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thesquishywizard · 4 years

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How to make a Grimoire!

This took me a week to compile so if you enjoy it and want to support me, this a link to my ko-fi!

Hey there, I’m Ismo the Squishy Wizard, and today I want to talk about how you could go about making a grimoire for yourself. Grimoires are very personal despite being for information and reference, so it is understandable that some of my advice just won’t fit your way of doing things. The following advice is based on my experiences and the experiences of other magical practitioners and witches I have spoken to or watched on youtube, so hopefully you can avoid some problems we have ran into.

What is the difference between a grimoire and a book of shadows (BoS)?

A grimoire is often only a magical reference book while a book of shadows is not only a magical reference book, but also a diary, record of magical activities and ultimately, whatever you make of it. The reason why you might want one more than the other is purely down to personal taste.

A grimoire will detail what things mean, their origins, uses and personal associations. It is in an order that will help the witch easily find what they’re looking for, whether that is in alphabetical order, simplicity to complexity, importance to you or some other personal order. Grimoires tend to be quite formal, being written in highly decorated documents on a computer, high quality notebooks, scrapbooks or sketchbooks.

A book of shadows may do all that too but also include records of daily practice, experiences with deities or spirits, personal reflection and introspection, thoughts and questions about the craft, results of spells and maybe dreams too. It generally is in order of learning and experiencing so can be slightly harder to navigate for reference for some people. Books of shadows tend to be more casual and some people write them in old school books and notebooks. Some people separate things further and put dreams and personal reflection and introspection in a book of mirrors, so that might be a good thing to think about.

Other people don’t define grimoires and BoS in this way and see it as two terms for the same concept and use “BoS” and “grimoire” interchangeably, so this may still be useful advice for those making a BoS. Neither a BoS or a grimoire is better universally, it is about what is best for you and the way you practice.

I personally have a grimoire and a magical diary as two seperate books!

Why might you want a grimoire?

Grimoires are useful for compiling knowledge all in one place, in a language you understand and work well with. With a grimoire, you might not feel the need to get several books out, just your grimoire because you will have used your knowledge and experience and the authors of those other books experiences when writing information in your grimoire. It also allows you to remove any jargon you don’t understand or add useful diagrams and pictures if you are a visual learner. A grimoire still shouldn’t be your only book, always continue learning and researching with others’ insights, grimoires are just more compact and quick for when you quickly need to find something out or need a bit of help. However, you don’t need a grimoire, if you think a book of shadows, a magical diary or just using pre-existing books is more useful to you, don’t make a grimoire. Grimoires can be an awful lot of work, only make one if you feel like you need it and are going to use it.

Don’t instantly begin making a grimoire, wait at least three months

A grimoire holds all the information that is important to your craft and though the beautiful, awe inspiring pictures of grimoires get a new witch raring to go, it is probably not best to make a grimoire yet. Making a book of shadows or a simple diary would probably be more useful and less overwhelming to begin with and you can still record new knowledge you come across, it is still important to learn and research as this is what will get you ready to make a grimoire.

Trying to make an organised, informative grimoire when you are still new to the craft can be very hard and may cause you to include misinformation or elements of witchcraft that are simply not relevant to your life soon after looking into them, as a witch’s practice changes a lot drastically in the first year or two, and their path will still change, but often just slighter, through their whole life.

This might mean that whole sections of your grimoire are never used, putting your hard work to waste. Some witches don’t start making their grimoire until they are years into their path, as they are now more sure of their beliefs, the way they practice and their thoughts on things so they can guarantee everything is of use to them, and should be for a long time.

I started my first grimoire five months into my path but I honestly should have done it later, as my path underwent some drastic changes only six months later (so eleven months into my path), but I’ve had a very stable path for about a year now so I’m currently making a new grimoire. Now I’m learning additional things, so I feel more comfortable starting my grimoire again. I’ve not learnt things that reshape my whole way of thinking and practice for quite a bit, though this can still happen at any point in your journey and it should be welcomed with open arms, but just a warning, that sort of thing is more likely to happen early on in your path.

Research and meditate on your findings!

To work out what path you want to take and how that may inform what goes into your grimoire, you need to research. You’ve probably heard before that the first step to anything in witchcraft is research which is very true and the sooner you start researching the quicker you’ll be able to understand and confidently start your grimoire. Bookmark websites, stick post-it notes and bookmarks in your books, or even begin collating your information into a computer document or writing it down in your diary or BoS.

Experience being a witch before beginning to write your grimoire, try out those spells, try out those ideas, you may find that they simply don’t work for you or mesh right with your personal experiences or you may find that you’re a lot more into that area than you first thought you would be and you need to do deeper research and learn even more! Explore the world around you and record it in your diary, BoS, phone or elsewhere. Get to know the plants common in your area and therefore useful in your practice, the constellations in the sky, the food you can make, anything, just get to know what you like. Also make sure you fully understand a subject before deciding to put it in your grimoire, I’ve known witches who have written about things such as chakras, only to later find the western model of chakras is very warped from their Hindu and Tantric Buddhism origins and I myself have written about plants that are native to the Americas, despite me being British and having no way to access them because I didn’t properly research.

When researching information, always think about whether it is relevant to you and whether you enjoy it. It can be tempting to research anything and everything but you might get burnt out and find the craft overwhelming that way and also some things are from closed practices. You should always check if something is from a closed practice, even if it seems to be commonly used.

Always use multiple resources even when it comes down to something as simple as latin names. The book I was using for British plants and wildflowers was written in the 1910s, which meant some latin names had changed so I crossed referenced every one with both British wildflower websites and wikipedia.

Drafting and planning your grimoire

Once you’ve collected some reliable resources and you feel comfortable in your understanding of the subjects that you’re interested in, you could start planning out your grimoire.

I recommend planning your grimoire so you don’t get overwhelmed by all of the things you want to put into it and how you want to present it.

First, think about what medium you want to construct your grimoire in, do you want it to be a digital grimoire? Or maybe in an actual book? Both? Next, think about the order you want everything in, though it isn’t yet made, plan it out something like a contents page. Make sure the order of things makes sense to your brain. Also, maybe have a little think about the future, maybe you could futureproof your book if you know there are areas that you want to look into one day or look into further and take into account the extra room you might need.

If you choose to make a physical grimoire, consider making a first draft before the finished project. You can do this in an old notebook or digitally. Mistakes are made and you don’t want to fumble your words so you could write it in full before writing it in your book, but many just plan a series of points they wish to cover. I planned mine in full in google docs, just without pictures. This meant I had all my knowledge and research already compiled and worded in a way I was happy with, I can often mess up my wording on the fly.

If you choose to make a digital grimoire you don’t have to worry as much about drafting, but it’s still important to make a structured plan for how you will organize things within your grimoire. Moving sections about can be a bit tricky! It’s also a good idea to choose which program you want to make your grimoire in, make sure it’s one you know how to use well so you don’t get frustrated, making a grimoire is meant to be fun. Some people enjoy using an art program to digitally draw and write their information, then they print them out! Some people instead use something like a google doc or document program, adding information in the form of text, pictures or charts but keeping it digital.

Tips for actually making your grimoire!

If you’ve planned a physical grimoire, it might be a good idea to get a larger book than you expect to actually need! You will keep using this book in the future, and continue to add information to it. You don’t want to run out of space when you have something really cool to talk about! As previously said, you could also futureproof it by leaving spaces or whole pages blank for extra information or new subjects.

A digital grimoire doesn’t mean a dull grimoire! Download some free fonts, lots of free witchy fonts exist and can really inject more of you into your document. There’s also lots of free photo websites or you could take your own photos and put them in your document. It doesn’t have to be all text in times new roman. I really like ‘Adalind’! https://www.fontspace.com/category/witch

Some people find it is a good idea to source their information, especially when they are using their experiences and the experiences of several other people. This means that things can be checked later, years into the future if you are confused as to why something might be so.

You don’t have to know how to draw well to make a physical grimoire! You can print out pictures, you can take pictures out of magazines or books, or you can use something like postcards, tea cards, trading cards, lots of things! Don’t just restrict yourself to photos and drawings you’ve done.

Pressing flowers and leaves can be a wonderful idea for a physical grimoire, especially if you don’t have access to a printer or you feel like your art skills aren’t there. It can also give your grimoire that field journal feel! However, pressing flowers and leaves can mean some colour loss. To retain the most colour, keep the plants pressed for two or three weeks in a warm room. Most small flowers or leaves in a warm room will be pressed after just under a week. Never press a plant for more than a year, you don’t need to wait that long and also you run the risk of making your sample brittle. You could also laminate leaves (but not flowers, the heat seems to mess them up) and this seems to retain the colour better.

When making a physical grimoire, if using a book, make sure the book has a thick, sturdy cover, the book might get damaged with a soft cover, so a hard card, leather or even cork cover is a good idea to look out for when selecting your book. When selecting a book, never go for a type of binding known as ‘perfect binding’, as it uses glue to bind the pages to the cover. With the nature of grimoires, they tend to puff out quite a bit with all the flaps, pictures and pressed samples, which can break the inflexible glue binding. A good binding is wire or spiral bound, this means you can completely fold the pages over, reducing the total spread of the book on a work surface at any given time. Another good type of book is screwpost binding, here screws that can be easily screwed in and out hold the book together or alternatively bits of string to bind the book instead of the screws (this is my book’s binding). You can take the bits out and punch holes in your paper to increase the total amount of canvas you have to work with, it’s a lot like a ring binder, except it’s a book! Lastly, another common type of grimoire binding is section sewn, this is usually found in handmade leather grimoires. It’s virtually impossible to add paper to these, but they’re very sturdy and look quite magical. You can also bind your own books this way!

If you choose to make a ring binder grimoire, try to get a sturdy, high quality one. Many ring binders rings can’t actually match up, which can shred your paper as they pass over these sharp points. Also keep in mind a sturdy cover, some ring binders have a thin flexible plastic sheet, but cardboard or even wooden covers are out there and are a bit better at protecting your work.

If you plan to use multi-media methods of creating your grimoire, or heavy types of ink, I suggest you go for a heavyweight type of paper, something like a high quality notebook or sketchbook will be good. Handbound artisan books tend to come with heavyweight thick paper, so you don’t have to worry about those too much. Loose leaves of heavy paper can be bought from art shops if you are making a ring binder grimoire or need to add pages to a screwpost binding style book and are also using heavy inks, paints or making it scrapbook style.

Through all this, remember that the grimoire is primarily meant for you, you aren’t making it for other people, so don’t beat yourself up if it isn’t the most aesthetic and gorgeously professional thing ever. There’s a lot of pretty grimoires online for inspiration, but try not to just completely copy their work, or constantly compare your own creation to other peoples. They likely have been making grimoires for a very long time. As long as it gets the job done and makes you happy, that’s all that matters. It should be a little piece of yourself that looks and feels like you.

Things to possibly include in your grimoire

Witches never have to do all of these, it is your path so pick and choose what inspires you!

Most grimoires have a title page including the date it was started and your magical name if you have one.

Some people include an invisibility sigil to prevent prying eyes, a curse that punishes them for looking or a warning that this book isn’t for them. Others bless their book!

Many people have a contents page so they can remember where to find the information they need.

A lot of witches include a personal introduction, explaining what brought them to the craft, a bit about who they are, favourite things like herbs, crystals and colours, any familiars they work with or any magical abilities they have. Some people almost make a little correspondence page about themselves, including key herbs, a natal chart, their birth tarot card and personal sigil.

Not all magical practitioners work with deities in their craft or are religious at all, but if you are, having a section about your deity or whole pantheon is a good idea. Write about what your deity acts like, what they are the deity of/over, things they enjoy as offerings or how you came to first begin working with them.

If you follow a wheel of the year or have celebrations, a page on these is a good idea. What does the celebration represent? What are some ideas for activities to do then? What does it mean to you?

Some people have a series of morals or tenants they follow and believe in. Maybe write down yours for your path.

The main chunk of the grimoire should be about what you work with. This could be plants, food, crystals, animals, colours, astrology, planetary magic, fair folk, magical creatures and much more! For each entry, explain the concept’s or item’s correspondences and uses, whether that be the common use or your personal uses and associations, what the item is like, where to find it, folklore about it, non-magical and mundane uses and maybe how to make it if it is something like food.

Another big chunk is often common spells, potions, practices or rituals you do and how to do them. Spells such as banishing, protecting, removing curses are all popular spells to record in a grimoire and meditation, grounding and centering methods are some non-spell things that are still important for many witches to know.

You might also want to talk about different types of spells in general, how to create one and what the differences are between them.

Some people talk about the tools they use, especially in practices like traditional Wicca, where there are important tools like chalices and athames. More universal tools like taglocks are another good thing to cover.

It's a good idea to talk about the divination methods there are or just the ones you personally use if you use any. Also cover any layouts, spreads or boards you might use. Witches don’t have to do divination, so if you don’t, you don’t have to include it!

Some people include a section on magical theory, how they believe magic works. You could also do a section on how divination works for you. Some people think it helps introspection and decisions while others think it helps peer into possible futures.

You might want to include different alphabets relevant to your practice. If your practice is norse based, different futharks might be useful, whereas for hellenic practices, ancient greek alphabets will probably be of more use. The theban or witches’ alphabet is a common alphabet to be found in modern grimoires. Alphabets can help you code things from prying eyes or make sigils.

If you do ancestor or spirit work, you could talk about your ancestors or the spirits you work with. What they were/are like, wisdom they have passed on to you and other information you think is important.

Talk about how to work with spirits if you work with them. How to call them, how to respect them and how to banish them are important things to know.

If your path is a pre-existing one, talk about the history and origin of your type of witchcraft. If religion is heavily important to your path, talk about the history and how it has changed over time too. If your path is unique to you, talk about how you discovered and formed it!

Most witches include folktales, superstition or local wisdom and customs from their area. This could be ghost tales, how to keep crops safe, or even local magical goings on, anything that connects you to the land of your area.

Some people have people in their family who did things that could be considered magical. Many people used to do divination, herbalism (herbalism isn’t inherently witchcraft, it is using plants for healing and health and may or may not have a magical element to it) or use country wisdom and did not consider themselves witches or magical practitioners. Maybe talk about your relative or if you are an open witch and they are still around, ask their opinions and thoughts on matters and include a section on them.

If you are a hereditary witch, you could talk about what you’ve learnt from your family too! Though I feel you probably don’t need my advice on making a grimoire if you are one XD

Some people talk about places that feel magical to them. Explain exactly how the area makes you feel, maybe the reason why or what you have found in that place.

Always remember, your grimoire will never truly be finished, you’ll get it to catch up with your current knowledge at points and may not add new stuff for a bit, but part of being a witch is always learning, so there’ll be more to add soon! It is also important to keep in mind, there is no shame in remaking your grimoire or having to get another volume, it is the collection of your knowledge and it's actually quite common for experienced witches to have multiple volumes of their grimoire or old ones they don’t really refer to anymore, I know grimoires are often talked about in a singular way but it really is common to have multiple.

Most of all, have fun with it. Make your grimoire! I wish you a pleasant journey on your long and winding path <3

Resources!

How to press flowers: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-to-press-flowers.html

Types of binding: https://www.studentbookbinding.co.uk/blog/types-of-binding

Magical alphabets and historical alphabets: https://www.omniglot.com/

British plant, fungi and animal species: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer

British plant and fungi species: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species

British plant, fungi and animal species: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/

(I’m British so these are the resources I know are good for the UK)

#grimoire #grimoire ideas #grimoire prompts #witchblr #witchcraft #magic #wakingwitchblr #witch community #witch #witchythings #baby witch #new witch #wizard work #references #this is long and rambly and its the first proper informational post I've made so I hope its good and no one yells at me :/#nervous!!!

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fundielicious-simblr · 3 years

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💕 Love Day Love Story Series 💕

Francisco & Zoe

How did you meet?

[F] “I grew up in a conservative, military household with my father enlisting before he married my mother, so my brother and I were born into the lifestyle. Because we moved every few years, it was easier for my mother to homeschool us so that our education wasn’t disturbed by the constant change in schooling systems and curriculums. Both of my parents are people of faith, so wherever we moved we’d always find a church to go to that was in line with our beliefs, and my mother made it a point for our homeschooling curriculum to be religious based rather than secular based so that we got the best education possible. When I was in highschool we moved to Strangerville permanently for my father’s work, he was promoted and therefore would be working at headquarters with other high ranking officers - this made it easier for me to make up my mind on whether I wanted to enlist because I’d been going to summer camp style trainings in Strangerville that helped me realise my want to serve, so I enlisted right out of highschool. After bootcamp, my first orders were in Strangerville so I was able to live at home with my parents for the first few years and when it came time for re-enlistment, I ended up getting deployed out to a base that sits just outside Newcrest for a short assignment. Once I’d found a place to stay in Newcrest (my rank meant I could live off base) I set about finding a church to attend. I'd heard great things from Newcrest Baptist from others in previous churches we attended so I thought I’d give it a go. That first service when the choir was singing, the lead singer caught my eye - my mother had started to badger me about starting to settle down “while I was still young” so I guess the thought was constantly lingering in the back of my head. After the service is when I learnt that Zoe was the lead singer for the service, she came up to me and introduced herself along with some of her cousins after she heard I was new to the area and didn’t know anybody. They essentially formed a welcoming committee and spent their time making sure that every day off I had was full of fellowship and fun; This also helped me to get to know Zoe more, she was slightly older than some of the other girls there and I admired her personality - I eventually realised that I wanted to take the relationship further than friendship, but first I wanted her to meet my family.

