For some reason I started noticing a lot of feathers on the ground this autumn. And started taking photos, not exactly knowing why. Through a long chain of associations (including Lennie Gallant, Wild Hunt and fairies) it transformed in this - a story about someone escaping the hunters, pulling the arrow from the wound and flying away. Because fuck them. And because I need hope
My half of an art trade with @whitewingedcrow, from a while back.
Stone is either black agate or black jasper, I have forgotten which one — will have to go back through my notes to find out. Measures just a bit over 4cm tall not including the jump-ring, just under 3cm wide, and about 7mm at the thickest part.
The symbol was sandblasted into the stone, then filled in with a slurry of glow powder mixed into clear porcelain varnish. I did the fill in stages because it would shrink a bit each time it dried, and sometimes there would be large air bubbles that needed patching. When I had it built up high enough I used a razor blade to shave it down flush with the stone's surface. After baking it to fuse the varnish/powder mix to the stone I hit it with a few layers of clear-coat on the painted bits.
I like how the daytime colour of the glow powder and the minuscule air bubbles that you can never entirely get rid of give the painted areas the look of bone. It is very fitting for the character this symbol represents.
Top photo is in daylight (by which I really mean my desk lamp). Lower left photo is under UV light, and lower right photo is in the dark after charging up the glow powder. The exact hue of the glow does vary a little bit depending on how long since last charge (and depending on individual monitor settings it might not be displaying true to real life on every particular device).
Now that I'm back from the gem and mineral show, here are all the Cool Rocks I came home with!
A cute little coral fossil! He looks like a cauliflower.
A Keokuk geode! These geode beds aren't far from where I live, and it's always fun to have local specimens.
Phosphosiderite! This purple stone comes from Chile. It's so soft that it has to be stabilized with resin before it's cut. This one is a cross section of a botryoidial formation!
Speaking of botryoidial, this Hematite! Botryoidial means it has a bubbly shape kind of like a bunch of grapes. The faces of the bubbles on this pieces are super shiny and metallic.
Dendritic chalcedony, from Turkey! It's a white chalcedony full of dendrites - branching formations of manganese that look kind of like trees!
A cabochon for my cab collection! This one is made from a material sometimes called "ajooba jasper." The pattern is actually a cross section of a bunch of colorfully jasperized bivalve fossils!
Speaking of jasper, this one is Blue Mountain jasper, from Oregon! The circles in this stone are what’s known as an “egg pattern,” and jaspers which have them (Blue Mountain, Imperial jasper, and a few others) are collectively known as “fine jaspers,” the most valuable jaspers in the world.
Hyalite opal! This stuff forms water-clear spheres that look like jelly.
It fluoresces bright green under UV light!
Now to show off this year's haul of awesome agates!
Dryhead agate, from the Bighorn Mountains in Montana! This agate is named after the many bison skulls found in the area. A weird shaped guy with awesome red and orange bands.
Bou Lili agate, from Morocco! I like the name of this one. Soft banding and very subtle, muted colors. I've heard that this locale can produce peachy colors too.
Bear Canyon agate, from the Pryor Mountains in Montana! Agates from this locale have very stark black and white banding.
Red Fox agate, from Argentina! Sometimes this material is also called "crater agate" because the area it comes from is near the crater of an ancient volcano.
A Blue Sky thunderegg, from New Mexico! Thundereggs from this locale often have this two pointed, saucer-like shape.
It fluoresces really brightly!
Dulcote agate, from England! The bands of this agate are full of calcite, which gives them a strange, distinct texture.
Malawi agate, from Malawi! See all the cracks in it? Almost all Malawi agates have them. Frequent earthquakes due to the East African Rift cause these agates to crack and fracture.
Paint Rock agate, from Paint Rock Valley in Alabama! This agate is very rarely banded, and usually just contains swirls of red and yellow color.
A big, unpolished slab of Montana agate! This agate is known for its clear banding and black lines and spots, which are caused by manganese dendrites.
It's best viewed with some light behind it!
A smaller piece with really amazing dendrites!
Here it is backlit!
Fighting Blood agate, from Hebei Provence in China! This locale is known for its super saturated reds and yellows. This piece has purple amethyst crystals growing inside! They didn't photograph well; they are much more purple in person.
