The Blog of the Mad Hattress - Page 2 of 6

Papergang December 2021

Things were a bit rough at the end of the last year and also the beginning of 2022, which is why I only returned back home in February, where one Papergang box still waited for me to open and review it 😉 So let’s do it together!

The December paper gang box has a jungle-like theme again very similar to another box from 2021, but its contents are very different. This box really feels like one preparing us for the new year because amongst them is a fully customisable Wall Calendar, 2 pairs of 2 different sticker sheets, three dual-ended highlighters, an HB pencil with gold foiling and an A5 Deskpad.

The last paper gang box of the year actually really surprised me since at this point I had already decided not to renew my subscription for 2022 (more on that in a later post) and basically was waiting for it to end xD This might sound a bit tough, but almost all of the last boxes have kinda disappointed me so I really did not expect to love most stuff in the last box that I would get for 2021!

I loved the calendar for its design, every page has a calendar sheet on one side and a beautiful drawing on the other. My birth month march has an owl which I appreciate very much! The calendar sheet is so customisable that you could even use it for another year than 2022 if you might already have a calendar for the upcoming year at home. That’s because only the numbers are printed on the paper, but they are not connected to any days in the year, those are delivered with the stickers or you can just write them in by hand.

The stickers can basically be used to mark every important event in the year: you get some balloons for birthdays, aeroplanes for upcoming travels, a beer and a wine glass for a party maybe? There are also some less obvious ones like question and exclamation marks, some smilies and just coloured dots. Next to the day stickers you also get some that say “Important”, “Holiday” and “Day Off”, all in matching colours to the beautiful calendar.

Last but not least let’s talk about the pens. The highlighters come in a very pastel yellow, blue and red. I actually just found out that they are dual-sided because I made the review and it’s in the explanation sheet, but visually it’s not very obvious xD Visually with the also very pastel coloured paper of the calendar, I feel like they might be a bit too pale to really show. But on the other hand, using brightly coloured highlights might have not looked good either. So I guess it comes down to personal preference.
As with the graphite pencil… I said again and again that I don’t think graphite pencils are a good tool to write something down for the long term. On a small post-its it might be no problem since that’s not used for long but in a notebook or a calendar like this, a smudging pen is not what I would want to use. A fineliner or a ballpoint pen would be the better choice in my opinion. But considering the rest of the box was so great, I think it’s a forgettable detail.

All in all, I would say I am pretty happy to have gotten this box as my last one out of the big subscription, it sadly could not make the disappointment of the other ones go away, but it was a nice goodbye. The calendar is really nice and can be used multiple times, depending on how you decorate it. I only wrote the birthdays in mine, so I can appreciate the beauty of the calendar for many years 😉

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review | LEAVE A COMMENT

February 2

Normalizing violence against children on TikTok & other video-platforms

The “Throw A Shoe” Trope

I know this is a bold headline but hear me out. I don’t have TikTok, but I use Instagram a lot and since they “invented” the Reel feature, many TikTokers repost their stuff on there too. So without actually using TikTok, I have an idea of how the app functions and know that there are many different things you can do with it. What started as a platform where people would mostly sing and dance to tunes, is now used for educational tutorial videos, cute pet videos and also comedic videos. The last one is what I want to focus on today, because that was the most problematic I have seen. I don’t want to condemn anyone, I don’t want people to unfollow anyone, I really only want to spread awareness of the topic, because I feel like many creators just don’t know what kind of impact their work can have. So if you are interested in what I have to say and what I find out, this post is for you 🙂

Scrolling through the reels on Instagram has become some kind of routine for me, to do when I am bored. And I mostly adore the cool art videos, cute pets to look at and I do laugh and many videos with a comedic intention behind them too. But from watching these videos so often, there is one trope in particular which I have seen being used very often and very naively. Oftentimes, when I see a video situation or a POV describing a child – parent relationship, it’s about the kid doing something “wrong” and the adult either actively using violence or at least treated to use it. And the comedic idea behind this seems to indicate some kind of shared childhood memory of parents beating up their children. The trope which I have seen used the most is a parent, using their shoes or sandals to hit the child or throw at them.

You see where I live, in the whole country of Germany, beating up your children is actually against the law and I do know it’s not the same everywhere. But I still think hitting an innocent child, to make them “understand” something is never the right way to deal with a problem. It can even lead to trauma in the child, physically and psychologically and it’s always the better option to talk it out or choose non-violent penatlty like house arrest to raise children. The world is changing and I think beating up your children really is not modern anymore and might even be forbidden in more countries than you would think. Especially now with Corona and families being forced to stay in a house together for longer, that topic has arisen again.

Children between 12-years and 17-years use TikTok on a weekly basis

The problem I have with those kinds of videos is not the shared memory behind it, which is a concept often used in comedy. Where we laugh about something because we experienced it ourselves and have this “Yes, that’s true!” -moment, often amusing us and taking us back to a certain experience. I guess with violence, it’s more of a dark humour kind of thing, which I am not against in general. But if we think about who the audience of apps like TikTok is, mostly young children and teenagers, we should think more about how it affects them. Because for them, seeing such behaviour and adults laughing about it, will make them think it’s normal. And when they think it’s normal and gets beaten up themselves, they won’t do anything about it.

I don’t think children should be strong enough to defend themselves against an adult physically and mentally, but in a situation like this, they also won’t consider asking for help, because they might fear they get laughed at, just like people laugh at these videos. So what I would want to propose is for the people who make these comedic videos to stop and think about if they need to portray a story they want to tell in this way, or if there is no other way to deliver the message, without normalizing violence for all the children watching. And also, to not include these kinds of tropes in videos with a totally different meaning.

