#just a fyi to all my followers only here for the sw goodness

[autumnillustration]

Hi! I feel like I might be making something up, but did there used to be more posts in your Kenobi-Tano AU? Specifically about Cody and Ahsoka's relationship? I thought there a post about what happened during O66 and art about Cody's helmet? I could have sworn there were many more posts about your excellent Kenobi-Tano AU but now I feel like I'm imagining things

Hi!

No, you’re not imagining things. I revamped my blog a while back, removing many of the KTAU and Star Wars stuff. As an explanation, I felt that it was no longer a representation of what my blog is about (i.e., no longer a star wars blog). I’ve left some of my favourite SW art on my blog.

I won’t be posting any future SW-related things to this blog I’ve kinda made my peace and moved on from SW.

[marashi96art]

Since I laughed at you for not having the anon asks on, I'll ask you a question. :P

Aside from Titanic, what other movies inspire you when drawing Cleon?

I love Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock so much that I want them to be my celebrity parents. But they are just best friends and always have been this way since they worked on the film Speed (1994), and The Lake House (2006) 12 years later.

When I first got into Cleon, they were the only "couple" in my mind and I have been preaching this ever since. I think they are my core of Cleon, and I rewatch Speed every month lmao.

I've also mentioned a few movies on my AO3 log, and here are MORE honorable mentions:

Action Movies:

Point Break (1991) Someone recommended me to watch Fast & Furious series for RE AU(and I have), but this movie is the OG of F&F series.

The Gray Man (2022) Kickass power couple saving a little girl, together. I use it for RE4 era ref, and I kinda have a reverse AU of Claire being trained to be an FBI agent to follow her brother's steps and Leon is just a random college boy.

Mission Impossible series I was talking with my friend about how Hollywood cliche Capcom can be.

RED (2010) & RED 2 (2013) If RE9 is about the OG team reunion like DI, they will be exactly like these movies, grandpas & grandmas still kicking ass.

Fantasy & Rom-com:

One Day (2011) Friends to lovers…The drama. In fact, my newest art has used this for ref, and you will see it in 2 days.

Now and Then (1995) Teenage Cleon. Childhood neighbors, enemies to friends to crushes lmao.

What Maisie Knew (2012) Spoiler alert I'm planning to draw a series of this. I'm not into Cleon having children but if they are, I'll do it my way ;)

Life as We Know It (2010) Enemies to friends to lovers again. And raising a baby together.

No Strings Attached (2011), Friends with Benefits (2011) Not really into FWB Cleon but you writers kinda like to write this? So I rewatch them recently, well, it could work.

The Mummy (1999) You cannot tell me Rick O'Connell didn't reference Leon's design. Again, gonna draw this soon.

The Huntsman: Winter's War(2016) Pretty average, I only use ref for outfit design but Jessica Chastain is so beautiful in this. (But my ideal live-action Claire is Rebecca Ferguson, just FYI)

Far and Away (1992) LMAO I've always thought of this movie as the prequel of Titanic.

Angst:

Drive (2011) My favorite movie of all time. And I saw someone already draw it, I reblog it to my main account a few days ago. I will draw another one soon, my fav scene is not the elevator scene so, no worries.

Marriage Story (2019) Literally just rewatched it last night. I love the arguing/fighting scene so much, and it kinda suits my idea of how Claire will leave Leon for his drinking problem.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) I don't know why this movie got so much hate, but I think the part when Steve came back and later Diana has to let him go…Inspired me to draw Cleon.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) Directed by David Fincher. It's more for Claire honestly. But the Scandinavian scenery is something I long for.

Sci-fi:

Oblivion(2013), Edge of Tomorrow(2014) Both staring Tom Cruise. And I regret that I didn't go to the theater for both of them, at the time I thought the posters were boring, but they turned out to be really good, at least for my taste.

Not gonna put Romeo and Juliet (1996) on the list bc I don't use Leonardo DiCaprio for my Leon when drawing, I use Brad Pitt more, for he has a better fashion sense haha. Claire Danes is already perfect.

Some TV shows as well:

Full House (1987-1995) Uncle Jesse & Aunt Becky, just search them on Pinterest.

My So-Called Life (1994-1995) Angela Chase & Jordan Catalano. I Only use Jared Leto's appearance for ref; characteristically speaking, Leon is more like Brian in this show.

Peaky Blinders (2013-2022) For Noir outfit or Mob AU cuz why not?

Rougue One (2016 movie), Andor (2022) I love Star Wars and fuck…Cassian and Jyn are so Cleon-coded! I'm mostly into SW fashion, they have some dope jackets in Andor. Seriously go watch, Andor is as good as The Last of Us.

Ride with Norman Reedus (2016-) They got some cool bikes in the first season and Cleon bike date on PCH…My beach Cleon is inspired by this show actually.

I didn't even try hard to think about these and can still go on for days…Still, I think it's good enough for one ask for now hehe.

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

I saw TROS earlier today and, well, it was definitely a Star Wars sequel movie, for better and for worse. I can see why some people on my dash hated this movie and why some of them loved it. I can also see why some of them threw their hands into the air over it and shrugged. (FYI, I’m in the third category.) More scattered and spoiler-laden thoughts below the cut:

--“Never underestimate a droid.” This line would have been so much more meaningful if the spy had turned out to be a First Order droid rather than Hux. A droid that had broken free of its programming, just like Finn (and later Jannah and the other unnamed former stormtroopers). But as always, the Droid Revolution that we deserve is probably never going to be a thing, at least not onscreen where it counts.

--Just like TFA, the copy-and-pasting from the Original Trilogy was painfully obvious, but what was forgivable in the first film of a new trilogy is less so in said trilogy’s concluding film. 

--Trần Loan/Rose deserved more screentime and prominence. And did we really have to turn Poe into a former spice runner? Really? *sighs heavily*

--Zorii Bliss felt sort of shoehorned in? I didn’t hate her, but it felt like TPTB only introduced her to give Poe another person to flirt with. And I say this as someone who was not expecting PoeFinn or any other LGBTQIAP+ relationship between named characters to be made canon in this movie at all. Hopefully fans will give her more depth in fic!

--Jannah was really interesting and I would have loved to see more of her. Once again, hopefully fans will take her character and deepen/explore it in fic.

--LANDO! 

--Finn was all but explicitly confirmed as Force sensitive, and it’s What He Deserves. 

--I mean, Finn also deserved his own storyline and a stronger conclusion to his character arc in this film, especially considering he was promoted as one of the leads of the sequel trilogy. But while I’m irked that he was relegated to a side character, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming, especially after TLJ. 

--Likewise, I knew Reyl0 was going to be a thing after TLJ. I found their relationship less grating than Anida1a in the prequels, but it still didn’t do much of anything for me in this film. Do I understand from an objective POV why some people enjoy it so much? Yep. It’s the grand, tortured, Byronic Romance™, where it isn’t really about whether the characters have anything in common or even like each other, it’s about their near-mystical connection and their inability (and lack of true desire) to be rid of it; it’s about the lengths to which they will go for each other/themselves; it’s about the powerful man who is emotionally vulnerable and eager to serve his True Love at the expense of all else. It’s also the whole enemies-to-lovers trope, and so on. I understand the appeal of this mashup intellectually, it’s just not my cup of tea here. YMMV and all that, and that’s as it should be.

--Palpatine back from death is as ridiculous here as it was in the old EU, but I can roll with it. I think the movie made the right decision not to explain all the nitty-gritty details of how he cheated death or manipulated the whole Snoke deal... ultimately, it doesn’t really matter, y’know? Ditto to Rey Palpatine lol.

--Leia’s death felt pretty narratively cheap to me, but I understand that there was only so much TPTB could do with the footage they already had of Carrie Fisher in costume. Still, poor Leia. She drew a deeply shitty hand in life, didn’t she?

--That said, it was nice to see Leia training as a Jedi in flashbacks, however briefly. (Is it just me, or did her saber hilt vaguely resemble Obi-Wan’s?) Does it make a lot less sense that she would then send Ben away to Luke if she’s had Jedi training? Yes. Can I created headcanons to explain this? Also yes. And do I really care about this particular inconsistency when there are far worse ones out there and this one makes dudebro sections of the fandom spitting mad? NOPE.

--I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not inherently against the redemption of Kylo/Ben. But, as I had suspected/feared, they “redeemed” him at the narrative expense of other characters I personally find more interesting... and they still didn’t manage to make said redemption feel narratively earned to me. Is there undoubtedly ancillary material in SW books and comics that give more background behind Kylo/Ben’s turn to the Dark Side and eventual turn back to the Light? Yes. Do I want to read it? Not really, no. Also, unless something happens onscreen in the SW universe, it doesn’t really count as true canon. So it’s disappointing that the movie shoved other characters and plots to the side to make room for Kylo/Ben’s redemption arc and then didn’t even do a good job with it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

--Also, of course TPTB had Kylo/Ben die saving someone rather than narratively deal with what it means to work towards redemption after having done lots of terrible things, and having to recover from having been manipulated/groomed by Sidious. Not surprised in the slightest.

--I would have preferred a Stormtrooper Rebellion storyline, but I’m not going to blast TROS or the sequel trilogy for being what it is rather than what I wanted it to be. I will, however, blast it for its sloppy execution of its existing storylines. Which leads to my next point...

--Even though TROS was long, it still felt rushed and, like the first two movies in this trilogy, it felt largely disconnected from the other sequel trilogy films. The Star Wars Story Group really should have planned this trilogy out better. If TPTB were going to go with two different directors/writers, they should have made sure said directors/writers were on the same page rather than seemingly fighting each other’s visions of what the overarching story should be at every step.  

--I’m willing to handwave a lot of stuff that happens in TROS, mainly because I’m long past expecting coherence from this franchise... or pretty much any major franchise, tbh. (For instance: Thousands of people show up to aid the Resistance when Lando calls them but not when Leia did in TLJ? OK. Force Ghost Luke shows up to catch Rey’s lightsaber but not to help her against Palpatine? Sure.) These issues don’t really make or break the series for me, so I can work with them with a minimum of grumbling. Which isn’t quite the same thing as letting TPTB off the hook for their laziness and inconsistencies.

--Honestly, I hate to say it, but it would have made for a stronger story if Chewie had died aboard the ship when Rey and Kylo/Ben were fighting over it; that would have driven home the consequences of Rey’s lack of control and lessened the artificiality of the stakes in this movie. But I get that this is ultimately a family film, so it’s more of a minor quibble than anything else.

--It’s kind of weird that Rey’s hair is back in the three buns again for the entirety of TROS after she wore her hair differently for almost all of TLJ. But that’s a fairly minor quibble too, and one of the sort I can easily create a headcanon to explain. Actually, come to think of it, I wonder if they didn’t do this at least partially to be able to recycle some of the unused TFA clips with Leia and Rey?

