#polycraftory

[polycraftory]

This came to me in a vision at 3 AM and I got out of bed to make it.

- Gabe

[quaple-network]

We Are Back (With New Projects!)

Sorry for the long radio silence my friends, the last few years have really put our polycule through the ringer (but many good things happened as well!)

The Big Updates

We are married, we are 110% out of the closet in our day to day lives, and we have a new project: follow us @polycraftory! All of our links can be found at polycraftory.com (including the podcast links). We have started a crafting/cosplay/book blog that follows all of the crafts that we do as a polycule as well as our other interests and projects. The biggest thing we've launched is our Polycraftory Etsy shop where we sell queer and nerdy merch (including polyamory stuff!) We are also debating starting a tiktok so stay tuned.

Polycule Names

Now that we are completely out of the closet, we can use our real first names instead of the names we used on the podcast (though, I still also like our cute flower names so feel free to use either for Iris).

Iris is Meghan (she/they)

Sunflower / Sun is Nic (she/they)

Foxglove / Fox is Gabe (they/them)

Sage is Nathaniel (he/him)

[polycraftory]

The scholastic book fair is eden and we've all been cast out by the curse of knowledge.

“You should be at the club.” No, I should be at the scholastic book fair.

[polyamorousmood]

Polyamory Merch from Small Artists for Pride Month

@foxflightstudios makes many queer pride pins, including this kick-ass polyam one! Etsy this pin specifically

@lawofcollage makes these neat pride collages! Merch available through the threadless shop and here's OG flag & new flag designs

IfsAndsOrButtons on etsy has the OG flag, the edited flag, & the new flag for polyamory! yay! A variety of other queer flags, pins, & buttons. Portion of sales goes to charity. Too much to link indv., so all poly shit

@polycraftory has a small shop of queer shirts on their etsy including this poly meme shirt!

@soluscheese has a ton of simple, elegant pride designs, including lots of polyamory ones in all sorts of products on their redbubble (poly shapes) ("and")

These gorgeous stone bracelets from ToadintheSun on etsy immediately strike me as something nice enough to wear to work, etc, and subtle enough not to out you! Other flag designs too!

@who-tf-even-am-i made some poly merch based on my suggestions! Available on t-shirts, hoodies, pillows, phone cases, and way too many more for separate links, so check out it all on teepublic

Look at this adorable little frog sticker from @sofftpunk! This is the only poly one I could find, but there's lots of other queer stuff at their shop,featuring a lot of identities I don't often see!

Honorable mentions:

@prideful-things-shop has plans to make poly stuff, but its still in the works! They're a poly creator with other killer🔪 (this is a joke cause they have horror-themed pins) pride designs currently available on etsy

@frogboi2023 is a small artist doing commission work at (honestly too) cheap prices. As such, there aren't any pre-made poly designs to showcase, but they reached out to say they'll do custom poly work, incl. traditional/digital art, jewelry, plushies, bookmarks, & keychains!

@@aesethewitch is doing pride themed readings on their Ko-fi. A follower confirmed they're willing/able to do poly romance readings!

Bonus! queer but not poly shit:

@izzi-illustrates has a variety of pride pins, stickers on etsy

@tflohr is a non-binary artist making weird & wonderful stuff available on redbubble

Abprallen on etsy has a variey of pastel queer merch

Queer, spooky pins, patches, & stickers available at grrrlspells' etsy

LucknLavenderStudios is an etsy shop with queer stickers & prints

@lyrabracelets is selling beaded pride bracelets on etsy

Kyri45 on redbubble does cute pride designs for a LOT of identities

[polycraftory]

Unfortunately, things out here are looking more and more like the Corporation Rim these days, so we are only posting this shirt drop to our trusty neighborhood hellsite this week!

If you are also rereading Murderbot to cope with the everything, you may be interested in our latest design! We all need our escapism, so you can join our favorite SecUnit in repping it's favorite soap opera: The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.

