#and a bit scatterbrained

[himbopunk]

quick rundown of different ways i've made patches

for @pescabianca cuz they asked lol

gonna start by saying i'm far from an expert on any of this, especially proper screenprinting and blockprinting. i'm just some guy that's been winging it for the past 3 years and it's just kind of what i do now? idk. here's the methods i've used for making patches

method 1: stencil and fabric paint

in which you're making a stencil and painting by hand. first time i made patches i hand carved out the letters on some cricut vinyl (i didn't have a cricut i just used a craft knife and taped it to my desk), put it down on top of a piece of fabric and sponged on some fabric paint. you can also use cardboard or cardstock you tape down for the stencil and tape down, whatever you got, i just find the vinyl was the easiest to make it not bleed as much. pretty simple, pretty accessible. the vinyl option is more for a single patch, smth like a cardboard stencil is better for multiple. make sure to use an iron to set in your paint once it dries

method 2: diy screen with mod podge

you can make a simple screenprint with mod podge, some kinda mesh fabric and an embroidery hoop. take voile or chiffon, pull the fabric taut on the embroidery hoop, and sketch on your design with a pencil (be careful as to not rip the mesh). remember that the flattest part goes down on your fabric, so make sure youre drawing inside the hoop.

paint on the mod podge in the negative space of your design, let dry. you can at this point use screen printing ink or continue with fabric paint, i think this was the time where i first bought screen ink. put your screen flat onto your fabric, some ink/paint at the top of the screen, then use an old gift card or id as a squeegee to do the actual printing part, dragging it down in a scraping motion. pull away and leave the patch to dry. you probably wanna iron it to set in the ink once you're done.

this is good esp if youre printing a bunch at once but doesnt wash very well so it can be kinda one and done sometimes? i used fabric mod podge so it lasted like 2 gos before getting all gross. but if you already have this kinda stuff laying around for other crafts, its pretty simple and introduces you to screeprinting somewhat without spending too much money

inspo/instruction link

method 3: screenprinting

getting/making an actual screen, you can just buy them online tbh, though it's not too hard to diy imo, especially if you're good with wood (haha) at all. i'm not, the way i diy'd it initially was finding some cheap wood picture frames from the dollar store or smth, pulling the screen mesh taut with a big embroidery hoop cuz i didn't have clamps and such, and using the staple gun to staple them onto the frame. it works just as well tbh, but i don't know how much i can speak on the longevity of dollar store frames or how well i attached the screen mesh, those are kinda skills in of themselves you gotta hone which is why this is all so much more involved

speaking of which, the next part is emulsion. i use jacquard emulsion fluid because it's cheap and i'm used to it. speedball is fine but i bought a bulk bottle once that was expired and i've never forgiven them for it. emulsion is a fluid thats mixed with a photosensitive fluid that causes it to cure and harden in uv light. you spread that across your screen, leave it in a dry, dark place to dry overnight (i used to use the bottom shelf of a bookshelf with a curtain over it, then the top drawer of a dresser. you can put it in your closet or something, depends on the space you have.) keep it in that dark place until you're ready to use it, otherwise you risk hardening it by accident.

once you've got a screen prepped, you want to have a transparency of your image in all black so light can get in everywhere but your design, and then expose it either to the sun or a lighting set up that you've bought/made. once you've cured it, you can then remove your transparency and you should be able to rinse out the emulsion fluid that was under it, leaving you with a screen to use!

for lighting setup, i use a flood lamp type thing that speedball sells that i bought years ago off of blick, i think? since the places i've lived have very specific times of day where you get direct sun to reliably use, at a certain point getting the lamp became worth it. depending on what you're using both in terms of your emulsion fluid and light source, the curing time can be very different, but this method allows for fine detail that can be difficult to attain by hand. stuff like screentones to create gradients, and the ability to make several screens for different color layers. it can be tricky to do sometimes but the ease of making more complex designs and having longer lasting screens can be worth it

also at this point you definitely want to be using actual screen printing ink, probably. you can buy a squeegee, i often still just use old credit cards and such, especially with my smaller designs, so it's up to you on that end. make sure you're using fabric ink, not acrylic ink, for your patches. just in general be aware of what type of ink you're getting, i use water-based inks that rinse out the screen easy with a spray bottle of water and some paper towels (you can also just rinse em in the sink but mine is too shallow lol).

