#acetone specification

[junko-jinko]

today's work includes coming up with a recipe based on other people's recipes

[multicarinata]

mmmmountainhead. What a good album

[jinxed-fates]

my hands are shedding

[makismei]

nanami loves watching you do your nails. of course, he’s offered to pay for your nail salon visits but you decline; your at home manicures are a fun hobby and you have full control of what colours and designs get painted onto your nails.

so instead, he funds your little hobby.

you never have to worry about being short of polish, nail tips, glue or charms. he’s even learned how to do your nails the way you prefer and offers to paint your dominant hand.

you have materials at his apartment and he’ll often come home to you at the living room coffee table, hunched over and gluing down clear heart decals and bows.

you show him your hand. “look, i tried using acetone to blend the nail extension and cuticle.”

kento inspects it, gingerly holding your hand. he nods, “it blends in nicely, my love.”

he reaches into his pocket, setting down a new bottle of polish on the table—specifically, the one you’ve been eying for a few weeks.

“kento!” you smile, “you didn’t have to.”

he leans in, pressing his lips to yours. “i wanted to.”

[aoiraincoat]

*sniffs you* are you hurt? because I can smell the plasm leaking from your wounds

*sniffs cat* get him to the vet, he's got dermatosis again, he reeks of sickness

*sniffs air when a family member gets too close to me* you smell different, did you get your gallbladder removed?

[half-algorithm-half-deity]

Tips for making actually cheap punk clothes from someone that has spent a maximum of $11 on any specific project over 3 years:

Bottle caps make AMAZING pins. There's countless ways to make bottlecap pins, but I mainly do it by 1) filling the cap with hot glue and 2) gluing a safety pin to the back. It's up to the individual. But the point is: Save bottlecaps.

DRINK CANS ARE AMAZING FOR MAKING SPIKES! Any aluminum can works - Monster cans, beer cans, etc. - all you have to do is cut off the tops and bottoms; make it a flat sheet; cut the metal into small semicircles; and roll it into cones. They stay in place easily with hot glue, and when you put them onto anything, they look just as good as store-bought.

Save Can Tabs. They can be put onto jackets, made into chains, earrings, necklaces, or anything else you want.

Literally anything can be made punk. Jeans, cargo pants, denim jackets, t-shirts, shoes, hoodies - the sky's the limit. Don't let these tiktok punks tell you that only their $80 Social Distortion pants and $120 denim jackets can be punk. Any clothes you pull out of a dumpster can be punkified.

Old T-shirts that no longer fit and have a design on them can be cut out and made into backpieces. Band shirts are particularly great for this, so if you thrift a Motorhead shirt that's too small, you can cut out the design and sew it onto a jacket and bam - you've got an exclusive piece of merch.

This one's more of an opinion, but: If you're patching up a jacket, sew the patches onto the outside of the jacket. If you're patching up pants, create holes where you want the design, and sew the patches from the inside of the pants.

Do research. If a "thrift store" calls itself a cheap alternative store, but has $50 jeans, it's not a thrift store. It's a vintage reseller, and the clothes are almost always WAY overpriced.

Shoplift carefully. Go somewhere you don't usually go - a large chain like Walmart or Target or Staples, not a local business - and take small things. Don't go somewhere that you're a regular at, or shoplift multiple times in a short period of times, or do too much at once. You will develop a track record and have more of a chance of being caught. However, the workers don't get paid less for you stealing, and the big suits in corporate won't notice or care about a missing pack of dental floss.

Experiment! Have fun with it! I've been Frankenstein-ing my jacket for years and counting - I've taken off the sleeves, added new sleeves, painted on it, put patches on it, added pins, anything you can think of. Be loud, be ugly, be weird, be happy.

If you have a painted patch or spot on pants/a jacket/whatever and it's old, but you want to take it off now, or if you just made a mistake, acetone can get pretty much any amount and age of paint out of any fabric. By acetone, I mean most nail polish removers or rubbing alcohols.

Now, I hate buying things for making punk clothes, but there are a few things that, in my opinion, are investments that last FOREVER. This includes: Hot glue guns; nail polish remover (for the last tip, mainly); paint pens and containers of paint (fabric or not); sharpies; dental floss or just normal thread; fabric scissors; and SAFETY PINS. None of them are very expensive, but they'll come in handy for years.

ESPECIALLY SHARPIES. That's the one thing I won't debate is a perfect investment. You can get a set of 12 colors or 12 black ones for like $9, and you can use them for EVERYTHING. The color also won't bleed when washed, as opposed to most pens and markers.

SAFETY PINS ARE A FASHION STATEMENT IN AND OF ITSELF. They're super useful in making clothes and jewelry, they're cheap and easy to find, and just nice to line the hems of your pants with.

When you make a square patch, fold in the edges slightly so that the edges don't fray. This makes it slightly harder to sew on, but it keeps the patch in good condition for longer - unless the idea is to look tattered. Then don't.

Don't be afraid to add something random and weird to your clothing because "oh people are gonna see it and know I like this weird niche thing" - that's the whole point! It's an expression of who YOU are, not what people want you to be. If people - especially other punks - judge you for it, fuck them. Unless...

No swastikas, no iron crosses, no symbols of oppression, no TERF shit. I'd say that's the only rule of punk - to say "oppression is punk" is going against everything punk stands for. Of course, if you do it anyways, you should at least know you deserve the beating you get at a basement show attended by underpaid and rage-filled faggots.

Of course, these are just mine, and there's plenty more that I do not know. If you've got your own way of doing things that goes against mine, that's awesome. But if you need to start somewhere as a kid punk, I hope this helped.

[dolljunk]

I've mostly avoided Mermaze due to the impracticality of a doll that can't sit and none of the dolls really resonating with me. However, turns out a toy shop in the UK known as The Entertainer got stock of a mostly cancelled wave of Mermaze dolls in. I actually picked up a set for my friend Garrett Sander, and after deboxing them all to send his way, I was really enamoured by Zuna's doll because of her Alien theming, her fashion style and I'm just a sucker for pink and orange hair.

Of course I couldn't stand her tail because I personally like naturalistic/organic style mermaid tails, so I dug around for other body donors.

I personally didn't like the Mermaze head on other bodies so I opted to keep the original torso in lieu of finding legs instead. I've tried several G3 MH lower torsos buit none of the proportions felt right to me because of how imposing the original Mermaze proportions were.

In the end, I settled on DC Superhero Girl legs, Wonder Woman specifically, and while the DCSHG torso didn't fit into the Mermaze bust, I did my usual method of cutting straight across both parts and lining them up at the panty line.

After melting the edges with acetone and sticking them together I'm pretty chuffed at how she turned out.

[chimera-dolls]

What I spent my night doing. World's tiniest manicure. 💅

Storm twins were the first two dolls I got, and at a discount during amazon sales - aaand on opening them, what can I say; they'd clearly been in the box forever. Both twins' arms are stained, at least to my eye, the colour doesn't match the body (but I'm also a highly suspected tetrachromat so it might be a me problem), Naomi's faceup is scuffed and she had a MASSIVE stain from her wallet on her right hand. The fact they are a limited edition gave me pause - this is the first time I've owned something like that in a doll - but as soon as I saw the staining the gloves were off this, so to speak.

So this is my sort of test run on Naomi's right hand, acetone to remove the paint since I wasn't getting anywhere fast with isopropyl alcohol. It DOES melt the plastic slightly, it will take the sheen off but I don't really mind a more matte skin tone anyway, it's just watching not to overwork sections with a q-tip that I end up flattening the sculpt. Detail shot is before a final clean before putting her hand back on. Trimmed with cuticle cutters because length is just not my taste (and I'm trying to take the hands off as little as possible and those nails catch on everything), filed with a crystal nail file before trimmng down any hanging bits. Black base for the nails was acrylic, acrylic gold on the tips with a purple pearlescent mica powder on top before a coat of Mr Super Clear (I can't remember the specifics of that right now, it's this ancient tiny bottle I bought for a custom draculara probably a literal DECADE ago. No I don't have pictures, lost em :V)

I'll paint the rings back on again when I've decided exactly what colour to go for + what I'm doing with the skin situation (thinking of mica highlighter? idk. Might blush limbs too but we'll find out). Scratched a little with a needle I was trying to bring definition back but not too torn up about it since this is a test run and it looked SO MUCH WORSE than when I started. Helped me figure out process, what matters.

Shout out to my magnification lamp I bought, carried the weight of a god for this one. (Also yes those are custom pants she has on, maybe I'll show laterr)

[consult-sherlockholmes]

Hello, Mr. Holmes! How are you?

So, long story short, I ended up with an optical microscope in my room more or less 4 months ago, with 200 previously made slides (secured in a proper box), and lots of new ones too, for me to prepare myself. I love microbiology (it's one of my hyperfixations, curse my neurodivergency) and now I love it even more (my mother has had to drag me away from the microscope - I named it Wesley - in the middle of the night multiple times now).

After much conversation, I finally convinced my mom to buy me the proper equipment to prepare the slides!

So, I'm sending this ask to you, as I know you also have a microscope and that you use it a lot: what kind of equipment do you recommend me buying (gloves, scalpel blades, tints, etc), while still remembering that all of the stuff needs to stay in my room (properly taken cared of by me, of course)?

For example, I'm unsure if different dyes are used for different smears and specimens due to it's affinity (I've noticed that on 'organic matter' slides, images are usually tinted purple or pink, while on plant-based slides, images are usually tinted green and blue, with a few red structures.) Considering that I don't have access to a mortuary, I will mostly make plant slides. There must be a difference in the dyes then, right?

Sorry for the long text! Hope this isn't too much of a bother.

- a 17-year-old :)

Congratulations on your new light microscope. I do hope you get the best out of it. I am overjoyed that someone else appreciates the art of microscopy and microbiology.

However, you need to be careful to not strain your eyes. It is recommended to take breaks every 15 minutes to close your eyes or focus on something in the distance to reaccommodate your eyes. And get up every 40 minutes, stretch and correct your posture. And it is recommended to not use a microscope more than 5 hours per day. John has to chase me away from my microscope sometimes to take a break when I sit there for hours, my posture like a Caridea.

Concerning equipment, you will obviously need a scalpel or other sharp blade to make very thin slices of your specimen, as thin as possible. And forceps to move your samples (best just get a whole dissection kit it has everything). Obviously slides and coverslips, pipettes for the stains or water, maybe some tubes. A pen to label your slides. In many staining procedures ethanol or acetone is also used. A waste jar to safely dispose of any chemicals, but be careful what you mix. A rack for staining and containers. I would recommend nitrile gloves, some people are sensitive to latex.

The dyes you use depend on the specimen. For example in histological slides of tissues hematoxylin and eosin are most commonly used (short HE-stain). That's what you most likely saw on your slides, it's blue, purple and pink. Hematoxylin is a basic compound extracted and oxidised from the logwood tree (Haematoxylum campechianum), and it stains acidic compounds in the cells (or basophilic because they have an affinity for basic substances). For example nucleic acids like DNA or RNA get stained by hematoxylin because they are basophillic. And where are lots of nucleic acids? In the nucleus and ribosomes, that is why they appear blue to purple in the staining because they bind hematoxylin. Eosin is an acidic compound, and stains basic or acidophilic compounds red or pinkish, like proteins, collagen, cytoplasm, extracellular matrix.

(Ductus epididymidis with HE-stain)

(Tongue HE-stain, pointer marking a ganglion; that is my picture)

Of course there are more specific stains for specific tissues like Golgi's silver staining for neurons.

For plants toluidine blue is often used, high affinity for acidic tissues, and can stain blue to green to purple. It is often combined with safranin, a basic azine, which is probably the red stain you saw. It stains polysaccharides and lignin, woody parts of the plant. Safranin and astrablue is also often combined, astrablue stains non-lignified parts of the plant.

(Ulex europaeus stem; not my pictures I don't have any samples currently, source Atlas of plant and animal histology)

Safranin is also used in bacteriology, in the famous Gram staining. In Gram staining you use crystal violet (blue/purple), Lugol's iodine solution, then wash it with ethanol and add safranin (red) as a counter stain. Bacteria is gram-positive if the crystal violet stays in their thick murein cell wall, can't be washed out with the ethanol and the bacteria stays blue. Gram-negative appear red because of the counterstain.

(Staphyloccocus aureus (violet, gram positive) & Escherichia coli (red, gram negative); not my picture, source Wikipedia)

However, I am not sure whether you have access to any of those substances, if they are too expensive for you or if they are too hazardous if used in your own room for a prolongued time. Of course those substances need to be stored properly, and your own room is probably not a good place, especially for ethanol or acetone. The fumes. I would recommend to ask your biology or chemistry teacher whether they can recommend anything further and where to buy said solutions in your area, and if they can't they are idiots. There are also many useful resources and tutorials on Youtube.

Another fascinating experiment for your microscope, that you can perform without buying any chemicals, is a hay infusion. You put hay into a container filled with water, and let it sit undisturbed for a week in a sunny area but not in direct harsh sunlight. During that time the microorganisms in the hay are reproducing in the solution, feeding on the polysaccharides of the hay. Protozoans also flourish in the hay infusion and eat the bacteria. It might get cloudy and a bit foul smelling (best not do it in your own room if you don't want to sleep next to a rotting smell). When you put a drop of the solution onto a slide and look at it in the microscope, you should see a variety of microorganisms like bacteria (like Bacillus subtilis), amoeba, ciliates, heliozoa, algae et cetera. At different depths of the liquid you should find different kinds of organisms, because of differing oxygen content. However, pathogens can also occur in the hay infusion so handle it carefully and work sterile, wash your hands properly.

And even if you don't work at a morgue you can still get tissue samples to experiment on, after all meat is sold in supermarkets, basically the same as a human body. And at the butchers they even sell organs like chicken hearts, pig kidney, liver, blood et cetera. Or observe your own hair under the microscope.

Which kind of samples and slides were included in your starter kit? Be careful to not leave them lying around in the sunlight, or the stain might fade. Always store them in the proper box.

[aquabluejay]

Hello! Hope you don't mind but I'm just really curious how the process of customising your dreamling nendroids go!!! and what other details you want to add!

They're so lovely and adorable! You did an amazing job!

I am considering adding a chin cleft for Hob mainly.

I didn't really take many process photos for them. I did dream a while back, I'll have to look. I made some minor modifications to Hob's hair, clipping and sanding away a few extra locks of hair to open up his face more. It's the hair sculpt for the France (Hetalia) Nendoroid. Then hand painting the hairs carefully with acrylics and sealing them with Mr. Super clear a couple times.

Both of their hairs are actually knock offs I got off Ali Express because I couldn't find the original Good Smile Company parts available anywhere. They come white and the plastic is a different kind but it's manageable.

Hob has three face plates of his own right now I picked up from Chibi Chop Shop during their last sale. Dream has several I've picked up but two I mainly use at this point which are actually a set from some character I've never heard of. I did have to remove some detail off them with acetone.

The bodies I'm currently using for these are YMY doll bodies which are compatible with GSC style neck joints so no modification is needed there. Dream is on a paler, taler version of the body which meant I had to find him special pants from a company called Ninimal that does specific doll sizes. (Him legs too long.) I also painted his nails and toenails black because I think they should be. I made some small modifications to Dream's coat but a lot of it is shopping endlessly on Etsy and Ali Express sourcing clothes in the right size for your doll body and assembling their wardrobe. I paid too much for both their jackets but they're so dear. There was actually more detail on Dream's coat I removed. It had little wrist straps with tiny buckles and I blacked out the silver buttons. The zipper on Hob's coat actually works.

[prep4tomoro]

Survival Uses of Chewing Gum:

Go into any grocery store, gas station, convenience store and you’re going to find packs and packs of chewing gum. What used to be considered a candy, has now become a health food (of sorts) as gum makers have moved to create gum that’s healthy for your teeth, won’t cause health issues and may be made to address a specific benefit like staying awake (caffeinated). While chewing gum isn’t on the same level as a water filter or a camping stove, you’ll find that keeping some of this stored in your survival kit or bug out bag is a worthwhile addition. How can Chewing Gum Help You Survive?

