fipis bipis

Murderbot chronically finding new scientists/travellers to claim as “clients” (whether paid or not) like one of those sheepless herding dogs that goes around finding sheep (or anything else they can herd like a flock of sheep). Like it clearly has a protect humans instinct and a desperate need for enrichment.

Aren't easily available to you, and

Take a notable amount of training to use (especially, to use without damage to your hands) (Not "months of training." Just. Not "here's the instruction pamphlet; have fun.")

However: The sewing machines that are reasonably available to you, will make clothes you can wear and enjoy wearing. (Industrial sewing machines can sew for 8, 10, 18 hours without breaking down; the one you buy at WalMart cannot. Some industrial ones can sew through 4 layers of denim; you can find a machine that does that but you won't get it by accident and it will cost more. And so on.)

Basic sewing machine - enough to get started making clothes - is under $200. (Industrial machines start at ~$2000 and go up from there.) Super Ultra Cheap version is under $100; not recommended unless you know you'll be able to throw $350 at the hobby in a couple of years when the simple one is just really too limited anymore.

...Anything under $50 (new) is A Gimmick. They're not all worthless but they're very limited. They're more "you can learn how a sewing machine works with this" than "you can make clothes with this." (I mean. You can. But you can make clothes with a needle & thread, too. And while it takes longer, you may be less frustrated than using a $45 "beginner sewing machine.") Some of the gimmick machines are very useful for their specific purpose - they're ultra-portable, or good for repairs, and so on.

But if you are on a very limited budget - less than $50 can get you started on making clothes. And bookbags. And pockets to add to clothes you already have. And hats. Bathing suits, if you decide to get ambitious. (Stretchy fabrics are challenging, esp on a simple machine.)

You can make socks with a sewing machine but I really don't recommend it.

Fuck being a pro. This is artistry, and it is magnificent. The colors! The crisp color change edges! The bobble stitch as accent (I would not have survived)!

For those who may not know, I am pretty sure this is a combination of motifs and standard crochet work. So, this person made motifs, stitched them together, then worked around them until the next set of motifs got placed. Then worked around THOSE until it was time to add the third set, and then did a lace border around the whole thing!

It took me less than a month to complete the prototype

Not bad at all for a prototype!!

However, some of you may have heard of this little horrible creature called "scope creep"

Part of my original premise was that this should be modular, the default will be 5 tiers tall and then you can add 1, 2, or 3 tier expansions to make a really unique tier list!

The problem with designing something modular? You have to lock down designs to be future proof. If I don't have a system that is rock solid and changes shortly after I start shipping.. Well then the new stuff won't be compatible with the old stuff. And I spent the next 3 months going down a rabbit hole trying to make things perfect

Right off the bat I noticed that it needed to have each tier be taller, or else almost half of amiibo and many other collectables wouldn't fit. So the new default tier size is around 4.3", bringing the whole thing to almost 2 feet tall!

Then I noticed that most tier lists don't actually use primary colors. They use a slightly muted pallet

So I went out and sourced some matte fillaments in some slightly more muted tones

I also didn't like how the rails covered up a little corner of the tag, so I designed them to wrap around the rail to keep it as authentic as possible

Ok! Don't hate that! I show off the prototype to some friends and coworkers and someone brings up "if it's for collectors they're probably gonna want some way to put it on their walls, or at least protect the stuff inside in case it gets bumped"

Oh yeah, of course, that's easy enough to add!

(it wasn't, it wasn't that easy to add, the wall mount I initially designed wanted to pop out when you put it onto the screw, and to cut acrylic that thin made it SUPER prone to cracking, so I had to swap it out for PET)

But my coworker says to me, he says:

"that would be sick if it lit up"

And he was right, but that was going to be a whole thing to design in the space constraints

And while I'm thinking aloud about how to implement it in a discrete way he says "and the lights have to be able to change colors to match the tags"

And, being reasonable for the first time this whole project I told Him "NO."

ARGB LEDs are WAY more expensive than regular white ones, and I'd either need a microcontroller to controll all the different lights or else I'd have to have a switch on each tier and those are SURPRINGLY EXPENSIVE!

And if I just ran ARGBS through the whole thing without having a proper solution it would just be rainbow colored nonsense like so many gamer PCs. Not worth it. Especially if this going to be modular! How would that even work??

Well....

I stopped being smart and setting reasonable limits on the project and said: "How about I do anyway?"

Turns out if I got higher end leds (90+ cri) I could design filters that isolate the colors I want!

Also turns out that if you don't design that REALLY carefully white light will leak out or the material will flex over the 11 or so inches it has to span to cover the lights. But after months of trail and error and testing specialty materials I found a way to make the rails work "just right" with the lighting system!

And I was able to make the main power conduit work with a daisy chain design, so you can plug extra tiers into the top or bottom and really customize things further

Keeping with the tier list design I also came up with "reveal cards" you can slide off while showing off your picks

For now I only put the unlit version and the light up tier list version on my store. But I'm going to have a more universal "Customizable shelf" too: that one will use the rails and tags for things besides just tier lists

Pride collection anyone?

I've listed the first couple shelves, but I have to put my store on vacation mode Friday night for a week, if someone orders before then I'll have it shipped on or before Saturday

https://lychansubscribe.etsy.com/listing/4536396559

is this the toxic yuri people are always talking about

how measurements work in canada (ie/ badly)