We are a polycule of four married queer folks doing our very best! Despite living in a tiny apartment, we somehow manage to churn out so so many crafts. We also read (and hoard like littol dragons) so so many books.
You can find all of our links at polycraftory.com, which includes the link to our etsy shop, the polyamory advice podcast we briefly ran, our used book seller page, our various storygraph accounts for book reviews/what we're reading, and our other social medias!
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We have an etsy store: Polycraftory! If you are interested in supporting some queer disabled folks, please consider checking out our shop! We make LGBTQIA+ and polyamory shirts, as well as a lot of fandom and D&D merch!
If you like a design but you'd like to get it on a different item, a different color, or a different size than what's available please shoot us a message and we'll try to make it happen!
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Our tag directory and more info about our polycule is under the cut!
Directory
General
Polycraftory: for all our original posts.
Polycraftory.com (External Link) for all our links and social medias
Etsy Shop (External Link)
Etsy Specific Tags: Shop Drop, Behind the Scenes
Other Tags: Laugh Tag, Words to Live By, Queer, Polyamory, Masterpost
Polyqueue: for our reblogs. For insight into a specific mind and tag commentary, you can check out Gabe Posts and Meghan Posts
General Crafting: Work In Progress, Craft Complete, Getting Started Guides, Buy List
Fiber Art: Embroidery, Needle Felting
Other Crafts: Leatherworking, Bookbinding, Cricut, Junk Journaling/Scrapbooking, Papercraft
Craft Starter Guides: Junk Journaling
Craft Tutorials: How to Curl a Heat Sensitive Wig
All Things Cosplay: Prop Making, Wigs, Cosplay Detailing (Embroidery, HTV, & other finishing touches)
Our Cosplays: Nic Cosplays, Meghan Cosplays
Specific Character Cosplays: Danny Phantom, Nott the Brave, Imogen Temult
Other Cosplay: Critical Role Cosplay, CR Cosplay Leatherworking Master Post, Genderbent Cosplay
Specific Polycule Crafts: Gabe Crafts, Meghan Crafts, Nic Crafts, Nathaniel Crafts
These are all links to various tags on our blog that might be helpful if you are looking for something specific. If the tag is there but not linked, it means I have an upcoming post and I'll add the tag here once it's up. If any links are broken/mis-linked, please let me know!
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The Polycule
Meghan (she/they) - the primary person running the blog. A queer disabled femme with a hobby of picking up new hobbies. Latest hyperfixations are leatherworking and bookbinding. Other crafts include embroidery, digital art and every cricut craft imaginable. In our cosplay work, their focus is makeup, leather and detail work like embroidery or heat transfer vinyl.
Gabe (they/them) - an adhd nerd that never stops crafting because they always need to be doing at least three things. Their first love is knitting, but they have recently picked up "the devil's craft" (aka crochet). Other crafts include: bookbinding, sewing, embroidery and digital art. In our cosplay work, they are our primary tailor and a wizard with the sewing machine.
Nic (she/they) - a chaotic genderfluid media lover who is the only one who can always find Meghan & Gabe's things. Their primary crafts are junk journaling, gouache painting, and needle felting. In our cosplay work, they primarily handle our wigs and face painting.
Nathaniel (he/him) - the newest crafter in our squad, but our number one fix it guy when it comes to being handy around the house. Those skills have translated well to his newfound love of all things prop making, which is his main contribution to our cosplay work. He also loves photography, and occasionally dabbles in basket weaving.
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What's Next?
We're planning to continue work on how tos for the various crafts and cosplay. We also do a lot of design work and we try to add at least one new shirt/merch design a week to our Etsy Shop. If there is interest, we may also start adding cosplay patterns and other digital content so you can craft along with us.
As disabled folks, we want to be as accessible as possible! We try to include image IDs on all our photos. Please let us know if you want us to tag something or if there is anything else we can do to be more accessible!
Acetaminophen/paracetamol has a hard stop upper dose limit, above which it becomes extremely toxic.
That limit is 4g (8 “extra strength” (500mg) tablets) in 24 hours (about 2 tablets every 6 hours).
A single dose of 22 extra strength tablets can kill you.
Taking 12 or more tablets per day for more than a week can also kill you (this is about 3 tablets every 6 hours).
Symptoms of overdose take up to 24 hours to manifest, and are fairly difficult to distinguish from other problems. They include abdominal pain (especially right upper quadrant), nausea, malaise, and confusion.
The antidote (n-acetylcystine) must be given within 8hours of ingestion in order to be useful.
After 10 hours the only thing that will work is a liver transplant.
You might think “why would I ever accidentally take so much?”
Well, acetaminophen is in almost everything in the cold/flu/pain aisle. Migraine combos like Excedrin, cold and flu combos like NyQuil, basically anything that says “non-aspirin pain relief”, and anything that’s branded as a fever reducer. It’s all probably acetaminophen/paracetamol.
So the goal of this post is to get you to read the labels on your medications. Because taking taking Tylenol and NyQuil together for a week (like you might if you had the flu) could kill you.
Please don't forget this shit, after it happened to a family member, he died 8 years later because of the continuing health complications even though he survived the initial overdose
I didn't know this for years, and I took so many pills, sometimes 4 at one go, every four hours, like 16 a day, because of endometriosis and migraines. It took a migraine specialist to explain rebound headaches and overdoses when I was in my 40s. Then I went cold turkey on all OTC drugs to get off the cycle. Please, please, if a couple tylenol aren't working for you, talk to your doctor or find one who will listen to you if you can.
and OP mentioned both names, but I'm highlighting it again: when you travel internationally, this compound has different names. in the US it is called acetaminophen, while in Europe and elsewhere it is called paracetamol. Pharmacists often use the abbreviation "APAP" which is short for its IUPAC name, N-acetyl-p-aminophenol. They are the same compound. If a product says "do not take with products containing paracetamol," check the labels of other products not just for "paracetamol" but also for "acetaminophen."
And if you have currently or have ever had liver problems, even minor, the amount of Tylenol (acetaminophen/paracetamol) that is safe for you to take is 0 actually.
When I get sick and must take it, it is under extreme supervision. Like 2 every 48 hours max, no more than 3x per week, if absolutely necessary.
periodic reminder that the queer liberation library is an awesome non-regional library you can add on libby to access hundreds of queer titles. NO LIBRARY CARD NEEDED. i just found an audiobook for a pretty new release on there with no waitlist. also everyone use libby for your local library too NOW
Book excerpt + final merch reveal for THE WISDOM OF EMPERORS kickstarter: the coolest t-shirt you've ever seen in your life
A t-shirt! I didn't even want to do a t-shirt! I said to my Marketing Vizier, Rusty, "Let's not do a t-shirt, that sounds complicated, I have too many opinions about the decline of fabric quality and itchy tags, and it will be a headache to have to keep track of different sizes when I'm packing up the orders, so let's keep it really simple and Not do a t-shirt—"
And then Rusty showed me this design, and what happened in my brain was something like, "......................OK I MEAN I COULD DO A TSHIRT, FOR SURE I COULD DO A TSHIRT, FUCKING GOD THAT IS PAINFULLY COOL, i need it for ME, i need ME to have this, fuck fuck fuck holy fuck, ok don't worry about it, don't even worrrryyyyyy about it!!! We're doing a tshirt, and it WILL be worth the headache."
So. Big news, everybody, we are doing a t-shirt!!! And not only are we doing a t-shirt, but you get to be the beneficiaries of all my pickiest and most opinionated standards, such as:
100% cotton or go home. Get that plastic shit out of my face, I hate it.
Fabric quality in the garment industry has been going down in recent decades, so I have intentionally found a printer who offers shirts made of fabric that's a little heavier than that really cheap, thin shit you often find in stores these days--it is better for durability, so that hopefully you (read: I, who needs this shirt for Me) won't notice it getting holes within the first year of wearing it.
You know what I hate when I buy a cool shirt like this? The way a big design on the front feels kind of stiff and uncomfortable and plasticky, and how it gets sweaty and uncomfortable in the summer because it doesn't breathe properly. SO WE AREN'T DOIN THAT! Instead, it will be printed using a method called discharge printing, which removes dye from the fibers and then adds different dye back on. Result: The design just becomes part of the fabric. After the first wash, I'm told you can't even feel a difference between the printed and non-printed areas of the fabric. As an extra bonus, you know the way that those plasticky designs get cracks and fissures over time? Literally cannot happen with discharge printing, so it will stay fresh and new-looking for longer. AND, even better, because there aren't any bits to flake off, no microplastics getting released every time you wash it!
