#finances for artisans

[ira-scargeear]

How much does your craft cost? And why "cost of supplies X2" formula is absolutely harmful for artists?

A lot of artists & artisans keep asking this question: how much should I charge for my craft?

There is a simple way to calculate the cost of the item: calculate the cost of supplies that went into it, and multiply by 2.

I can't track the origin of this idea, but I keep stumbling upon it in many craft groups - and I can't help, but cringe every time.

Why this formula is used by many? It's no secret for me. Many artsy people are not great with math and finances, so they cling to it because of its simplicity.

Why offering this formula to craft novices is a major disservice that may severely harm their approach?

Because each type of craft has its own financial accounting.

What actually should be calculated:

- The cost of supplies, including shipping to your location,

- The amount of time spent on the item, multiplied by the cost of your single working hour,

- The time spent on making photos of the item,

- The cost of packaging,

- The cost of time you spend on packaging and shipping the item.

These are easier to calculate.

Also there are costs that you spend every now and then, like monthly or even once in a several years, like:

- The time and cost of maintaining site (if any), Etsy, Pinterest, etc., and also social media presence,

- The cost of rent if you rent the space, or the cost of maintenance if you own it,

- The cost of electricity/water/etc. you spend while doing the job,

- The cost of tools used (sewing machine, 3D printer, scissors, hammers, glues, paints, photo gear, whatever), it's called amortization,

- The cost of courses, workshops, etc. you attend to improve your skills, or time&supplies you spend self-learning or experimenting.

I mentioned just the major ones, but it may vary from craft to craft greatly.

I suggest to calculate all that stuff for a single month. If it's some tool like a sewing machine that you know you'll be using for many years, I'd recommend to set its amortization time to 5 years (aka 60 months), so after that term, if the tool is still usable, you kinda use it for free. And you can add 1/60th of the cost of the tool to your monthly accounting.

And, knowing the cost of the monthly expenses and number of hours spent on all of your items during a month, you can calculate the percent of the cost that you should add on top of each item.

As you already know, I do doll stuff. To simplify the process, I count the cost of my working hours only, and then add a certain percent to the cost, that I calculated previously. It still may vary from item to item, but it all evens out in a long run.

As for the "cost of supplies x2" formula, let's see how it absolutely doesn't work for me.

Let's say I do faceups. I charge $150 per faceup. My supplies are:

- high quality Rembrandt pastels, Albrecht Duhrer watercolor pencils, acrylic varnish, ox gall and some brushes that were a noticeable investment, but will serve me not for 5 years, but for like 20 years ahead. Even the initial investment is completely covered within a single faceup.

- MSC. I don't overspray, so a single can lasts for at least 5 faceups. Definitely a spendable, but less than $5 per faceup.

- Cotton discs, cotton swabs, some toothpicks, nail polish remover, electricity, whatever else - definitely less than $5 again.

- 3M respirator mask with cartridges. Lasts for at least 5 years, is used for not only faceups but for many other tasks, its cost is almost non-noticeable.

So how much should I charge???

Obviously, I charge for skills mostly.

What if there is a developed market already, you calculated everything, and you see that people aren't ready to pay the honest price?

Then you should think twice if you want to sell your craft, or to move to other business. Or to admit you do it as a hobby and sell for whatever people are ready to pay you, and don't call it a business. And make sure people whom you sell your stuff are informed about the difference. Because skilled manual labor never should cost as little as mass produced items.

[copperbadge]

Robbie Williams really is out there wasting his mad shitposting game on typed pages he posts to his Instagram. He's doing artisanal handmade shitposts like he isn't also a wildly famous pop star. Incredible. The numbers he'd do on Tumblr.

Transcript: five photographs of typed text on rough paper; they read

1. I've got my own podcast called "I'm just going to cry now" where I cry for half an hour.

2. Mentally ill but incredible at sex.

3. LinkedIn is the weirdest dating site I've ever seen.

4. I said, "I'm sad"; they said "Aww, don't be sad" and now I am not sad. Cured.

5. You're like an indie movie that your parents financed and nobody watched.

[travelingthief]

Persephone Offerings and Devotional Acts

Offerings

As Queen of the Underworld:

Pomegranates/seeds/juice/imagery

Skull imagery

Red wine

Bones

Crystals/Gems

Coins/Money

Dirt/soil

Preserved/taxidermized animals

Grave rubbings

Mementos of deceased loved ones

Urns

As a Nature Goddess:

Seeds

Flowers

Dried/pressed flower petals

Produce

Fallen leaves

Grains/breads

Cool rocks

Butterfly wings/imagery

Herbs

Snake skin

House plants

Myrtle (an offering Dionysus brought for her when he journeyed to the Underworld to retrieve his mother)

Snow from the first snowfall

Spring rain

Pig imagery

Snake imagery

As a Mother/Marriage Goddess:

Some traditions worshipped Persephone as a goddess of marriage and motherhood. Her marriage to Hades represented a young maiden being married off to an older man. The change was scary for both the mother and the maiden, but necessary in their society. Women asked for Persephone to bless their wedding garments and children were dedicated to Persephone. I feel traces of this belief remain in modern worship as many worshippers feel Persephone is a motherly figure alongside Hades as a fatherly figure.

Wedding mementos

Childhood mementos

Marriage garments

Family scrapbooks

Family heirlooms

Wedding rings

Baby shower mementos

Devotional Acts

As Queen of the Underworld

Write your post-death wishes down

Learn about different options for burial/cremation

Clean bones

Walk through cemeteries

Visit graves of loved ones

Clean graves (with permission and appropriate knowledge)

Adorn graves of loved ones

Sit with old gravestones

Bury dead animals you find in the woods

Decorate/paint bones

Track your finances

Save money

Donate to others if you have the means

Shadow work about life and death

As a Nature Goddess:

Join a community garden

Start a garden

Make flower crowns

Keep an outdoor altar

Take a nature walk/hike

Meditate outside

Study herbology/herbalism

Support local farmers/artisans

Go to a farmer's market

Get lost in the woods

Honor the seasons

Walk barefoot outside

As a Mother/Marriage Goddess

Call important women in your life

Cook a homemade meal and share it with others

Care/provide for your family

Be nice and caring toward children

Shadow work about your family, especially your mother

Build community

Support new parents

Check in with your friends when they have big life events, such as moving or a marriage

Make a scrapbook

[bitchesgetriches]

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Repairing Our Busted-Ass World

On poverty:

Starting from nothing

How To Start at Rock Bottom: Welfare Programs and the Social Safety Net 

How to Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

Ask the Bitches: “Is It Too Late to Get My Financial Shit Together?“

Understanding why people are poor

It’s More Expensive to Be Poor Than to Be Rich

Why Are Poor People Poor and Rich People Rich?

On Financial Discipline, Generational Poverty, and Marshmallows

Bitchtastic Book Review: Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado

Is Gentrification Just Artisanal, Small-Batch Displacement of the Poor?

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 1: Healthcare, Housing, and Labor Rights

Developing compassion for poor people

The Latte Factor, Poor Shaming, and Economic Compassion

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Stop Myself from Judging Homeless People?“

The Subjectivity of Wealth, Or: Don’t Tell Me What’s Expensive

A Little Princess: Intersectional Feminist Masterpiece?

If You Can’t Afford to Tip 20%, You Can’t Afford to Dine Out

Correcting income inequality

1 Easy Way All Allies Can Help Close the Gender and Racial Pay Gap

One Reason Women Make Less Money? They’re Afraid of Being Raped and Killed.

Raising the Minimum Wage Would Make All Our Lives Better

Are Unions Good or Bad?

On intersectional social issues:

Reproductive rights

On Pulling Weeds and Fighting Back: How (and Why) to Protect Abortion Rights

How To Get an Abortion 

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor

You Don’t Have to Have Kids

Gender equality

1 Easy Way All Allies Can Help Close the Gender and Racial Pay Gap 

The Pink Tax, Or: How I Learned to Love Smelling Like “Bearglove”

Our Single Best Piece of Advice for Women (and Men) on International Women’s Day

Bitchtastic Book Review: The Feminist Financial Handbook by Brynne Conroy

Sexual Harassment: How to Identify and Fight It in the Workplace 

Queer issues

Queer Finance 101: Ten Ways That Sexual and Gender Identity Affect Finances

Leaving Home before 18: A Practical Guide for Cast-Offs, Runaways, and Everybody in Between

Racial justice

The Financial Advantages of Being White

Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job

The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander: A Bitchtastic Book Review

Something Is Wrong in Personal Finance. Here’s How To Make It More Inclusive.

The Biggest Threat to Black Wealth Is White Terrorism

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 2: Racial and Gender Inequality 

10 Rad Black Money Experts to Follow Right the Hell Now 

Youth issues

What We Talk About When We Talk About Student Loans

The Ugly Truth About Unpaid Internships

Ask the Bitches: “I Just Turned 18 and My Parents Are Kicking Me Out. How Do I Brace Myself?”

