunk at the buffet table. Keith glances over to see Hunk staring at him.

"Hey bud, is something bothering you?", Hunk asked with a worried expression. Keith didn't think that he even looked distracted or distressed, but he guess it would be hard to tell without being able to look at himself at the moment.

Thinking he was quiet for too long, Keith said, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine don't worry about it". Keith was bad at lying and he knew it. The only thing that was on his mind was Lance, and how stunning he looked and how his smile could light up a room and his laugh and- how could he possibly fall for a straight guy?! Keith had a plan on whether to ask out Lance or not, but he decided against it for the sake of Lance being straight.

"Nah man, I know you, there is something that is annoying your brain hole", Hunk said as he started poking Keith's forehead with the back of a spoon.

"Listen, its just a personal internal crisis... Its nothing you should worry about", Keith mumbled, beginning to get annoyed at the continuous spoon poking.

"A gay crisis?", Hunk said with a sly grin on his face.

Keith was immediately embarrassed and started stumbling over his words, trying to ask Hunk how he knew? Had he been that obvious? Was Hunk messing with him? What was he supposed to do?

"Keith, man, chill out. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. I'm just wondering why you haven't asked him yet", Hunk said, putting a hand on Keith's shoulder. Keith slowly looked up and stood up straight.

Speaking of straight... "Hunk, I can't. I would have while I was still here, but I don't think he feels the same anyway. Hell, the guy is straight! What am I supposed to do now?!", Keith exclaimed with slight anger and sadness in his voice.

"You know he's Bi, right?"

"Wait... What?"

"Yeah, he's Bi. Dude, for chemistry class back at the Garrison he literally tye-dyed his shirt the Bi pride flag", Hunk told him as if Keith would know about this. Keith almost couldn't believe it, almost couldn't believe him.

"Are-Are you sure?"

"Keith, buddy, I am 100% sure he is Bi"

"I-I..."

"Keith, honestly, you should go for it! I can see you two being a thing and just- being you guys! I dunno man, all I think is that you should go for it!"

"Hunk... Thank you... Thank you so much! You gave me... At least some-", Keith manages to choke out until he stops mid sentence. Has he really thought about this? This entire time Keith had stayed away from asking out Lance simply because he thought Lance was straight. Now... Now it is almost worse. Because if Keith asked him out and Lance said no, it would've been fine because Lance wasn't even attracted to guys. It wouldn't have been personal. But now...

"Hunk, thank you for telling me... But I need to go", Keith gritted out while he felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. Hunk almost took a hold of Keith before he ran away, so Hunk was left calling after him.

Keith ran. And ran and ran and ran. He couldn't stand being in that room anymore, not while his eyes could still catch Lance's, not while Lance flirted with other people, not while Keith knew. Keith managed to find a small guest bathroom a few halls down and hid himself inside.

His tears never came, they were close, and he felt in pain in his chest and stomach, but no vomit, coughs, or tears ever graced the outside world. Keith just wanted to leave. He wanted so many things right now. Things he has wanted since he left Voltron. He wanted to curl up on a couch and watch movies with Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, Allura, Coran, and Lance. He wanted to cry out all his dammed in tears just so he could feel relief. He wanted to eat some of Hunks food, his almost best friend. He wanted to hug Shiro, his almost brother. He wanted to listen to Pidge rant, his almost little sister. He wanted to hear a story about Altea from the alteans, his almost uncle and older sister. But most importantly, he wanted Lance. He wanted Lance, dare he say, his almost lover.

He wanted to tell Lance everything, how he felt, what he wanted, where he would like to go, and who he would like to go with. He wanted to hold Lance in his arms and never let him go, just to make sure harm never goes his way. Keith wanted to lay in bed with him and be tangled him mess of limbs and loose blankets. Keith wanted to get all the love his had in his heart and hand it over to Lance. Keith wanted that more than anything. He wanted Lance, but the thought of never having him kept Keith from going back outside.

While Keith now knew he had somewhat of a chance, the chance came at a higher risk. If Lance rejects him, it won't be because of sexuality, it will be because Lance doesn't like him personally.

And that, in Keith's opinion, is way, way worse than having no chance.