That chance came when her cousin Brittany had this fundraiser event in Windenburg, we found out that we had friends in common in the Dahlmanns - my father was friendly with Warren and supported his campaign whenever he could, and Zoe’s cousin was dating Colton (they even got engaged that same night) The fundraiser was great because our families got to meet one another and get to know each other, my parents loved Zoe and encouraged me to pursue a courtship and thankfully I was able to ask her dad if Zoe and I could start a courtship once we got back, which he agreed to. A couple of months into our courtship we found out that I was being reassigned to a post out in the desert near Oasis Springs, and I knew that I didn’t want to leave without Zoe by my side as it would be so hard to meet whilst I was away - so I asked her father if I could propose which he agreed to. I’d heard about this new botanical gardens that had opened up in Willowcreek, and I needed to head there to fix some of my paperwork and after seeing pictures I thought it would be the perfect place to propose, so asked Zoe if she wanted to come with me on the premise of me getting paperwork done while I was there. Macie came as our chaperone, and I dropped them off at her sister Adalynn’s house whilst I set things up at the gardens, and get my paperwork done. The proposal went off without a hitch, because I suggested a picnic at the gardens, she didn’t think it weird that we went there and Macie’s job (other than chaperoning) was telling us to pose for a picture together so I could get in position to propose. Zoe was a flurry in planning the wedding, the whole ride home from Willowcreek she and Macie had already began planning, I couldn’t help with the planning much due to work stuff so she was a powerhouse in getting things done in such a short time as we wanted to be married before I had to move.”

[Z] “I grew up the 4th child of 13, so I had a lot of responsibility as I grew up. My parents named me after my grandmother, and I always try and be loving and kind in the way that she was by always trying to do something to make someone elses life easier. As kids my parents made sure we all learnt how to play an instrument, so I learnt piano and guitar but singing is what I found to be the most fun for me. Over the years we’d travel to Family Bible Camp or political rallies and I loved getting to sing with a group, eventually I joined the choir at church and progressed to the lead singer. Everyone at home used to tease me for singing all the time, my buddy group had Reece, Beckett, and Amira in it and when I’d do their school with them I would help them make up songs to as we worked through their textbooks, so our corner of the ‘school room’ was always filled with song. As I got older I started working more on writing music, but as my older siblings got married and chores got redistributed I had to reorganise my priorities, but thankfully I was still able to work on my music.

I first saw Francisco when he visited our church for the first time, I was singing with the choir and had led the singing for a few songs, so he noticed me before I noticed him. After the service I was hearing all this flurry from the girls at church about how this new military guy was attending with us now, and how handsome he was and all the other things that come with a man in uniform [laughs] In my mind, all I was thinking of was how he was new to the area and knew nobody, so I wrangled together some of my cousins and we made sure to make him feel welcome. Over time as we hung out, I realised why all the girls had their feathers ruffled, but since I was older than a few of the girls there I assumed I wouldn't be the target audience of his attentions should it come to that. My mother always said that us girls should pray for our future husband and have certain qualities in mind that we wanted for a partner, but in that moment I wasn’t thinking about my list - or else I’d have realised that he ticked loads of boxes for me. I made it a point to keep my feelings to myself because I didn’t want to jeopardise our friendship, especially because he wasn’t going to be with us in Newcrest for a long time. Because his schedule was unpredictable at times, most times it was me and like 2 other people spending time with Francisco, which gave us a chance to get to know each other more, and eventually he did bring up talk of the future with me and at that point I told him that I would be happy to (inside I was shrieking) but he’d have to ask my dad. I guess our families meeting at my cousin’s charity benefit helped move things along because when we got back we made things official. A few months after we started courting, Francisco got news that he was being reassigned soon and in my head I’m thinking about how we were going to do long distance for however long before we got married, and when he proposed I truly had no idea that it was coming. He’d asked me if I wanted to come with him to Willowcreek because he had paperwork to do there, he suggested we have a picnic at this new botanical garden that had opened up there and I was all for it since we were trying to spend as much time as possible together. He was so gracious and even dropped Macie and I off at Adalynn’s house to spend some time with her and the boys whilst he fixed his paperwork and set up the picnic for us. When we got to the gardens, everything was so beautiful and we had such a great time, and when Macie told us that she’d take some pictures of us I thought nothing of it and started posing for a picture when all of a sudden Francisco is down on one knee and I’m in tears [laughs] The whole ride home was me calling my mother and making plans for what I wanted for the wedding along with macie on speakerphone, and even though it was a rush the wedding turned out great.”

How have you changed since marriage?

[F] “Our marriage started off with us moving into the desert, and I’m thankful that Zoe is so adaptable because these next few years are going to come with a few changes. Probably the biggest change coming up for us is our son who should be joining us soon, we’ve been rushing to get things done before he gets here. Unfortunately for me, soon after his due date I’ve got a training exercise out in the desert that will take me away for some time, so I’m thankful that Zoe’s sister Macie will come down to stay with her whilst I’m away. My parents also live a few hours drive away in Strangerville, so I’m sure my mother will be able to come down for support whilst I’m away as well.”

[Z] “One thing my sisters and cousins said after getting married is how quiet everything is when you’re in your new house, and I truly get it. Having to only cook and care for 2 (soon to be 3) people rather than working as a team in a house of 15 people was a bit jarring [laughs], and Francisco makes it so easy because he makes his own breakfast as he’s up at dawn! Going from the country where there’s loads of green to the desert where there’s nothing but hot sand was quite a change, but I wouldn’t exchange it for the world. Now that I’m in the final stages of my pregnancy where the only thing we’re left waiting for is baby , I’m excited for this new change and for baby boy to be here already. I’m still making my music, but obviously my priorities are going to be looking a little different for the coming future, and I’m okay with that.”

#fundie sims #fundiesims #quiverfull sims #quiver full sims #modest sims #homeschool sims #sims 4 romance #Love Day Love Story Series #collins family #collins legacy #sims 4 legacy #gen 3 #Francisco and Zoe #post #these two are cute #Zoe really hit the hot husband jackpot with this one #lets see what their kid looks like

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naerwenia · 3 years

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Face of the Empire

So, here's a fic I wrote one night after getting an idea, where Eshka is recruited by Thrawn to work for COMPNOR, to be a face for alien acceptance in the Empire. This was supposed to be a longer story, but I realized I don't actually have a plan for the plot, so this is all for now. Maybe I complete this one day. For now, it's just an unfinished idea without a point, about Grand Admiral Thrawn and my OC/Star Wars rpg character Eshka Kith'lya (who's actually full Bothan rather than just half like in this fic). I tried to smooth out some weird sentences, but I am just a human. When she thought about her future, she didn’t see herself as someone who would ever work for the Empire. She was an anarchist, educated, and more importantly, alien, a half-Bothan to be exact. Not someone who would ever look to work for the Empire, yet here she was, smiling for a picture as the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order crafted the next poster to be spread around, with Eshka as the face of lies.

University of Bar’leth was not the Hutt's first choice for Eshka. He wanted her to continue her studies in Coruscant but new policies prevented that. Credits would have solved that but what good would forcing an alien into an all-human university do? All the politics working in that situation would undermine the core education she was there to get. Her major was medicine, not political science. All social skills and charm were to be learnt on the side while maneuvering in the social circles of university life. Even Eshka knew she wasn’t there to just learn, she had to gather life-long connections, knowledge, and make sure her name would be known. Even if she didn’t have to do all that, her loyalty to the Hutt meant she had to obey his every word. If she didn’t, there was no reason for him to keep her around, she just cost him credits and sometimes gave him a headache, but soon she would take her place in the high society and get to pay back the Hutt’s kindness.

It really was kindness that made him take her under his wing, if any Hutt ever happened to have such quality. He had promised her parents that the girl would get an education and everything she needed, but she’d have to pay back in the end. No amount of credits would pay back the life Eshka was given, but information and favours might, and she was sure if need be, she would be shipped to a foreign lord to secure an alliance. Eshka had her own life until she didn’t, and she was aware of it. This deal, however unbalanced, didn’t come without positives though. Her freedom had been exchanged for fancy dances, extravagant gowns, education, and a name she could drop to get herself out of trouble: Marlo, Leader of the Hutt Council. There was, however, an acknowledgement that if she used that name frivolously, she tied her own name to him even more, and being known as one of the Hutt’s women was not what she wanted. Eshka was a doctor, a half-Bothan, taken care of monetarily by Marlo. That was the lie Eshka told herself, and got most to believe.

That was the first sentence Eshka learnt to tell without it sounding like a lie. She learnt to twist words, to make up the truth she wanted. The way she told everyone what she wanted them to hear, what she wanted them to know, just choosing not to tell the whole truth, just the words that the audience needed to hear. This was the lesson Eshka had learnt from Hutts. If nothing else, she knew how to speak and find her way up the social ladder. Each and every word had such a weight to it, and Eshka hated it. No matter how good she was with the words, she didn’t know how to express her feelings, to give words true meaning. It probably had something to do with the fact she never had a chance to do so. She had friends, caretakers, people to look up to, but also a distant Hutt as the closest thing to a twisted father-figure, so she learnt to keep her distance, to give people what they needed to keep them indebted to her, to have their trust, yet not show what she truly wanted, because she didn’t know that herself.

Not a sound escaped from the lips of the debutantes, the ballroom just stood in silence after Eshka’s impromptu speech. Her voice shook, as the weight of the words shattered any mask she might have been wearing that night. This was not the place she was supposed to be in. This was not her place. She had just told a hall full of young Imperial officers and privileged university students that the only way to peace is through understanding and encouraging societies to govern themselves democratically through local governments, that the Empire may overlook the small, the helpless, less fortunate who were also looked over by the majority, the Emperor is not omnipotent and governing from this ballroom full of gold and crystals is madness, we don’t even know what happens underground at Coruscant, even one floor below, not to mention at the Outer Rim. Too much, she had said too much and at the wrong place. Soon the guards would take her away, she may have been under the protection of a Hutt but spreading rebellious propaganda was a crime. She was an alien, they would take her away, she would lose everything, and these words were her last action, not to be remembered by anyone. An act of resistance in the ivory tower, tears drowned in rain, not even a ripple to be seen in the great ocean of consequences.

“And the only way to prevent this ignorance and lack of oversight is through you, Officers. You are the hands and ears of the Empire, through you, there is peace in the Galaxy”, said a male voice next to Eshka, turning her resistance into Imperial propaganda with just a few words. Eshka knew that voice. It was made of the same weight as hers usually was, one to omit words to tell the truth they wanted in a way that furthered their ideals. Calculated, thought through, precise. They knew what they wanted and Eshka’s sudden outburst only furthered their goals in attending this god-forsaken ball. She was left deciding if she wanted to embarrass herself even more or go with this new narrative. But there was no choice to make as applause arose from the audience, cheering, as the poignant and uncomfortable truth was turned to a morale boost of the century, only assuring the Imperial cadets of their own importance. Only when her hand was taken by the man next to her did she realize that she had just stared blankly at the crowd, and quickly turned her head to see who had taken her hand, the one to lead her out of the trouble she had created for herself. A man in a white suit, red eyes smiling at her. No, she thought, wanting to cry out and run. No, she yelled in her mind as he guided her down the stairs to the dancefloor. No, she screamed yet no words could escape her dry lips. There was no air to fill her lungs so she could express the abject horror she was feeling in the arms of Grand Admiral Thrawn. His grip was tight around her waist, his skin warm against her back, his hand in her hand even hotter, his eyes burning. This is my end, she thought, making peace with herself that she would die in the hands of her enemy, being whisked away after a dance for the greatness of the Empire. Ironic.

As the music stopped, he bowed but did not let go of her hand. “My lady, you look awfully pale. May I offer you some refreshments, and maybe let you sit down?” he said, leading her to the back. He could smell my fear, Eshka said to herself in a haze. He led her to a small room with a chaise lounge, made her sit there and ordered a maid to bring drinks for “my lady”. Eshka wanted to throw up, but only closed her eyes to help herself to gather her own thoughts somewhere else. At least the Grand Admiral gave her the time to catch her breath, then water. Just then she realized, embarrassment crept to her; she, a common student, was keeping Grand Admiral waiting. As soon as the moment really hit her, Eshka had a choice to be made: mask or truth. This time, she decided to let the man talk before she wanted to make her decision, but she had a feeling the Chiss might be already scheming.

“I am terribly sorry for my outburst, Grand Admiral, I may have, no, I stepped over my line, and embarrassed everyone. You saved me as my nerves got to me, and I couldn’t get a word out. You even saved my pride, danced with me, like I hadn’t just fallen into the back of my…” Eshka rambled, but Thrawn silenced her with one look and a hand movement. Nothing got past him. He knew.

“After your insolent speech and blatant propaganda in front of the finest of the Empire…”

“You don’t believe that”.

A smirk on both of their faces.

“But you could make it true”.

That caught Eshka off-guard. What on the Galaxy did he talk about?

“You clearly have a way with words, and know how to make your speech heartfelt, even if misguided for now. So I propose an offer in exchange for me sweeping any accusation that may arise from tonight, you join the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order. You have a human face, which humans find the most appealing, but have features of an alien. The posters…” the Grand Admiral says, looking for the word.

“Propaganda” Eshka suggested, still not exactly knowing what he was going for.

“Propaganda, or information war, needs to appeal to aliens too. You are both. Human and alien, delightfully both.”

Eshka didn’t quite understand, and the word “delightfully” was used so casually she wanted to question him even more. Delightful? She took a deep breath before answering, looking at the floor.

“I’m sorry to inform you that I am not in a position to accept your offer. I am in debt to Marlo the Hutt, who has decided in his great wisdom that I must study medicine and serve him..”

Thrawn seems slightly confused, seeming not to quite catch the meaning of your words though he understood the meaning of each word, so Eshka tried to extrapolate.

“He has given me a life, I am in debt with my life”, she added, and he nodded, understanding the depth of the issue.

“In that case, I still have an upper hand. Either he lets you go to prison, have you disgraced, or lets you join. Then you have the same choice.”

“I… Have a choice?” Eshka asked, not quite believing it, but was put back down immediately.

“No”, Thrawn snapped, his eyes watching her breathing stop and demeanor withdraw back to one of a cornered animal. Interesting. Delightful.

“Then my life is in your hands, Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo”, she said in Sy Bisti, with the final chance to plead and beg, and to get one last word in the conversation. The situation was bad, but it could be worse. He might not care at all about her and just liked to play some holochess with her mind, maybe thinking there’s others that shared her beliefs and she was a way to get to them, or he just wanted to save the face of the ball. Probably that, and some sadistic pleasure he got from making her submit. Submit.

------------

“Do you wish to know your value?” Thrawn asked as he escorted Eshka to the Lambda shuttle, ready to leave Bar’leth and move back to Coruscant, this time in service of the Empire rather than a Hutt.

“If it is in credits, no”, she answered, a bit annoyed, thinking it wasn’t worth knowing she was worthless, especially to a Hutt or to her new employer. However, Thrawn just smiled to himself.

“You underestimate yourself, miss”, he said, “You are worth much more than a chip with numbers, in fact, you have proved useful already, so I must thank you on behalf of the Empire”.

She shuddered. Empire. Useful to the Empire.

“You understand loyalty, so you will learn soon enough.”

“Is this a way for you to play mind games or rid out resistance before it has been born? Because either way, I am only here to enlist my help to the Commission and pay my debt to you the best way I can. No matter what you say, I do not think I will change my mind about the Empire”, Eshka retorted back, letting the Stormtroopers carry her luggage to the back of the shuttle, and sat on an isolated seat, yet when Admiral took the seat next to her, it felt cramped. And only four troopers were with them. The flight wasn’t long, at least it wasn't supposed to be.

“So, I believe you have questions. May I inquire what you are thinking?” Thrawn asked, with a voice that sounded almost soft for him. Eshka took note of that, replaying the sound of his voice to remember it, as she hadn’t heard him talk enough to make an educated guess about his thoughts that made him say those words.

“I was hoping you would have clear instructions for me, and what is my relationship with you, if any, “ Eshka said looking down, then raising her gaze to Thrawn, who, both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, looked relaxed, yet his gaze met Eshka with piercing intensity. Shuddering, fear striked right into Eshka. Death was no longer an option. This was the gaze of a man who knew the outcome of this battle, and used this moment only to understand the advantage they had better. Lowering her gaze, she submitted, and this gesture didn’t go unnoticed by the expert tactician.

“You submit to your faith, I see.”

“I have no battle here, so I can not be defeated”, she said, slightly smiling.

“You choose your battles well.”

“Thank you, Admiral”.

A sigh from the Chiss was unexpected, yet a weirdly humanizing touch. “You may address me as ‘sir’ from now on. Unless you are in a formal setting, then Grand Admiral Thrawn. If you wish to call me by my full name, you may, but I assume you know the right situations for that.” Sentimental reasons, he keeps me close, too close, Eshka thought.

“You have been given a position in the Commission as an alien relations specialist, you will serve as the face and spokesperson in that area. Your position will include information influencing campaigns, which will have you attending balls and giving speeches. You will be an exemplary Imperial civilian to others like us, someone to look up to.

“You are just an insolent child, privileged and rich, a teenager who is trying to rebel and does not understand what troubles their parents went through to secure your position in a society that has nothing but contempt for you. So what I am giving you is an opportunity to change the system from the inside, just like your parents did, but with more support. The success of a system is not on the shoulders of the leader as much as it is on the ones who serve. The lead gives the command, but the success depends on the ones who carry out the order.” Silence filled the room between the two of them like a thick fog, clouding the true intentions of Thrawn.

