Random notes.
Sigh.
Etrigan has pneumonia. Either that or heart disease, but he seems better after a day on the antibiotics, so I'm choosing to believe it's pneumonia. We expect him to make a full recovery, but this is likely to be a pattern with him. Asthmatic cats are prone to lung infections, especially given that prednisolone lowers his immune system. I'm worried about the little asshole. He's so sweet and so . . . well, I won't say he's good, but I will say that he doesn't mean to be bad, and that counts for something. He certainly doesn't deserve this, the poor little guy.
We didn't know he had an incurable, permanent medical condition when we adopted him, and while I am not at all wanting to give him back or anything asinine like that, I just wish I had known. They say that if you can't afford the vet you can't afford the pet, and I see the wisdom in that to an extent, but if everyone assumed that their pet was going to be sick half the time there would be a lot fewer pets getting rescued and adopted and cared for. I don't think anyone wants more shelter deaths. And a lot of folks couldn't afford pets at all, which sucks, since they make our lives better in so many ways.
There just isn't an answer, and the money isn't there, especially since I need to see my doctor, and we can't afford that either. I'm having persistent, niggling health issues that are really cranking up my anxiety because I don't know what's causing them, and I can't afford to even go in to talk to people, let alone get my regular bloodwork done.
Sigh again. I hate complaining about money, but . . . well, it takes up a lot of my processing space and is making me fairly miserable.
The new psych meds seem to be helping, at least. Although I want to stress that doesn't mean that everything is fine and I'm totally recovered or any of that.
Thank you for the birthday wishes, everyone who wished me a happy birthday (it was on the second, and no, I didn't make a big deal out of it because frankly, I don't care much this year). I got a few nice things and had a quiet day and there were cookies last Monday and everything was pretty much awesome. And
bat_cheva got me these ceramic skull beads with a crackle glaze that are just too awesome and too cute for words. I have plans for them already.
I have finished
bat_cheva's Christmas present -- you see why I'm like "Nooo, I'm not taking commissions! -- and it is awesome and adorable and I am looking forward to posting pics today or tomorrow.
I'm also working on several other ponies, and I'm in a quandary. One of them is experimental. I used the new Liquitex acrylic spray paint as a black base coat, and I don't know how well it will adhere long-term or how it will age. I'm assuming just fine, since I've never had a problem with Liquitex products aging poorly, but I don't know. I might want to sell this one, and if I do, I will make sure to note that I've tried a new paint in my description. My quandary is how long after you try a new technique do you wait for something to go wrong before you change how you do things permanently?
I do want to sing the praises of Testors Dullcote as a topcoat. Brush-on acrylic sealers are almost always a little grabby no matter how long you let them sit, and as a result they collect dust like nobody's business. Other spray lacquers tend to get glossy when they build up over multiple coats, and it's hard to get the spray up around the belly and legs of the pony without overspraying, which leaves them really wet and, even when they dry, shiny-looking. Also, I've yet to find one that was truly flat, not just satiny or matte, that did not have a kind of rough texture. The Testors goes on smooth, dries insanely fast, and doesn't get over-shiny. The finish is like silk, very much like the original vinyl, so the pony "feels" right.
The one drawback is that it's expensive as hell. Well, that and it smells awful, though not lingeringly since it dries so fast.
Still, I don't think I will be using anything else, ever. It's that good. I knew people in the customs community swore by it, but I hadn't believed the hype. No wonder it's always sold out.
I've never wanted an airbrush -- too much trouble, too noisy, too expensive, takes up too much room -- but the pony thing is making me seriously reconsider that, because topcoats and graded base coats are so difficult with brushes. Water everything down and do it three times, is what I've learned. That is working really well so far.
X-posted from Dreamwidth. Comment count:
Etrigan has pneumonia. Either that or heart disease, but he seems better after a day on the antibiotics, so I'm choosing to believe it's pneumonia. We expect him to make a full recovery, but this is likely to be a pattern with him. Asthmatic cats are prone to lung infections, especially given that prednisolone lowers his immune system. I'm worried about the little asshole. He's so sweet and so . . . well, I won't say he's good, but I will say that he doesn't mean to be bad, and that counts for something. He certainly doesn't deserve this, the poor little guy.
We didn't know he had an incurable, permanent medical condition when we adopted him, and while I am not at all wanting to give him back or anything asinine like that, I just wish I had known. They say that if you can't afford the vet you can't afford the pet, and I see the wisdom in that to an extent, but if everyone assumed that their pet was going to be sick half the time there would be a lot fewer pets getting rescued and adopted and cared for. I don't think anyone wants more shelter deaths. And a lot of folks couldn't afford pets at all, which sucks, since they make our lives better in so many ways.
There just isn't an answer, and the money isn't there, especially since I need to see my doctor, and we can't afford that either. I'm having persistent, niggling health issues that are really cranking up my anxiety because I don't know what's causing them, and I can't afford to even go in to talk to people, let alone get my regular bloodwork done.
Sigh again. I hate complaining about money, but . . . well, it takes up a lot of my processing space and is making me fairly miserable.
The new psych meds seem to be helping, at least. Although I want to stress that doesn't mean that everything is fine and I'm totally recovered or any of that.
Thank you for the birthday wishes, everyone who wished me a happy birthday (it was on the second, and no, I didn't make a big deal out of it because frankly, I don't care much this year). I got a few nice things and had a quiet day and there were cookies last Monday and everything was pretty much awesome. And
bat_cheva got me these ceramic skull beads with a crackle glaze that are just too awesome and too cute for words. I have plans for them already.
I have finished
bat_cheva's Christmas present -- you see why I'm like "Nooo, I'm not taking commissions! -- and it is awesome and adorable and I am looking forward to posting pics today or tomorrow.
I'm also working on several other ponies, and I'm in a quandary. One of them is experimental. I used the new Liquitex acrylic spray paint as a black base coat, and I don't know how well it will adhere long-term or how it will age. I'm assuming just fine, since I've never had a problem with Liquitex products aging poorly, but I don't know. I might want to sell this one, and if I do, I will make sure to note that I've tried a new paint in my description. My quandary is how long after you try a new technique do you wait for something to go wrong before you change how you do things permanently?
I do want to sing the praises of Testors Dullcote as a topcoat. Brush-on acrylic sealers are almost always a little grabby no matter how long you let them sit, and as a result they collect dust like nobody's business. Other spray lacquers tend to get glossy when they build up over multiple coats, and it's hard to get the spray up around the belly and legs of the pony without overspraying, which leaves them really wet and, even when they dry, shiny-looking. Also, I've yet to find one that was truly flat, not just satiny or matte, that did not have a kind of rough texture. The Testors goes on smooth, dries insanely fast, and doesn't get over-shiny. The finish is like silk, very much like the original vinyl, so the pony "feels" right.
The one drawback is that it's expensive as hell. Well, that and it smells awful, though not lingeringly since it dries so fast.
Still, I don't think I will be using anything else, ever. It's that good. I knew people in the customs community swore by it, but I hadn't believed the hype. No wonder it's always sold out.
I've never wanted an airbrush -- too much trouble, too noisy, too expensive, takes up too much room -- but the pony thing is making me seriously reconsider that, because topcoats and graded base coats are so difficult with brushes. Water everything down and do it three times, is what I've learned. That is working really well so far.
X-posted from Dreamwidth. Comment count: