We're Having a Fire! Sale! Hey all, we've gotta move cross-country, and that means we'd like to move these doggos ahead of time (other oddities & prototypes to follow)

Sale runs for roughly one month!

I'm participating in the total no-buy blackout today, and I encourage you to as well--does 1 day do a lot? Maybe not, but I hope if it even ruffles some CEO feathers, it will make folks feel empowered to continue to deny their money to the people who seek to oppress them, as much as it is possible. The cretins at the top have made it clear they only care about money and violence, and I'm up for trying one first.

I'm also continuing my commitment throughout the 40 days of Lent, to only buy groceries, pay my rent/utilities. Nothing else. Lent is a time of personal reflection--often framed as reflection on individual sin and "giving something up" but I think in these times it's wholly appropriate to use that time to reflect on the harm the average American's consumption has on the world at large and on the people living in it. I can't be perfect, I am still stuck in this system like everyone else, but I can try, I can be mindful.

Pre-order info:

I will be opening for bunny & canine muzzle pre orders tomorrow: Jan. 7th @ 12pm pst

Mid Feb. - Early March completion

Pre-orders will remain open till Jan. 14th OR until all slots are filled

SURPRISE HOLIDAY SALE Tomorrow, 11/21 @ 12pm!

I’ll have a small batch of cat ear visors, ear hats, and collars in my shop!

I will also have my pony drones on super sale! I’ve had a few people back out of payment plans at this point and would really like to find them a good home.

(The pony’s in question!)

I'm sure many people have already shared this here, but I think it's important that people here on Tumblr need to see this.

"I disagree with Kamala's position on the war in Gaza. How can I vote for her?" by US Senator Bernie Sanders

His question is NOT RHETORICAL by the way! Transcript for anyone who struggles with video:

“I understand that there are millions of Americans who disagree with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the terrible war in Gaza.

I am one of them.

While Israel had a right to defend itself against the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of October 7th, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages, it did not have a right to wage an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.

It did not have the right to kill 42,000 Palestinians, two thirds of whom were children, women and the elderly, or injure over 100,000 people in Gaza.

It did not have the right to destroy Gaza's infrastructure, housing, and healthcare system. It did not have the right to bomb every one of Gaza's 12 universities.

It did not have the right to block humanitarian aid, causing massive malnutrition in children and, in fact, starvation.

And that is why I am doing everything I can to block U.S. military aid and offensive weapon sales to the right-wing extremist Netanyahu government in Israel. And I know that many of you share those feelings, and some of you are saying,

"How can I vote for Kamala Harris if she is supporting this terrible war?"

And that is a very fair question. And let me give you my best answer. And that is that even on this issue, Donald Trump and his right-wing friends are worse. In the Senate, in Congress, the Republicans have worked overtime to block humanitarian aid to the starving children in Gaza. The President and Vice President both support getting as much humanitarian aid into Gaza as soon as possible.

Trump has said Netanyahu is "doing a good job", and has said Biden is "holding him back". He has suggested the Gaza strip would make excellent beachfront property for development. And it is no wonder Netanyahu prefers to have Donald Trump in office.

But even more importantly - and this I promise you - after Kamala wins, we will together do everything that we can to change U.S. policy toward Netanyahu. An immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, a surge of massive humanitarian aid, the stopping of settler attacks on the West Bank, and the rebuilding of Gaza for the Palestinian people.

And let me be clear. We will have, in my view, a much better chance of changing U.S. policy with Kamala than with Trump, who is extremely close to Netanyahu and sees him as a like-minded, right-wing extremist ally.

But let me also say this - and I deal with this every single day as a U.S. Senator - as important as Gaza is, and as strongly as many of us feel about this issue, it is not the only issue at stake in this election.

If Trump wins, women in this country will suffer an enormous setback and lose the ability to control their own bodies. That is not acceptable.

If Trump wins, to be honest with you, the struggle against climate change is over. While virtually every scientist who has studied the issue understands that climate change is real, and an existential threat to our country and the world, Trump believes it is a "hoax". And if the United States, the largest economy in the world, stops transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel, every other country - China, Europe, all over the world - they will do exactly the same thing. And God only knows the kind of planet we will leave to our kids and future generations.