--Frankly, I’m not sure why Rey suddenly cared so much about what Luke thought, considering A. he was a huge jerk to her for most of TLJ, and B. she seemed to have broken with following his advice towards the end of TLJ. And since she didn’t have a great relationship with Luke, it seems weird that she’d take his last name. Shouldn’t she have gone with Organa or even Solo, if she’s naming herself after a mentor? But whatever, I get that it’s about the symbolism more than the character or logic. And I can create headcanons to explain all of this.

--It’s a little weird that there wasn’t any more resolution to Kylo/Ben’s storyline and Rey’s feelings about it after his death. But with Leia dead, I guess there isn’t anyone left who’d especially care if Kylo/Ben turned back to the Light aside from Rey herself. Still, there should have been something more. Especially since Ben didn’t show up as a Force Ghost alongside Luke and Leia on Tatooine.

--While I’m at it, I wish we could have had a minute’s conversation with Rey telling Finn about her heritage, if only because I think he would have understood. But I wish we could have learned more about Finn’s heritage (which didn’t need to be a known SW lineage, btw) too, so... 

--For that matter, I wish we could have had Finn get a chance to tell Rey about his being Force Sensitive, which might have made her feel slightly less alone. I wish we could have seen Finn figure out what being Force Sensitive meant to him. And so on.

--Not sure where people are getting the idea that Lando & Jannah were flirting, because I didn’t read their interaction that way at all.

--General Poe and General Finn were great, but also sort of felt unearned after the events of TLJ.

--The abilities that come from being part of a Dyad are overpowered and a little silly, but hey, they’re also following a long-established SW tradition of overpowered silliness, so... *shrugs*

--Confused as to why Rey suddenly killed Kylo/Ben when she did?? I mean, if it was because she was angry Leia had just died, wouldn’t that be acting from the Dark Side and shouldn’t that have, idk, narrative consequences for her?

--I don’t see why some people loved or hated Rey’s ending so much. It’s pretty open, IMO, just like the endings for all of the surviving characters. Who says Rey is going to stay on Tatooine or be alone there, after all? For all we know, she just stopped there for a few days to bury the lightsabers, grieve for Kylo/Ben, and meditate. For all we know, Finn or one of her other friends from the Resistance is going to drop in any moment now. Heck, for all we know, one of her friends is hanging out inside the Falcon where we can’t see them, giving her a little space. (Was her friendship with Finn and Poe depicted pretty shallowly in this movie? Yeah. But so was her relationship with Kylo/Ben tbh, even with the Dyad Force bond thingamajig.) Rey has a whole world of choices available to her. Does it suck that we didn’t get to see that onscreen? Yeah. Does it mean she’s doomed to be eternally lonely as a hermit on a desert planet? Not in the slightest.

--Someone really needs to tell the writers of these big franchises that using ring structure is pointless if there isn’t meaning behind it. There’s nothing inherently significant about repeating events or revisiting locations. 

--Overall, I felt pretty meh about TROS. I didn’t love it or hate it. As with any movie in a series, there’s good stuff to be mined from it, and bad stuff to be handwaved away or given headcanon explanations. But mostly, I just can’t dredge up the energy to care very much. And I’m not in the mood for TROS fix-it fanfiction so much as I am TROS crack fics. 

--I haven’t talked about everything that worked or didn’t work for me in TROS here, but if you have any questions, I’m always happy to answer them to the best of my abilities!

[grandrapidspizzaowl-blog]

Look for the nearest TD Bank - The Dominion Bank in Brooklyn, New York

TD Bank, NY 11225

1715 Bedford Ave Crown Heights, NY 11225

Review

Went this website yesterday to open some sort of bank account. Anthony worked with me. We thought I might have to hold out because it was Wednesday but he / she saw me right away and Anthony was initially super nice together with helpful. I was done launching the bank account in a matter of minutes! This specific is a superior department filled with great staff. I'm happy to turn out to be with TD bank now!

Review

Outlines are not prolonged to see a teller nevertheless the delay to see a great associate to debate other issues is preposterous. They have usually one or a couple of people sitting there. They have all of these desking with out one sits right now there. The wait is not good!

Review

Consumer service is soooooo awful here. Stay faaarrrrrrrr apart from this branch.

Review

No notary in this location, FYI, even though they publicize that they do offer notarizing services here!

Review

Bad support, and even the change counter IN NO WAY works. The manager affirms "yeah, sorry, " which in turn to me means "that's your long lasting problem. " They actually need to operate on just how their personnel talk to clients.

Review

Idk, I've never had a issue at this branch. Also been going there for nearly 2 years now. Typically the adjust machine usually does not work, which about this.

TD Bank, New York 11210

1623 Flatbush Ave New York, NY 11210

Review

I experienced some sort of very pleasant banks and loans encounter at this branch. My own banker was Nichole Glodon who is furthermore typically the Vp and store office manager. She was extremely valuable and extremely nice. Excellent consumer service. The girl was special and well mannered and aided everyone navigate through all my own concerns. Her customer care had been genuine and she possessed answers and referrals for those questions I asked. My partner and i felt welcomed and obtained care of in the moment I walked inside. The particular security guard was considerate and directed me about where to sign throughout and When We left out he was sure to be able to state good bye. Often the branch had been clean plus orderly and they had been sure to get each single seen in the timely way. There were a few consumers onward of me so I actually didn't expect to become seen like quick while I was. My goal is to undoubtedly be returning to that branch.

