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onegirlatelier · 1 month

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April, 2024 | Shetland lace shawl

Hi there! It’s been a while. I’ve been kept busy by all my university work…and this shawl.

The shawl is knitted to celebrate the wedding of my friend (now friends, I should say). A wedding is really the perfect excuse for all the heritage crafts and heirloom projects that might seem too serious to gift in other occasions. I did ask the recipient beforehand if she would like it, though, and I was so, so honoured that I got an enthusiastic ‘yes’. I’m sure this sentiment is shared by many makers, whatever gift they are making.

Shetland fine openwork, a knitted lace, seems to have emerged with the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, who championed and popularised the craft. It was probably spread from the Isle of Unst to other parts of Shetland. What surprised me the most when I first read about it was that Shetland shawls and other lace pieces were largely exported as luxury items and rarely worn by islanders themselves. Women bought yarn from spinners and knitted mostly in their homes. They then took them to local merchants and exchange the finished objects for goods or (commonly after the 1880s) money to supplement the household income. The ‘supplement’ nature of this work probably means it was not compensated as much as a job outside the home would be for the same hours and skills. Besides, it was not always easy to spin an even 1-ply yarn at 1600 metres per 100 grams. For a piece of knitting with a large ‘plain’ area (i.e. only knit stitches), the unevenness was impossible to hide but could only be discovered after the area was worked. Then the maker had to either frog (unravel) the area or continue with the risk of the whole piece not being able to sell.

Whilst it is very reasonable to point out that Shetland ladies did not usually wear this type of lace (I’ve been to the Scottish Highlands once, in summer, and it was not fine lace weather), I imagine that at least for some, it wasn’t just about making money. Some sort of fulfilment must have been from the satisfaction of having a piece ‘properly done’ by continuing and adapting a traditional pattern, technique or material. I think this sort of satisfaction is also why many modern knitters are willing to spend hundreds of hours on lacework.

Intricate handknitted lace items can still be bought today (a quick search on Etsy would show many are form eastern European countries with a long and prominent craft tradition), but many are knitted for friends or family members. It always makes me so happy to see people share the gifts they have made, whether big or small, simple or complex. I joke with my online craft friends that no handmade fibre project can claim to be so unless they have a hair or two woven into it. It is the proof of existence for the maker, who tries to go against the irregular nature of handicrafts and, at the same time, accepts it. It is about wrapping up hours, weeks or months in one’s life, along with the songs they have listened to and the perfume they have worn and the memories they have made, and putting it squarely in someone else’s hands and saying: ‘All this, for you.’

A Wedding Shawl

I have not read anything about there being a standard form of ‘wedding shawl’ in the Shetland tradition. However, there is definitely a category of square shawls with similar sizes and a few construction methods. The samples I’ve seen mostly measure 1.5-2m on one side and have three parts: a central panel, four borders and a strip of edging. It is worked flat in garter lace from centre out.

Neither is there a standardised yarn weight. A widely available yarn is the Shetland Supreme Lace Weight 1-ply by Jamieson and Smith, which weighs at 400m/25g. The Queen Ring Shawl examined by Sharon Miller used a yarn at 700m/25g. From my experience, if you want the shawl to be a true ring shawl (i.e. you want to be able to pull the shawl through a ring) at the size of the Queen Ring Shawl (210cm on the side), go for 700m/25g or finer.

I chose a rectangular shawl because I had very limited time, but I did enlarge it because for me, an abundance of fabric does mean an abundance of cozy happiness.

Pattern

Shell Grid and Spider Webs Puzzle, pattern No.19 in the book Shetland Knitting Lace by Toshiyuki Shimada.

The names of the motifs are confusing. One motif (or two highly similar motifs) might just have two different names if they are produced in two different regions. Names do not mean everything, but I’ve had fun trying to match the motifs with names according to this article by Carol Christiansen at the Shetland Museum.

The double yarnovers (YO's) in the diamonds were called Cat's Eye, but perhaps the 'Spider Web' in the pattern name is referring to the three rows of double YO's in the centre panel. It has a really simple but effective edging.

Yarn

Mermaid Lace, in colourway #naturel, sold by Great British Wool in the Netherlands. This yarn is 75% merino and 25% sea algae silk. ‘Sea algae silk’ seems to be a semi-synthetic plant fibre like viscose, with algae involved as part of the raw material. (At this price point I don’t think it has anything to do with sea silk, which is fibre produced by actual shells.) The brand name for the most popular product of its type is probably Seacell.

I bought the yarn, because I had never worked with this fibre before and was curious. What I like: it was a little cheaper than a wool/silk blend and has blocked very well. The whole skein was continuous so I didn’t have to deal with a single yarn joint. What I do not like: it lacks the sheen and smoothness of real silk and doesn’t feel as strong, although it doesn’t shed. In conclusion, I’d rather use a traditional Shetland 1-ply or another natural fibre yarn.

It's also worth mentioning that whilst I prefer to support small businesses, it was disappointing to have received a 93-gram skein when I had ordered 100 grams. It was one of those days between Christmas and the New Year and I somehow did not contact the customer service, but I really should have.

Needle

2.5mm 80cm circular needles. See modification below.

Modification

This Japanese knitting book follows Japanese sizing for knitting needles. The suggested size was no. 1=2.4mm. I figured that I could use a 2.5mm since I knitted on the tighter side, and in any case it was probably okay to make the lacework a little more open by going up a needle size.

I am not going to give out the pattern, but it is probably necessary to explain the structure of this shawl. The centre is knitted first, and then an edging is knitted onto it by picking up either live stitches or the vertical edge of the centre as you go (see schematic below). The four ‘corners’ of the edging have short-row shaping to help it lay flat. I know that traditionally people can achieve this by other methods, but I haven’t tried any of those yet.

I enlarged the pattern by increasing both the width and the length. I casted on 133 stitches instead of 101 for the centre panel and knitted Part B 8.5 times instead of 5.5. The spider web pattern in Part B requires the stitch count to be (something dividable by four) plus two, so I made one central increase before the spider web to get 134 and a central decrease after it to get it back to 133. Due to the openness of the lace, the change of one stitch is not visible.

The enlargement meant I had to recalculate the edging as well, because the number of stitches available for pick-up changed. Originally, at each corner you do two repeats with four short-row shaping each. I did 1.5 repeats following the original placement of short-row shaping in order to make the total number of repeats fit the number of edge stitches on the centre panel.

The pattern says to Kitchener-stitch the last row of the edging to the provisional cast-on. It just didn’t make sense because that would be two rows too much (the Kitchener stitch row plus the provisional cast-on row). To make the number perfectly fit, I knitted only ten rows of the last repeat (there were usually twelve in each repeat). Then I Kitchener-stitched the end to the provisional cast-on, following the lace pattern. I am quite proud of this solution because it is completely invisible.

Somewhere in the pattern it said to purl (looking from the right side). It seemed strange because the rest of the lace was entirely garter. I knitted those stitches and so far I haven’t sensed a ‘mistake’.

The pattern originally calls for 45 grams of yarn. I estimated (based on the increase of stitches in the centre panel) to need about 80 grams. I ended up using 86 grams. Besides the inaccuracies in my estimation, it was probably also because I knitted much more loosely than expected as it was difficult to tension the yarn tightly at such a weight. Like I've point out in the Yarn section above, I was lucky not to have needed more than 93 grams.

The original finished size is 53*118cm. I ended up with approximately 70*170cm.