Hitting children seemingly has become a part of pop culture

Because what actually got me to want to talk about this topic here on my blog, is that I found this trope being used in a completely different context. Instead of describing a child – parents relationship, it was used in a POV for Squid Games. Basically, the video was about how Squid Games could look like in Germany and what kind of games might be played and it is joked about crossing the road. For context: In Germany, people really stop at a red light as pedestrians and only cross the road when the green light comes up. Mostly because if you don’t do it that way, a mother, a father or some old people will actually come up to you and scold you, saying stuff like “Think about the kids and what they will do when they see you crossing the street when the red light is up“, which is especially ironic in the context of this post.

Instead of being scolded like I just mentioned the person in the video was actually hit with a shoe by the grandmother who saw them cross the street with the red light on. And the thing is: the message could have been delivered in a very different way. You could have made the grandmother stare you down, animated superman-like laser eyes or actually have them scold you. But instead, the creator choose to use the trope normally connected to beating up children, because it was considered to be a “funny thing”. And now think about the children and what they will think, seeing us laughing about something like this.

As a creator, you always have the responsibility to think of your target audience when creating and this gets more and more important in modern times. I see many activists talk about their topics with Trigger warnings or videos being subtitled so that deaf people can have fun with them too. Why not think about why you choose to portrait violence in such a unique way and if it’s necessary, next time you make a fun video. That’s all I want to achieve with this post, for people to just think a bit more about their actions and act accordingly. I don’t want to tell anyone how to live their life, but to try and stop sharing unnecessary violence, not just for the children, but for a better society in general.

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Info Post | LEAVE A COMMENT

January 26

Sexism in Videogames

Can you really choose between two equal options?

This is quite a controversial topic, I know. And I don’t want to talk about every little detail in this conversation of things that have been wrong in video games. I actually love playing them myself, which is why I was motivated to write this post in the first place! Because I played games like Genshin Impact and the new Assainscreed games, where you can choose between a male and a female main character, but can you really? That’s what I want to focus on today 🙂

When you search for Genshin Impact or for any of the three latest Assassins Creed games, tell me what kind of images pop up. No really, do it and then come back here, just so you know that I don’t make up stories here. Have you done it and come back? Good, thank you. Then I assume you saw the artwork of the game and screenshots of the game and official promotional images of the game and most of them had the male version of the main character in them, right? I don’t talk about the images where the games refer to the character having two versions, but just normal promotional art with one version of them on the image. It’s always the guy wearing trousers for Geshin and the male assassins, isn’t that weird?

This little experiment showed that even though most games today have the option of choosing between two genders, the targeted audience is still the male one, wanting to play the male heroes. And that’s just a minor detail of what is upsetting me in these kinds of games. Another thing is how you play the games, which is especially visible in the new Assains Creed game.

Female heroes are just a copy of the male one – sometimes even censured

As you might know, those games often take place in some historical sites in the past, often at times where women were treated much differently than men were. So tell me then, why do I have the exact same dialogue playing a woman with an axe as a man with an axe. Because if I would really be in the presented time, I would have to deal with a lot more catcalling, not being taken seriously, or even attempted rape. I don’t think those things should keep the female version from being able to do everything in the game, but when you put this option in, it should feel real. So that when playing a woman, I might have to demonstrate my strength to make a man take me seriously because sadly that’s how it was and sometimes still is. But that’s not how it’s portrait in video games, because adding a female character version is not thought thorough decision, but a thing “you just do” in these modern times and you basically just copy-paste the function you already program for your real protagonist.

Another example, which I personally felt a big disadvantage was in the newest Assasins Creed game Valhalla. It was the first AC game where you could put on very different kinds of tattoos all around your body. I love customization like that and you had the option, to actually pay for those tattoos and new ones were coming out along with story updates and new character gear. So it was less of a gimmick and more of a full-on new feature they wanted to celebrate. But as a woman, you were not able to actually wear or see all of them, as you were not able to wear certain clothes. You might ask yourself, why it is that your female character does not have access to certain clothing?
Well actually, it was about how little clothing your character was able to wear. The male character was able to go and kill people with a bare chest, but the female version always needed to wear a kind of binder for her breasts. As a side note, the game Assasins Creed Vahalla was the first AC game which you would have to be 18 years old to buy, that being the legal age for drinking, driving a car and anything else in Germany. So there was really no reason to save adults from having to look at female nipples(which would have been digitally created). And in a game like this laziness does not count as an excuse.

Another problem with this exact game mechanic, which again just shows how this concept was not thought through at all, is the fact that you can’t upgrade your binder. You can upgrade everything else in the games, running around wearing a wolf coat with gold embellishments, shining boots, the sharpest weapons and even jewellery! But your character never got the chance to upgrade their old binder which they owned from the start of the game. Which seems to be just a white cloth that looks ridiculous together with gold embellished clothing. Meaning that basically every piece of clothing which required the male character to run around with a bare chest, making the great chest tattoos visible, the female version always looks odd. Not only because the tattoos could not be shown off in full glory, but because the old binder made it look like you combined some Level 1 armour with level 60 armour. Which I guess in turn explains why there is so less advertisement with the female character for this game, because the harsh, cool and rustic Viking look for which even the tattoos were really important just did not look good on the female character. Which the developer did not care or think about, because who does play as a female Viking anyways. right?

Conclusion

Don’t get me wrong, I am not angry because of some tattoos. I am not angry because of being treated nicely despite the fact that my character looks like a person who at that time in history might have been burned at a stake. I am not angry about the nicely designed male character I see every time I load up my Genshin game. I am angry about what’s behind all of these decisions: A man, thinking of other men, not of any women, who also pay for the games, play the games, recommend the games, and so on. We have 50% of the whole population being female, why does everyone seem to forget about or deliberately ignore that fact?

