FeFinnigan

I got one of those Tonecheer book book kits Facebook keeps trying to sell me ( it was just so glowy and purple, my Shadowrun books need it)

Thus far, having a good time. It’s a LOT of little pieces to punch out and assemble. I would not recommend this for children, unless you’re planning on doing it WITH them.

It does of course come with instructions, which Im finding clear and easy to follow, but if you (unlike me) find flat pack furniture ( for example) and their assembly instructions to be confusing and difficult, this will also probably not be fun.

( personally, I love putting together flat pack furniture. Giant 3d puzzle? Yes please!)

Otherwise, pleased with the purchase process and shipping, and I feel the price was very reasonable for the product I have received. The pieces are nicely printed with bright colors and clear designs. The laser cutting is clean and reasonably easy to punch out, and all the pieces are fitting snugly without struggle to snap together. I havnt tested the included light kit and sensor, but the pieces themselves look and feel good.

Finished the book nook kit. Very pleased, it looks great next to my Shadowrun books.

Definitely on the more complicated end for models, it has MANY parts and steps. Overall, I found the instructions clear and easy to follow, with the exception of the diagram for where the lights go, which I had some trouble understanding. I did figure it out, but not until I had most of the thing assembled and couple see the shape of it all. At that point, it was a bit late to take it all apart and reinstall the lights.

However, some of the lights being slightly off is very much not the worst, and I have a feeling the symbols used for the lights are pretty standard, Ive just never built a model with leds in wires like this before.

Happy A24 Macbeth Streaming day everyone

IG: @haileytjmclaughlin

Lost my mind a little and added (if my math is correct) 5,615 beads to Nim Teasdale's Odenwald pattern. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing!

The goal was “soothingly weighted but not uncomfortable to wear, even as someone with chronic pain.” It could have been a little heavier, so maybe I’ll make a shawl with larger beads another time, but I’m very pleased with this one. I used size 6/0 seed beads, applied as I go with a .6mm crochet hook.

Yarn-wise, used 2 cakes of YarnArt Flowers. I knitted the fully purple sections from both, then knitted all the way through the yellow-oranges with a single ball. When I hit the beginning of red-oranges, I used yarn from both cakes, alternating between them. (Not the entirety of both, I played it by ear to make sure I made it through the full rainbow.)

I do have edited charts with bead placements. I will only share them with Nim's permission.

Ask yourself, how does this piece make you feel? (No wrong answers)

Look for an artist statement nearby. What does it say about the artist and their relationship to their work? What does the artist say that they are trying to convey with their art? What contextual clues can you pick up from what they say about their background, or what they omit?

Look at the title of the piece. What is the artist saying about their work by naming it that, either explicitly or implicitly?

Look at the medium. Is there anything about the piece that stands out to you, knowing what it's made of?

Look at the year it was made. What cultural events might have been happening around this time? Was this piece part of a particular art movement? What was the purpose of that art movement, and what was it trying to say?

— then it's art nouveau

and if the sexy lady has a bob cut or a hair cap and is wearing a column or flapper dress; there's a lot of geometry like rectangles, arches, rays, and diamonds; angels have super sharp wings and a lot of muscles; everything is steel, concrete, marble, gold, and red velvet seats; everything is VERY angular; and all the foliage is basically papyrus fronds; things feel vaguely Egyptian or Turkish or Mesopotamian; the fonts play with being very skinny or very thick and are sans serif with extra lines; or Gatsby would be found floating dead in that pool

— with lots of lush flora, tiny insects (like dragonflies) or graceful birds, stained glass, iron, warm golden lighting, lots of wood and wood carving (but now it's more wood paneling), a stylistic fondness for Japan, line weight variation in the font, and tile (but this time it's carved or sculpted on, not tiny mosaic)

but you're worried it's art deco

— because the forms (especially foliage) are very symmetrical and slightly more angular or blocky and graphic looking, things are more rectangular than circular or curvy in architecture, the patterns repeat more often, and more of the lamps are pyramids or rectangular, and there are nods to Egyptian or Ottoman style, and they used the color red (probably in an accent chair or carpet rug)

BUT there's no steel, concrete, gold plating or gilding, marble, big muscles, spiky or radiating diamond shapes, angular people, or flappers,

AND the vibes are jacobean, gothic, or spanish mission revival; they love some brick and stone; the wallpaper is an explosion of colorful pattern that could give you arsenic poisoning or help depict a descent into postpartum psychosis in a famous short story; but there are NO people to be seen, not even sexy ladies,

The whole finished outfit, at the 2026 Chicago Steampunk Expo.

Making that bag was an excellent choice Friend got some much use out of it.