Conclusion

This shawl took about three months of my craft time i.e. one full day every week for three months and many mornings before I had to leave for university. Knitting outside my room just didn’t work because I was a) engaged in some other activities that made it difficult to steady my hands, and b) worried about putting a white shawl on any public surface.

The pattern itself is relatively straightforward. The first difficulty was, of course, to understand the instruction written in Japanese. Google translate was horrible so I had to rely on my knitting experience. Fortunately, much of the text description was also found in graphs and charts. Then I had to get my hands used to the tiny yarn. After that, it was only fiddly when I did the edging, because I had to turn about every twelve stitches, and by that time I was handling a giant cloud of stitches on my lap. It did give me a lot of time to go over my favourite documentaries and films, and the last bit of edging was surprisingly quick!

Traditionally, Shetland shawls could be sent back to the maker for maintenance. I think it only fair for me to offer that too because I don’t want a gift to become a trouble (same as how you do not use non-machine-washable yarn for baby knits).

In general, I am very pleased with this shawl. It does pass the ring test, despite not being a traditional wedding shawl size or thickness. I do have a whole lot of actual Shetland 1-ply in my stash, so I am really looking forward to taking my Queen Ring Shawl project out of hibernation in the near future.

Reference list for Introduction

Christiansen, Carol. Shetland fine lace knitting: Recreating patterns from the past. Marlborough: Crowood, 2024.

Mann, Joanna. 'Knitting the Archive: Shetland Lace and Ecologies of Skilled Practice'. Cultural Geographies 25, no. 1 (January 28, 2017): 91–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474016688911.

#knitting #knitblr #shetland lace #lace knitting #gift-knitting #stories

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kremlin · 7 months

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An earnest call for your support: Help me determine if there is a gas leak in my house.

for a long time now, I have been reading and hearing about This Guy on the news, and have been reading all the articles and stories about him:

Above: Sam, tenting his weird-ass fucked up fingers like a real Wall Street Guy might do in a movie he saw

Yep, you already know this guy, his name is Sam, I'll be referring to him as Sam, as that is his first name, and not by his initials, which is what I imagine a pod person might do in an attempt to emulate human behaviour. Whatever. You already know him and what he did, I won't waste your time. Listen. Pay attention. This is not a post about this guy or what he did. That shit is boring as fuck. This is a post about a potential gas leak in my house. We'll get to that in just a bit. Remember.

I've read all the articles and all the op-eds and everything. About Sam. Let us explore the entire spectrum of media coverage of Sam and Sam's Big Ass Problem, starting from the bottom, with the worm-food-tier jackasses: What do people like Jim Cramer and Shark Tank Guy have to say about him?

Above: CNN's "Mad Money" Jim Cramer also doing a weird hand gesture while he tells your alcoholic cable-news-addicted uncle to put his money in some dumbass shit

Above: I think this is the Shark Tank guy? I don't remember his name. Could have sworn his suit had dollar signs and not question marks (?)

I'll summarize their conclusions: "Sam is a boy genius who is super duper smart and can move objects with his massive brain due to knowing about Tech, FinDom FinTech, and computer money, specifically Money Coding. Unfortunately Sam committed massive fraud and will get his ass fucked in federal court".

Moving on from the worm-food-tier to the mediocre-tier: The totally nameless basic bitch journalists at the New York Times or Bloomberg. What do these assholes have to say?

Above: Jim Fuckface, associate financial correspondent for Bloomberg. Jim enjoys winding down on a Friday afternoon by sipping a Bud Lite Lime and wearing his baseball cap backwards, which bears the logo of his local professional sports team.

Above: Kate Fuckface, columnist at the New York Times. Kate enjoys spending her time chatting and interacting with her friends on Social Media Platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as purchasing items on Etsy

I'll summarize their conclusions: "Displaying the characteristic awkwardness of incredible technical and financial genius, it was clear to me during our interview that Sam's depth of knowledge truly knew no bounds. Unfortunately Sam committed massive fraud and will get his ass fucked in federal court."

Finally moving on to the people that might actually have a clue about what they're talking about. Sam Levine and Michael Lewis:

Above: Matt Levine, author of a comedy email newsletter named Money Stuff that is 95% financial information by weight and somehow still usually funny as fuck.

Above: Michael Lewis, author of a bunch of really good books you haven't read that were made into pretty decent movies you have seen: Moneyball and The Big Short.

I'll summarize their conclusions: "Sam sure is a smart kid and seems to know a whole lot about economics and this digital currency, and I mean a whole lot, and even more about business, accounting, and finance. Bright kid! Unfortunately Sam committed massive fraud and will get his ass fucked in federal court."

A pretty goddamn clear consensus across the board on both counts.

I listened to the interviews the entire spectrum of people listed above conducted with him -- the ones during which they unanimously concluded how smart he is. I listened to many hours of ad-hoc, unscripted Twitter Space calls he participated in, where he fielded questions about his fraud and his business with complete strangers. I listened to them very carefully. And here is my problem! I came to a different conclusion!

Sam is a fucking moron. I am not talking about solely his intellect, or solely his decision-making abilities, or any specific criteria. I am talking about all of them.

There are two possibilities:

(A) I am correct and, somehow, literally everyone else is incorrect, most of whom know vastly more about these topics than I do

(B) There is a fucking gas leak in my house and I have completely lost all cognitive abilities, suddenly and unwittingly, and exist in a cartoon reality inside my skull that would allow me to reach such a wildly different conclusion from the same evidence.

The likelihood of (A) being correct is very nearly 0%. I mean, come on. I am not fucking around when I tell you how troubling this is for me. I wrote earlier that this isn't a post about Sam or his bullshit. This is a post asking for your help in determining whether I have lost my god damn marbles.

I'll give Sam one thing -- he has some nominal ability to bullshit. If he's writing a Tweet, or making a short statement, he can finesse his words that, on some level, mask how much of a dimwit he is. He absolutely can't do that through about six hours of unscripted interviews. Listen to that shit. Listen.

I am going to go check all the joints in the gas lines in my house as well as the ports on my stove and heater. I'll come back and write a follow-up post on outlining exactly why I think homeboy is an idiot. While I do that, please, go listen to the interviews and tell me what you think.

#words

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ofstoriesandstardust · 4 months

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scott street (j.h.s.)

a/n: this one is for those of us who didn't grow up with the childhood we deserved. may we all find some sort of peace in our adult lives.

summary: You open up to Jake about your childhood.

second star to the right (and straight on 'til morning)

warnings: vaguely referenced childhood trauma, complicated parental relationships, swearing, alcohol mentions, unedited

word count: 1.7k

"do you feel ashamed/when you hear my name?"

“What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been?”

You blink, realizing Reuben was talking.

Bradley hums, swirling the last of his beer in his can. “Germany, I’d say.”

Jake looks over at the brunette in surprise. “When the fuck did you go to Germany? Why?”

Bradley laughs, shoulders shaking. “Our high school did an exchange program with a school out there, but the ROTC kids got to go along. Not sure why though.”

“I remember that trip. Everyone got fucked up.”

“Did you go on that trip?” Bradley asks, curiosity piquing in his voice.

You shake your head. “God no, I’d never have been able to afford it. No, I just remember all the Snapchat videos of you guys at the Rhine getting wasted.”

“Mom doesn’t know about that, so shush.” Bradley says, narrowing his eyes. You throw your hands up in mock surrender.

“My lips are sealed Bradshaw.”

“What about you? What’s the coolest place you’ve ever visited?”

You hum, shrugging. “Honestly, LA.”

Javy groans. “What? That’s so fucking lame.”

