agalma coppelia

I've uploaded the entire booklet for anyone who wants it. No charge, just have fun! Sorry about the terrifying corn man. There's nothing I can do about him.

Enterprise became Lily's Sugar and Cream, so any of their dishcloth yarns will work perfectly.

So I thought why not make a tutorial?

Fear not!

It’s way easier than I originally thought!

Basically all it is, is a rectangle of denim fabric.

You could just as easily cut off a leg from an old pair of jeans and use that too!

Firstly, measure around your furbies body, leaving some room at the front. Make sure to add a centimetre for seam allowance otherwise it might be a lil tight.

Next, you’ll want to pieces of jean/denim material and pin them so both denim sides are facing each other (inside out)

Sew the two together leaving a gap for you to be able to turn it inside out.

Turn it inside out and finish the stitching so there are no holes and it’s a nice rectangle.

OPTIONAL STEP: To make it look like a real denim jacket, I added gold/beige stitching around the edge like you’d see on jeans.

Fold over the top of the fabric to make a collar! No stitches required, just iron it in place and it will stay.

OPTIONAL STEP: To make the collar look more triangular at the end (see below), fold the corner under and add a couple stitches so it’ll stay in place.

Lastly, wrap it around your furb and secure in place with a safety pin at the front.

Now you can decorate it as you wish! Paint it? Sure! Lil pins? Beautiful! pOCKETS??? Go for it!

Herbert James Draper (English, 1863-1920)

The main character, Larissa, often lounges in just her shift (or other underlayers), especially as she writes her stories.

As the love-interest criticizes her, "Pull yourself together!" (ie "Wear your clothes properly!"), she says,

Friendship bracelet - Jan 23-29, 2024 - navy-burgundy-green-brown-black

I finished this about 20 minutes ago, but it's literally 4am, so I can't text a photo of it to the recipient yet. (I am polite and wish to let people sleep!)

The button came from Neighbor-G's vintage stash. I had the colors in mind for the person, then confirmed my assumption. (We've been reading each others' minds lately, so I hoped I'd be right, and I was.)

Dan Harmon’s Story Cicle (as inspired by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey)

1. You (a character is in a zone of comfort)

ESTABLISH A PROTAGONIST… Who are we? A squirrel? The sun? A red blood cell? America?

2. Need (but they want something)

SOMETHING AIN’T QUITE RIGHT… Something is wrong, the world is out of balance. This is the reason why a story is going to take place. The “you” from (1) is an alcoholic. There’s a dead body on the floor. A motorcycle gang rolls into town.

3. Go (they enter an unfamiliar situation)

CROSSING THE THRESHOLD… For (1) and (2), the “you” was in a certain situation, and now that situation changes. A hiker heads into the woods. Pearl Harbor’s been bombed. A mafia boss enters therapy.

4. Search (adapt to it)

THE ROAD OF TRIALS… Adapting, experimenting, getting shit together, being broken down. A detective questions suspects. A cowboy gathers his posse. A cheerleader takes a nerd shopping.

5. Find (find what they wanted)

MEETING WITH THE GODDESS… Whether it was the direct, conscious goal or not, the “need” from (2) is fulfilled. We found the princess. The suspect gives the location of the meth lab. A nerd achieves popularity.

6. Take (pay its price)

MEET YOUR MAKER… The hardest part (both for the characters and for anyone trying to describe it). On one hand, the price of the journey. The shark eats the boat. Jesus is crucified. The nice old man has a stroke. On the other hand, a goal achieved that we never even knew we had. The shark now has an oxygen tank in his mouth. Jesus is dead- oh, I get it, flesh doesn’t matter. The nice old man had a stroke, but before he died, he wanted you to take this belt buckle. Now go win that rodeo.

7. Return (and go back to where they started)

BRINGING IT HOME… It’s not a journey if you never come back. The car chase. The big rescue. Coming home to your girlfriend with a rose. Leaping off the roof as the skyscraper explodes.

8. Change (now capable of change)

Character design: The heroine's father (the magpie) is/was also a writer, throwing himself into his career and passions at the expense of his family

Mary Oliver, “From the Book of Time”

Maggie Stiefvater, “Blue Lily, Lily Blue”

Sylvia Plath, “The Bell Jar”

I collect weird Quaker names (it’s a long story). And while Preservèd Fish is probably the best, there are a lot of close contenders.

See, Quaker women sometimes used their maiden names for their sons’ first names. This led to a bunch of unusual first names, like Warner or Sharpless or Dillwyn. But the absolute winner of this category has to be Coffin Pitts, whose mother I imagine had to be a member of the well-known Coffin family.

But that’s not all!

Quakers (like some other Protestant groups) sometimes used virtues as first names for their children, often girls, which gives us the amazing names Freedom, Remembrance, & Restore Lippincott (brothers), Thankful Thayer, increase Woodward, Content Hussey, Experience Field, and Experience Burt Merrick, which I can’t help reading as a command.

Anyway, without further ado, here is a selection of my best Authentic 18th-to-19th-Century Quaker Names, all belonging to real people who actually lived

Tabatha Turnpenny

Deborah Darby

Milcah Martha Moore

Pennock Passmore

Rowena Ruble

Hepsa Hathoway Howland

Leander Lippincott

Valrosa V. Vail

Benajah Butcher

Hipparchia Hinchman

Abigail Physick

Marmaduke Cooper Cope

Fanny Marsh

William Hood Dunwoody Zook

Sharpless Townsend Zook

Mehitable Jenkins

Mildred Ratcliff

Dorcas Starbuck

Grizzell Kite

Othniel Alsop

Huldah Wickersham

Kersey Grave

Pusey Grave

Jerusha Conant

Lysander Hard

Booth Tarkington

Jemimah G. Schotwell

Zilpha H. Spooner

Ledra Heazlit

Zimri Gaunt

Adonijah Peacock

Adonijah Peacock Jr.

Adonijah Peacock III (yes, they kept this one up for at least 3 generations)

Theodocia Vinicomb

Amariah Ballinger

Featherston Sadler

Melchezed Peacock

Fanny Canby

Mungo Bewley

Morris Morris, Jr. (I find it fascinating that an 18th-century man went through life named Morris Morris and decided that his son needed that experience too)

And the crown jewel, Leather Peacock

Outline with some wiggle room. Room for details, room to add, and room to reorder.

Make a running gag like an inside joke for yourself that you want to keep up (it can be something small and insignificant or crucial to a subplot just as long as you like it. And you can always edit it out later if you want)

Write in whatever order you want! Linear writing isn't always the best. Heck if creating art was linear your favorite movies, shows, and series would take forever to make (and sometimes they take forever as is)

As for not spoiling—screw that! Drop some hints, foreshadowing is beautiful. You can know the ending by chapter 1 as long as the rest of the story holds people's attention

Plot twists shouldn't change the ending or come out of left field. It's more fun to facepalm and question how you missed the signs as a reader than be thrown for a loop

Get through a few chapters before posting anything. Sometimes a fic just doesn't want to work with you and you might have to abandon it. Save the ideas, you can reuse them in a different story.

The notes on your phone can be useful to jot down ideas on the go. A notebook and pen work too but it's not as organized

Expand on your au. Characters don't have to share all their back stories in the fic. Think up a few misadventures, get invested in the world you have planned. Stretch beyond the plot. Go deeper into who you're writing. You don't have to share everything

World building is your friend. Make up rules, history, animals and plants, legends and myths (not the best for realistic works) Knowing the au world well and getting into it helps a lot with keeping interested

One of the most important parts of writing MYSTERY is figuring out what to do with clues and red herrings - and how to use them effectively. Here’s some advice that’s never steered me wrong: 

Hide the real clue before the false ones! Most people, so by extent your readers and your sleuth, tend to focus on the last piece of information presented to them. A good strategy is to mention/show your real clue and then quickly shift focus. 

Do a clue cluster! Squeeze your real clue in among a whole pile of red herrings or other clues, effectively hiding it in plain sight. This works especially well with multiple suspect mysteries. 

Struggling to think of what a clue could be? Try this list: 

Physical objects: Letters, notes, tickets, emails, keepsakes, text messages, diaries, etc. 

Dialogue: voicemail recordings, overheard conversations, hearsay, gossip, rumours. All of these can hold grains of truth! 

Red herrings distract and confound your protagonist and your reader, so you should be careful not to overuse them. Well balanced, red herrings should lead your characters down false paths to create confusion, tension, and suspense.

Contradictions! Have characters claim they did so-and-so at such-and-such a time, but other characters have evidence that contradicts this.

No letter is pronunced the way it should.