Mangoes Art Pit

Hi, I’m Mango, Nex, or Daina depending on how you know me (no preference for how I’m referred to and OP works fine 90% of the time). I am pretty consistent about posting just my own art here, but on occasion I’ll reblog others’ art or post about my houseplants or the local birds.

I currently live in the USA but I’ve applied for Lithuanian generational/birthright citizenship and the goal is to move to the EU as soon as I’m able to.

I am 21+ but this blog will always be SFW. I’m sure I’ve sworn here before but it’s minimal. I don’t really believe in DNI lists but I will happily block anyone being hateful. I don’t mind NSFW or gimmick blogs interacting, if anything I think it’s hilarious.

At the time of posting this I have not been on Tumblr for all that long so I’m going to make an effort to be much better about keeping things organized from now on.

Commission Pages:

Neocities

VGen

Artistree

Tags I Use:

What I REALLY want to try is Sulawesi style pattern drafting! I’ve seen these patterns around Pinterest before (could not tell you why that’s still been the most efficient way for me to find patterns I like but here we are). And they are STUNNING. This led me to this AWESOME blog that has a full guide to designing your own patterns!

What I have considered in advance is that these are not going to be even twist patterns therefore they would be borderline impossible to achieve on my mini folding tablet loom. Inkle looms are also not designed for tablet weaving but my fellow weavers who don’t enjoy backstrap weaving have figured out a solution!

BEHOLD the humble fishing swivel. It’s a little metal thingy that is designed to spin real good and remove twist from fishing line specifically. It will also remove the twist from warp thread real good.

I have been making just absolutely ridiculous amounts of art for Art Fight so here are a few of my favorites! I had loads of fun and I’m very pleased with the improvement I’ve made in my art and my self-confidence.

In previous years I have just spent the entire event being wildly anxious about my artwork not being good enough for people, but that’s gotten way better! I don’t think I want to continue advertising it to the TikTok crowd though because they tend to be way less chill about things.

Speaking of TikTok, I finally hit 1k followers which means I can aggressively advertise there at will! Tumblr will be spared I do not wish to be exiled for posting commission ads.

Character links below:

So I volunteer with the Lithuanian Folk Art Institute and they’ve adopted me as their resident young artist. A few months ago they sent me a box of half finished doll clothes of the national costume alongside a whole bunch of Lithuanian fabric. Basically they’d like me to finish the costumes (and document the process). I was like, that’s great and all but I don’t know how the costume is structured.

Well this week they sent me a scan of a pattern book for the national costume from like the 1930’s. It is WONDERFUL. It will take some time to translate since I only know a few words so I’ll have to run the machine translation by some relatives who are fluent, but I’ve done the introduction:

“National clothes are the most beautiful adornment of a woman. By wearing these clothes, we contribute to the preservation of Lithuanianness, the preservation of our traditions.

Our neighboring nations are very careful about their customs, thereby strengthening and raising the spirit of nationalism. Lithuania, by teaching its children its language, singing melodious Lithuanian songs, weaving colorful Lithuanian fabrics and wearing national clothes, has contributed significantly to the preservation of the spirit of our nation and national characteristics. Today, when there is a great danger of nationalization, a Lithuanian woman has an important duty to preserve everything that is Lithuanian. Our women should be more influenced by Western European fashion and love colorful national clothes more. The women's wing was especially keen on the revival and propaganda of national clothes. As soon as the women's wing began to organize, establishing a work plan and preparing rules for work, a modest, practical gray uniform was provided for, and national clothes were provided for dignitaries. The purpose of this publication is to serve all women and at the same time all Lithuanian women in the acquisition of national costumes.

The author of the publication, Saula Mikalina Glemzaitė, a lecturer in needlework and sewing at the Z. U. Academy, who has been taking care of folk art for several years and has not hesitated to share her knowledge with all Lithuanians, is gratefully acknowledged for the collected materials and the production of cuttings and drawings. Women's Council of Saulia.”

PLEASE let me know if there’s any inaccuracies within the translation.

There’s lots on regional differences and some very old photos but the most exciting part for me are the actual patterns with measurements.

Another one! Unfortunately the legibility is not great, what I should have done is increase the contrast on the character’s colors since the string IS accurate but it’s got shadows and highlights influencing it as well. Now I know for the future.

Actually obsessed with DMC’s semi metallic thread, it’s not even a little bit scratchy and it’s SO pretty. 10/10 will use again.

I have some. Weird news?

Remember how my venus flytrap was like unsalvageably rotten? Well there was this little baby one I cut off the main plant and just threw on a piece of damp paper towel in an old spice jar because it had no chance at all of surviving.

Another bracelet done! I am really pleased with this one and honestly I have no idea how I got it done so fast.

Also exciting news! I got on VGen through a friend’s code and I’ve finally got everything set up INCLUDING the bracelets! Everything’s staying waitlisted until August (busy due to Art Fight) but I would love it if y’all could look around: https://vgen.co/IHaveTheMangoes

And probably also proofread, a friend already caught one spelling mistake in my ToS.

ALSO also, I got a new raw photo editing program and I’m OBSESSED. It’s RawTherapee and it’s free and open source. Just as good (if not better) than anything Adobe. SO much better than trying to wrangle it in Affinity which is what I was doing before.

I have learned DMC CANNOT be trusted with their shipping times. They promised 5-7 days. It took 15. For a 2$ order. Like it literally took a full week just to process the order and then it sat in a warehouse in my area for another week. USPS what are we doing.

Today I actually was so desperate I went BACK to my local craft store and got the string for bracelet #2 as well as ‘close enough’ matches for the string I was waiting on in my order because there was a decent chance my order got lost in transit and these are time sensitive for Art Fight.

Well the missing string finally arrived this evening. So there’s that.

Also VERY GOOD NEWS! While I can’t work on the bracelets for too long right now without screwing up my neck, I have physical therapy scheduled on Friday! High hopes since it’s a place a friend has gone to before and really liked. Took me like an hour to fill out the intake form.

Link to these characters below:

Absolutely cranking out art for Art Fight and having a FANTASTIC time.

Will definitely be retaking pictures for the two traditional pieces because I have learned I really do need the tripod for that one. Considering my ISO and aperture are pretty inflexible when documenting artwork, I can only make my shutter speed so fast.

Not having much luck on the bracelet for the event, DMC has sent me zero updates on my order and I may have to harass them because it’s been almost a full week now.

Links to all the characters shown here below:

Back on my BS! I actually went through the effort of finding a DMC color chart online and picked my colors that way, which was REALLY helpful. Regretfully, I still had to place an online order for two colors because my local craft store was out of one and I accidentally bought 3836 instead of 3863.

Also very excited to use metallic thread! It can be kinda scratchy so a lot of people don’t want it in bracelets but this recipient is cool with it.

Red lines on the pixel art are just my personal notation for where I need to weave in and cut a color so I don’t have a huge float.

Link to this character’s Art Fight profile:

Apparently the true theme for this blog is that I just pick the most insanely tedious fiber arts ever. But it’s worth it because this cabled sweater pattern slaps immensely. One more repeat of the middle diamond and then I get to do shaping for the arm holes. Small life update below.