It’s not that difficult, I just wish for a game, where different gendered characters are included not only to please some feminist voices or to seem somewhat progressive but to actually give the players different options to experience the story. I want to feel my character struggle but thrive if it fits the setting of the game. I want more options to customize my character and either both female and male exclusive items or have the option to wear everything on both in a satisfying way. In short, I just want my character to be equal, not copies of each other, not censured versions. If a developer feels like only a male character fit his narrative, then just include one. But if you want to include more options, do it right. Think of everyone you are representing not only the men. I am a woman and I love videos games and I am just one out of many, don’t forget about or ignore us. Because we do not only play the games, we do pay for them too. If that’s the motivation people need these days so change something…

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Gaming | 2 Comments

January 19

Happy Birthday to us!

By now my blog will be exactly one year old, my first post was published on the 19th or January 2021 🙂 Congrats to me and thanks you to all of the people who have read my posts, talked to me about it and subscribed to this little project of mine! When I started, I did not really know where I was going. I just wanted to write about stuff I am passionate about, connect with people and maybe share some of my views. After one year, I think there are some things I want to try and change for the better. Posting more regularly, structure my longer posts in a better way and just make it a greater experience for all of us! You could say those are my new years’ resolutions(or at least some of them) for 2022 😉

Though the start into the new year sadly was not a great one for me personally. I really wanted to make a post about our new years’ traditions, but we did not get to do all of them, because we had a tragic loss in the family. As I want to keep my privacy, I won’t explain that further for now, but please be a bit patient with me, especially about my new years’ resolutions and what kind of posts there will be within the next weeks.
I have not yet decided which subscriptions to keep, which ones to cancel or which new ones to take on. I also have not yet published reviews about all of the subscriptions I started last year and I can’t say when they will be scheduled. So if you were looking forward to monthly reviews of subscription or mystery boxes, it might take a while until it’s all sorted out. But when it is, I hope that we will all be happy with it 🙂

There are also will be some more commentary-like posts in the future, which I had actually already written last year but I was not happy with how they looked and how they were structured. As you may have seen with my last post about Sexism in Cartooning, Manga and Anime, I already tried out something new. Don’t hesitate to let me know how you liked it! Some similar posts might be coming soon since as I just mentioned I basically already prepared them months ago and it’s a bit easier for me to finish and upload them than to come up with totally new stuff right now. Still, those posts are talking about some topics which are very important to me, so they are not bad (I hope) but just different to the posts you were used to seeing here. But I promise there will be light-hearted posts and reviews still in the future!

The picture at the beginning was drawn by myself and I am very happy about the progress I have made so far. Drawing people is still hard for me, I have learned some really useful tips and tricks for digital drawing in the last weeks! Surely I will tell you some more about it in an upcoming post too. Currently, I am still thinking about creating a new Instagram account just for my art, if I do, I will let you know 😉 Maybe I will even post some more drawings on here, we will see 😛

And last but not least I have something reaaaaally exciting to tell you! Since most of my regular viewers here are actually some of the penpals I have met on the App “Slowly”, I know from many of them that they want to learn German^^ I am no teacher myself, but they have told me that exchanging letters with me in German from time to time is really helpful 🙂 So I decided that I want to at least try(we will see how well it works later xD) to write my posts in both English AND German! I will have to see in which order I will update the later posts, hopefully, all of the posts in the future will be available in both languages. Maybe it’s just interesting for you to switch between them and try to understand some German 😉 Or maybe it really is helpful for your learning progress! Either way, I am really excited about this, as another feature for my blog in 2022!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Info Post, Personal Life | LEAVE A COMMENT

January 12

Sexism in Cartooning and Manga / Anime

My Art Journey

I was always fascinated by people who can draw and for a long time, I thought that would be a talent you have to be born with to actually create amazing art as we see in Comics, Manga, Cartoons, and Anime. But with Corona coming around and me saving some time on not having to get to University and back, for example, I wanted to use that newfound time to learn some new skills or maybe get some more hobbies. Drawing or better learning how to draw became an idea that manifested in my head and nagged me till the point where I finally just started to try it out.

My goal is to be able to tell my own stories with engaging characters, interesting backgrounds, and just expressive art in general. I want it to be something in between western comics and eastern manga, but of course, I have not found my definitive style yet 😉 To get better, I am currently watching a lot of tutorials on Youtube on how to draw eyes, mouths, noses, and faces in general, since I have to start somewhere xD And while watching these various tutorials from different artists there has been something coming up again and again which just does not sit right with me, thus I feel the need to talk about it over here: Gender and Sexism.

Just as a heads up: I don’t want to talk about sexist plotlines and character actions in Cartoons or Anime, since that’s a whole other can of worms I might be tackling another day xD What I want to talk about is solely limited to the way people draw and teach how to draw people in a comic or manga style. Let’s begin with the light stuff and end on the very problematic ones 😉

Female and Male attributes

The First thing I have noticed in these videos is that there is a distinct separation between how you draw a male and how you draw a female character. And I get that there has to be some kind of indication, as guidelines. So if an artist wants to make a character of his being read as female, he should be able to do that. But some of the things which are getting taught, sits a bit wrong to me.

Like the fact that the biggest two distinctions between male and female read characters are eyelashes and lips, female characters get them, male ones don’t. Because as real people we all know those features are not gendered, male read and female read people both have these features and they are not different from each other. There are other factors like certain genes which might give BIPOC larger lips, some might have naturally red lips other have the same colour as their skin tone. But again the factor here is not the gender, but the general genes. The same thing goes for the eyelashes, some people naturally have longer ones and others might have shorter, or thinner ones, making them appear less visible.

Obviously, we all know that and what you might think to yourself now is: those features on women are extraggered because they have been known to wear makeup more often, especially in the past. And I have to agree with you on that to some extent. I am sure that’s where this phenomenon of drawing originated from but we have to ask ourselves the question: Why do we still use or repeat that kind of style? Because in these modern times, all genders are allowed to wear makeup and if they would have been in the past, there would have been a lot more men doing it already too.

“I draw caricatures, not real people!”

Now I know many people would say at this point: These are not fully realistic characters anyways and you have to make a distinction between them. It’s just normal to see eyelashes or thick lips and expect them to belong to a woman, right? But the thing is: It’s only normal to us, because we see it reproduced a thousand times. It’s not set in stone in the way our brains are wired, it’s a man-made thing and it can be changed, by representing gender differently. For example, pirates are often represented wearing eyeliner, so many people are actually totally fine with male pirates wearing makeup because they have seen it so often that it has become normal to them. Meaning that if you would show them other kinds of makeup on men often enough, that too would become normal at one point.

Since I have thought about this topic for so long here are some features that I might suggest we all try to use for drawing different genders in the future, because they are actually often(but not always) based on the gender a person is born with. The overall shape of a woman’s body is more curved, they have bigger hips for example, and if they gain weight or muscles it will show in different areas than when you would draw a man. Men are more edged, less round so to speak, the same thing with weight and muscle gain showing differently in their anatomy. And of course, in non-realistic styles, you don’t have to show every muscle, but you can keep in mind that it will take the shape of a man’s body and the shape of a women body different and you can use that to convey your message as an artist. I am sure that’s only one of many ways, but it shows that change is not impossible.

The role of women as objects

This post already is a bit longer, but I still want to speak about the other thing I have noticed and it will be a lot quicker to talk about it because sadly it’s something all women are very familiar with. When listening to those mostly male teachers on YouTube talking about how to draw the female characters, they often used words like “seductive“, “sexy” and “lushes“. But when I want to learn how to draw a mouth, why do I have to learn how to draw it in a seductive way? Why do eyes have to be sexy? Just as a reminder: those were basic tutorials. I am not against art that is seductive and I am sure there are tips and tricks on how to create art like that too, which are very helpful. But I just don’t get why that would be something taught to a beginner.

Also, why are those words only used when talking about female features? Can’t men’s eyes have a sexy look to them too? I am a bisexual woman, I get the appeal of other women, but again that’s not something I am looking for when searching for tutorials. We can’t justify that by saying those teachers were male and they will be attracted to female read people, so that’s why they are using the language like that. Are they supposed to only teach other cis-male people learning art, so we are supposed to think that is the way how they communicate and that’s why “they understand” that the teachers “did not mean it like that”? Because YouTube is available to everyone. Drawing is available to everyone. Art is something that can be created by anyone. So make it for everyone and think about how 50% of the people potentially watching will feel if you can’t stop fantasizing about the lines to draw to create a female character.

Verdict

I am not sure if there is a real verdict to be made here, since I can’t review the way people teach something in a way I can review a book or a movie. But I think it helps to speak up when you notice things like that. Because if we don’t, things will never change. I don’t expect this post to go viral, or for those teachers to read it by accident, but if just some people start to notice similarities in videos they watch or lessons they listen to and they speak up, we already made progress 🙂 It was just very strange for me to see that something like this did not really change in so many years, that artists from over 50 years ago are still referenced and copied. Not that I don’t think we shouldn’t honour the old artists! I just think with new times, there will be new artists and new ways to draw too and that we maybe should focus more on those. Go with the time and explore new possibilities^^

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Art | LEAVE A COMMENT

January 5

A Review on “How To Write A Letter” by Chelsea Shukov & Jamie Grobecker

Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Published: 19th October 2021
Length: 139 pages
Genre: How-to Book
Price: 11,99€ on Amazon

What is it about?

The go-to resource for creative ideas and helpful tips for writing thank you notes, addressing envelopes, cover letters, and everything in between, from the creators of Sugar Paper

Feeling like sending a little love in the mail but not sure how to get started? Along with letter-writing golden rules, How to Write a Letter will make it easier to:

• select the perfect stationery for any occasion
• find the best salutation and sign off
• choose the right words for any situation, from congratulations to condolences
• properly address an envelope in style

With this book, you’ll discover how hand-writing your thoughts and feelings have the magic to turn a card, letter, or even scrap of paper into a treasure.

Review:

You might think to yourself: What an odd name for a review! But as you can see, today’s review is not about me telling you how to write a letter, but reviewing a book about that topic! As someone who loves writing letters and sending cards for festive occasions, I really wanted to know what a book like that would be about exactly. If I could agree or disagree with the points mentioned and if it might help me up to my game or bore me a lot. So if you had the same thought or are like my husband and can’t get past the greeting in a card alone hoping this book might help you out, this post is for you!

It’s a fairly small book, which was what surprised me at first. I was expecting a guide of some sort and ruffling through the first few pages, I was a bit disappointed seeing every first page only being half-filled and every second page filled with an illustration. Don’t get me wrong, those Ilustartions fit the style of the book and look great, but I thought I paid for tips, not nice aesthetics. It gets somewhat better after the initial pages, but there are sections like that in the book till the end. Was that necessary or could more information have been added?

I like the topics they have chosen to talk about like “thank you” notes, professional pursuits, or loss. There is something in here for every important occasion you would want to write a letter about. They all come with example letters, that might kickstart your own ideas or help you understand what writing a letter about loss, for example, is really about. I could really see how someone like my husband, could use this to come up with ideas, especially with their section called “finding the right words”. But it does not give you much, if you need to write multiple letters about one topic, you will either have many similar ones or don’t get past the first. I would have loved some more pages, with some more examples.

The authors Chelsea Shukov & Jamie Grobecker seem to know what they are talking about since they have successfully started the company sugar paper which focuses on gifting something substantial in a digitalized world. They produce their own stationery from paper, over notebooks to their own pencils. Their company really tries to make writing letters in modern times a luxurious thing, everyone should do one in a while. And I really love that idea, but I have to say I am not so satisfied with the book they have created.

Final Verdict:
I really want to say something good about this book, but when I read it, one question was on my mind: Who is this book for? Because letter enthusiasts like me might already know about most of the things listed here, how to find the right words and what the right stationery is for you. And people who can’t find the right words on their own, only find some small prompts and less guidance than you would hope for. Actually, you would get about as many or even more by googling for free. So I would not recommend it for them either. But somehow… I guess I still enjoyed it. I liked reading about something I am passionate about and knowing who wrote it was passionate about it too. I like the design and I got it as a gift, so it might be something someone else would be happy to get gifted too. Maybe it can be an acknowledgement of their passion or can start the passion in someone else. But if you want to buy it for yourself, you might be disappointed or at least have to think about what you want it for.

Greetings and good wishes (and a happy new year!!)
The Mad Hattress

Category: Book Review, Review | LEAVE A COMMENT

December 15

Papergang VS Scrawler Box October 2021

Before I was financially reminded of Brexit and the problems that come with it, I wanted to venture out and find some new subscription boxes to try out! The Scrawler Box was something that meet all of my criteria: its a monthly subscription that perfectly fit into my mailbox and delivers me some things I am passionate about. It can’t be compared 100% to the Papergang Box because it has a different theme, where the Papergang surprises me with unique stationery every month this box is all about art supplies. Still, the size and the number of things inside were close enough that I wanted to review these two boxes side by side. Quick Disclaimer, because of some personal issues I am actually a bit behind on reviewing them, so the two boxes you will read about here are both from the month of October 🙂

Right from the start, we can see the biggest difference between the two boxes which is appearance. Where the people behind Papergang try to come up with a different design for every box, the scrawler box has the same, kinda dull design on the outside since it launched. But it’s not all about what is on the outside, but also what is on the inside, right?

Let’s start with the new box, like the Papergang box it comes with an instructional menu telling us about the content of the box. But instead of doing it like a folded brochure the scrawler box actually comes with a little booklet, which does not only show us the contents but gives us an interview with the artist featured, tips and tricks on how to use the materials, an art gallery showing what fans created with the previous boxes and something called “scrawler extra” which in this case is an article about Movie Magic 🙂
Hidden under some paper are the highly anticipated art supplies, in October we’ve got three differently coloured Copic markers together with special marker paper, one fineliner, one graphite pencil and a kneadable eraser from Farber Castel. Ontop of that we get a unique sticker designed to look like the boxes logo, such as an exclusive artwork and some British candy.

The Papergang Box contains an A5 Notebook with a “Midnight Garden” pattern which can also be seen on the box cover, one birthday greeting card with a gold foil finish, a foldable pen pot with a pink chevron design, three pencils with gold stamped quotes and gold-dipped ends, five A6 sticker sheet and two stainless steel gold coloured metal straws in a pink cotton pouch. Since I want to keep it fair and some of you might not know the folded brochure which acts as a menu guide here also has an interview with the artist they feature in this box such as a colouring sheet fitting with the overall pattern.

As I have just mentioned both boxes are working with a different artist every month, for the Octobers Scrawler box the artist is called Alexandra Olivia and for that month’s Papergang collaborated with Olivia Burton. I have to say, since I am such a Halloween enthusiast I had actually somewhat hoped for a Halloween theme for both boxes, both have kinda disappointed me. But I have to say the Papergangs collaboration and Burton’s design seem a bit more fitting than the brightly coloured markers and art from the scrawler box. But I guess that’s more personal preference than actual minus points 😉

Unlike with the Papergang subscription which I have been reviewing for the whole of 2021, I only have one scrawler box to go off, so I try not to judge the whole subscription too much based on it since maybe other months boxes have done it better. With that that in mind, what disappointed me was the few contents of the box. I remember seeing more in the boxes I saw online. Though I have to say that most of the things came from name brands, which can be quite expensive, so that might explain why there are only three markers. And they are more of less primary colours in a bit more pastel versions, which means you can combine them to get a bigger range of colours in the end.

I did like the artwork that comes with it, which is something that I actually would love to see in the Papergang boxes too. They are working together with artists, after all, I would be happy to have something from them to hang up on my wall. But I know some other people only want stationary and are annoyed by too much art content, so maybe something like the Scrawlerbox really is the better subscription to include something like this.

The people who follow me for a while now know that I love to look for a kind of theme or activity to do with the contents of the box and with Papergang I often fail at this quest. But Scrawler Box seems to really be focused on this kind of experience, which is why you get a small amount of the right paper to use with the supplies to start ASAP with whatever inspiration the box might give you. You have everything you need: A graphite pencil and eraser to make a sketch, a fine liner for the lineart and the markers to colour everything in. You even get a small snack to boost up the creative process, which I really love! And as a person living in Germany, when do I get the chance to try British candy otherwise? 😉

Seeing the outside of the Papergangs October box really got me excited, because that’s the kind of aesthetic that I like, even though it had nothing to do with Halloween whatsoever. I loved being able to keep a part of it in form of the stickers and birthday cards. Of course, there is the notebook too, but it’s mostly white for the writing of course and the cool design rests on the edges of the paper. Here it would be the perfect opportunity again to include an artwork piece, but as I just said, I know some people get upset, so it’s not something I want to judge, but something I wanted to mention and maybe wish for 😛

The pencils are the signature of OhDeer, the company behind the Papergang, but I never really liked them much. The whole point of a graphite pencil is to sharpen it until it’s eventually gone. Meaning that at some point the quote will begin to vanish too, leaving some words without context reflecting the light of their pretty gold foil in the end. Also, I feel like graphite pencils might not be the best utensil to take notes with since it smudges on the paper and does not feel as smooth as a ballpoint pen. But that might also be a personal opinion.

