Embroidering a waistcoat
May 16th-? 2026
Journal:
- Got a silver-grey waistcoat. Got Hadestown Autism. Got embroidery thread.
- I mean is it really based on Hermes's costume? Not really, I do know that Hermes's vibe is more blocked silver tones rather than embroidered colour on grey, and that their waistcoat actually has the slightly flowery pattern embedded like paisley, BUT. But I get to do fun embroidery! Is it maybe more Persephone-core than Hermes-core? Sure. That's cool too!
- If I have the time and resources then fuck it, I'll make myself some funky silver trousers as well. Really just all-out Hermes-ing.
Various crafty bits
April 2026
Journal:
- We have made. So many bracelets. So many.
- I'm doing specific colour schemes but I've realised I don't actually know that at least one of these are actually colours that the person they're for even likes. So I guess we'll see how that goes. Reasonably I should ask, but that would ruin the surprise.
- I FINALLY GOT A BRACELET TO BE STRAIGHT, KIND OF! FINALLY! I HAVE CAUGHT UP WITH THE PROWESS OF PRETEENS AT SUMMER CAMP!
- There are so many bead-lizards in my room right now and I feel the urge to name each of them but they're not going to be mine in a week so I can't get attached.
- FUCK. I CUT THE STRING TOO SHORT. GODSDAMMIT. Oh my Gods now I have to undo this entire thing and then redo this entire thing. Oughhhh. I'm maybe five centimetres short of what I needed but it won't be finished and sure as hell won't tie off so now I just have to undo all of it somebody shoot me.
- Doing something daring (expanding my library of bead-creatures from just lizards to other creatures as well. I now have a fox. It looks a little funky and maybe a bit like roadkill, but I'm pretty proud of her actually).
- Expanding the library even further, we've now made an inanimate object out of beads! It went shockingly well. Was planning to make a second animal but the specific one I wanted was too difficult and looked bad so I decided to make a sword instead!
- More... bracelets... there are so many bracelets...
- I'm going to kms (we won't) the bracelet might be too short. Somebody save me. I've poured hours of our life into this Godsforsaken thing and I'm scared it's not going to be long enough holy shit I may actually just cry.
- Okay we're sticking with the shitty little too-short bracelet, it can always be used as a keyring or something if it doesn't work. It's fine, we're fine, everything is fine.
- We found a bracelet we made ages ago from our own clay beads, which naturally inspired us to make even more clay beads. Which is nice! But now there's EVEN MORE BRACELETS. I don't even know for sure if the recipients of these actually like bracelets!
- Now the only question is if I do set colour schemes for these, since I'm painting the beads myself, or if I just do what we did with our own one and go full hodge-podge 'just grab a handful of paint bottles and go mad' style.
- Hm. A general scheme would be good, I think? Like 'muted natural colours' or 'cool spacey tones' or something. I just need to actually work out what I mean and if I can actually make it look nice.
Funky lil guy
04-05/04/26
Journal:
- What better project to start at 10pm than a. Uh. Model of Rocky the Eridian. For a Friend.
- This creature is held together by tin foil, paperclips, toilet paper, glue, and dreams. The dreams are doing most of the work.
- Why are legs so difficult :[
- BODY FINISHED! YAY! GOT ROCKY'S LITTLE CHEST-ABDOMEN-BLOCK-THING DONE! AND COVERED! Just need paint now :]
- The legs are going to KILL ME why is paper mache so sticky and difficult... I just want Rocky to stand up right...
- Literally the most Creature ever. The Creature-est Creature to ever Creature.
- I FORGOT A LEG. I MADE ROCKY WITH FOUR BUT ROCKY HAS FIVE. I FORGOT A LEG. GODSDAMMIT. It's fine we've got enough paperclips for this to work it's fine.
- Periodically pausing while glue dries to talk to the Friend in question like "hehe. ha. >:3. she has no idea I'm making a Thing for her. hehehe."
- AND GOD SAID FUCK YEAH IT STANDS UP RIGHT (I got Rocky to stand!! The legs work!!)
- Okay we actually haven't been taking pictures of the process BUT there will be pictures of the end.
- Just adding last bits of colour and then Rocky's beautiful blue-green patches. Now it sort of looks like Rocky is oxidising. Yay?
Bracelet
30/03/26
Journal:
- Making (correction: trying to make) a woven bracelet for a friend. It's hard.
- So I've never actually done a friendship bracelet like this before (like a flat one, I mean, rather than a really bulky braided one). I don't understand, how do eight-year-old girls do this with such ease? This is painful.
- Well. It certainly isn't straight, but hey, neither of us are either so it's fine. Wonky-ass bracelet here we go!
- It was so perfect in the tutorial and now here's mine looking like somebody's drunk cousin tried to do it :sob:
- At least the colours are pretty. Saving grace, hopefully.
- I feel so gender rn (doing a craft most often associated with preteen girls at Summer Camp while listening to I Threw Glass At My Friend's Eyes And Now I'm On Probation on loop)
- Cannot tell if I'm getting better at this or worse. Hah.
- WHY ISN'T IT STRAIGHT. I WANT IT TO BE STRAIGHT (- 80% of parents of queer kids/hj)
- Okay, so, it's a little fucked up, but I think that that gives it some charm.
"Yay! I completed a bracelet! Now, with this new skill I have, as well as the desire to make more bracelets, I could make more for my other friends!"
- This one went a little worse, didn't look quite how it was meant to, but hey. Again, adding charm!
Brain: Or you could just find a new pattern and make another bracelet for the exact same fucking person :]
Anyway now I found a new pattern and have started to make another bracelet for the exact same fucking person.
Misc cosplay progress:
27/03/26
Journal:
- Ignoring the Waistcoat Problem for a bit, working on the belt-thing, trousers, and accessories instead.
- These trousers are actually going to be the death of me I swear to Gods, they're massive and I'm improv-ing a way to make them a little smaller, which essentially means 'sewing things until they look passably functional again', which essentially means 'Fuck Fuck Fuck When Did That Bit Move There??'.
- THE STAKE IS NEARLY FINISHED!
- Tried to make a little 'net' to hold the garlic. Didn't work. Tried knitting it (don't even question). Didn't work. Gave up. Decided to use a wig net instead. It works!
- Hnghhhhhh garlic smells so good honestly I should wander around with this shit on my belt more often.
- 'Oh Magpie, what are you going to do with your day off? Are you going to do some work? Are you going to lock in and study? Are you going to talk to your friends?' MMMMMM SEWING GARLIC TOGETHER MMMMMMMM.
- Very glad that my D&D characters all also have fuckass dangly bits hanging from their belts that I can nick for this, because I do not have the time to make a whole set of new things for Sunday.
- Whoops I accidentally split our finger open but at least now the stake looks authentic!
- Should I do arrows... since I made a shitty little quiver... but also that's Work and I'm not sure I have the energy...
- I WANT TO BLASPHEME. I WANT A SHITTY CROSS NECKLACE.
- ...What if I carved 'Elle' into the stake. For funsies.
- I've definitely fucked up the trousers but it's okay I'm having fun.
- The neck bandages are being a pain. Do they go over the collar? No, then I've just started strangling myself! Do they go under? Not canon-accurate, I guess, but easier... now I need to work out how to tie them so they look nice and also how to. Y'know. Fuck 'em up a bit.
- I swear this place hates me, why has my glue stopped glueing?? Hello??
- On the bright side, we now have a small jar of Holy water (it is not, in fact, Holy. It was poured from a tap by a mentally ill trans guy listening to Will Wood. It's about as far from 'Holy' as it's possible to be (I could? Idk? Pray over it or something? Crack open my Machzor? Baruch Atah Adonai, bitch! That'd probably do something to it)).
Dyeing a waistcoat!
26/03/26
Journal:
- Need to lock in for my v!Avid cosplay on Sunday so here we go I guess, finally getting around to the dye because finding a decent waistcoat for this is harder than it should be :[
- *Squints at 'wear gloves' instruction* ...Ehhhhh it'll be fineeee!
- Okay so I proceeded to not wear gloves, ignoring the multiple open wounds on both of my hands, and spent ten minutes swirling fabric with my bare fingers. Anyway now my hands are green and also owwie. Wear protection, guys.
- Listening to Femtanyl while waiting for this to work, what even is our life at this point?
- I'm getting worried, this fabric doesn't look very green yet.
- Chat I might've fucked up (got fabric dye directly in my eye)
- Nvm chat we're fine it doesn't even hurt
- Good news - I'm not dying of fabric-dye-poisoning. Bad news - the fabric isn't dyeing all that much either.
- Okay in retrospect I realise that I really should've followed the instructions properly, but anyways I'm going to keep going until it works!
- It's all good guys, I've got a backup (4-year-old resin dye that's been collecting dust in a bucket this whole time) if this goes to shit.
- Hands; green. Fabric; not dyed. Hotel; Trivago.
Customising a t-shirt!
19-21/03/26
Journal:
- I. Really should've started this more than three days before we meet up. Oh well! Love a good deadline (this is a lie. The boy does not, in fact, love a good deadline).
- I'm actually really enjoying how this has come out so far! Especially the cuffs. The cuffs are really pretty, I think.
- Ehhh mixed feelings about the constellations, so far, but they add to the vibe. I don't think Hercules came out too well. Meh.
- This body was not built for this, my Gods. Why has it made the pain WORSE (it asks, contorted into a pretzel to best paint a straight line)?
- Tempted to put a Minecraft quote on the collar. Would that be corny? Maybe. But also "and the universe said you are not alone" would go HARD, actually... oughhh I could put "you are the daylight" and "you are the night" on the sleeves as well...
- Okay. Didn't do that. Shirt is gone now! Friend has shirt! Yippeeeeee! Final product below:
