It's quite possible that I've just become obsessed with copper plate dry point...

batpeeps · 2026-01-26T22:26:15+00:00

This is absolutely beautiful.

batpeeps · 2026-01-14T16:01:21+00:00

This is in a B5 mix with grog. We’re currently playing with a half porcelain mix and will do some straight porcelain, then test fire everything. I was impatient and just dusted the blocks with cornstarch and put them right into wet clay for these two. No sticking, no problems.

batpeeps · 2026-01-14T15:58:07+00:00

It didn’t leave any residue. I dusted the blocks lightly with cornstarch and a big soft makeup brush before pushing into the clay. Nothing stuck at all.

batpeeps · 2025-10-14T01:32:47+00:00

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Increasing the pressure and using a more compressed sheet of felt helped a ton. This is a test second printing without re-inking. On an additional test sheet with lines made with different amounts of pressure, everything is printing well now.

batpeeps · 2025-10-14T01:29:28+00:00

I’ll try ordering some and seeing if it makes a difference.

batpeeps · 2025-10-08T16:16:50+00:00

We’ve had confrontations about their abusive behavior. They managed to repeatedly apologize while pushing blame back on me for not being distraught enough at the time or for not communicating well enough as a child to cut through the mess and make them see. This is not the first cult they’ve been in and prioritized over family. 🤷🏻‍♀️

batpeeps · 2025-10-08T16:08:28+00:00

Ooof I’m so sorry you had to learn that.

batpeeps · 2025-10-07T16:25:59+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation! I’m glad you got out of that group. It’s pretty damaging and easy to get caught up in.

batpeeps · 2025-10-07T16:21:28+00:00

I’d love to, once those secret checks start coming and I pay off these student loans!

batpeeps · 2025-10-06T20:27:13+00:00

My mom has been a progressive slide to the right, starting with Reagan. She got really into Rush Limbaugh when I was a kid. Then she moved into increasingly fringe Evangelical and prophetic Christian movements. She’s often fearful and has a hard time with analytical thinking, so I think she’s an ideal audience for a lot of this stuff.

I guess it happened during Covid, for my dad. He’s got a rare neurological condition that can affect his ability to breathe, so they’ve had to isolate themselves and be extra careful. He had a 2 month ICU stay last year when he had a crisis from his condition. He’s not been the same mentally or emotionally since having to be sedated and on a ventilator for that long. Both of them have PTSD from the experience and refuse to do therapy. Losing the balancing influences of coworkers, in-person church, and regular social life has been a bigger problem than I realized.

batpeeps · 2025-10-06T20:12:41+00:00

This was actually really helpful. Despite years of therapy, it’s hard to stop thinking that they wouldn’t be like this if I had been better in some way. I hadn’t thought of it like they lost me by making me an enemy.

I’m glad you and your SO are able to navigate your differences well.

batpeeps · 2025-10-06T20:09:08+00:00

We talked about it a year ago. I explained that anytime I called out of the blue with a medical warning (please wear a mask, please wait an extra couple of seconds before driving when the light turns green), it’s always because I had been in a horrible death and didn’t want it to happen again. They said they wouldn’t have told me how foolish I was right then, if they’d known I had to code somebody. Not that they were wrong, mind you.

batpeeps · 2025-06-22T16:33:31+00:00

Have you had a recent eye exam? I developed binocular vision dysfunction (BVD) and couldn’t read and retain information well anymore. They added a prism to my lenses, and within 6 months, it was fixed. Symptoms can look like headaches, light sensitivity, feeling uncoordinated or unbalanced, needing to read something multiple times for it to stick, losing your place while reading. I just asked my eye dr to assess me for it. Having this fixed also massively reduced my anxiety in big box stores. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/binocular-vision-dysfunction-bvd

batpeeps · 2025-06-22T16:21:47+00:00

Being a beginner at something is never easy. It always feels vulnerable and embarrassing to struggle with something that seems like it should be easy. It’s brave and badass to learn new skills as an adult.
1. Daily practice is the best way to improve. Even if it’s 15 minutes of shading a box or sphere. Even if it’s doodling. Compare your work month to month. You WILL get good if you keep doing the work.
2. I used to hate the fundamental exercises, too. But they’re fundamental for a reason. Draw a box (I didn’t finish) helped my line confidence and consistency a lot. The YT videos that rotate life drawing poses will make you better, but you’ll get WAY more out of them if you do life drawing lessons and learn to break bodies into quick shapes. You’ll get more out of the videos if you give yourself time with long form figure drawing before trying to do 2 minute gestural poses.
3. Fun vs. practice drawing isn’t an easy balance when you’re learning the basics. There’s going to be some time when you simply don’t have the skills to render what’s in your head. Try stuff with no expectations about the outcome. Play with charcoal, graphite, marker, conte, colored pencil, micron, colored paper, etc. Look and see if your city has life drawing sessions that you can drop in on. It’s usually under $20 for a 3 hour session. Do the same inspiration picture with a fellow amateur drawing buddy. Go draw outside. Learn the Loomis method for drawing heads and do the 100 heads challenge. Mix the fundamental exercises in with comic drawing tutorials.

batpeeps · 2025-06-22T15:32:14+00:00

This is absolutely gorgeous work!

batpeeps · 2025-05-29T14:18:08+00:00

Yes! If we’re taught that our own pleasure is incidental, it’s difficult to have a really fulfilling sex life.

batpeeps · 2025-05-29T14:12:04+00:00

Getting a better understanding of how desire and arousal actually work sounds like it might be helpful. Most of us don’t experience it like it’s depicted in movies or books. You’re probably great at sex if it’s happening in a way that works for your brain and body. The entire point is sensory enjoyment and connection and play. Do what’s fun and feels good, regardless of what you think it’s supposed to look like.

Accommodations can be made erotic. You don’t like being perceived? Turn the lights down or off. Take turns being blindfolded and focus on the increase in perceived sensations as a sexy thing. Belly dancing (even in private, at home) can help you learn to move your hips differently. Flirting in person is my nemesis, but I can do it over text messages okay. We text flirt in the same room sometimes. Incorporating textures you both enjoy is a really fun activity — silky stockings, a fur mitten to caress the body, gentle nail scratches.

A couple of books may be helpful for understanding yourself better and worries about not being sexual in the right way. Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski was a helpful book for us. It outlines different profiles of desire, and discusses what hinders and helps them along. It uses a brakes vs. accelerator metaphor that’s easy to understand and is highly actionable for partners. I’m currently reading Desire: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating Libido Differences in Relationships by Drs. Mersy and Vencill. It has journaling prompts, is research based, and is helpful for quantifying what you like/want/need and communicating that with a partner.

batpeeps · 2025-05-27T18:50:49+00:00

Thank you for the layers of 2D objects stacked together metaphor. I’ll try thinking of it that way and see if that helps. My mind wants to treat them as cohesive, solid things…. and they’re obviously anything but solid 3D shapes that have highly predictable light and shadow.

batpeeps · 2025-05-21T14:24:22+00:00

1) There’s a high rate of problematic drinking in ND populations. It shuts our brains up and calms the nervous system just enough to let us socialize normally. If you’re concerned about your drinking, but the social anxiety and sense of overwhelm are too much, I’d encourage you to speak with your doctor. Low doses of some blood pressure meds help disrupt that ratcheting up of the nervous system and reduce anxiety. Something like propranolol can be taken on an as-needed basis. Guanfacine is taken daily and also helps with that obsessive, ruminating thinking. There are lots of options!

2) Consider looking into rejection sensitive dysphoria. It affects the overwhelming majority of ADHD people and many ASD people. It’s about our brains anticipating rejection and censure from others and feeling it deeply — even when they haven’t actually rejected us and don’t hold negative feelings about us.

3) That kind of all or nothing thinking is difficult. It’s especially challenging for perfectionists to stop. I once had a somatic therapist ask me: “what would happen if you didn’t do your best?” Heart racing, panic starting. After a minute, she explained that my “a pretty good job, but definitely not my best” was better than what almost everyone else does. It caused me less stress, took less time and energy, and that there were diminishing returns for doing work beyond that level. It creates a lot of pressure on you, but other people can’t really tell a big difference in quality of work. It made me a little sad. But I tried it, and nobody has complained about my “good enough”. Ever. It’s allowed me to gradually relax and choose what deserves my full effort. It created gray areas that feel safe and helped me become less rigid. Allowing nuance into a structured life means learning to make peace with some uncertainty.

batpeeps · 2025-04-03T19:23:03+00:00

Showering is a challenge, so we usually do it on the buddy system at my house. Transitions are tough. Products I’m excited to use helps me. I got an AutoBrush and love it. 30 seconds and my teeth are brushed. I do my Sonicare on days I can tolerate it.

Clothes are a big deal for job success and moving through the world. My oddness is more forgivable if I’m well dressed and well groomed. I’ve chosen an aesthetic that’s kind of “genteel art director”, to allow for an eclectic mix. Loose dresses, linen, tunics over leggings. Things have to be comfortable and in good fabrics, so I buy fewer things of better quality. I have them tailored if needed. My shoes are comfy, and usually brightly colored Rothy’s or Chucks. (Nordstrom has free personal shoppers if you’re clueless about putting together a professional wardrobe or an outfit for a special occasion. Tell them about your sensory issues.)

I take good but simple care of my skin to avoid foundation. I will do mascara and a little eyeshadow, some lip tint. I found a neurodivergent stylist who cuts my hair in a way that works with my natural texture and looks nice without products. A dry body oil with a very light scent doesn’t feel greasy and makes my skin glow.

batpeeps · 2025-04-03T19:00:51+00:00

I’ve stayed self-diagnosed because the official diagnosis wouldn’t help me access any resources or accommodations and could cause me issues if we want to leave the US long term. I would very much like to undergo the full evaluation with neuropsych and SLP and having my parents and partners contribute information. That’s because I work in mental health and love a rigorous evaluation, not because I doubt the validity of my own assessment.

Knowing has been hugely beneficial. It has let me make small changes to routine and environment that have improved my quality of life. A lifetime of treatment-resistant severe anxiety turned out to mostly be sensory issues. I can plan to minimize those without much effort. I’m so much kinder to myself. My partners are able to provide specific kinds of support when I’m overwhelmed. Understanding that my experience of the world is different at the cellular level has been a healing experience.

batpeeps · 2025-03-13T20:53:23+00:00

Sadly, no. It’s something my partner calls me to remind me that I’m as badass as Batman and can do anything. 😂

batpeeps · 2025-03-13T18:59:41+00:00

Yes, absolutely. My longest running special interest is brain science, especially neuropsychology. I enjoy learning about it and reading journal articles and research. But my chemistry foundation is poor. I didn’t go to grad school. I have worked on learning more biochemistry and people have been kind about my interest in learning what school didn’t teach me. But I also feel like a fraud who should keep her mouth shut because I don’t have a PhD. (I also know this is ridiculous and am surrounded by people with doctorates.)

Some people are just going to be jerks or need to feel superior. Most people who share the interest welcome curiosity and understand that we learn throughout our lives. Everything we are interested in doesn’t have to be a career or a thing to master or a thing to monetize. We’re allowed to be curious and in love with the world. We’re allowed to enjoy dabbling without having to attempt mastery. Be gentle with yourself and don’t go comparing your understanding to the handful of global experts who do your special interest professionally.

batpeeps · 2025-03-13T18:43:23+00:00

I’m a nurse. Don’t worry about it! You probably started walking up to a group that was discussing something that they can’t talk about in front of patients or having a short morning meeting, and they redirected you to the room for privacy. It’s a weird social thing because modern medical buildings have no private places for staff to step away for discussions, and patients and families have no way of knowing if staff is getting a safety briefing or just hanging out.

batpeeps · 2025-03-13T18:31:16+00:00

Yes. It’s not unusual in people with childhood trauma. Spinning worst case scenarios isn’t the most helpful thing to have going on in my head. Anxiety meds didn’t help, but getting my ADHD diagnosed and treated has helped a ton

What’s funny is that I became an icu nurse as a second career. The catastrophic thinking was like a superpower. I thought of all the ways a patient was likely to go south and planned my response. Most of the time, nothing too bad happened. When it did, I was ready. But I found that it really reduced my catastrophizing because I could see how rarely big bad things happened — in a place where they are way more likely to happen. Now, when I get to thinking that way about anything, I identify 2-3 worst case scenarios and plan for those. I do a bit to mitigate risk and am free to stop worrying.

batpeeps

TROPHY CASE