I'm a gay disaster

After 3 months I'm back in my hometown again and I can continue working on katana/naginata.

Firstly I reinforced connecting points with one or two layers of worbla.

Now when "functional core" of staff is ready and good working, all that left is to make it looks like naginata instead of plastic pipe with screws.

I had to decide how long the handle comparing to blade should be

So here are some useful info I collected:

The handle of katana is usually 1/3 of its length

The length of blade itself is called nagasa, and how much shaku (about 30cm) it contains determines the type of blade

Katana has typically 2 shaku, which is 60 cm so whole sword would have 90 cm, and I tried to follow these measurements

(for curious ones wakizashi has 1-2 shaku and tanto has below one shaku)

Good to know, but where exactly blade ends? On habaki or tsuba? I couldn't find this info now to confirm it but I remember I find somewhere that nagasa (blade length) ends where habaki starts, not on tsuba which surprised me a bit (look at photo below if you're not familiar with these strange names)

After taking million of screenshots I sketched how handle of katana should look and what dimensions each element should have. I had to adjust it a little because my blade is narrower than it should be, so habaki is also smaller to make smooth transition between thin blade and thicker tsuka.

This screenshot was the most useful for this part:

To make tsuka I glued pieces of polistyren to pipe and when the glue was dry and secured I carved it with tapestry knife until I reached desired shape.

Also my impatient flow arsty ass had to start learning some tricks during the process

Next step was wrapping tsuka in worbla, to make it stronger and then add leather. Oryginal tsuka of katana are made with ray skin which has very characteristics texture, full of tiny "bumps" that makes these skin really grippy, perfect for sword handle. I could buy real ray skin but I don't have a heart to put that poor ray on plastic, it'd be act of desecration. Luckily I had some fake leather with kind of similar texture.

I glued it on worbla and sew to be more secured.

And when I was done with this part I realized I'm not quite satisfied with my tsuka shape. After adding layer of worbla and skin it's cross-section became too much angular instead of oval. I predicted it'll add some thickenes so I carved tsuka smaller that I wanted it to be but I didn't predicted adding layers could change the shape.

It really bothered me for a while (ahhh my perfectionism) but this time I decided to let it go. Some imperfections aren't worth changing and accepting them are also good lesson 🙃🙃🙃

Well now its time to make tsuba, and all decorated elements so: habaki, fuchi and kashira

Soooo were going back to screenshots again, I tried to capture Mizu's sword from every frame possible, I didn't recreate patterns 1:1 (I was carving worbla with soldering tool, and its tip isn't small enough to make all these fine lines, I had to simplify it a bit) but I tried to recreate its vibe and overall composition, see for yourself

I love how perfectly reverse the colors are at this point xddd

I reinforced the tsuba with worbla, it's the most standing out element to it could be damaged the most

I think it's a good moment to tell you about some interesting fact about Mizu's katana design, and her overall character design

Because as you can see the tsuka (handle) of her sword is just ray skin (samegawa) , traditionally it's also this cord thing wrapped around (tsuka -ito). We can also see the little dents on tsuba after hammering, which gives the effects of unfinished, not perfect and made improper, not following traditional rules.

(the oryginal concept art shows even better the vibe of this katana so I'm also showing it to you ^^)

For me, it fits Mizu so well omg.

But I also see it in her clothing, the way she wore her kimomo is also against traditional rules (it should be tucked in Hakama) which makes our Mizu fashion baddie of Edo I guess xdd

The last part was to get the shape of sticks, pretty simple just long rectangles of Eva foam ^^

And here we are, when we have functional base, now in proper shape, only thing that left is to get out katana some colour ^^ see you in part three

Growing up I was always "too masculine" my parents were trying to force me to be feminine. Schoolmates would ask me about my "secret penis" and be more physically violent with me over other "girls". And cis women would touch me and use me however they felt because they knew I couldn't retaliate.

When I told my friends that my girlfriend was being abusive, they laughed and told me in full confidence that, that couldn't have happened. After all she's just so fem! And Im just so not.

The people that upheld gender rolls around me were not just men or my parents. Everyone is imbued with misogyny. Your parents dont care you dont shave your legs? Well your classmates will. A male teacher is sexist? Dont worry he'll just get a female teacher in to do the misogyny for him and tell all the girls in class how they look like little sluts.

Then I came out as trans and got on hormones and suddenly I'm not man enough. Everyone has to give me advice on how to be a "real man". I need to do the Manly Activities and stop doing the Girly Activities. (Never a woman tho. A dangerous man or a confused girl is all a trans man gets to be)

Is this a typical female socialization? I doubt it. Just like I doubt that trans women have a typical "male socialization"

Everyone grows up with misogyny. Everyone has to unlearn misogyny. Everyone has to unlearn toxic masculinity. Being AFAB does not make someone immune to being misogynistic.

What makes you think growing up as a trans woman excludes them from these kinds of experiences? We know toxic masculinity is toxic but somehow that doesn't apply?

Little girls will be shamed for their appearance no matter what. Little trans girls are shamed for existing. A masculine girl can wear a fully gender neutral outfit and look like a boy. Because boy clothes are default. A trans girl cannot dress in one single item of girls clothes without being mocked. Theres a whole category of bits where a boy accidentally wears something for girls and is humiliated for it. (Because girl clothing has to have different buttons and pockets, lest you mix up the paper thin see through top and shapeless bag with armholes)

Being expected to always perform masculinity drives me crazy and I am a man. How do you think a little girl would feel in that role?

Think of every single "male socialization" thing (backbone, confidence, condescension, misogynistic, over-sexual, lazy, aggressive) that has been tacked onto trans women and ask yourself: "Is there not a million cis women I can think of that do that too?" If the answer you find is no, you are lying to yourself or you have some misogyny to work on. If the answer is yes, stop telling trans women that they are male socialized and stop saying that they are mansplaning or being a manchild. There are words for that, that involve no men (because women do it too)

(ʘ‿ʘ✿) “what you say ‘bout me”

1) OP made a post that seemed interactive but then

2) Did NOT want anyone to actually engage

I remember tumblr at the time. It wouldn’t have changed OP’s post so lmao big L for OP making it weird

But best of all:

Most people didn’t realize there WAS a response until this fuckin UFO went by.

you are required to become less racist.

when you are told that you are being racist, you are required to understand that as being offered assistance in resisting this vast conspiracy. say thank you.

Doctors paying off their medical loans with prize money

Chronically ill people getting free testing (MRIs, CAT scans, X-Rays, bloodwork, etc) and possibly a diagnosis

You can ding points for 'anxiety' and 'you just need to lose some weight'

Doctors are incentivized to find an answer, not just find something billable

Cons:

HIPAA

‘anxiety’ and 'you just

need to lose some weight’