Identifying and combatting abuse

When Money is the Weapon: Understanding Intimate Partner Financial Abuse

Are You Working on the Next Fyre Festival?: Identifying a Toxic Workplace

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Say ‘No’ When a Loved One Asks for Money… Again?”

Ask the Bitches: I Was Guilted Into Caring for a Sick, Abusive Parent. Now What?

On mental health:

Understanding mental health issues

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances

Stop Recommending Therapy Like It’s a Magic Bean That’ll Grow Me a Beanstalk to Neurotypicaltown

Bitchtastic Book Review: Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

Coping with mental health issues

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Self-Care

My 25 Secrets to Successfully Working from Home with ADHD 

Our Master List of 100% Free Mental Health Self-Care Tactics 

On saving the planet:

Changing the system

Don’t Boo, Vote: If You Don’t Vote, No One Can Hear You Scream

Ethical Consumption: How to Pollute the Planet and Exploit Labor Slightly Less

The Anti-Consumerist Gift Guide: I Have No Gift to Bring, Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum

Season 1, Episode 4: “Capitalism Is Working for Me. So How Could I Hate It?”

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 1: Healthcare, Housing, and Labor Rights 

Coronavirus Reveals America’s Pre-existing Conditions, Part 2: Racial and Gender Inequality 

Shopping smarter

You Deserve Cheap Toilet Paper, You Beautiful Fucking Moon Goddess

You Are above Bottled Water, You Elegant Land Mermaid

Fast Fashion: Why It’s Fucking up the World and How To Avoid It

You Deserve Cheap, Fake Jewelry… Just Like Coco Chanel

6 Proven Tactics for Avoiding Emotional Impulse Spending

Join the Bitches on Patreon

[transgenderer]

thinking about the concept of "rich people" and the way it has splintered in the modern day. so for most of history you had the vast majority of people who worked very hard in immense poverty (poor people), and then the other major bloc was people who owned enough land or slaves or serfs or mines or whatever to have a significant passive income (rich people). there were people in a third group who worked for a large quantity of money but i believe this was a very small group, personal artisans of the king and suchlike.

but now, there is an appreciable quantity of people (10% of americans, maybe? depends where you draw the line) who work for a living (i mean. not farm labor. but meaningfully work. they usually dont want to do it), and make an income from that work commensurate to the passive income one would receive from a very large holding in days of old. however, their actual passive income is much much smaller (because the passive income one can receive from wealth is only a small percentage of the size of that wealth). so these are meaningfully rich people, but theyre rich people who have to have a job, and would stop being rich people if they stopped having a job

my point is not like, that you should pity these people or anything, but rather that they dont fit neatly into the previous dichotomy. "rich guy who has to have a 40 hour a week job" and "rich guy who will still be rich if he fucks around all day" are very different types of guys to experience being. and you could say "oh this is just the bourgeoisie" but not really, the bourgeoisie of old *owned* stuff they made money from. their economic position was really not so different from the aristocrats. the new "working rich" are a different thing that i dont think there's a great term for (some call themselves HENRYs "high earners, not rich yet", which i think is a bit silly and defensive)

for some concreteness, i guess i should list some working rich: doctors, lawyers, many but not all computer-touchers, finance guy, business owners of businesses small enough that they are one of the main employees and without sufficient profit to replace themselves

[along-the-silkroad]

The mosaic representing paradise in the Grand Mosque of Damascus, Syria, Umayyad, early 8th century. Following the Muslim conquest of Damascus in 634, a portion of the cathedral was set aside as a small prayer space (musalla) for the Muslim conquerors. As the Muslim population expanded, the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715) took possession of the entire cathedral for Muslim worship, offering the Christian community other properties in the city as compensation. The original structure was largely demolished, and in its place, an elaborate congregational mosque was constructed. This new mosque was built over nine years by thousands of laborers and artisans from both the Islamic and Byzantine worlds, at great cost. Its construction was financed through war spoils from Umayyad campaigns and taxes levied on Damascus's Arab troops. Unlike the simpler mosques of the era, the Umayyad Mosque featured a grand basilica-like layout, with three parallel aisles intersected by a central nave that led to the world’s second concave mihrab (prayer niche). It became renowned for its opulent marble paneling and vast gold mosaics depicting vegetal designs, covering approximately 4,000 square meters (43,000 square feet)—likely the largest expanse of such decoration anywhere in the world.