As always, check out our pinned post for the link to our Etsy shop, where we have this shirt as well as other queer & nerdy merch! To keep things spicy, I will also reblog this post to add the dastardly link directly to this shirt (in the hopes that tumblr will show this post to literally anyone 🙃) If you want to help out a small queer business, a reblog would go really far to help spread the word <3

[polycraftory]

Have you ever wanted a shirt that says SCHOOL on it but you don't care to represent your own university? Do you love The Murderbot Diaries and desperately wish you were part of ART's beloved crew? If so, our newest shirt might be the weirdly specific thing you are looking for! Apparently, our new specialty is making in-universe bookish merch.

You can find both of our Murderbot t-shirts and a bunch more queer nerdy merch in our etsy shop! As usual, you can find the shop link in our pinned post and the dastardly external link directly to our newest shirt in a reblog.

Do you have any other niche fandom merch that you haven't been able to find? Let us know and we'll try to make something! We are a small queer business and we have so many more designs we are excited to share <3

[polycraftory]

For those who were curious!

im so nosy I wanna know what the book is called so badly...

Okay, I don’t want to put the author on blast because I believe they have a Tumblr and it’s not their fault that their debut novel blew up and probably…shouldn’t have. But if you really want to know, here is a link to my StoryGraph, which is where I review books and keep track of what I’m reading. The book in question is the most recent one rated below a 2, which are generally the longest reviews I write by a large margin.

[polycraftory]

Nott the Brave Cosplay WIP

Today we did our body paint & tattoo test for Nott the Brave from Campaign 2 of Critical Role, so we decided to take some pictures with our current progress since it's really coming together! This is the transition period between levels 10 and 11, when she's still a goblin but got the charisma boost face tattoo.

Things still left to do: crop the jacket to the waist, sew bandages onto the left leg, finish sewing the edge of the belt, and finish constructing the flower crown. We are still experimenting with the ear magnets to see what the most comfortable system under the wig will be.

We've made or modified pretty much everything here! Have a question about how to do some aspect of this cosplay? Let us know! We plan to make more tutorials after NYCC next week.

[polycraftory]

Listen, we are a bunch of weird little guys, so we've definitely been asked this question before. Now we have a shirt that can just introduce exactly who we are before we even start speaking!

If you are interested in checking out this shirt or any of our other queer nerdy designs, you can find it in our etsy shop! All our links are in our pinned post. We make a lot of D&D and fandom merch as well!

[polycraftory]

Here is our complete guide to curling a heat safe wig!

We specifically figured out this method worked best when styling this wig for my level 3 Imogen Temult cosplay. She's from campaign 3 of Critical Role. There are many other methods to curl wigs, but this is the one that got the best hold and our desired look on this particular wig! Of course, then I decided to cosplay Imogen at level 13 first and her hair is totally different so this wig is going in storage but at least we got to make a useful tutorial first.

We already have a video version of this tutorial up on our Tiktok and Youtube that we will move over to Tumblr, but honestly I struggle The Most with learning from video tutorials. I prefer things written out so we wanted to make this sort of tutorial as well for accessibility!

Additional tips & all of the products we use are under the cut. Feel free to shoot us a message if you have any questions or want more tutorials on wigs!

What We Use:

Wig: Pastel Purple Wavy Lace Front Synthetic Wig LF5110 from Wig Is Fashion. It technically comes with a curl but we straightened and recurled it differently. Whatever wig you get, just make sure you check that it's heat safe before attempting this!

Silicone Spray: Mane 'n Tail Detangler. Yes, this is technically for horses, but listen, it works SO WELL on synthetic wigs. It keeps it from getting all static-y and tangled. We've only ever used this brand but it works really well so we're def sticking with it.

Setting Spray: Schwarzkopf Got2b Glued Blasting Freeze Spray. This makes sure the curls you spent hours making actually hold!

