Born To Read My Own Story, Forced To Write It First.

My boyfriend: art is a quasi divine thing, it is the pinnacle of human creation. Essentially, art is an artifice in which the artist imbues a particular lens in which a artist frames a particular object so as the viewer can interpret said object. Art exists separately from the medium; every medium can be used to make something entertaining or well crafted, but that doesn’t make it art, let alone good. Good Art will further its medium/media and/or give meaningful commentary on the world or human condition. *Good* art extends upon being aesthetically gratifying. This is why Sabrina Carpenter, genre fiction, blockbusters, Marvel, etc aren’t art, they’re merely entertainment.

Also my boyfriend: Hailey Welch is a post-modern performance artist

These are so cute!!!

Hey dollblr new dolls just dropped: https://x.com/navinity_art/status/1821092597353370051

They're called "Secret Findees: Magic Mailbox"

They're tiny 2 inch dolls in mailbox style houses, there are 4 of them 2 per color. 2 for the pink box and 2 for the purple box. There are colored QR codes on the bottom of them that are color coordinated to each doll apparently. I linked the creator's twitter where she shared the commercial and here is a direct link to the youtube video of the commercial: https://youtu.be/V3o5zrIrkvs?si=pV6NasBFht3tbnvI

Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

calypso when a sopping wet half dead 45 year old man washed up on her shores. For some fucking reason

If you’re learning Japanese and have a mailing address in the USA or Canada you can request a free online library card from the Japan Foundation and access their catalog via Libby. For the USA this process is completely online, unsure for Canada

They don’t have a large selection of books in Japanese at the moment, their fiction section is largely translated materials, but they do have a lot of Japanese textbooks and JLPT study books available.

I have an Addy doll and she’s has t been in og hairstyle in years so I’m just saving this for later

The Original American Girl’s Hairstyle Guide

I feel like doll brands aren’t making playsets like they used to😞

how is trump alive?? like hes rlly gone thru his whole life like That …. and no one has ever just fuckin decked him?? gave him the ole one two? knocked his lights out??? incredible