Scientifically proven to alleviate anxiety and stress, lowering Cortisol.

Fights fatigue and improve mental alertness.

Enhances working memory and brain performance.

Improves concentration.

Boosts morale and energy.

Aids digestion by increasing the salivary flow.

Quenches thirst and prevents "dry mouth" by stimulating saliva.

Suppresses an appetite to lose weight or when eating is not convenient.

A sticky substance to bind things together and fill gaps.

Fishing lure.

Fishing bobber/float (Survivorman, Georgia Swamp, S1E4).

Bartering tool.

Promotes oral health by breaking down food particles brushing can't reach.

Prevents watering eyes while slicing onions.

A fine addition as composting material.

Freshens Breath.

Combats acid reflux, nausea and dizziness.

Curbs addictions (like smoking and eating)

Start a Fire with Foil Gum Wrapper and Battery

Removes "Earworms" (a song or thought stuck in your head).

Chewing Gum Removal: During a visit from a very prankish young friend of mine, I fed him lunch on an unfinished wooden tray so he could eat while watching TV. He was chewing gum before I fed him and he removed the gum from his mouth and placed it on the edge of the glass plate of food. I thought that was very responsible of him. After he was finished eating, he placed the tray and plate on my kitchen counter. When he left my house, I began cleaning up after him and when I "tried" to move the tray, it was stuck to my kitchen counter with the wad of gum he had, formerly, placed on the plate. Fortunately, the gum was easy to remove from the kitchen counter but not the wooden tray. From previous chewing gum encounters, I knew that freezing gum helps remove it so I put the tray into my freezer for about an hour and was able to remove most of the giant wad but not all; a thin layer remained. So I went on the web to search for removal solutions. My solution was to use several strips of Duct Tape (sticky side), rubbed over the gum residue, to pull up much of it then Acetone to remove the rest. There is a chewing gum ban at my house for this young man.

Related Resources: Chewing Gum Facts What to Know About Chewing Gum Health Benefits of Chewing Gum Recycle Gum into Other Useful Products Discover Chewing Gum’s Crazy Survival Uses

[11-Cs Basic Emergency Kit] [14-Point Emergency Preps Checklist] [Immediate Steps to Take When Disaster Strikes] [Learn to be More Self-Sufficient] [The Ultimate Preparation] [P4T Main Menu]

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[wizard-irl]

Buying Crystals - Common Fakes

Part 5 of 7 in a guide for buying crystals. Read the rest here!

We are finally at the wholly fake crystals! These crystals are either dupes of real ones, real crystals passed off as other crystals, or man-made crystals without a natural analogue. I'm excited to get into this because once you know what to look for, its hard to be scammed.

And to be clear, if you value any of these, either as collector's items or as spiritual tools, that's perfectly fine. My issue is when people try to pass off crystals (or not-crystals!) as something they're not.

Real Crystals Sold As Fakes

Howlite - A very common dupe for turquoise. Real turquoise is very expensive, so cheap turquoise is likely to be dyed howlite. This may also be called turquenite. Acetone removes dyes.¹ ⁶

Malachite - Genuine malachite is green to dark green (never stark black), the colours fade together softly, without uniform patterns, and often with circular patterning. Conversely, fake malachite, often made of resin, may have black, hard lines, and uniform patterning normally without circular patterns.²

Clear quartz - Clear quartz is often faked using glass. Real clear quarts will have some kind of inclusion, even if they’re not visible to the eye, and will NEVER have bubbles in it.³

Obsidian - There are many types of natural glass, such as obsidian and moldavite. Real obsidian is opaque, dense, and its colours range from black to brown. Many fake obsidians promise vibrant colours impossible for real obsidian to form as.⁴

Moldavite - Moldavite is incredibly rare due to not only being found in one location, but being exclusively formed by meteorite activity. Real moldavite will be mossy-coloured, while fakes may tend towards light green. White moldavite is not real; it is typically calcite.⁵⁻⁶

Moissanite - Natural moissanite is incredibly rare. Most on the market will be synthetics.⁶