Keith didn't come out of the bathroom for a while. But when he finally did, he decided that he should leave and just go back to the base. He felt shitty and didn't want to be there anymore for any reason.

Before Keith could make it out of the front entrance, he heard his name be called and quickly turned around.

Lance was making a bolt for where Keith was standing and make bi attempt to slow down. By the time Keith could register what was happening, Lance's body was pressed tightly against his own and he felt himself go completely red.

"Hey bud! Where did you go? Hunk told me you left in a rush really upset about something. I thought you were already gone, but I came over here anyway just to see if you changed your mind. Anyway, are you okay?"

Lance's rambling was muffled by the panic and absolute bliss he was in. Keith knew he shouldn't have be as happy as he was just from a hug, but he was. He made an attempt to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Lance's torso and buried his face into Lance's shoulder, silently whimpering.

"Woah, Keith! Hey, look at me...", Lance says as he backs away and puts two fingers under Keith's chin, forcing him to look up. Lance's face was riddled with worry and seriousness, clearly on the verge of tears himself. Odd, Keith thought to himself. Lance continued, "... I don't know what happened, and I tired to ask Hunk about it, but he said it was something I would have to ask you about. So... Now im asking. What happened? Did someone hurt you?".

Keith was silent as he held back his tears.

"Keith... Is that a yes?"

"I mean... I guess so..."

Lance immediately looked pissed, "Who?! I'll fight them if need be! Just tell me when and where and show them that-!"

"Lance- wait no! Its not... It's somebody you know, but I can't say why or how they hurt me. Listen, it was... Indirect, so it's not like they even know." Keith was about to step away when Lance grabbed his hand, and looked down at his feet.

They were both silent for what felt like eons. They could hear the music muffled by the walls of the Castle, along with slightest scattered mummers of the people inside. Keith all of a sudden put all of his focus on Lance's hand. It was warm while he loosely held Keith's fingers, and his hand was... Almost shaking, like it was scared of something.

"Keith... Im going to need you to be honest with me, okay?"

Keith looked down, and nodded lightly.

Lance looked at their hands, and decided to bring up his other hand so that both of his hands were holding one of Keith's.

"Was... it me?", Lance asked in a voice so small only Keith could hear it.

Keith didn't know how to answer, a part of him wanted to reject that statement immediately and tell him that it wasn't his fault. But... In a sick, twisted way, it was Lance who hurt him. The thought of rejection clouded Keith mind so badly that he just accepted it as reality. Rejection became Keith's reality without him ever actually taking a chance. It hurt, a lot, and there was not much he could do about it.

"Keith?" Lance says, slowly looking up to meet Keith's eyes. Keith started, and god he could stare for hours if he could, but he can't. Keith slips his hand out of Lance's, and manages to pull a sad smile on his face.

"Yes and no. The thought of you hurts, but only because I made it hurt," Keith turned slightly, facing the front entrance and started to walk slowly, "Im sorry Lance... You deserve better than me. I need to leave. It was nice se-" before Keith could finish, he turned to see Lance's face had tear streaks painted onto his freckles. Keith instantly panicked.

"I-I didn't know you-you h-hated me that much. Im sorry... I should have known. I'm sorry for whatever I-I did to make you h-hate me so-", Lance broke off into more of a light sob, and started to fall onto his knees.

Keith fucked up, he knows he did, he has to fix it, but how can he tell Lance that he-

Keith needed to stop being selfish.

Before Lance could fall over, Keith ran towards him and caught Lance in his arms. Lance sobbed softly and started hiccuping, "I-Im sorry, I wanted to help but I ended up being the problem! I-Im s-so sorry!"

Keith felt his heart break into pieces, everything that he promised to Lance in his mind felt broken and like a lie. He had to say something, anything, just to prove to Lance that he didn't hate him.

"I love you!"

Well... He guessed that was something. But it was the wrong something. Lance's sobs stopped to heavy breaths as he met Keith eye to eye. This is it... This is where I fucked up! Keith lectured to himself. He didn't need to tell Lance, he wanted to tell him, but he knew the consequences. He wanted to run and hide, but he was currently sitting on the floor with the boy of his heart half draped over his lap. It was kinda hard to move.