Crimper: SixRiver Ceramic Waver Hair Tool with 4-in-1 Flat Crimping Iron Plates. This comes with four ceramic crimping plates and Nic uses the one with the "most wiggles" on the lowest setting (320). You can probably use any crimper that goes low enough. Crimp it fast, you aren't holding it like with curls.

Curling Iron: Conair 1 Inch Curling Iron. We use this on "19", whatever that means because it doesn't actually have temperatures. Any curling iron with low enough heat settings will do, you might need to play with settings to make sure you don't melt the hair. Test it on the bottom of the lowest layer of hair where you could cut it off if you melt it. As with curls on human hair, different barrel widths will give you wildly different curl looks.

Teaser Brush & Large Tooth Comb: Honestly these probably came with one of our first hair cutting or wig styling kits so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Apparently the teaser brush is Revlon branded.

We aren't sponsored by anyone, this is just what we use! Feel free to substitute in anything that you have / know works well with wigs. We hope this helps! Please let us know what other cosplay or crafting tutorials you'd like to see <3

[polycraftory]

Hunger Pangs is truly one of my favorite romances and SUCH good polyamory rep.

Hey, so it turns out we’ve been living with two gas leaks in our house for an unknown amount of time and we need to replace our entire furnace unit. There are people coming on Thursday to do it.

We are taking out a line of credit to get it done because for our safety we have to, but the interest is significant.

I feel like I’m asking for a miracle, but if I can sell 2000 ebooks or 500 audiobooks of Hunger Pangs through my Payhip, that would cover it. You can also gift people copies through Payhip gifting system or by donating to the donate pile so I can run giveaways.

The water heater still needs replaced but that leak has been addressed safely and is no longer slowly killing us.

If you like what I do and want to support me in other ways I have a Patreon and a Ko-fi. (You can ignore the 18+ warning that comes up on my Patreon, they’ve had me wrongly flagged as an adult content creator for years.)

Please, I cannot stress this enough do not give money you don’t have. Even sharing this and telling people about my books is a wonderful help. I’m just trying to alleviate some of the financial strain from Mothman.

I’m going to have a lie down now in a well-ventilated space. Maybe have a soothing scream first.

[polycraftory]

Shawl complete and in the process of being blocked! Small apartment crafting is all about knowing exactly how much floor space you have in every room.

Made with yarn from the Manos Del Uruguay Alegria line, specifically in the Waterlily color. It's hand dyed mix of Merino Superwash Wool and nylon.

[polycraftory]

Nott the Brave Level 11 Cosplay

We did it! We finished this just in time for Nic to cosplay Nott the Brave from Campaign 2 of Critical Role for the Friday Critter Meet Up at NYCC 2024.

We took a lot of inspiration for this look from Nott's level 10 artwork by Ariana Orner, which you can see in the side by side. However, we added a few extra details from a little later, primarily the Charisma boost tattoo around the eyes that Nott got just before they leveled up to 11.

We made basically all of this ourselves, so we'll be posting deep dives into some of the details as well as more NYCC photos (especially from the meetup) soon!

[polycraftory]

Getting Started: Junk Journaling

So you want to get started with scrapbooking/junk journaling? This is a craft, like many others, that you can get started on with very little supplies! However, we'll get a little deeper into stuff as well for some additional tips and supplies that might be fun or helpful.

What You Absolutely Need

Scissors / Cutting Implements - If you can, buy a nicer pair of scissors for your own sanity, but any scissors will do starting out! Detail scissors specifically are really helpful. Exacto knives can also be helpful, but you'll also need a cutting mat if you don't already have one. This category is worth investing in because dull scissors are a nightmare.

Adhesive - ZipDry is designed for paper so it doesn't bleed through thin stuff and it dries quick and clear. Double sided tape rolls are also very helpful, especially with large areas or gluing a bunch of stuff quickly. This is an area worth investing in earlier! Thin paper and magazine paper will have bleed through with certain glues.

Notebook/Paper - Use what you have! If you, like me, have a million journals lying around, use that! As you get deeper in, you might find it helpful to specifically look for notebooks that lie flat when opened. You can also use sheets of art paper if you want to go more independent collage style rather than journaling. Watercolor paper/notebooks are nice because they are thicker, but you can use whatever.

Materials to Actually Cut/Glue/Use - Okay, here's where you really can do whatever you want forever and spend as little or as much as you want. You can cut up books and magazines you have on hand. If you have a printer, you can print stuff out! People sell really amazing curated mixed packs of materials (you can support some great shops on etsy doing very cool and niche stuff! If you are really on a budget, amazon sells some bulk packs as well).

Material Tip

If you don't have a husband that works in a mailroom (we are very lucky) and you don't have a lot of magazines on hand, try going to your local post office and dig through the recycling bin! A lot of people will throw out magazines/ads/catalogues there and you might find some gems. You can also get a free trial for some magazines and just cancel once they want to charge you money. Nic finds Vogue and GQ helpful for people. National Geographic can be helpful for backgrounds and animals.

Leveling up details below the cut!

Level Up

Slide Cutter - Make sure you get one with a replaceable blade! Super helpful for bulk cutting out big shapes.

"Okay, but I see people online with fancy stuff and I want to get in on that action!" you may say. Here is some fun stuff to play with!

If you see someone whose junk journaling content you like, you can also just reach out to them! A lot of people are happy to share links to the stuff they use and a lot of junk journalers online run their own shops/have affiliate links to the stuff they use!

Fun Junk Journaling Variety Packs - truly this is where a lot of people spend a lot of money because you can buy all sorts of fun niche packs depending on the vibe/focus you want to go with. You can also buy packs of quotes / letters / sayings. This can be helpful especially when doing character focused stuff. My wife really likes the packs from PengellyCrafts on etsy.

Washi Tape - People really like using washi tape, especially the transparent ones. These can be surprisingly expensive.

Transparent Stickers - These are fun because you can get a lot of detail and layering without intricate cutting. If you are careful with detail cutting you can cut the white border on normal stickers if you can't swing transparent ones.

Stamps - Like transparent stickers, this can add fun depth and layering, though with perhaps slightly less detail. The best part about stamps is that they are infinitely reusable and you can get all sorts of stamp pads. The downside is they are surprisingly expensive. You can even get stamps that help you make backgrounds like stars or wood texture. There are also "container" stamps like jars and bottles that you can put stuff in!

Embossing Powder - You can pair stamps with a glue stamp pad (or get glue markers) to use with embossing powder and a heat gun to create embossed details that add depth and texture. Make sure you are careful about what order you do things in when using heat!

Distress Ink (or Distress Oxide) & Blender/Diffuser - Make things look aged! This is a stamp pad you can use to make any paper or image look older than it is. Make sure you also get the little foam blender they also sell for application since it'll go on too thick if you try to use it directly on the paper.

Wax & Wax Seals - Wax can be fun to play with because it is both an adhesive and also adds dimension. Note: a lot of embossing or wax in a journal can make it hard to close a notebook.

Old Books - You can buy used books or use books that you don't want anymore for backgrounds to cut out words. Things like recipe books and encyclopedias can be especially helpful/vibe-y.

Fun Edges / Frames - You can get scrapbooking scissors or edge punches to add fun details and shapes to paper edge. It just depends on whether you like that look! Something like a simple round edge punch can be helpful.

Have Fun With It

Do you do other crafts, like painting or cricut? You can pair so many different crafts with junk journaling to make a cool multi-media piece. The most important thing to remember is to use what you have and have fun with it! Don't put off starting because you want all the bells and whistles or think you have to spend a bunch of money like the people who create junk journaling internet content! Create joyfully and lean into the chaos.

Please let us know if this guide was helpful and if you'd like a more specific buy list or tutorials on anything! We are here to help make crafting more accessible <3 You got this! Go junk journal!