What really got me thinking were the metal straws… It’s not that I don’t need them or do not get the idea behind them, saving the environment and so on, but with the debate about the artworks in mind, these are not stationery items. Yes, I could make myself a hot beverage to accompany myself while writing with the supplies, but with that explanation, I could also use a cool piece of artwork by the featured artist to hang up above my desk to get into the right mood. The straws also have some ridges on the top to mimic the part where you were able to actually bend a plastic straw, which is also a design choice that I can’t really get behind.

It’s hard to say if I can determine a real winner in this review competition since both have their advantages and disadvantages. The scrawler box really seems a bit less nice and luxurious with its brown carton on the inside and on the outside, so the nicely designed Papergang box definitely gets the point there.
But judging on the inside of both boxes, I feel more drawn to the Scrawlerbox having a clear theme and activity to do after the initial opening. With the Papergang boxes, I sometimes catch myself just putting the pencils inside my pencil case without trying them out further.
These October boxes in particular both kinda disappointed me more than they surprised me. I was expecting something Halloween-ish but got nothing. Instead, I got some markers ins colours I don’t like and metals straws that I can’t bend. But that’s more a me-problem 😉

All in all, I would say both boxes have their respective rights to be in the categories they are in. People who want to have more of an activity to do should get the Scrawlerbox to create something right after you have unboxed it. If you are more into collecting unique pencils, note blocks, paper and other stationery you will be happier with the Papergang subscription. That way everyone will get what they are looking for and in my case, I guess I should consider getting them both in 2022, to get all of my needs satisfied!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Scrawler Box, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

December 1

Other Books in the Grishaverse (as possible Christmas presents?)

I had some trouble recently, which is why I was not able to upload any posts for some weeks. I do not only want to apologize for that, but also inform you that this post was meant to be uploaded at the beginning of the month xD But I guess if you still need to find a last-minute Christmas present, it could be a cool idea or just to plan any presents for the future, an upcoming birthday perhaps 😉 Enjoy!

It’s December and 2021 is ALMOST OVER! That does not only mean we have soon successfully lived through another year with Covid but also that Christmas is coming. And even though I am not the biggest fan of Christmas tradition and celebration, of course, I love the gift-giving part 😉 In this post, I not only want to talk about some books I bought but also why they might be the perfect Christmas presents for some of your loved ones! The books I will be focusing on are all written by Leigh Bardugo the famous author of the books on which the Netflix Series “Shadow and Bone” is based on. If you are following my blog for at least some months, you know that I have recently reviewed the series on Netflix and the books and then compared them. That’s why I won’t be talking about them in detail, but of course, if someone has neither seen the Web series nor read the books, those are the ones you should start with, to introduce someone into the story. So they alone make a great present. But if you know someone loved the show or read the first books already, here are some more they will love <3 (Spoiler-free!)

The Demon in the Wood
This is a rather small book, thus not even published as a paperback but available as an eBook everywhere online! With around 50cts this is one of the most affordable out of all the gifts and it’s about the biggest Villan of the Series! Basically, it is a short story about how he became the man we got to know in the books and the Netflix series. I really look forward to reading it myself and actually, when I heard there was a book about him, I had hoped for a 400-page long one, but I will take the 60 pages with little remorse. I am sure they are interesting still, just finished very quickly :/ But beware, this story will hold big spoilers for people who have never seen the series or read the books(especially book 1), everyone else should be able to enjoy this story spoilerfree^^

The Tailor
Same as “The Demon in the Wood” this one is a short story as well, roughly around the same price point and with the same amount of Spoiler alert! But instead of being about the main villain of the series, this story is about a character who is highly debated upon by fans, whether she was a good or bad character. Some say that this eBook helped them understand her and her actions better. Also for completion, every fan of the series will LOVE to have this in their hands 😉

The Six of Crows
The Duology of the Crows chronologically takes place before the Grishaverses original trilogy, but it’s technically not a prequel because it’s not about Alina and Mal from the books, but rather about the band of thieves you get to meet and love in the Netflix Series. Netflix actually took the characters from these books and wove them into the Sun Summoners Story, which for me personally was a great choice. I was actually a bit disappointed to not read about them when I picked up the first books. So if your friend or partner was as excited to see the group on screen as I was, they will love to read these books about their origin story. Some even say they prefer these over the main story books because of their amazing writing and narrative, but I let you or the person receiving it as a gift decide on that 😉

The Lives of the Saints
This one is actually not a storybook, in the sense that it does not bring something new to the table if you have already read the OG trilogy. But rather it’s a book that is mentioned in that story and has a big significance for the characters and their goals. I am sure everybody who loves the series, would love to keep something like this as a collector’s item maybe or to feel even more immersed into the story than before, by holding the book in their hands, which Alina holds in her own. It’s beautifully illustrated on the cover, but also on the inside. Every new chapter begins with a piece of artwork and I can see how this resembles some form of holy text for some in the Grishverse, it certainly looks like it 😉

The Language of the Thornes
Similar to “The Lives of the Saints” this book could be found in Ravka, but as far as I can remember it was not really mentioned in the Trilogy. It’s less significant than the other book is, but you could kinda compare it to the fairytale books published by J.K. Rowling as a kind of add-on to the Harry Potter series. It’s said to be a collection of folklore told in the world of the series, some more insights into peoples lives, and some further information for fans to better understand the world, one of their favourite stories takes place in 🙂 Like “The Lives of the Saints” stories are fully illustrated too and the way they did it is really cool and kinda magical!