i'll link to some tutorials i used when starting out, cuz this stuff is a lot easier with a visual aide and i don't think i explained it very well skdjf

youtube tutorial // tutorrial 2 // tutorial 3 // screens i used to get // emulsion fluid i use

method 3.5: screen filler

if you liked method 2, you can use the screen filler method to make screens, i've never done it but i understand it's similar in that you are basically panting on the negative space or something? again, i've never done it, i've just used emulsion after moving on from the mod podge method.

method 4: blockprinting

block printing is pretty straightforward, imo. basically you take a block of rubber or linoleum (or wood but i've. never done wood printing but it's fairly similar in basic method afaik) and trace or draw a design onto it. you then carve out the negative space of your design, leaving an impression of only the part you want to print. you then take a brayer/roller, roll it in ink until it's covered and then roll the ink out onto the raised part of the block that remains once you've carved it. take your fabric and press it flat onto the inked block, using something smooth like the back of a spoon to press it down and make sure your ink gets in there. i usually always make at least one more patch than i need with this method, since the first print often tends to be a bit rough/light and it improves over time. like your first pancake bein the worst one i guess. when you're done, you can wash the blocks with soap and water, maybe using an old toothbrush to get in all those crevices. but that's it, it's intense on focus, time, and physical effort, but pretty straightforward

note that when you blockprint something, the image will be reversed, so if you're drawing directly onto one keep this in mind. what i usually like to do is take some paper and put it over my original sketch, draw over it with a soft charcoal, then press it down onto the block to transfer the image. that way it makes sure your image is flipped, and it's a hell of a lot easier than any of the weird printer methods i've seen.

btw you can get a plate for rolling ink onto but i'll be honest? for about a year or two i just used like panes of glass i had from the picture frames i used for screens or i'd tape a piece of plastic or transparency down onto the table/desk. it's like, slightly easier now that i have an inking plate, but only just because it's a bit less waste, but it doesn't change much, imo. i even sometimes prefer using a gel printing plate, which is not really supposed to be used the way i'm using it! honestly, as long as your surface is flat and smooth it seems to be fine.

theoretically you don't even really need to use block printing ink, but i'd always struggled using other stuff? idk. if you're making patches, id suggest getting some fabric blockprinting ink. it'll take a day to dry, a bit longer than screenprinting ink, but it'd very sturdy. you can iron it to help secure it like the other stuff, but if you let it dry a couple days you might not even have to.

youtube tutorial/inspo // carving tools i use // some rubber blocks to start with // rubber brayers for rolling ink

note: if you can find any art supply exchanges, they're great for getting supplies for the latter methods on a budget. in chicago, there's a like, art supply thrift store of sorts called the waste shed where i got most of my early blockprinting supplies for pretty cheap, and if i didn't have those, i probably wouldn't have started making blockprints when i did.

note 2: this is all for printing on fabric, but you can also get acrylic screen printing ink or block printing ink for making prints on paper if you want!!

[puphoods]

ive only seen bits and pieces of what happened to predesterone, i know they got deleted (at least twice) and the ceo is making defamatory statements about them, but im genuinely confused as to where I could find this all going down. if u dont wanna gather links or whatever i get it its just that everything popped up on my dash suddenly and i want to know whats happening but i dont know how to find out

theres obviously a lot of people posting rn but ill try to get some links together to sum it up as best i can find- keep in mind i never followed her myself and only distantly knew of her so there are people closer to the situation that probably have more stuff they can tell you though, and searching her url(s) has a lot of info

avery has i think two blogs deleted yeah, unsure about any older ones but predstrogen and avewy/predesterone were both deleted very recently

predstrogen (the first blog) was allegedly deleted for "sexually explicit material" despite any posts that may have been labelled as such being marked with a community label and her blog recently being manually approved as NOT containing adult content. she also talks in this post, as well as here, about how she has had a support ticket open for several months for harassment she was receiving that has not been dealt with

this is an example of the threats and harassment she has been receiving. ive seen a few different people get this ask copy pasted

the CEO of tumblr made a post wherin he publicly aired information regarding her deletion and threatened legal action against her , showing examples of the alleged death threats where no actual threats were made and telling people in the replies to just leave if they were unhappy with the moderation of the site

avery made a post about this and her new blog was again deleted within five minutes of her making it

multiple people who have made posts about the situation have said matt has DMed them and confronted them

this is word im hearing secondhand, so if i get any details wrong please correct me, but posts of hers such as her transition timeline are apparently ones that were flagged. i cant find any screenshots but many of her posts, including one that was a silly edit of a snow leapord wearing shoes, have been completely wiped from the site. if anyone has a screenshot or link to both the original post and it being deleted i can add it to this

again there are a lot of posts going around but these are i think what you really need to know whats going on...

[freshocto]

im back and i have a new brainrot to share

[beheamothscreamoth]

Genuine Question for the TWST Community!

(Okay, the header sounds super serious, but I promise it's not!)

Twisted Wonderland fandom - You know how Ace and Deuce had to take public transportation to get back to NRC because the magic mirror to Sage Island wasn't working? I saw a fanart piece of these two on a train, and it got the hamster wheel in my brain to turn.

(Credit goes to @letterhyms on Twitter!)

Is there any sort of fanfic out there that has Ace and Deuce travelling together to get back to NRC? Because if there is, I will go FERAL. /pos

You guys don't understand- I need to see these two react to the message Yuu sent in their group chat.

I need to see them panic and contact each other.

I need to see them telling their families that they need to go, and save their friend.

I need to see them trying to grab a taxi with a driver that overcharges them.

I need to see them arguing over which train they need to catch at the station.

I need to see them, like in the fanart, sleeping on the train they just barely managed to catch.

Heck, I need to see them take a bumpy boat ride to Sage Island.

I need to see them bicker. I need to see them worried about Yuu and Grim.

Because what other way is there to start the new year than going on a journey to save your new friends in a closed academy during the holidays? And find out that you missed the entire event while you were getting there, oof-

[doobledabbadoo]

animatic ive poured my blood, sweat, & tears since the middle of april. remember to like, subscribe, & hit that notification bell for more banger posts from doobledabbadoo-

[penny-the-pissed-poltergeist]

Most "Monty's vision of the story!" arguments fall kind of flat for me because his plans were probably fluid, I mean he literally put Neo in the series off of one cosplay he saw.

Even with Shane's letter, that talked a lot more about the way the show was made then the story itself, if that makes any sense? Like Shane talked way more about Monty's workflow and which drives he used then his story plans. Which makes sense he got other people to write the show for a reason, Monty wasn't a writer at least in the dialogue on a page sense.

Also Shane's letter doesn't mention Miles or Kerry by name.. ever i think? None of horrible things RT did in the letter sound like a thing M&K would be in the position to do or want to do. I don't like most of their writing decisions, but i doubt they would ever do something like saying Monty's own WIFE Sheena "had no business whatsoever with any part of RWBY" that sounds a lot more like a manger or something.

I think they stayed on because Monty trusted them with the writing and speaking up would have just gotten them replaced with people who probably wouldn't have even known Monty in all likelihood, and i don't blame them for that really. (TBH the more extreme hatred of M&K makes me uncomfortable sometimes, even if i have admittedly partaken in it myself on occasion)

I don't really know how to end this, so i hope at least Sheena is involved in whatever come next for RWBY!

[princekirijo]

Head in my hands I love Ann Takamaki with my entire being

[pinkhairswagtourney]

a lot of people have been concerned about the possibility of a pink hair cringe tourney and how it would be used to bully others . that is not the intention behind the tourney , it would be for our favorite cringefail losers ( affectionate ) , not for hating on people or characters . examples of possible nominees would be bocchi , kazuichi souda , and crona , just off the top of my head . although now that it's been brought to my attention , i'm worried that things could get out of hand . so i dunno . any thoughts ?

[lem-argentum]

i *DID* like end.walker, but playing it has just made me want to talk more about the strengths of shadow.bringers because it highlights them evenm more. help!.!!!!!

[kelocitta]

i've been in love with your cute and gorgeous art for years and i only just started playing rain world for the first time and totally love it! and now that i'm almost done with the game ("only just started" as in 110 hours of playtime ago) i get to look through your art again and i'm having a great time! love everything you make & wishing you a wonderful day!

Thank you so much and im glad youre having fun with the game!!! It can take a bit for it to 'click' but its soooo good once it does. Downpour adds a lot of new ways to test yourself too Its also the only game where you can use sandbox as some sort of unethical animal behavior observation chamber

[dootznbootz]

I fucking hate those colds where you just have fucking fog for brains >:(

[pyromaniacblujay]

How do you render your colored pieces? They look gorgeous!

thank you so much!! i'm not very good at explaining my process, but i'll try my best aha

a while ago i made this tutorial (...of sorts) explaining the general idea of the colours i pick, shown below

i only talked about it in terms of what exactly everything is and not why i do it... i took the idea of the way strong light shows on people with light skin (subsurface scattering, it's what makes the skin on the edge between light and shadow look reddish or why light shown through fingers or ears looks red) and apply it to pretty much everything. it's not realistic, but it sure makes things look a lot more vibrant

i also made an image about the brushes i use, which are actually default clip studio paint brushes, here

with my rendering style, i usually draw the darker colour with a flat ink pen, then blend the edges with the design pencil, swapping between the lighter and darker colour until i'm satisfied

usually i just use the base colours that the characters usually have in every piece, so for a lot of pieces that feature more dynamic lighting, i have to use an overlay layer for colour correction (maybe one day i'll get good at picking out colours myself...) to make them fit into the piece a little bit more, as shown below

honestly, i don't really have strict and hard rules on myself when it comes to choosing the opacities and the colours for the shading (other that that mentioned in the first image i suppose). a lot of it is just talking to myself and saying stuff like "does it look like it has enough colour here? maybe i'll use a more saturated colour in these shadows here to make it look less bland" "i think the light here is too bright maybe, i'll adjust the opacity on this a bit" "hm, i don't really like the way this spot looks. maybe i'll use a different filter?"

there's more i could say about how to make everything come together, but that would involve talking about stuff like ambient occlusion, light bouncing, etc. etc., and i'm not sure i can succinctly explain how that works aha... that sort of stuff you kind of need to practice a bit to get a proper feel for it-- i've gotten through art by glancing at tutorials and eyeballing my art until it looks good

i will say, a lot of the things i do i picked up from watching Marco Bucci's painting tutorials on youtube! i don't really employ every technique properly, but i did pick up a few things, including the way light bounces. he explains it in a way that actually makes me properly understand how it works, most artist tutorials just tell you to put the colours there because it looks good

[bvsyhead]

open event starter @exitiumstarters

Even when you know something is going to happen, doesn't mean it's still able to be seen to fruition. Hunters were armed making sure they killed anything that got in the path. While every supernatural creature invited, went on a war path or fled. Talia watched the chaos with a heavy heart, because no matter what it looked like, she didn't want this to happen.

But, she had to keep up appearances, so she decided to keep her face stoic as she began to think of the best way out of this hellish situation. That was until she ran smack dab into someone's body, taking a step back she gave the person a strange look. Her vision going in and out from the force of the collision. "You need to get out of here!" Talia tried to sound assertive, but there was confusion laced in her tone.

[grumpyoldsnake]

I’m going camping this weekend! It’ll be a bit chilly, but I’m still really looking forward to it. :D It’s been way too long since I last went.

[candyredappledragon]

//OOC

Hello! I am piled up with asks so for now I will close the ask box to catch up and whatnot! Some of the asks really cracked me up I couldn't stop laughing. Thank you guys!

And I already finished the epilogue. But just so you know this Kieran is post Indigo Disk. Soon we will get into the Moch Mayhem arc. :]c

[the-force-awakens]

hi :) I saw thst you reblogged that what's your main spin poll and I wanted to ask if you wanted to elaborate what yours is I love to hear about it!! <3

 🥺 aw thank you!! I always enjoy having a chance to infodump a little bit (btw i love ur icon...daphne what an icon)

I do technically have a handful of spins that I consider my main spins because I'm constantly rotating between them (star wars, doctor who, moon knight and spidey) at any given moment, but my strongest spin is definitely in Poe Dameron from the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy!

I kind of instantly fell in love with him when my dad first took me to see The Force Awakens when it came out, which was a huge surprise for me because Poe was maybe the character I was the least intrigued by at the time (Rey and Finn had me asking far more questions, anyway) and none of the descriptions for him really jumped out to me. But after actually seeing him, I was positively in love, and then quickly downloaded accompanying novels that featured him (Before the Awakening and the TFA novelization) to read more about him, and then in April of 2016, they came out with a comic series for him and that really helped further cement my special interest in him!

It took a huge hit in 2018-most of 2020 because of all the fandom negativity (especially around Poe) but at the end of 2020, I rewatched the sequels back to back for the first time and it flared back to life without me expecting it to and I did a huge deep dive into uuuuuuuuuuuuuh every piece of expanded material he'd appeared in 😅

Basically (I'm not super sure how familiar you are with Star Wars) Poe is one of the best pilots in the Resistance, which is lead by Princess (now General) Leia Organa, and he's her right-hand man/protégé/surrogate son. Barring the Resistance's bombing fleet (which is teeny bc the Resistance is teeny and held together by duct tape) Poe is essentially in charge of its only flight wing and (as far as we know) all* of its squadrons. On top of that, he's also an active intelligence operative, and even helps oversees the reports from the Resistance's spies so like...he's kind of already helping run the Resistance even prior to officially co-running it by the third film with Leia/when he's finally named its official leader.

Poe is super important to me for a lot of reasons, but one of my favorite things about his arc is that it's not centered around romantic love/tension unlike a lot of the other dynamics in the sequel trilogy (altho Oscar did play Poe as being extremely smitten for Finn and who can blame him, and we do meet an ex girlfriend of Poe's in the third movie, I stan a bisexual king). Poe's whole arc is about his duty to the Resistance, his struggles with keeping hope because he's afraid that everything they've (and him) endured and lost will have been for nothing if they lose the fight against the First Order. If there's a love story for Poe's arc, it's his love for the Resistance and his friends, and that's so wonderful and profound in my eyes.

But also the bridge of Poe's arc, from the daring hero we see in tfa and the start of tlj, to the cautious but courageous leader we see at the end of tlj and all of tros, is Poe being forced to accept that his role in this story isn't that of a martyred hero. He's quite literally grounded (his X-Wing is destroyed) and he's pushed into the role of the leader his mentor wants him to be, and TLJ (in my eyes) is the story of someone who full heartedly believed the most he had to offer was a noble self-sacrifice realizing he actually wants to live (and that he can do far more for the Resistance/galaxy by surviving.)

I love Poe a lot because he's also very simple. He's, as Rian Johnson described him, a good guy hero. Unlike other characters, you never doubt whether he's gonna be tempted or corrupted, you know that he's going to do the right thing and remain true to the Light side, you have faith that no matter what obstacle he faces, he's gonna overcome them and come out the other side that much better for it.

The Age of Resistance comic analysis of Poe breaks it down the best, I think:

Poe's inherent humanity is what makes him a great character. He's not someone who struggles with right and wrong or good and evil. Instead, his struggle is more with his tendency to need to be the person who pulls off some last-minute, thrilling heroics in service to the greater good. Because Leia's right: you can't solve everything by jumping in an X-Wing to blow things up.

I could talk for days about Poe (I've spent the last three years doing just that) about the nuances of his character and the depths that largely go unexplored because of Lucasfilm's inexplicable disrespect and dislike of him, the fandom often reducing him to a love interest with no other personality traits, or complete bastardization wherein he resembles Hangman Top Gun more than Poe Dameron (often when people want to oversexualize him).

He has so many qualities that I adore: he's snarky and hot-headed and can throw things (metaphorically) in people's faces when he's particularly upset, he's impulsive, but also kind and compassionate and patient with people. He sees the potential for more/good in folks that most wouldn't. he truly deeply values people, and that's what makes him such an amazing leader: he inspires loyalty because of how much he believes and takes risks in the people around him. He's often the first person to give someone a second chance, or to lower his blaster, but he can also be vindictive. He's confident in his abilities as a pilot to the point he's often mistaken as arrogant, but he never puts anyone down and always lifts people up, and has a lot more insecurities than anyone would guess, and is really sensitive to rejection.

He's also kind of canonically a prince, thanks to the TROS novelization, so you know. I think that's neat and I'm so totally normal about it (when Leia passes away, she leaves her Organa legacy to Poe...the Organa Legacy would be the Royal House Organa - as well as the Resistance. So...Poe is in some ways a prince).

(*which is...three, they only have three squadrons)