Citrine - Citrine is heated amethyst, but most citrine on the market will be artificially heated and sold as natural. Natural citrine has a colour ranging from olive to lemonade, and will never be found on a geode. A telltale sign of artificial citrine is any sign of a parent geode, especially a bright white colour on the bottom of the crystal, as well as the crystal’s colour generally looking “crispy” or bright orange.⁹

Prasiolite - Green quartz is incredibly rare in nature, and thus, most found on the market will be heat treated amethyst of certain localities. Typically, natural prasiolite is light, translucent green, while darker varieties are treated.¹¹

Geodes - Geodes are typically made of quartz, but less commonly calcite, dolomite, aragonite, akerite, hematite, magnetitie, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite.¹² Anything else is either incredibly rare or nonexistent. Many geodes may be dyed, modified, or sold as crystals they are not.¹³

Man-Made Crystals Without Natural Analogues

Glass (artificial) - There are many types of glass that are sold as natural crystals, such as goldstone (erroneously marketed as sunstone) and opalite (opal imitation, erroneously marketed as moonstone).¹⁰

Smelt quartz - Also known as cherry, blueberry, etc. quartz, are made of dyed glass.⁶

Slag - Slag is the byproduct of smelting. Names of commonly sold slags are: Fordite/Detroit agate, Sieber agate, andara crystal, rosarita, leklai, Frankfort green, and Leland blue.⁶⁻⁸

Cermikite - Also called alum crystal, these are commonly made in “grow your own crystal” kits. They are made of potassium aluminium sulphate.⁶

Chalcanthite - Synthetic crystal made of copper sulphate. Natural chalcanthite is incredibly rare and grows as fibrous crystals. This is a toxic crystal.⁶

Lopezite - Synthetic made of potassium dichomate. This is a toxic crystal.⁶

Cubic zirconia -  Diamond imitation made of zirconium dioxide.⁶

Further Reading

I cannot list all possible fakes and dupes. However, I can point to a few sites.

Crystals Rock

The Vug

Mineral Expert

If you need more specific advice, I'd say to simply search "how to tell if [crystal] is real/fake."

In the next part, we are discussing the root of why we need to be so careful when it comes to buying crystals: capitalism.

Sources

"How to Spot Fake Crystals", Crystals Rock.

"Fake of Real Malachite?", The Citrine Circle.

"How to Tell If Your Clear Quartz is Fake", Manifest and Flow.

"Real Vs Fake Obsidian Stone", How to Find Rocks.

"Real Vs Fake Malachite: How to Tell Moldavite Is Real", Truly Experiences.

"Toxic Crystals, Fakes, and Forgeries", Solstice Stones.

"Leland Blue Stones", Leelanau.

"Rosarita Stone History", TFD Jewellery.

"(Real vs Fake Citrine) How To Tell If You Have Real Citrine", Rock Seeker.

"'Fake' Crystals — Opalite, Goldstone, and More.", Marble Crow Blog.

"Prasiolite", The Quartz Page.

"Geode", Britannica.

"Are There Fake Geodes? (How To Spot Man-Made Geodes)", Rock Seeker.

[ndrogyny]

smacks you with my silly idv headcanons. this will not be of every character and some chars have multiple headcanons

this is long so its going under the cut

-kurt is the tallest survivor, towering over most at a solid 6'7". he prefers to be 6" tall and his true height genuinely shocks people who are used to him being doll sized

-ganji gets along pretty darn well with memory and robbie, and they often play toys together(as long as robbie follows the rules and doesn't try to behead the toys). sometimes, others will join in despite most of the manor being grown adults

-melly has at least 25 bees on her person at all times. if you're allergic or entomophobic/melissophobic stay away

-antonio needs glasses because he's nearsighted. he refuses to admit this

-william has adhd

-emily will sometimes hum gently to soothe anxious patients, with varying degrees of success, but she still wants to make sure things go as smoothly as possible for everyone involved

-tracy is the type of person to quarter a lemon and just eat it like that

-aesop can lift most other survivors and a couple of the smaller/lighter hunters, as long as they're under 200lbs. he's a lot stronger than he looks because embalmers have to move and lift bodies on the regular

