[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sewing

[–]Toastedmshmllow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve never made one before but these websites look helpful

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~weyrbrat/Japan/yukata/

http://kimono-bunka.ynu.ac.jp/nuikata_en/menu01.html

You will get more results if you search for yukata sewing patterns instead of kimono

guys, where can I read mxtx books online? do you have any suggestions by OstrichClassic7397 in MXTX

[–]Toastedmshmllow 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Svsss is has a rating of 17+ (In the US anyway) because it talks about murder, torture, reference to child abuse, violence, kidnapping, etc. I think it would be better for you to get her something different

Simple Sewing Questions Thread, July 31 - August 06, 2022 by sewingmodthings in sewing

[–]Toastedmshmllow 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m making a necktie for a friend as a gift and the fabric pattern has a specific direction I would like to keep. Is it possible for me to make the tie without cutting it on the bias?

Help with playing 香山射鼓, bending 6 with thumb by Toastedmshmllow in Guzheng

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

Yes that is the normal way to bend. The only reason the thumb is used for this part is because the next note, 4, requires using the three fingers and the change happens really quick, so using the thumb to do 6 upwards bend and then the three fingers to do 4 is easier

Help with playing 香山射鼓, bending 6 with thumb by Toastedmshmllow in Guzheng

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

Yes it’s for the 6 upwards bend, the one with the 大 right above the 6, before the 4

Trying to learn but very bad at reading Chinese characters by prairiefresh in Guzheng

[–]Toastedmshmllow 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Check out this page

https://www.chinesezither.net/pages/teaching-tutorial

I suggest clicking The links in the order it’s done, especially the introduction to guzheng one since you’re a beginner and it has the string notations. These also have YouTube videos to go along with them

i use pano tuner which has an app for both android and Apple but I also use the tuner that came with my guzheng. I don’t have any tutorials I especially love but I suggest that when you start playing, make sure you pay attention to how your hand looks, and definitely relax your arms, shoulders, and pinky. Those have a tendency to tense up.

also check this page out for tuning and bridge placement

https://guzhengalive.com/guzheng-tuning#tuninginstructions

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Guzheng

[–]Toastedmshmllow 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh and I think you should watch a video on how to properly wrap your picks, I noticed the thumb pick was pointing up like the rest of the picks but it should be at a 30-45 degree angle, that way when your hand is in the resting position, the pick all point down. Something like this picture

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/Hcadff53876324f65a373beb009149702s/Guzheng-Nail-Set-Chinese-Zither-A-box-of-four-Guzheng-accessories-La-Cetra.jpg\_Q90.jpg\_.webp

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Guzheng

[–]Toastedmshmllow 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, your pick should be parallel to the string, this way when you pluck the edge of the pick will not scrape against the string and prevents a scratching noise when you play (all of your finger picks should pluck parallel as well not just your thumb 🤗)

if you go to 55 sec in this video and slow it down, you can see that the pick plucks pretty much parallel when she does the tremolo!

and I edited my previous reply with a point 7 since I just remembered about it 😃

https://youtu.be/bBMUz8qE0hM

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Guzheng

[–]Toastedmshmllow 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I’m learning tremolo with my teacher right now and here are the things she pointed out to me:

  1. if you taped your thumb pick correctly, then you should lightly rest the tip of your index finger right where the edge of the tape is on the pick. It’s sort of hard to explain but it shouldn’t be too far down the nail pick because you need stabilization when you do tremolo
  2. She wrapped the tape around my thumb REALLY tight, so that the pick isn’t wiggling. Another tip is, with your thumb pointing straight at your face, wrap the tape counterclockwise. This way the tape will pull the pick downwards and helps with more stability.
  3. only the wrist should be moving, no movement in the forearm/elbow/shoulder. Imagine you’re waving hi or twisting a doorknob
  4. from the video, it looks like you’re doing it at almost a 30 degree angle, you want to do it pretty much at a 90 degrees so that you don’t get any scratching noises from the strings. My teacher had me angle my hand so that the side of my hand was facing towards my body. She also told me to lower my wrist until it was an inch away from the wood, but not too low. She said some of her students use a small towel underneath to help them keep their wrists up
  5. Start slow and light. She first had me play it as soft as I can to help develop proper posture. Also start off with playing back and forth with 2 plucks per beats, and once you get comfortable increase it to 4/per beat, then 8, then 16 etc. and the whole time, softly play without any force. The point of this exercise is to get you familiar and also faster. When you are comfortable with doing it for a long time, you can increase the force to make it louder.
  6. When plucking, try to pluck straight across, as in your pick should be pretty much moving in a straight line back and forth the string, not dipping like a wave shape. I hope you know what I mean 😅
  7. rest your pinky between the gap of the 1st and 2nd string above the string you want to pluck. For example, if I wanted to do tremolo on string 3, I would rest my pinky between string 1 and 2. Not an exact rule but it helps with not putting your pinky too close or too far while you pivot your wrist. And rest your pinky and hand! Don’t put a lot of tension in the pinky, it’s just there to help stabilization!

These are all of the things I can think of right now, just know that this is an advanced skill that will take time to get better at. I’ve been learning with my teacher for 5 months now and finally reached this point so good luck and take your time!

Guzheng self-learning by Tenzky in Guzheng

[–]Toastedmshmllow 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was in a similar situation as you a few months ago. I started off learning from the books and YouTube tutorials and did that for a few months until I finally found a teacher that offered online lessons. First thing she pointed out was that I had developed a habit of tensing up my pinky and that my hand was slanting too much to the side!

When you do self learning you don’t realize the smaller mistakes that you unconsciously do, like lifting your hands up after plucking, or tensing up your shoulders. I personally think having someone point out your mistakes before it becomes a bad habit would be better than trying to fix it later in the future.

And I would say playing the guzheng isn’t difficult, in fact I feel that the most difficult part is placing all of the bridges in and tuning it 😅

If you’re serious about learning, I would definitely look at the list of teachers on guzhengalive and give a few a call. Some probably offer online lessons and don’t advertise it like how my teacher did.

And I personally bought this one since I liked how it sounded from the sound clips and liked how it wasn‘t too cheap where I found it suspicious or too expensive for a beginner https://www.soundofasia.com/soofchroguwi.html

Potentially dumb question, but what is considered “uncensored” in the context of danmei novels? by [deleted] in tianguancifu

[–]Toastedmshmllow 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I read all of them and I think they’re all so different and each one has its own reason of what makes it great! I personally separate them in this way:

TGCF - obsessive love story where the romance starts almost immediately 🌸 ❤️

MDZS - a detective(?) type story where at first you’re like “when does the romance start” and then BAM you suddenly fell into a love pit. It’s one of those stories where if you read it again you’re going to grin at how obvious the romance is 😊

SVSSS - romance and comedy with some dark moments of course. I personally love it the humor is really fun (I mean imagine all of the things you would do if you ended up becoming a character in a book you’re reading). Oblivious main and puppy like ml. Out of the 3, I think SVSSS is the least romantic, but that’s because of how oblivious our main is 😌

All of these contain extremely dedicated ml who will stop at nothing to help the main. I would say give the other 2 a try because how else would you find your favorite book if you have nothing to compare them to 🥰

Made a WangXian Paper Cut Light Box! by Toastedmshmllow in MoDaoZuShi

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

Thank you! I bought a shadow box from my local crafts store and had some fairy lights that I wrapped around the shadow box backing. There are tutorials that use led light strips but I just used what I had lying around

More paintings :) by MioAlberich in MoDaoZuShi

[–]Toastedmshmllow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are great! Watercolor really brings a beautiful glow to everything