Review

Nowadays I gone into the standard bank and Horace the economic counselor assistance me what a new significant predicament that My partner and i was initially jammed up in thus TD Bank Flatbush they wanted the best so everything you people out at this time there that undertaking actions do not go to TD Financial institution leave that mortgage lender on your own please

Review

Love of our life. This kind of gal features been a new faithful TD Bank customer for decades in addition to My spouse and i have never encountered bad customer service by any individual. The tellers will be excellent friendly, there is parking to save you time, and the hours work with YOUR OWN PERSONAL schedule. I would be careful to expect very long lines on weekend break days and when you want to talk to a particular banker, having said that, they will deal with you like family here!

Review

This really is WORST bank in Brooklyn to conduct any company. The staff is segregazione in addition to rude. They avoid Have no idea wtf there doing, Matter of reality i think the fact that staff connected working in some sort of check cashing definitely not a good bank.

Review

TD's location is definitely with the flatbush path verse. There's always lots of parking and great performing hours. The staff is normally great.

TD Bank, New York, NY

210 Prospect Park SW New York, NY 11218

Review

Very good bank they are excellent and helpful. Nice atmosphere well organized. They treat anyone with respect and even are within standing. Likewise they are nallegeabul.

Review

We gives -5 stars if My partner and i may. This is the SLOWEST banking encounter. Spend of precious time. Generally understaffed and as some sort of result service is usually extra super slow. Irresponsibly stop

Review

Agree with the prior opinions. Extremely slow. I measured a minimum of ten employees although My partner and i had to hang on 30 minutes to obtain a good ATM card replaced perhaps though there was only one person in brand in front of us after i arrived. Staff stroll around casually without any kind of semblance of concern to get customer service as well as consumers' moment. You would assume that with so numerous less than ideal reviews the bank would do something to fix this although that is certainly obviously too much might. Financial institution security and trying to keep clients happy should be the particular a couple priorities of some sort of retail industry breach. Not certain how they will be doing on the first one but are failing miserably with the subsequent.

Review

We have recently been waiting over 30 minutes for some sort of representative in order to assist us. Only 1 individual out of 6 chairs can be purchased. She hasn't bothered to apologize regarding the wait. No reason. Nothing. She preserves hunting on me pretty much because if she hopes We walk out. The assistance the following sucks big period.

Review

2nd day in the raw acquired to wait a lot more than 30 min for a teller and left without services being offered. Only 1 or two tellers work the rest of the particular team just keeping all around and smiling. Very sluggish incredibly unprofessional. Seems like the most productive team member is out there so the total staff is falling apart and having lunch while series is more than 12 folks.

Related topics:

- TD Bank Near Me - TD Bank ND - TD Bank Miami - TD Bank MO - TD Bank Bronx

[lowmaticnews]

How To Paint Furniture

Painting furniture is one of the simplest DIY projects on the planet. However, it is also one of the easiest things to mess up. Trust me, I’ve painted more furniture than I care to remember and have learned so much it will make your head spin. Today I’m passing all of my wood painting info along to you! I’ve teamed up with my longtime partner Sherwin-Williams®, who sponsored this post to give you THE BEST furniture painting information available!

There are a million different sites telling you different (and conflicting!!) info. No one wants to learn to paint furniture the wrong way, or the hard way. So today I am sharing with you my absolute foolproof way to paint furniture. I have hundreds of reader questions at the ready and I’m going to answer all of them! (It’s a good thing that most of them are the same, see the most common at the bottom of this post!)

Furniture Paint vs. Wall Paint (NOT THE SAME!!)

Paint for some reason has this catch all mentality. How is it that we as humans have 15 different types of moisturizers, but paint is only allowed to have one formula? NO!! Regular latex paint is not designed for hard surfaces that get a lot of usage like a kitchen table.

If you’ve ever painted something and had the finish turn out tacky like it’s never cured, or had it peel off in sheets (so satisfying but not when it’s on your kitchen table) chances are GREAT that you went to the paint counter and told them the sheen and color but nothing was mentioned about the product type or project right?! Do you know how I know this?! Because I’ve done it…a few times! DANG IT!!!

You know you’re using the wrong kind of paint or the wrong technique if:

Your furniture feels tacky or sticky like it’s never cured

The paint dents

The paint chips or scratches it peels off

It’s extremely hard to clean and easily stains

It fades

It doesn’t have a smooth finish

You want to kick it every time walk past because of all the horrible feelings that come up at the sight of it.

Best Paint for Furniture

Ok so now that I’ve established that you need the right kind of paint (we’re all on the same page here yes?!) let me tell you what the best paint for furniture is. Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel (its a long title. We’ll call it Emerald Trim Enamel for short ok?) When you are painting hard surfaces, you need to use a product that is created for hard surfaces. If you’ve followed Vintage Revivals for a while you might remember the many proclamations of utter devotion for Sherwin-Williams Pro Classic. Pro Classic is awesome, but Emerald Trim Enamel is a newer product and my new favorite.

It is formulated for hard surfaces and it is MAGIC!! You don’t need to put a finish top coat on it, and if you are painting over a freshly sanded surface you can can choose not to prime but we always recommend priming your raw wood surfaces for an amazing end result! Oh and have I mentioned that when you’re using it you get a completely smooth finish with a roller? Mic drop.

Once you use the right kind of paint for your projects, you will NEVER go back to using regular latex wall paint.

You know you’re using the best kind of paint if:

Finish is hard and unaffected by things on it

Finish doesn’t dent

Surface can easily be wiped off (for instance on a table)

Finish chips rather than scratches.

Finish is smooth

The color that I used on these IKEA Billy bookcase is Sherwin-Williams Ruskin Room Green SW-0042. Its the perfect muted dusty green and I am obsessed with it!

Painting Techniques

There are 3 acceptable ways of painting furniture; 4 if you live in 1992 and consider sponge painting a stylish way to bring character into your house. Painting with a sprayer, painting with a roller, and painting with a brush.

We used a paint sprayer when we painted the doors at the Merc and got a perfect mirror finish. But for the sake of relatablity and ease, today we’re talking about the other 2 techniques, rolling and brushing.

Brushing paint exclusively is a technique that I havent mastered yet (it’s on my bucketlist!) but using a good quality brush is CRITICAL. If you show up and are planning on painting a piece of furniture with one of those $2 chip brushes you might as well douse it in gas, light it on fire and save yourself the time. A good brush will cost around $15 and pay off in dividends.

Rolling a piece of furniture is my favorite technique. You have to make sure that you get the right kind of roller though, because if you don’t you will end up with a ton of anger inducing texture. Find a lint free roller that has a nap of 1/4″ or lower. Think about what happens when you’re actually rolling, the longer the nap the more surface is sticking in the paint right? The shorter the nap, the smoother the finish. HOWEVER. One of the most frustrating furniture painting pitfalls I’ve experienced is using a foam roller. The logic behind it is sound. The lower the nap the smoother the finish, so no nap means THE SMOOTHEST FINISH EVARRRRR! The problem with using a foam roller is flashing. Flashing is when the sheen is different (you can see a great example of it in this post!) My favorite roller for painting is a Purdy White Dove 3/8″ or a Sherwin-Williams Mohair. They are both awesome and will give you a great result!

  Painting Supplies

Once you know what kind of paint to use, and how you’re going to paint your piece, it’s time to round up the rest of your gear! (FYI all of these supplies are available at your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store.

You’ll need:

Paint Brush

Paint Roller

Roller tray

Roller tray inserts (I promise they make your life so much better!!)

Drop Cloth

Paint stirrers

Paint can opener

Painters tape

220 Grit Sanding Sponge

Paint Triangles

How To Paint Wood Furniture in 5 Steps

Ok are you ready to get started!? Let’s dive right into painting wood furniture!

Step #1 PREP: Sanding, Stripping, and Cleaning and Disassembly

The first step to furniture painting success is your prep. There are a million tutorials online that give you hacks for skipping prep, but guess what? If you skip it, chances dramatically increase that you’re not going to get the result that you want.

Cleaning always comes first!

Sometimes all your piece needs is a good wipe down. If you don’t need to sand or strip, using a strong cleaning agent like TSP or a good cleaner degreaser will get rid of a lot of grime. TSP is a powder cleaner that you can get pretty much anywhere paint is sold. It’s really aggressive, so if you use it you’re going to want to wear gloves. If you’ve sanded or stripped, use a damp microfiber cloth or tack cloth to gather any dust.

Sanding:

The thing to remember is that you don’t have to take the piece down to the raw wood, when you’re sanding you are taking out imperfections (like scratches etc.) and roughening up the surface so that your paint has something to grab onto. The more aggressively horrific the surface of your piece is, the more you and your sander are going to become acquainted. For newer pieces, like the IKEA furniture we’re painting in this post, a light sanding with a sanding sponge is plenty of prep. If you actually need to take stuff off of the surface you’ll want to use a sander and disk. I LOVE the reuseable Diabo SandNet disks. We’ve been using the same one for 5 months!!

WARNING! Removal of old paint by sanding, scraping or other means may generate dust or fumes that contain lead. Exposure to lead dust or fumes may cause brain damage or other adverse health effects, especially in children or pregnant women. Controlling exposure to lead or other hazardous substances requires the use of proper protective equipment, such as a properly fitted respirator (NIOSH approved) and proper containment and cleanup. For more information, call the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD (in US) or contact your local health authority.

Stripping:

Sometimes sanding isnt an option, like if your piece has a lot of detail that the sander can’t get into. This is where you tell your husband that you’re going to get a stripper and just see the reaction. #stripperjokes All joking aside, stripping paint is one of the gratifying DIY ever. There is just something about spreading the product on and watching the paint bubble and wipe off.  The downside with stripper is that it can be really hard to get it out of the corners and grooves of a piece. I only use a stripper when absolutely necessary. That’s what she said.

Disassembly:

I always take furniture apart as much as I can before I start painting. Removing doors, hardware, and backs (if you can) makes it SO MUCH EASIER to get a professional finish (no one likes to open a drawer and see that they forgot to paint the edges!) If you’re painting a new piece like we are with our IKEA bookcases, we didnt even assemble them all the way before painting. Just make sure you put all of the hardware in a safe spot.

Taping

Once everything is cleaned and ready to go, now is the time for painters tape. Place it along the edge of your piece and use a credit card to burnish it into place. This will prevent any seepage and leaks.

Testing

To ensure success, you can do an adhesion test before priming. This will help you determine if your prep work was successful. In general, you want the surface to be clean, dry and dull before you start painting. To test for adhesion, apply a small amount of primer like Sherwin-Williams Extreme Bond to an inconspicuous area. Allow it dry properly and test to make sure it adhered to the surface well. Once you have determined good adhesion, you’re ready to prime and paint the piece.

Step #2: Cutting In

If your piece has trim or moulding on it, you’re probably going to want to cut in first. Cutting in is when you use a brush to paint just the corners of things before you paint the whole piece. Sometimes (depending on the piece) you don’t have to cut in, but if you do make sure that you feather the edge of the paint onto the rest of the piece. If you don’t you’ll end up with a hard paint line and some serious texture.

Step # 3 Rolling The First Coat of Paint

OH MY GOSH ARE YOU READY!? Here it is, the big moment. Start by loading your paint roller with a medium amount of paint. You’ll know it’s too much if you can’t see a lot of the texture, and too little if you see all of the spaces between fibers. The right amount looks full but not saturated.

Move your roller on the piece with even pressure, moving in the same direction the whole time. Be cautious to no over do it.Make sure that you are watching the edges and don’t leave big mounds of paint on them. Once the coat is on, put your roller down and STEP AWAY FROM THE FURNITURE.

The biggest mistake that people make when they are painting a smooth surface is that they fiddle and touch and try to fix every imperfection.

Once your paint is on the piece it’s begun the drying process. Friends, if you are messing with it keep in mind that it’s still drying, it’s just not drying flat. If you over brush or roll it, you’re just adding texture, which we don’t want. As it’s drying, if you notice a spot you missed, leave it for the second coat. If there is a drip, wipe it immediately. If you notice it as the paint has already started to dry just leave it alone, you will make it worse!

So much can be fixed between the first and second coats, don’t make your job harder by fiddling with it.

There is going to be a little bit of texture until the paint dries. Just let it settle. I PROMISE it is going to be fine!

For reals though, have you stepped away? Cause you need to do that. The paint will darken as it dries. After it is dry (usually about 15-20 minutes) you can gently touch up the mistakes that you exercised great restraint to not fix before. Go you!!

Step #3 TOUCH UP: Sanding Drips or Texture

Oh now it’s time to fix those mistakes. using a 220 grit sanding sponge, gently sand away the issues, whether it’s a drip, or a hair, or a texture issue. Wipe that spot down with a damp microfiber rag to get the dust!

Step #4 PAINTING: Roll The Second Coat and Let It Dry

Step #4 is just like step #2, you are going to roll the paint and let it dry. Make sure to leave it alone! (Are you sick of hearing that yet? Cause it’s REALLY important to leave it alone.)

Leave it alone. (That’s the last time I promise)

Step #5 Final Touch Ups and Reassembly

Once coat #2 is dry, you are free to touch up the piece as necessary. Sometimes you need to sand it, and sometimes you dont! Please keep in mind that even though your paint has dried, it hasn’t cured. Meaning, its dry and you can touch it, but until it’s cured you can still scratch it or chip it easily. When I was putting my piece back together I got a pretty gnarly scratch on it that needed to be touched up so I sanded it and fixed it. I always try to wait at least a few hours before I put it back together to give the paint a chance to start to cure.

Painting Tips

Painting around glass

I’ve been known to start a project without adequate supplies on hand. Sometimes the mood just strikes you right?!! One day I was painting a piece with mirrored doors and I didn’t have any painters tape, so I just brushed over the glass and was happily on my way. When it came time to get the paint off of the mirror I was kicking myself for not having tape, but figured out a pretty cool hack that I wanted to pass along. If you get paint on your glass, swipe over it a few times with a damp paper towel and give it a minute to sit. Then go back over it with a razor blade and it will literally fall off the glass!

Storing Your Paint Mid Project

Look, I get it. We’d all love to be productive enough to get a project done in one sitting, but reality, and 2 year olds and school pick up happen and then its 3 days later and I’ve ruined my brand new paint brush because I got distracted and forgot to put it away. Just me? One of my favorite tips to keep paint fresh for days on end is to put the whole tray, brushes and all, into a garbage bag to seal the air from getting to it.

Paint Pyramids

These handy little buggers are worth their weight in gold. Use them when you’re painting things like cabinet doors, or smaller pieces to lift them off of the ground.

And when it’s all said and done, you’re left with a piece of gorgeous furniture and a perfect paint job THAT YOU DID YOURSELF!!  High fives all around!!

Real Life Questions

I asked what your most frustrating furniture painting problems were, and man did you guys deliver with the questions! Let’s answer some of the most common ones, shall we?

     “After days of drying, things would stick to the top. To this day I’ll have things stick to the top of the table 4 years later! Why?”

This is one of the most common questions I get, the reason things are sticking is because it’s not a paint created to dry hard. Touch your walls (it’s ok, no one is looking!) does the paint feel hard? Nope! Using the right kind of paint, like Sherwin-Williams Emerald Trim Enamel is the best way to avoid eternal stickiness!

     “The spray paint I used left a matte line, even though the paint was high gloss”

This is called flashing and it happens when the paint color is uniform, but the sheen is not. It can happen for a few reasons but most commonly happens when the product is applied inconsistently, either too much or too little.

     “I painted a pine dresser white last year and it’s starting to yellow where the knots are! Why and what can I do?”

Ugh this is so frustrating. It seems to happen most with pine. The resins from the wood are concentrated in the knots and has started seeping through the paint. The best way to prevent this is to use a stain blocking primer or a shellac primer. Make sure that you get a nice good coat on and then scuff sand it without taking it all off.

     “I hate when I can see brush strokes or foam roller strokes from whatever I use.”

Man I hate that too!! Using a sprayer is definitely a way to prevent that in it’s entirety, but using the right kind of brush and roller will help a ton!

Now for the best part! I’ve got a whole video tutorial on How To Paint Furniture! Check it out below!!

If you’re ever planning on painting furniture, make sure you save this post to your Pinterest board so that you can come back as often as you need to!

Have any questions? Leave them below and I’ll answer!!

You might also want to check out:

How to Paint A Crib (and is it safe to paint baby furniture!?)

How to Paint Laminate Furniture

How To Paint Metal

The post How To Paint Furniture appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

How To Paint Furniture published first on https://landscapingmates.blogspot.com

[starwarscommonwealth]

Do you miss Marvel at the cons?

So recently Tim from The Nerd Room asked the question:  Do you miss Marvel at the big cons lately?  They’ve been conspicuously absent!  What’s going on with this?  Where are they?  What are they up to?

 My approach on this tends to be to put myself in their shoes.  Before we get into the weeds, though, I think it’s worth keeping in mind a couple of different things…

1)    Production and Marketing are two very different departments internally.  I saw this a TON when I worked in the video game industry.  And perhaps rightfully so, you want the production team to focus on making the best possible product, and let the marketing team worry about how to sell it.

2)    We don’t hear nearly as much about this with regards to Marvel as we do about Star Wars – but keep in mind that Disney owns Marvel Studios.  So just as we theorize that sometimes the SW marketing has to be in sync with what the Mouse House wants, don’t we have to imagine the same is true with Marvel Studios?

Ok, that being said – let’s walk down this path…

Disney is clearly putting a lot of money behind their streaming service.  That’s obviously including not only Star Wars, but also the MCU properties.  We’ve already started to hear how these properties are going to be dropping off Netflix potentially at the end of this year.

For a few hours, on Thursday 24th May, 2018, we actually saw Netflix bypass Disney and become the most valuable media company in the world.  On that day, Disney’s market cap was $153 BILLION, and Netflix bypassed them ever so briefly, but then came back below $152B by the final bell.  With Disney and Netflix vying for that top-dog spot, we see how close this race is.  This situation informs us as to the importance, at least in part, about the Disney/21st Century Fox deal.  This only further increases the value of Disney as a media company.  

Now, it’s not all about market economics in terms of market cap ...or is it?  Let’s go back to the Disney Streaming Service (I can’t wait until it has a better name ;) ).   For this to be any sort of success, it MUST have content.  As much content as possible.  Every little bit they can get.  Competitively, that means they have got to give people a solid reason to subscribe to it ALSO – because let’s face it, people aren’t likely to drop Netflix in place of Disney (at least at first?  And as much as Disney would like that to happen) – so the big hurdle for Disney Marketing is to convince consumers to ALSO shell out another $8-10/month for their service.  That’s a big ask in today’s market. 

Now, the challenge here from a consumer market perspective is that this starts to fragment the offerings in the market.  We already have Netlfix roughly owning the movie streaming market, and Hulu having the lion’s share of TV show streaming (although Netflix has a lot of TV shows as well).  But now we’ll have Disney.  And before long the DC streaming service.  There are other niche players, plus the potential of other networks spawning their own services hoping to grab a piece of the pie.  But today people already hand over $20-30/month for Netflix & Hulu.  Now they may add $10 for Disney ... and then will they also drop another $10 for DC?  Now they’re potentially doubling their monthly spend on streaming services (and for cord-cutters like me, now we’re starting to pay cable TV prices again).  So as the market fragments, these services really have to fight for those monthly fees from subscribers, because before too long, consumers are going to start making choices about which to keep and which to drop.

So if Disney wants to maintain its spot as Top Dog (or Mouse), they’re going to have to offer seriously premium content, and a diverse set of content to boot, in order to compete with the deep library available to Netflix.

Okay, that’s a lot to absorb just to set the stage for hypotheses as to why Marvel has been quiet on the con-front.  Let’s talk about what we know is coming from Marvel Studios. 

We have a small view into the Marvel roadmap right now, with Captain Marvel, Avengers 4, and Spider-Man due in 2019, and Guardians 3 to round out that trilogy in 2020.  Those will all be box office releases, which will, we’d expect, eventually end up on the Disney streaming service (which all depends on how Disney deals with 2019 movie releases relative to the existing Netflix deal).  Beyond 2020, Black Widow, Black Panther 2, Dr Strange 2, maybe Thor 4.  All-in-all, however, even with the first release of those, Captain Marvel, less than a year away, we’ve heard virtually nothing about any of them.  

Now what about TV shows?  It’s been pretty quiet.  Iron First S02 is confirmed for the end of 2018 (no specific date yet).  That will be a Netflix release.  Daredevil S03 is confirmed for early 2019.  Probably too early for the new service, so let’s also call that a Netflix release.  Punisher S02 is due mid to late 2019.  Jessica Jones S03 is slated for end of 2019 or into 2020.  Now we’re definitely into the Disney Streaming Service time-frame.  Beyond that, there’s potentially (though nothing confirmed) about Luke Cage S03, and the ensemble Defenders S02. 

What you see today is that Marvel (and Disney) have NOT been talking a huge amount about these future properties.  Go back to putting yourself in the shoes of Disney Marketing.  Let’s consider the scenario.

Back in 2012 when Disney inked the deal with Netflix, it was said to really be 3 deals:  Netflix would get rights to stream new Disney movies starting from 2016, Netflix gained rights for direct-to-video films starting in 2017, and then also access to the Disney back-catalog.  All in all, these rights were said to be worth in the realm of $300 million a year.  Another way to look at it is this:  That alone pays for 1-2 MCU movies per year, which those alone could be worth $2-2.5B in revenue.  That’s virtually free money!  So there are literally billions of dollars on the table for Disney here.

Here’s a key data point for you:  The deal is set to expire at the end of 2018.

It doesn’t look like Disney will immediately pull content come 1 Jan, 2019 – in fact Netflix expects to continue to be able to stream Disney movies through 2019 (although 2019 releases may be in doubt – which means they may not be able to stream Avengers 4 or Star Wars Episode 9) – but beyond that looks unlikely from what both companies have said.  That’s also interesting because it potentially speaks to the timing of Disney’s new service.  But let’s consider what Disney has to think about: Will the Disney Streaming Service bring in at least $300M/year (the value of the Netflix deal)? Let’s look at the quick-n-dirty numbers. 

Let’s assume a subscription fee of $10/month.  That’s 30M subscribers.  Does that sound realistic?  Here are some comparisons.  Netflix is currently at 130 million subscribers worldwide, having added 5M new subscribers in Q2-2018.  On the other end of the spectrum, you may be aware of the CBS “All Access” streaming service (which people wonder if it will survive in the long run); they report having close to 5M subscribers today, with their CEO stating a goal of 8M by 2020.  (FYI: CBS All Access is closing in on being 4 years old, with a price of $5.99US/month).  With that in mind, is it possible for Disney to pull in 30M subscribers?  It’s lofty – that’s 23% of the Netflix base.  Conservatively, it’ll take time for Disney to hit that level – and obviously want to grow well beyond it.  In order to do that, they’re going to have to pull some Netflix subscribers over. 

The Q2 reports by Netflix did show growth, but still missed Wall Street expectations were for 6.2M. Missing their target by that much caused their stock to drop a huge 14% following that news.  This last year for Netflix, they’ve gone from $160 in Aug’17, peaking at $418, and now down to $350.  So while it’s been a huge year for Netflix, missing those numbers caused the market to react, even though they’re still significantly up Y/Y.  However, you start to see the value of the subscriber base as it impacts the market value of these big powerhouses.

So…why has Marvel been absent at the cons?  Look at the money on the table for Disney.  They have the capital to invest in building a service almost without blinking.  Disney has gotten very good at marketing, as we’ve seen with the MCU and Star Wars movies the last couple years.  They know how to trickle things out and build the hype.  We have to imagine Disney Marketing has a MasterPlan™ for how to launch the streaming service and with that make big announcements about properties which will be exclusively available on it – that’s the key messaging which will grow their subscriber base. 

Already many of us nerds are ready to hand over our cash.  We already expect that Star Wars and Marvel movies will move from Netlfix to Disney’s service, so please take our money.  The average consumer, who may not budget as much of their discretionary income towards nerdom as we do, may need more convincing.  To that end, Disney is being very strategic about building any hype around future properties which people may very well automatically think “well, I can catch it on Netflix” – I think we already see some people making the choice to skip the box office and catch it 3-6 months later via streaming.  With so many great movies in these key genres coming out, competition for box-office tickets is growing.  We’ve seen people having to make hard decisions about which movie(s) to see any given month, given the growth of releases.  Years ago, we might talk about the (one) blockbuster movie of the summer.  Now we’re talking about which 3 movies during the summer will be blockbusters.  Competition is fierce, so marketing has to become more and more strategic, as a process.

I know we all want these movies to be about “us” – the fans.  In a way that’s true, because we’re so happy to go buy tickets, buy the blu-rays, and contribute towards their bottom line -we’re a core audience for Disney, and also key influencers; we are very important to the market.  However, in the end, this is a business with billions upon billions of dollars up for grabs.  The Mouse House is poised, with LucasFilm and Marvel Studios specifically, not only to maintain their spot at the top of the dogpile, but to grow their lead.  I think we’re going to continue to see some radio silence from them until, at best, the end of 2018, but probably into 2019.  Some key dates to keep in mind are:

Captain Marvel releases March 8, 2019

Star Wars Celebration Chicago is April 11-16, 2018

Avengers 4 is set to release April 26, 2019 (UK first)

The D23 expo is August 23-25, 2019

Spring has some big stuff happening.  That March/April timeframe could be a very good time to start talking about the new Disney service, at least to as a start to the marketing campaign.  D23 then sets the stage to give “more detail” at the end of summer.  Maybe that’s when they start to talk about market details (US, Canada, UK, worldwide), and also announce the monthly cost.  Now this is all predicated on a potential fall launch to the service, which is strictly speculation at this point; however it seems to line up time-wise given that Disney has only said “sometime in 2019” so far.  But this all seems to flow logically so far.     

The last few years we’ve really looked forward to Marvel panels and exhibits at places like San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con, and the likes.  Now, we’re getting virtual crickets.  Do we miss them?  Absolutely!  But perhaps here you start to see that it’s on purpose, it’s poised for them to make a major shift in their own business because of the billions of dollars up for grabs.  If we’re patient for a few more months, beyond the holidays I think the House of Mouse will start whispering in our ear, we’ll start hearing “leaks” of information about the Disney Streaming Service, announcements will be made at their own events potentially, and the future will start to come into focus.