“I didn’t think you would care that much about politics”

“I do not, but some changes are inevitable for the system to work better in the future. I do not care for politics, pleasing others is not in my nature, but this is something that has to be done in order for the Empire to win this war”.

“The Empire values the needs of the many over the needs of the few, how does propaganda help my kind?”

“You misunderstand. The majority is the only one who may give betterment to the minority, but if the minority rebels against the majority, there will be no acceptance, and no moving forward. At the moment, species other than humans see their options as joining the Empire, which does not care for them, or active resistance with the Rebellion. But there is a third option. Compliance. You will be the face of compliance and order. Comply to the orders and you shall be rewarded.

“With basic rights?”

“At the moment, yes. But isn’t it better to comply with one unfair order so that you may live to the next day and then receive what you deserve?

“Or your oppressor takes your compliance as a sign that the order is not unreasonable, and continues with that.

“Could be, but do you not want to see what you could do to change that sentiment?”

“I could never side with the Empire”

“But would you join me, Chiss?”

“You work for the Empire, you line your ideals with the Empire.”

“My goals line with the Empire, and my loyalty is towards the Empire. But I am a Chiss, I serve my people too. Even after they exiled me, I will see that they are safe in the Galaxy.”

“I admire your loyalty, sir” Eshka responded, with soft fondness for the Admiral at that moment, as she had to face the fact that she was not really part of any group. Not human, not Bothan, not a Hutt, definitely not part of the cartels or any organization. Any place she ever lived in was not her home planet, she never really had a home. There was no sentimentality, there was only logic governing her life, she understood that, but now, as an alien soldier who

“So, who are you?”

“I’m sorry, what?” The question caught Eshka off-guard.

“You want so many things for those around you, yet don’t talk about anything related to who you are. So tell me, who is the Eshka sitting next to me?”

Who am I? “I’m… Eshka, I’m … “ and silence filled with anticipation on behalf of Eshka, who was trying to find anything to answer with. Yes, she studied to be a doctor, but that was not on the table anymore. Saying half-human, half-Bothan sounded weird. “A girl?” she continued, looking at Thrawn, expecting him to tell her if this was the right answer.

“No no, you have to know that for yourself. Now, you may continue, or do you wish to keep me waiting until you realize yourself?” he said snidely. Embarrassment coursed through Eshka’s veins, infecting her cheeks and tongue, making her unable to respond in any other way than just saying “I’m sorry, sir”.

---------

Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo watched the sad and small woman lie in her recliner, sleeping soundly in the vastness of space. A canvas for a different kind of art found lost in the galaxy. Emotional to the point of being a flaw, yet unaware of her self. Chaotic, yet logical and smart. Lonely, but altruistic. She needed guidance, and he needed someone to be a force for acceptance. No matter how well Thrawn did in the military and kept to himself, the world he was fighting for was not always kind to him. Order and peace were what he was fighting for, but if Eshka could soften the Imperium’s people’s attitudes towards both of them, his position might not be questioned so often and he would be able to focus on fighting the rebellion. Humans liked cute things like Porgs and doves, and Eshka seemed to fit the idea of cute, but had some visible Bothan features like nose, eyes, and ears. Otherwise her body reminded him of paintings from Togruta: colourful, sweet, vibrant.

Eshka tossed and turned, clearly distressed in her dreams now. Thrawn sat up and got on his feet, taking one step towards the sleeping lady, only to kneel next to her and putting his warm hand on her shoulder. Simple trick to calm humanoids, and it worked on Eshka. Her breathing calmed and her shoulders relaxed. A moment later Thrawn turned back to his chair. Maybe he should catch sleep too, even if his metabolism didn’t really need it. What he needed was a clear idea of what he wanted Eshka to be. The lack of self-awareness she had played into his hand, and the way she was trained by Hutts was good; always ready to please, understanding of her own lack of agency, loyalty to the contract, but it also made Thrawn angry, the way she was denied any closeness and made to grow up without a strong sense of self. No culture, no customs, nothing but humans of Coruscant and Bar’leth who ostracized her and made her build herself to fit in wherever she went. She was a blank slate, and Thrawn would build her to a perfect woman who would no longer submit to anyone but him. She was not a slave, but he wanted her to wear chains of diamonds. What a weird thought, Thrawn stopped. Maybe it was related to the conversation he had had with Marlo the Hutt. It had been the first time Thrawn had to interact with a Hutt, and he surely hoped it would be the last. Arrogant and cunning, almost catching Thrawn's intentions, yet not useful in the long run, as he got a crash course in the politics within the cartel and now knew to limit any contact with them unless absolutely necessary. It was funny how well the Hutt knew the value in Eshka, yet could keep the knowledge so out of her reach. Just telling Marlo Eshka was going to be executed for treason didn’t sway him, he even laughed straight at Thrawn’s face, telling him no one could touch her for such a small thing, and why would such a high-ranking officer come there just to inform him? No, it had to be more personal, and if Thrawn wanted the girl, he had to give more than credits, in fact, credits were useless in this matter. Frustrating, but fruitful conversation ensued. The puppet changed owners, and there were new plans on the works.

------------

Eshka put her hand on the glass, watching the view in front of her, city lights dancing in her eyes. When taking the job, she thought she was going to be living somewhere underground, with low-class officers if she was lucky, but here she was, in the same building with high-ranking officers. She could see the sky, star destroyer’s lights, the roofs of smaller buildings. It was beautiful, but the loneliness grew in her. There was a whole sky to share, yet here she was, alone above everyone.

Perfect, she was perfect. A gown made of stars, extravagant to many but tasteful for Coruscant. Lights reflecting from the velvety fabric made it look like the whole galaxy was moving as she moved and danced. Eshka, however, felt weird. It wasn’t the first time someone else chose a dress for her, but she didn’t think the Grand Admiral would be the one to do so. Yet his love for control was enough to explain this, but not why she was invited to a banquet for Imperial Officers and socialites of the city. When moving, Eshka had sold her formal dresses to get some money for savings, as she wasn’t sure how much she would be compensated for her work, and she thought there was no need for formal attire, or at least hoped she could hide from the public eye as she was working in her position, but she should have known better. Thrawn wanted her to change the perception humans had of aliens and be the face of the Empire, so why would it not include actual face-to-face meetings or larger events too. She only knew Thrawn and the director of COMPNOR there, maybe some officer she had brushed by at other social gatherings, but if most were military personnel, she had no idea what she could talk with them about. Small talk, flirt? Those should be enough for this time, just feel the atmosphere and plan for the next event. Lose a battle to win the war, and so on. Even if she didn’t like what she was doing in relation to her employer, she had to admit not everyone had the same opportunities to choose sides in the Galaxy, and if she could change some views in the higher ups, she had done something right.

A deep breath, name said aloud, and Eshka stepped in a tall room with chandeliers illuminating the glass cage high above the city. Curious looks were exchanged between guests as Eshka moved inside the room, looking around for a good guest she might be able to introduce herself to. She kept a soft smile on her face, bowed her head as she maneuvered around people already deep in conversations, not letting a single one of the guests to think for a moment she was intimidated. She didn’t know anything about the military, she would say to herself, she was there only to have fun and drink the Corellian wine people spoke so highly of.

An officer with six blue and red taps, probably an admiral or a marshal, was standing by himself with a whiskey in his hand by a window looking a bit uncomfortable in such an open space with people other than military troops. A good start, Eshka thought to herself and joined the gentleman. Starting the conversation with a quip about whiskey seemed to work in Eshka’s favour, just like a light-hearted joke about not taking alcohol well opened the older man to Eshka, and she was just happy it was working. Marshal Kof’ral was surprisingly sweet, considering he was one who had dedicated his life to the military, nowadays commanding his own ground fleet. With whiskey in one hand and Eshka’s hand in the other, he took her to the bar to tell her more about the whiskeys. Few younger officers joined them, clearly new to the setting, but the Marshal knew them and invited them to join the lesson on whiskeys around the galaxy. The officers, however, weren’t too enamored by Eshka, in fact, they seemed to enjoy the jokes they could make at her expense than the whiskey, but let their hands wander down her back. Marshall just laughed with them, so Eshka did too even when it hurt a bit. This wasn’t the place to confront them, this was just to introduce herself to the high society. Thankfully, the dinner was to start soon, so Eshka got the chance to excuse herself from the situation, telling the men she needed to add some face powder before the dinner.

Just a few more hours, I can make it, she told herself, looking at the mirror in the bathroom. Maybe there’s no need to have a conversation with the one next to me, whoever they may be. A racist who hates me, they wouldn’t talk to me, or someone nice, it’s going to be just fine.

When she finally stepped back to the hall, she was escorted to the dining room and seated. Next to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Both relieved and nervous, she didn’t know how to react. There was a lady next to him on his left side and Eshka thought it might be his date. Before Thrawn could even say a word to Eshka, a council member was seated next to her, taking her attention with a flirty greeting. Bail Carivus, a politician from a long family line of legislators and senators, and him talking to Eshka with such empty praises was infuriating to Thrawn, yet Eshka didn’t seem to mind, only blushing and giggling.

“And who is this serious man you are next to?” Carivus asked, flashing a condescending smile to Thrawn, and pure hate flashed in Thrawn’s eyes before Eshka could see it.

“Oh, he is Grand Admiral Thrawn, the captain of Chimaera”, Eshka said, glee in her voice, like she was proud to introduce the two of them, the opposites of each other. Tension between them just grew with the realization they were from very different worlds.

“It is very nice to meet you, Admiral”, Carivus said, clearly disregarding military ranks, yet offered his hand to Thrawn for a shake. Thrawn took it, if only to not embarrass Eshka.

“As it is to meet you”, Thrawn replied, coldly.

Before the tension grew too much or the silence between them stayed longer than appropriate, the first course was served.

Few times during the dinner Thrawn caught Carivus’ hand laying on Eshka’s thigh, his eyes wandering down her chest, hand “accidentally” brushing her neck, ass, ears. Sleazy, infuriating, with a lack of taste in art, Thrawn thought, trying to keep his cool, but as Eshka got more and more uncomfortable, Thrawn wasn’t sure he liked this part of his plan. As the dinner came to a close, Eshka excused herself, and as soon as she was out of the room, Carivus leaned over to Thrawn with a grin, ready to ask something, but another Admiral came to talk to Thrawn before he could hear the trashy words the sleazebag was trying to say. For a moment, Thrawn forgot that the politician existed. But when the Admirals shook hands, he took notice that Eshka hadn’t returned and Carivus was not there either.

Thrawn didn’t know where Eshka might be, but he had to find her soon, before that poor excuse for a human touched her. He would not tolerate that. A new rule for Eshka to follow was now in order, as soon as she was away from Carivus’ hands; no one was allowed to touch her, no one, there was no social climbing with her body, no matter how beneficial it might be. She may fight and be defeated, but her submission was reserved for Thrawn.

#thrawn #mitt'raw'nuruodo #star wars fanfiction #star wars oc #sw oc #thrawn x oc #unfinished #fanfic #star wars #Eshka Kith'lya #grand admiral thrawn

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irenerei-n-svt · 4 years

Text

UNIVERSITY STUDENT AU WITH READER (part 3 end)

So let's continue with this.

The day you are suppose to go to eat out with Jun and Minghao. You are hyped.

Of course you are still a bit sulky at the dense Jun for inviting Minghao along too (you cannot be mad at him because you know he just wanna help you broaden you chance in speaking Chinese)

But to your surprise, on the place you two supposed to meet. You can only find Jun stand there alone scrolling his phone screen while listening to music.

He is wearing glasses today too. His head lightly bobbing with the music he is listening. He is mouthing the lyrics too.

You tapped him on his arm when you got closer to him. He waves at you first before pulling off his earphones.

Jun : sorry it's just the two of us today, Minghao could not come because of sudden work shift arrangement from his part time job

Good job Minghao lol

While walking to the restaurant Jun would be cautious and does not walk beside you. He would stay 1/2 step behind but you guys were still close

So you guys went to have food.

Bonus point if you tried to read the menu in Chinese and succeed in some part. He looks at you proudly

But also you learn some new words through the menu while waiting for food.

Bonus if you are curious if Chinese culture authentic or aesthetic stuff found in the restaurant and he explains it.

He gestures to indicate map of China and pointing his hometown and Minghao's hometown

You also points out some similar fact of your culture

He Just listens

He explains to you about cuisine that you are intrigued from the menu

And he is excited when is comes to food

Bonus point if you guys are having hot pot noodles or hot pot and Jun glasses got clouded hahaha. You couldn't help but laugh at him because he just eat it non chalantly like the clouded glasses did not bother him at all.

Bonus if you saw him adding more spicy to the food.

Bonus if you also can handle spicy in a similar level as he does

If you cannot handle spicy also never mind, but he will be telling you stories like how his upbringing made him a spicy food lover

He thanks you for the food and say that he would defo bring Minghao and others here when they have the chance.

You are proud because he end up liking your choice.

Maybe you guys went to have coffee and then more conversation

Maybe drama recommendation or more sing recommendation

Maybe what could have happened

You opened up the cover song that you heard before and showed him because you guys were talking about songs

Saying that this person sang the song nicely and there are several songs from him that are nice too

The moment Jun saw the vid of the cover he just freezes.

You could see him slightly flustered, and swallowing his saliva hahah

You did not plan this. You are just plain excited wanting to share because it's first time that you are casually hanging out with him. Not as a senpai or tutor, but as a friend (date? If you wanna make it to end in romance fic way. I will stop at friendship for now)

DRUMROLLS for the moment of reveal

Jun, while scratching his head and giggles awkwardly : Y/n, that's me actually.

OH....its awkward but also very nice moment because the weird doubt in you finally got the answer

Jun explains that he took the video editing class because he wanna upload vids and he doesn't want to do it dull

You agree because you did follow most of his covers and you do see improvement quality of the vids

It start off just a picture and lyrics subtitles

But then later he made it into a fun lyric video with motions and effect learnt from class

He is happy that you do noticed that, cues in Jun's bright bright smile

You smiled back too in response

If you are gonna write it to end up romance, Cues in the reader stand in felt it's the good time to confess their feelings to Jun here.

But!

Jun : OH let me show you this exclusively then

He then just takes out his earphones and reactivate his phone screen.

And let you listen to the upcoming song he is going to upload.

Bonus if it's a cover with Minghao in it too

You are shocked af lol because you did not expect Minghao to sound this good (because Minghao is quiet but he sound so smooth in the song. Btw you recognise Minghao's voice straight away because his tone is similar as his normal talking tone )

And shooked by Jun vocals because he used a different method to sing the song.

Cues in you giving the surprised and supportive glance and oohs when you listen the song

Jun lowkey points and laugh at your reaction while casually sips his coffee lol

The song ends and you see him looking at you like this

Jun is nervous because he never really show these to other people. It feel like he letting you into a part of his life. Also, Jun forgot Minghao did exclusively tell him not to expose Minghao participating lol

You loved the song they did

Jun then shows you some other songs he would like to sing next time

With all of his excited energy, you forgot your urge to confess lol. So whether the reader stand in successfully dates with Jun is up to you.

Btw the song you listened exclusively from Jun was Brothers for one time

youtube

The story I will end here for now but...let's go for some more extra headcanon that did not made it into the storyline due to timeline wise.

When you later go for advance class and you start to learn idioms, Jun have to tell you story or make up scenarios to explains so that you can understand the idioms

Cues in he starts to act a skit that match the story of the idiom

His acting is good but funny at the same time

Cues in Jun being excited and his tone went high

Like seen from here lol his voice crack at PabMokJja!!(let go eat!!) so cute hahah

youtube

You laugh so much when Jun made weird faces during the skit. With that you do notice he is more comfortable with you now.

You start to hangout with Jun and Minghao more

During the trio hangout, Cues in Jun remembers some idioms he taught you before and he snaps his fingers

Then drags Minghao into the skit, or reminding you that the situation is the perfect case to use the idiom

Minghao : bro....*sighs

Minghao : good luck y/n, I have been tolerating him for 4 years now.

You know they are good friends and Minghao is just lowkey jokingly roasting his hyung so is ok

Goals achieved when you 3 start conversing in mix language. Of course they will keep it slow so that you could catch up

And let's not forget tongue twisters

To your surprise, Jun is bad at it hahah but sometimes he could aced it

You find it fun to learn Chinese because you are blessed with them two and especially Jun.

Ok now this officially ends here. Thank you for the love. I really sorry that this became longer than I expected.

#senpai au #irenerei n svt creations #irenerei-n-svt creations #wen junhui #junhui #moon junhui #svt jun #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios #seventeen jun #svt junhui #minghao #xu minghao #svt minghao #the8 #svt the8

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tinyscratches · 5 years

Text

Isamu Rat Diet

I’ve seen too many good web pages disappear (and photobucket is nasty) so I’m reposting the good bits of this RatForum thread here. It’s obviously more pertinent to UK rat owners but can help inform rat owners in other countries, as well.

02-18-2013

Isamurat: Making your own mix – how I do it (picture guide)

I have seen that several people are thinking of starting to make their own mix, or are just starting out feeding one. I thought it might be useful to see how I go about my mix, with photos and info on the kind of ingredients I use as well as the steps I take. I’ve been feeding a homemade mix for years now (started in 2006) and get on very well with it. I do tend to evolve my mix fairly steadily depending on how the rats are doing and new ideas I see. This is one of my mixes, they are all slightly different, but the basic balance stays the same. It is very much my take on a Shunamite style mix, given that I started out on that diet, and have learnt and adapted my mix along the way with a good amount of help from its author over the years. Base (50% by volume) First off I start by assembling the base of the mix, this is predominantly minimally processed grains, it forms about half my total mix and is aimed at giving a solid foundation of carbs, that aren’t too easy to digest (leads to fat rats) and contain plenty of whole grains, but not too much that are high in phosphorous (harsh on the kidneys, one of a rats weak points). I like to include a decent amount of grains still in their husks here too, as it adds an element of enrichment, and keeps the rats busy during the day doing what they are meant to do, peel open little seeds and grains. This means that I generally use animal quality grains (or at least a good number of them) as for some reason us humans are rubbish at, or too lazy to getting grains out of there husks so strip them off. I’ve used a lot of different bases in the past, sometimes entirely mixed grains, sometimes entirely a rat suitable commercial rabbit food. My current balance involves a mix of the two and works well, they get the variety with the backup of the enriched rabbit food. To make my base I add the following (note I’ve tried to photo these all in the same container for people to see the size of the bits) • 6 scoops Banana brunch - this is a lovely rabbit mix with the following ingredients (in order of volume); cooked flaked peas, cooked flaked barley, oats, cooked flaked maize, cooked flaked beans, mixed wheat discs (with vitamins), banana chips, flaked carrot, banana essence, vitamins + minerals. Its nutritional analysis is; protein 14%, fat 2%, fibre 5%, Vitamin A 5000 iu/kg, Vitamin E 26 iu/kg, copper (cupric sulphate) 5mg/kg . I break up the banana pieces into smaller chunks, otherwise it looks like this

• 6 Scoops Marshams Mixed flakes - this is a nice mix of micronize flakes, micronizing is essentially heating and squishing, the heating helps ensure that the fungus issue you sometimes see with dried corn/maize isn’t an issue. It’s 60% flaked barely, 20% flakes peas and 20% flaked corn and smells lovely and pea flavoured. I use this to help bulk out my mix and up the barley content (this is my fave rat kidney friendly grain, closely followed by rice)

• 4 scoops Versa Laga Junior Dark Plus Pigeon mix – I add this as it’s a good way of getting lots of variety of seeds and grains in without having to have many little packets of them. Its ingredients are as follows: extra french cribs maize 16%, dari white 14%, paddy rice 12%, extra wheat 8%, safflower seed 8%, extra small french cribs maize 6%, milocorn 4%, extra barley 4%, yellow peas 4%, green peas 4%, small green peas 4%, yellow millet 2%, toasted soya beans 2%, mungbeans 2%, maple peas 2%, striped sunflower seeds 1%, brown linseed 1%, junior pellet I.C. 6%. Its major nutritional values are; protein 12.5%, fat 7%, fibre 7.5%, carbohydrates 54%. The higher fat helps combat the low fat of the banana brunch and mixed flakes. It’s a lovely interesting mix and goes down well.

• 2 scoops Paddy rice – there’s already some in the pigeon food, however I add more as it’s such a good grain, and my preferred mixes major on barely and rice. Paddy rice is a nice form of rice, it’s still inside it’s husk, meaning to get at the grain the rats need to peel it before they reveal the brown rice inside.

• 1 scoop Pearl Barley – I add this as an alternative form of barley, it’s a different shape and texture so nice for them, this is human quality so unfortunately doesn’t have its husk on, I’ll get hold of some that are husky at some point.

• 1 scoop Millet seeds – this is another good grain, and as it’s around 11% protein it helps make up for the fact that most grains are very low in protein. I get a mixture of red and white millet still in their husks

• 2 x Millet spray broken up – another form/texture of millet. I take a millet spray and just run my fingers along the stalk backwards, giving my lots of mini millet tufts. These are a little easier for rats to find in there substrate, though mine can find even individual seeds now.

When mixed together this gives me my base mix which is approximately 20-21 scoops

Protein (5-10%)

As I use a base that works out relatively low protein in need to add extra protein to top it up. Rats need a diet around 12-14% protein for normal adults, more for growing youngsters. The best protein sources for being kind to the kidneys are egg, soya and fish (in that order). All have their strengths and weaknesses so I do a mix, which also adds variety balancing there weaknesses. It also helps make sure that the rats get ‘complete’ protein, proteins are made up of different amino acids, you need a full range of them to fully use the protein, mixing the type of protein you use helps this. • ½ scoop dried shrimps, mealworms, fish, tubifex, bloodworm and krill. Crustatians are really handy as there high in copper, they are also a great form of protein in that they have a high protein:fat ratio. Mealworms are a little high in fat but I include them because they’re quite a natural foodstuff for rats, and there isn’t loads of them. These are all very light, as I mix by volume it means by weight I don’t add loads, but given there around 60% protein this is good as you don’t want to boost the overall values too much.

• ½ scoop Soya flakes – this is micronized soya, the cooking part of the process makes it safe for the rats to eat, as uncooked soya beans are not good for them (much like any bean). Soya is a bit controversial for some people, it reduces the chance of some forms of cancer, and increases the chances of others, however pretty much all studies are done at high levels of soya, feeding as a small part of the diet can be quite beneficial and it’s a good kidney kind protein and one of the few proteins which are complete. I’ve also fed it as the dried beans soaked for 12 hours, then roasted in the oven, this also makes them safe to eat (and are a nice treat for humans and rats too).

• ½ scoop Egg biscuit– this is essentially floury biscuit soaked in egg then dried. It is often sold for birds as egg food, this one is particularly nice as its in bigger chunks, meaning the rats can find it in their substrate when I scatter feed. It seems a little high in sugar (smells cakey), so I wouldn’t use it as all their protein, but it’s a very handy way of adding dried egg.

• ½ scoop Fish for dogs Salmon small bite kibble. This is by far my fave dog kibble to use in my rats diet, its really high quality and the ingredients list says it all. Ingredients; Salmon (27%), Pea Flour (22%), Potato (23%), Fishmeal (8.7%), Salmon Oil (9.3%), Beet Pulp (6.6%), Brewers Yeast, Minerals. Nutrition: Protein 26%, Fat 12%, Crude Fibres 7.5%, Omega-3 Fatty Acids 1%, Vitamins: Vitamin D3 1,800 IU; Copper Chelate Of Amino Acid Hydrate 80mg; Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 2.5mg Antioxidants (Stabilised With Rosemary And Tocopherol-Rich Extracts). Effectively it has a good proportion of named meat, and that’s an oily fish, which is a sign of good quality. Also by going for fish you avoid the heavily farmed poultry or beef, which are far more likely to have poor care standards and contain lots of chemicals. The other ingredients are also named and aside from the fishmeal (which I would prefer over most other meat meals) all are whole. The protein is quite high for a dog kibble but as I don’t add loads it works well, plus the size of the pieces is tiny, which means it spreads well in the mix. I mainly add it because of the added vitamins it contains, particularly vit d and copper. Both are naturally low in a grain based mix, and with the rabbit food I add being low copper I need to boost it. This helps a fair bit and as an added bonus the rats love it too

Here’s a shot of the mix with protein element added to the base

Processed Carbohydrates 20-25%

This section is there to up the amount of carbs the rat can get from the food, as well as adding in vitamins and minerals. A diet entirely devoid of more processed carbs can mean that some of the nutrition is not so available. Too high and you get rats that get fat easily. This balance seems to work well, as long as you keep the sugar content of the carbs down below 5% (in most cases) and try and select for wholegrain products unless you have old rats (when white grains, and upping the overall percentage can be useful). • 1 scoop Denes wholegrain mixer – this is a mixer for dogs, it’s a wheat based biscuit, which I normally don’t prefer, but has good vitamin content, especially copper, calcium and vitamin D, so it is very useful. Ingredients: Cereals (Wholegrain Wheat), Derivatives of vegetable origin (herbs include Seaweed), Grassmeal, Minerals. Nutrition: Protein 11%, Oil 2%, Fibre 4%, Calcium 1.4%, Copper (Cupric Sulphate) 15mg/kg, Vitamin A 5,000iu/kg, Vitamin D3 500iu/kg, Vitamin E 50mg/kg. I break these in half of thirds as on their own they are a bit too big to properly divide up in a mix.

• 1 scoop Rice crispies – one of my preferred grains, I normally go for a value or own brand ranges as they are generally lower in sugar, as a breakfast cereal its enriched with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

• 1 scoop Mixed puffs – These are a mix of different grains including spelt, rice, millet, etc. These offer a nice easily digestible addition to the diet and add a variety of grains

• ½ scoop Shredded wheat bitesize – this is the lowest phosphorous form of wheat, I break them up a bit and use them as my main wheat element of the mix.

• ½ scoop Cornflakes - similar to rice crispies, I use own or value brands, whatever is lowest sugar content. They are enriched which is handy and corn isn’t a bad grain to have in terms of phosphorous.

• 1 rice cracker broken up – mainly added for a little more variety, I break into small pieces At this stage the mix looks like this

Herbs – 5%

This part of the mix offers extra flavours and textures, as well as a change to exploit some of the lovely properties many herbs have. I vary this one every time and try and add a couple of different types in. I generally use herbs sold for rabbits as they come in decent sized chunks, human herbs are chopped too finely and easily get lost in the mix. • ½ scoop Herb Plus – this is my fave rabbit herb mix, it smells lovely and has good variety in it

• ½ scoop Echinacea – This apparently has immune boosting properties (at least in the tincture form, I doubt it adds much in its herb form, but I feed it anyway), it’s a little big so I chop it up smaller, the rats eat it though it’s not there fave bit.

• 2-3 sheets Shredded Nori – seaweed is full of lots of minerals and is very useful to have in a mix, I find that cutting up dried nori sheets sold for sushi goes down well and is easy to get hold of, seaweed powder just gets lost in a mix.

Veg – 5%

This also adds some variety and extra flavours, vits and minerals. • ½ scoop Dried mixed veg – this is a mix typically sold for human soups, its leek, carrot, potato and peas. I sometimes get it in cubes, sometimes chopped for variety of texture.

• ¼ scoop Beetroot flakes – beetroot is a super food, full of all sorts of good stuff, its also a natural way to add colour to the mix (from an entirely human view lol). The rats seem to like it as it’s one of the first things to go. If it gets wet though it turns things near it pink.

• ¼ scoop Mixed pepper flakes – A nice mix of chopped, dried sweet peppers (capsicum), both red and green, colourful veg is packed full of vitamin C and it goes down well too.

At this stage the mix looks like this

Seeds – 5%

This is the final element of my mix, it ups the fat content, as aside from the protein section everything else is a fair bit lower in fat than the rats need. It also makes sure that these fats are good fats, in particular omega 3 and 6. It’s easy to cut out the good fats when your rat is overweight but don’t, the overall calories make a far bigger difference and a decent amount of good quality fats keeps there skin and coat healthy. This section also adds a bit of additional protein to the mix and can have other advantages if you choose your seeds well. • 1 scoop Mixed Seeds and pine nuts – This is a mix of good seeds I’ve made up, I always try and get them in their shells or husks to add to the task of getting in to them, it also slows down there scoffing slightly. This mix includes hemp (one of the few complete protein sources out there), linseed (otherwise known as flax, great for the kidneys), pumpkin seeds in their shells (full of nice omega oils), Pine nuts (there shells are really tough which is a great challenge to the rats), mixed meadow seeds (typically edible grass and flower seeds), fennel seeds (gives them a lovely smell) and cumin seeds. The main ones are the first few oily seeds, with the others adding variety and interest, as well as the challenge of finding them in there bedding.

• 6 Chopped brazil nuts - I add these because here in the UK, and in Europe in general, our grains are low in the mineral selenium, brazils are really high in it, so the rats don’t need much. About 1 brazil will do 4-6 rats there selenium intake for a week. I chop them up small so everyone gets a bit of them.

When everything is mixed together it looks like this

The above mix is fed in the mornings, they get about 10-20g of this mix each a day. Importantly to me it’s scatter fed, which means they have to forage for it in there substrate. It’s not just about what you feed, it’s also how you feed it. They don’t leave anything apart from husks, as I’m mean and don’t feed loads. Supplements, Veg and Fresh Food On its own it is not this mix is not 100% complete, it’s still a bit low on some vitamins and minerals, however I feed it alongside a daily mix of Veg. I also give them vitamin supplements in there water once to twice a week. These are important as the offer a safety net in terms of vitamins and help to make sure everything is covered. Even with all the balancing above, and feeding daily veg the mix is a little weak on copper, vit d and calcium. Without this the rats could become deficient, you can balance it to some extent by fresh, but I would strongly advise anyone who feeds this kind of diet to consider some supplements, having had rats with vit D deficiency in the past when I didn’t add the kibble, rabbit food etc. The following are my normal ‘extra’s • Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials 1 – this has a nice wide range of vitamins and minerals, the main ones I use it for are topping up there copper and vit D. It goes in there water 1-2 days a week, or up to 6 days a week for babies or pregnant mums

• Dr Squiggles Calcivet – this contains calcium and vitamin D, they get this alongside there daily essentials, I don’t feed this daily, even in youngsters, as the rats need time to process the calcium, so need at least a day off a week, plus too much and they can get calcium stones. 1-3 days a week is plenty for an adult, up to 6 for a baby. • Bones and egg shells – a great source of calcium, my rats always get my left over bones, they get lots of iron out of the marrow , the bones are full of calcium too. Egg shells are the same, they might get 1-2 shells a week, which they sometimes eat. If they get some of these, especially bones, I only do calcivet one day a week • Vegetable – this is fed daily, it’s a mixture of veg I make up then freeze in daily portions. It’s 50% dark green leafy veg such as kale, 20% colourful veg such as carrots, tomatoes or peppers, 20% other veg such as peas, sweetcorn, courgettes etc, 5% berries and 5%raw coconut chopped up. They adore this mix

• Cooked meal – about 1-2 times a fortnight the rats get a balanced cooked meal, this is typically carbs, protein and veg, like eggy rice with peas. It’s a bit of a treat, though a healthy one, and replaces there dry mix for the day. I use it to hide other supplements in and give them a bit of a boost. Typically it has a multivitamin powder in, some salmon or linseed oil and anything else that may be appropriate for their age and conditions (such as extra vit b and glucosamine for oldies, and phosphate binder for those with kidney issues).

Its easy enough to create your own diet based on this kind of principles, a lot is about what ingredients you can get hold of and understanding what the words mean on the ingredients list of things you find in pet shops and supermarkets, but really it’s doable for anyone. I would say that unless you really know how to judge your rats condition make sure you feed a good proportion of enriched foods (like most pet foods and human breakfast cereals) and ideally a good vitamin supplement too, and if your not sure whats wrong talk about it and don’t be afraid to change the balance a little. Someone I massively respect in the rat world once said that feeding rats is part science and part art, and from my experience that is very true. I started out relying on spread sheet and meeting the scientific requirements of my rats, but never got them beyond ‘good enough’ condition, then I relaxed a bit and started doing it more by feel and now my lads are in the best condition they’ve been, which was also verified by others at the show I went to this weekend. Its really nice when it all comes together.

Here’s a list of where you can find them in the UK (I tend to get mine all from online shops, the local farm shop or the supermarket), as well as some info on how to choose alternative brands, as I doubt the same brands are available over there Base • Banana brunch – You can get this from some pet shops, online petshops and online small holder / farm suppliers in the UK. When looking for alternatives try and find a rabbit muesli which is higher in peas/barley/beans than wheat and ideally has no alfalfa, wheatfeed or strawfeed added (or these are low down the ingredients list). Don’t just limit yourself to rabbit food, some rat, horse and guinea pig food isn’t bad as a base over here (though it might not be great for a normal meal). If you cant find any you can drop this element of the base, its just a nice cover all. Aiming for around 10-14% protein and 2-5% fat works well • Marshams Mixed flakes – Animal feed stores, online farm/small holding stores, farm and equine supply shops. Its normally easier to get hold of each product individually but that’s not massively practical with only a small number of rats. There are a variety of mixes sold here, the ones higher in barley are better, some come with added soya flakes too, which is handy. This could be replaced to some extent by more processed grains sold in health stores, less enrichment for the rats but easier to get hold of. Can work out quite expensive though and you need to get a range of grains • Versa Laga Junior Dark Plus Pigeon mix – Animal feed stores, online farm/small holding stores, bird feed specialists. if picking an alternative aim for one with a large range of grains and not too high or low protein, most pigeon feeds are predominantly corn, avoid these unless you don’t have much if any corn elsewhere in the mix. Some parrot / bird seed my make a good alternative • Paddy rice – Online bird feed stores, im sure it must be available elsewhere but that’s the only place I’ve found it here, oh and rat rations but as that started out life as an online bird feed store until the rat world got hold of it that doesn’t count. • Pearl Barley – supermarket, health food shop • Millet seeds – bird feed shops, could replace with processed millet if needed or entirely with broken up millet sprays if wanted • Millet spray broken up – pet shops, very commonly sold over here. Protein • dried shrimps, mealworms, fish, tubifex, bloodworm and krill. – sold for turtle/terrapin/fish food here in specialist exotics shops (mainly sourced online). Mealworms are very easy to get hold of and sold for wild birds. • Soya flakes – Animal feed stores, farm shops, online small holder ranges etc., can replace with roasted soya nuts (salt free) which you can make yourself by soaking dried soya beans for 12 hours and roasting for about 20-30 mins at 180 deg C. Chickpeas are another alternative (also need soaking and roasting) as is dried soya mince or similar often sold in health shops • Egg biscuit– sold as bird egg food or similar in some pet shops and bird food specialists. Could be removed and just feed fresh egg once a week. • Fish for dogs Salmon small bite kibble. – found in online petshops and their website, not sure if this brand is available in the US. Look for high end ‘natural ingredients’ dog food, aiming for fish based where possible as its higher quality. High copper content and small bite is a bonus. Can be missed out but you need to up the supplements relatively Processed Carbohydrates • Denes wholegrain mixer – Available from online pet shops, it’s a natural vegetarian mixer. Aim for high end ranges again, look for high vitamin content, especially copper. An alternative is barley rings, sold as animal feed in farm shops, small holder places etc. If your missing this out you will have to up supplements in other forms. • Rice crispies – supermarket • Mixed puffs – health food shops, rat rations (who stock pretty much everything here in the uk) • Shredded wheat bitesize – supermarket • Cornflakes - supermarket • rice cracker broken up – supermarket Herbs • Herb Plus and Echinacea – pet shops, sold as rabbit treats, alternatives is to aim for a nice mix of herbs and edible plants, can do this yourself easily enough, just get a load of fresh herbs, hang to dry on a cooling rack in somewhere warm and dry, break them up. Good herbs and plants to try are; dandelion leaves, current leaves and your commonly available human edible herbs like basil, tarragon, mint etc, Growing your own is easy to do as well. • Shredded Nori – supermarkets, Asian food shops Veg • Dried mixed veg – some supermarkets, online human food shops (sold as soup ingredients, loads of choice out there) • Beetroot flakes and pepper flakes – as above but more specialist so not in most supermarkets, there’s a vast range of options out there, some interesting ones are; kale, cabbage, mushrooms, carrot, berries, tomato etc Seeds • Mixed Seeds and pine nuts – Bird seed specialists online stock a good range of seeds still in there husks, I get pumpkin, hemp, pinenuts and linseed from them, for the others (which are a nice to have) they are sold as a special mix by versalaga for wild birds in the uk (meadow mix) or from Indian / spices suppliers (cumin and fennel), I’ve found them in my local supermarket too. If you’re struggling a human quality seed mix sold by supermarkets is a good option, or look at some of the parrot foods out there, though try and avoid those too heavy in sunflower seeds and peanuts. • brazil nuts - supermarkets (probably not needed in the US) Supplements, Veg and Fresh Food • Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials 1 and Dr Squiggles Calcivet – - bird suppliers, pet shops, mainly online. There are a lot of alternatives out there, though bird supplements seem best for calcium and vitamin d in particular. You can also use those sold for humans, such as vitamin A extracted cod liver oil (here in the Uk the brand seven seas does a good one that does several rat doses when fed once a week in a wet meal) for both of those. Copper is easily fixed by feeding liver regularly, you can make liver treats which make a good way of topping rats up (let me know if you want the recipe). I also add ground up human supplements for vitamin d and calcium to these, baking destroys some of the nutrients but not all. Its always worth looking at other animals supplements too, some are very useful for rats, some of the senior dog ones are very handy for old rats in particular for example. • Bones and egg shells – left overs, alternatively here in the UK butchers will often give you free or very cheap bones for dogs, you can roast these or even feed raw in many cases. • Vegetables – supermarket, some fresh, some ready frozen, • Cooked meal – whatever’s in the house, mainly carb with some healthy protein, bit of oil and any veg I’ve got or some natural wet dog food, fish for dogs do a nice salmon mousse that’s great as a treat for the boys. I’m sure you can find similar quality stuff in the US, the trick is read the ingredients, if there’s any you don’t recognise then it’s probably not great quality. If anyones not sure of anything then if you can get it's ingredients and nutrition and bung it on here myself or someone else thats spent a bit of time on rat nutrition will probably be able to help.

It probably works out around £2.50per kg, which is cheaper than anything decent here in the uk. My rats get about 60g a day (I have 5 boys) so it works out roughly £5 a month, then theres veg and such on top. That is down to buying some stuff in bulk from farm shoos though, as I have sone local friends I split it with.

Oh and it keeps pretty well in a good container, as long as the oldest ingredient. Normally I make up monthly batches and keep the unmixed stuff in a sealed box in my shed. This lasts typically 6 months

It evolved over the years. Next time you make yours just try adding a couple ingredients or changing a few whilst keeping the balance the same. over time your mix will develop to. To be honest mine had changed since this again lol, I've found a bit more banana brunch seemed to improve my boys coat, and oddly less veg to (though they still get it a couple times a week). out just goes to show that you can play around to find the right food for your rats if you know how to judge condition

#rat #rats #ratblr #diet #rat reference #rat food

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photoforumpasquart · 5 years

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Matheline Marmy

A conversation between Jan Verwoert and Matheline Marmy, talking about recent works.

JV: Are we running?

MM: Yep.

JV: We are in the exhibition space, what are we looking at?

MM: So we are looking at pieces made out of a certain kind of plastic which is a copolyester. It’s something that I could form as the melting point is super low, so I could work on it with a simple heat gun and then construct it in a very empirical way, both of them. They unfold from previous research on containers for water. They are basically the follow-up of this research of how to create a container for experiments that I’ve been working on previously. These were experiments around rusting elements and into small transformations that happen autonomously under certain conditions.

JV: So on the inside we have certain substances that are exposed to water and then the chemicals cause the rusting. Or what happens on the inside?

MM: Basically yes, this is it. Right now, they are not fully activated so some of the small canals or veins, however you would like to call them, contain only water, or water and salt. Where the reaction is actually happening, there’s a copper wire that I dismantled from an electric cable and the reaction is happening with an acid, salt and water that were poured into this tube. And yeah, the process simply continues to happen. So at first it takes an hour or two to take a slightly darker color and then the blue appears. And now there is also black happening inside. So I don't really know how it will unfold.

JV: What we are witnessing is a chemical reaction in real-time?

MM: Yes, and also as I said previously, some of the tubes or veins will be activated at the beginning of the exhibition and some will dry during the exhibition due to the evaporation.

JV: And this work has evolved from another body of works where you were working with algae on photosensitive paper.

MM: I would say it was maybe another thread of the same kind of ideas. Last year I was working on this algae-based emulsion that was itself coming from a more photographic process. I stopped trying to obtain images coming from that kind of constellation and I became more interested in the algae itself, what it was bringing as a sphere of reflection and in terms of resonances.

JV: But also, what we were witnessing there was a real-time process because the algae all the time were changing color as they were interacting with the light.

MM: Yeah, exactly so that algae basically contain a high level of green pigmentation and like every kind of natural pigment, it is supersensitive to UV, right? Sunlight. And what I've done with this series of work was to cover a surface with an emulsion made of this algae and then I choose not to fix them or protect them as a final stage of what could be a photograph or a photographic process. So in this way they still potentially react if shown in space or are shown to the sunlight by slightly fading and changing color. Actually it's not algae but cyanobacteria. Maybe I need to be precise, so it’s a unicellular bacteria. So the one I worked with had a high range of green and also a range of blue. So what happens is that the green tends to disappear before the blue. The timing now is slightly different. And also what is different with the plastic work, is that it doesn't fade away, it is more that there is this oxidation layer that appears on the wire. So it's something that grows rather than something that fades. So maybe there is a small inversion here in terms of how the works parallel each other.

JV: In both cases this stuff is alive, in a way. Like the bacteria are alive in the same way that the metal in the oxidation is somehow a live process.

MM: I'm interested into provoking a sort of feeling that something could eventually be alive or whatever you mean by this, well active in a sense at least. And also the fading of the bacteria's and the apparition of the copper rust, are depending on their own time lapse, so I think this is something important. The apparition of the oxidation and how it continues to grow or stops at some point is something that is actually independent from any timing decision of mine.

JV: I remember you started working in photography and went for photography in installation and you once wrote that in this transition, you were interested in finding these pockets of time. A work that could be its own pocket of time and now it feels like time is almost breaking out of the pocket.

MM: That's an interesting idea. I've read something somewhere I think in a book of Timothy Morton that things can emit time and I'm very interested in this idea, because somehow it gives a possibility for a material experiment that is also very simple like rust appearing on the surface, to be observed through another kind of lens. All the works that I've done, had either an interest in time, in the sense that time is maybe not a tool but a piston, in addition with a main provocative element such as water here.

JV: It's a powerful thing to say that these elements don't exist in time but they emit time, they create, time is emerging from them, it's copper time and algae time.

MM: I hope that this is something that eventually we can grasp from the work so that they study their own form of evolution, and once provoked by me, the solution can just appear in the space. And I also think that the possibility that the work can emit a form of time just gives it its autonomy in an exhibition space, or in constellation with others.

JV: It's life other than we know, and that is a state of autonomy I guess. But you once said these memorable things regarding the collaboration with a material both in relation to the bacteria now and in relation to water that you admitted that you had chosen to work with an uncooperative element or uncooperative agent I think you said.

MM: (Laughs)

JV: On one hand you evoke the economy of something that is emitting its own time. On the other hand we have a trans-human collaboration where the human agent has chosen to collaborate with an uncooperative agent because the water goes wherever it wants to go and bacteria goes wherever they want to go. So after working with these uncooperative agents for a sustained amount of time, what's your experience?

MM: I think that I have learnt a lot about how to work with these materials and every time working with a new material requires a certain amount of experience before being able to find a way in its qualities, somehow. As I said that those two pieces were made in a super empirical way and it happens that it breaks, and it happens that it leaks, and I also have to deal with that and try to find working tools. It's very much a matter of fact, how to deal with things. For me it has been as much as we talked about this philosophical ideas of how to work with the agency of materials, and try to deal with that, it also has been super down-to-earth to try to achieve this and find solutions to actually make it happen. I would say that there is also a romantic idea of how to work with water as an element, a change provoking element, but also it has been very much concrete decisions.

JV: I keep thinking how did the farmers relate to the changing seasons when I assume a lot of things that you said would relate to your art practice but traditionally it would've also related to people farming.

MM: Yeah, maybe, because when you're into it it's a lot about how to find the right plastic, making tests that week and then you have to find another way. Remember the time you came into my studio and I filled the first bag with water and it broke at that point. Art to me is also every time about how to find solutions to these small problems.

JV: While there is this wider horizon of understanding the elements that you've chosen to interact with.

MM: Yes, I think this cooperation or this comprehension or incomprehension of an element comes just for me from the making, and then with a little bit of distance, there is another level of dialogue with it.

Matheline Marmy and Jan Verwoert, 04.07.2019

Photo: NASA pictures

#matheline marmy #exhibition space #flare #magazine #photoforumpasquart #biel #bienne #en #photography #talk #jan verwoert #chemical reaction

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haikyuuau · 6 years

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on your left (kageyama tobio x reader)

Part 1: unromantic

[on your left, engaged au! – part 2 of the "awkward love" series]

//professional volleyball player! kageyama x newscaster! reader// word count: 2026 words

a/n: this is a crack fic that was inspired by a scene from Captain America The Winter Soldier.

“On your left” is a term that is shouted at slow pedestrians, slow cyclists, slow skaters while passing on their left side, often used as an insult to indicate that someone is extremely slow

“Thank you so much for making time to come over today. It is an actual honour to have you here with us today. First of all, congratulations to your success and excellent plays in the recent national volleyball game, Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun,” the radio host, Kise Ryota settled down in his seat and spoke into the microphone quickly to which Kageyama blushed badly at the compliment.

“Thank you for having me here today,” Kageyama quickly replied, pressing his temples to soothe his hangover and taking a quick swig of water and mentally cursing Hinata for dragging him to the bar yesterday after a long practice while Hinata simply sniggered at his actions.

“So recently it has come to our attention that #kageyamaonyourleft is trending on Twitter. Would you mind explaining to us the meaning of this hashtag?” Kise quickly glanced at his script with an amused smile adorning his face, implying that he was aware of the reason for said hashtag.

The second Kise finished his statement and the clip capturing the exact scene started playing, Hinata simply looked to the side, trying to suppress his laughter while the redness of Kageyama’s face intensified as he recalled the events that led up to today.

Picture this. Normally, couples would enjoy walking together with a dog accompanying them on their peaceful walk that usually consisted of hand-holding, telling lame jokes, communicating their life, spending quality time together and admiring the scenery around their neighbourhood.

Well, unfortunately, Kageyama was anything but normal and in fact, he enjoyed doing things out of the norms.

Flashback start

After the engagement, Kageyama and you decided to move in together, seeing that your busy careers seriously limited the time you spent together and Kageyama was actually happy to be able to spend quality time with you though he repeatedly stated that you would serve as a burden to him and act as a deadweight.

However, there was a major problem. As someone with years of experience in cross country, it was undeniable that you possessed some form of athletic abilities in which Kageyama was salty about. Aside from the fact that you were somewhat socially awkward, you were capable in your studies, attending Tokyo University which was the best university in Japan, you were dubbed as one of the most influential women (previously bachelorette) in the world at the age of 25 and you were someone that excelled well in your career. To tell the truth, if not for your parents’ hopes for you to become a newscaster, you would probably be a runner that represented Japan in the running category.

As your fiance, he was definitely proud of your success at such a young age and he celebrated your success together, eating together in fancy restaurants whenever volleyball training permitted him to and going on dates to Tokyo tower which he finally learnt, was not a transmission tower. However, your success also fuelled his competitiveness which was a trait that he brought with him after his graduation from Karasuno High School. He simply disliked losing and if there was one thing the both of you liked, it would be morning runs before work began.

Intense concentration was written all over Kageyama’s face as he attempted to soothe his breathing patterns, determined not to lose to someone that wasn’t an Olympian. It was meant to be a normal run in the morning until he had proudly declared to you early in the morning that he would go easy on you because you didn’t undergo the intense stamina training sessions that he was subjected to regularly. He knew that this was untrue because you regularly worked out in the gym to keep fit and had the stamina of a bull and you had calmly replied to him, “Sure Kageyama.” Challenge accepted.

He was proven wrong again at the intense pace that he had set for himself due to his competitive nature and his fear to lose because his pride and dignity was on the line and he began to slow down, starting to lose track of his stamina. Due to the success of the national volleyball team, people on the street easily recognised him as the rising star setter and attempted to approach him for an autograph but the scowl that was permanently stuck on his face said otherwise.

“On your left,” you whispered loudly as you passed by him, grinning to yourself as though it was a major accomplishment, speeding up once he had heard you. “SHut up (Y/N)” was all he thought in his mind and he seriously wondered if you were Hinata in disguise with the insane stamina, thinking about how you still had the breath to talk when you guys were literally running a whopping 7-mile pace. Determined not to let the gap between the two of you widen and thus lose, he quickly wiped off his sweat with the sleeve of his dry fit shirt (that was soaked at this point in time) and caught up with you when you guys were at the pond area of the park while shouting vulgarities at you.

Unaware of the attention that he had received thanks to his harmless action and the fact that someone was recording this whole ordeal on Instagram, the two of you continued to run together. To the bystanders around you, you guys seemed like adversaries and were anything but a normal couple. You two were running neck to neck and at this point in time, you were pushing the limits of your tired out muscles while Kageyama was gritting his teeth so hard that you swore that you could hear it snap. People were shouting out encouragements to you, recognising you as the famous bachelorette that recently got engaged. Some people were even taking sides and betting on who would win while you attempted to flash bright smiles at them to get them to support you and boo at Kageyama to lower his morale.

Honestly, this seemed more like an election campaign right now.

Looking forward, you saw that you were approaching the corner of the park where a slope stood and a chin-up bar was oddly enough placed there. You took a glance at Kageyama and realised that there was no way you were going to win as you noticed that Kageyama was slowly pulling ahead of you and gave a smug smile, indicating that he was aware of that and you mouthed to him, “Screw you.” You were fully aware that Kageyama was better than you at inclined areas of running and considered the consequences of the decision that you had made at the last second.

Summoning your inner parkour self, you took a leap of fate and prayed that Kageyama would save you should you fail because you didn’t know how to swim and swung across the bars to arrive at the other side. You looked up to see Kageyama narrowing his eyes and shout out, “Don’t say it, don’t you dare say it.” Upon landing perfectly, you yelled to Kageyama before proceeding to sprint even faster, “On your left.”

“Come on!” a frustrated groan from the back of you fuelled your motivation to hasten your footsteps and dash even faster to the bench that signalled the finishing line which looked like a scene straight out of the cartoon. Giving a winning smile, you threw your hands up high and finally slowed down your steps.

Pointing to Kageyama in the stance that you knew Oikawa used to annoy Kageyama in his high school days, you held your arm by your hip, mimicking Kageyama’s actions in the morning and purposely lowered your voice to sound like Kageyama’s pitch, saying, “Next time, I will go easy on you.”

“Shut up you cheated, you idiot,” Kageyama clenched his sides, indicating that the stitches had started kicking in.

“It is called being resourceful and not being an idiot when there is an easy way out and for your information, you are the one that proposed to me so too late,” you reached for your toes easily without breaking a sweat, stretching your tired muscles.

You waved to the supporters on the opposite side of the park and yelled to the ones who betted that you would win, “Enjoy your free meal.”

Hopping onto the back of Kageyama’s back and hearing a faint “oof” from him, you were glad you had won the bet and teased, “Now for your walk of shame.”

“Onward you peasant!”

Flashback end

“I think that the video speaks for itself,” Kageyama stated after the laughter in the studio died down and proceeded to say, “The scores are currently 4 to 5, 4 to (Y/N) and 5 to me.”

“I am beginning to feel that (Y/N) was the one that went easy on you though. She looked effortless while she was running while you looked like you were in pain,” Hinata pointed out, ignoring the glare that Kageyama was sending to him.

“Better start working out before you become so slow that (Y/N) runs away from you,” Kise laughed and continued, “But this kind of confirms that you have a special kind of Chemistry between you two right? I mean it was very shocking when the rumours that the two rising celebrities were dating.”

Scratching his head, Kageyama was slightly embarrassed and looked down on the floor before answering, “I mean it is probably a bit surprising for me to say this but as a couple, we probably do things that are not very normal and it is hard for us to find time for one another. I think our interests and acceptance are probably the reasons why we are still together today and I am thankful for what she has ever done for me. Moving in together, we learnt to adjust to one another’s quirks and grow together. I am proud to say that I am her fiancé and I seriously love her to death even though I don’t really express it to her. I don’t think I have ever said ‘I love you’ to her in a long time so this pretty much affirms our relationship together.”

Hearing that, everyone let out an “aww” sound and even the cameraman started saying, “Goals, pure goals.” Once most of the people in the room settled down, Kise ended the interview, saying, “There we have it folks, the one and only rising star, Kageyama who shares his insights with us on marriage life.”

Honestly, Kageyama couldn’t wait to get back home to see your reaction when you saw the interview and he smiled softly, glad that he had married a woman like you despite how annoying you were.

Omake

“(Y/N), we are starting in 10 seconds,” the cameraman reminded you as you quickly drank a sip of water to quench your thirst, ignoring the hard copy script on your paper. Regaining your composure, you swiftly smoothed down your blouse and skirt, replying “Roger that.”

“Welcome back to Breaking News on Sunday Nights. I am (Y/N) and I will be your host today,” you gave your usual greetings and flashed a welcoming smile, proceeding to read the lines on the teleprompter.

Unaware that the video of you and Kageyama’s morning run incident had become viral, you continued delivering the news calmly and effortlessly, “Today, we have some breaking news with us. Last Sunday, Kageyama Tobio, one of Japan’s national volleyball team members was spotted in the Miyaji, Sanriku Fukko National Park with fiancée, (Y/N) (L/N). The two seemed to be engaged in a competition as they ran along the perimeter of the park. Before reaching the finishing line, the woman grabbed the chin up bar and leapt across the pond in order to win. The spectacle was captured by a bystander and the video he posted on Instagram has since spread like wildfire."

Upon realising what you were reporting on, your face quickly reddened and you tried to recover by continuing to say, “She beat Kageyama and she is proud of it.”

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ttsbl0g · 4 years

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17th November 2019

Studio recording

When I first went into the studio to finally record my song I was slightly nervouse because it would be my first time properly using all the equipment and recoding a song. I had two practise attempts before starting the recording to make sure I was ready and prepared to do the final recording.

When I first heared my recording I wasnt very happy with it because I pictured it sounding completely different, I felt that I needed more rehearsal and could of practiced singing my recording song more than i did. Also i wasnt happy I took the feedback I got from my recoding and applied it to my unit 26 singing solo.

To make sure I was prepared for my exam I made sure my voice was properly warmed up. Because when singing in to the mic it will be able to pick up any and every sound that you create so I wanted to make sure my voice sounded good. I also used the tips diamantina gave me.

1. Quick 5 min vocal warm up to make sure I would be able to hit high notes and stay on pitch

2. Stand 12cm aways from the mic, making sure the distance was still comfortable for me

3. Better to have one side of the headphone off your ear so that you were able to hear yourself when singing, so you know if you’re off pitch or not

Breath control

Breathe control is one of the most significant element when it comes to sing. Doing exercises to help with lung capacity (taking in large amounts of oxygen) can help you reach higher notes and also help you hold notes for longer when necessary. Having great breathe control your quality of tone and pitch can be made better and it can really make your sound go from 0-100. In my recording my breath control wasnt the best as I was really nervouse I struggled to catch my breath between singing different notes. This led to my voice sounding very shakey this also meant that i wasnt on pitch when singing.

Characterisation- 1 min 40 sec

My characterisation was good as I was able to make the song my own.Its very important because it means the song would be different to the original.

Dynamics- 2 mins

I incorporated my own dynamics to be different to the original song. I had to work on making the song on suiting my own voice as the song is suited to the original artist.

When using the mic I was very confident. Learning to use the equipment during my studio rehearsals helped me with my nerves as I already knew how to use them.

Timing- The whole song

I was able to stay in time to the track when singing, due to the amount of practice I had, although my timing was good I feel like it could of been much better if id had managed my breath control better.

To conclude there were parts of my recording that were really strong such as staying in time, my articulation when pronouncing the words. I also had great use of my head and chest voice. I was able to achieve all these things due to the practise i did in my spare time and during my lessons. Doing so this helped a lot with my confidence and my posture which released a lot of tension off my body which aslso helped me produced a more smoother and nicer sound when i sang. I am very proud and happy I got the opportunity to do a recoding as this was later able to help me to improve my singing solo. From this recording I learnt that you should always be confident and try your best even if you don’t believe in yourself because it will always later benefit you and make you want to do better.

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thesteveyates · 5 years

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This week i was down at the yard one evening when i happened to bump into Chris the boss who was slinging the next boat due to go down the slip. Chris was just back from an early season sail with some of his university students : his main job being a university lecturer at the maritime college. It was that kind of evening when neither of us were in a rush to get stuff done so, like the old seadogs we pretend to be, we had a good ‘gam’ about stuff that we were doing.

We both come at our sailing from completely different backgrounds and experiences of boats : mine being very much ‘IOR’ but also with a few years knocking around a boatyard. Chris probably has even more ocean miles that i do, is definitely as experienced a long distance sailor and is far better a boatman and all round fixer of boat problems.

For some reason we got to talking about simple boat designs and came around to ‘Bolger-boxes‘, we don’t have any of the late Phil Bolger’s designs in the yard although we had been talking about simple-but-functional boats which lots of the craft in the yard are…..rather than the pretty and the conventional. Chris actually knew of a Bolger design that he was very enthusiastic about but one which doesn’t feature in my book of Bolger‘s designs….one that he thought might interest me. I’ll come back to the actual boat in a moment…the thrust of our conversation being along the lines of the difficulty of finding larger boats (than mine) that are offshore capable and will lie upright in a creek or on the beach. Chris, like me, is a great believer in being able to do that, in fact it has been Chris’s knowledge of the west-country rivers that has opened up many of the great little shallow anchorages to me and WABI”’

The ‘Bolger-box‘ that Chris mentioned by the way is a cat-yawl design called ‘Romp’ and it’s one i’d never heard of nor ever knowingly seen a picture of : there aren’t even that many photographs of the design on the internet. Here’s the boat (below) that our man was talking about, and yes it’s one that could get my enthusiasm running and yes, it’s definitely an oddball one.

Firstly, i can exactly imagine this one sitting comfortably on the firm sand/mud of Ruan creek , or anywhere else for that matter, i can easily imagine taking her across to France and then parking her on the mud far up one of the Brittanny rivers and i bet she would be a comfortable boat to live aboard and voyage with. I don’t reckon she would be a good upwind boat in the channel as, if anything, she looks like a little barge…..in fact i want to go very ‘left-field’ here and suggest that she might even be better with leeboards just like a real barge.

As with the boats that Chris and me were talking about this one holds the same practical and functional appeal as my little boat does. Aside from a couple of mentions in Bolger related websites i haven’t found out much more yet about the design or the few that have been built.

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Today, that one wasn’t really what i came to talk about as this post is ‘one for the weekend‘, that is , the series in which i highlight boats that are on the market through Ebay and which i think are worth a look at.

About a year ago my own decision making about boats was almost exactly hanging between ‘proper’ offshore and ocean going boats , classic cruiser-racers say and the much more specialised boats geared towards shallow draft and drying out. It should be pretty obvious which way i have gone with that now but a year ago i was on the verge of buying this boat just before my knee became a real problem.

This is the actual boat we went to see down at Portland marina/boatyard and spent the morning aboard having a very thorough examination of. She was already on the brokerage at a fair price although the owner really wanted to get rid of her and at that stage had put her up for auction on Ebay…..which was when i picked up on her. I covered the boat briefly once before, for those that don’t remember it’s a ‘Javelin’ half tonner to the older IOR rule and had been a competitive racer briefly and then a very capable cruiser-racer. I was very tempted to make an offer on the Javelin as i thought her crude race boat interior would be easily converted into a much more comfortable boat for a couple and to be honest, this is the kind of boat that i grew up with in the ISORA circuit.

I thought then, and still think now, that the Javelin would have been a competent and fairly quick cruiser-racer for genuine offshore cruising although the compromise would have been her inability to dry out easily and i think i would have been nervous about trying to dry her out on beaching legs.

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What actually happened here is that my knee needed a more urgent rebuild and i couldn’t take the Javelin project any further at that time. I happen to think that she would have made a very capable cruiser almost along the same lines as Free-Range sailing’s ‘Mirrool’…the limitation with the Javelin being the 5 foot draft.

The first reason i am highlighting the Javelin half-tonner again today is that i still happen to believe a 30 foot ,early GRP boat would make an excellent long term cruising boat for a young couple….again just like Troy and Pascale’s ‘Mirrool’. The Javelin is slightly more extreme a boat with her fin keel rather than the semi-long keel and i suspect both a bit quicker and a bit wetter a sailing boat in a breeze upwind.

The second reason i am highlighting the Javelin today is that there is one for sale/Auction on Ebay right now and it’s a boat that i have actually seen out sailing. Its a slightly strange coincidence but when i was passing Lymington one evening on the ‘Inanda’ trip there was an evening race in that end of the Solent and the Javelin was one of the boats that came past me…..i was a bit too busy dodging weekend racing yachties to get photographs.

Anyway, here she is and a very low starting cost. When she came past me her sails looked good and flat , she looked very balanced and well behaved too. I had a quick look through the sale details, obviously the 2 Javelin’s are very different boats, the one i saw had a very new looking engine but would have needed new sails and an interior rebuild….the current one on Ebay has very nice looking sails, very high quality deck gear and a conventional looking cruiser-racer interior…..the downside if anything might be the old engine although i haven’t seen it so can’t comment on that.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Javelin-30-Sailing-Yacht-Boat-Fin-Keel-1974/264274947404?hash=item3d8803ad4c:g:5FsAAOSwkDtcMdDI

Not related but this is where i fetched up that evening.

One for the project shed then.

Back to the boatyard then and two sailors having a good gam about boats. Something i have often said here on the blog is that up until about 20 years ago i had a very narrow view of boats and an equally limited ‘type’ experience. I was a bit like a stick of rock (except fatter) ….if you’d sliced me across the middle you would have found the letters ‘IOR’ running right through the middle !. It wasn’t until i left professional sailing behind completely that i discovered that there were ‘other’ boats out there and that some of them were far more functional craft than the race dinosaurs that i sailed.

Chris, as i have said, has a much more broad base of past experience than i do and he has sailed far more different kinds of boats than i have….at one point i was enthusing about a ‘Freedom’ design in the yard …..and he immediately told me about a passage that he’d recently done in one and how good that one was off the wind.

While we were chatting away i noticed the alloy mast of an obviously small boat on the other side of the reed-beds just around the next bend in the river and clearly coming upriver on the evening tide.

Chris said that it was a group of lads who had rescued an old and basic sailing boat and were enthusiastically trying to get it sailing again. More enthusiasm and less cash was the impression i got from Chris….and good for them too. There are so many small potentially viable project boats out there that just need a lot of enthusiasm, some work and some money, not much….that would make great little boats at low cost.

Chris used two expressions that were so memorable that i’m going to repeat them here : ‘run what you brung’ which is a bikers expression , basically meaning sail with what you have and don’t waste time wishing you had something better, second : “Its all valid“…in terms of boats…..the boat might not be pretty or a great marque but it can still give you as much adventure as you can handle. I was once a kind of boat snob but today i see where Chris is going with that idea : that it doesn’t really matter what you own, it’s the adventure, and i think the process of learning that’s important.

I really admire that kind of approach as it reminds me of my first boat, a very bad East German Folkboat and then the boat that an old ‘Whitbread‘ mate of mine and his brother owned between them …a rough secondhand Achilles 24. Both boats were very secondhand ,rough and worth very little, and both of them taught us stacks about the basics of going to sea in small craft We can then both then trace our sailing stories up to a kind of pinnacle that took us right round the world under sail via the great capes and in the longest fully crewed yacht race that existed back then. Most of us in that crew came from a background of sailing small and not-great boats and anyone that was useful had some key skill to offer that they’d had to learn from running those boats.

Some time during that race i had to splice up big rope to wire halyards and i only knew how to do that because i’d had to learn that technique for my folkboat….likewise when we blew the head out of the blast reacher it was Sam who hand sewed the head ring back in place because he’d learnt that aboard his Achilles. As i remember it he watched me splice and i helped him with the sail……a couple of years later and i was doing a similar sail repair myself just from having it seen done once : in medicine we have an expression “see one, do one, teach one” !

So, i’m going to make a point here. I honestly think that not having a big budget for a new boat and/or taking on a project boat at some point in our sailing lives (preferably early on) makes us much better sailors ultimately. That’s because we have to do what countless generations of sailors (not yachtsmen) have had to do and that is improvise : make and mend is the sailors expression. I might be slightly weird but i happen to think that having a not great boat early on also teaches a lot about basic seamanship especially if that little boat has to be sailed nearly everywhere.

So, here is the point of the pointy end today….

Right now on Ebay there are several viable project boats coming and going, here is just one of them and exactly the kind of thing i would be looking for if i was just coming into the game with a few hundred pounds in my pocket and maybe the chance to put a few hundred more into the boat. It certainly doesn’t have to be THE boat, in fact it’s probably better if the first one is on the rough side : then you won’t worry too much about learning the basic skills on it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Listang25-sailing-boat/382888835082?hash=item5925f3f80a:g:pA0AAOSwN0hcqeIv

Lets say you were a young sailor who was looking for their first boat, or maybe someone who was on a very tight budget but wanted to go cruising. A project boat like this could teach you every stage of getting a boat on the water if you just decided to do as much of it as you could yourself. Learning how to do a simple GRP repair or just sorting the mast out and stepping it with maybe a mate to help….it can be done… or maybe building a basic electrical system out of a 12 volt battery, a PV panel and some wiring. It’s all useful stuff for the day you really have to repair something in the southern ocean or out on a long cruise where there are no marinas and boatyards.

Ok, so the Listang isn’t the prettiest of boats and it’s pretty far down the project slope except that it’s got a hull/deck , keel and mast, some sails and gear. Right now it’s only one of 3 or 4 just on Ebay and of course they appear and disappear every week. This week there is a complete hull for £50…you couldn’t build a new hull for that….or how about a Sadler 25 that’s been sat in a field for 5 years ?…..there is one on the site right now.

I reckon that if you could get that little boat on the water with very little hard cash spent but with some hours work done and basic skills learnt ….that you would know far more about boats and your little boat specifically than the wealthy but incompetent couple on their brand new 40 footer with all the toys and a still wet day-skipper certificate.

One for the creek, one for the shed and one for the weekend. This week i was down at the yard one evening when i happened to bump into Chris the boss who was slinging the next boat due to go down the slip.

#Calstock boatyard #Javelin #project boat

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nathanielbrennan-blog · 5 years

Text

Research Report

BA (Hons) Photographic Arts

Major Project 1

Research Report

Name: Nathaniel Brennan

Major Project Title: Who’s that?

Research Methods

I don’t know if I've used a specific method for my research, I’ve just found/come across other pieces of work that I feel correlate with my project. Whether that's through the concept/foundations or the imagery. I’ve found myself buying a lot of books lately, a lot of photo books from various different artists and photographers with various different concepts. Not always relating to mine. However, there's always been something I could take from the works, even if it was just the composition of images or layout within the book. Gathering a personal library of books has probably been the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. Having convenient references around me really spurred me on to produce more work towards my project idea and the language combined with different concept and context has really helped me make more sense of my own project and explaining it in my proposal.

Pilot Project

Through doing my Pilot Project the first thing I realised is that my second idea is far more interesting and exciting to me than my first idea. I recognised that its actually going to be possible to produce the idea I want to convey effectively. The Pilot project has taught me about the different formats I can present my work in, and where I can take it. I've learnt that I really need to take my time with my project and produce the best quality film images I can because when exhibiting in prints and in books they need to be perfect to have the best effect on the paper its printed on. For my Pilot, I used aspects of my main idea just tweaked differently for the subjects and work I had. After completing my Pilot a lot of things to do with layout and structure became more clearer to me and showed me the best formats and layouts to use in my final piece.

Audience and Context

This is very interesting. I would say for my project it's extremely important to be aware of the public expectation, that’s what I want to work with. For my project, the more relatable it is for the viewer the better. The history surrounding stereotypes is something I’m trying to showcase in the work I produce. I mean, it kind of already helps that my subjects play into the typical stereotypes but I feel the work that comes after will juxtapose this. To be honest, I don’t think I would change an idea of mine to suit a context people would more generally understand, I have my idea, I produce it, the people can have their own opinion/point of view. Stereotypes are pretty general in everyday life and I’m sure people will understand the terms I use in company with the images

Production and Presentation

There have been multiple different formats I’ve wanted to present my work with this term, more than I have in my previous projects. Throughout my pilot I’ve been working with physical digital prints, a format I don’t usually use in my work because I mainly use film. How I present my work factors massively into my project I’ve come to realise. If I’m looking to create an immersive atmosphere I want it to be as relatable and as grasping as possible but at the same time easy to understand. For my Pilot I decided to create zines, putting personal info and a Q&A section for both subjects. To show comparison and similarities. However, the idea of audio with conversations speaks to me more. Allowing the viewer to actually hear the individual I feel would create more of a picture for the viewer in their head.

The presentation is big, especially in regards to image choice and layout throughout my work. A lot of editing decisions had to be made in regards to image choice. I needed coherence, and powerful atmospheres to come through my images, as well as my text. What questions to ask and where to put the text was a stressful process for me. I'm so precise with my work so every detail has to be to best it could be or the most effective it could be. I was determined to show a coherent flow in my images and easy exploration of text and structure throughout. Something I feel I accomplished well in my Pilot. So overall a lot of critical decisions were made during the making process of my work. A lot of decisions that could really make or break my project. I feel I handled it well and I feel the work will be something easy for the viewer to grasp. I had to make sure they had the best possible chance at giving an insight into my subjects and concept. had to be made during the process of my zines to make sure they had the best effect possible so the viewer has the be the best insight possible. This aspect is critical for my concept and I feel I did it justice. Obviously room for improvement though.

Visual References / Bibliography

Throughout this module visual references have been at all time high for me. I usually find myself getting books out of the uni library but this time I’ve been very fortunate with the bookstores that have been loyal to me. Each day I’ve been going in and finding a new book nearly every time. Not necessarily in coherence with my concept but defiantly for structure, composition and image layout/presentation

- Albert Watson Mad Dog Schirmer/Mosel

This is a book acquired from my local bookstore. One of my favourite books I’ve recently bought. Like my other books, the majority, if not all the images in black and white. However what stands out to me the most the composition of photos, contrasts and the layout of the photos. I'm a huge fan of deep tones throughout black and white which is another aspect I want to try and display in my work. I love the juxtaposition of images next to one another. No matter how different it may look from the one next to it, there's something strange linking the two together. Maybe something I might incorporate in my day in the life zines. Finally, the small crops/images In the middle or top corners is another layout style I really like. Minimalist work appeals to me just as much and big collage pieces.

- Brick Magazine Inspiration

Brick Magazine is a fairly new published magazine giving insight into the latest musical artist, producers and youth culture. This issue, in particular, is one of my favourites with my some of my favourite artist and some of the nicest/most interesting photographs and composition. Throughout the magazine, there is constant conversations and stories about said individuals. The text layout on top of the fully bled imaged is something I want to try and bring to my zines I make for the project, as well as the hard-hitting close-up portraits.

Spike Lee Book Inspiration

‘The Films of Spike Lee Five for Five. A behind the scenes photo documentary of five Spike Lee films, documented by his brother David Lee. What stood out to me the most was the composition, layout of the images and their content throughout the book. Very old school feel and traditional layout, atmospheric images. Each image made me feel so familiar with the subjects and the characters they play In the films. The powerful angles, a mixture of soft and deep black and white tones. The composition and rawness of the images spoke volumes to me. The documentary style is something I want to implement in certain areas of my project, mainly in relation to my second idea.

Dana Lixenburg - Her project Imperial Courts 1

The relationship she has built purely through photography and revisiting over a certain period of years with these strangers in LA is something I find so inspiring. Having individuals become familiar enough with you to allow them to take their photo while not even knowing you is a huge achievement in its self but the portraits that come of it are even more remarkable. The full body to 3/4 body portraits of these less fortunate individuals speaks volumes to the viewer. The crisp detail and emotion captured leaves the viewer's empathy throbbing. Something I'm hoping to accomplish with my projects, just in slightly different ways. I've found in my own work, the more comfortable I get with new friends and old the more they will show of themselves In a photograph. I'm not talking about literally showing more of their body but more into how they are feeling In a certain moment, a true representation of a particular aspect an individual has. Whether that's a happy or aggressive side. Something I feel can be taken away from the images in this body of work.

Larry Clark

My second place of inspiration comes from Larry Clark and his body of he produced titled Tulsa. Not so much in the content of images but the foundations behind his work. Larry Clark happened to know some very different individuals, people he would be around every day. Absolutely fascinated by his friends be decided to document them in the book Tulsa. I feel very privileged to know the individuals I know (how Larry Clark might have felt) and I want the world or others to know of these individuals. I want to show the talent I’m surrounded by and how influential they can be. The candid photos which also make up this body of work is an aspect I’m looking to implicate with my project ideas as well. Creating more of a picture to the type of atmospheres generated by these individuals. A possible insight, just how Clark has accomplished with these images.

#6IMAG001W.1 #FMP

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pelaanthony-blog · 7 years

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☾Extended Project: The Secondary Research (Technical) ☾

When it comes to a technical side of drawing, as an Art Director, I needed to decide what would be the best way to produce work that would then be sent to the 3D modellers later on in the process. The work being sent needed to be clear and also come with image planes for the 3D modellers to work off of, all new skills for the artists to work on. Straight away, this was a difficult task for all memebers of my art group, including myself, as none of us had ever drawn an image plane before. I personally struggled with having to imagine something from a different angle or 3D perspective. Because I struggled with this, I couldn’t help the other artists so instead I showed them examples on the internet, YouTube tutorials and asked Callum, a 3D artist, to help explain how to create an image plane so that he can use. I created a few image planes throughout this project but I believe I will need more practice as I’m still not getting all the proportions correctly drawn and that would have made it hard for the 3D artists to work off of.

Image Plane for Eliza

From my own personal skill point, I mainly draw digitally as I feel there is less pressure to design the correct thing first try, and I also feel digital drawing is crisper, with the possibility to edit the picture with so many more tools. My biggest decision on my own personal level was choosing what colouring techniques I preferred, whether that was through paint or water colour.

Paint (Left) and Watercolour (Right)

Both look very different; paint being a very solid, thick colour, whereas water colour glides around the page and is fairly translucent. I love that paint can bring that rich colour and really emphasise an area of a drawing. I think that paint can give a drawing a more professional look due to the boldness of the colour. In terms of our project, paint would be a very good option as, even though the game is dark, it includes a lot of bright purples and greens, something paint could portray very well. On the other hand, water colour, even though soft, can create quite an eery tone due to its ‘watered-down’ colour tones. It brings a sense of mystery and shadow that again, would fit well within our game as we need to included that sense of mystery and curiosity.

To combat this issue, I have decided to colour most drawings in paint but any details I want to add some mystery or quirkiness to, I will use watercolour. Overall, I think the mixture of both colour techniques will work quite well as they are bringing both bold and eery connotations to each drawing.

Eliza Has Been Coloured with Paint Except her Hair which is Done in Watercolour

Over the course of this project, I really wanted the chance to be able to improve my digital drawing skill as that is the industry standard in game companies. Moving from pencils and paper to using Adobe Sketch on my iPad has been a turbulent journey, with me feeling frustrated and confused on why I could draw on paper but not digitally. However, I practiced everyday and learnt quickly on how I have to hold the pen slightly differently, for example. Now I much prefer working on my iPad due to the final drawing being of a much high quality.

Changing and developing my art style to turn it more ‘Tim Burton-esque’ was quite easy for me as I still haven’t really found my own style so using his designs as inspirations really helped me establish more of a grasp on my own art style. However, a lot of the artists in group B didn’t have such luck with changing their art style. They didn’t really want to adapt their art style for this project as they were comfortable drawing how they knew, but me and Lauren wanted them to step out of the box and try doing something they hadn’t done before. Some artists also hadn’t researched into Tim Burton and his work so didn’t really know the style they were trying to take inspiration from. They hadn’t grasped his consistent art style such as the big round eyes, so again, me and Lauren pushed for them to look into and research him. Finally, we had a extreme problem with attendance, with most of group B not coming in regularly. Due to this, they hadn’t learnt and gotten to know the characters the writers had created for the story, making it a lot harder for them to create a personality through the drawing of the character. To counteract this fairly crucial problem, I created an art guide of the facial features of characters and which characters would have a specific feature. In the corner, I also added information on what pen size or colour to use and how to add detail if needed, such as shading.

Eyebrow ‘How To’ Guide

There were a few practical and technical issues along the way when creating artwork for the game. The first problem we encountered was that not everyone knew how to use Photoshop confidently or how to draw digitally in general. A lot of the artists felt more comfortable drawing in pencil on paper so encouraging them to move their work to Photoshop was quite a difficult task. I was able to show my group a few tips on how to work well in Photoshop but most of the group A artists took their own initiative and found tutorials on how to use the software.

Another problem me and Lauren faced as leaders is trying to help other artists learn how to create image planes for the 3D artists to work off of. Like I mentioned before, this was hard as most of us had never tried to show our 2D work from a 3D perspective so it was definitely a learning curve in the journey of our art skills. The best me and Lauren could do was show the other artists example of 3D image planes and get them to watch tutorials to grasp a true understanding on how to create them.

From a leadership point of view, I learnt a lot about how to run this process in the best possible way. My goal form the beginning was to make every artist feel involved and proud of their work, make them feel like they contributed to the making of the game. In the specialism essay I did for a previous unit, it was interesting to discover the best ways to head my group, making sure I exhibited excellent organisational and time management skills and also bring an excellent blend of people skills and an ability to implement and enforce rules and regulations effectively. I believe I have done well leading group A art group as all artwork produced has been successful and to a really high standard. Everyone in the group gets on and feels counted for, Nathan and Ryan seemed to have become best friends!

Delegating tasks was also a crucial part of the organisational and leadership skills I needed to use to lead my group successfully to the end of this project. Every week I made sure that all my artists knew what they were doing and felt like they could answer me any questions if they were unsure about the task they wer set. I was very open and welcome to suggestions made by artists as I wanted to get second views and opinions on things, but I was also strong enough to make decisions and not let people voice their ideas louder than other memebers of the group.

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pepperboxcouture · 6 years

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There are two kinds of light – the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures.

– James Grover Thurber

Let’s talk about lighting! If you have followed me for a long time you will have noticed I have an obsession with Lighting, which is only rivaled by my obsession with chairs. Chairs and lights, lights and chairs. That about sums me up, I am not a complicated being…

In this post I wanted to show 10 of my favourite looks out of the millions that are doing the rounds on the net which I desperately want in my life – RIGHT NOW, GIVE ME LIGHT! All the lights!! Each image is titled after the designer (where I could find one).

No.1

Floaty, freeform fabric shades inject natural softness with a raw whispering quality to an otherwise hard industrial, or sparse interior.

I love this look, it looks like how I imagine a Mediterranean summer breeze to feel. Light, comforting and carefree with a touch of purposeful elegance. I would use this look in any room that needs visually softening. This pale raw linen look works well juxtaposed in an industrial interior with a mix of materials like concrete, steel and wood. It would work also in a neutral palate, or a romantic plush-blush setting with an abundance of white peafowl feathers, ballerina puce pink velvet and with off-white silks.

My preference would be to mix it up and cover the shade frame in a vibrant printed turquoise, red oriental printed fabrics, or maybe even patchwork of vintage printed tea towels like a previous lamp I refurbished many projects ago. My favorite in this type of look is where you can see it’s skeleton and the fabric doesn’t entirely encapsulate the frame, leaving raw uneven edges free-falling into room.

No.2

For a more ‘modern bohemian’ look there are these wrapped shades. They have an ethnic artisanal, hand laboured look with clean Scandi style form and precision.

The perfect type of shade for those who have quiet interiors and loud personalities. This style of shade is very much for those who appreciate the quality in artisan products and live in a minimalist space where these types of items can showcase their true brilliance. They inject a bit of humor, sophistication, liveliness and art into the space around them. I love them but they would not work for me as I could not give them the quiet space to command. They would be completely lost and forgotten in my interior which is of the current theme ‘mad woman’s knitting’. But they are beautiful none the less.

No.3

For a more ‘retro bohemian’ look go full basket-case. This look lends well to exotic, or ‘great traveler’ themed interiors that use a mix of different materials and earthy vibrant or neutral color.

The attractive and interesting quality with these lamps is the form and weave. They are simplistic and sympathetic to most interiors whatever style you are rocking. They light output varies between the heaviness of the weave resulting in a beautiful bamboo jungle-like shadow cast from a generous open weave to a straight down light with no lateral light leak from a tight weave like the picture in the bottom left above. Again very summery in appearance, calm with a natural beachy look. If you like a more subdued but beautifully formed shade, or have a color saturated palate going on – this option is a good option for you. The most beautiful shades in this style are made by ROOST.

No.4

These skeletal pendulum are simple and glorious in their full mechanical exhibition. These are for the ultra mod, those trend setters always ahead of the curve who live in a museum crisp interior with nothing in it but a Wassily Kandinsky chair and a light. Those who are braver than I……. and who have lots of cash and lots of space.

To be honest, these are not lights, they are ART. Enough said.

No.5

A slight deviation from the Skeletal Pendulum above, I call this curated selection architectural Lighting. These hard geometric, or circular structures are perfect for modern box buildings with sharp architectural features.

SONY DSC

I can totally appreciate these beauties although you would want to use this look sparingly….. Unless you own a lighting store. These designs are showcase pieces, talking points and the type of situation where these would be best used is hung from a vaulted ceiling over a staircase, from a high ceiling in an entrance way, or maybe a collection hung in a line over the dining table.

No.6

If you like a more fluid and organic look then look no further than these nature inspired wonders.

Big bulbous, fluid like structures that look organic and seem alive. How better to fake a bit of nature indoors. If you have a faulty green finger and can’t seem to keep indoor plants alive (like me if you refer to my last post) but need to introduce a natural element, or something more modern than the old dusty silk flowers your Nana kept in the toilet. Banish the faded fake flowers by the front door and install an organic light feature instead. I suspect one must have a touch of the creative, slightly eccentric tastes to present these in their full potential. I would love a collection of the glass pendants and I find fascinating the light emitting properties of the gold interior shades.

No.7

Recycled or raw materials inspired lighting can be industrial, rigid and unforgiving but also complementary and sensitive if done right.

cool industrial concrete lights catherina 30 knitter digsdigs pertaining to concrete light fixture prepare – remindii.com

The above are beautiful examples of materials not commonly associated with lighting. This is probably due to their low light emission. There sorts of lights are solid down lights great for reading nooks where light is needed in one spot. These materials appear balanced in appearance. Strong with both industrial and naturalistic qualities. The concrete pieces in particular transform their appearance into well weathered igneous rock formations. Even the bottle and plastic bag cast pieces have a natural look to their form and finish. The wooden shades are similar in light emission and visual toughness as concrete. The marble shades are seductive with their irregular soft glow and soft mute colors. With their neutral natural palate these shades would work in a scandi minimalist interior or even be at home in a vibrant environment that has a strong saturation of color.

No.8

Silk, Leather and Paper…… The luxurious and unusually common.

Silk, Leather and Paper……. They either make you cringe, or celebrate. I have a love hate relationship with these three materials. They can be done right, or not. I don’t like the industrial light shaped, or the tufted pendants. I find them tacky and uninspired. But I am impressed with the examples above with the red leather drop pendant as my favorite. I like the brass riveting, the wrinkle at the top and the brass capping. Such a small down light it would be impractical to just have one, you would have to have at least 20 all hanging in a haphazard chandelier to get enough useful ambient light. The light folded paper lanterns are not a new idea, but certainly a classic for good reason. The give a fresh light exotic look and compliment almost any interior, great light emission my only comment about these is don’t be shy, go ‘extra large’, you’ll thank me later.

No.9

The new accidental Chandelier, ready-made, or assembled by you.

If unsure which fitting to hang, HANG THEM ALL. Hang them all in a cluster that drops low over any space that people congregate. By hanging multiple lights low it creates a sense of intimacy and connection which is why it works so well hung over the dinner table! Mix and match and be brave with styles, colors and length of drop!

No.10

Welcome to number 10. Soft and suggestive hidden lighting.

I hate ugly recessed spot lights that are in our modern-day ceilings. Instead think about hidden lighting. This can take the form of strip lighting tucked into architectural features to accent and cast soft light over the room, there could also be semi hidden LED points in wall mounted boxes, or behind up cast mirrored surfaces to intensify and reflect the light. During power cuts I have learnt that an up cast torch is far superior at lighting a room than a downcast light. Try it if you haven’t already it is a true story… Also one tip for any sort of indirect lighting to be effective you need to have a color on your walls that has good light refractive properties. The lighter the color of your walls the higher the refractive properties Ie. White/Silver/Cream bounce light around and are good for dining rooms, bathrooms, hallways or any tricky rooms that don’t get enough sunlight. Darker saturated colors like Slate Grey, Black, Navy, Teal, Maroon will absorb light and will always make the room seem darker. These colors are good for cinema rooms, and bedrooms for help with those circadian rhythms.

Happy lighting!!!

Designer Inspiration – Let there be light! There are two kinds of light - the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures. …

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mollymoseys · 6 years

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The Montréal Diaries

I'm writing this to you from a cabin in the woods. More specifically, the woods are in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia and the cabin is part of Brigadoon Village. It's been a whirlwind first few weeks, having started straight on delivering programs for groups who have come for the spring season. The great thing about this was that I'm learning how to do everything really rather quickly and already feeling far more confident than before I arrived. The other part of this means that I rarely have a great deal of time to sit and write this for any significant period of time. So, this is part one, the Montreal diaries, and then there'll be another post on starting at Brigadoon.

Montréal was amazing. Interestingly, there are more clear European influences in the city itself than in many other cities and towns I've been to and there's a hell of a lot to see and do as well. This is especially true if you're trying to walk everywhere to see the various different neighbourhood identities. I was lucky with the weather as well; just one day when it was overcast and rained slightly.

I stayed in a hostel called Auberge Bishop, which I soon realised was a good hub for travellers who were living in the city. I got to chat to folks from France, the Netherlands, Italy and Brazil. We had those conversations that constantly permeate through hostels, regardless of which continent they happen to be on. After you've had them in a few different places, they begin to take on a significance of comfort. You know what the contents of the conversation will start off with and how they tend to progress, the cadences of mish-mashed accents creating a music that your ear bends towards as a familiarity in a foreign land. It was refreshing to meet some other global folk, trade stories and tips for the city.

I'd raided my Lonely Planet guide, been given some excellent tips by an old friend currently living with a Montréaler, and went to the exceedingly good tourist information office. Those offices can be a real hit and miss sometimes but Montréal did themselves proud. I was given advice for the best locations to prioritise for a short week trip, including restaurant and café recommendations, as well as maps and a museum card, which gave me access to every museum and exhibit in the city. For a gallery and museum maven, this was fantastically handy. (I should point out that this last card was not free but I paid a total of $80, which included unlimited public transport as well as access to every one of their 51 museums/galleries. I didn't think that was bad value.)

For my first afternoon, I walked up to the Parc du Mont Royal, which is one of their largest parks in the middle of the city. It also has the highest viewing point of anywhere in the city. This is apparently fiercely protected by their planning department, as no other building is allowed to exceed the height of Kondiaronk Belvedere - the viewing point. Thanks planning department, because the view is pretty fantastic. You can see past the urban sprawl to the river and then out towards farming plains and a few mountains dotted on the horizon. The Belvedere is so named to honour the Chief of the Hurons, who was a great strategist and instrumental in uniting First Nations communities and the French to create The Great Peace of Montréal in 1701.

The park has sections of grassed lawns, large ponds and also expanses of woodland, left to encourage wildlife. There were a lot of squirrels, many of whom were almost totally unfazed by the big humans tromping through their habitat.

Once I'd walked the length of the park, I headed back into the city and onto Saint Laurent Boulevard, where I found Schwartz's. Famous for its smoked meat, it was very simply all about the meat, with very little deviation in its menu. There was a counter and then a small seating section in the back, with corkboards on the wall covered in napkins. All these napkins had signatures, pictures and messages written on them from visitors coming from all over the world. I saw Shanghai, Melbourne, London, Seoul, Mumbai, Toronto and Manchester, to name but a few. The smoked meat sandwich with mustard and a gherkin was toothsome to say the least.

On the second day I headed to the aforementioned tourist office, stocked up on maps and info and headed to the old town. The maps were especially useful as I'd managed to get myself thoroughly lost on the way to the park the day before. The detour had turned out to be rather interesting as I ended up wandering through what looked like Montréal's millionaire's row. Who doesn't love a nosey at the big, pruned houses?

The route to the old town took me past an enormous edifice that turned out to be the Sun Life Building. It was built in 1931 and was the largest building by square footage in the British Empire at the time. It's certainly incredibly detailed and imposing, although the mirage of extraneous impossibility was nicely marred by the employees who stood outside smoking in designated patches of pavement.

The handily helpful man in the tourist office had also recommended a café which was en route to the old town and also in an old bank. They’d kept all the grandiose decor of the bank, which included a long, wooden counter, a highly intricate, enamelled ceiling and golden section dividers which now connected panes of glass to create meeting rooms. It was, of course, pretty pricey but it was a nice space in which to have a cup of tea and do a little people watching. The clientele was pretty evenly split between students, freelance/non-office based business folk, and retirees enjoying a coffee whilst reading, doing a crossword or gossiping. As per a millennial coffee shop, there were plenty of succulents planted in hexagonal gold and white pots and an abundance of plug points.

I also got wandered through the World Trade Centre for Montréal, which is a beautifully designed building. I’m estimating that it’s about an eight storey building, if not more, with a glass atrium running through the middle. I was fortunate to be visiting on a beautiful day so the light flooded through. It was so serene, especially with the gentle bubbling of the fountain in the corner.

The route to the old town took me past the old Wall Street of Montréal and those bankers of times past really liked beautiful, ornate buildings. I also liked looking at those beautiful, old, ornate buildings.

They also took me down to the waterfront and more specifically the Pointe-à-Callière Museum - the museum of history and archaeology. Using my fancy new museum card, I shashayed through the doors and into a very cool presentation. Rather than just a video introduction to the museum, they had a room with sloped seating and exposed foundations of some of the first stone buildings built in the city. On three sides of the foundations, there were white screens built 8 foot high which then had animated video projected onto it giving an overview of the history of the city.

Then you walk through the rest of the foundations, which carry you through the history of French and British Canadian settlement in the city. They did touch on First Nations history and especially focussed on the Great Peace of Montréal, but in no way did I feel like I really learnt a huge amount about the peoples of Canada before westerners arrived or did I get a well rounded presentation of their role in the history of Montréal since then either. Instead, I considered it to be rather piecemeal and geared towards how to further talk about the role of white westerners. I found the skewed presentation of history incredibly frustrating.

They did have a guest exhibition on Egyptian queens which was far more rewarding however. It included a display of the Book of the Dead and a fascinating set of research into the details of the women who were directly related to pharaohs. There were funerary objects, jewellery, and sarcophagi - including Nefertiti’s! Which was made of pink granite. Really rather beautiful.

I left and headed to the nearest café for late lunch and a negroni d’ête. I sat in the window, where the floor length windows had been folded back so I was bathed in sun. I wandered through the streets and ended up at the waterfront, near a large ferris wheel. The sun was beginning to set in a rather timely fashion so I paid too much money for a spot on the wheel to watch the light weave between the towers and out across the water towards the mountains. Perfect set up to a night listening to basement jazz folk in a bar not too far from the hostel.

The next day was just as bright so of course I headed to the McCord Museum to spend a little more time indoors. It’s a good job I did because it was, quite simply, excellent. It’s not the biggest museum but the quality of the exhibitions is outstanding. I started with one called Wearing Your Identity, focussed on First Nations communities in Eastern Canada and it was everything that the archaeology/history museum had failed on. It looked at the role that clothing played as a part of different areas and communities and how it had been made and used over the years. Most specifically, it considered how the different patterns and techniques used by different communities shaped their identities. It also looked at how legislation and state created school schemes badly affected First Nations peoples, how their culture had been stripped for parts and manipulated for tourist and economic objectives since the Victorian times. It included work from the artist Mike Patten, who I would highly recommend seeking out.

 The second exhibition was called Shalom Montréal, which examined how the jewish community had arrived in three major waves and then grown, starting from the 1800s, running until present day. It covered the antisemitism that has been shown towards them. It also showed how refugees found sanctuary from a number of regimes in the city and how they’d created a far reaching community that had brought about major influences in the city, advances in professional fields and thriving businesses in the locale. The Jewish General Hospital was one of the first in the city to accept people to their care regardless of social standing or religion. I learnt about Phil Gold who co-discovered, with Samuel Freedman, the carcinoembryonic antigen - basically they found the marker that allows us to blood test for signs of cancer. I also found out about Miriam Charron, who founded the Auberge Shalom - the first kosher womens' shelter in Canada for victims of domestic violence. (It obviously also accepts women of all religions and cultures as well.) It ended with a series of video interviews with milennial jewish Montréalers talking about their jewish identity, what the city means to them and their places in it. It was, hands down, the best museum I’ve visited in a long time and reinforced, yet again, that quantity does not necessarily equal quality.

Montréal is famous for smoked meat and bagels, and like I said, I'd already visited Schwartz's. So, after falling in love with the McCord, I headed across town to the corner of town that holds the two biggest contenders for the best bagel in the province, if not the country. They are the Fairmont and St Viateur Bagel shops. Each have been going for decades and people define themselves by one or the other. “I’m a Fairmont, hands down”; “I knew we could never be together when I heard she went to St Viateur”. So in the proper way, I visited each place, bought a plain poppy seed bagel and tried each at the same time. They were both good, but I think the St Viateur edged it for me. Having said that, if I’m completely honest, I was more fulfilled by the tangerine sorbet that I bought afterwards.

I loved just wandering back through the various neighbourhoods that took me towards downtown. The houses, many of them terraced, are all at least two or three storeys high, mostly with outside staircases. It gives the city a feeling of gentle familiarity. You can imagine people sitting on them drinking from mugs, talking about their days in late afternoon sunshine, or people struggling to carry sofas up their steep inclines, or someone storming up them in the middle of an argument and pausing at the door to turn and apologise. You can almost hear the grunt of pain as the inhabitants slip on the ice. You can see whole lives and stories in a set of metal steps.

I headed to St Catherine Street, which is the backbone of the lgbtq quarter. The central length of the street was covered with a canopy of bright, coloured plastic balls, of the kind that you’d find in a children’s play area. The separate sections of block colours created a rainbow that ran the length of the pedestrianised zone and made it feel like you were walking beneath a quilt that let all the light through. There were many bars and shops lining the street, which was crammed with people walking, talking, admiring the canopy and generally shooting the breeze. It was summery enough that the bars, restaurants and cafés were empty inside and people were spilling over the edges of their sun-soaked decking.

It was fortunate that I soaked the sun up when I did, because the weather was overcast and rainy the next day, so I headed to the Musée de Beaux Arts. It’s fairly large and had two major exhibitions on, in addition to it’s permanent collection and a few smaller exhibitions. There was a lot of modern Canadian art, which I very much enjoyed, across paintings, sculptures, installations, videos and holography. The two major exhibitions were Picasso and African Art, and Napoleon’s palace. The museum staff were not especially helpful and the signage on how to get around was close to non-existent so I ended up being shuffled into the Napoleon exhibition, which was interesting but not particularly what I really wanted to see. After having an argument with the front desk, I got a ticket to go into the Picasso exhibition, which was fascinating. It combined new work from a range of African and African-Canadian/American artists alongside Picasso’s work and art from African tribes and artists that he loved and which directly inspired him. It was unlike any other exhibition that I’d seen before and the parallels between the earlier African art and Picasso’s painting and sculptures were undeniable. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t known about this before! It was beautiful seeing the relationship in the light of day (although not in the light of the gallery, which was done in such a way that made it difficult to read the information panels by the works). Also, from that exhibition, I would massively recommend seeking out Zanele Muholi, Moridja Kitenge Banza, Samuel Fosso, Shanna Strauss and Achille Mbembe. Full nerd disclosure, I came out feeling excited to have learnt and seen so much and to have picked up information to look into to continue what I’d been able to experience.

I finished out the day at The Wiggle Room, a burlesque club which just so happened to be having a special themed evening of the Spice Girls. It was so much fun and if you’re headed to the city, you should definitely see what’s on there. Plus, I was lucky enough that the evening was hosted by Tranna Wintour, famous on the Montréal and Atlantic Canada scene. She’s a transgender comedienne and writer, whilst also being well up on the Spice Girls and burlesque.

For my last day, I decided to squeeze in the Centre for Architecture, which was so very quiet and peaceful. I learnt about the Florence Radicals, who were active during the sixties and seventies. There was work from the collective Superstudio focussed on Interplanetary Architecture, which I have to admit I found so complicated that my brain began to do backflips trying to comprehend it. I really liked the section on Gianni Pettena’s Grass Architecture and his work on sustainable material and eco-architecture. Whilst this is increasingly occurring today, his work at the time was far more cutting edge than it may now seem. He and his contemporaries worked on projects including nature into domesticity that were meant to be replicated on a grand scale. There was also another display of Pettena’s photographs from a series that he took on an American road trip during 1972/1973. It was focussed on desert landscapes, especially on ‘natural’ or ‘unconscious’ architecture - i.e. the way that the natural environment had shaped the rocks and valleys. He called it “architecture not made by architects”.

The train ride home felt longer than the train ride there, probably because I felt like I still hadn’t had enough of the city. However, I had camp to prepare for, which has proved to be one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time. Of which, more later.

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siantakesphotos · 6 years

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a chat with bendigo band; fountaineer

Fountaineer have just put not only their name on the map but also the little town of Bendigo, Victoria following their release of their new album, ‘Greater City, Greater Love.’ The three piece comprised of brothers Anthony and Francis White as well as childhood friend, Kieran Daly, perfectly capture the essence of their hometown with the album. Exploring the highs and lows of growing up in Bendigo, the boys take the listener on a journey through the pubs, churches, footy fields and libraries they have grown up amongst. We were lucky enough speak with Tony from Fountaineer to discuss future plans, musical influences and of course Bendigo. 1. Hi – Thank you for taking the time to chat to us ahead of your new album ‘Greater City, Greater Love.’ It’s quite clear that your home town of Bendigo has been a strong influence in your music. What’s the music scene like in the more regional parts of VIC? I’d be lying if I said it was great. It’s been terribly inconsistent, and there’s a multitude of reasons and factors that influence what’s happening in our part of the world. It comes down to the quality of music, the quality of venues, the interest (or lack there of) of the general public. We all have a part to play in making it great again, and there’s certainly hope that it will prosper. ‘Greater City, Greater Love’ definitely comes from a place of genuine care and concern for this great place, but much of the record is us fighting against the status quo, challenging things and aspiring for change. 2. With your home town being such a heavy and personal influence, does that make it slightly more daunting to share these songs or are you driven by home town pride? It does present a rather precarious situation, where we can be seen as critics of the place, critics of the music scene, people wondering whether they are in the firing line in certain remarks. I stand by every word uttered in the album, though, as being what I believe is the truth, and it’s ultimately a record of hope and spirit once the dust and dirt clears. We can all be better, we can all do better; we’ve learnt so much in the making of this record, we’ve never tried harder at anything in our lives, and we really wants what’s best for Bendigo and care about the future of our town. 3. Is there a particular spot in Bendigo that has inspired the majority of your song writing? About 100 metres from my house is a really vast, vacant area which we call ‘The Wasteland’. The idea for Fountaineer came when I was walking the rocky paths of The Wasteland, pondering a concept album about Bendigo, and for me it’s the most inspiring place I know. It can look and feel completely different on certain days, in certain seasons; it’s desolate but magical, and it captured perfectly what we tried to capture in the album’s ugly/beautiful aesthetic. It’s featured in every one of our clips so far and my hope is that they don’t ever build on this special piece of land. 4. Your single ‘The Cricketers’ is named after the painting of the same name by Russell Drysdale. What’s the story behind that? It’s the painting that still hangs in our family home, and it’s a haunting but beautiful image that seemed to capture the essence of our record in one simple picture. While a game of cricket is obviously being played in the foreground, there is so much more to the painting, so much happening underneath the surface. It’s not about cricket at all, and neither is our song. I think the shadows are probably the most prominent thing within Drysdale’s work, and we wanted an undercurrent in our music that was befitting of his brushstrokes. 5. Speaking of art – can you explain your choice and/or inspiration for the album art on ‘Greater City, Greater Love’ We found the picture on-line on the Lost Bendigo site. It’s a beaut site where local people share old images of the town. A woman had posted this incredibly simple photograph of a supermarket apron and it really struck a chord with us. She thought we were taking the piss when we contacted her to use the image, she didn’t really see it as being ‘art’. But we loved how a simple image made by an ordinary person could be recognised as ‘art’, and she captured something in the photo which seemed to speak of the shared experience of life in a regional area. 6. You mentioned you took so long to finish this album as you wanted to make it ‘special and different’ – which you have certainly done. Do you all share the same kind of musical influences or are you really a mixbag when it comes to personal taste? The album was actually done relatively quickly, however the release of the album was the tricky bit. We really took our influences from proper ‘albums’, where the whole story has a context of some sort, whether that be a theme, a place, an issue, a relationship. We love the classics, and that’s probably partly due to the radio stations we’ve grown up on. But artists like Bon Iver, D.D. Dumbo, Arcade Fire all make intricate indie pop music that is serious, and thoughtful, and has a conscience, and their attitude to making music and creating art is something we all admire and respect; they became our role models. 7. I feel like your song ‘Words With Friends’ needs to be on everyone’s road trip playlists, such a groovy tune that has this underlying feeling of escapism to the country mixed into it. What are your top tracks you jam in the van before shows? I am a sucker for the UK tv series ‘Escape to The Country’, maybe that’s where the inspiration comes from. It’s definitely a ‘country’ type song, and there’s a lot to be said for the simple life; something that is increasingly harder to attain, especially in the cities. Having grown up on punk music, it always has a life-affirming effect on me, and gets the juices flowing. Maybe Lagwagon’s ‘Double Plaidinum’ for some positive pre-show energy and obligatory sing alongs. 8. Speaking of Words With Friends, did any of you play the game? Who was the best? Hell, no – we’re Scrabble kinda guys. Given that I was an English teacher I’d hope I’d be able to trounce anyone in the band in word-related duels, however the boys would probably be better at board games than I. If we were 8 years old, Franky would flip the board and send the tiles flying before a winner could be declared; a real smart loser. 9. You recently played with Catfish and the Bottlemen and will soon be joining Gang Of Youths Australian Tour. What’s it like transiting from small regional shows to opening up some of the countries biggest venues? To be honest, it’s quite a relief. We’ve spent a few years now setting up PAs, playing to empty rooms, trying to give our all on stages as big as a double beds; now to be given the privilege of doing it in some of the country’s biggest venues is wonderful. In a way, there’s less pressure and less that we have to worry about. We just do some stretches, warm up, and try play the greatest half an hour of music we can. And we get to see Gang of Youths perform every night, whilst pilfering their beers and food when they’re not looking. I hope they have soda water; we’re quite partial to sparkling water after a sweaty gig. 10. What are your plans for the rest of the year after this album release? We’ll be touring ‘Greater City…’ in a few months time after the Gangs support run finishes up, and we have some festival dates as well which are always really fun, we'll be playing New Years on the Hill. I suppose we should get stuck into album number two and make up for some lost time, too! ‘Greater City, Greater Love.’ - OUT NOW

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