A really weird Fighting Blood agate! This one lacks the bright colors typical of this locale, but makes up for it with that super cool spiderweb pattern!
And finally, as is tradition, I came home with some Ethiopian opals! Here are the five I got this year.
I have a major surgery coming up and the date got bumped up to Dec 15th. (I'm likely going to be fine they just have to remove some stuff and I'm not gonna be able to work for a few weeks.)
I don't have the energy to list these all on etsy right now so they're all Pay What You Want + Shipping (Usually like 5$ if you live in the USA) until Dec 13th.
Payment info:
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/hshinai
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/dnacademic
Cashapp: $hshinai
Venmo: @ hauntedshinai
If you want me to make a custom etsy listing for you to buy them I can also do that: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Alchemodel
If you don't want to buy anything and can't donate then reblogs help. If you want better photos of an object then feel free to message me. Most of these are meant to be like protection/lucky talismans and if you want deets you can ask me.
Info about the materials under the cut. I'll cross them out or something when they're sold:
CORD/CHAIN INFO
Black string with lobster clasp, semi adjustable ~22" long.
Black leather with lobster clasp, semi adjustable ~18" long
Stainless steel chains in 18", 20", and 24"
If you need another lengths, I have some copper-toned chain that can be cut to any length. If you want the custom sized chain, I also have copper-colored lobster clasps that are larger than the average size if you have a hard time using the regular ones.
MATERIALS
All pendants are wrapped with copper wire. The ones that have silver-toned or gold-toned wire are wrapped with plated copper.
Moons: (about 4-5cm long. warning these can be on the heavier side for amulets)
M1 - Dyed sapphire cabochon along with beads of tiger eye, cat's eye, agate, shell, moonstone, and an aura quartz point
My Xisuma gemcyt design on a sheet. Originally I was gonna have both him and Evil X in one post but I had too many thoughts.
the whole gemcyt au got kicked off by @chrisrin so make sure to check out their stuff and all the stuff they reblogged if you haven't already.
Variation of the sheet above but with more notes below the cut.
Alright. Originally I had just been searching for gems to be potentially fusions as I was planning to do a ZIT and/or ZITS fusion, then noticed that tango and impulse don't have a fusion yet. (tango and skizz don't either, and there's no ITS yet, but whatever)
I was scrolling through potential gems and stumbled upon the existence of purpurite. And there's all the theories of Xisuma being a voidwalker or something and having the mask bc end air is thinner and the overworld atmosphere is too thick, etc etc. But like! Purpurite like how there's purpur blocks in the end. And xisuma's two main colors are purple and green and purpurite is apparently purple and green! I had to make him as a purpurite!
His outfit is trying to adapt his skin/the doomguy armor into a gem style. Xisuma himself is essentially shaped based on Holly Blue Agate since that or jadeite seemed like the most similar gem (ish), and i couldn't see him looking like a jade. Also there was another agate on the show that looked more like the various jaspers that had been corrupted, so there is variety in shape anyway!
I almost have him green spot markings, but they just never looked good, so he doesn't have them. Maybe I'd try again to try and match with Evil X's markings, but maybe the opposites are fine.
Instead of a regular gem weapon, he has a mask. And while it was never confirmed, the main theory about Garnet's glasses is that they're Sapphire's 'weapon'. Plus, Jasper had a helmet, so straight up weapon isn't necessary. I'm planning to do an extra sheet for both of the 'sumas, and for Xisuma it will probably show how he emotes even with him wearing the mask 24/7. If you've seen the Fool's Gold series by Dingodoodles, I imagine it vaguely similar to how Gothi emotes.
And finally, the x's. Like, the x shaped on his outfit/form/whatever. I have it similar to how Rose has the star around her gem. It's just that X has an x around his gem as a cutout from his cuff glove bracer thing. Originally, it was just that his backside felt empty and I wanted something there, so I put another x on the back, but then I got ideas and now there is a very good reason why he also has one there. But I'm not covering that here.
And the actual last part is that the sheet mentions its from Cabochon Cut. I'm actually working on a one shot under that title that I will hopefully post tomorrow. Hopefully. We'll see.