#Ask the Sphere

[celestial-sphere-press]

from the bookbinding ask meme, could you please answer the 20th question?

hi, thank you for the question!!

20. If you had to give past!you one advice about bookbinding what would it be, and is it the same advice you would give to newbies?

I think it's probably this: after you've made a book or two or three with basic tools & materials - a makeshift press (clamped together books), utility knife for trimming, etc, there was a point for me where I seemed to slow down. I wanted to make a book, but certain steps just seemed so frustrating and I would avoid them. Which sucks! I want to make a book! I want to enjoy my hobby!

After some reflection, I realized it was specific steps that were holding me up, and the thing that was stopping me was often something where my frustration would be mitigated or eliminated by a more advanced tool that I didn't have. I was stopping myself from getting new tools bc I was too new, I didn't need them, I shouldn't spend so much money on this hobby - but I wasn't going to bust my budget buying them. It just *felt* like I shouldn't yet.

So my advice would be: if this hobby is already something you love, but a certain thing is causing you enough frustration to make you not bookbind, and there is a solution - just get the thing. Get the good press that will make you less likely to scream about clamps, get a guillotine/sander if untried pages or knife-trimming drives you batty.

I only give this advice out selectively to new binders, because it has a lot of caveats: don't apply this to your first purchase of supplies/first book, don't apply if it's something that doesn't bother you but does bother everybody else, yes apply if it bothers you but doesn't bother others, don't apply if you really are on a tight budget and need to be careful about your expenditures. Etc. I usually go for other immediate advice and only pull this out if someone is clearly wanting to do the thing but just isn't.

BLUF: don't let roadblocks get in the way of doing what you love. the answer to it could be buying a new tool; it could also just be changing techniques so you don't have to do the thing; or changing software. Who knows. get that shit outta here.

#fanbinding #bookbinding #celestial sphere press #Ask the Sphere

[froganni]

I drew over a page from Ryoko Kui's Dungeon Meshi for this bit. (Disclaimer: this is not my original art.)

I just felt like this has been Joel's vibes recently. 😂

#hermitcraft #joel smallishbeans #solidaritygaming #iskall85 #hermitblr #hermitcraft 10 #meme redraw #dungeon meshi spoilers #just in case? I believe this page is well known in the dungeon meshi sphere tho #I've been wanting to do an art study for ryoko kui so this worked out well :D #ask to tag #I'll probably include the og page in a reblog but I don't want to accidentally end up in the tags for the manga/anime #dakjsdlkaj i don't know the etiquette for redrawing pages and tagging tbh #(also the ego thing was because I didn't want to keep the og dialogue there but wasn't sure what to replace it with xD)

[kizzer55555]

Core Gems

So when a ghost becomes injured, they have a last ditch defense where they retreat into their core. And I mean, injured badly where their body is rip apart to the point they can’t hold a solid form anymore. And they basically go into a hibernation state until they are strong enough to form again.

Ellie, Danny, and Dan are all injured in a final battle against the GIW. The organization was destroyed and the ghosts were safe but the halfas ended up being so injured that they reverted to core form and then went to sleep for a bit. When they woke up, they were still weak but at least recovered enough to gain consciousness. And realize…they are in some kind of auction…in the middle of a heist. It appeared that two furries (one in a bat costume and one in a cat costume) were ducking it out. And they…they were a necklace. All three of them had been turned into a necklace with their cores as gems accompanied by sapphires, pearls, and opals. And frankly gorgeous craftsmanship as the metal was crafted around their cores as if to cradle them and the other gems.

Unfortunately, they were too weak to take a form properly, they could still feel the strain on their bodies. But at least they could still communicate through their auras. Then the cat lady punched a hole in the glass container surrounding them and grabbed their necklace.

However, the bat grabbed the other end and it resulted in a sort of tug-a-war. Meanwhile, Danny, Ellie, and Dan were having a back and form commentary on the situation and what they should do. Completely unheard by the other party.

In the corner of their eye, the three halfas finally noticed a third contender. Some kind of clown who was…hold on…holding a gun?! And it was pointed straight at the two fighting furies who had yet to notice him. The ghosts’ protective instincts went into overdrive and they frantically tried to shout, yell, move. Just do something to warn the two but their cries fell on deaf ears. All they succeeded in doing was faintly glow which immediatly caught the attention of the fighting duo. The two turned to look at the strange necklace but right at that moment, the clown fired and a gunshot rang throughout the auction room. Having no other options, Danny and the others poured every ounce of ectoplasm they had to try and phaseshift, making the two furries intangible as the bullets passed right through them, but in their shock, the two jumped away in opposite directions and accidentally ripped the necklace apart. Gems and pearls went flying and the three cores bounced along the ground.

Luckily, the two finally noticed the clown and went to deal with him and his minions who had appeared. Seemingly putting their fight on hold and forming a temporary truce. The three halfas could only watch as the battle finally wound down, ending with the cops barging into the place and arresting the clown and his grunts, the cat managing to escape with half the scattered gems and pearls from the broken necklace along with a few other jewelry pieces (none of their cores though) and the bat leaving through a skylight.

The auction continued and in the end, despite being broken, their necklace seemed to have caught someone’s interest. A man named Bruce Wayne bought up every piece of the shattered jewelry wear. The auctioneers appeared relived that the item managed to sell in the end and gratefully gave it to him.

Bruce had no idea what happened at the auction, but he could have sworn that some of the gems faintly glowed right before he and Selina were shot. If the necklace was some sort of magical item, then he needed to understand exactly what has been brought to Gotham. It was unfortunate that Selena had taken some parts of the necklace but he utilized his vast wealth to make sure all the other parts ended in his possession. Now he would take them back to the mansion for examination.

#Dpxdc #dcxdp #kizzer55555 ideas #Bruce thinks the necklace is magical. He’s technically not wrong. #When he gets home he immediately puts each gem in a glass container to examine them. For the longest time though nothing happens. #They all look like normal gems except for the main three of the piece. He can’t identify what kind of gem they are. #The gems are perfect spheres with various shades of blue (with hints of green and white) swirling around. #The colors almost look like they are moving in slow motion. Still. Nothing happens as he examines them and no strange events happen. #That is until one day he decided to take the gems to be examined by a professional and a villain attacked. #A piece of building was about to crush him when a wall of ice appeared as a shield over him. After that he took them back to the cave. #Bruce looks up thousands of documents about enchanted necklaces and artifacts but finds nothing. He even calls in favors from JLD. #Zatanna doesn’t recognize them but feels some kind of power coming off the gems however it doesn’t feel malevolent (at least for 2 of them) #(The last gem is neutral.) Also Constantine was unavailable (*cough* hiding from responsibilities *cough*) #The other bats get interested in the gems. Tim has a theory that they are some kind of protective charms. Damian agrees. #(Everyone is shocked Tim and Damian agree on something). So while Bruce is continuing his investigation the other bats decide to do some #‘Field testing’ and take the gems out. Consequently the gems end up saving their lives and they discover a few things they can do like make #The wearer invisible. Intangible. Create green barriers/constructs. Create ice. Vibrate when an enemy is coming. And much more. #The bats fashion them into new individual bracelets/necklaces and think they are the coolest thing. They have powered up protective charms! #The halfas just wish these kids would STOP PUTTING THEIR LIVES IN DANGER! What are they MORONS?! #Most of the ectoplasms they recover is used to protect the bats and nearby civilians. #(Dan also trolls people and is mostly protective his siblings though) #People notice the new power ups. A rougue gets his hands on a gem and tries to use it ONCE to attack something but the gems didn’t respond. #Then it froze the rough’s legs to the ground. #Much time later the gems are swapped between the bats and alternated and have just become a new item in their belt #(batman was not pleased but eventually got used to it and begrudgingly accepted that they were useful. Especially when they save his kids) #They come to a Justice league meeting and Constantine finally sees them. #His mouth drops in shock and he frantically asks where they got GHOST CORES?! And this is when the bats finally realise what they have. #And are horrified to realize EXACTLY what they are holding and that these ‘gems’ were technically ALIVE. #Meanwhile the three Halfas have been kinda chilling but also working their butts off to keep this family alive. It was a fulltime job.

[yoomtahsgf]

my brand in fashion dreamer is coming along smoothly!!!as u can see i have 99% pinkxblack since thats what i prefer but i plan on doing more whitexpink, whitexblack, even gingham/plaid patterns and more!!

my user id is 7mXegDVkL8 if anyone wants to check out my showcase, follow me, send a lookit, or request!!and feel free to ask for certain items of mine to be included, or u can ask if u want any specific items made too and i'll see what i can do ^_^

edit: the full list of my items is now in a folder to easily update when i have new things!!please click here to check it out!!

NOTES: please dni if you erase mental illness aspects from jirai kei/think it only refers to girly fashion

#fashion dreamer #dark girly #girly kei #sweet girly #jirai kei #ryousangata #cute aesthetic #kawaii aesthetic #pink aesthetic #pink #kawaii #im aiming to be the fashion dreamer equivalent of dml here #also ik the pinks are very desaturated which is personally the way i like it #but ik people have a lot of mixed feeling abt that very dusty pink especially in the girly kei sphere where it seems its used a lot #but as i said im open to item requests so feel free to ask for an item in a brighter or even completely different color!!!

[starflungwaddledee]

oc ask meme time hi

i am SO SO sure someone's asked this already but in the small chance no one has... i am so curious: 🥀 (Wilted Rose) - Do they have a Soul form? What would it look and act like? How much control over themselves do they have? Is it still possible to save them, or are they too far gone?

additionally 🛡️💜🕸️< any of these if you'd like!

[ >>> kirby oc ask meme <<< ] fourth time i've been asked this one and i've already buck passed on it, so you know what.... i decided to bite!!!

just for you, because you asked so nicely 💖

🥀 (Wilted Rose) - Do they have a Soul form? What would it look and act like? How much control over themselves do they have? Is it still possible to save them, or are they too far gone?

i think the circumstances for a soul form to happen to her would be near impossible, but not entirely. i think this would be nothing less than a catastrophic printer error. i think it would be bad!! i think it is not supposed to happen, and if it ever did it would be really, really bad. i am not at all confident you'd ever get her back. attacks would not be necessary. i think i'm hardly skilled enough for this and that there should be at least three more rings (i couldn't make it work) and possibly some other things going on, but here's my best estimate:

#tried VERY hard to get the extra rings on there but with the star shape it didn't read well at all. you'll just have to imagine it #hung in gold like an armillary sphere. biblically accurate black hole. i hope you can see it 🌟⚫ #i will come back to the other questions shortly in a separate ask. wanted to deliver this one on its own! #starstruck dee #morpho #ask meme #asks #my art

[rookieluck]

the most critical sequence of events of the entire netflix cup

#asking…was that bad…as it panned to his shot going into a crowd of people mulch and trees like no baby you did good ignore where it went 🥰 #alex is the ant with the rucksack #pierre completely shanking it into the crowd pretty much directly after alex fell over…they picked the perfect drivers to group together #also the fucking sphere dndmxn dj cnn sn ndjdjd i feel like i’m experiencing several ailments all at once #alex albon #pierre gasly

[muffingnf]

Like genuinely. He was putting his hand on her waist after an hour of reciprocated cuddling. He should have asked for explicit consent but instead read her non verbal cues wrong. Ok that’s on him!! But when she explicitly showed disinterest towards doing anything with him he walked away no bother.

Idk this whole thing has been blown up far too much. Sexual predator, rapist, pedophile … come on to fuck this is so unnecessary 😭 his initial statement was bad which yeah he deserves some lashings for but not doxxing, death threats and reporting him to immigration, losing longterm friends like what the fuck are we doing here. Do these people realise people like Adin Ross and Mizkif are happily raking it in streaming every day?

agree with you 100% anon. his biggest mistake is not getting verbal consent. yes non-verbal consent exists and that’s probably what he was going off of but verbal consent is a must with people you barely know or it ends up like this. though again, he was drunk. and it’s interesting to me how being drunk only seems to matter to people when its her and not him, they were both drunk. two adults who were drunk.

the most important thing to me is that when she showed very clear disinterest by not going with him to his room, he backed off. it makes me feel less crazy to think if she had said she was uncomfortable (if he had freaking asked) he would’ve stopped.

#like hes not a mind reader he didnt know she was uncomfortable which is why he shouldve asked #but again #drunk #so #like this is one big misunderstanding between two people who were drink #*drunk #he didnt grope her in public or take her back to his room or whatever #idk theres way worse people in the cc sphere #nova.ask

[katiekatdragon27]

your flatland art is SO GOOD RAHHHHHH

Thank you so much! I'm happy there are still people who enjoy my silly occasional Flatland art lol. I need to start posting more of these guys cuz as much as I love the Flat Dreams stuff, I wanna see my silly pookies more. The true Flatland content /j

Take a doodle for the ride btw, I'm happy you like my art^^

Have a lovely day :)

#koy chats #thank you for the ask^^ #the tesseract is my oc btw for my flatland continuation/au i need to work on more lol #her name is A. Tesseract for those who don't know #i love all these sillies i need to see more art of them #especially a sphere whenever i see him i jump around a little #minus my oc but like... if you wannaaa... i won't stop you..... #also I finally figured out how to properly illustrate in Magma so I might do more doodles lol #flatland #flatland 2007 #flatland the movie #flatland the film #flatland a romance of many dimensions #a heightlander's escape #a sphere #a square #the king of lineland #the king of pointland #a tesseract #request doodles #katiekatdragon27

[thatmooncake]

Trick or treat~?

Candies went AWOL. What will you get?

#fnaf #sundrop #moondrop #fableasks #Halloween asks #dream sphere for you #definitely not a soul stealer #fablesketches

[owlafterhours]

"Yeah yeah, they're getting as many of those Coral-aug'd guys on this as they can - nothing higher than fourth gen. Nothing but old tech. ACs? They just stop. Drones? Don't come back, and if they do? Can't get anything useful out of them. It's bad enough that the PCA's willing to cut a deal with the corps - 'cause word is? Rubicon-Three's haunted."

THIS WAS. MEANT TO BE A ONE-OFF FUNKY LIL' ASTRONAUT AU. NOTHING WAS MEANT TO HAPPY BEYOND hehe iguazu in funny space suit

anyway,

G5 Iguazu, on loan from the Red Guns because he gets no fucking say in anything, is on a dinky little space station with some suits and techies as they work out how exactly they'll use him as a lab-rat to approach the now, 'haunted' planet. No machinery has made landfall and no signals have gone in or out of the place since an incident three years ago that turned Rubicon-3 into a maelstrom of Coral.

The suits had tried. He'd had a good laugh or ten about how futile their efforts were with Volta. Not that that lasted long - augmented humans were catnip or some shit, and he'd drawn the short straw of being one of the few naturally marinated lab rats around.

So he's stuffed in this shitty suit that he's sure came from a museum and then thrown out of airlock like fish bait. And what do you know? He starts bloody hallucinating. That's the only thing he's willing to call it, cause none of this shit is showing on the cameras or sensors, beyond a rise in coral levels.

The nerds are excited though. 'It's promising!' and 'we're getting closer!', but all Iguazu knows is that these are like fucking aliens or ghosts or some shit, and there's something about that freak in space with all their little buddies that makes him want to punch their face in.

--

Clickbait title: SECRETS FROM THE HAUNTED RUBICON-3! 7 THINGS THE PCA DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW.

Despite everything, Iguazu's actually pretty dedicated to making sure every safety procedure is completed before he goes out, but he also tends to make small mistakes; the most common is him not tucking all of his hair under the cap whoops.

The PCA does not have contact with their coral weapons on the ground and it Concerns Them Greatly.

A large stock of inactive Gen-4s had disappeared sometime around when Rubicon-3's situation - this Also Concerned The PCA Greatly.

The guinea pig from Arquebus' side is O'Keeffe and he is also Not Very Happy About It.

The situation on the station is full of intrigue that Iguazu absolutely does Not care about, but it's safe to say that even he recognizes that it's a tense situation of decidedly un-jolly cooperation.

The planet seems quite volatile; threads of coral escape from the atmosphere like solar flares before being drawn back into the storm.

Is Rubicon-3 Actually Haunted? Who Knows, But Iguazu's Definitely Seeing Something Out There!

#armored core 6 #g5 iguazu #c4 621 #coral containment sphere #EXCEPT ITS ACTUALLY A CORAL CONTAINMENT SPHERE THIS TIME #this this really spiraled #owlscratch #many familiar faces on this dinky space station #kinda rolling this around like a ball of clay right now #truly the dangers of asking 'what if?' while drawing #i Do need to fix up that spacesuit properly i can see some sizing issues but this Was Meant To Be A Quick And Fun #So I Kept It Quick And Fun.

[stealingpotatoes]

How are you liking Jedi: Survivor so far?

I haven't had a chance to play it yet since it isn't available on my consle yet :( but it looks really good!

I AM LOVING IT A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's so good to see cal my baby boy again (so grown up!!! i love his new outfit so much i keep ignoring the game when it gives me new hairs and fits) and i'm only a few hours in but I'm really enjoying the plot/themes it's setting up!! much like the first game im goin thru the whole thing like YES!! THIS IS HOW TRIPLE-A GAMES SHOULD FEEL!!!!

#this is absolutely the wrong thing to be focusing on but my attention keeps catching on how they render eyes loll #bc jfo and most games model eyes as a single sphere but thats not now they are irl theyre a flatheaded sphere in a sphere #and JS has that right bc u have the like ah. space there idk im just obsessed w it its such a tiny detail but it does so much #when ur wired to notice that kinda thing loll #also ITS SO FUCKIN PRETTY I HAVE NEARLY 100 SCREENSHOTS ALREADY #thanks for the ask!

[celestial-sphere-press]

I was idly scrolling through the tag for your press (you make really lovely work, by the way!) and my attention was grabbed by the typeset you made for a page describing Renegade's ethos. Would it be ok for me to take inspiration from that and create my own typeset towards the same effect. Totally ok if not, I just really liked the way you laid it out!

(This is the page I'm referencing, btw: https://www.tumblr.com/celestial-sphere-press/697184814216921088/finished-my-first-typeset-in-affinity-it-isnt?source=share)

hi, thank you for the compliment!!

and yes, totally ok, go ahead! if you're interested in the wording specifically, it comes from the Renegade Manifesto, which a few of us put together from @armoredsuperheavy's guerrilla bookbinding post.

If you're after the way it's designed, please feel free to go ahead!

#fanbinding #renegade publishing #renegade manifesto #typesetting #celestial sphere press #oh no i have just though of a terribly funny tag for ask responses #Ask the Sphere

[not-quite-normal]

Aaaaaah I just realised Wheatley in my head has become a human instead of a metal ball and now I have to forcibly remind myself that your drawings of him are not, in fact, what he looks like in the game

haha well that is just delightful, thank you (or sorry)

#take the rotating human wheatley in your head and stuff him into a ball and shove him into the metal sphere #if that helps #asks #anonymous #an nqn wheatley

[scrawnym4]

ok so weve had factventure and rickley but like what if they're all married to eachother oh that would be so silly /pos

what if we were all robots and what if we were all gay

#ask #worst pairing ever they would not be able to shut the fuck up #portal 2 #adventure sphere #fact core portal 2 #wheatley portal 2 #scrawnys portal art

[boyfridged]

i’ve been thinking a lot about what is so unique and appealing about 80s robin jay’s moral standing that got completely lost in plot later on. and i think a huge part of it is that in a genre so focused on crime-fighting, his motivations and approach don’t focus on the category of crime at all. in fact, he doesn’t seem to believe in any moral dogma; and it’s not motivated by nihilism, but rather his open-heartedness and relational ethical outlook.

we first meet (post-crisis) jay when he is stealing. when confronted about his actions by bruce he’s confident that he didn’t do anything wrong – he’s not apologetic, he doesn’t seem to think that he has morally failed on any account. later on, when confronted by batman again, jay says that he’s no “crook.” at this point, the reader might assume that jay has no concept of wrong-doing, or that stealing is just not one of the deeds that he considers wrong-doing. yet, later on we see jay so intent on stopping ma gunn and her students, refusing to be implicit in their actions. there are, of course, lots of reasons for which we can assume he was against stealing in this specific instance (an authority figure being involved, the target, the motivations, the school itself being an abusive environment etc.), but what we gather is that jay has an extremely strong sense of justice and is committed to moral duty. that's all typical for characters in superhero comics, isn't it? however, what remains distinctive is that this moral duty is not dictated by any dogma – he trusts his moral instincts. this attitude – his distrust toward power structures, confidence in his moral compass, and situational approach, is something that is maintained throughout his robin run. it is also evident in how he evaluates other people – we never see him condemning his parents, for example, and that includes willis, who was a petty criminal. i think from there arises the potential for a rift between bruce and jay that could be, have jay lived, far more utilised in batman comics than it was within his short robin run.

after all, while bruce’s approach is often called a ‘philosophy of love and care,’ he doesn’t ascribe to the ethics of care [eoc] (as defined in modern scholarship btw) in the same way that jay does. ethics of care ‘deny that morality consists in obedience to a universal law’ and focus on the ideals of caring for other people and non-institutionalized justice. bruce, while obviously caring, is still bound by his belief in the legal system and deontological norms. he is benevolent, but he is also ultimately morally committed to the idea of a legal system and thus frames criminals as failing to meet these moral (legal-adjacent) standards (even when he recognizes it is a result of their circumstances). in other words, he might think that a criminal is a good person despite leading a life of crime. meanwhile, for jay there is no despite; jay doesn't think that engaging in crime says anything about a person's moral personality at all. morality, for him, is more of an emotional practice, grounded in empathy and the question of what he can do for people ‘here and now.’ he doesn’t ascribe to maxims nor utilitarian calculations. for jay, in morality, there’s no place for impartiality that bruce believes in; moral decisions are embedded within a net of interpersonal relationships and social structures that cannot be generalised like the law or even a “moral code” does it. it’s all about responsiveness. 

to sum up, jay's moral compass is relative and passionate in a way that doesn't fit batman's philosophy. this is mostly because bruce wants to avoid the sort of arbitrariness that seems to guide eoc. also, both for vigilantism, and jay, eoc poses a challenge in the sense that it doesn't create a certain 'intellectualised' distance from both the victims and the perpetrators; there's no proximity in the judgment; it's emotional.

all of this is of course hardly relevant post-2004. there might be minimal space for accommodating some of it within the canon progression (for example, the fact that eoc typically emphasises the responsibility that comes with pre-existing familial relationships and allows for prioritizing them, as well as the flexibility regarding moral deliberations), but the utilitarian framework and the question of stopping the crime vs controlling the underworld is not something that can be easily reconciled with jay’s previous lack of interest in labeling crime. 

#fyi i'm ignoring a single panel in which jay says 'evil wins. he chose the life of crime' because i think there's much more nuance to that #as in: choosing a life of crime to deliberately cause harm is a whole another matter #also: inb4 this post is not bruce slander. please do not read it as such #as i said eoc is highly criticised for being arbitrary which is something that bruce seeks to avoid #also ethics of care are highly controversial esp that their early iterations are gender essentialist and ascribe this attitude to women #wow look at me accidentally girl-coding jay #but also on the topic of post-res jay. #it's typically assumed that ethics of care take a family model and extend it into morality as a whole #'the ethics of care considers the family as the primary sphere in which to understand ethical behavior' #so #an over-simplification: you are allowed to care for your family over everything else #re: jay's lack of understanding of bruce's conflict in duty as batman vs father #for jay there's no dilemma. how you conduct yourself in the familial context determines who you are as a person #also if you are interested in eoc feel free to ask because googling will only confuse you... #as a term it's used in many weird ways. but i'm thinking about a general line of thought that evolves into slote's philosophy #look at me giving in and bringing philosophy into comics. sorry. i tried to simplify it as much as possible #i didn't even say anything on criminology and the label and the strain theories. #i'm so brave for not info-dumping #i said even though i just info-dumped #jay.zip #jay.txt #dc #fatal flaw #core texts #robin days

[pinkysberg]

i saw a post that called Charles a Mary Sue and i really wanted to hear what you thought about that, because your the RDR character analysis guy.

me personally i dont think hes a mary sue.

people don't understand what a mary sue is and that's evident. i don't think i need to give you a long explanation as to how he's not bc anyone with sense knows that's untrue.

#i don't like to indulge in willfully stupid ideas like this lol #hot take mary sue should have never left the fanfiction sphere #and even then it was made up by grown adults to mock the writing skills of - typically - teenage girls #it's stupid #anyone who genuinely uses the term to describe an established character lacks any real critical analysis or thinking skills #ask #thinky