Lance stared at him, saying nothing and unmoving. Even though Keith was panicking at the moment, he couldn’t stop his mouth moving and started spewing words against his will.

“I don’t hate you Lance, I never did and I never will. Sure you annoyed me at first but that was then and this is now. Lance... you were there for me when those who should have weren’t. When Shiro disappeared, again, I thought no one would be on my side or support me, I thought he was the only one who had my back. I was about to, not only give up, but not even consider taking up a position as the leader. But then... you not only believed in me and made me see reason, but you also showed that you and the rest of the team have my back.

“After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Thinking about how you make me feel and what you do for me, I was falling for you...”, Keith stopped to take a breath, he looked at Lance’s expression to see if any features of disgust had arrived, but surprisingly, they haven’t.

Keith realized he went too far... He just told Lance that he was in love with him and now he is going to hate him and never talk to him again or- "And... What about now?", Lance asked, disturbing Keith's train of thought.

"What?", Keith asked, his voice wavering.

"You said you were, falling for me... How do you feel now?"

Keith was hesitant, but he didn't want to deprive Lance of an answer. Keith's heart was telling him to just get up and run away, his body shook in anticipation of what the next few minutes could mean for his and Lance’s relationship. He wanted to dig a hole into the floor beneath him and bury himself alive, his heart was fighting against his chest.

Keith’s heart was about to implode when he decided to once again look at Lance. And at that moment, he realized something. He stared into Lance’s blue eyes and saw a sense of hope swim in his irises. Lance stayed close to his body, only a few inches of room between them and if they were to move any closer there would be no room to breath. Lance’s hair looked almost messy, probably from when he collapsed on the floor. He had a look on his face that was... so soft and free looking. No tension, no fear, nothing that indicated that Lance would hate him.

Keith, in that moment realized, that no matter what answer he would give, Lance would never hate him for it. Maybe things would get awkward, maybe there would be some tension; but no matter what, Lance would still love him as, at the very least, a friend.

Keith took a deep breath, and looked at Lance while smiling softly, noticing the dust of pink on his cheeks, and spoke only a few words.

“I still am”

THAT’S RIGHT BITCH!!!! MAKE UP YOUR OWN ENDING!! MAKE A FLUFF, MAKE ANGST, DO WHAT EVER YOU WANT!!!!

[davidpires578]

Wadkin Resurrection: Protractor

I’m back. Yes, this blog lives. Over the past 2 months I’ve been through some tough challenges I do not care to relate in public, and am just returning to ‘normal’ – whatever that is, so hoping to be back to normal operation, both in the shop and blog-wise, over the upcoming few weeks.

—————–

From the previous post in this thread, you may remember that I had the sliding table on the saw re-planed flat, and along with that the front mitre gage was also planed to make it geometrically correct, and was fitted with a new pivot bolt. Additionally, the worn detent holes in the table were plugged and re-drilled with a tapered cutter, and a second position for the mitre gage was made in the mid-length point of the sliding table.

As to why I would take the time and trouble to do this? Well, I like shit to work properly for starters, and I notice when it doesn’t. A bowed sliding table means that rip cuts with stock which rest partly upon the sliding table side (i.e., most rip cuts) end up riding up on the bowed of the sliding table, taking the cut out of 90˚ or whatever else angle was desired. Some might tolerate the disfunction, but I could not. Though I was considering, and still do consider, buying another saw altogether, I felt that at the very least I should try to put the saw right and see how I liked it – – and if I still want something else after that then I can sell it in good nick, as some Brits might say, leaving me in better repair than I found it, and definitely salable for more than it would be otherwise.

Anyhow, part of that repair work, as mentioned previously, was getting the front miter fence corrected geometrically and positionally, so as to do its job as intended. As the term ‘front mitre fence’ suggests, there was also a ‘back miter fence’ available for the Wadkin PP dimension saw, however it was optional and seems to have become rarely optioned, so it is now a quite rate accessory. You can see it in Fig. 6 (bottom left) in the brochure for the machine shown below:

The back miter fence is employed in tandem with the front miter fence to effect cuts for mitre joints in polygons of any number of sides. This type of double miter fence was seen on other saws of this type, but seems to be a rare accessory regardless of make. One factor playing into that is that the casting for the Wadkin back miter fence was not robust enough to withstand drops to the floor, and breaking of the guide slot was not an uncommon result. So, of the back miter fences which were supplied, there has been a certain attrition over time, and of course it is not uncommon when machines change hands that parts, manuals, and accessories get lost in the shuffle. I’ve tried finding an original manual for a Wadkin PP saw and had no luck so far, for instance. Where’d they all go?