You huff out half of a nervous laugh, realizing you were starting to encroach on territory you often tried to avoid with this group. “Honestly, can’t say I’ve visited anywhere cooler.”

“Your family didn’t go on like… fun yearly vacations? Nowhere even just out of the state?” Natasha asks, with her eyebrow raised.

You blink.

“You think we could’ve afforded that shit?”

“I mean, this is a nice neighborhood and you grew up across the street from here-” Reuben starts but you’re quick to cut him off.

“No, you all just assumed I grew up across the street from Bradley. I didn’t move into that house until high school and God knows where the money for that house came from.”

“We used to hear her and her Mom getting into screaming matches from across the street. Quality afternoon entertainment.” Bradley says, a smirk on his face.

You rise from your seat, Jake protesting as you do so. “Yeah, fuck you Bradshaw.”

He turns as you walk towards the sliding glass doors. “Hey, wait, I didn’t mean-”

“Just shut up.”

“Is everything okay?”

You sniff, rubbing your snotty nose on the sleeve of the maroon embroidered San Diego sweatshirt you’d bought off Etsy just a few months ago.

You’d been so excited for it.

“I think a piece of me died in that house, Jake.” You croak, turning to look at him. He sighs, crouching down to sit next to you on your balcony. You could see all the city lights of the town you had always called home, stretching in every direction.

“Not, not in that house across the street from Bradley’s, I- I’ve never liked that place.” You say with a shrug as he reaches over to wipe a tear away. “But that first house, the one I called home. I think a piece of me died there.” Your shoulders begin to tremble as you feel another sob come on. “And I want- I want to show you around, and show you all the places I grew up and the stories behind them, but I- I don’t know how without also acknowledging all the hurt.”

“Show me the hurt.” He whispers. “It’s okay. I’m right here, for the happy and the hurt and the in-between. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Why is it ugly?” Jake jeers, leaning around you as he peers at the metal gate of the high school.

You let out a little laugh. “You know what, my stomach used to drop every time I arrived at this place. Every morning, I used to stall and talk to my Dad because I didn’t want to get out of the car and go in. I wanted to leave before I ever even got here. Graduating always seemed like the best thing that would ever happen to me. Four years I was miserable and yet- I don’t know, I kind of miss it. Maybe miss what it could’ve been.”

“You and Bradshaw weren’t buds?”

“Hell no, he was right when he said the neighborhood got free entertainment out of the screaming matches heard from my house.”

“What’s your favorite memory from here?”

You smile wistfully, eyes glancing over the campus.

“Leaving. Leaving and knowing I never had to come back to a place that made me feel like I was going to suffocate in a dead-end life. I know a lot of people hate high school but that- that was different almost. Those last two weeks of senior year- I’ve never felt anything quite like it.”

The two of you sit there for a while before you sigh, turning back to Jake.

“Well, on to the next.”

“It looks like a prison.”

You giggle at Jake’s bluntness of your middle school. “The San Diego Union-Tribune said the same.”

“Wait, okay, those murals are kind of cute.”

Jake’s talking about the different murals the elementary school had commissioned over the years, which really, were some amazing artistry that made the school feel incredibly welcoming.

You nod. “They have a lot of open houses and events for the community, I keep meaning to get involved or swing by, just see the place. See what’s changed.”

Jake hums, squeezing your hand as he circles the block. “That would be fun, I’d love to see it too.”

“I spent so many years at this park.” You say softly as you settle down on the grass next to Jake. “My whole life, I’d come to this park. The late night therapy conversations with friends, the fights I’d have with them, the reprieve from my parents, the lunches and birthday parties, it all happened here.”

Jake licks the spoon of the frozen yogurt place from a few blocks over before responding.

“How come we’ve never been here on any dates then?”

You shrug, scooping around the Oreo bits in your yogurt.

The shop you used to go to all the time with your Dad had been sold by the nice woman to a bigger chain, the place far from what it had been when you were a kid.

“Because I’ve tried not to come anywhere near this place. This neighborhood- it’s not good memories for me Jake. I want to leave it all behind, leave it where it belongs. I’m not that person any more. I don’t want to be her ever again.”

The car rolls to a stop across the street, parking under the only tree on the block that ever dropped leaves when the seasons changed.

It’s silent in the car as you sigh, looking at the house through the smudged glass.

It’s painted blue now and the pomegranate tree that had sat out front is gone.

It wasn’t even really all that far from the new place across the street from Bradley’s, a five minute drive taking you right back.

Still, moving out of that place had felt like leaving so much life behind. Like a door had closed that you’d never be able to reopen ever again, no matter how much you pounded on the door and tugged at the doorknob.

“I guess they’re selling this place now.” You whisper. “My sister texted me the Zillow link.” You swallow thickly as your eyes begin to sting. “Fifteen years I lived there and I couldn’t recognize a single room.”

You shake your head, turning away from the window. “That place- it stopped feeling like home so long before we moved. But I just- I just think about the little girl who had all her best memories there who laughed and loved and cried and whose light died when her parents took that from her.”

Jake leans over the center console, brushing a few tears from your cheeks as you chance another look at the house.

“It’s so silly to say-” You hiccup. “But I feel- I feel like her ghost is trapped in there, waiting for someone to return and love her the way she should have been by her parents. I lost so much in that home to a dysfunctional family with parents who wouldn’t know the first thing about love.”

The tears are salty on your lips as you tilt your head down, wringing your hands together.

“But it wasn’t just- my family. It was the loss of friends and never feeling like enough. It was the first place where I realized I wasn’t what the world defined as pretty or cool enough to get asked out on dates or to dances. And I just-”

Your heaving sigh gives way to the tears.

“I just want to set her free. That little girl who used to walk around in princess heels that drove her parents nuts and read Harry Potter books under her covers until the sun came up- I wish there was a way to let her memory go without also feeling like I’m letting her down.”

You realize too late that the words might have been too much too early for Jake but he’s quick to read your mind, softly lifting your wrist to press a soft kiss to your pulse point.

“She knows, honey. She knows.” He whispers. “Believe me okay? That little girl inside of you would be so proud of the woman you’ve turned out to be. You’ve done so many things in your life that seven-year-old you – or hell, even thirteen-year-old you – never would have even thought possible.”

He leans farther, pushing back some of your hair from your face.

“I know that there’s no way to go back and undo from your childhood, that healing that little girl inside of you will take so much more time and care and love. You deserved to be loved in the way parents are supposed to love their kids, supportive and encouraging and kind and I know those things weren’t true about yours. There is no denying that you should’ve been given that love as a child.” He swallows, intertwining his fingers with yours. “But I can say that you have risen above all the loss and the pain and become an incredible, bright, kind, successful individual. That hurt and longing that I know must ache is valid. But don’t let it push you under, because there is so much more life and love to be experienced beyond what happened in that house. It’s just four walls and a roof, honey. It’s okay to let it go.”

#jake seresin #jake seresin fic #jake seresin x reader #top gun: maverick #second star to the right (and straight on 'til morning)

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alexandra-emerson · 3 months

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Some Thoughts

(For readers horrified by what’s been going on in fandom who want to help)

Twats

I’m sad that some authors have been pulling their works from AO3, though I totally get it. But I’m not going to add to the “don’t sell fanfics” commentary much. I’m working with a lawyer to get mine taken down from Etsy, and it sucks, but I think this is an opportunity to talk about the fandom community as a whole. Specifically, what you can do to keep it alive and healthy.