If you want to see Nic's junk journaling, we are going to queue some in the next few days. Check our pinned post to find our junk journaling tag for inspiration!

[polycraftory]

Do you have a himbo or thembo in your life who is absolutely essential to your mental health and wellbeing? Or, be honest with yourself, are you the dumbass we all need and adore? If so, we have the shirt for you! Become a Certified Emotional Support Dumbass today!

You can find this shirt, along with a bunch of other queer nerdy designs, in our Etsy shop! You can find the links in our pinned post or in a forthcoming reblog (to encourage tumblr to let our dastardly externally linked post be seen by, well, anyone).

[polycraftory]

Trans Rights Readathon Recs!

Books by Trans Authors - Part 1

This recommendations post for Trans Rights Readathon is brought to you by books we already had in our library and it got a little out of hand! We decided first to break things down by other rep in case that was helpful for folks. We have another post planned breaking things down by genre as well, so stay tuned! With series, we only include the first book in the series to keep our stacks slightly more manageable!

As far as we know, the authors here are out as trans / nonbinary / genderqueer. Please don't be a dick and try to force authors who happen to write trans characters to out themselves! We did our best on rep breakdowns, but please let us know if we misfiled anything since we haven't read everything yet.

Trans, Nonbinary & Genderqueer Rep

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Thicker Than Blood by Sera Quim

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender

A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Junker Seven by Olive J. Kelley

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon

The Flowered Blade by Taylor Hubbard

You can find more recs for Polyamory Rep, Sapphic / wlw Rep, and Achillean / mlm Rep all written by trans authors under the cut!

Polyamory Rep

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows (Poly-normative world build, though I'm not 100% sure if there are any major polyamorous relationships)

Thicker Than Blood by Sera Quim (MMM with a trans masc protagonist)

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender (M/M/genderfluid? Trans masc main character and a love interest who regularly uses alchemy to change their gender)

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (MMF)

SPECTR by Jordan L. Hawk (Whole series is M/M/genderless demon sharing a body with the main character. Volume 1 is being rebound which is why Volume 2 is pictured)

Mistress of Lies by K. M. Enright (From what I can tell MMF, but this is one of the few we haven't read yet)

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco (MMF but Gabe would like me to convey that the most important part of the dynamic is that it's dom/sub/dom)

Please feel free to ask for more info on these especially, at least one of us have read most of these (and the few we don't are high up on our reading list for the week.)

Sapphic / wlw Rep

We have been building our sapphic library but apparently need to focus on more sapphic romance written by trans authors specifically! Here's what we do have (with some real gems we love). We tried to aim for all of these having the main romance be sapphic!

Gwen & Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey (Book 1 in a duology)

Providence Girls by Morgan Dante

The Fall That Saved Us by Tamara Jerée

Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows (I think this is a completed duology!)

Junker Seven by Olive J. Kelley (This is getting a sequel!)

Achillean / mlm Rep

This category ended up being...quite large. It really goes to show you just how many more gay books by trans authors have come out in the last few years! Okay, strap in, here we go:

Captive Prince & Dark Rise by CS Pacat (Captive Prince is a completed triology and Dark Rise will be a trilogy)

Thicker Than Blood by Sera Quim

How to Bite Your Neighbor & Win a Wager by D. N. Bryn

Prince of Sorrows by Kellen Graves (Book 1 of the Rowan Blood series, which currently has 4/8 books out)

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows (Book 1 of the completed Tithenai Chronicles duology)

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender (Book 1 of the Infinity Alchemist series)

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (Book 1 of a triology with 2/3 books currently out)

SPECTR by Jordan L. Hawk (18 connected novella length stories collected into what should soon be 6 volumes if you want them physically! Each novella is one case!)

So This Is Ever After, Spell Bound, Otherworldly, & In Deeper Waters by FT Lukens (Each is a complete stand alone romance!)

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco (Book 1 of the completed Reaper duology)