The pairing of front mitre and back mitre, when in the 90˚ relationship, produce of course a quarter-circle, and thus the N. American term for the pairing of front/back miter fences is “quadrant”. For some strange reason, in recent years this term is now being applied to just the more common front miter fence alone, though is then becomes a bit nonsensical in my view, as a front miter alone does not a quarter circle describe.

Notice in Figure 7 above another type of fence, termed by some a protractor, what is otherwise termed in N. America at least, a ‘miter gage’. The brochure describes it as:

“For work involving only a small movement into the saw, fast production can be obtained with this sliding fence supplied to order. Tables are tee-slotted both sides of the saw to receive this fence.”

Like the back miter fence, the protractor is a rare accessory. One fellow in England who frequents a Canadian Woodworking forum dedicated to vintage power tools, mentions have searched in vain for 6 years for the protractor, to no avail. And he lives in the UK, where Wadkin stuff in general is going to be a lot more abundant than it is in N. America.

Fortunately, some other members of that forum have gone ahead and cast reproductions of both rare accessory fences, and I now have obtained each, in rough-cast form.

The front/back miter fence set greatly facilitates cutting miters, so it is obvious as to why it would be nice to have that set. The reason for having a protractor however is less obvious, however if you have a saw which tilts only one way (like most, but not all saws), then angled cuts can then be taken on both sides of a blade. Otherwise the single tilt capacity is a limitation. So, I’m planning to use the protractor in the t-slot which is in the main table of my saw, to the right of the saw blade, and continue using the front miter fence on the left side of the blade, on the sliding table.

Another advantage to having a sliding fence on the right of the blade is that the two fences on each side of the blade can be linked to one another with a connector to create a sled-like cutting arrangement. Anyone who uses a table saw knows the advantages of a cutting sled.

I noticed that some American-made dimensioning saws in the distant past (early 1900s~1920s) came with such capacities, and there were even protractors for both sides, one with an angled portion removed so as to clear the blade, and a horseshoe-shaped cast connector:

The above photo comes from a web page devoted to the topic of Oliver miter gauges. The bridge between the two fences in interesting. Here’s a close up picture of one that is for sale currently:

However I’m not sure what advantage it provides relative to screwing a suitably clean flat and square wooden fence right across both gauge heads.

After speaking with my machinist friend in New Hampshire, the same fellow who planed the sliding table for me, we determined that in order to keep costs down for the protractor work I should tackle the rough milling of the castings. Besides the cost savings (which are more or less fictional if I consider that my own shop time is being used), I wanted to have a try at milling cast iron, as it was not something with which I had any experience.

Rough castings I received are made oversize by around 10% and with draft, which is a taper to the pattern to enable the pattern to be easily removed prior to the molten iron being poured. This left me, especially with the protractor casting with its semicircular beveled protractor edge, with a tricky piece to machine, in that there were no easy ways to fixture it to the table.

The base of the rough casting was 0.9″ thick or so, which, given that the finish dimension was to be 0.75″, left me with ample material to play with. I initially fixed the bottom of the casting down onto a pair of blocks and took a light skim on the upper surface, only to come face to face with the fixturing challenge. The hold downs that I used to hold the casting to the table were in the way of the cutter, so had to be moved around from time to time and this lead to a imperfect surface.

Take 2, then.

I got a piece of MDF, and after playing around with positioning the casting a bit I used some PL300 construction adhesive to affix the base of the casting to the MDF:

Casting now in place, and I let it set up for three days as things turned out:

The casting for this miter head is massive by any standard, certainly multiples greater in size than the typical miter gauge you see on a cabinet saw.

This worked very well, and I was able to deck the upper surface without issue:

I gave the top edge of the fence a little attention while I was at it: