Tag: links

Camp NaNoWriMo

BriarLeave a comment

Anybody remember NaNoWriMo from November?

Great, I’m doing it again in April.  Well, sort-of.  It’s Camp NaNoWriMo, and you can find my ‘Camper Info’ here: Camp NaNoWriMo User Profile, Be-the-ratgirl If you want to add me as a writing buddy, just drop me a line to say you got there via my blog, and I’ll be ecstatic to add you back!

I’m trying out a new app called “Whitelines Link” to keep all my work synchronized across all my devices and available to me when I’m not at home.  If you use it too, or have suggestions for other ways to do this, comment and let me know, I’m always eager to try new things.

BJDs and Storytelling

BriarLeave a comment

Hey, you’ve maybe noticed that I recently posted about a new ball-jointed doll.  I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk a bit about BJDs in relation to storytelling.  People get into the BJD hobby for many reasons (try the link below to an article on Addicted to Resin to read a bit about it), but I got into it because I thought they were beautiful and because I wanted to have little avatars for my characters to help me visualize them and motivate me to write more.  This isn’t the only way people use BJDs to tell stories, however.  Photo-stories are pretty popular, dioramas, still photographs, stop-motion photography, poems and even illustrations are all different ways people can be creative with their dolls.  WennieBJD on YouTube (there’s a link below), for example, has a very detailed novel manuscript in the works that has developed over the years which you can catch glimpses of through her videos.  TheCutitz on YouTube makes photo-stories she shares on Flickr, some very detailed dioramas she shares on YouTube, and lately she’s been reading short excerpts from her stories in videos (there’s a link below).  YouTuber Denali Wind is also well known for her storytelling (see link below).  Basically, many of the people in this hobby are amazing, and creative, and inspiring.

It’s recently occurred to me that while I have a pretty detailed story developing for my BJD characters, I have yet to share it with anyone other than my partner.  So while I haven’t written any other posts about it yet, you can expect to see some posts soon on the topic, and if I’m feeling really ambitious, I’ll try and give you some new photographs of them, too.  I want to share this inspiration with you, so come along on this journey with me!

Links

Addicted to Resin: http://eggshapedchapstick.tumblr.com/post/103042816806/types-of-bjd-owners

BJD Photostory on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/bjd-photostory

WennieBJD on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WennieBJD

The Cutitz on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wOrE-wz0wTE?list=PLjz34dkXZg4Bhk2lgJGrOUfLKMKF57fDJ

Denali Wind on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYE1VMnylIQPoyMbYHjpnEg

RIB: Meet Titan

BriarLeave a comment

007

Titan

Birthdate: 02/2015

Gender:  male

Description: Smooth coated agouti berkshire dumbo (see bottom for term definitions)  As expected, Titan’s coat has changed in the last few weeks as he’s starting to get his adult coat in.  Originally we thought he was going to be self, but a little white splotch has developed on his belly, and his white socks and tail tip have become apparent.

Despite his size, Titan has a big personality.  While he and Io are much smaller than the other four boys, I definitely think Titan will be the Big Boss Rat in time.  While we choose Puck and Pan first in the store, Titan was an easy third choice.  He was curious about us and thrilled to come and sniff at us, even when Atlas was trying to keep him in the corner with everyone else.  His personality has only grown with time.  Titan and Io tend to hang out together, being the smallest.

We named Titan first, and all the other names came swiftly afterwards.  We named him after the largest of Saturn’s moons, and after the early Greek deities the Titans, who were exceptionally large.

Agouti: a ticked coat that looks brownish grey, having black guard hairs and a lighter grey belly, the eyes are black.  Fun fact: Agouti is the colour most often seen on wild rats.

Berkshire: a marking description, indicating a solid coloured rat with a white belly, often with white feet and tail tip.

Dumbo: a variety of rat with ears placed lower on the head, named for resemblance to Dumbo the elephant.

Self: a single colour to the coat, with no white markings at all.

Links

Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29

Titans, early Greek deities in mythology, on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28mythology%29

 

RIB: Meet Pan

BriarLeave a comment

006

Pan

Birthdate: 10/2014

Gender:  male

Description: Hairless double Rex (definitions at bottom)

Pan is one of our two ‘hairless’ boys.  He is less adventurous than Puck, marginally, but he seems a little more diabolical.  We’ve named him after Saturn’s moon by that name, and also for the Greek god of nature and the wilds, an unpredictable trickster who was known for being a bit sexually frisky.

Puck and Pan are best of buds, and are (at the moment) our two boss rats.

Double Rex gene: hairless rats are a coat variety characterized by varying levels of hair loss. They are bred from curly-coated Rexes and range from having areas of very short fur to being completely bare. They are genetically produced by breeding different combinations of the genes that cause Rex coats, and since Rex is a dominant trait, there only needs to be one Rex parent to produce curly Rex-coated offspring. When two copies of the trait are present, the genetics cause hairlessness and earning such rats the colloquial name, “Double-rex”.

Links

Pan, mythological god, on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_%28god%29

Pan, moon of Saturn, on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_%28moon%29


RIB: Meet Atlas

BriarLeave a comment

011 

Atlas

Birthdate: 10/2014

Gender:  male

Description: smooth coated black Berkshire dumbo (definitions at bottom)

Atlas, Sol, Puck and Pan were all already about 6 months old when we brought them home.  It is now taking them a long time to really adjust to us, and Sol is the only one more reticent than Atlas.  Atlas is very protective of the others, and especially in the first few days, he would herd them around as if he was their mother.  We decided to call him Atlas because he acts like he has the world on his shoulders.

Atlas is also one of the moons of Saturn, and since we decided to go with Astronomy names for this mischief, it seemed appropriate.  There are links below to the Wikipedia articles about both the moon and the mythological character Atlas.  :-)

 

Berkshire: a marking description, indicating a solid coloured rat with a white belly, often with white feet and tail tip.

Black: a dark glossy coat, chocolate to black in colour which is often ticked with silver, the eyes are black.

Dumbo: a variety of rat with ears placed lower on the head, named for resemblance to Dumbo the elephant.

 

Links

Atlas, or Saturn XV (the moon) on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_%28moon%29

Atlas, from mythology on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_%28mythology%29