#all handmade and sewn on by hand

[cakeboxie]

I’m bored and can’t sleep so I doodled my hyv s/i in my favourite outfits for when I’m obligated to go outside and/or obligated to look good

Ft the actual fits

[tj-crochets]

Say hello to Miss Henrietta Heloise, a splendiferous sphere of a chicken!

Should I give her a little fluff of feathers on her head to make her into a silkie chicken, or leave her as she currently is in the left picture?

[willow-thicket]

I completed this custom Rainbow High doll last week. I started with the face repaint, then designed & hand stitched the dress, handmade the jewelry, headdress, staff, and accessories. I also dyed her hair to better suit a summer sun goddess theme. Base doll is Rainbow Junior High Bella Parker.

[techtainia-makes-things]

All of my plush felt figurines May 2020-June 2023

Almost forgot Tailgate

[viciousewe]

I made this dress! Sewn! Entirely by hand and then took it to the renn faire in august! And then banished to a corner because I fucked up the cuff size and it was too small to do buttons the regular way! But then I figured out I could do a loop instead of a buttonhole and it would work and it did! Hooray!!! I can start a new sewing project!!!! Too bad my only pics of it are all obscured by my mildly insane jewelry and accessories.

[cornflake413]

Ykw? LOOK my BOY.

This is my SON.

His name is Bo (short for Lambo) (short for Lamborghini).

I LOVE HIM. i made him entirely with my HANDS.

! HE!!!!!!!!!!!

[bookshelfdreams]

yk when you see someone share a finished handmade item that they clearly spent a lot of time and money on and it's just. The absolute tackiest thing you have seen in your life. And then you ask yourself why someone would waste all those resources on such an eyesore.

(no, of course you can't relate to that because you're a much nicer person than me)

In any case.

BEHOLD!

A wool coat!

The top fabric is handwoven and handspun, the whole thing is sewn by hand, too.

Leftovers. Barely anything, all things considered, which is very satisfying.

This thing took me well over 3 years to make, on and off. And now I'm done.

Thank you for your attention.

[xitsensunmoon]

My first ever comic con! And first cosplay too. Of course it's gonna be my boy :] Ramblings about the process are under the cut(Let me know if?? You would want me to elaborate with process images for any of the steps?)

The costume took me forever to make, as I've never done any machine sewing, sculpting, fabric dying or spray painting before but learning all of these was so fucking fun!! I never realised just how many different skills go into making a cosplay but it was so worth it!!!

Almost all of the clothes(except the hat) were purchased first as bases, but all of the detailing was added by me. All of the fabric used was originally just scraps that I was given for free so I needed to learn how to dye and dye all of the stars, they were originally white.

The sewing machine was its own beast that brought me tons of frustration from the lack of skill and knowledge (it was devastating to find out that 95% of fuck ups were my fault and not the machine's lmao). But as a result, a hat sewn from scratch, all of the fur trims, embroidery on the corset, stars and the collar(which is very hard to see on the pictures unfortunately) was all added manually. The stars and the stripes(on the back of the cape) were attached using heat-and-bond adhesive (I WISH I knew about such thing just when I started working on this. It would save me so much time and nerves.)

Then I found out about polymorph(mouldable plastic) and it has become the next thing I wanted to learn, to sculpt the claws and the fangs(yes, they're handmade jfksjs). The claws I then primed and painted in trillion coats because I wasn't satisfied with the colour of the spray paint. The fangs I moulded to my own teeth and then stained with tea to match the colour of my teeth :)c

As for makeup, I used Mehron Paradise water activated paints. At first I wanted to try to save money and bought myself Snazaroo instead, which unfortunately turned out to be a waste. Snazaroo didn't hold on my face for longer than 2 hours, cracking and peeling awfully. Mehron on the other hand survived 11 hours of me smiling, talking, emoting and such and didn't even crease at the smile lines(I'm actually shocked about that). It obviously works like any other makeup which means your skin texture and wrinkles won't go anywhere but Mehron's elasticity pleasantly surprised me. It did obviously smear from sweat and saliva(if you're eating and licking your lips) but if you don't touch the skin it just dries again, self setting. But if it's dry it's fully smear-proof. Highly recommend!