[cranberrylanesims]

Young brothers Ville and Valdemar share two passions: baked goods and novel business ideas. So when they noticed a serious lack of artisan cakes in their hometown, they took a small loan, bought a cargo container and plopped it down in a spare corner of the hip old town district to open a bakery.

Valdemar is the brains of the operation, taking care of baking and finances, and Ville is the heart and hustle - charming the customers and constantly networking. Whether the people of Crystal Castle will love their cakes as much as the brothers themselves, remains to be seen. And will they get a proper funding (and be able to pay their rents)? Valdemars lifetime wish is to get 5 top-level bussines, maybe this humble container is the start of something big!

(This was a quick quick build made out of a necessity, I needed a place to get cheesecake for my pregnant sims, but it turned out to be a quite fun story line)

[girlactionfigure]

🟦PURIM DAY - Real time from Israel  

🅸🆂🆁🅰️🅴🅻 🅁🄴🄰🄻🅃🄸🄼🄴 - "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

✡️It’s PURIM - Purim commemorates the (Divinely orchestrated) salvation of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian empire from Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day.”

“And the Jews had light and joy and gladness and wealth.” - Megillah Esther

Purim Samayach - a Happy Purim!🧑‍🎤🦸🍷🍻🥂

ONLY GOOD(ish) NEWS in today’s report!

( PHOTO - Purim Megillah reading while on alert at Rafah beach, south Gaza. )

▪️PRIME MINISTER attended a Megillah reading last night at the national police academy.  He commented: "2,500 years later, a tyrant arose for the Jewish people in that same land. And heroes like you arose - and with cunning, heroism, and courage, we turned the tables, and we are breaking the axis of Persia (Iran).”

▪️A DELEGATION OF SYRIAN DRUZE CLERICS from the Druze community entered Israel this morning for a historic and special visit to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Lower Galilee.

▪️US THREATENS IRAN (Persia!) - Report: The letter President Trump delivered to Iran's Supreme Leader contains an unequivocal threat: You could face massive military action if you do not agree to negotiate to reach a new nuclear agreement. 

▪️ISRAELI GOVT TO ADOPT TESLA’s?  Govt studying the bid by Tesla for the next generation of government vehicles.

▪️PURIM JOKE BY HAMAS?  Hamas spokesman: Hamas insists that Israel fulfill its obligations to withdraw from Gaza and begin withdrawing from the Philadelphi Egypt-Gaza border corridor, to allow Hamas to rearm.  

There are new proposals that aim to "override the agreement."  We adhere to what has already been agreed upon in the past (no such agreement).

▪️PURIM JOKE BY IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER?  (Which he published in Hebrew on X) "Against the enemy's expectations,  the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance are only getting stronger and are filled with determination. Hezbollah operates with more force than ever and the Palestinian resistance is capable of forcing its terms on the other side in negotiations."  

( The question is: does he believe his own propaganda?  We think t yes - getting false feedback and amplifying. )

▪️HAREDI JOB TRAINING FUNDING - Additional budget items arrived at the Finance Committee today, including a coalition addition from Shas and United Torah Judaism (haredi parties) encouraging employment. The money to go to a scholarship that is associated with engineering institutions, the majority of which are ultra-Orthodox, and whose criteria for receiving that scholarship helps families with many children and low incomes.

▪️NATIONAL BUDGET - Behind the scenes, quiet agreements were reached that will ensure the budget's approval, despite the threats and drama. Netanyahu will ultimately choose which path to take: He can split the Haredim (United Torah Judaism party), as he has done in the past, or try to make some representatives of Otzma Yehudit simply abstain or not attend the vote (to reduce the positive votes necessary).

🌎WORLD NEWS OF NOTE.. Columbia University expels students who took over the Hamilton Building in pro-Palestinian protests (a week after the Trump administration halted $400 million in federal funding.)

.. A new documentary in the US on Oct 8 about the funding connection between Hamas and the riots at a US university.

✡️PURIM today runs into Shabbat - Parshat (Torah Portion) Ki Tisa - Exodus 30:11 - The people of Israel are told to each contribute exactly half a shekel of silver to the Sanctuary. Instructions are also given regarding the making of the Sanctuary’s water basin, anointing oil and incense. “Wise-hearted” artisans Betzalel and Aholiav are placed in charge of the Sanctuary’s construction, and the people are once again commanded to keep the Shabbat.

When Moses does not return when expected from Mount Sinai, the people make a golden calf and worship it. G‑d proposes to destroy the errant nation, but Moses intercedes on their behalf.

[forevergulag]

love when people make moralist arguments to me expecting me to immediately agree with them. i know artisans are sometimes poor. i know the petite bourgeois are oppressed by finance capitalists. i do not care.

[delicateartisantrash]

Ko-fi Doodle <3

A thank-you doodle I did for a supporter on Ko-fi. Thank so, so, so freakin' much to literally every one of ya'll. It's such a healing comfort to know there's people who care. It genuinely means so much to me, just knowing people are rooting for me and my family to succeed in life and be happy.

Hehe... if you've read Gladiators of Kaon, you'll probably recognize this scene XD

As scary/crappy as the situation is with my family/landlords and finances at the moment, I have this weird amount of optimism? For me?

I'm used to being a lot more panicked on the inside and having to mask it. Like, don't get me wrong, i'm super heckin' stressed and nervous but also like. Like I got this. I really feel like we can do this because we're doing the work and taking the steps to do things that'll better all our lives (our being me, my mom, her husband, and all the Symbiotes furry feathered and scaled, and also plants, because plants be alives too)

But especially with people reblogging, I just. Thank you. It's seriously helped my motivation and faith that things are gonna turn out okay if we just keep working hard and being honest, and I am determined to prove that right, and make ya'll proud.

;w; thank you. Seriously. I haven't felt this empowered and certain and confident in myself, in.... In a long time. A really, really long time.

Be kind to yourselves, too, because u matter, and we're all on this big round spaceship rock together and I want my whole ass Earth family to succeed and be happy and that includes u.

[wordlessmelodies]

Heya!! If it were easy to make $100k+/yr after 8 years as a craftsperson, wouldn’t you think more folks would go that route?

There are far more opportunities to get a doctorate and after about 8 years you are almost guaranteed to make out with a $100k+/yr salary, whereas you need to search hard to find a master glassblower, let alone a master open to apprentices, and then you are going to need to spend dozens of years learning, and after that you can’t even be sure whether your works will be appreciated enough to get you a proper living-wage salary.

So yes, it’s much harder to become a master of the arts than a doctor of the sciences.

(source: How Much Do Doctors Really Earn? | BMJ Careers) - important to note that this is pre-tax, so a doctor who has been working for 3 years will take home (before loans and rent and groceries and clothes) between £23,000-£37,200. while this isn't a measly salary by any means, i find it incredibly dismissive to assume that doctors are easy millionaires. (perhaps 8-10 years post-graduation, yes, but that's a long time. a decade of time is not a light commitment.)

medical school in the UK is typically 5 years, during which medical students amass on average £50,000 to £90,000 in debt (source - highly recommend reading this) depending on whether they live in London and whether they studied for 4 years (which means they would need to have a prior degree, at least 3 years long), the average, or 6 years. tuition fees go up next year to £9535 yearly, student accommodation is not cheap, and cost of living is quite frankly, horrendous.

source: Medical students plunged into financial hardship as BMA urges Government to fix ‘broken’ student finance system - BMA media centre - BMA

not to mention the sheer emotional burden of being a medical student & later a doctor. forget the fact that if i fail my end-of-year exams, i'll have to retake the year = more spending, if i'm a bad doctor, i will kill people. people will die.

okay, sure. but glassblowing and artisan jobs are dying out! (important to note that they are still occurring, because the products of those labours aren't dying out, it's just all happening in China where labour costs are low and conditions for workers are abysmal and allowed to be. also important to note that this is the fault of capitalism, not medical students?) we are also very much in need of doctors!

source: NHS 'dangerously' short of 100,000 staff - BBC News

oh, but then surely the yearly addition of all 9140 medical graduates will fill that gap? not if over 3000 consultants and GPs retire annually, and 4800 doctors move abroad to work for better pay.

to your point: "If it were easy to make $100k+/yr after 8 years as a craftsperson, wouldn’t you think more folks would go that route?" yes. yes i do. i do think that this would be the case, and i might have even been one of them. the fact of the matter is that it's not, and the thing i take offence at is the implication that people shouldn't be doctors to allow craft professions to blossom, especially when doctors - famously actually, have also been campaigning for fair wages. we got a cosmetic change and are still campaigning. and i don't know, i think perhaps being responsible for entire wards of actual, real people deserves to be fairly compensated. but maybe that's just me.

