So, you’re building a costume. You’re going to a party, or hosting a themed event, or you managed to snag tickets to Comicon or the latest immersive ACOTAR Ball (we get it, and we’re jealous). If you’re new to the costuming game, it can be intimidating with all the over-the-top amazing things you see from the cosplay world these days on social media. But don’t let that stop you.

Below we have compiled a list of our favorite tricks to take your costume from Childhood Halloween Trick-or-Treating straight to something the Hollywood prop department would be proud of. Let’s dive into 5 of our favorite tricks of the trade. As we move farther into this series we’ll be able to share in depth tutorials and have you follow along with projects and costume builds. We’ll be able to tell you when to use sculpting foam vs styling foam and what’s really carboard and modge-podge (It’s never what you think). but for now, these are our 5 best general beginner tips.

If You’re Going to Splurge in Cosplay- Splurge on the Wig

Not all cosplays require a wig. Maybe you already look a little like your character, or you’re reimagining a classic with a twist and you don’t need it. If so, that’s great. But for a lot of characters, hair is a defining trait, and cheap wigs are noticeable and an easy make or break. Most things in cosplay you really can do yourself with a bit of creativity and some dedication.

We have found that wigs are not one of those things. Don’t buy the $2 wig on the wish app, or TEMU. Or even the $15 one on Amazon. They don’t hold up well, they tend to be sparse, and flat and they look like plastic. If you’re going to be bougie for anything in your costume- spend the money on a nice wig that works. It’ll last a long time and they can frequently be used for other characters along the way.

Don’t Get Too Caught Up on Wardrobe or a Particular Character Look

I KNOW this sounds weird when we’re talking about killer cosplay. But there is a logic to this- hear me out. For a single photo or a poster- having that outfit matches the OG character picture might make sense. But, if you are cosplaying at a live event or going to a party where you are going to be in this thing for hours- consider comfort.

I don’t mean “I am going to get to hot?” or “are these shoes going to kill me?” though, to some those may be factors. Taylor and I have both been known to suffer the shoes or the overheating for the sake of a bomb costume.

What I do mean is: If you really love a character and you really want to pull it off but their classic appearance is in a strappy skin exposing anime outfit and you’re not comfortable with that much of your midriff showing….. don’t do it. If your favorite character rocks a strapless piece of armor and you’re not comfortable strapless- take some creative license. Notice I didn’t say don’t cosplay that character?

In my experience- there is always a solution that captures the vibe of the character and make sure people know exactly who it is without you feeling exposed or uncomfortable and miserable- which shows. Make your costume livable for you.

Thrift

YES! We love making things from scratch. We love armor, and chainmail, and a good “I made this 100% from scratch and there were a lot of tears and late nights involved but I did it!”. But not all of us are that person, and not all of us are there yet (If we’ll ever be).

Taylor has much more the skill set to be like “I made this pattern myself with the blood, sweat, and tears of my ancestors and my character’s inner rage”. I however, am just learning to sew. And if you’re just beginning it is much easier and less terrifying to thrift something and turn it INTO something else than it is to make a dwarven tunic from scratch in 1 shot by yourself (not like I’m speaking from experience or anything).

Do not be ashamed to repurpose something into something different. It still takes a lot of work and creativity, and you are still a valid cosplayer if that’s your jam. Its really fun to go hunting for the right pieces. We will never say no to an excuse to thrift. If you’re new to thrifting, Taylor has a really awesome guide of things to consider when you’re out digging- you can find it here.

This is particularly useful for shoes that can be used as a base to be turned into anything cool. My favorites of Taylors were steampunk Tinkerbell shoes from a pair of booties, and Satyr hooves from a pair of boots.

The Devil is in the Dirty Details

What is Aragorn without a little dirt, or Geralt without a little blood? Just a really buff guy in cool clothing, that’s what. What takes a costume from looking like you bought it at party city to a living breathing character? You’ve got to make it look lived in.

The good news is, that doesn’t require you to go roll around in the mud or hunt orcs in the woods for months on end without a bath (though you’re welcome to go the method acting route).

This is where antiquing, patinas, weathering, sandpapering, and scuffing are your best friends. We KNOW you just spent weeks putting this together and it feels sacrilegious to ‘rub some dirt on it’- but go on, rub some dirt on it.

Hot Glue is a Hot Commodity for Details

If you have a great base costume and need to create buildable details like embossing on armor, pieces of large chunky fantasy jewelry, or unique accents, but you need them to be flexible for movement; hot glue is your friend.

The coolest hack I have for making Gems and raised details on anything that needs to be movable once its done is a silicon mold (amazon has tons and silicon cake molds for fondant are the best). Fill it with hot glue and then leave it to dry before painting. Sturdy enough to hold up over time, easily paintable, and not prone to damage.

I’ve used this for mushrooms, gems, fake pieces of thick chain, gemstones, texturing, you name it.

Here in the coming weeks we plan to share more tips tricks, and tutorials for cosplay bits and pieces. We’d love to see your favorite cosplays and costumes and we can’t wait to share projects with you!

See you in the craft room!

Mikaela!

Come have a chat with RavenWerks creaters, Taylor and Mikaela, in their next installment about DnD. Today we talk about scenarios that made our DM’s say WTF, what our dream DnD crossovers are, and what we would like to try in future characters.

[Taylor] Hi! Welcome to RavenWerks Guild Talk. This is our second installment. We are once again talking about DnD. Kind of continueing off of our last conversation. Really quick in case you haven’t seen one of our videos before… we’re your hosts. My name is Taylor.

[Mikaela] Mikaela!

[Taylor] and last time on guild talk, we were talking about DnD, it was about first experiences, first impressions, what we would and would change when we very first started playing DnD. This time Mikaela has come up with a couple more questions that are a little more forward looking; less so about out first experience itself. And before we get into that, I just want to bring up just as a quick plug, check out our website if you haven’t seen it before. We are still adding new product including our stickers, t shirts (like this little guy), and we will be at some markets and things like that. So, we are starting to do candles, that are more…

[Mikaela] Like witchy decor…

[Taylor] witchy decor. More like small batch, very intentional things and those will start to be going up on our website as well. Or we will start putting up on our schedule online when and where we are, so if you are a Washington local, Western Washington, come say “Hi”! Come check out our in person stuff. So, let us move on to the main thing.

[Mikaela] Yeah. That being said, as kind of a follow up on those last questions regerding first experiences and that, my first thing is for you to describe your favorite scenario that made your DM, or Dungeon Master, say kindo of WTF to a scenario that your party was supposed to deal with or that they laid out. Maybe not necessarily that you didn’t do what you were supposed to. Although that definitely certainly happens and can, but as far as like, just something that your character played that your DM look at you like you’re a couple watts short of a full lightbulb.