And last but not least, I've decided against painting my hands as it was very risky that I will stain everything I touch at the smallest hint of sweat. So instead I got myself gloves-tights(? Not sure how they're called but it's made from the same fabric as tights) and painted them with normal acrylic paint(did you know you could dye fabric with acrylic paint? I personally didn't), then heat set with an iron and voilà, they're reusable, my hands are not stained after an exhausting day and I don't stain everything I touch. It worked wonderfully which honestly was a surprise as I was really sceptical that acrylic paint will somehow stay in place.

I think this whole thing took me minimum of 6 months with big-big breaks for my school and life in general. But I'm really proud! This project taught me so many new skills and I couldn't have been happier about learning new knowledge, even if it sucked to fail in the meantime.

Everyone at the con was really nice and gave me a large confidence boost even tho it was my first time and I had no idea what I was doing. Taking photos with other people was really awkward/new for me as I hate cameras so I really had no idea how to pose/behave in front of one. But that's okay I think. This whole experience definitely made me want to do this again, so I think that will come with experience. Thank you for reading this far, hope you enjoyed this little summary :)

[creaturecave]

Everyone, meet Misha - Misha, meet everyone!

🐲🪡🥳

I am SO happy with how this big guy turned out! I know I say this on every doll, but he seriously was SOOOOO much fun to bring to life! Misha is around 40cm tall, 100% handmade by yours truly: hand sewn, sculpted, painted, and styled! Who knew hairstyling demon locks would be so fun!? He has a head of synthetic hair from a full, human sized wig, showing off that excellent glorious look.

Misha also sports a new, jointed plastic armature that was handmade by myself, which means he has realistic movement and is super lightweight.

I want to thank my wonderful client for allowing me to take this opportunity to bring their wonderful character to life.

I hope you enjoy this character doll as much as I do - here's to the next! Keep an eye out for new commission openings in the near future.

And as always, thanks for all your love and support of my work! You can find more behind the scenes stuff on my Patreon!

[piratefishmama]

There was just something magical about a good Renaissance Faire. Something in the air that set Eddie’s little crow brain alight with excitement. Especially around December when Christmas loomed around the corner and snow dusted the ground.

Be it the shiny trinkets dangling from wooden hooks amidst the old wooden stalls, be it the haggling voices of stall vendors and customers, all dressed in garbs they’d likely sewn, dyed, modelled themselves, the smells of the food stalls, the glow of twinkling fairy lights reflecting on the snow, the music played on lutes and sang from haybales for gathering crowds, be it the energy of likeminded folks all there to be a little bit weird, joyously, freely, without shame or judgement.

He could be himself there.

Dressed to the nines in layered fabrics purposefully aged and torn to simulate era appropriate wear and tear. His hair held silver trinkets, tied up by lengths of dark fabric in a messy up-do that’d taken Wayne a good few hours to figure out, and would no doubt take them both a hell of a lot of huffing and puffing to remove without cutting it out later. He had a cloak made out of a thick set of curtains he’d thrifted, dyed, and repurposed.

He had his bag, something he’d sewn himself out of extra fabric from those curtains, made with plenty of little pockets and places to put his spoils, he’d saved up for months to get as much out of this faire as possible because things weren’t CHEAP there.

Most things were handmade, most things were lovingly crafted by gifted individuals. He didn’t even want to haggle, he had money specifically for the faire! He was going to spend money on the endlessly talented individuals at the faire!

He got himself a new journal, leather bound with thick blank pages for sketching in. it was embossed with intricate swirling patterns around a pentagram that he’d absolutely get shit for if he ever pulled it out in public but it was beautiful, and it had a cool swing lock clasp.

He got himself a pretty necklace, wire wrapped with a fancy gem that he’d keep safe to use as a prop at some point.