[racefortheironthrone]

Warhammer Gaslamp: Introduction

The year is 2725 IC...some two hundred years since the Age of Crisis. The time of Karl Franz I, the "Fourth Deliverer of the Empire," has long past, as has the age of knights and dragons – throughout the Old World, magic itself is a dying art.

The Empire of Man is stronger than ever before, but it is an Empire that runs on coal and iron, held together with roads of steel track, and powered by boiling, thumping hearts that pump steam and gas through the veins of the mightiest industrial power in the world. The forests remain, but they have dwindled in size, cut down to feed the endless hunger of the great metropolises, the mighty smokestacks of Nuln, Talabheim, New Averheim, and greatest of all, the bright gaslights of mighty Altdorf ("The Big Turnip"), and a hundred smaller cities that light the night skies.

The Neüscience of the Imperial Technomancers has increased national prosperity a hundredfold, improved the health and well-being of the common citizens, and helped the Imperial Army, Navy, and Airkorps put the endless hordes of Khaos on the backfoot for generations. In spite of (or because of?) this, Imperial society has become increasingly divided between the elite who profit from the new economy of high finance and heavy industry, and those millions of unskilled and semi-skilled laborers whose endless toil keeps them only ever one step ahead of the breadline and the bailiff. Meanwhile, the mounting toll of industrial pollution, epidemic disease, industrial accidents, and Neüscientific “experiments” running amok raises new questions about the high cost of success.

Politics has become ever more fractious. The Imperial Parliament is divided between the House of the People, where the Farmer-Artisan Party (representing a coalition of the Craft Guilds and their fellow urban workers, and a significant minority of rural laborers and small farmers) holds the plurality, and the House of the Nobles, where the Liberal-Conservative Party (representing both the traditional landed aristocracy and the new monied elite) holds power, and the two clash fiercely over labor rights, taxation, industrial regulation, and social welfare. Holding the uneasy balance of power is Emperor Karl-Franz XIV, his "Iron" Chancellor Ludwig von Ostermark, and their smaller Patriotic Party (largely supported by veterans and members of the civil service), who try to maintain Imperial unity and industrial production in the face of the "Threat from the Black North."

In the streets and on the shop-floors, the captains of industry known as the Great Monopolhauses (allied and often intermarried with the nobility) deploy their legions of spies and private soldiers against the rising strength of the Laborer’s Guild, who are mobilizing in the factories by the hundreds of thousands, and the industrial spies and gunthugs are kept in check only by the still-potent might of the Craft Guilds who fear and resent their industrial upstart rivals but trust the bosses even less.

The religion that once united an Empire today divides it, as Orthodox Volkmarites and Radical Hussites split over matters of class and faith. Although the two factions are still nominally part of the same Sigmarite religion, and the Church of Sigmar is held together by the firm hand of the Emperor, the two factions compete fiercely over theology and dogma, and positions within the Church unto the Grand Theogonacy itself. To the north, the philosophy professor-turned-street preacher Nietzsche von Zarathustein has single-handedly revived the fortunes of the Cult of Ulric with his fiery doctrine of Neo-Ulricism and his best-seller Man unt Wulf-Man. From the great industrial heartland of the south, the radical scholar Mark Karhl preaches the overthrow of the status quo as an inherently exploitative regime, and his pamphlet The Scarlet Platform and his massive three-volume treatise on political economy, Der Gelden (which almost no one has completed), inspire many young radical students and workers to join the revolutionary Scarlet Party and the ranks of the Laborer’s Guild. Are rumors of his secret allegiance to a Tzeenchite secret society true, or mere bourgeois propaganda?

Exacerbating these divisions is the constant threat from Khaos. Up in the "Black North" and their allied territories on the great steppes on the other side of the pole, the forces of evil pervert the laws of science to their mad push for world domination. Khornate breeder-lords select from an unceasing flow of gladiators to produce the perfect warriors; Nurglite bio-priests carefully engineer the next insidious plague to slip past the Imperial Plasmic Survey; Slaaneshi sin-merchants mobilize a world-wide network of Cathayan black tar and warpdust powder (bartered from the Skaven) to corrupt the Empire from within; and Tzeenchite techno-mancers design ever more fiendish mutated F.R.E.A.K.S and the twisted Biomechs.

