day 1 of the time loop

day 1 of the time loop

day 1 of the time loop

day 1 of the time loop

day 1 of the time loop

day 1 of the time loop

absolutely adore how leon managed to lose almost every article of clothing but kept his watch. gotta stay fresh in the eldritch hellscape that has become your life

ngl that would have been such an interesting story element. Maybe Leon could have been clever enough to use the ticking of the watch to keep him grounded as he's losing his mind in the dark. Maybe a violent encounter with Tasi is what breaks it, and that leads into that game of hide-and-seek in the Hunting Grounds maze.

THIS IS A FANTASTIC IDEA, oh my god i love that so much. If Leon could contain his anger/panic long enough to focus on the ticking i definitely think that's a fun possibility for how he was still as himself as he was by the time we found him. He's not just fresh to death, he's also a master strategist who'd have guessed 😩👌👌

There's a line he has after Tasi escapes from him in the Hunting Grounds. Where he's barred off from her and he's taunting her. He states, "I can wait! How much time do you have?!" While he's referring to what's happening to Tasi, I can't help but think that would have been a really clever little nod to the watch if things had been written that way. It expands his character; we know he's kind of superstitious with him carrying his father's lion claw pendant as a type of good luck charm and so to me it would make sense that he would pour so much of himself--what's LEFT of himself--into an inanimate object that has no bearing of the situation that surrounds him. So when that watch is hypothetically taken away from him would be the moment that he finally just shatters.

absolutely adore how leon managed to lose almost every article of clothing but kept his watch. gotta stay fresh in the eldritch hellscape that has become your life

ngl that would have been such an interesting story element. Maybe Leon could have been clever enough to use the ticking of the watch to keep him grounded as he's losing his mind in the dark. Maybe a violent encounter with Tasi is what breaks it, and that leads into that game of hide-and-seek in the Hunting Grounds maze.

Hazel growing up hehe

"Princes & Prejudice" one of my pieces for the Nostalgia Baby art show a bunch of my friends and I did this year!

Made a video tutorial!

https://akufta.gumroad.com Brushes

https://instagram.com/akufta.art Insta if you want to connect! <3

I tried to make a video lmao not sure if it's that good but hope it helps :)

I’m singin’ in the rainnn 🎵

The sun’s in my heart and I’m ready for lovee! 🎶

Oh my god, food extract is not the same as an essential oil.

Food extract is the flavoring of something cooked down into a carrier oil or alcohol that is safe for human ingestion.

Essential oil is the pure extract of the plant refined down and distilled for concentrated medicinal purposes to a significantly higher strength than simply adding ground up mint leaves to your water. The two are not comparable in any way.

Cinnamon extract and cinnamon essential oil are not the same thing.

One is about 100 times the strength of the other and can also cause acute organ failure. I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the food extract.

Sweet gods I’m not trying to be mean, I want you to be aware and safe and stop putting yourselves and others at risk. Please.

Like maybe my tone is hard to read, maybe it just comes off as really angry but it’s not, it’s fear and worry. I read posts and clutch my head in alarm going “no! No! That’s how people die!” And then I get exasperated because a bunch of people not formally qualified chime in with “um actually this is a lie” and it’s not, it’s really, really not.

I’m not some big pharma advocate. I’m a crunchy witch hippy just like you with salt rock lamps and rose quartz all over my house. I just happen to have spent the last 15 years of my life studying the actual science of holistic medicines and I’m trying to help you not get hurt (or worse) becuase you trusted a sales person with no idea what the ever loving hell they were talking about beyond a sales pitch designed to maximize profit. Gah.

I see this so often in the Mommy world. There was a lady not long ago in one of the mom groups who was really worried about her toddler. He’d had a persistent cough for weeks and the doctor couldn’t figure out why. Someone asked, well what have to tried to treat it with, so far? She said she was using a humidifier, honey, and eucalyptus EO in the shower every night.

Yeah.

In case you were wondering, eucalyptus can cause respiratory distress in young children.

Sadly I don’t wonder. I have a friend whose daughter died from a home made menthol oil chest rub. She wasn’t even ten yet, but her mom– a qualified aromatherapist– thought she’d be old enough to handle it. She went into respitory distress and died seizing in her mother’s arms on route to the hospital. It was one of the most harrowing stories I had to listen to during my holistic training. She stood up there, on this podium next to a bunch of ponzy scheme essential oil sellers who looked like they wanted the floor to swallow them, and said “I killed my child with good intentions”.

I’ll never forget the look on her face.

So to reiterate, children under the age of ten should not be directly exposed to things like eucalyptus oil, peppermint or wintergreen. If you are using such things in your house and your child starts to complain of headaches, lethargy and general “feel worse”, don’t just assume it’s the cold/flu. Those are all signs of menthol sensitivity and they only get worse with increased exposure. Ventilate the room, take them outside if you can until the air clears. Do not apply again.

Rapid onset wheezing may be a sign of allergic reaction or possible asthma attack triggered by the menthol too. If they tell you their chest is warm or fuzzy when you use it, that’s another sign it’s not going down well with them. Again, ventilate the area or remove anything you applied to them. Administer inhalers if necessary. Watch for any more labored breathing or if they suddenly go limp or you can’t wake them up. If they do call 911.

This can also apply to people with allergies and asthma who are otherwise healthy.

One of the safest, natural ways to alleviate congestion is with just pure good old fashioned warm steam. Keep the air moist, drink plenty of warm fluids. Menthol can help relieve the feeling of congestion, but there’s limited evidence to suggest it actually clears the airways. And for the love of god don’t inhale mustard or horseradish (I’ve seen that suggestion on posts too, though how you’d get those oils I don’t know). That’s literally what tear gas is made of.

I apologize sincerely for bringing this long post back into your lives, fam, but I’m getting inundated with questions about what can the possible harm be if you dab a little neat peppermint oil on your child’s skin to help them with a little head cold, and this is the most succinct way I can put it.

The harm you may do, is in fact death. I am not telling you these things to be a kill joy, I’m telling you so you won’t accidentally kill yours.

I have almost no followers and so am probably screaming into the void here, but! An important addition to this:

Respiratory distress is the number one cause of cardiac arrest in children.

This isn’t the case with adults (I believe the main cause is arrhythmia? but don’t quote me) but kids? Absolutely. It’s not a terribly intuitive thing - I think we usually expect people to stop breathing because their heart has stopped, but in children it’s very much the other way around.

So this kind of thing is VITALLY IMPORTANT to remember when you’re using things like essential oils and cleaning products that a child could be sensitive to! Their little bodies are fragile, and they really, REALLY need to breathe. Keep an eye out for respiratory issues in children, especially if there’s something new that has been introduced into their environment.

This is also relevant to pet owners who may have some idea that essential oils have any role in “holistic pet health.” Just. DO. NOT. Cats, especially, have delicate little livers and lick their coats extensively, so tea tree oil and other terpenes can kill them if applied to their fur.

I am a massage therapist and I use essential oils in drop amounts per jar of lubricant or pot of hot water (for compresses) when I use them at all, and I keep them carefully isolated on a shelf and handle them as if they were caustic in undiluted form. Not all of them, obviously, are highly toxic or will burn your skin, but some will (cinnamon, oh boy), but it’s a good habit to form. Also, they are sold and stored in those cute little glass jars for a reason. Some can melt plastic. Don’t ask how I found out.

Your only occasional reminder:

Do your homework on ingredients. :/

Original 3D animation of Mario welcoming visitors, shown on screens at the Narita International Airport near Tokyo, Japan.

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The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1948

Legend has it she still flops around ireland👀

The best pumpkin spice product to enjoy this fall

How to get a book quote from a printer

Whether you’re planning a small print run for your comic or looking into other printed projects, learning how to work with printers is an amazing skill. Though many book printers do have online tools to calculate pricing (Mixam, Greko, RA Comics Direct, and Keness being a few), reaching out to a sales rep at the printer is always an option too!

Information a printer needs to give you a quote (and Delphina’s recommendations):

Paper quality (interior) - For North American printers, the thinnest option you would want is about 50lb text for your interior paper. The higher the number, the thicker the paper. 70 or 80lbs is about the top range. Other countries use gsm instead of lbs, so this range is about 90gsm - 150gsm. This paper will be called either “text” or “book” paperstock. It is often available in matte (normal) or gloss (shiny), whichever is your preference.

Paper quality (cover) - If you want your cover to be a thicker paper stock than your inner pages, look for cardstock around100lbs/270gsm. This thicker paper will be in the cover stock category.

For both paper categories, printers are often 100% okay with mailing you some sample sheets of paper of various weights so you can compare them, so don’t be afraid to ask!

Binding type - Your most common options here are case binding (hardcover), perfect binding (softcover), or saddlestitched (staple in the middle, the number of pages has to be a multiple of four).

Size - Some printers have specific sizes they print at (6.625x10.25 is a standard North American graphic novel size, but Europe uses A4-A6 sizes). Many will offer some variant of a “manga” size or do custom sizes. Measure your favorite books to see what size they are and find something similar!

Bleed - If you want any of your art to run all the way to the edge of the page, you should make a larger version of your page size with 3mm or 0.125 inches of extra art on the top, bottom, left and right sides. This is called bleed.

Colors - Your options here are one-color (black and white) or CMYK (full color). Sometimes this is called 4/4 (4 over 4) to indicate the four colors of toner (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) or 1/1 (1 over 1) to indicate K only (black)

Pro tip: If you CAN print black and white only, it’s usually gonna be cheaper!

Number of pages: Make sure you count the title page too!

Spine: Once you know the number of pages and the thickness of your paper, you can use a spine calculator to figure out how much extra you need to add to the middle of your front/back cover design (or just ask the printer in your email!)

Special fancy things: Gold foil, spot UV gloss, lamination, and dust covers for case bound books are some common ones.

Quantity: All right, so this one’s a big pain because HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW? I will say that comic books are hard to sell in an online store, but easier if you’re doing a crowdfunding campaign. Ask your printer what their minimum run is (note that setting up to print books takes a lot of time, so most printers will want you to print a lot and give you price breaks accordingly). I recommend printing a run of at least 100 if you’re considering stocking these in a store or for conventions, though there are print-on-demand places that will print fewer.

I usually print in conjunction with a crowdfund with the idea of having some left over for my online store and conventions. I ask for quotes of 100, 200, and 500, but you can adjust these depending on your needs.

Let’s put it all together!

Once I find 2-3 printers I am interested in using, I email them all at the same time to ask for pricing. That way I can compare how fast they respond to me and if any of them are clearly better priced than the others.

Here’s what a email I might send to a printer would look like. Feel free to copy and change the numbers for your own purposes!

Happy book printing, everyone!

Really good info!! I want to add for non-US folk that a good interior weight for a graphic novel is usually 115gsm and a good cover is 250 or 300 gsm! Paper types also have different names than in the US: uncoated, silk, or gloss. Uncoated (American equivalent is matte) has a slightly rougher texture and colours come out a little less saturated. Silk (I think the American equivalent is satin?) and gloss are smooth, but I wouldn’t recommend printing a comic on gloss since gloss is super shiny. Silk is a really nice compromise between gloss and uncoated since it has the vibrancy of gloss but less sheen. “Text stock” isn’t a thing we use here so you can just ask for uncoated or silk and the weight!

Another really important thing to be aware of is the difference between digital printing and litho printing! Litho printing is only cost effective for larger printruns so if you’re printing quantities of 500 or less you’ll usually be using digital printing. There will be minor differences in colour between these two processes so it’s worth asking your printer for advice on any colours that might appear different than you expect if you’re printing large quantities. It’s easy to get a physical proof of a digital printed book, but the process for litho printing requires making plates and printing hundreds of copies of the thing at once so you can’t exactly order a single proof.

On that note always order a proof if you can!! Proofs are invaluable for making sure everything is coming out the way you want. This is especially important if you’re printing something with a spine, since some of the art might be too close to the spine on the inside of the page and be hidden from view. Ask your printer how much a single proof copy will cost!

Mixam also has a UK version of the site, and digitalprinting.co.uk is another decent printing service for zines and small booklets (though as the name suggests, they only do digital printing and they don’t do custom sizes).

Wounded