He found some beautiful homemade dice, made in such a way that it looked like liquid moved inside of the dice, little flecks of glitter sloshing around a cloudy liquid inside the green tinted gold leaf inlaid resin with every roll, beautiful, eye catching, immensely satisfying to his little crow brain. Surprisingly enough they were the most expensive purchase he’d made at the faire, tiny little dice, fifty whole dollars. Not the most expensive thing he’d seen there, but definitely the most expensive thing he now owned from the trip.

They came with an incredibly pretty velvet dice bag though, which he hadn’t expected to get as a little freebie but the girl at the stall winked at him when she handed it over and wasn’t that a trip. The fabric was dyed to look like some kind of galaxy, with little silver and gold stars embroidered into it.

It made those dice a steal and he would treasure it and them, always.

He perused the fabric stalls, getting himself a cool hand painted scarf, detailed with a beautiful dragon that he’d find a good frame for later to hang up because it would not be worn, no siree. He grabbed a cool hand carved wooden mug for Wayne that looked like something straight out of a Viking’s mead hall, he’d give it to him for Christmas.

He got himself some food. He watched a joust, got a photo with the riders and their horses, one of which tried nibbling his hair, tipped the riders, and very quickly found himself running low on cash.

All that scrimping, and saving, and dealing… worth it. So very worth it.

So sue him if he looped back around and walked through again, he couldn’t afford much of anything else, he’d spent his last ten spot on a fridge magnet, had five left for gas station snacks on the way home, but that was fine, he could take photos, he’d borrowed Gareth’s camera, Gareth would have come but his parents had one stipulation for him attending the faire, and that was taking his failing grade in biology, and upping it to something that at least predicted a pass before thanksgiving.

He’d failed, and no amount of grovelling could fix it. No Ren Faire for you good sir!

Jeff was out of town with his family on some ‘visit all the out of state family members before Christmas snowstorms lock everything down’ country wide tour. And Dougie couldn’t get the time off his part time job to go.

So Eddie had promised plenty of photos to show them what they missed out on.

It was the very last stall at the end of the strip that caught his attention. Maybe it was the way the dying sunlight hit it, or the way the wind caught the chimes dangling from its flimsy rafters, he felt… called to it. Drawn to it like a moth to a flame and who was he, but a lowly little moth, to ignore the call of the fire?

So he wandered over, let himself be drawn in, offered a friendly little finger wave to the greying woman sat behind a makeshift counter wrapped in shawls and decorated in silver jewellery that jingled as she worked a single crotchet hook into a slowly coming together wine red shawl. The woman offered him a simple bow of her head and a small smile in response but no sales pitch.

No conversation of any kind really, she simply sat there while he looked, crocheting away without a care in the world. He could appreciate that, not being bothered by pushy sales tactic, especially when he had so few funds left to play with, he always felt guilty when he couldn’t afford what they were selling.

Like why was he even there if he had no money to spend?

The old woman didn’t do that, allowing him to wander through her surprisingly large stall full of little trinkets and goodies uninterrupted, which was for the best because had she spoke, he might not have stayed long enough to spot it. Amidst the little boxes decorated with carved patterns and pretty gemstones, amidst the scarves, crocheted bags, amidst the leather work belts, and wallets sat a single, solitary little bottle.

Sealed with a cork coated in wax and pressed with a decorative seal in a shape too worn down to really make out but obvious that it’d at one point had a shape. The bottle was hand blown, not manufactured, lightly frosted a dark brown to a brilliant amber around its square base, the colour crept up the smooth sides towards its seal, like a diamond in shape.

The bottle wasn’t empty either.

Much like the dice that’d caught his crow brain hook line and sinker earlier, this little bottle was filled with some kind of liquid. It swirled like a galaxy inside, and at the centre a brilliant light that looked like it held its own sun, always at the centre of the swirl, never distorting or shifting out of place, eternal in its circular flow.

It was warm in his hands. He didn’t even realise he’d picked it up.