Inside the Empire, things are scarcely better. Even with the darkness of the forests pushed back to the periphery and the Greenskin hordes banished to the far side of the World's Edge Mountains, the threat of Were-beastmanism and other, more insidious, forces winds its way into every neighborhood in the Empire despite the best efforts of the Imperial Plasmic Survey and the Schwarzmänner. Mutants who cannot conceal their true nature – known as the "Untervolk" - have decamped into the subway tunnels and sewers that form the Undercities of the Empire, waging an unceasing war for survival against “norms” and “ratfolk” alike. From the back alleyways and the salons of the nobility alike, the endless secret societies of Khaos vie to do their masters' bidding, undermining the Empire from within in preparation for the coming war.

It is a time that desperately needs heroes, men and women willing to brave the darkness on the mean streets and the shell-torn battlefields of the Old World alike. Mystery and intrigue, adventure and mad science await!

[gilberttheboy]

Overanalysing the economics of Prince Lestat (and the clown car size of his chateau)

Because it's the weekend and i do what i want.

Reading the Prince Lestat trilogy makes me so curious about the financial set-up of this crazy court. We know many of the main vampires have obscene levels of personal wealth - Lestat's inherited hoard from Magnus seems to constantly increase, thanks to his human lawyers, Gregory owns a pharmaceutical company (why not), and Armand probably made a good chunk back if he sold the Night Island. Lestat talks about refurbishing the chateau, buying up the surrounding land, and rebuilding a period-accurate town of artisans as a solo project (side note: lestat pls let me be a textile artist in your insane historical village where all my rent and food is covered. I'll crochet you so many things) so im assuming he funds it all. Fine, cool.

THEN the court starts to fill with various unknown vampires, many of whom are young and presumably not ridiculously wealthy. Lestat, notably, loves an aesthetic, and likes the people around him to dress up! Do these assorted court vampires get an allowance for rooms and wardrobe so they'll be appropriately dressed for the balls? Is there a complex system of trades and sales where the clothes of the wealthy members of court gradually make their way down to the poorer vamps? Is it a small-scale courtier system à la the ancien régime of Lestat's youth? Do more favoured members get more money?

Next we come to the Council. Pretty sure they're all rich, so not making wages, but would they be contributing to the general upkeep of the chateau at all? The initial investment must have put a pretty sizable dent in Lestat's private finances, and it seems like he's constantly adding to and expanding the chateau, not to mention the fixed cost of the patronage of his captive craftspeople. He's just sort of infinitely wealthy in canon, which is fine, but it raises questions!

THEN there's the people who have a designated role - the orchestra and the vampire servants. They started off with human servants, and then eventually a vampire called Barbara just starts...cleaning everything, and assembles a labour force of servant vampires who act as everything from valets to drivers. Here, there's a mention of payment! Barbara organises the income for all these ones. But is Lestat still the sole funder?

The scale of the court starts to get a bit crazy here. The very old ones don't need to feed frequently, and typically have the cloud gift so they can travel to further away cities. As part of his constitution, they're not allowed to hunt in the surrounding villages and towns, and they're only allowed to eat evil-doers. EVEN if all the young vampires (who eat nightly!!) have a car/someone willing to fly them out, you're going to run out of evil-doers pretty damn quickly. Does the definition of evil-doers start to get looser? Do they use the mind gift to count future crimes, à la Minority Report (tom cruise jumpscare)? Do the crime stats in the cities where they hunt start to reflect this????

Sure, they can travel pretty far with the cloud gift, but presumably if you're an ancient vampire and you need to fly your fledgling out for dinner every night, you're probably sticking to large western european cities. You have a castle with a large permanent staff, orchestra, and plenty of permanent residents!!! This is going to make a dent!

[bitchesgetriches]

Hi Auntie Bitches! I have a question regarding an impasse of ethics and finances, so of course I figured you’d be the experts!

I live in the USA, and absolutely hate the direction things are headed in. I’m inspired by hearing that Canada and a ton of countries in Europe are boycotting absolutely everything American made. This is genius because the only way to hurt the greedy pricks at the top is to hurt their bottom lines.

I really want to join in and buy as few goods that are made in the states as possible. However, I also live here and my household budget is already pretty tight. With this ridiculous trade war going on, imported goods will become even more costly.

I’m stuck between a possibly unlivable budget if fully switching to goods that aren’t made here; or being a tad more financially sound but forced to feed the fascism machine by using American goods.

Please, I’d love some advice on how to navigate this?

Your first priority should be your own survival and well-being. You can't help anyone else nor effect positive systemic change if you are starving and evicted. So use that as your baseline for decisions in this case.