The Severed Moon
This one is especially gift-worthy because it’s actually a diary! You might have heard about the new diaries which have writing prompts in them, said to motivate people more to actually write something down daily. “The Served Moon” is such a book, created by the author of the Grishaverse books for fans of the series. It holds some magical writing prompts and quotes from the books, with beautiful illustrations on the out and on the inside. And it’s said to last for a year, what great gift to give on Christmas for a friend or a loved one to start the new year with 🙂 We all need some magic in 2022 I believe xD

Kings of Scars & Rule of Wolves
This Duology I have saved for last, because technically to avoid all kinds of spoilers you should read these books last. They take place after the story of Alina and Mal ends one way or the other with the third book of the original trilogy. And they may or may not(really trying not to say anything wrong here xD) lead on some stories of characters we have already gotten to know, but they most likely will point to events that have already happened. So to be safe, I would only gift this to someone who I know has already finished or at least bought all the other books, so that they can read them in the correct, spoiler-free order. But if you are very generous this Christmas and want to gift all of the Grishaverse books to someone(who will be very thankful, I am sure) then these books should not be missing, because as far as I know, they will conclude all of the stories Leigh Bardugo told in her magical series.

I hope you have gotten some gift ideas now and I guess I wish you all a Merry Christmas already! Celebrate if that’s your thing or try to get through the time like I do and look forward to next years Halloween again xD

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Book Review, Personal Life | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 18

A Review about “The Shadow and Bone Trilogy” by Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Macmillan USA
Published: 5th of July 2012 (this Box Edition 14. November 2017)
Length: about 400 pages per book + bonus material
Genre: Youn Adult, Fantasy
Price: 20,99€ on Amazon

What is it about?
In this world there are people existing who have different magical powers like bending the wind, controlling the water, and creating fire. They are called Grisha and in most countries, they are feared for their powers, isolated from society, or even hunted down. Only in Ravka they are protected by the King and serve in his army to fight a common enemy “the Fold”. It is otherwise known as the Unsea because it’s like the void of the ocean, but also not at all and it harbors all kinds of creatures, and everything that enters their world is their prey. Even the famous Grisha are not powerful enough to keep them at bay until a Sun Summoner is found. Her light is the only weapon capable of destroying the darkness… or is it?

Review:
Like many others, I have been led to reading this book series by its Netflix adaptation named after the first book “Shadow and Bone” which came out on Netflix this year. This actually lead me to be pretty disappointed when I realized that some aspects and stories from the show, don’t actually appear in the books. I will try and keep this review spoiler-free, but if you want to know exactly what they have changed from the books you can read about it on my other post *here*. And if you have not watched the series yet and want to know more, you can also read my review about it 😉

Having to fight my way through book one was totally my fault since I just had the wrong expectations and also because I pretty much knew every single thing that happened in the books from the series. It may speak in favor of the Netflix series as a great adaptation that the books are not much more detailed, but it may be something you want to consider before starting to read the series. But reading books two and three was actually much more fun and entertaining and even though the web series was renewed for season two, if you can’t wait until then, reading the books it’s based on might be the right choice 😉

Not having the other storylines from the Netflix series compete with Alinas quest to save her country is actually helping it. Yes, she is still a “Marry Sue”-like character, the one from the prophecy which is nothing new. But her character is genuinely interesting, her relationship with Mal feels very real, and exploring the world and its mechanics through her is still very fun. I have heard people comparing the series to Harry Potter, but it’s more like the Anime Avatar: The Last Airbender, with less spell casting and more nature taming. I really like the idea of it and their explanation of the so-called “Small Science”.

When asked about what genre her book falls in, the author started jokingly called it tsarpunk, “it takes its inspiration from the aesthetics, culture, politics, and social structure of early 19th century Russia.” It does really make a difference since most fantasy worlds are often inspired by medieval Europe and having this be more connected to Russia makes it stand out and more unique.

If you want to read more about Bardugo’s takes on her own stories, I can highly recommend going for the box edition I bought on Amazon. Each book had a bonus section with an Interview with the author herself and some specials like a letter written by Mal. And the designs on the cover are awesome, the only problem I have is that there is a Netflix sticker, referring to the show, which is printed onto the cover, you can’t take it off. But if you don’t care about that and might only be placing the books inside the box on your shelves, it will still look pretty great.

Final Verdict:
From the perspective of coming to these books after the show, it was a bit disappointing at first, and reading book one was a bit boring to me. But books two and three hooked me in again and that’s why I actually don’t want to blame the author for me watching the series first. The story itself is pretty interesting, the tsarpunk aspect makes it very unique and you have a nice set of characters to accompany you on your journey. It’s a nice story about magic, power, love, and responsibility. And since they already changed some aspects of the story in the series, they might change the ending as well. So if you want to know what the original author intends for the story or if you just want to dwell a bit more in this awesome world, pick up the books, they are worth it. And if you want to display the books(especially the ones I am reviewing here), keep the Netflix sticker in mind, but also think about the bonus stuff inside this edition 😉 All in all, I would say I loved the story, would not necessarily compare it to Harry Potter, but recommend it to everyone who wants to read something magical and different. I rate this trilogy a 4 out of 5 rating.

Category: Book Review, Review | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 12

Artfulbox : Lino Printing

I am back again with another Artful Review! Like I mentioned last time I got multiple boxes, including some older ones when I made my subscription in September, that’s why I have so many to review^^ But for the people who don’t know what Artful is, it’s actually a quarterly subscription box from the UK meaning that you will get a new one every 3 months. Every new box will focus on a specific theme, exploring different art mediums and supplying you with different materials. Some of the old boxes’ themes include water coloring, calligraphy, and drawing with ink. This month’s box is themed after Lino printing, let’s take a look into it together!