“Two dollars.” Eddie damn near jumped out of his skin, whirling around, the bottle tight in his grip. That old woman had moved. And she’d done so with a quiet stealth some might attribute to a ninja, which was impressive considering how much jewellery she wore.

“Huh?” So eloquent of him.

“Just two dollars, child. The bottle? It is… calling to you, yes?” He couldn’t place her accent, something foreign, European maybe, he had no idea but it definitely didn’t sound any parts American. “I take two dollars for it, will bring you luck.” He looked back to the bottle, eyeing the swirl that still held its pattern even as he’d jostled it, like nothing could knock it out of its gentle swirl, then back to the old woman.

What was two dollars, really?

He had five left, if nothing else the bottle could make a really cool prop, and if it did bring him luck, then hey bonus. Who was he to argue with a mysterious old lady at a Renaissance Faire? “You uh… you got yourself a deal, ma’am.” She smiled brightly at him, eyes alight with both happiness and… something else, something that reflected in the light that he didn’t think hard enough about. She accepted the five dollars he had left, she gave him his change, and a little paper bag filled with tissue to hold his new purchase, which he didn’t really need as he put it right into his own bag after receiving his change, and then she sent him on his way, uncaring as to whether or not he wanted to look at her other wares.

He’d gotten the bottle. Nothing else mattered apparently. Maybe he should have found that suspicious, but why would he?

As soon as he left the little stall, all thought of it seemed to wash away from his mind leaving him freely wandering back to the entrance where his trusty steed, his Van, awaited him to take him home. Blissfully unaware of the little bottle he’d just purchased. Blissfully forgetful of the stall he’d visited, of the old woman he’d just met, of her smile, her eyes, her mysterious accent.

All of which was for the best, really, as if he’d thought about it, if he’d taken a single moment to stop and look back to the little stall at the end of the row, the little stall that held more treasures than it should have been able to for its size, if he’d looked back to wave his goodbyes to the old woman and her treasures, he’d have found nothing.

No stall, no woman, no trinkets or treasures. Just a single row of recycling bins and benches.

But he didn’t look back.

Definitely for the best.

Part 2

[doctorbeth]

Raggedy Andy

As some of you who've been reading for some time know, in addition to stuffed animals, I also repair (and actually make) cloth dolls. This part of the hospital is rather specialized, mostly all cloth dolls, not ones with plastic parts or mobile eyes or hand knitted ones. My specialty is fabric (including faux fur, obviously), and that's the equipment I have. But that does mean I get a lot of Raggedies. Raggedy Anns, Raggedy Annes (the name spelling really matters!) and Raggedy Andys. Today, I thought I'd share a story of a small handmade Raggedy Andy.

Andy had been loved for over twenty years when his person asked her mom to please get him fixed up. He had had a lot of adventures, and clearly some serious accidents! Here are his diagnosis photos:

And this is what he looked like as a young doll:

You can see that he's lost his face, and his clothes. Even his sewn on shoes were wearing off. And he had more injuries to his limbs and torso. You can also see that Andy was custom made... his face and clothing were both different from commercial raggedies, as was his foot shape.

I couldn't match his original jacket fabric, so I recommended his family choose a fabric they'd like and send that to the hospital with him. In addition to new clothes, and a new face, and other wound repair, he was going to get his shoes recovered and supplemental stuffing. Once he was in the hospital, we also agreed to recover the blue part of his hat (as it was quite worn, which is hard to see in the photos.

It took a bit of time, but soon, Andy was feeling more like himself. Here he is with his wounds repaired, new face, new pants, and new shoes:

You can see the torso and arm wounds were repaired, but the face is new. His pants button on, but his shoes (now velour) are sewn in place.

And here's Andy all spiffy in his full new outfit, ready to fly home:

His family wrote when they saw the photos:

Oh my goodness this is fantastic!! He looks amazing. I cannot thank you enough!! I love his new face and his heart is still there. Thank you for salvaging all you could. His outfit is wonderful. Thank you Thank you!!

And when Andy made it home they said:

Andy arrived!!  He looks amazing and just so incredible how he came back to life.  I am so happy and cannot wait to surprise my daughter. 