Second, you should strongly consider patronizing smaller local businesses and artisans for your needs. Many of these locals are just as angry about the federal government's economic policies as you are and putting them out of business will be a NET LOSS for all of us. So help keep them alive.

Worried a local business might be MAGA? Good news! The trash is taking itself out! PublicSquare is a website where businesses "who respect traditional American values" (DOG WHISTLE ALERT) can get listed. It's a great way to know which of your local businesses to avoid!

Also, keep in mind that shopping secondhand is one of the most ethical ways to consume in any economy.

Lastly, the most important thing you need to do is to only buy what you NEED right now. This means food, medications, and very little else. Not only is this the most wallet-friendly way to shop, but it's also very much in the spirit of boycotting.

Um brb I think we need to make this into a larger article...

Ethical Consumption: How to Pollute the Planet and Exploit Labor Slightly Less 

How To Protect Yourself Against Project 2025

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[cadere-art]

Ghøwout, as a word, speaks of both a nation and a culture. Though they are not the same, Ghøwout's culture is molded by its history as a nation and by its nostalgy for the nation's former glory. This, more than anything, brings together the many different traditions that call themselves Ghøwout, even within states that have cesseded from the once-great Empire.

Despites being a shadow of its former self, Ghøwout's is still the heart of politics south of the Kantishian range. Its historical and cultural weight keep it well centered in the minds of the many nations which surround it. This attention is not all undeserved: although no longer the most prosperous or powerful southern nation, Ghøwout remains the most technologically advanced, be it in terms of military armament, mining technology, or social engineering. In these aspects, Ghøwout still rivals with the rising stars of the Namitan Empire and Oumdashen Confederacy far to the North.

Even there Ghøwout's excellence is waning, as state paranoia mandates extreme secrecy and rejects foreign influences, preserving Ghøwout's technological advances at the cost of its allies' goodwill and knowledge.

Text from the images under the cut.

The Ghøwout live in the shadow of their former glory. Under the 4th Dinasty, Ghøwout held in its power all of the Southern Kantishian, and though its power has waxed and waned many times, it has never again reached this peak. In the current day, Ghøwout is much diminished and surrounded by kingdoms born of its losses. Nonetheless, Ghøwout remains a powerful nation, held together by a strong cultural identity. Perhaps as a reaction to its waning power, Ghøwout culture has grown to be insular and xenophobic, regarding strangers with extreme distrust.

Ghøwout is a strongly stratified society, weighted down by a large nobility and a stagnant peasant class. Nonetheless, its numbers and strong logistics allow it to support a large number of specialists, particularly artisans, professional soldiers, and religious specialists. Ghøwout's populace is both pious and prone to superstition. Though Ghøwout's state tends towards totalitarianism, it does not have centralized religion: it is home to many different regional sets of beliefs supported by local shamans and a few specialist clans of spiritualists and healers. These are highly respected by the populace and clad in beautifully dyed and ornamented textiles, precious stones, and bronze jewelry.

Ghøwout's artisans include some of the best chemists and metalworkers of Uanlikri, and the first to master steel. The use of steel weaponry has allowed Ghøwout's military to remain menacing even as Ghøwout's political power waned, brought low by internal power struggles. To counter its downfall, Ghøwout is always pursuing advances in war technology, fielding experimental weapons and financing scientific research, which it treats with utmost secrecy. Ironically, this drive is part of Ghøwout's downfall, as military spending has brought low the nation's coffers and the fear of spies has fostered a general climate of distrust and suspicion.

[spitking]

Black it is! I picked a very fine cloth, easy to alter if I ever want to (painting, superpositions, etc). I think black will always be a staple of my style of bookbinding (even though I haven't posted pics of black books here, I know!) and now I don't have to worry about running out anymore.

I've chosen a blue one too, but I have to take into account shipping costs. It's cleverer to buy one roll now and one later with the paper I may order based on the sample card, that way I don't pay a high shipping fee for a very small order next time and my expenses are spread out over time.

I have an idea for my next project already, for which I'll need one of the endpapers I ordered, and the dark blue apple leather I already have...

It's the middle of the month and I have plenty of money left, which means I get to order materials from Schmedt 🥳✌️

I'm gonna order an endpaper sample card, three different endpapers and one roll of fabric, but which one...? Bring forth the samples!

My fabric collection really misses bright colors like blue and pink, and a basic like black. The thing is, I'm afraid I'll end up not using the blue or pink because the stories I bind are generally dark in tone, and I'm afraid that because of that, I'll end up only using black if I buy it. Dilemmas all around!