#when I have the money I'll commission a larger piece.

[creations-by-chaosfay]

Neither of my machines are large enough for the Cutie quilting frame. The diagram on Grace Company's website was unclear of where they measured the machine, but it turns out both my machines are nearly two inches too short for the lowest setting. I need at least 8.5 inches of workspace, also know as the throat.

I won't be able to handquilt for the next several months. My hands and wrists are a wreck and need time to heal. This is why everything I make will need to be handquilted until probably next spring or summer. It's why I need the frame, otherwise finished items will need to be small enough to fit in my machine without straining myself. I can manage about 30 inches square max, which is why the largest items I'm making are table runners and wallhangings. Large quilt tops are an option, but finishing the quilt won't happen unless I hire someone else, and I don't want to do that.

Grace Company made a machine specifically for the frame. It's called Little Rebel, and I hope to be able to afford it next winter. It's $3k, which is waaaaay outta my budget. There's a second machine, a Jenome, that's $1200. I have bills, my debt, and smaller things I need, like a printer, an XBox for my husband, and some inexpensive exercise equipment (my asthma cannot handle summer air and my body cannot tolerate summer heat or sunshine), just to name a few things. All money I receive goes to my goals and bills, not machines.

If you fancy purchasing a machine, I have my Throne list here. When I have either machine and get practice in, commission prices for quilts wheelchair/baby size and up may cost less than half the original prices I had them up. Handquilting will be reserved for love and personal pieces.

I will happily give a quilt I finish on the frame to whomever buys one of these machines for me. There are half a dozen quilt tops in my standing wardrobe, all waiting to be completed quilts. More tops will be made, which are more options to choose from.

I'll take my frame apart this weekend, once we figure out a place I can store it in the house. Until I get a machine that works with it, this will remain stored away and no larger quilts will be made except as just listed quilt tops.

Thank you.

My work below, for the interested:

[roseverdict]

Writing Commissions Open!

Hey howdy hey, guess who's broke and whose brain has latched on to the idea of getting a bike or a trike to get places other than the one (1) coffee shop in walking distance!

YEP. I need to open commissions.

However, I do have at least one thing going for me- I'm told I'm fairly good at writing things! Fanfic things, at least. While I'm not dumb enough to outright go "hey, pay me to write fanfiction," I figure I can at least point out some fanfics I've written that seem to have gone over well as examples of my work, since that's most of what I've got for proof of my skills.

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I'd show more, but Tumblr won't let me add more images, and even these fought me Tooth And Nail when I was trying to format them properly. Truly a functioning website.

Hopefully these kind of give an idea of the vibes I'm strongest with, too. Pricing and rules will be under the cut. I do have a target I'm trying to reach here, but depending on how well this goes, I might end up keeping commissions open indefinitely. We'll see. :D

DM me if you're interested!

Things I'm Comfortable Writing:

Original Storylines (Brief primer on the world/characters I'll be writing with will be required)

Things like the pieces shown on my AO3 account

OCs

Y/N-style pieces (both with and without the actual usage of "Y/N")

Mild Romance

Gore/Severe Injury

Body Horror

Whump

Look, if it's in the Danny Phantom phandom and basically nowhere else, I'm probably just fine writing it, despite its intensity xD

Things I Will Not Write:

Smut. There's no shame in enjoying it, I just. Don't.

Incest. Absolutely NONE. Even leaving aside the whole debate about whether or not people should ship incest ships, I would not be able to enjoy writing it, which would make the resulting work of low quality, which would be a huge waste of time for everyone involved.

Pedophilia- specifically, ships with a minor and an adult multiple years their senior. See above. 17yo x 18yo is pushing it, but depending on the circumstances, I might allow it. They aren't exactly in completely different phases of life there. However, I'm in my 20s and don't particularly want to think about or write about kids the age of my youngest brother dating people my age or older, you feel me?

Bigotry presented to the reader as a positive thing. I'm not gonna write your favorite heroic character declaring OOC that minorities are terrible people. If you want something from the POV of a character meant to be terrible, such as someone like Fire Lord Ozai in AtLA, however, I may be willing to write it.

I reserve the right to refuse any commission and not have to explain why. Person-to-person, though, this will likely only come up if someone tries to commission something that crosses these lines and refuses to acknowledge such.

Payment: 5¢ USD per word. This works out to…

$12.50 for 250 words

$25 for 500 words

$50 for 1K words

and so on.

I'll need half the payment up front as a deposit, then the rest upon completion. If, for whatever reason, I fail to write the commission, you will be refunded in full.

If you pay me for a given number of words, I will do my best to stick to it. I will make sure you at least get your money's worth, but if I just can't quite fit the writing into the given limit, I won't charge you for the extra words. Call it 100 words or so of wiggle room.

A commission for a fic 1K or larger that runs 100 words or less over the intended length will not cost extra

A commission for a fic between 500 and 999 words that runs 50 words or less over will not cost extra

A commission for a fic 499 words or below that runs 25 words or less over will not cost extra

A commission for a fic that has enough going on to run over that limit will result in me contacting you to ask for either a scaled-down plot or payment for the extra writing.

I will not consider calling a commission complete until I can hit the target wordcount at minimum.

If it should happen that I just can't make a scene stretch to the full wordcount, but you still want to keep what is written, the words that were not written will be refunded.

[yoiku]

Just feeling like unpacking and sorting out some thoughts on this wonderfully rainy morning (begone, roadside dust!!)

Now, I've always been the type to post new art the moment it's done. Posting stuff only on Patreon has still proven easier than I expected. Perhaps since i am still posting stuff -somewhere- it doesn't feel as weird, even though I do miss the interaction from posting on socials. But that'll be back once I have a buffer big enough to keep Patreon relevant. It's also getting easier on letting posting on social wait as time goes by, lol. Actually thought that what if I make the publish gap with the comic even bigger, like several months between Patreon/other sites. But aaaah, I really do want to get it out. It might create more of a gap with time anyway. And the best way to get new people interested in my Patreon is to have interesting stuff out there in the wild. And I'll be honest, it feels validating af to see even a few people willing to spend money to access my Patreon.

It's still conflicting sometimes, because I would really want to keep my stuff available to everyone without paywalls. Art in general is meant to be shared and should be accessible to everyone, this is something I feel on a larger scale. Things like commissioned, unique pieces are luxurious though. They are after all often personal as well. Artists don't live on grants and stipends, hell, even those are usually available for artists who have already made a name for themselves on a larger scale/are well connected. Majority I know struggle with part time jobs, unemployment, studying or are disabled, barely scraping by what they can get in terms of welfare etc. I'm no different. I'm on welfare due to health reasons + in debt, so basically I don't have any "extra" money at the end of each month left for nice things™. And if I do, it usually goes to paying a larger portion of debt away. Sometimes I spend and always regret it later, lol. But if you -never- get to treat yourself even a little, life starts to feel quite depressing. I know so many people are in the same kind of position, where it's just not possible to pay for more than 1-2 subscription services monthly, or none. So having my art behind a Patreon paywall of any kind feels bad, knowing I would likely not be able to afford it myself, lol. Will it ever be easy to combine the thought of art + money without having dreadful crapitalism thoughts creep in? Probably not.

I still want to do my best to pick up some commissions as well, I need to create some sort of hidden stash of money now that I have the cat. Because when (inevitably at some point) a trip to the vet happens, that's going to be at least a hundo no matter what. And when the last trip to the vet arrives, that's gonna be closer to 300-400 with all the cheapest options. (hopefully not anytime soon, but something i have to take into account) I am currently working on a painting comm and might have another one coming up as well, which is giving me much joy. Watercolours are a lot of work, but they're less taxing in the sense that there's only so much detail you can do compared to digital, and tradi allows the happy little accidents with the medium. So it's easier to feel like I did my best wihtout having the thought "ah... i should've kept fixing it"(without asking for more money bc I gotta do better ad infinitum) So I'm really happy peeps have shown interest in tradi comms, even though I'm not very well versed in techniques with those. Learning tho!

My head's been in a relatively good place for a good while now, all things considered. But I have to pull the brakes on myself every now and then because I know it only takes one hard hit in the old mental health for all of it going to shit in the blink of an eye. So I'm trying to tread carefully, prep and plan while keeping the bar set low enough.

Mom has moved to hospice care, which also means that getting the phonecall about her passing can also be any day now. I feel like I've made my peace with it, but even if it doesn't initially hit hard, I'm pretty sure it will bring some mental struggle later. And there will be the whole episode of handling her stuff afterwards. Thankfully there won't be any wealth to distribute, so likely all the mandatory/legal expenses will be handled by welfare. How dreadful that even in that, money is the first thing to have to worry about, huh.

At least the sun has returned from the winter jail, bright days lighten the mind.

[eternalglitch]

I've been working on a rottmnt fic for a little bit, but I've never posted any of my writing before so I'm a bit nervous. I'm confident in my own writing and storytelling abilities, but I'm worried there won't be much of an audience. Do you have any advice on how to promote your writing?

I'll be real with you; when I posted Like Father Like Son I thought maybe, MAYBE, two to ten people would read it. It was a smaller fandom in 2019, and the amount of plot heavy fics was a staggering single one that I could find. Mostly it was one-shots.

I came from a much larger fandom where I had tried to write a fic or two that people would like, intentionally striving to become a big fic writer with an audience there. And while it did get some attention, it wasn't that much. More importantly, I didn't hold an interest in continuing to write it because I focused too much on "will others like this?" than the more important question: "will I like this?"

Fanfics are not a paid endeavor. There are no promises of fanart or even any attention when you post it. If you happen to become a prominent fic, it happens when three things strike at the same time: quality of your writing, growth of the fandom, and sheer luck. Most of the time you can't force success.

That being said, I HAVE noticed a very specific marketing tool that helps; art. If you happen to grab the right person's attention, and they draw fanart of your fic that gets eyes on it on social media, that tends to be the best marketing you can get. Joining fandom specific discords and becoming friends with people within can help some as well.

You could always commission art of your fanfic to try and increase your own chances early on, but that will cost money. You could also try drawing art for yourself. Humans are visual, so scrolling past dramatic art tends to be how people find my writing at this point. I'm incredibly lucky to have so many artists giving me time, energy, and effort for fanart. Perhaps it helps that I studied writing for the screen and stage in college, as I'm told my writing is extremely visual in nature.

And finally, hold onto that confidence in yourself. At the end of the day you have to go into this experience with the mindset that whatever happens, this will be a piece of work that you are thrilled to sit down and read at the end of the day... Regardless of who else comes along for the ride.

Best of luck to you and your writing!

[possiblytracker]

important notice (commissions)

got hit very hard very recently with the realisation that i have been very irresponsible about some things this past... year! it has been around a year since i have consistently worked on my owed things. i have been feeling increasingly burnt out and guilty for a very very long time and need to actually address it like an adult since it's only fair. anyway if you've commissioned me in the past year or so and haven't heard anything since this post is for you

first off cutting straight to the point: this is basically me admitting defeat. i'm over halfway through a 3 year STEM degree that's currently sucking the life out of me and my ability to cope with the lengthy assignments I keep getting set has been steadily dropping. i have not been medicated for my ADHD properly for the past nearly two years due to circumstances outside of my control and I am failing or nearly failing 2, almost 3, out of six classes this year. on top of this, I have been drifting away pretty consistently from larger communities i used to be a part of- one of which i took a lot of commissions and trades from in 2021, then got a repetitive strain injury in my hand, dropped the ball, and never managed to pick it back up. this is in addition to comms taken from others outside of it in the meantime, either for semi-emergency reasons or just because

i can't stress enough that I do want to give people what is owed, i have never had the intention of sweeping it under the rug or just taking the goods and running, it's been at the back of my mind this entire time- but at the current time i do not think I am able to do serious art, it's eating me up inside that I can't, and i need to take accountability for it and recompense people somehow so i can stop stewing in guilt near-constantly

therefore I am more than happy to:

give back any designs that I never completed my side of the trade for, for you to resell or retrade or whatever you like, even if partial payment was made

refund you - my financial situation is tight right now but by late april I will have received a student finance payment that will allow me to give out refunds

financially compensate you even if you didn't pay me in money, e.g. design trades, within reason

keep you on the list of owed art anyway, and you will get your stuff eventually, but it may be a good while longer until I am situated and non-stressed enough to deliver - midsummer at the earliest

as above, but since it's been an entire year for some of this, if you want to change what you wanted me to draw (within the same price bracket ofc) because of shifting interests you can ask about that as well

reply to this post, message me here on tumblr, or on discord possiblytracker#0479, and we can work something out. I'm a little busy this week with end of term assignments but i promise i'll get back to you as soon as i am able to, i won't be ignoring anything. i'll look into setting up some sort of public and viewable record of what gets worked out from this for the sake of transparency as well. if anyone doesn't get in contact i'll automatically keep their art payment on the list anyway, i don't intend on dropping anything just bc this post got missed or something

in related news, I will be closing all public channels for commissioning me for artwork until further notice - probably until after I'm done with university as a whole in 2023. i may still take commissions from friends or mutuals on a case by case basis when my backlog is empty, so feel free to ask me about it in private, but I won't be formally opening anything at this time, as from experience I just can't handle it like I used to when i first started out and it's very irresponsible of me to keep taking up people's money and time without delivering. I'm barely drawing at all beyond silly sketches these days let alone churning out commissions-grade pieces I'm happy with, so I'm going to try and remove the stressor and the big source of guilt to focus on myself and hopefully some day soon make art enjoyable for me again. my ko-fi will remain open for donations but the commissions tab will be removed soon.

thanks for understanding. i really hope my actions in continually putting stuff aside this past year haven't left a sour taste in anybody's mouth, though I'd understand if they did. I sincerely apologise for this and hopefully i get to make up for it to as many people as possible

---

lastly, tagging some people i know i owe things to-

@thatsamolez @fayooweh @butterbeanchu @angeloshadows

I know there are some others but can't remember @s off the very top of my head, so if anyone else reading this does feel free to share this post around, i'd really appreciate it- same if i owe you stuff and forgot you. i'd be really grateful if as many people as possible got in touch. may reblog and tag more people later when i get back home to my notes

EDIT: i now have a record of what's being done here

[creations-by-chaosfay]

Yay! All the ornaments are now finished!!! Next on the menu are mug rugs, namely hummingbird themed scrap quilt mug rugs.

My plan is to make as many things as I can with my large collection of scraps. Mug rugs, coasters, place mats, a bunch of small things to stock up my shop. Afterwards, I'll work on larger quilts, 35x35 inches and up. I have a lot of patterns and fabric pulled, and now that I'm getting through building up inventory, I can make these.

The finished quilt tops will be available for commissions. How? If you want me to finish a particular quilt, you will see the finished tip and then pay for the quilt. After that, I'll work on the handquilting. When finished, the quilt is yours. Some people are more comfortable seeing the finished quilt top before investing in a quilt commission. If something like this interests you, start saving your money. These will range from $800 to $4300 USD. Commissions will open in April 2023, and slots will be very limited. The quilt tops won't be the only options, of course. Just the priciest. Keep in mind these are handmade. A quilt top may take only a few days to make, but the handquilting can take several weeks, even months.

For now, stocking up my shop is top priority. Once I begin working on quilt tops, small projects will be on the back burner.

You can see my work here:

Here are a few of the patterns and fabrics I've pulled.

A large twin/small queen log cabin quilt. Log cabin is a type of quilt block, and they're a lot of fun. Lots of flexibility with the design and block arrangements. Look up log cabin quilts and see the variety they provide.

This is a large lap quilt using earth tones, green, and blue. The prints are the large pieces, the solids are the small pieces to balance out the visuals and keep it from looking too busy.