Amazing and just could cry.  This is her most valued memory from childhood.  Her Andy.

Thank you, thank you.

:-)

[tj-crochets]

an creature

[kangen-wanshi]

How Do You Love? ft. Gepard Landau, Sampo Koski

General relationship headcanon.

Tags: separate, mostly fluff but there are some suggestive things mentioned in Sampo's

A/N: I have like 4 people asking for this I hope I did this right

With All Of His Heart: Gepard Landau

Gepard is a soft, gentle lover. He enjoys walks, quick kisses in public, and holding your hand whenever you’re within his proximity. But he’s also fierce and passionate. As a Landau his commitment to a relationship goes far and beyond - and that is a promise he gave you when he first took hold of your hand.

When it comes to work, unfortunately, Gepard will prioritize his duty over you. He will prioritize a call from the Supreme Guardian over your dates, apologizing profusely while peppering your face with regretful kisses or paragraphs of apology, before he went off to finish his duty. As his lover, he hoped that you would be patient with him. He loves you, truly, but in a world like Jarilo-VI and in a city like Belobog, if he were to fall, the fate of the entire population on the planet would be doomed as well.

Although if it’s something more casual like perhaps a call from his subordinate - he can slack off a little and pass on the duty to someone else capable like perhaps Dunn, or even his sister if he’s in a pinch. He values his job, yes, but he still loves you, so any minor work that comes outside of his schedule or responsibility will go to someone else.

That being said, when he makes up for all the times lost due to his deployment in the Frontline, Gepard pays extra attention to your dates and your meet-ups, as well as behind closed doors. He holds you more often, his grip lingers and leaves a trail of comforting warmth against Belobog’s eternal coldness, he clings to you more. His most common action is having his arms around you from the back or the front and burying his head onto the crook of your neck.

Gepard honors his duty to protect the people, but.. He doesn’t mind indulging in your protection every now and then. At the start of your relationship he won’t say that he likes being held by you, but further into it, he will be shameless in asking for you to hold him in private. He likes putting his head close to your chest, hearing your heartbeat, having you hold him so close, caressing him so carefully, in fear that he might break any second. He enjoy your gentle loving, and your warm, protective embrace around him.

Little gifts and dates are obvious! Since the Overworld and the Underworld don't really have much ‘trinkets’, next to freshly grown flowers, most of his gifts to you are handmade (with the help of his sister). Hair clips, gloves, scarf, or even jackets, his gifts are often something that you can wear. He doesn’t admit to it, and no one really takes notice, but Gepard seems to really enjoy the idea of his gifts being somewhat of use to you even if he's away. Distance, can't really keep him away from you if he knows that you'll always have yourself wrapped with gifts sewn by his own hands.

With All Sense Of Belonging: Sampo Koski

Ah Sampo Koski, local troublemaker, shady businessman, what else.. Oh, and a flirt. Fortunately, despite his irresistible charm and overwhelming presence, Sampo doesn’t really flirt much. He persuades people, yes, but he rarely uses flirtation or other people’s feelings to get what he wants. So when he flirts with you, you know he already has his eyes on you deep.

Though it’s easy to suspect his motive, but based on his own version of Preservation, his intention finally got through to you after many, many, many unfortunate attempts on your side of ignoring his charm and smile, as well as his for almost being caught several times by Gepard in suspicion of harassing you. All in all, good for you! You’ve landed a fortunate hit dating him now!

Sampo doesn’t look like it but he’s an easily jealous man. He trusts you wholeheartedly, yes, he just doesn't trust whoever it is that dares to approach you with further intent. A hand that was placed on your lower back now sneaked to pull you closer by your waist, and his ever easygoing smile switched to something more.. Threatening, as Threatening as he could make it.

Talk about threatening, it's uncommon for his 'rivals' to attempt to use you to throw him off of his game. Telling him the various bad things they may do to you should he try to further be a pain in their business. Sampo has no worries, of course. Sure it boils his blood that they even dare to think of using you to get to him - but he has his ways. Whether he has to use his own weapon to draw the necessary conclusions, or should he call for a favor from the Trailblazer, either way, for you, he's willing to do anything. 

He likes taking you on various walks! Sampo is a very adventurous individual, how else would he be able to tread the mazes that are the Underground and the Overworld if it's not for his highly experienced human compassion? He uses this opportunity away from you to find various spots where you can view the scenery of Belobog, above and below, in the most beautiful way possible. To see a beautiful garden of raw untouched Geomarrow, or even a beautiful night sky that is just located at the outskirts of Belobog, he'll take you to places that can stop your breath for a moment.

Sampo doesn't have any 'vulnerable' side. Even to you, he acted mostly the same. Albeit more clingy, and more touchy with his hands and his lips. Although perhaps there is a side to him that you managed to unfold - that is him, being overly possessive of you.

Sampo likes to mark things that belong to him. Living a life such a his can lead to him having to part with mortal rich and people on occasion, just to keep himself going at a stable pace. So when he has you, when you've bound yourself to him in this so-called deal of a relationship, he doesn't want to let you go, ever.

So he'll mark you. Whether it be physically with his teeth or giving you accessories to match himself, he'll do it. PDA is something that he shamelessly would do - unless you wish otherwise. He will always have his hand on you one way or another, a hand on your thigh, a hand on your lower back, around your waist or shoulder, his chest pressing up on your back - anything. If he's near, he will touch you. Kisses are also common, on the cheek, lips, hands, sometimes someone will have to tear him away from you to keep him focused on the task at hand - he can't help it! You're so tempting and he just wants to be near you!

In that final note, someone has definitely caught you two being.. Intimate before. Was it by accident or did he purposely stage for the specific person to see? Who knows. Just be prepared for a lot of things to come when you're with him.

[ioniansunsets]

✖ Heartsteel!Kayn Birthday Special ✖

✖ Heartsteel!Kayn Birthday Special ✖

✖ Word Count: 836

✖ Tags: Established R/S

✖ A/N: I think of this as a 10pm-2am party on the 30th so Kayn can quietly pretend its a party for his real 31st Birthday.

----

It was irritating, he'd have to admit. A full day of media and paparazzi chasing him. All he wanted was to by your side, to celebrate with you, to not have to phase through walls just to hide from the crowd. The crowd that was even worse than usual because it was Halloween night. He clicks his tongue as he pulls his facemask up to hide away from the crowd.

" Gods help me."

He whispers angrily under his breath. Almost like an answer to his prayers, Ezreal pops up and drags him down an alley, helping him to slip away from some fans and find his way to the club that you told him to meet you at. It was the usual spot, Heartsteel's favorite bar, the bouncers already waving to let Kayn and Ezreal in.

" Everyone's waiting LMAO! You're so late." " You're late too loser. The fuck you on about!"

Ezreal laughs as he flings the doors open. You, with the help of some others in Heartsteel booked out the entire club for Kayn this night. A hustle and bustle as K/DA and some other friends of Kayn's hang out, laughing and drinking. Cheers from everyone as he walks in, everyone wishing Happy Birthday on what he personally thinks is the wrong day. But attention is attention and he can't say no to a little fun at night. Everyone in little Halloween costumes, high fives, loud laughs, awkward hugs he talks to everyone, socializing and thanking them for the wishes. Yone graciously DJ-ing for the party, Akali pointing him a middle finger as they make eye contact but showing up to the party anyway, Sett and Aphelios trying a hand behind the bar to make drinks for the party. K'Sante sitting by a table talking to Alune and the rest of K/DA. But still, something was wrong, he sees all his friends but where the hell were you? The you who was arguably the most important person to him. The you were the one who invited him here anyway.

" Happy Birthday Kayn!"

At the sound of your voice he perks up, immediately putting his drink down to turn and find you. As he spots you a little away he basically runs over to throw his arms around you, lifting you up and giving you a little spin as you hug him back.

" My favorite person! Where the hell were you! I'm only here because you told me to come by the way."

He sticks out his tongue in mock irritation, arms still around you the whole time. All the attention and well wishes from everyone could never compare to your love. Ah how he loved your smell, your cute laugh, your stupid teasing smug face as it stared at him. He leans down giving you a quick kiss before letting go. Resting his arms across his chest waiting for a good explanation from you.

" Took a while because I had to get this finished for you."

You defend yourself, you hold up a present for him. It was small, suspiciously small for a gift for someone as amazing as him, but it was from you so like hell he won't complain. Picking up the box for your hands he holds it up, shaking it a little, no noise. Curious now he opens it, face immediately lighting up. He puts the wrapping down behind him as he holds up the gift.

" Oh fuck is this...?"

You nod as he examines it, a custom guitar strap. Designed like his recently solidified aesthetic from the Paranoia MV, bright colors, a yellow base, pink, purple and green accents with an imitation of his signature down the strap. Little handmade patches of him and Rhaast on the corner, hearts the colors of all the boys around the middle, and finally your initials sneakily sewn in the underside next to Kayn's right where the strap would meet the guitar, there, yet hidden from view so he could still use this on stage. A beautifully thought out way to have something of you near him all the time, even when he was on tour, on stage or in his studio. How personal... Kayn laughs, a hand returning to pull you into him, he leans down close to your ears as he growls out softly,

" Damn babe...you're going to make me emotional."

A blush rising up your face, Kayn turns to give your cheek a quick kiss. A hand sneakily rising up to wipe something away under his eyepatch. You take note to tease him about it later.

" All custom made and details hand sewn by the way, I got K'sante and Sett to help me."

" Thank you. Amazing gifts from you as always."

After a quick kiss on your forehead, he pulls away from the hug, hand wrapping around yours as he drags you to the bar, the brightest smile on his face as he gives Aphelios a nod to make drinks for you two.

" Now let's properly celebrate together."

[bluejayblueskies]

Red, White & Royal Blue Rebind

[ID: Eight pictures of a hand-bound rebind of the book "Red, White & Royal Blue." The first shows the cover, which has been bound in light gray bookcloth and is decorated to look like a suit with a union jack tie. There are two cardstock buttons, one that says "Vote Claremont" and the other that says "History, huh?" On the right side, the title "Red, White and Royal Blue" is painted on in red, white, and blue paint respectively. On the left side, the author name "Casey McQuiston" is painted on in white paint. The second shows the spine, covered also in gray bookcloth. It has the title "Red, White and Royal Blue" painted on in red, white, and blue paint respectively and the author name "Casey McQuiston" painted on in white paint. The third shows the book from the top so the headbands, sewn with red, white, and blue thread, can be seen. The fourth shows the title page of the book, which has the title "Red, White and Royal Blue" in red, white, and blue ink respectively, as well as the author name "Casey McQuiston" beneath it. The fifth shows the colophon page (left) and dedication page (right). The colophon has details about the book, as well as the binder logo for Blue Skies Books (a bluejay) and the logo for Renegade Publishing (a bookpress). The dedication page says, "For the weirdos and the dreamers" in a sans serif font above a black and white drawing of a reflective lake with pine trees around it. The sixth shows a chapter header page, which has a gray skyline that merges the skylines of DC and London across the top of it. The word "One" is in all caps in white on the lefthand side of the skyline, and body text is beneath it in a serif font. The seventh shows the inside of the book, drawing attention to the formatting of the emails throughout the book. The emails include icons for both Henry and Alex, email addresses, timestamps, and subjects. The eighth shows the inside of the book, drawing attention to the red, white, and blue heart page divider and the handwriting fonts used within the regular body text for certain words. /End ID]

When the Red, White and Royal Blue movie came out last year, I rediscovered my love for this book and these characters and just had to do a rebind of it! This is a full rebind, so I've done the typeset myself as well as the cover. I had a delightful time coming up with the cover design (I imagine this is modeled after a theoretical Alex suit, though it could be Henry's as well!), and I had an especially fun time doing the typeset. There are so many fun formatting elements in this story, and it was great getting to put my own spin on them.

Logistics-wise, this bind uses Lumeiere fabric paint and a Silhouette-cut stencil for the words, Silhouette-cut cardstock for the decorative elements, handmade cotton bookcloth for the cover, cotton embroidery thread for the endbands, and regular Hammermill cream paper for the textblock. (Once I've saved up for it, I'm looking forward to getting some short-grain textblock paper! This is still long grain.) The body font is Cochin and the title font is Montserrat.

And finally: my bind versus my trade paperback copy!

[ID: A picture of the hand-bound version of "Red, White and Royal Blue" from above held next to the mass-produced paperback version of the same book. They are made in different styles with different color schemes, but both have a fun and slightly whimsical appearance to them. /End ID]

[isleofdarkness]

No, actually, let's talk about the Core Four's Isle looks in Descendants 1.

Yeah, no.

Number one, Mal, Evie, Carlos, and maybe Jay are all very obviously wearing pleather- fake leather. If the leather was brand-new and made in a certain way, sure, it could possibly be shiny like that, but the Isle kids would not have access to leather like that. They'd probably only have leather salvaged from destroyed furniture and it would not look like that. It's way too shiny, it just looks like plastic.

The thing baout pleather is that it'll last maybe, MAYBE, twenty years before it becomes unusable. It's not good quality and not as protective as genuine leather, especially when it's not professionally cared for with knowledge and supplies these kids shouldn't have. Not to mention it looks brand-new. Where are these children getting brand-new pleather?

All of this is also professionally made, using specialized materials. In order to sew thicker materials like leather, you need specialized needles and thread to create normal seams like they have. You can sew leather using normal needles and thread, but it won't look like this unless you know exactly what you're doing and even then, there are ways to tell. These clothes are obviously made by professionals with good supplies, not by a teenager stitching by candle light in her bedroom using a normal needle and normal thread.

Also, let's talk about the dye jobs- there is absolutely no way. These colours could only have been made using actual leatherworking or similar supplies. If these kids were actually making their own clothes, they'd be dyeing this stuff in their bathtub with food colouring or hair dye like normal punks, so the colours would not be anywhere near as vibrant as these. The colour would also probably be patchy and brownish, but these are vibrant and gorgeous, clearly made using actual leatherworking supplies and actual leather dyes rather than the supplies they would actually have access to. Let's compare these clothes to some genuine handmade punk looks, the kind of looks these kids should have.

See these leather jackets? They're all black, which is the easiest colour to dye without professional supplies. The colour on them is usually fabric attachments. The colours of the leather are dull, indicating either age or the fact that they were hand-dyed. Clothes are ill-fitting, torn, obviously secondhand or ancient. Looking at old photos of punk clothing, you'll find most of the looks are like this. Old, worn, handmade, secondhand, faded, ripped- these are the kinds of clothes the Isle kids would probably be wearing.

"Oh, but Evie could-" no she couldn't. I know that Evie is a prodigy, but even a prodigy can't work with what she doesn't have. It doesn't matter how good she is, she would not be able to make professionally-made brand-new clothes. It's also entirely impractical. Why waste all of that effort making professional-looking pleather clothes when she could just save time, work with what she has, and create clothes that are functioning and that can also look pretty good?

The cloth used in the clothes they wear in the movies would not have been available to them. Tights without any runs? Beautifully dyed pleather sewn professionally to fit them? Fake denim? No. And even if this stuff was available, everything they wear is, again, clearly professionally dyed and sewn. They got that from the trash? The trash of a country that hasn't used black clothing in twenty years? Absolutely not.

Disney, let's be realistic here. There is absolutely no way they would have clothes like this and even if there was, it would take an unrealistic amount of effort and supplies for them to produce. Form is important to them, sure, but function and practicality would be far more important. These clothes give them no room to run, jump, duck, fight, parkour, or really move at all. Why would they do that to themselves?

Answer? They wouldn't. Disney just couldn't be bothered to be realistic.