Silver Seams
A five-year-old worktable picure of a dragon in progress, made from black velvet.

The "Ridiculous" tier?

Fri, 16 Aug 2024

I did some frustration-posting on Facebook and it has led me to an interesting thought: What if instead of simplifying my designs, I went the other way?

First, I bailed on Instagram. They popped up a new option recommending "AI-generated" feeds and I went full "ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW WHAT". It's just not worth posting there for the same few people to fave it, the ROI is zero there these days.

Facebook is getting a little more traction with video though, and when I sadposted about quitting Insta and mentioned "embroidery designs so ridiculous that only I can use them" and posted the Shield Dragon and Celestial as examples, a few people jumped up to say they were in fact interested, had doll-making experience and the like and, well, hmm.

Okay, so... maybe there's some call to actually produce way-out-there designs like this? (Not just the finished dragons which, yes: doing that.)

Celestial Dragon WIP, with tiny glass claws.

The instructions would be just hideously expensive to produce, though, because I have to get the thing into the lightbox for every single step of the way or you get pictures like that first one: ⬛.

This is the original Celestial, never completed because successfully making the wings happen in a 5x7 hoop was very frustrating (I've learned some tricks since then, and now I have larger hoops, so NATURALLY instead of simply digging this guy out and finishing him I am doing the 2x scale version....) I set it aside to do Dragonheart (a/k/a the Love Dragon a/k/a the Pink Squirrel Dragon) as a no-stakes "haha no one will want this absurd color of dragon" and then got so burned out I set the Celestial, and thus any future art dragons, aside for what turned into five years(!)

Closeup of the rainbow claws of an offensively fuchsia dragon

I'm also not sure, what with the thumb splint situation, I could still do the wrapped feet. I love them very much but that's part of why I went with the Grand Celestial, who is large enough to have individual sewn toes. (You also pretty much can't get those beads anymore; the Preciosa "mini talon" has been replaced by the "tulip" which I am not sure will work the same.)

A test/mockup of the Grand Celestial's head. It's large.

Maybe, I dunno, I could put a Ridiculous Design level up, but it wouldn't be a once-a-month thing, for sure, and I'm not sure it would really work out.

Kategod 🐉🧿🦑𓅛🪬 liked this post.


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