[Taylor] Or in my case, question whether or not I should be in a psych ward.  So… uh… I guess I should preface this with: I almost always play a, some sort of chaotic nuetral rogue that tends to be more…

[Mikaela] A Kleptomaniac!

[Taylor] more on the creative side. They are not always kleptos. This one particularly was. And so, um, there was lots of situations where my fellow players would either pick me up and bodily move me from places because they could see me getting distracted by something they knew I was going to be like “Ah! Shiny!” And it did lead to some interesting situations. One of them in particular that I can think of is we were harvesting these plants out in the forest which, the DM did not see it going this way but, someone was purchasing them and then we realized it could be used as the DnD equivalent of cocaine. And then we started a drug ring and it was a whole thing. But while we were out there [collecting plants], we got attacked by a guy who was being sort of controlled/possessed by some higher fae entity that we never got answers on and he had this brand that was glowing that we did not know at the time was what he was being controlled through. It was shiny. We killed the guy in defense of ourselves. And I decided that I would cut it out of his neck and take it and keep it. And I put it in my pocket and I also had a habit of taming and keeping rodents and things so… my rat that was in my pocket and myself, because we had direct skin contact with it and were still around it, kind of got possessed by this fae thing. Then the had to [kind of] kill me and bring me back to life to get it out of me. It was a whole thing. There was other stuff. There’s been lots of things. But that’s the one that I think, the DM would was most like… why would you cut this off someones neck nad stick it in your pocket? Like it was very left field.

[Mikaela & Taylor] *Laughing*

[Mikaela] Fair. That is a fair response.

[Taylor] Like there’s other ones that he kind of *hhhhmmm* but he could logic through why it had popped into my head, where it’s like “oh! It’s shiny. Okay, you could grab this. I can see where you are going with it.” This one it was very much like “do we need to have a conversation meta? Like why did this even occur to you?” So yeah, I think that is my biggest one.

[Mikaela] Um, I think mine actually, and you may have heard, if you guys follow the blog, I did bring it up in a previous blog post because it is one of my favorite unconventional interactions. In my very very first DnD campaign, we were playing with Thomas’ (AKA Mikaela’s husband) brother and a couple of their friends and my brother in laws girlfriend was our DM. And we were supposed to be scaling to the top of this mountain and there was a temple that basically gave you access to the inside of, I mean it was the inside of a mountain, but it was essentially like a multi level dungeon, like, network of tunnels and we were looking for this group of dwarves that had been being, like, kidnapped and taken hostage. This was this thing with like possessing children. It’s a long story. But, on enroute to the top mountain, we came across a camp. A relatively large camp of goblins. And it was, it was implied that said goblins would be hostile and impede access to the top of the mountain. Which would usually lead to combat with said group, because, um, Thomas’ brother played a VERY enthusiastic paladin. Umm… But two of our party members were already at half health. It was our, it was Thomas’ and I’s very very first campaign so we were incredibly low level and it had been a rough day. So we used a combination of mage hand, my characters pygmy dragon (Pipsqueak), a little tiny frog totem that we had picked up in loot some place else, and a very good illusion to convince said band of goblins that one of our party was their god. And convinced them more or less to joyously through themselves off of a cliff as a blood tribute to us. Um, so, we didn’t get the experience points that we really needed to then help complete the rest of the dungeon so then technically it was creative but we also kind of stabbed ourselves in the foot.

[Taylor] And we had just been talking too… the frog totem thing reminded me that at one point I had to act out a thing that I did where I was in a frog hoody and I zipped it up and seduced a water elemental. So, umm, that one was more of a what the #*%$ for me though. I think he just really wanted to see me…

[Mikaela] He wanted to see how far he could push it.

[Taylor] Yeah. Me sexily ribbiting in a frog hoody.

[Mikaela & Taylor] *laughing*

[Taylor] Yeah. So… moving on to the next one. So, what is your dream DnD crossover and I’m not going to bring up the examples on here because I know Mikaela’s going to use a couple of them and one of them is kind of mine too sooo…

[Mikaela] Crossover. So like as far a, rather than playing just, like, standard DnD world or traditional homebrew. I mean, any of these would have to be homebrews, but as far as using other formats and like, fandoms and things that are out there… ummm… I have to put on the list Lord of the Rings. Because that is my all time high fantasy, like, cannon. Um, if we are going stereotypical, I want middle earth! But outside of that, my two favorites (ideas) are … if you know what the Fraggles are, and if you don’t, I’m sorry, I can’t help you. I… I want. It’s like the muppets but better and I think it would be hilarious to have a group of your friends have to create their own muppet. Not muppet but like Fraggle and knowing how they behave and, like, the zaney culture of the Fraggles. I think would ensue in some really great shinanigans.

[Taylor] I wanna be a Doozer.

[Mikaela] See! And I’m like I wanna be a Doozer! And another one, like silliness aside, short of the Lord of the Rings, my all time favorite book series is the Symphony of Ages. And if, again, if you haven’t read the Symphony of Ages, and haven’t heard of it, go find them. They are #&$^ing fantastic.

[Taylor] Yes.

[Mikaela] I think that that world crossover… The author, Elizabeth Hayden, has layered so much believable, authentic fantasy, but through the laws of fantasy realistic lore that I think there are some really cool class possabilities. I think there are some really awesome quest possibilities, just the end of the book series itself. There are so many upcoming problems that like, it could be thousands of years in the future and your parties problem could be to solve one of those ongoing issues.

[Taylor] Literally the whole thing.

[Mikaela] Umm, I think that there is so much potentialthere and it would be in some ways like my inner child high fantasy dream come true. So I think those for me are it.

[Taylor] The roots… Being in the roots of Sagia. (Mikaela agreeing) The whole thing. That would be like a whole arc all on it’s own. Totally different world.

[Mikaela] Yeah. [And] They have like some species crossovers so like instead of your traditional Elves, um, you would have to go, like, Lirin. But they still have got Firbolg. They’ve got like the Dracians.

[Taylor] I just think there would be a lot of really cool things.

[Mikaela] Yeah. There’s just so much you could pull from.

[Taylor] And like, some of the NPC’s that could be pulled that were, like, long living just, like, would be really fun as a DM.

[Mikaela] Part of the premise of the books without giving it away, is due to some weird worldbuilding situation stuff, there  is a group of people that are bordering on immortal. And we are talking, like, an entire generation from all different species of people have this weird thing happen to them where they stop aging. So, like, there’s so much potential there.

[Taylor] I would want to do it like later, like after the book series, because it could be like…. anyways, I am digressing.

[Mikaela] *theatrical whispering* And like the book series ends like 2 or 300 years after the thing… *unintelligable mumble gestures as Mikaela tries to imply stuff*

[Taylor] I know.