I think it’s easy to sit at home, read about this illegal fanbinding drama with interest, run to AO3 to mass download your favorite fics, pat yourself on the back for not buying or selling fics illegally or not adding them to Goodreads, then move on with your life. But I would argue this passive attitude is just as harmful to the community, in some ways.

The Criticism Ratio

You all have probably heard that you’re supposed to deliver compliments and criticism with a ratio of 5:1. This is because negative comments stick in our heads more, so even if you were balancing the good and bad, or giving twice as many good comments as bad ones, the bad ones carry so much weight, they still seem to be winning.

With writing, I would argue this ratio is probably more like 10:1. Because it’s so personal. And most of us are so new to it. And it’s so much freaking work. I timed it once, and one chapter typically takes me 12 hours to write. That doesn’t include editing, or the hours my beta puts into editing. Then, to float all that work out into the world and get negativity back … oof, it makes embarking on the next 12 hours, and the next and the next VERY difficult.

My Experience

I’ve been an author of some popular fics in both the Harmony and Dramione spaces. On the Harmony side, I’ve dealt with personalized attacks, not just against my stories but against me as a person. And when that was going down, there weren’t a ton of fans speaking up on my behalf. I got a lot of DMs telling me those bullies were just the “loud minority” but from my point of view, with my supporters sounding like crickets, they felt like a majority.

(Quick note to my Harmony readers: No I’m never writing Harmony again, get over it, and stop following me to every work I write next to ask me when I’m writing Harmony again. You had your chance to support me, and you fucking missed the boat.)

On the Dramione side, the public spaces are more moderated (thank God) so I’m less likely to stumble upon downright bullying. But this space is overwhelming in how BIG it is and how much conversation goes on about my fics. I always feel like the last to know when there’s some big Tik-Tok boom happening with one of my stories, when a story gets added to Goodreads, when there’s a reddit thread discussing the flaws in ‘Timeless’, when it gets posted for sale on Etsy, when someone popular binds it. It’s very hard to keep up with this giant fandom and it’s too much to handle at times. Which means if people don't send us things directly, we don't see it.

I also get this thing in Dramione that I didn’t get as much in Harmony where people act afraid or embarrassed to reach out to me. They’ll say things like, “I’m so sorry to bother you…” or “I’m sure you hear this all the time, and I know you don’t need to hear it from me too, but your works are great…” I think in Dramione people assume because it’s so big, other people are taking care of things, but that’s not the case. There is a lot of activity, for sure, but not much of that is making it back to the author.

My Ask

So anyway, think about the role you play in fandom. Are you contributing to the compliment bank, or the criticism one? (Remember, abstentions go with the majority. And in this case, every negative experience holds x10 weight).

Good things can be as simple as sending a quick note like, “Just letting you know I thought about your story today” or “Here’s another kudos because I just reread this gem!” It can be correcting a negative comment or review you see out in the wild, so that if the author ever stumbles across it, they see that their people are out there, sticking up for them. Ten people can instantly negate a bad comment with ten positive ones. Then if the author ever finds it, no harm done.

We all know the bad things that harm fandom, so there’s no need for me to rehash them here. But don’t forget that the passive things can be just as harmful. Things like: Rating a fanfic on Goodreads, because it’s already there, and you really want it to count towards your goal. Downloading a story, loving it, and never letting the author know. Reading rude comments online, complimenting yourself for not being that mean, then scrolling to the next thing.

My challenge to fandom is this: Let’s fill that compliment and support bucket so full that when an author does encounter a negative experience with one of their fanfics, they have a giant, fluffy pillow of endless love to fall back on. Let’s make those rare moments of nastiness truly feel like a minority to our creators. It’s not a ton of work. Our fandom is so flipping large, it just takes a tiny comment from each person to keep our community feeling like a fun, positive place to play.

#fanfic writing #dramione fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #hp fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #dramione fan fiction #dramonie

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smolvenger · 4 months

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Also, I can't say no to blurbs and especially not to something extraordinarily fluffy like "Touch her and you die", tehehe... Perhaps with Henry V? 🤭

Hiiii bestie! I'm going to make the blurbs shorter and simpler if you don't mind!

His Queen (Henry V x fem! Reader blurb)

Your boat docked right on the shores of France. So while your husband, the king, was determined to fight there- you had to see him.

Henry had waited with his whole army on the shore of a cliff. Then he dismounted his horse and ran up. It was a reminder of his youth- the young, firey, springy king. He easily bounded through the little beach and the plank right as you stepped up to get off the boat. Before his army and the guards, he embraced you passionately and you back.

"How are you, my sweet wife?"

"Weary from the journey though it was smooth," you confessed.

"For such a lady as you, even the seas and winds themselves would still and become gentle for you to cross," he said.

He hugged you again, peppering a kiss onto your cheek as you laughed, feeling the tickle of his facial hair and re-acquainting yourself with his lips.

He gestured to one of the lords. The Lord of York brought forth a beautiful white mare and you gasped.

"A gift for you, my lady," he offered.

You thanked him and he helped you to mount her. She accepted you- gentle was her demeanor and what a good companion she would make here in France.

"Why, the seas were quite misty- I should call her Mist, for she reminds me a little of it," you cooed, petting her mane.

"A noble, strong, yet sweet and beautiful thing, much like my dearest queen and lady," Henry said.

"My, what words roll off your tongue now! They shall call you a poet, not a ruler," you teased.

"Then it means I am an artist, and you are the muse then for such words. And if I must continue my pen, then my muse shouldn't be kept too long from me," he bantered back lightly.

He got up on his own horse- a white stallion quoting yours. You felt like a fairy queen, not a mortal one, as she trotted over the grass.

And you were led to ride and sit on your horse before the army. Dressed in their greys and blacks and scraps of leather, their eyes were big.

"This here, is Her Majesty, the Queen of England," announced Henry.

You smiled, though part of you went stiff. A few looks seemed to be borderline leers. How long have these men been deprived of a woman's presence?

Henry noticed, and his voice turned a darker tone, a fiercer one.

"She is both your ruler and a lady, and you must respect her as you do both. She is also my wife, I must remind you..."

His eyes darkened. The army stiffened, turning pale and attentive like naughty schoolboys caught by their teacher.

"You must guard her and listen to and follow her as you do Harry of England. She is England's Woman and it's most precious jewel. And should any miscreant or bully among you dare lay a finger on that precious jewel, I shall condemn you at once to hang. Remember the fate of Bardolph- one of your own who greedily robbed a poor church of its dearest sacraments- and she here is the greatest sacrament of England. And if none of you want to share worse than his fate, then cool your lust elsewhere...or I shall execute you myself." Henry threatened all of them.

The soldiers bowed their heads and complied. You gave him a smile. Though the only woman there, you were unafraid.

You were ready to join your husband and support him without fear.

A03//My Ko-Fi//My Etsy Shop//Masterlist//Wattpad

Taglist: @asgards-princess-of-mischief @jennyggggrrr @five-miles-over @fictive-sl0th @ladycamillewrites @villainousshakespeare @holdmytesseract @eleniblue @twhxhck @lokisgoodgirl @lovelysizzlingbluebird @raqnarokr @holymultiplefandomsbatman @michelleleewise @wolfsmom1 @cheekyscamp @mochie85 @fandxmslxt69 @skittslackoffilter @mischief2sarawr

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hms-tardimpala · 8 months

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A statement on ficbinding (according to me)

I've joined the book/ficbinding tag on tumblr a couple of weeks ago, and in that time I've seen some confusion and concern about what ficbinding is, so I thought I'd post a statement of how I see ficbinding and why I do it. (If you're an author and I redirected you to this post because I want to bind your fic, hiiii) (Fellow ficbinders, if you find this post a useful ressource, don't hesitate to use it yourselves)

What's ficbinding?

Ficbinding (also called fanbinding) means a reader is going to print your fic and make a book out of it. It goes from the simple single booklet stapled together to leatherbound gold-foiled volumes.

Are you gonna make money off of my writing?!

I wouldn't dream of it. Ficbinding is just another fandom practice: you can't monetize your fic writing because you don't own the universe you're writing about, and I can't monetize your fic because it doesn't belong to me. I believe there are professionals who bind fics for a price (on Etsy, maybe?) but I'm ethically opposed to it.

Why do you do it, then?

Love of the craft. I'm a craftsman, I love choosing the best fabrics, fonts and embellishments for a project and making something with my hands.

Love of your fic. I liked it so much I want it in my house! I'm not fond of reading on a screen, it drastically reduces the chances I'll re-read the fic (even if I want to). Printing your fic ensures I'll enjoy it for years to come. It's the best compliment I can pay you.

As a gift to a friend who doesn't have the skills.

And what, it happens whether I want it or not?

As you can imagine, this is kind of a gray area legally. Nothing forces a ficbinder to reach out and tell you they're binding your fic. But this is fandom, and I personally view it as a community and consider that it's only courteous to let authors know I'm doing this. If I post pictures of my binding here, I want to be able to give credit where it's due, and since most authors are very happy to see their work bound, tagging them means they'll get a nice surprise when they open tumblr. I'll always do my best to find a way to contact you (ao3 comment, tumblr if you've put it on your ao3 profile).

I don't like strangers messaging me, is there a way to let people know I agree/don't allow this without talking to someone?

Valid, and there is! The simplest way is to write it in your ao3 bio, it's called a blanket permission or a transformative works statement. For example, mine says that I allow all transformative works (ficbinding is one, like fanart) based on my fics but that I like to be notified so I can gush about it and reblog/link to it, and I put my tumblr there to make it easy to contact me.

You can build a statement with this excellent tool. Answer the questions at the bottom of the page and you'll get a clearly-worded short statement to copy-paste into your bio (you can edit it, of course). The blanket permission is the thing ficbinders look for and as a digitally socially anxious person, let me tell you, it's a life-changer.

(Now, can I bind your fic, pretty please 🥺?)

#never hesitate to reach out in the askbox #bookbinding #fanbinding #ficbinding #fanfiction #ao3

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southparktegreity · 1 year

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south park ; [main 4+ butters] + s/o who draws !

NOTICE : all characters are aged up to their 19/20's!

CW : mentions of drinking (stans part), otherwise none

stan :

i get the impression stan would be really supportive! i feel like he would help you come up with things creatively

he would definitely ask you to draw like the skeleton hands on his hands

out of all the boys, i think he'd be the most interested in learning how to draw or alternatively learning how to draw specific things

i feel like it might end up being a healthy way to express his emotions, ie through vent art instead of drinking

i also think he'd like to paint more than any other medium, probably oil painting? but he uses the cheap acrylic ones whenever he's making vent art since oil paint is expensive

"hey... thanks again y/n for teaching me how to paint.. - it's really helped me."

kyle :

again, very supportive

though he probably would have minor concerns if you started to consider being an artist as your main job? i think he'd be worried about you making money so he might try and help you start an etsy shop or a redbubble or something so people could support you on something other than commissions :)

if you did that with him he'd definitely help you package and ship things out to your customers

whenever you and him babysit ike, you guys all three play pictionary !!!

they both think you're cheating lol

"isn't this like - cheating?! you're too good at this!"

kenny :

i feel like kenny would also want to learn like stan, specifically because he wants to draw you and karen together with him ! he’d probably wanna give it to you and her as a gift since he can’t afford other things

would definitely want you to draw on him, anywhere you want. i could definitely see him wanting you to make him some tattoo art or smth

karen would also probably want you to teach her how to draw

so you and kenny and karen all sit down together and teach them some simple stuff !!

kenny ends up drawing the life he imagines for you and karen, beautiful house - pretty garden - all the works. and of course, most importantly - you both with him

"well... here's the garden, and here's the house... and if you look inside this window right here... you can find you me and karen."

cartman :

as with everything you do, cartman will probably make fun of you, saying something about your “gay drawings”

we all know he secretly loves watching you draw

i feel like he would really like watching the process of you drawing? like he doesn’t care about what it is, but rather the whole process itself

if you take too long though he’ll start to complain

will probably beg you to draw either ‘the racoon’ fanart OR making him x kyles mom fanart

he'll end up commissioning you if you say no

"um. y/nnn. are your requests open? you see, there's this really neat superhero - you'd love him - that i want you to draw for me. he's VERY kewl.... you should - like.. draw him for me... what do you mean i have to pay you?"

butters :

butters DEFINITELY loves it!

i feel like you both would do art trades, except he'd feel a bit bad since he doesn't have the best skill - so he'd make it up to you by buying you a sketchbook or something

i think he also loves the feeling of being drawn on, and looking down at his hands and stuff to find drawings of hello kitty and him that you made ! he would practically MELT - but he’d probably be too shy to ask you to do it

definitely has gotten grounded for your drawings on him

i also feel like he totally shows off all your drawings to cartman and everyone

"well, heya fellas! look at what my partner drew on me! ain't it pretty? :)"

#south park x reader #south park eric cartman #south park #south park x you #south park x y/n #south park kenny #south park kyle #south park stan #stan x reader #kyle x reader #eric cartman x reader #tagging is hard lol

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valyrfia · 2 months

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shipping and tumblr culture (for lack of a better word!) have also made people a lot more comfortable doing things that are just… mean. i’m not sure if you were part of the fandom when people were reading fanfic on podcasts/discord and mocking the authors; it was terrible. i don’t think anyone will be stealing my fic to sell on etsy but i am afraid someone will feel bold enough to mock it on tiktok!

Honestly, I miss when fandom and fanfiction weren’t things that were known mainstream. I’m old enough to remember the times where no one and I mean NO ONE you knew in real life had any idea if another person engaged in fandom culture and it was not something talked about nor asked (hence the context for “I like your shoelaces”/“thanks i stole them form the president”). I think fandom etiquette has gone down the drain with the movement of fandom into mainstream cultural consciousness. There’s been a complete loss of core rules like: don’t like don’t read, it’s rude to go on ao3 comments demanding a next chapter, don’t give criticism unless an author asks for it (and even then make it be constructive and nice!), don’t steal someone else’s fic/art for impressions (or profit!)

People have become more entitled and mean in fandom spaces (Karen-esque, one could say). Your favourite author publishes a Charlos fic when they usually write Lestappen? Okay, you can try it out and see whether you like it but no one is FORCING you to read it. You do not have the right to go into their askbox or ao3 comments with hate just because the author wanted to try something and didn’t tailor it just for your tastes. If you do not like something, you do NOT have to be mean about it! You can just click off!

I saw this comment on ao3 on a fic I really enjoy a few months ago, and I had to take a screenshot because it just rubbed me the wrong way so much and I think really sums up the current entitlement that’s been sadly growing within fic and fandom.

I think something so many people need to learn again is that not every piece of content is specifically written for you, and that’s okay. You can literally just click off, there’s zero reason to be mean or nasty about it to the author.

#fandom in f1 #anon #asks

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redgoldsparks · 7 months

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I've never won National Novel Writing Month, but I am participating for my 7th time (not consecutively) this year. In the past I've always enjoyed receiving the Pep Talks from published authors, which are essentially like letters of encouragement to all of the writers trying to pour out the first draft of a novel in a month. A few of the ones I read, especially in my first year of doing NaNo, really stuck with me so I was very delighted to be asked to contribute one this year. You can read my Pep Talk here on the NaNo site but I will also post the full text below the cut. And to anyone doing NaNo this year-- good luck and keep writing!

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

I wanted to be a writer long before I knew I had anything to say.

I had a childhood immersed in stories. My parents took me to the local library every week, where I checked out stacks of fantasy novels. I would pick up any book with a dragon, elf, sword, castle, wizard, or spaceship on the cover and my heroes were the authors and illustrators of these magical worlds.

At some point I started to wonder about these writers. Who were they? What were their lives like? I began to pay more attention to author’s notes and was astonished to discover that many authors I loved mentioned each other in their acknowledgements. In The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke thanked Neil Gaimen, Terri Windling, Ellen Datlow, and Charles Vess. In Stardust, Gaimen thanked Clarke in return, and also Diana Wynne Jones. Ursula K Le Guin and Robin Hobb wrote blurbs for Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind. In Finder, Emma Bull thanked Terri Windling, Steven Brust, and her husband, Will Shetterly. Tamora Pierce, George RR Martin, Peter S Beagle and Kelly Link all blurbed books by Ellen Kushner, who thanked more people than I have space to name.

Holy shit, I realized. All of these authors know each other! They’re friends! This was followed by a second thought: If I want to meet them, and especially if I want to be friends with them, maybe I should publish a fantasy novel myself.

That realization gave me a new goal, but no specific pointers on how to pursue it. I started out as many young authors do: I began writing long fantasy narratives with orphaned protagonists, extremely derivative of the fantasy I’d read as a teen. During multiple successive NaNoWriMos I chipped away at a YA novel about a boy and a dragon. I started drawing a webcomic about a thief who tried to rob a monastery only to be foiled by a witch with the same plan. These stories had characters, settings, and some plot but what they didn’t have was themes. They didn’t ask any questions about what it means to be human, and they didn’t touch on any of the big concerns I was wrestling with in my personal life: gender, sexuality, and identity.

It took the rather painful experience of a literary agent telling me my fantasy work was unpublishable before I set my early stories aside, stepped back, and changed the direction of my writing towards exploring the big, vulnerable themes I had been shying away from.

What I discovered is that instead of making writing harder, facing these themes head-on made writing easier. In my earlier work I had frequently hit writing blocks, places in my outlining process where I felt like I was wading through mud. When I didn’t know what I was trying to say on a meta level with my story it was often hard to decide what should happen next at the plot level. I would send my characters from location to location, but I’d be unsure of what they should do there, because I was unclear on how their actions added up to a larger picture. That feeling of being stuck and uncertain over what should come next fell away when I started focusing more clearly on expressing my bigger themes. Suddenly the path forward felt smooth. All it took to follow it was bravery and persistence.

I also achieved my initial goal in wanting to be a writer. I have now met and befriended many other authors, not the same set that I idolized as a teen, but different writers who are exploring many of the same themes and questions in their work as I do in mine. I have friends, colleagues, co-authors, and writing partners to thank in my acknowledgements– often more than I have space to name.

During this month, I know many of you are focused solely on pouring out the words. That is very important, but I recommend you take some time to think about the larger themes of your story as well. What message, hope, fear, question, or truth are you trying to communicate to the world through your writing? I promise that clearly articulating your themes will help you tell your story and find the friends and writers who will become your community.

Good luck, and know that I am writing alongside you, and rooting for you!

Maia Kobabe, Fall 2023

#maia kobabe #nanowrimo #nano 2023 #national novel writing month #writing

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milkweedman · 1 year

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hi, sorry if this is something you've answered before, but how did you get started with spinning? and do you have an reccs for beginners? i'm not a fiber arts person (yet) but i think the skills are mind-blowingly cool. i have a few friends that are into crochet also and while i don't do so i think it would be nice to be able to make them yarn etc :)! thank u <3

Hi ! I got started with spinning about 5 years ago now--I ordered a turkish spindle and some andean highland wool from knitpicks, tried it out, and really sucked.

Like. really sucked. couldn't even make bad yarn bc it just kept falling apart (due to undertwisting ! if your yarn is falling apart in your hands, it's undertwisted. there, i just saved you about a month of misery, if you're me lol). Put it away for a while, tried again, was still bad at it, rinse and repeat for about a year. eventually something clicked and i started being able to make more than like, an armspan of yarn before it became disastrous.

not saying it's that hard for everyone (i've watched some people pick it up in like... 5 minutes), or that it'll be that hard for you ! that's just how it went with me.

I do have some recs for beginners which will hopefully help ! (i didn't have this community on tumblr at the time, and didn't know there were forums on ravelry, so i had no community help or knowledge, which did not work in my favor).

Get a basic drop spindle with a hook on the end, if you can. Drop spindles come in many different forms, but the two main categories are top whorl and bottom whorl (meaning, where the circular whorl is placed on the shaft of the spindle). top whorl spindles spin faster but for a shorter period of time and can be more unbalanced. bottom whorl spindles spin slower but for longer, and are typically more balanced (physics, idk). everyone has their own preferences--i tend to recommend bottom whorl spindles to beginners because it kind of slows the process down, which can be helpful. if you've got a little extra money, buying a top whorl and a bottom whorl spindle could be a good idea. they're pretty cheap on etsy, esp if you get a very plain and simple one and just decorate it yourself.

spindle weight matters a lot. the heavier the spindle, the thicker the resulting singles will be. (singles are what you spin first, then you ply them together if desired). the lighter the spindle, the thinner the singles. this means if you get a very heavy spindle and try to spin something fine on it, it'll likely snap under the weight. and if you try to spin something thick on a light spindle, you'll be constantly flicking it and not adding very much twist (so it may just fall apart into sad fluff). my favorite all-purpose spindle for yarns that won't be particularly thin weighs about 2 ounces (55 grams). that will be too heavy for fine yarns, but works well for making like, worsted weight 2 ply. i would recommend a spindle somewhere in the 1-2 ounce range (30-55 grams) for a basic beginner spindle. once you get the hang of it feel free to go for the very light spindles or the heavier plying spindles.

don't buy roving for your first fiber. almost everyone does that, and many people end up with really low quality (and sometimes even compressed or partially felted) roving. roving can be great for spinning once you know what you're doing, but it's kind of... uniquely unsuited for beginners, in my opinion anyway. firstly because it is the most common preparation, it's not really treated with care by many companies when it comes to storage (hence the compression or felting). secondly, it's really easy to felt it in your hands when you're doing the beginner sweaty-hands-deathgrip-drafting-with-all-your-might thing (i'll get to that later). thirdly, again because it's the most common prep, there's a thriving market of garbage shitty roving, and it takes a little experience telling the difference between decent stuff and garbage stuff based on an internet page. I would highly recommend spending a little bit more money on a batt. this is like a large pillow of carded wool, which you pull strips off of to spin. they are sold in a far less-compressed state (which makes for easier spinning) and are, as far as im aware, made by humans with experience, rather than machines.

the breed matters a lot when it comes to spinning. some breeds have finer, more slippery wool, and some have grabby wool. grabby wool is better for learning (it means less of your yarn just slipping apart and breaking). some good beginner breeds are shetland, corriedale, jacob, romney, or other similar wools. the fiber market is inundated with merino (either a great thing or a source of misery, depending on who you ask), which is not a particularly good beginner breed (it's definitely on the slippery, finer side).

once you've got all your materials, it's spinning time ! find a youtube tutorial or a written tutorial (check your library for books on spinning. i have no recommendations--i did not learn from books). you could also check and see if there's a spinner's guild in your area. it depends on the guild (some are kind of, uh... snooty, for lack of a better word ? most seem pretty friendly and happy to help newcomers) but you might be able to show up to a meeting and get some help. ideally get some practice with the spindle first though.

lastly, some tips for spinning. A) keep the fiber supply held loosely in your hand, or better yet, draped over your hand so that the fiber you're drafting is only held in your fingertips. if you hold it tightly you won't be able to draft evenly. you may also compress and/or felt it by holding it, especially if your hands are sweaty. B) try spinning using the 'park and draft' method while you are learning. this is where you add a bunch of extra twist to the already-spun yarn (or leader, for the first length), pinch the twist to hold it in place, and draft fiber, allowing the twist to travel up the wool as you draft it. this is a good technique for learning because it isolates the actions of spinning, letting you focus on one part at a time. trying to keep the spindle going while drafting when you're brand new is not easy, and can lead to a lot of frustration and mistakes. once you've got the hang of drafting, then it's a great time to figure out how to do it all at once. C) work slowly and thoughtfully while you learn. what you're doing at first is twofold: you're figuring out the process and what works and what doesn't, but you're also building muscle memory, which is what spinners (really, pretty much everyone who practices hand crafts or hand work of any kind) rely on. i can get high af and zone out and spin and end up with a usable (sometimes even pretty good) yarn, because even when my brain isn't working, my hands know what to do. this is not the case for someone without the muscle memory. pay attention, step away if you get frustrated, and work slowly. as you build muscle memory, it will become easier and easier. D) your first yarns don't have to be good. they don't even really have to be yarn, as such--if you ended up with something thats rope at one end and thread at another, that's ok ! you're learning ! the purpose of your first yarns is just to teach you how to spin. if they look like shit, it's ok. (mine looked awful, for the record ! i don't think i've seen anything quite as bad as my very first yarn, actually. wish i'd kept it though xD)

hope this was helpful ! there's also this post about how to tell if your yarn is under or over twisted, which might be of use, and this post about finishing your yarn as well. and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me or another spinner (the overwhelming majority of us are very happy to help a new spinner) for advice or help !

#i have answered this before but i couldn't find the post sadly #anyway yeah ! good luck ! i believe in you !#spinning #advice

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windvexer · 6 months

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Hi there! Hope you're doing well.

I was wondering how to remain in a magical state / altered state of consciousness / trance state while you are doing a spell. I've noticed that I can get into the state (either through meditation or physical activity) but I'm no longer in it when I have to open my eyes or sit down to do the spell. It's like the transition to another activity breaks me out of it. Has that ever happened to you? Is there a way to fix it? Thank you.

Listen I see what you're saying but are you sure it's important?

I mean I agree that if you want to stay in this state, that is a valid goal.

But I dunno, I'm not really that focused day-to-day and I can still run my life more or less competently. I don't really find that I have to be completely focused in ASC during a spell in order for the spell to work.

Anyway, my actual answer to your question is get something that limits/inhibits your vision. I've seen these things on Etsy which is a decent example of what I mean, I've actually never used them but I bet they'd work.

(I'm in the process of making something of a similar concept for myself, a process interrupted by the fact that I have lost 100% of my lace-weight crochet hooks).

Realistically, most of the time, I wear sunglasses and a big hat that goes down over my eyes.

Avoid fully opening your eyes. Where possible, work in dim light. Interrupt your vision as much as possible, but only when safe to do so.

Working in darkness helps very much.

Do not move normally. Move in stutters and jerks. Make your body feel like the unrefined clay flesh of your spell, partially formulated, bubbling up from the rich mineral well of existence, full of potential and yet somehow shapeless.

Move like a zombie.

Play rhythmic music. This probably should be music you only play during spellwork. Drumbeats work well.

When transitioning into another activity, do so in such a shambling, half-blind, wet-moth manner that it hardly feels like a transition at all.

Other sensory cues, such as the scent of an essential oil, may be very helpful in maintaining your trance state from one activity to another.

Training yourself on certain cues that you can re-activate at any time (such as counting down from a # to 0, and repeating 0 to yourself when re-accessing trance) can also be helpful.

Best of luck!

#answered

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sheydgarden · 10 months

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fair print-on-demand for artists?

i'm making this its own post for more visibility - feel free to reblog, i'm primarily looking to hear from other artists rather than from customers.

quick definition: a print-on-demand service (POD) is a company that allows you to upload your designs (that you retain full rights to) and have them printed on a variety of products - usually t-shirts & other apparel, stickers, mugs, etc. - by the company itself or a subcontractor. the key here is that you're not ordering a supply of products to sell yourself (or not) at a later date, you're offering customers the ability to go to this website and select a potential product which is then printed on demand, and the company handles all the interaction with the customer (shipping, quality & returns, etc.). because they're doing the manufacturing & shipping, they take a significant cut, but different companies have different pricing structures & some are more fair to artists in terms of profit margins than others.

TLDR: i'm looking for a new POD service to replace my Redbubble account, which i deleted after they decided to severely undercut creators (especially small artists). more details below, please read before you rec!

so the nice thing about POD is that it's passive income - you made the work, you put it up & leave it, people buy things when they want & you get a bit of money when that happens. i also - infrequently! - run an Etsy shop where i sell things i've either handmade or ordered from suppliers (mostly stickers). i get more money from that, yes, and also it's a lot more work on my end. i primarily work as a freelancer illustrator, i've started selling at (COVID cautious) in-person events again, & i'm disabled - this is why my Etsy has been empty all year.

i am very lucky to have enough of a following to be able to regularly sell all my stock when i do put it on Etsy, and (when I had an account) to have a smaller but steadier trickle of income from POD. i do not have enough of a following for it to make sense for me to order large quantities of apparel-type products & sell them myself.

it's frustrating to see that many alternatives to Redbubble (like Bonfire or Spring) have moved to a "campaign" model where you release a design in a time-limited campaign with a selling goal, aggressively promote it on social media, & then all the products (shirts, whatever) are shipped at the same time. i understand why it exists - larger batches mean lower manufacturing costs & higher profit - but for someone like me who doesn't have a massive social media following or really even a big presence now that Twitter is dying, i'm not sure it could work. for me the point is that i put it up, i leave it alone, i direct people towards my shop & the small handful of beautiful weirdos who vibe with my work can buy what they want on their own time (i adore you, weirdos! there are so many more of you than i ever expected, but i am not, as the kids say, an "influencer")

i've been researching various companies & i keep finding that Redbubble, prior to their nasty fee restructuring, seemed to have some of the fairest profit margins due to the ability to set your own pricing above the manufacturing costs. what i want to hear from other artists is where you sell & if you feel like different systems (Society6's 10%, for example, or Threadless' artist cost-setting vs. letting them manage your shop & offer discounts to move more products) work or are ripping you off.

thanks so much for reading & solidarity to all the other working artists who are struggling to stay afloat as various social media collapses & corporate greed continues to cut our opportunities in half!!! for the love of fuck just let me make things & get paid

#print on demand #artists on tumblr #redbubble #help me get my work back into your hands please #artists talking shop

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thequeenofmyownscreen · 8 months

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This Sunday, me and my sister took advantage of the weather (not very creepy, very sunny, but the light was beautiful) and the fact that we live in the area to go and take some photos at the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris (fun-scary !).

This is my first cosplay ever - I've done events in historical costumes before, but those were rented and it's not quite the same vibe. Also it's not quite finished, I'm still missing the hammer hair piece, I'm not satisfied with the white strand, and the hands feel too "clean". Also my sister took the pictures and then I modified some of them, but I'm not a professional by any means, so it mostly meant me opening Paint and the Microsoft software ^^

Also, and this is the major problem, I did NOT realize when I was doing the make-up and the hair, that I put the lock of hair and the mouche on the wrong side. On the official portrait, you (as a viewer) see them on the left, but it's the character's RIGHT… and I put them on MY left, when I should have put them on my RIGHT. "But wait", you say, "on these photos everything's the right way round !", and yes, you're right, it's because I edited the photos and managed to flip them like a mirror image, to hide the fact that I'm a dumbass. (My sister laughed, and said it's wasn't a big deal and that my cosplay could be different in that way ; but I have control problems).

... Still I'm happy with the results of this day.

Fulls credits under the cut

Laudna from Critical Role, Campaign 3. Character created by Marisha Ray. Hair and make-up and cosplay by me (based on the official design by Hannah Friederichs) : with my own embroidery work on the blouse, Pâté plushie from the Critical Role store, ear jewellery & leather belt & leather bag bought from different Etsy stores. Photos by my sister G.C., edited by me. Location : Père Lachaise Cemetery (Paris).

#not sure how I can submit them in the cosplay gallery of the critrole site because they only accept links. Am I supposed to link this post ?#if anyone has the answer please help me #I want to do another photo session after London in the cold months when the atmosphere will be creepier and I will have all my accessories.#... But will I have the time ??? we'll see !!#critical role #cosplay #laudna cosplay #critical role cosplay #laudna #cr campaign 3 #my cosplay

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ciaossu-imagines · 3 months

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Day 11 - Gokuderas reaction to being gifted a cryptid plush like a cute mothman the size of his head. No particular reason, his s/o just saw it and immideatly thought of him.

Okay, but you can bet your ass that I actually had to go and google to see if cryptid plushies were a thing and I got myself lost down an Etsy rabbit hole looking at all the creepy cuteness. Definitely need one of these in my life, haha. Thank you so much for sending in such a fun ask and introducing me to these! It was also really fun and cute to imagine this for Gokudera, so I hope you’ll enjoy the headcanons, my dear!

Gokudera is someone who does just sometimes randomly pick up gifts for those he cares about, just because he thinks those people will like the thing or because it reminds them of him. However, he’s never someone who expects that those around him, his friends or lovers or family, would ever do the same for him. It just doesn’t compute in his head that anyone would think of him that much when he’s not around, so he doesn’t ever consider people doing that for him.

He expects gifts from his partner on his birthday, on Valentine’s, and on Christmas and that’s it. Little just because’s? Completely unexpected any time they happen but honestly, when something like that happens, it really means a lot to Gokudera.

He’s surprised, pleasantly so, but he’s also so completely unsure of how to respond. So, when this happens, his partner hands him a huge bag with this surprise gift in it, he kind of just stares at it for a couple seconds too long. He’s not sure what to say, not sure what to do really. His face looks surly, but surly is far from how he’s feeling and it’s really just his default expression when he’s trying to work something out in his mind.

He definitely does mutter a quiet thank you, but he definitely does loudly say that they really didn’t need to get him anything. Again, he’s just so awkward because he doesn’t know what to say and he feels a little bad to have people he loves spend their money on him. It means the world to him that his partner was thinking of him, but is he really worth them wasting money on him? He wonders about that. Besides, he doesn’t really have anything he needs, he’s pretty good at taking care of himself and between him and his partner, they live a comfortable enough life. Does he really need more than that? Wouldn’t it be a little selfish of him to want more?

Anyway, when he finally figures out or is urged by his partner to actually open the gift, he rips past the tissue paper and pulls out this gigantic Mothman plushie, like at least as big as his head and he just stares at it for a good minute or two. He’s blinking and holding it, his hands kind of squishing it in and out because it’s really soft actually and he likes that.

And then he grins. Like this huge, almost so big it hurts because he’s not used to smiling that much, grin.

Okay, I’ll openly say – Gokudera normally hates plushies. He thinks stuffed animals are childish and doesn’t see the appeal. He doesn’t own any, didn’t think he wanted any.

But this? This just hits him right. It’s cute, yeah, but what makes it the most special is it shows that his partner really embraces all his interests, including his interest in the occult, and encourages those parts of him. He’s used to others slightly making fun of that part of him and it touches his heart that his partner not only doesn’t do that, shows interest in it, and embraces that weird aspect of him in this way.

He definitely starts talking about mothmen and all the lore and history on them and kind of starts almost lecturing to his partner about it, but it’s all because this is something that makes him happy and he’s got to talk about it because there’s a mothman in his hands.

He doesn’t really know what to do with the plush though and in the end, it probably ends up sitting on his couch, kind of like a throw pillow that one or the both of them cuddle here and there while relaxing on the couch.

#event asks #replies #katekyo hitman reborn #khr #khr headcanons #headcanons #gokudera hayato #hayato gokudera

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eccentric-nucleus · 3 months

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so i signed up for that 404 media mailing list b/c i mean, why not. so now i am also getting emails from them and so far it has not been too annoying. several articles about various food delivery aggregators using bizarre ai-generated food photography, that kind of thing.

the thing i got today was about people on etsy making bespoke hardcover editions of fanfiction (not their own, just whatever fanfic is popular) and selling them. apparently a lot of draco/hermione fanfiction.

from the article:

“due to the seemingly unstoppable monetization of fandom and the sheer volume of illegal fan bindings being sold, I will be pulling all my works within the next few days,” they wrote on Tumblr. “thank you to those of you who worked so hard trying to keep fandom free and to all of you who supported my writing. it was fun while it lasted”

“I hate these shitty vultures who are destroying fandom spaces to make money before moving onto the next grift once we are burned to the ground,” a Redditor wrote in a thread about the announcement. “Vultures is exactly what they fucking are,” someone else replied.

it has been super weird to see fandom becoming more and more monetizable. i remember when even the suggestion that somebody might be exchanging money for product would get people kicked off fanfic sites. even running charity drives for fan in exchange for charity receipts was considered risky and dangerous! and now there's a bunch of people like "ugh ao3 is so annoying; why don't they let me post links to my commission form on my fics". money slowly and insidiously making its way into the fandom entity.

(i've actually had multiple people tell me they've gotten commissions inspired by my fics, or ask me if i take take money for writing further chapters of w/e fic, and it's always such a weird thing. that used to be such an out-there stance to take and now there are plenty of people that... i mean, i've just been posting about scribblehub. a large part of that site is absolutely hosting porn fanfic with patreon links attached. now it's a Market.)

i do feel like just saying that economic interests inevitably hollow out all hobbyist communities and turn them into empty enclosures filled with advertising is a little doomerist of me, but oof it's hard to see the increasing monetization of these spaces as anything other than another threat to any real community

there's this old saying about the difference between an author and an agent is that an author genuinely wants people to read their work. part of the value of getting published is so people see something you cared about making, not just the money. the agent is there to be a dispassionate advocate so that they can actually make money off of their work, b/c the author is kind of biased there. everybody having to be their own agent just kinda sucks for a lot of reasons

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