If Trump wins, at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, he will demand even more tax breaks for the very richest people in our country while cutting back on programs that working families desperately need. The rich will only get richer while the minimum wage will remain at $7.25 an hour and millions of our fellow workers will continue to earn starvation wages.

Did you all see the recent Trump rally at Madison Square Gardens? Well, I did. And what I can tell you is that, as a nation, as all of you know, we have struggled for years, against impossible odds, to overcome all forms of bigotry - whether it's racism, whether it's sexism, whether it's homophobia, whether it's xenophobia, you name it. We have tried to fight against bigotry. But that is exactly what we saw on display at that unbelievable Trump rally. It was not a question of speakers getting up there, disagreeing with Kamala Harris on the issue. That wasn't the issue at all. They were attacking her simply because she was a woman, and a woman of colour. Extreme, vulgar sexism and racism.

Is that really the kind of America that we can allow?

So let me conclude by saying this: this is the most consequential election in our lifetimes. Many of you have differences of opinion with Kamala Harris on Gaza. So do I.

But we cannot sit this election out. Trump has got to be defeated. Let's do everything we can in the next week to make sure that Kamala Harris is our next president.

Thank you very much.”

A friendly reminder to USians: if you are planning to vote on Election Day, your mantra is "Nothing I see today convinces me not to go vote."

Exit polls suggest DT cannot be caught? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Exit polls suggest KH has it in the bag? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Pundits are saying the country is swinging overwhelmingly red? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Pundits are saying the country is swinging overwhelmingly blue? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Polls can be misleading (intentionally or not). The methodology can be biased (or simply poor). Early results may not reflect what the full count will show. There may be a red mirage. NOTHING YOU SEE CONVINCES YOU NOT TO VOTE.

The biggest Democratic win in swing states means nothing if democrats don't turn out everywhere to keep the reliably blue states blue.

VOTE. Wear appropriate weather gear if you think you may have to stand in a line outside (coat, hat, gloves, umbrella, sunhat, whatever, you know where you live). Bring water and a snack and something to do (book, game on your phone, podcast and headphones, whatever, you know what you like). GO VOTE.

NOTHING YOU SEE ON ELECTION DAY CONVINCES YOU NOT TO VOTE.

Skin beast. Made from the shreds and remnants of many different hides of leather.

I’m always fond of the ugly parts of a hide of leather. The scars, the brands, the ragged edges. Parts that you can’t use for a regular project. But sometimes the bits languishing at the bottom of the scraps pile call out to you, demanding that you make something with them.

This one-of-a-kind nightmare is available on my Etsy!

Golden Curse mask.

I made this mask I think about 2 years ago (here), but was unhappy with the eyes, so I opened them up and reshaped them recently. The mask was sculpted directly onto a form (testing out that process, which is different than my typical), which let me get more intense curvature and shaping into the leather than normal. I made it out of some remnant pieces of leather with some funky shapes and textures, and joined them together on the irregular seam line that came out of it.

I enjoyed experimenting with this technique, and there’s some really cool stuff that can be made with it, but honestly I can’t really pursue it. Exploring it further would require sculpting a bunch of solid formworks to shape the masks onto, and I don’t have space in my workshop/bedroom for that. But there may be occasional projects where I use the technique.

This one-of-a-kind horror is still available on my Etsy!

Working on a pattern that could serve as a base layer for pup hoods and variants. Will be making this in a heavy garment type leather, rather than the stiff veg tan that I normally use. Will probably just make this quickly and test the fit, then retrofit it with ears/snout.

I wanted something with more panels than the typical 2-panel Mr-S style construction, with the one main seam at the forehead wrapping all the way down the sides/back. That works well in the stretchy neoprene, but when I tried it a while ago in leather it came out boxy and awkward. Also with my workflow I need to build the mask out of smaller pieces to fit in my laser cutter.

I really cranked on this project yesterday.

Went for cutting cardstock templates and then tracing and hand-cutting the leather. Partly because garment leather is a bit more annoying to cut using the laser, partly to test the time difference. None of the shapes in this piece are particularly detailed, so it wasn't too hard to cut.

The chin turned out too tight, but it'll be easy enough to cut it out and make a new one. Will do that when I decide what sort of snout to make for it.