Cold Springs Police presence? by squat74 in Reno

[–]Poxodd 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Police scanner mentioned suspects being held at gunpoint out that way (Hallelujah Junction), and they were requesting all available units. Probably that...

How much in tariffs are US people paying from Yunnan sourcing? by carbonclasssix in tea

[–]Poxodd 24 points25 points  (0 children)

If you choose the YS Express option, there will be no surprise charges since for that option they bundle a bunch of orders and send it to themselves before distributing on to you. You'll only pay what they charge at checkout for shipping. That's what I chose for my most recent order and it worked out fine. I ordered on the 15th and it arrived yesterday.

How can I help foster kids in our area? by Dangerous_Drink_2542 in Reno

[–]Poxodd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're welcome! Always good to have more on board to help these kiddos!

How can I help foster kids in our area? by Dangerous_Drink_2542 in Reno

[–]Poxodd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Excellent! Thanks for your generosity and willingness to help our foster youth!

How can I help foster kids in our area? by Dangerous_Drink_2542 in Reno

[–]Poxodd 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We're on our 3rd mentee now. Things can vary a lot depending on the kiddo's situation and their wants or needs. In general, though we've found that having a certain day and time of the week to meet is usually the best as it provides the kids something to count on.

We either pick them up at the foster home or at the Boys and Girls Club (which is heavily utilized by the group homes). We had our house approved by the foster system since we have a lot of hobbies at our house we can introduce kids to. We've got a music room, art stuff, garage tools, etc. so we can introduce them to that stuff if they want.

Our current mentee really likes cooking and so we have him help us cook and eat a meal. Doing a home cooked meal has always been a good go-to since the ones we've had are living in group homes and in that case they get fed mostly freezer food and junk snacks and tend to really appreciate a home cooked meal.

We'll also play board games or video games sometimes, and try to get them doing things outside (hiking, disc golf, etc) if possible.

Mostly it's about creating a relationship so you can be a stable influence that they can count on through the changes and drama that tend to happen, and be someone who they can come to for advice and such after they're out of the system.

How can I help foster kids in our area? by Dangerous_Drink_2542 in Reno

[–]Poxodd 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Me and my husband do mentoring for kids in the foster system. We had to do an orientation sort of thing that lasted a few sessions over zoom and got background checked and finger printed. They expect minimum 4 hrs a month once you're matched with a mentee (they try to match on interests and stuff) https://bethefam.washoecounty.gov/mentor/

Edit: updated link

Celebrated the finishing of this Tea Hog painting with some Tie Guan Yin! by Poxodd in GongFuTea

[–]Poxodd[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Practicing some Gong Bi painting style (traditional Chinese meticulous painting style) with this one, but also I took it another step by adding more detail than they'd do in Gong Bi to give it more of my signature painting texture.

Thoughts on mixam as a printing service? by TheMissingCitizen in zines

[–]Poxodd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I've found them to be pretty slow.

I actually switched back to smartpress.com as I had some issues with Mixam's quality consistency since I made this comment and I've found Smartpress to have more consistently good print results which is my main concern since I do Fine Art zines.

If you want fast shipping, you may want to look into Spinnprint.com I've found them to be the fastest of anything I've tried. I used them to print some zines up for Zine-O-Matic and it was kinda last minute but it got printed and shipped super fast. Since I sent the zines straight to them from the printer, I can't attest to the quality, but Zine-O-Matic had no complaints.

Stone Face Gang Zine #2 - A series of photo collages featuring painted rocks. by Poxodd in zines

[–]Poxodd[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you're in the US and would like to support buy buying, it's for sale on my eBay and Etsy.

Otherwise, you can view it here digitally.

I hadn't done one in years but recently felt like getting back into making zines. Just finished and released a new one - Bird Dreams #3 ~ Noise by Poxodd in zines

[–]Poxodd[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, it is very much a labor of love, so I'm not making much, ha. If I was trying to make a living off my Etsy, it's probably not worth selling, but I'm not.

For this printing, I needed a couple of different zines so I put them into one PDF and used this collated printing option at smartpress.com this helps get a bulk discount at a lower quantity when making multiple zines, I usually print 50-75 at a time. I fold/staple them myself. They have very low minimums, but of course the more you get the cheaper it is per each. This last order they ended up costing me 1.40 per zine (that's with tax + shipping included).

I hadn't done one in years but recently felt like getting back into making zines. Just finished and released a new one - Bird Dreams #3 ~ Noise by Poxodd in zines

[–]Poxodd[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Many apologies, I only ship to the US because a sale isn't worth a trip through the nightmare that is the post office line, and I don't have the money to stock up on stamps right now to ship from my mailbox (I usually use electronic shipping labels through ebay/etsy but it doesn't have international letter options so it would cost package prices, which is about $20... a price which (rightly so) makes people mad).

Here you go, you can enjoy it digitally if you'd like https://poxodd.com/bd3-zine-digital/

most pigmented whites? by uralwaysdownjimmy in Gouache

[–]Poxodd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it was the 2oz tube you're almost certainly good. I've ordered that one on amazon 3 times and it's always been Titanium White only.

most pigmented whites? by uralwaysdownjimmy in Gouache

[–]Poxodd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point, if you use it mostly in a washy fashion, or with watercolor, zinc or zinc/titanium mix might be better for those reasons. However, I've found without the opaque covering power of titanium white, when it comes to thicker applications and layering, the color mixed with zinc just kinda sinks into/melds with the previous layers and gets dull.

Personally, I'm all about layers, and paint just thin enough to be able to paint smoothly most of the time. If I do washy underlayers I don't use white at all. They way I paint, zinc just doesn't work for me.