The first thing we get in the box is a Lino cutter from Essdee with 10 extra cutting blades in different sizes, then a 112-page magazine with tutorials and interviews, 3 lino sheets (200mx150mmx3.2mm), two tubes of special block printing ink in red and black, a block with 25 sheets of premium heavyweight cartridge paper, a clear 200 micro A4 Acetate sheet and a 100mm ink roller. Compared to all the other Artful boxes I have reviewed up till now, this seems to be the one with the least amount of items in it. I can’t tell if that’s because these items are very pricey, meaning all boxes have the same value but some might be fuller and some less. Or maybe this was one of the first boxes and the budget wasn’t as high. I don’t necessarily feel like something is missing, since I actually don’t know anything about lino printing yet and all of the items seem to be of very high quality. After taking a look into the magazine in more detail, I might come back to this though.

Now that I have read through the magazine in more detail, I have actually already found something that bugs me a little bit. As I have just mentioned I was not sure if something was missing, but now I am. There are at least 3 things, which are talked about in the magazine, which could have easily been included. The first thing is tracing paper, which they say “you might have laying around in a drawer”, I personally never use that for anything, so now I have not. The second thing is sandpaper, which seems to be used for the ink sticking better to the lino or making textures, which they might think we get together with the third missing thing, being recommended by them in the magazine, an “anti-slip matt” from a hardware store. I do agree that all of these things could be already in a household of either an artist who has to trace for their work or maybe a handyman, who used sandpaper to make his wood creations smoother. But that’s not how a subscription box like that should work, I should be able to open it and begin working with what they supplied me with. The tracing paper and the sandpaper sound to be somewhat essential and also don’t cost much I assume it would have been no problem to put it in. The “anti-slip matt” seems to be more optional, but is still recommended, so why not include it?

What I really like about the magazine is that it feel way more beginner-friendly than some of the stuff in the previous boxes. In the beginning, they encourage you to use the 3 sheets they supplied in the box to start and experiment at first, not get into creating ASAP. That will be very hard for me to do, for the exact reason they state in the beginning pages “Not wasting resources” but the way they explained it, it’s not wasting, it’s kinda like creating your own color shart to know how the colors will look like on paper. That’s what you are doing, trying out the different nibs and what kinds of shapes and lines you can make with them and to make notes about it, maybe already planning a future masterpiece. When you are about to get started but have no idea what to carve yet, they have some templates with easy to recreate shapes to get on exploring the medium. Nothing as crazy as some of the tutorials seen in the ink boxes magainze(review coming soon ;)! They also tell you many important things about the shelf-live of Lino, the right methods to store and wash it, and how to carefully use the tools right. All of that information got me really hyped up to finally try out some lino printing myself, but first, let’s get on to carving 😉

Since I am trying out the box in October I was in the mood for some spooky designs and I had some pretty finished ideas in my head already. I wanted to make a Halloween stamp with a pumpkin and a potion bottle design(the ghost kinda appeared :P), but to get it from my head onto the Lino was a pretty challenging process. I used an H4 graphite pencil (which was not included) to draw my ideas directly onto the Lino, which did only partially work out. I did not want to put too much pressure on the pencil, because I did not want to leave marks in the lino, which I would not be able to get rid of again. But the graphite did not really stick to the surface that well, so I needed to go over and over it again. I then traced the lines of the design I wanted to have with the cutter and then made an outline in form of a rectangle. After finishing that task I tried to work my way inward, regretting small details like the pumpkin face xD But I did it in the end and was pretty proud for it being my first try, but also kinda nervous about if it would look the way I wanted it in the end, after applying the printing ink and transferring the designs onto paper…

The next step seemed fairly easy, but it was not xD After carving the pieces I cut them out with scissors to be able to print them onto the paper individually. I only used a small bit of the black printing ink, which can be compared to very thick acrylc paint, and apllied it to the right side of the roller, because my lino pieces were fairly small. I then went over the lino pieces multiple times, hoping for an even covarage, but intially also filing the small cravices which ment to stay ink-free. You can also see that in the first results, my small ghost is basically a black blob on the page. As for my potion bottle I actually regrett my choice of having the liqguid inside stay white and the glassy ouside be black. I can’t really say I planned it liked that, I only thought it about those two things being able to be distinguished from each other. That at least workes I guess 😛 My halloween stamp came ou the best I think, you can make out the shape of the pumkin and it’s face, even if it’s not perfect and the seem around the stamp is visible too, even though you could see that the bigger space made it even harder for me to get it covered evenly. But with practice, especially with the aplling ink part, I can see this workng very well for me and I can take all the information I got out of my errors to make my next lino pieces came out better 😉

This was actually the first Artful box which let me work with materials I have never used before. I did caligraphy as a hobby and I used water colors in school as I mentioned in the previous reviews but Lino printing was never something on my radar, I don’t think I would have picked it up to try out by myself. But it was actually quite fun, maybe because it was so diffrent! Carving out my designs instead of creating them step by step on the paper, was a very intresting experience. It was both easier and harder than I thought, if that makes sense 😛 For my very first try it did not feel as if anything was missing, though some tracing paper and maybe a marker of some kind which would stick better to the Lino would have been nice. But I guess the other things were not as needed as I thought when reading about them the magazin. I am still curious about the sandpaper and what could be done with it. But the Artfulbox is supposed to just ignite the curiousity in my and this one really succeded. Mabye I will buy sandpaper and try it out some 😉 And maybe you will too, I can highly recommend this box and the idea behind Artufl as a subscription as well^^

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Art, Artful, Mystery Box, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT