A. L(ibrary) Smith
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alibrarysmith.bsky.social
A. L(ibrary) Smith
@alibrarysmith.bsky.social
340 followers 380 following 230 posts
A library that thinks it is a girl • (she/they) • maker of things • ADHD • Peculiar Book Club Discord Maven • chaotic sword queer
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alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Then we heat the dye bath and add the fabric. I don’t have a fire pit so I’m using a propane wok grill. this is after just 60 seconds. you should boil it for 30-90 minutes but I don’t want to use up all that propane so I boiled it for about 5 minutes and I’m going to let it soak overnight.
A light brown scrap of linen fabric held up by a paint stir stick. The pot of liquid below looks nearly black.
September 29, 2025 at 10:42 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Next, you have to strain the liquid from the black walnut fragments. Even little pieces can cause darker brown spots on your fabric. I didn’t have a strainer so I just strained it through the crack in the bottom of my bucket. We’re gonna have some spots.
A white cooking pot full of a very dark liquid, the color of used motor oil. The stir stick has developed a much darker brown line as the dye soaks in more.
September 29, 2025 at 10:42 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
You’re supposed to soak them overnight in a bucket but my bucket had a crack in the bottom so I left them in the bag but that had a hole too so I put the whole thing in the dye pot.
A red bucket lined with a white plastic grocery bag. It is full of water and the black walnuts. After soaking, the water and the green nuts have both turned mostly black. The dye has already begun to dye my stirring stick brown.
September 29, 2025 at 10:42 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Trying some natural dye with black walnuts today. My father in law brought me a bag of them from his yard.
A black walnut tree, full of round green nuts
September 29, 2025 at 10:42 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Feels good to be back at Pennsic again!
A person in green rain boots standing in a muddy puddle in the grass
July 28, 2025 at 2:34 AM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
I made a bunch of Viking beads to wear with my new garb. Quite a fun stash-buster project and I will definitely be making more when I get back from Pennsic. #mysca
5 strands of assorted beads. The strands have metal circles on both ends so they can attach to turtle brooches. The first is nonbinary pride colors, the next two are black and white beads for my clan, the fourth is miscellaneous beads and a roman coin, and the last strand is blue and white for the SCA Kingdom of Atlantia.
July 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Made a skjoldehamn hood with a scrap of fabric from @patches023.bsky.social #mysca
A forest green linen hood with hand-felled seams. The hood is constructed of two rectangles and two squares, based on a 11th century Scandinavian artifact. The stitches are visibly done in black thread.
July 23, 2025 at 2:37 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
People will tell you to stick to neutral colors in your home decor but those people are wrong. Painted my stairs purple and I wouldn’t have it any other way
A purple painted wooden staircase, viewed from the bottom A purple painted wooden staircase, viewed from the top. At the bottom, a colorful crazy quilt hangs from the wall, behind a robins egg blue cabinet with many little drawers in it.
July 21, 2025 at 7:17 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Dropped my sewing project mid-stitch as I was suddenly overcome by the urge to make some biblically accurate brooches
July 18, 2025 at 4:11 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Actually starting to enjoy hand sewing! I made this medieval coif at an SCA event yesterday #mysca
A purple coif (a fitted linen cap) with visible black stitching and decorative black and white ribbon for the ties
July 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Put on water for tea but accidentally made a Viking undertunic instead #mysca #ADHD
July 10, 2025 at 7:19 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Finally finished hemming my first tunic and Viking apron! I’d like to add trim and put proper loops on the apron straps but it’s fully wearable now. #mysca
Me wearing a plain blue linen Viking apron with a yellow underdress
July 6, 2025 at 6:14 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Made it 6 inches before stabbing myself today! How do you get better at hand sewing? It’s easy, just stop being bad at it.
The hem of a linen tunic collar, sewn up to a corner
July 6, 2025 at 3:40 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
A: 19 inches
July 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Off Menu was a great book! First one of my summer reading picks and I will definitely be recommending it to my library kids this fall.
The graphic novel “Off Menu”, artfully set atop a leaf-printed cloth and surrounded by dried herbs in glass jars
June 25, 2025 at 1:24 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Look at this little guy! I had to move him because he was chillin on a busy sidewalk at a park
A very tiny turtle which barely spans three fingers on my hand. The turtle is black with hints of orange around the edges of the shell and orange stripes on the neck.
June 21, 2025 at 1:37 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
sorry, sorry, I’ll move it
A microscope sitting atop a stack of gay books. The books are Bad Gays, Before we were Trans, Queer as Folklore, and The Bones Beneath My Skin.
May 28, 2025 at 9:34 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
It was crayons
May 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
I work in a high school library. All my students are teenagers. So why is manga being returned with ACTUAL HUMAN TEETH MARKS
The cover of a manga with a strange indentation in the corner The inside of the cover where it is very apparent that the indentation is in fact a human bite mark
May 19, 2025 at 6:07 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
mom: can you help me with a eurovision costume for a party?
me: gimme two bedsheets and a hula hoop
A woman at eurovision wearing a billowing white dress with a large vaguely circular structure coming out from the back
May 16, 2025 at 10:51 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
if you see this, post a sword 🗡️
The mangled remains of a washing machine, impaled by several swords: A kukri, a cutless, a yatagan, a bastard sword, and a second kukri. All swords made by Badger Blades.
May 5, 2025 at 11:13 AM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
LOOK at this CAT
A fluffy gray cat laying on a chair, a ray of sunshine cast across her legs.
May 2, 2025 at 10:24 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
when you’re trying to build a computer but you also have a cat
A fluffy gray cat laying in an open motherboard box
April 30, 2025 at 8:25 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
My great grandma always had a pitcher of Tang in the fridge and I am certain that's not what those people mean when they say that
The nutrition facts/ingredients label on a container of Tang powdered drink mix
April 30, 2025 at 8:12 PM
alibrarysmith.bsky.social
Reader, I married her.
My wife and I dancing the first dance during our wedding. We are both wearing long gowns, though only hers is white. The details are obscured, as the photo is backlit from a huge triangular window. We are surrounded by tables of seated wedding guests.
March 19, 2025 at 8:50 PM