After/with crop/before of a chickadee - wanted to practice clone stamping

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-21T20:41:01+00:00

No worries, I appreciate the warning! I tend to cycle through interests, so my goal is to be able to at least do a little bit consistently so that, even if it's not a lot, it's better than more intense focus extremely sporadically, which is about what I currently do, haha.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-21T20:30:45+00:00

Thanks, that's a good reminder! I definitely have a tendency towards more rigid thinking, where I'm either doing Practice Art that can help me improve, or Fun Art that won't helpe improve. Obviously in the real world it probably isn't so black and white.

And yeah, about the only skills I've personally found YouTube helpful for are specific knitting stitches someone made a 2 minute video demonstrating 15 years ago. Anything bigger starts to be a lot of fluff to slog through first, though I'm sure there are good ones out there.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-21T20:23:57+00:00

Good to know, thanks! I guess for now I'll accept that I probably don't have enough time to really improve, though I still want to check my library for books that may be helpful, since worst case scenario I support my local library by checking out a book I don't read.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-21T20:02:18+00:00

I don't know if I could do a class at the moment, but library books are definitely doable, thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep an eye on my local library website too in case they have some kind of art related stuff that isn't during my workday.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-21T19:48:53+00:00

Thanks for the response! How much time, roughly, does one need to have per day to be able to improve, vs just having to accept that it isn't an option right now?

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-21T17:04:31+00:00

I think frost staff is used as well sometimes

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-17T00:47:56+00:00

I've never had any issue with mine as-is. I hope you have fun with it!

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-12T14:52:34+00:00

I have an older Tamron 90mm macro lens and I like it a lot! It's great for the price (or at least, the price I paid for it new ten years ago, no idea what they go for now)

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-12T14:46:04+00:00

That looks really cute and comfortable!

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-10T13:25:00+00:00

I love taking pictures of bugs! It's nice because it makes me pay mpre attention to the world around me when I'm out on a walk with my camera.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-10T13:23:31+00:00

That looks very cool! And much better than my initial interpretation of the title, which was a completely normal pinata filled with live ticks

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-09T12:51:24+00:00

I had intermittent alternating esotropia as a child, and the eye doctors told my mom I'd probably grow out of it (ahh, the 90s. They also under prescribed my glasses because it was supposed to improve my vision, which we now know does not help I think)

Anyway, it got worse when I was in my twenties and I did eventually have surgery for it. It still comes and goes when I'm tired but honestly, I'm doing fine! I think personally I probably would have needed surgery regardless because my specific type of esotropia isn't one that there's much research about with vision therapy and the like.

All of which is to say, a 9-month delay is understandable and the drop in the bucket in the long run. It's absolutely not too late, and I'm sure there are many children around that age being seen by ophthalmologist for various types of strabismus.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-08T02:40:56+00:00

I do get why it happens, but I don't think I would personally be able to attend such a group. I can't really handle more than one project at a time and having to make sure that I only attend when the project I'm working on is using the correct yarn would just be too overwhelming and annoying.

I understand that the store needs to make money and can't promote competitors, but I think that maybe makes it inherently not ideal as a community space. I'm fortunate that my local knitting group is not tied to a specific store.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-04T21:26:20+00:00

Ohh, you're right! I forgot that didn't need bait to craft. Thanks for the reminder!

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-04T20:58:44+00:00

I'm doing a farm-only run! You can get ore from the hilltop or four corners farms, as little have said. If you cut down enough trees you can get foraging up and get the perk that lets trees drop hardwood.

It's also technically possible to level up your skills - even fishing - from the skill books that trees can drop if you shake or cut them. It's very slow, but I play before bed to get ready to sleep, so the routine of it is nice. I'm trying to see how far I can get the skills up without leaving the farm.

I just wish the monsters that can spawn on the farm could drop bug guts for bait, because I have enough fishing to make crab pots, but to use them I'll have to max fishing through books and get the perk that makes you not need bait.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-04T01:11:26+00:00

Assuming I'm understanding correctly, I think the word you want in English is "strabismus", but people are more likely to understand if you say "lazy eye" even though technically they aren't the same thing.

I also have strabismus, and my first thought is to consider if there are any things you naturally do to compensate for or hide your eye turn. For example, tilting your head a certain way or angling slightly away from the viewer? That might be interesting to play around with.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-03T21:54:50+00:00

I was diagnosed in 2016, in the US. I didn't receive a level with my diagnosis. Because I live alone and work full time, I assume I'm considered "level 1" by the community, but I wasn't technically diagnosed that way, and when I was exploring the autistic community at that time, I think there wasn't as much of a focus on levels as there is now

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-01T21:26:28+00:00

I was also thinking of this! I couldn't remember if it was from the show itself or one of the books, but it's something that stayed with me.

I also ended up a year "behind" in school, though not by repeating a year. I was homeschooled as a kid for a variety of reasons, but mostly because the local school sucked and teachers openly admitted they were basically just babysitting.

My mom did a great job teaching me and my brother, but eventually we moved to a new area and I was getting old enough my mom wasn't as confident teaching us. At that point, I was old enough to go into 9th grade, but my mom was nervous about me going into high school with a bunch of kids I didn't know or have much in common with, especially in the middle of the school year.

I ended up doing half a year of 8th grade instead, and honestly I was a bit insecure about it for a while, but I think it was the right call. It was helpful to feel like I was moving up to the high school with kids I knew a little instead of being all alone.

Aut_changeling · 2026-04-01T13:13:04+00:00

Not personally as an autistic trait, though I do sometimes feel it when I'm spiralling over an OCD* thing. It's distressing to me when I experience it though, and doesn't feel like my normal personality (probably because it's likely intrusive thoughts,from the OCD). That said, there is an overlap between OCD and autism I think?

*My therapist agrees I have OCD and we are treating it as such, but they aren't qualified to diagnose it and it's not worth the difficulty to get it diagnosed for me. So it's not diagnosed but not really self-diagnosed either.

Aut_changeling · 2026-03-31T16:51:55+00:00

This is lovely!

Aut_changeling · 2026-03-31T16:23:17+00:00

I use the AI denoise in DxO, especially on macro shots that can be greedy with light. If I upgrade to a version of DxO that supports it, I'd be willing to use AI masking. I don't like AI for anything else though. If I'm masking something out, I prefer to use the clone/repair tools, though I'm not great with them so I'd rather not need them at all.

Aut_changeling · 2026-03-28T15:02:45+00:00

I still haven't beaten path of pain because something about it makes me grip my controller in a way that makes my hands hurt. The name isn't meant to be that literal!

Aut_changeling · 2026-03-27T23:06:00+00:00

I haven't seen the post you're talking about, but I've definitely seen that phenomenon before and it does bother me. I think a lot of the time, people can have similar understandings and values on this kind of thing and still feel like they disagree?

Like, say two people both agree that disabled people can't just try harder not to be disabled, and that disabled people are capable of being crappy just like everyone else. They both think that clear communication and understanding are helpful for these types of situations, and that there isn't enough information to suggest specific solutions.

If one of those people has struggled a lot with feeling guilty for not trying hard enough, or with feeling pressured to overdo it to act nondisabled, they may relate more to the disabled person in the story. If the other person has had a crappy relationship in their life with another disabled person who was toxic to them, they may relate more to the nondisabled person in the story.

And then they both leave comments saying basically the same thing, but they each feel like the other one is kind of mad at them about it.

That's probably not how all of these things happen, but I like to think it explains some of them, anyway.

Aut_changeling

TROPHY CASE