-robbie will swear sometimes because some people either don't care about not swearing around him or have deliberately taught him swears

-ganji loves the thrill of roller coasters and loves the one at moonlit. if you took him to someplace modern like cedar point or energylandia he would be ecstatic at all the new things that make coasters more thrilling than the coasters of the early 20th century could ever be

-lucky guy, being from modern times, sometimes references things that no one else understands and he gets sad about it

-emma and melly often sit in the garden together to talk about the plants and insects that reside there

-antonio is a cuddler and will often lean on a friend sitting next to him. his hair will inevitably wrap around them

-aesop's pirate plush in his man in dream skin is named "dead-eye pete"

-melly draws as both a hobby and a research method

-emma is built like leo in the sense that both are rather broad and fairly muscular

-tracy eating just plain butter is something she initially did because she likes the taste and sometimes has no time to make a meal, but now she does it out of spite whenever someone tells her not to

-keigan and freddy often argue about the law and whether or not loopholes and technicalities should be used if theyre for a just reason

-mike had to learn the hard way that pranks with no specific victim can and will get him in deep shit if the wrong person gets caught in it

-out of everyone, mary enjoys dressing up in her skins the most. this isn't to say others don't enjoy it, mary just enjoys getting into the costumes and outfits most and she loves making a show of it

-in a modern au, anne would have a love-hate relationship with doll customizers. she loves the creativity and skill. she hates seeing their faces wiped off with acetone and any body modifications beyond repairing a broken part or sculpting directly onto the doll.

-wick puts their head on people's elbows when laying in their laps

-ann uses her neck to look around corners or behind her. utility

-luchino does his best to suppress his more animalistic instincts when in hunter form, but he can still sometimes be caught eating bugs out of the garden or raw meat from the fridge

-just as he canonically dislikes cars, joseph hates going on the eversleeping tram. most of it is the confined feeling without the comfort present in a carriage, but also he just doesn't like any wheeled transport that isn't a carriage in general

[eiirisworkshop]

Pink Bottles

A Roswell New Mexico ficlet Available to read on Ao3 here, or as an author-read podfic here.

~

“You over did it,” Isobel said sternly as she stabbed open the foil seal on a second bottle of nail polish remover and handed it to Michael—the particular kind of stern that's thinly veiled anger that is itself a thinly veiled mix of worry and relief.

“It worked.” Michael tipped back the bottle casually, like it was a beer, but he still looked drawn and pale, sprawled across Isobel's sofa.

“I don't think that's really the point,” Max said lowly.

Liz snorted. “You're one to talk.”

Max glared at her. She put her hands up in a shrug.

Quiet, Alex picked up the empty discarded first bottle and read the back. “So, nail polish remover is to aliens as, what? Ibuprofen is to humans? Or are we talking along the lines of morphine?”

“More like morphine,” Max said. “Not psychoactive like that though.”

“Uhhuh,” Alex hummed slowly. “You always get this same remover.”

Isobel shrugged. “It's the brand the drugstore in town carries, yeah.”

“Always the pink cap?”

“Yeah.” Isobel crossed her arms. “Why?”

“You said it's the acetone specifically that's an analgesic—not anything else that's in this specific nail polish remover?”

“Yes.” Michael answered this time. “What are you getting at?”

“Is that an assumption based on your own observations, or has Liz scienced at it?”

“I scienced at it,” Liz said. “It's definitely the acetone.”

“Cool.” Alex set the bottle down with a tack. “You're all morons.” He walked right out of the house, ignoring the chorus of whats and hey!s behind him.

“Is he leaving leaving?” Michael asked incredulously.

An engine turned over outside. Max nodded. “He would appear to be leaving.”

“What the fuck.”

About twenty minutes later, the growl of that same engine announced Alex's return. He found the aliens, plus Liz, pretty much where he'd left them, except now they had taquitos, mozzarella sticks, and what looked to be tiny spinach quiches. The must have raided Isobel's freezer.

“What was that all about?” Michael demanded over the back of the sofa, apparently feeling better despite still kinda looking like hell. “Where did you even go?”

“I went,” Alex said, limping more pronouncedly with the weight of carrying a heavy, uneven load, “to the hardware store. Where they sell these.” He hefted the rectangular, metal, gallon jug and balanced it on the back of the couch. “Pure acetone, by the quart and gallon. It's down the paint aisle, with the other paint thinners and solvents, because it's used to de-gunk shit, which I'd think you would know, Michael, considering that you are a mechanic at a junk yard and half your job is getting gunk off of shit. I guarantee you, buying a couple of these jugs is much less suspicious than buying an armful of nail polish remover.”

They all stared at him. For a long moment, they were quiet, then Liz burst out laughing. Max and Michael looked at each other.

“He's right,” Michael said. “We're morons.”

Isobel held up a finger. “In my defense! I'm a girl.”

Alex shook his head, came around the sofa, set the jug in Michael's lap, and sat. “Nope, you don't get out of this. As a girl who actually paints her nails, you should have noticed at some point that the pink bottles are never the pure acetone remover. It's always enriched for natural nails or some shit. Pure acetone is usually the white bottle, sometimes blue.”

Isobel looked at the floor.

“I probably should've picked up on that one,” Liz admitted, still laughing.

“Why do you know that?” Max asked Alex.

“He used to paint his nails!” Michael said like it was obvious, because, well, it had been.

Alex leaned back and crossed his legs, right over left. “For about five years, out of everyone in this room, I painted my nails the most regularly. Come to think of it,” he looked at his hands, “nothing stopping me from starting again.”

Michael grinned cheekily. “Even out of practice, I bet your pedicure time's down by half.”

Alex shoved his shoulder. “You owe me seventeen bucks.”

[sergle]

I’m sure you’ve answered nail polish questions before my memory just sucks and I can’t find the posts, but do you have any specific brand recommendations? I loved ILNP for a while for being cruelty-free and having tons of colors, but some of their polishes have became clumpy after 5-6 months. I don’t know if this is standard for most polishes I haven’t painted my nails in years :\

I KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS ONE!! any polish can be revived, no matter how clumpy or old it gets. over time and with use, the solvent in nail polish evaporates, and it gets shittier, but this is easily remedied with some polish thinner! there are lots of kinds you can get, just get one that doesn't contain acetone. w some thinner and a few steel mixing balls (which many polishes already have), plus a lot of shaking, you can breathe life back into any nail polish. it's also a good idea to clean the lip of the bottle, if it has any dried polish on it then it can prevent the bottle from sealing all the way, causing even more evaporation

[dollulus]

Tutorial - How to Paint doll lips. Fashion doll custom! DIY face up tech...

How   To   Paint   Doll   Lips

Supplies:

Acrylic paint  Liner brush (other brushes are too big) Paper towel Q-tips Water Doll! Optional: Acrylic Sealer (top coat) Acrylic paint thinner (or use water)

Instructions:

1. Using a good quality acrylic paint, use water or acrylic paint thinner to thin the paint a little. If you want to mix two colors of paint together, do that now.

2. Dab your liner brush with a little paint and start painting the outline of the lips, filling in as you go. Paint around the inside of the lips but avoid the teeth. Or fill in the teeth with paint for an easier closed mouth look. Over paint the lip edges to change the lip shape.

3. When you mess up, use a wet Q-tip to wipe the paint away, then dry the lips with a little paper towel before you start painting again.

4. Keep redoing it until you are happy with it. Let it dry completely.

5. Apply an acrylic sealer the same way as the paint. Matte and gloss are popular options. Sealer protects the paint but it can still get scratched so treat your doll gently!

Never use sharpies or nail polish on your dolls! If you want to remove dried acrylic paint or the stock lip paint use a little acetone on a Q-tip to wipe it away. Then neutralize with water. Be careful because it does eat plastic so use cautiously. 

Tips:

+ Leave the original lip paint, use it as a guide for the lip shape and paint over it! + It's ok to redo it 15 times, your first tries might not look great. Keep practising! + Nail art brushes work well!

This tutorial uses a Rainbow High doll but a lot of other fashion dolls can be your muse! Check into your specific doll. I'm not responsible if you mess up your dolly!