A fun lap quilt with a very Mardis Gras mood. I have a feeling more than a few of you nay have grabby hands just looking at this.

A small lap quilt that may serve easily as a wheelchair quilt. Great summer colors to add a little something extra to any space.

A twin size quilt using a rainbows and looking like spools of thread. All I need is to pick out a black prints I like.

This colorful collection will be used for a small twin/large lap quilt. Perfect summer colors and a lot of visual fun. It's also gonna be the first quilt top I work on.

Anyone else excited to see these finished?

[creations-by-chaosfay]

Commission or shop?

Some folks have asked me what's better: a commission or shop listing. The answer is something I've been thinking about for a few days now, and I may have an answer for you now.

It all depends on what you want and how patient you are.

A shop listing is ready to be shipped immediately. I just need payment and an address. Then I just pack up the order and ship it off to you. If you want something immediately, that's your best option.

A commission will take time and require patience. I work as swiftly as I am able, but for the impatient, this can seem like too much time. First, I work with the information you provide me with, which is basically colors/theme and size range. After that, any shopping that may be necessary. If you want a very specific thing, like a Sailor Moon quilt made using Sailor Moon fabric, I need to order said fabric seeing as something like that isn't sold in the local stores. From there, a quilt pattern that favors the fabric. Remember, not all fabrics work with all patterns; large prints should be cut in large pieces, though some do well when cut into smaller pieces. Oh, and cutting takes time. For large projects, it can take days. Sewing can take a few weeks, especially for foundation paper piecing (FPP). If I use FPP, I also need time to remove all the paper. After sewing, I need to quilt it. Currently, I'm working only on smaller projects, things I can machine sew on my smaller machine. When I'm confident using my new frame and large machine, I'll be open to larger commissions. The bigger a thing, the more time it'll take. That should be obvious, but not everyone seems to understand this. After quilting, I need to bind the ends, and that requires I machine sew it to the quilt but handsew it to the back of it. Only when the binding is finished will the quilt be washed. Final pictures are taken after it's been washed, then the quilt is packed and shipped.

Now let's say you don't have the money for a commission or commissions are closed, but you want something specific made by me. There's the option of sending me a request. What do I mean by this? Let's say you've been wanting a quilt in a yellow/blue scheme, but either my commissions are closed or what you want isn't an available option. You do know, however, you want something around 30x30 inches, and you're not picky about design, just the color scheme. You also have a limited budget, but monthly payments are something you're comfortable with. For a request, you cannot suggest a price. That's my rule for this. If you request I make something in yellow/blue and around 30x30 inches, you cannot also request a price range. What gets listed will have to be your goal when I get around making what you requested.

It could be weeks or months before I get around to the request, and during that time you can work on saving money for at least a 50% payment, which will be what reserves the listing for you. It's removed from the shop, and weekly or monthly payments are options. Please read the information in this post for details.

However, if you decide you do want to commission me, but you can't afford to pay it all upfront, or my commissions are closed, contact me about this. Depending on how things are going, I may consider writing up an "external commission" contract. If my pain levels aren't very high, this is more likely. That, and what your budget is.

What's an external commission? It's a term I use for commissions purchased outside ko-fi. I've done this several times, but only if 50% can be immediately paid. If I have commissions closed, you will need to convince me to write up a contract for an external commission. By this, I mean something of at least $800 USD. That's a $400 payment upfront, and partial payments after that. The only reasons I will give a firm no, even if you're willing to pay to pay the entire $800 (or more) upfront are as follow:

My pain levels are way too high.

I'm recovering from an injury.

Currently sick or recovering from illness.

Too close to burnout and need a long break.

I can't make what it is you want.

The most likely reasons I'll say no are number one and number four. I haven't had a proper break this year, and my hope is that I can take a two month long break where all I'm doing is practicing free motion quilting, no cutting or sewing except for binding the quilts I finish. The break will give my hands and wrists time to recover and push burnout far over the horizon.

If you're one of my members, your requests and commissions will be prioritized, and you can read more details here.