Tear-away tag. Fuck tags. We all know this, we all get it. I don't need to say anything more about that.
In this house, we love supporting small businesses! The screenprinting company I've chosen is based in the USA and still owned by the same guy who founded it 25 years ago. No corporations, no soulless franchises, thank you very much, just cool humans making neat stuff. They also do a lot of charity work and have been prioritizing eco-friendly production/cleanup techniques since before it was cool.
More options, more good! The size range goes up to 4XL (you'll tell me what size you want in the backer survey after the campaign ends). Although the fit is your standard unisex tee, I DO hope that some folks will get bold and experiment with cool, punk DIY adaptations to make the shirt exactly what they want. Chop the sleeves off. Cut a wide-neck or V-neck collar into it. Crop off the bottom or make it a beaded fringe. When you start thinking of a standard-fit tee as really more of a blank canvas, the world is your oyster.
As for the design itself, it references the official Imperial deification of both the historical Antinous and his fantasy equivalent in the book, Anaticula, the cities named after them, the 2000 sculptures commissioned of them, and the religious cults founded to honor them...
You know what, I'll just let today's excerpt explain the details -- it is a LONG one today, the entire Foreword, written by a more established academic to commemorate the publication of Dr Amatio Orlanti's revised dissertation. Enjoy! (But before I turn you loose on this excerpt, remember to schedule an alarm for 4pm EST tomorrow for the launch of the campaign!)
Read the excerpt on Kickstarter:
Today's update is a long one, folks! After the merch reveal, we've got the WHOLE Foreword to the book! A t-shirt! I didn't even want to do a
This is one of those posts where I feel like I'm doing others and myself a disservice by not sharing. I wish someone had shown me this a long time ago.
Maybe I'd be having to do less work to break out of this shell, now.
[Image IDs: Series of tweets from (neuro)diversity (green heart, yellow heart, orange heart, red heart, sparkling heart, purple heart, blue heart emojis) (@/ GummiPie) reading: I went to a woman's funeral. Her husband gave a eulogy and spoke mostly about himself. I mean he started from his birth and spent a significant amount of time explaining his life and career before he met her. Her pastor said she was the kindest, most helpful person he'd ever met.
Her kids said she was the best most helpful loving mom. Everybody said she never complained. She put everyone first. It was a virtue. She didn't take care of her, she devoted herself to church, husband and kids. They cried so much. An angel on earth! They'd miss her dearly.
I never met this lady. I sobbed. My husband thought I was going to join her in the ground when I bent down to give me rose and spoke to her. I told her I understood why her heart attacked her. She swallowed so many teeth!! A dozen people said she was the best woman on earth and
I hadn't learned a thing about her personality except that she made it small. I heard about her service and she never complained. I don't even know if she was funny.
That's when I decided to stop putting everyone above me all the time. Stop swallowing my teeth. Because I refuse to let these people kill me and then get up at my funeral and talk about themselves. How I died for them but without saying it. I refuse.
If you hear someone praising you for "never complaining" please get mad. Please take up space. This is your life, not a pageant. Complain. Even if you can only whisper "this hurts me". Complain.
No one can help if you won't say "this hurts". Maybe you're crazy like me. Maybe little "harmless" comments hurt. So what? Say something. Maybe they get mad and block you. (start all caps) Good! (end caps) You have to find a life that does not hurt. You have to say something. Nothing is too small.
If you think "other people wouldn't be so hurt by this" so you shouldn't speak up, you're wrong. You literally were forced (start all caps) Pushed or pulled) (end caps) into life. You didn't ask for your sensitivity. There are people allergic (start all caps) to water. (end caps) Should they not complain because it's atypical?
Things hurt. Hurt changes your brain. It practices the pain and (start all caps) Gets better/faster at hurting. (end caps) You must find peace and practice (start all caps) that. (end caps) The damage of pain is silent and invisible but it's one of the realest, most dangerous things we know. /End IDs]
Reblog if you’d rather give yourself papercuts between each of your fingers and then rub hand sanitizer all over your hands than use generative AI to write or draw anything ever
Tweet 1: O best beloved, if you are doomscrolling Twitter today, ask yourself if there is anything you can personally do. If there is, do it. If there isn’t, remember that anxiety is not activism. Your misery does not improve the world a single iota.
Tweet 2: You are not required to wallow in despair to prove your humanity. Better to go and work on something you can fix right now. /End ID]
Thinking about how wild it is that enshittification starts as a way for the rich to squeeze the populace for more money but ends up infecting everything so even luxury products decline in quality. They’ve got more money than fucking God now and for what? Literally they can’t even buy fun nice stuff for themselves because they killed craft.
Anyway this post is about Dhaka muslin but it’s also about everything.
Nearly 200 years ago, Dhaka muslin was the most valuable fabric on the planet. Then it was lost altogether. How did this happen? And can we
Fun fact! Revival of Dhaka Muslin has been ongoing for quite some time. The headline of the above article is very very misleading, we know exactly how Dhaka Muslin was made. The process was very well documented. We know how it was made, but colonialism ruined the fabric's production area and devalued the skills needed to make it such that they no longer existed. But the process itself was not lost.
That being said, efforts to bring it back are underway, and they have been making amazing progress, and succeed in creating Dhaka Muslin yet again.
It all began with a search for ‘phuti karpas’ – muslin’s unique cotton plant which is known to have become extinct. However, starting in 201
This is a pretty good updated article, it has a lot of the same info as the BCC one (which also discusses some of the revival efforts) but with more of a focus on that process, an update to the story, and it details some of the other ongoing projects working on the revival!
Here's the first weaver to manage to produce a finished piece in nearly 200 years, Al Amin.
His first piece was 300 threads, according to the article they have now been able to get into the 700s for thread counts, which is absolutely incredible.
Several projects are actually underway now each with different weavers and slightly different methods, producing fabric intended to meet or best the original!
And if you're curious, "okay but can it pass through a ring" yes! Yes they can!
All three of these photos are of pieces made in the modern century, photos by Wasiul Bahar!
It's a very time consuming process, and a very expensive fabric to purchase, but love and passion for it have been steadily bringing it back!
Sometimes I’m looking for something online - often “how to” articles - and I want to filter for - like - a website that was clearly built in 2010 at the latest, which may or may not have been updated since then, but contains a vast wealth of information on one topic, painstakingly organized by an unknown legend in the field with decades’ worth of experience.
I don’t want a listicle with a nice stolen picture in a slideshow format written by a content aggregator that God forgot. I want hand-drawn diagrams by some genius professor who doesn’t understand SEO at all, but understands making stir-fries or raising stick insects better than anyone else on this earth. I don’t know what search settings to put into Google to get this.
search.marginalia.nu is the search engine you want!
The search engine calculates a score that aggressively favors text-heavy websites, and punishes those that have too many modern web design features.
This is in a sense the opposite of what most major search engines do, they favor modern websites over old-looking ones. Most links you find here will be nearly impossible to find on a regular search engine, as they aren’t sufficiently search engine optimized.
“It is a search engine, designed to help you find what you didn’t even know you were looking for. If you search for “Plato”, you might for example end up at the Canterbury Tales. Go looking for the Canterbury Tales, and you may stumble upon Neil Gaiman’s blog.
If you are looking for fact, this is almost certainly the wrong tool. If you are looking for serendipity, you’re on the right track. When was the last time you just stumbled onto something interesting, by the way?
I don’t expect this will be the next “big” search engine. This is and will remain a niche tool for a niche audience.“
i clicked around for a few minutes searching various things and I now have two fourteenth century pie crust recipes and an apple filling recipe i want to try, so thanks!
it has been twenty minutes and I am deeply in love with this search engine.
INCREDIBLE. I *do* want to know how to test Windows 95 for Y2K Compliance and I am glad that someone is still hosting step by step instructions for that.
tl;dr: search.marginalia.nu for the old or old looking and just plain serendipitous stuff that google or Duck duck go are gonna not find/bury on the 20th page. For perfectly good reasons, but …
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Facebook
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)
Threads
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Duolingo
Google Docs
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.
Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Canva Takes and feeds their machine.
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Neutral ground:
Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
Strong positions against AI:
Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.
Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Discover a world of creativity and craftsmanship through Handmade, an innovative platform connecting passionate artisans with discerning buy
Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.
But you need a pro website...
Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/
Use cloudflare:
Use Nightshade:
https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
which will poison the algorithm
Use Glaze:
Take Away:
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
Analysis shows that indiscriminately training generative artificial intelligence on real and generated content, usually done by scrapi
And why not help that along?
I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.