[Mikaela] That last book really like, right in the %^&$ing heart.

[Taylor] I didn’t read the last one. I know you told… and I just don’t… cuz I would cry the whole time.

[Mikaela] Yeah… you would.

[Taylor] Yeah. But anyways… so, um, anyways. My own answer. Sorry we went down a little rabbit hole right there. My own answer, so one of her examples on here I am currently in.  And that probably would have been my go to answer until, you know, I am already in it. One Piece! Because that’s a whole world! Like it’s an expansive world with multiple islands, different cultures. Like it’s very built out and very layered and Oda is a freaking genius so there’s like just so many different things to pull from. (Mikaela making faces because we do not share this fandom and she has to hear all my rants and soap boxes and lecture) Don’t get me started. Anyways, I’m a huge One Piece fan. I have been watching it forever. Umm…

[Mikaela] We will always disagree on this one.

[Taylor] Yeah. I know right. I have been watching One Piece for liek 20 freaking years now at this point. So um, and reading, and everything. Just… One Piece. So that would be a thing but obviously I am in a campaign currently and have been for a little over a year so, I am living out that lovely DnD fantasy at the moment. And then I really agree with the Fraggles. And without giving too much away because she’s in my campaign, I have managed to integrate that in there somewhere. But I am not going to tell them who and what they are so if she figures it out, great but, uh, concepts are in there. That is coming up. And then…

[Mikaela] *whisper* Just don’t make me kill Fraggles.

[Taylor] Just don’t mindlessly kill.

[Mikaela] That’s not me. Talk to Victor.

[Taylor] Talk to Victor. Yeah. You guys are going to have to reign the bard in. And then I actually really love the idea of a Harry Potter world BUT Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them. So, focusing less on Harry Potter and Voldemort and that. I mean you can like bring those up and, like, have that be cannon in that world. But, I would much rather go, like, slightly more Victorian, like somebody, like when they are figuring things out. Like in Harry Potter and you read those books and that, they, they, bring up all of these cannony, like, people in their history books…

[Mikaela] Well, especially with how long lived wizards are. There’s possability there. That could be fun.

[Taylor] So, I jsut feel like I would want to go more that route and make it a little more steam punky because they do have stuff, right?! Like the, um, (My brain just shut off and is rebooting) just some of the different machines and that they have. They are obviously magical based, not steam, but kind of going that route.

[Mikaela]  But like technology meets magic crossover. They do have a fair a bit of that.

[Taylor] Yeah. Some of the real world world stuff but it’s kind of twisted a little bit. A little bit darker.

[Mikaela] And that would be cool because that gives you a fine blending of like, you’re in a weird way, your isekai world crossover fascination, where you get just enough of the real world to be able to pull from reality, like mundane reality.

[Taylor] Yeah. And she know’s I am a sucker for the isekai, like, falling into a different world concept anyways.

[Mikaela] That could, as much as I love Harry Potter, if you didn’t go stereotypical like, Harry Potter generation, they are all alive, and you are in that plot, then I think that could be super cool. Because, there is a lot of meta lore you could like pull from.

[Taylor] Yeah. Well even just like locations. Like you could still have, you know, Hogwarts etc. It’s jut like different people there because it’s… I would want to go prior to Harry Potter.

[Mikaela] Even like pre marauders.

[Taylor] Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pre that. Very like, they are still figuring things out. Maybe even when the original house masters were there. Like Godric Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, like, that would be a cool era to be in.

[Mikaela] I like how the only founder whose name you know is your own house. So… pbt!

[Taylor] I know the others (Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin). I do know the others, but he gets a pedestal.

[Mikaela] Okay.

[Taylor] Anyways.

[Mikaela] Fair.

[Taylor] And then…

[Mikaela] I think last question. I will let you interpret this to some degree because, I know you. Um… what character or type of character would you want to build or play next. It could either be like the type of characteryou have never ever played before or if you already have a specific character in your mind that you want to be able to build out and act.

[Taylor] Yeah. Cuz there’s cool ways to take somebody like, I don’t know, Darth Vader, and make a build around that. I would not, BUT… I mean I would but that’s not what I am going with this…

[Mikaela] DENIED!

[Taylor] No. I know somebody who is possibly doing that so I am not messing with that one. Um… so , I feel like I tend to go very dark, sassy characters. A little standoffish. I like going chaotic neutral and just, and I am really, really prone to, um, rogues. And that’s just because I find it easy to fall into that character.

[Mikaela] She likes to live vicariously through her DnD characters.

[Taylor] Just a little bit. And so, I would want to try something new. Something different. Maybe something a little bit more challenging. I feel like my current One Piece character, my closest class, since it’s a bit of a homebrew thing, would be kind of a druid. And I had considered do that. It’s very different for me and is a lot more difficult but I feel like I still have that somewhat snarky, dark character, like, character itself. Personality? And so I would want to…

[Mikaela] From what I have heard, yes, you are a murder doctor.

[Taylor] I am. Just a little bit and, like, I might hurt you. I might help you. I don’t know. And I do get really pissed at you and chop you up, I know how to stitch you back together so it’s fine. So, I feel like I would want to go, something…  (*both of us laughing*) it’s fine as long as you don’t die. Um, I feel like I would want to go something that would be harder for me to play character wise. So, something bright and bubbly and heppy and go lucky… kind of like a fluffy carebear character. I don’t know that I know necessarily what class but I would just want to play with a character that would be very, like, difficult for me to stay in character. I feel like that would…

[Mikaela] You want a challenge. Okay.

[Taylor] A growth thing. Yeah. Something that’s a challenge.

[Mikaela] Well, a challenge for you. Hahaha. See, and this is where you can tell that, yes, we are related. We have some very different personalities because on the flip side of this question, most of my characters, as opposed to her chaotic chaotic…

[Taylor] *whispers* Chaos…

[Mikaela] have been lawful good with a very strict moral code. It might not be everybody else’s moral code but they HAVE a very strict moral code. Um, and I am more or less, a squishy in real life (side eye from Taylor… because this is half true) so I feel like all of my DnD characters have been things that’s first reactions have been to, um, hit first and ask later. Um, I think my next DnD character… I will take a two pronged thing with this because technically speaking, the next character that I would really want to build, I technically have. I just haven’t gotten to play him yet beacause it’s for her (gestures to Taylor) campaign that we are getting ready to start. Um, and the cahllenge with one is going to be that it is an adolescent-ish aged, 24 year old, perpetually mutated, magically stunted, pygmy dragon sorcerer and not only have I never played a magic weilder- I am usually a barbarian or a ranger- but als, if you know me, my nickname is motor mouth for a reason. And, he can’t talk. So I am going to have to figure out how…

[Taylor] I mean he can, just not in anythnig that the other players will understand.

[Mikaela] Yeah. Unless one of my party members happens to speak draconic or dwarvish through a weird twist of backstory, nobody will be able to understand me. And even then, he doesn’t have fully developed vocal chords yet because he’s still considered young, so he’s learning to telepathically communicate short blips of information. But for the most part, my chatty ass is going to be reduced to pantomiming…

[Taylor] *sarcastic rawr*

[Mikaela] *nervous laugh* … which will be fun. But outside of Pip, like, if I was going to create a brand new character, I’m going to say, if we are going with angle of Mikaela getting her Symphony of Ages crossover, I want to build the closest thing that I could to Grunther. Um, which in that book series is a half Firbolg, half Bengardian, like gienat behemoth of a worrior. But he’s also kid of like a natural protector. He is the “Ultimate Authority To Be Obeyed At All Costs” is what one character has named him.  So I think I would do a half Orc, half Firbolg, but instead of – as much as he could be a tank- I think instead of building him as a barbarian or like a berserker, I would go cleric (or maybe Paladin?). Beecause, especially if we are taking place after the end of the Symphony of Ages story, I know where that series leaves off and then there would be so much room for my character to have to deal with the challenges of the stigma associated with Firbolg and those species still. And then, just get to constantly surprise the shit out people, which I think woujld be cool.

[Taylor] I loooove a good reaction from people. Like, even in an anime or that, like, part of the reason that I for a lot of the ones where it’s like the under dog, like whatever… and it’s such an overdone trope to some extent. But I will never not love it because I love when they pull something just out of left field and there’s such a good reaction to it.

[Mikaela] Well, and then you get the possability, at least with that character build, I would get the possability of like still being that terrifying, intimidating thing. So like with party interactions, my group would b e able to use that facade to scare the crap out of people and then physically I would still have the abiliy based off of just sheer size…

[Taylor] Intimidation rolls through the roof.

[Mikaela] …to, if I need to,  pick somebody up and chuck ’em. But at the end of the day I could focus on being a nurturer and a healer and I’ve never gotten to play a cleric. And ironically, in every party I have ever played, we  haven’t had a cleric so if somebody got injured, we were kind of “dude, you’re screwed.”

[Taylor] So that’s something I’d like to talk to in a future thing as well, with like character creation- is like, to some extent, your races, they already have bias’ against them. Maybe or maybe not depending on the world!

[Mikaela] For instance if you are a tielfing. Right?!

[Taylor] Yeah. And I love when you’ve got a character class, sometimes it can be annoying when they are completely the opposite (more like it isn’t believable) of like what that race would be. (insert a lot of um, like, like- because aparently I had a valley girly moment). You know what I mean?

[Mikaela] It’s unrealistic.

[Taylor] Yes. It’s unrealistic. You know some races tend to just be more dark and if you make them so they are super bubbly… but if there’s like some layer there, where they are super bubbly but they still retian some of the dark, you know what I mean? There’s like a fine line and I love that, being able to play with that.

[Mikaela] That’s why I’m excited to do- we have a blog post coming up about like, how to build a playable character DnD character and a believable one. Because there’s a difference- without us getting too much into a rabbit hole- there’s a difference between creating a cool character in your head and then being able to execute it.

[Taylor] Yeah.

[Mikaela] So…

[Taylor] And I love talking about character creation, even with NPC’s. Anyway’s… But I’m going to go down a rabbit hole because that’s what I do. So… mums the word.

[Mikaela] We’ll get that.

[Taylor] *literally just repeating what Mikaela said*

Um… *awkward pause* I think that was all three of our questions. I think, that’s the end of it. Don’t be a stranger, like I said. Check us out online. Check us out at market if you are local and…

[Mikaela] We will post the ones that are coming up so that you, you know, know ahead of time.

[Taylor] Yup. And if you haven’t notice, I have done a lot less of the, like, blog posts recently. Mikaela has been kind of chugging along with that, but you are about to see a little bit more of me on there again. So, uh, just keep an eye out.

[Mikaela] We have some exciting partnerships hopefully coming up soon that we’re, again mums the word at the moment, but like when the moment’s right! And hopefully things pan out, we will be able bring you some new stuff soon. And we are still kind of chugging along and kicking as far as like making career moves to really put us in a position to really kind of take this from grass roots growth to hopefully, like, really good trebuche launch.

[Taylor] Yeah. Well, and partnerships, we are talking products. We are talking maybe getting some people in here for interviews. Lot’s of good stuff coming up and ALSO… if, if, I don’t know if I mentioned at the very beginning, but part of our long term goal with our brick and mortar is to have a bar there. We did open up another instagram specifically, since I personally work as a bartender and now I do freelance bartending, so take a look at that too. It’s @ravenwerks.bartending, you can find it on our main instagram (@ravenwerks_guild) and there’s going to be a lot of tips and tricks, new recipes, and things like that.

[Mikaela] Yup! So, I think last notes are, do us a favor- Follow. Subscribe. And then if you have a moment and are feeling so inclined, in the comment section below, if you would do us a favor, I mean we would love to A. hear your answers to these things, because that’s part of the whole excitment with DnD, is that community and the connection. And you sometimes get some cool character ideas from people. But also, if there is a specific area of DnD, if you are looking to want to play and you aren’t sure where to start or you haven’t seen that blog post yet, if there are any particular questions that you would like answered, we love hearing those. It helps not only point us in the correct direction for future blog posts of beginner base line things that we can help you with, but also you may then get to see your question featured in a future video.

[Taylor] Yeah! Don’t be a stranger. Have a good one!

[Mikaela] Toodles!

Let’s go back to debunking the idea that bread is hard. It’s the end of February, which means everything is rainy and wet here- so I’ve been on a bit of a bread making kick. One thing I will always stay adamant about is that baking bread isn’t as hard as a lot of people now believe it is. So today I want to share a recipe for Ciabatta.

Once you understand the basic chemistry behind bread, it’s really quite easy. It’s a bit like a good relationship: If you pay attention to what you’re doing, you can’t really do it wrong. If you haven’t seen our Bread 101 post you can find it here– this will point you in the right direction for all the basics of bread.

Ciabatta is one of my favorite breads and ironically a type that a lot of people I talk to seem to think is more complicated to make. It’s not. In the recipe below I’ll give you two variations of it. One is a fresh style with no preferment if you’re short on time or not quite sure on sourdoughs (though I would strongly urge you to check out our post on sourdough, because again, it’s not as hard as it sounds). The other is a sourdough ciabatta because sourdough is king. Let’s get right to it.

Mis En Place (Get Your Shit, and Get it Together)

Fresh Dough Ciabatta

• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 240 grams of warm water (roughly 92 degrees), water should not be hot enough to hurt or it will kill your yeast.
• 300 grams All Purpose Flour, sifted
• 1 tsp of kosher salt

Sour Dough Ciabatta

• 1 Cup Active Starter
• 350 grams All Purpose Flour, sifted
• 225 g of warm water
• 1 tsp of kosher salt

Other Items Needed

• Olive Oil, As Needed
• Metal baking sheet
• Parchment Paper
• A spray bottle with water

Directions for Ciabatta

Fermenting

1. For the fresh method: combine water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit 5 minutes. For the sourdough method: add 1 cup of the flour to the starter in the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit for 5 minutes. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP FOR EITHER VARIATION.
2. Combine Flour and salt with yeast mixture and mix on low for 2-4 minutes to allow gluten to begin forming. Mixture will create a loose, VERY wet dough. Continue folding until no clumps of flour remain and wet dough is mostly smooth. (Dough is at roughly 80% hydration so don’t be alarmed that its loose- that’s intentional).

Rissing

1. Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil and transfer ciabatta dough into it. Cover with a fitted lid (or plastic wrap) and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour. Remember the warmer the room is the faster the fermentation will happen (the quicker the rise).
2. Stretch and fold. We’re going to repeat this process 3 times. It will take about an hour and a half total. For each stretch and fold, get some oil or water on your hands to prevent sticking. I prefer olive oil, but water works just fine too. Do not use canola or vegetable oil as it messes with the flavor and will give the crust a funny texture.
   • With wet or greased hands, gently stretch and fold the dough every 30ish minutes by lifting carefully from each side and pulling the dough to the middle, one side at a time.
   • By the end of your stretches and folds the dough should have roughly doubled in size.

Shaping

1. Transfer to a floured surface. Dough with be sticky, but this is what we want. Using gentle fingers, tuck the ends and sides in until you have a loosely rectangular shape, being careful to not squeeze out air cells. Use a knife or bench scraper and cut the dough into two or four equal pieces.
   • 4 will yield sandwich size loaves.
   • 2 will yield larger traiditonal loaves.
2. Repeating the beginning part of step 5, shape each portion of dough gently into a rectangle and transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Very lightly, sprinkle top of each loaf with flour and cover with a tea towel. Then set aside and let rest 30-40 minutes.

Baking

1. Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Fill a large baking dish with water and place it in the bottom of your oven (bottom rack). Close the oven and let it fill with steam while it preheats.
2. When the oven is preheated and the dough ready to go in, slide the sheet tray directly in the oven and spray with water immediately. Close oven and set a timer for twenty minutes.
3. Check for doneness (bottom of loaf will sound hollow when tapped with a knuckle).
4. Remove ciabatta from oven, transfer to a cooling rack, and let cool 90% of the way before giving in to temptation and slicing. DO NOT SKIP THE COOLING STEP. YOUR GLUTEN AND AIR CELLS NEED TO SET. I know it’s hard, but you did not spend hours baking bread to ruin it at the last moment.

Have fun! Let us know how it goes!

Happy Baking,

Mikaela

Happy Friday! With bridal season starting back up, and us working on a few events for this year, sustainable event planning has been on the forefront of our mind lately. Event hosting (especially weddings) can be a big source of waste if we’re not mindful. In many cases, things are purchased, used once, and discarded. Its never sat well with us, and that’s part of the idea behind the kind of events that RavenWerks wants to host. Today we want to share ways to help you plan a more sustainable wedding.

The Green Bride Guide states that the average wedding produces 400 lbs of garbage and 63 tons of CO2. With an estimated 2.5 million weddings per year, that is about 1 billion lbs of trash and as many emissions as approximately 4 people would produce in a year, in just one single day (link).

Consider Reusable Décor

This can mean a lot of things. You could go the route of renting, which means it doesn’t end up in a landfill, and you don’t have to store it afterwards. There are a lot of different services out there that provide linens and specialty dishware as well as other things.

If you have a very niche theme, this can seem more intimidating, but don’t let that deter you. You can do a lot if you’re creative enough. If you’re a Washington local you can also reach out to us, that’s kind of what we do. We love to help create custom events for alternative décor styles and take the stress off of you. You can learn more about that process (here).

Create Legacy Pieces

Another idea in this area is to choose décor that you can reuse in your home later. As an example, I planned on reusing all the frames we made for my wedding to display our wedding photos in our home. It worked out really well, and I now have a really unique collage full of memorabilia. We turned the silk flowers we used for part of our decor into a chandelier in our dining room. My gnomes are now in my garden, and my D&D dice are, well, my D&D dice. A more sustainable wedding doesn’t have to mean that you skip out on creating an intentional experience.

Donating Decor

You can also donate your wedding décor if it’s something that isn’t name specific. Thrift stores are always an option. But a lot of wedding planning companies also take donations to help them build their inventory of what they can offer to others. You just need to find a planner/ rental company that matches your style of décor. If you have décor that matches their style you can support a small business and keep things out of landfills. If you’d like to donate, you can reach out to us at info@ravenwerksguild.com.

Hire Sustainable vendors

Your vendors and the people helping you on wedding day are a huge factor in how much waste is produced. Talk to your vendors as you book about what their practices are like (I know, it’s one more thing to consider, but it’s worth it). Some states and areas even have vendor groups of companies that are vetted. Zola and the Knot have a filter you can use if you are using a service. If you’re a Washingtonian, check out Emerald Hour Wedding Society, they offer amazing information.

In some ways, the easiest thing you can do to plan a more sustainable wedding is hire vendors that have practices in place, as that is where the bulk of wedding waste is.

Let your Bridesmaids/ Groomsmen Thrift their Attire

This can be harder to do for groomsmen depending on your style. However, where possible I highly recommend it. Another back up is to rent it, especially if you’re going more formal. This is one of the simplest things you can do on this list.

The days of mandatory matching dresses are over. Many modern weddings opt to have bridesmaids all wear different dresses in the same color or color palette. With the way the fast fashion industry contributes to ladfills and carbon emissions, I strongly urge brides to let their bridesmaid’s thrift or buy consignment for their gowns. Being a bridesmaid can be expensive and that can be hard for friends; even if your best friend wants to help on your big day. Allowing your friends to thrift their clothing can also make things less stressful for them. It can also make for a fun wedding activity to do together.

This helps merge a more sustainable wedding with a touch of individuality. AND it ensures that each of your bridesmaids will get to wear something that they feel comfortable and good about themselves in. Very few things are worse than being forced into clothing that makes you feel exposed or bad about yourself for hours on end in front of lots of people. Especially when you KNOW pictures are going to be taken that will probably be on someones wall for all time.

Shop Consignment for Your Wedding Gown.

Don’t freak. I know that for some people and cultural groups there are superstitions around this (mine included because I had to have this conversation with my mom). But consider for a moment the environmental fallout from how many wedding dresses are thrown away every year. It’s momunmental the number of dresses that are purchased to be worn once and never put on again. There are also the millions of dresses that never get purchased, and get discarded.

Consignment is not what many people think it is. Many consignment boutiques do carry local consignment (dresses that have been worn by brides and then consigned). These dresses are vetted thoroughly for condition, style, and quality. Additionally, most consignment boutiques mostly carry over stock and discontinued sample dresses. Meaning they are typically only a year old and have never been in an actual wedding, just a show room floor.

This is not only a way for you to help keep something out of a landfill, and support a small business, but also save money planning your wedding. Most consignment bridal shops are selling 20-40% off original retail. You can always tweak your dress in alterations and then you still get the option of keeping your dress after, or consigning it back if you want to recoupe some money.

In Washington, we love Astraea Bridal in Mt Vernon (we’re biased, that’s where I bought my dress and sometimes help out at). Laura, Leslie, and Megan really know what their doing and create an amazing personalized experiences that really make you feel comfortable and safe. We’ve also heard great things about Brides for a Cause in Seattle, if you’re more in that area.

Consider your paper waste

Is all the paper necessary? Do you need a program, and place holders, and a pamphlet about the bridal party? Pare down what isn’t applicable to you. It’s always been weird to us that in a world where we understand that we use far too much paper, we still hold on to certain wasteful practices in the name of tradition. Companies like Zola and the Knot also allow you to have people RSVP online. This not only saves you from having to manually count and keep track of your answers, it also eliminates RSVP cards.

What stationery you do need, go for natural fibers and recyclable material. Or consider compostable materials and seed papers. They are still high quality, and heavier weight papers, but without as negative of an impact to the environment. Planning a sustainable wedding doesn’t have to mean that you use NO paper, just be smart about what you choose.

Transportation and Venue

A seemingly smaller thing to consider is cutting down your guest list if possible. This reduces your costs, but also the per capita waste on every single thing in your wedding. Less food, less party favors, less paper products etc.

Another thing is to have your ceremony and reception in the same place if you’re not getting married in a church or religious building. This cuts down on carbon emissions from having to shuffle everyone around (and saves you from having to organize transportation as an added bonus).

Tackle Your Registry with Intentionality

While some very established couples choose to forgo a registry altogether, being environmentally conscious and choosing to plan a more sustainable wedding, doesn’t mean you have to. There a number of things you can do to make this more eco-forward.

Look into a company like Everlastly. This company offers more traditional wedding registry items for couples that still need the more traditional things. However, they are sustainably made, transparently rated, and vetted through a process designed to promote honesty from vendors. We love them.

You should also consider what you need and what you don’t, and talk to your guests. We know that talking to people about asking for gifts is an uncomfortable topic for a lot of people, we totally get it. But it doesn’t have to be if done with authenticity.

A lot of people will just buy something from the traditional wedding gift list if they aren’t sure what to do. When putting your registry together consider things in your life that you really want or need. Many online registries will allow you to open group gifts so people can contribute to something bigger that you may need instead of a butter dish that you only pull out once when they’re over.

Consider what your goals are as a couple.

If you both decide you don’t really need anything, be transparent with your guests about that. “We don’t really need more stuff, your presence is all we need. However if you really want to contribute to the start of our next step ________blank is really important to us and we’re saving for __________.” Maybe you’re both working to pay off student loans, or purchase a home. Maybe you haven’t taken a trip in forever and you’d really love to take a special trip. Letting guests that want to give you something for your wedding, contribute to something bigger that is important to the two of you is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

Consider your Flowers

There are two different approaches to this. One is to go the Wooden flowers route then you have a unique way to keep and preserve your flowers. If you’re like me and still just want the simplicity of natural flowers, the other option is to make sure that you are picking local, in season florals. This is better for the natural grow cycle, supports local business, and cuts down on CO2 emissions as the travel for transport of imported flowers is eliminated. This in part comes back to your vendors. Have a conversation with your florist about where they get their product from and who their suppliers are.

If you go the second route, then they are either compostable, organic material, which goes right back to mother earth or you can have them dried or preserved if you’re more of a memorabilia person.

Dinner Ware

Depending on your style, this might have a bit of overlap with “vendors”, however, it bears mentioning.

If you are having a more formal get together, consider renting dishes or see if your venue will provide them. We’ve seen a few people do the thrifted unique dishes as well which is really quirky depending on your theme, and what your plan for them afterwards is.

If you’re having an outside wedding, or something a bit more laid back (but still nice and put together), opt for compostable dishes over regular disposable paper or plastic. Many paper plates aren’t compostable or recyclable because of the coating on them. Plastic ware finds itself in the same boat. Compostables have come a long way and there are a number of different styles and types available that range from uber casual to natural or more polished looking. You can even buy them on amazon if you aren’t sure where to start.

Consider your Wedding Favors

Many couples are choosing to forgo this part of a wedding altogether, and we’re totally here for simplifying and minimizing the consumer behemoth that has become commercialized weddings.

However, my inner Hobbit’s need for elevated hospitality completely understands the decision to cut a different part of the wedding in favor thanking my guests. At the same time, it’s silly to waste your money on something that honestly nobody needs, will cost you money, and end up in a landfill (we’re talking to you overpriced bride and groom wineglass. We don’t really need dinnerware with someone else’s name on it).

There are some really unique and environmentally friendly ways to express gratitude to your guests for coming. Put your heads together for something inexpensive that is reflective of you, and the authenticity will make it mean more to your guests as well. If it’s handmade or edible- even better.

A Few Favorites We’ve Seen

• Miniature loose leaf local teas with honey sticks
• Reuseable aromatherapy heat packs
• Little wooden Ornaments
• Custom Cookies
• Hand rolled candles.
• A print of the bride and grooms favorite picture with each of the guests (these we’re printed at Walgreens with a little note. We’ve also seen a variation of this done as a cool thank you note- the bride and groom’s favorite picture from their wedding with each guest for their thank you cards).
• Chocolate truffles
• Homemade preserves
• Tiny soaps
• Little succulents
• Sample jars of honey
• Sample bags of coffee
• Homemade bird seed ornaments
• Little air plants
• Pet rocks (this sounds bizarre but it was weirdly adorable and people were tickled)
• Evergreen seedlings

Rethink Your Send Off

If you’re doing a formal send off or goodbye, there are a couple versions we wish people would skip for various reasons. Please don’t use rice. Despite being biodegradable, birds eat it and it’s really terrible for them, it can even kill them. Skip the glitter and plastic confetti. Quite frankly, glitter is an abomination and people shouldn’t use it for anything. A quick google search will reveal the tip of the iceberg where the hazards of microplastics are concerned, but the far reaching consequences of them goes even deeper.

Try opting instead for dried flowers like lavender, or jasmine. Paper confetti is also an option if you get a compostable or non-acidic type. We’ve seen bird seed used and we also knew a couple that had a wedding in the fall and hole punched dried leaves for confetti, which was really unique.

In Our Opinion

Weddings should be intentional, personal, and unique. While yes, you are hosting an event you are also celebrating a major life-decision, step, and life long commitment. You are celebrating your relationship with your best friend and partner. There are so many possibilities and ways to make things unique even on a budget. As passionate about that as we are, we truly don’t believe that doing that requires us to sacrifice on our ethics, or the environment.

These are our favorite ways to incorporate sustainability into planning a beautiful wedding (that will hopefully take some of the strain off your pocketbook as well). This list is by no means comprehensive, and we’d love to hear your ideas as well. You never know who else you could help (and of course the planet). We’re constantly striving to improve our services and the way we do business. Collaboration and education is a big part of that.  Let us know if there is something else people can do to lessen the environmental impact that hosting a wedding can have.

All the best, Always,

Mikaela

A bigger lie was never told to the American population than how they should and shouldn’t eat. Yes, I know- this is coming from someone who claims to love food science. And I do. It is precisely that reason that the American Food Chain System frustrates me so much. Today I want to talk about having a healthier food lifestyle.

There is so much misinformation out there about what ingredients are good, which are bad, what will help you shed weight quickly, what will balance your gut bacteria, etc. that its easy to get lost in the ‘data’ if you’re not paying attention and you’re not an informed consumer.

This misinformation changes so constantly that it shouldn’t be surprising how many people have little to no idea what they’re putting in their bodies. It is politisized, capitalized, and propaganda’ed to death. Which leads to swaths of people with eating disorders, malnutrition problems, and a great many other issues. Today we’re going to cut through all the red tape. This is a political, propaganda free space. Below is a list of 7 things that I use as pillars in my dietary choices to have a healthier food lifestyle.

Disclaimer

This is one of those topics that I can end up on a soap box about and by the end of the soap box people are reminding me to breathe when I talk. You’ve heard me talk a bit about this in our post on Kitchen Sustainability and Nutritional Paradigms and I’m excited to dive deeper. I get passionate about a number of food topics and this one is right up there with people cutting any form of filled doughnut in half. I could spend hours, days and even weeks talking about all the different levels and complexities of the American food system. In fact, I plan too. That’s kind of the whole point. But today, at least, I wanted to give you a brief overview of my overall stance on food, so that as we build on topics, you know where I’m coming from.

You don’t have to agree with me, in fact, I’m hoping some of you won’t because I love discussions. Much of what I currently believe has come from discussions with other people in conjunction with my own experiences and learning- my views are much different than they were when I was younger. All I ask, is that you come in with an open mind. Afterall, these are my opinions and experiences, and I’m sure my experiences will differ somewhat from yours.

I’m Not a Doctor- What I am sharing is My Opinion Based on My Experience and Education

The easiest thing to do is tell you what I believe, and why. From there we can build on and discuss different areas in depth in the coming months. As I have said previously, I am not a doctor– and for any topic specific, truly in-depth medical advice, I would urge you to talk to a doctor and nutritionist/ dietician (I did). But I believe we are smarter as a community when there is collaboration and I see no harm in sharing baselines and guidelines.

At my core, my food beliefs are simple and few, and I will try to pass it on that way as I think most things in life are easiest to adopt when kept simple. I think most people would have a better overall quality of life if they had a healthier food lifestyle. And we’re all about quality of life here.

A Healthier Food Lifestyle Means Everything in moderation

This applies to all my other opinions/ beliefs on this list as well. Heck, it’s solid life advice. Even when you make a less than perfect choice, its not a huge deal if you do not overindulge. It removes much of the pressure, and I never want someone to feel pressure or stress when eating. Also, you can have too much of even the ‘healthy’ things, which makes them not so healthy. In everything- moderation is key. So many times its not a matter of good food vs bad food but too much or too little. A healthier food lifestyle is about balance!

There Are No Bad Foods In A Healthier Food Lifestyle

This is a more complex concept and people tend to balk at this. There are things that are less healthy, there are things you should reach for first. There are things I try to minimize in my life or avoid 99% of the time. A healthier food lifestyle cannot exist in an environment where we are vilifying foods and food parts.

Food is fuel. Carbs are not bad. Fat is not bad. Chocolate is not bad. Gluten is not bad. Sugar is not bad. Things in EXCESS are bad. Is there a right way to eat carbs/gluten/sugar/fat etc.? You betcha. Are there specific individuals who due to allergies/medical conditions/ etc. need to avoid certain things? Yes, myself included. But that does not rule those categories out for everyone. Blanket bans on foods are a red flag for me. When we get into marketing, food psychology, and fad diets- you’ll see what I mean.

Erase the Word Diet From Your Vocabulary

Diets suck. I do not believe in diets. The phrase ‘I’m on a diet’ or ‘I’m watching my diet’ implies temporary. It implies restriction. It usually comes with a groan, an eyeroll, or a wave of sadness over pastries left un-eaten. “Diet” is a noun, not a verb. The second you tell yourself you ‘can’t have’ something- you want it three times more.

People quit diets; and the second you stop your ‘diet’ things go back to the way they were- weight, sleep, energy levels, brain function, sex drive, etc. I don’t do diets. I believe in lifestyles, intentionality, and eating things I love. Having a healthier food lifestyle starts with consistency. And consistency requires it to be something sustainable.

There are No Shortcuts to A Healthier Food Lifestyle

This is a hill I will die on. No matter how many times I get my hopes up, time has taught me- if you want it sustainable, healthy, balanced, and attainable- there are no shortcuts. There is no magic food to make you drop pounds quickly. Quick fixes don’t exist. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and you should run for the hills. It took time to make you the way you are today and it will take time to make you into anything else, whatever that may be.

No Two People’s Diets Are the Same, Nor Should They Be

No two people are the same, so why do we have a one size fits all approach to food historically? This is where I say- talk to an expert. Learn what’s right for YOU. And WHY those choices are right for you. When you know WHY you’re doing what you’re doing- it’s a lot easier to do. I personally also believe this would eliminate 60% of fad diet crazes.

Ever heard “My cousin _______ has been doing keto and she lost like 50 pounds, maybe you should try that.” Or my personal favorite “you really should go gluten free, it would help with ______” 2000 years of mankind eating bread as a staple of our diet and all of a sudden EVERYBODY thinks gluten is satan’s favorite food. The gluten isn’t the problem, but we’ll get to that. Are some people gluten intolerant? Absolutely, but not everybody is. See where I’m going with this? A Healthier food lifestyle requires acknowledging your body as a unique individual, learning what those uniques individual needs are, and listening to them.

Whole Foods

Taking into consideration “everything in moderation” and “There are no bad foods”, I still reach for whole foods as often as I can because those are the best options for me. This is the difference between Food and Edible Food Products. Bell pepper= food. Oreos= Edible Food Product. I still pick up Oreo’s from time to time, but I try to go 90/10 in favor of foods that are exactly the way nature made them. Whole grain vs white bread, macaroni from scratch vs the kraft box.

My rule of thumb is: If I can’t say it- don’t eat it. If I don’t know what it is- don’t eat it. It’s not as hard as it sounds. I would rather you take pleasure from time to time in a homemade cheesecake or the extra queso you made from scratch to go with your burrito bowl than eat the box of hamburger helper or the prepackaged ‘dietary’ TV dinner (yes, I mean even the ‘healthy’ ones.).

So many people think they already have a healthier food lifestyle because they’re picking up the SmartOne instead of the Kraft Mac n Cheese. But the truth is- if you read the ingredients tab, they’re still loaded with things that aren’t meant to be in your body; they’re just low calorie or carb balanced (we’ll get to food marketing later because that’s a whole different animal).

Remember to Not Food Shame

Edible food products aren’t evil and can be enjoyed, I’m a terrible sucker for Girl Scout Cookies, They are in season and I have a couple boxes of Thin Mints in the freezer and several boxes of Samoa’s, Do-si-Do’s and Tagalongs hidden in the closet where my husband can’t get to them and eat them first. The point is everything in Moderation!

Meat is Not Bad

Yes, I know that this kiiiiind of fits in with “no food is bad”. And Yes, I know I just lost some of you. BUT it’s a big enough food schism that I think it warrants its own bullet point. I’d also like to remind you that I asked for open mindedness and that these are MY beliefs. They don’t have to be yours. If you are vegetarian or vegan- I do hope you keep reading. Not only because there are still other things in this section of our blog that are of value and will still be relevant to you but also because I think these kinds of discussions are important to working on that visceral schism.

I do not have a problem inherently with vegetarianism or veganism- though again, I believe there is a right and a wrong way to do both. However, I’m never going to be offended or bothered if someone chooses to not eat meat. If eating animals or animal bi-products bothers you emotionally or morally, I can accept and respect that so long as you afford me the same courtesy.

So here’s my stance on meat vs no meat in a healthier lifestyle:

Scientifically, we as humankind are omnivores. That means you are biologically designed to eat meat AND plants. It’s why you have front sharp teeth for the tearing of meat and flat back molars for grinding and chewing plant matter. Kind of like bears or wolves. That’s why you have one stomach and the intestinal structure you do instead of a crop like a bird or 4 stomachs like a ruminate. Plant protein is physically different than animal protein, and you are genetically designed to need BOTH. I personally do not believe in arguing with the natural order of things, mother nature knows best. I also happen to like how most meat tastes.

However, I’m picky about the meat I eat. Having a healthier food lifestyle means being a responsible consumer. I’m picky about where it comes from, how the animal is raised, its quality of life while alive. I’m picky about giving thanks, and making sure to call a spade a spade. If you’re going to eat pork, acknowledge it was a pig.

Additionally, I believe in moderating meat consumption- If China alone ate the amount of meat that the U.S. does- we would need 2.5 planets just to grow the amount of corn needed to feed the cows (see also, I don’t think cows should be fed corn products in feed lots, I only buy grass fed) that’s insane. We do not need nearly as much meat as modern society has trained you to consume. The rest of the world does not consume meat at nearly the same rate that we do.

In Conclusion for My Love of Food and a Healthier Food Lifestyle

Obviously, I’m very opinionated when it comes to food. I tried to pare down my biggest beliefs in their most generic and simple ways, knowing that we have all the time in the world to peel back layers and explore specific topics. I’m very excited to get to share nutritional tidbits, debunk theories, share recipes, discuss, dive deep, and learn more with you.

If you have a passion for food like I do- I would offer one parting piece of advice. Check out the Master Class by Michael Pollan. He presents a very straight forward and impartial view of several food topics and really stretched my critical thinking muscles and challenged some of my thoughts in a fresh and respectful way. He also articulates much better than I can and said something in that class that basically covers it all in the simplest of terms better than I ever could. I’ve been keeping it in my pocket as my easy to remember sentence for talking to people but also to help me make decisions about my food throughout the day: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.

All the best, Always.

Mikaela

Today we’re going to combine two of my favorite things: Crafting and Herbology. In light of the Imbolc Holiday I thought it would be a good time to teach you how to make Sleep Sachets. The beauty of this project is that it’s something you can easily do in the comfort of your own home. There is something therapeutic and old-worldy about working with herbs. It’s calming and I find it helps clear my mind.

Herbology

Herbology and Kitchen Witchery are one of the oldest forms of science in the world. Cultures and nations from all regions have their own herbal remedies and beliefs. Frequently lumped in with “Grandma’s Kitchen wisdom”; they are cures and concoctions that are frequently undervalued.

While modern science may have evolved past herbology in many cases, there is still much that can be done with well-placed plants. Many common ailments and issues find simple clean solutions in the kitchen that can keep you out of a doctor’s office and feeling your best. And they are easy. I promise you- it’s not complicated. Don’t let anybody make you think it’s rocket science, because its not. As you get farther into your study of plants you will discover that not only are there lots of things you can do with plants, but there are also lots of things you can say with plants.

Getting into herbology was one of the easiest things I have ever done. I was already constantly in the kitchen and loved the ‘slow food’ & ‘clean cooking’ concepts. Then I went through this period of finding out as much as I could about specific diets for certain conditions and illnesses after I got diagnosed with lupus. Educating people about their food is a strong passion of mine. Combine that with a sister that has the BIGGEST green thumb in the world- and it just seemed like a natural conclusion. But I digress…

Sleep Sachets for Dream Weaving

Some people will tell you that there is no credence behind dreams and their meanings. However, I have had just a few too many personal experiences with dream journeys to not listen when the universe is trying to tell me something.

Come on, we’ve all had those dreams where we woke up feeling like we witnessed something. Like something was trying to show you a path or point you in the right direction and you wake up going ‘huh?’ and reaching for your dream interpretation book. Then again, some dreams need no translation because you wake up saying ‘message received, loud and clear’. I’ve even had periods in my life where I dreamed in consecutive episodes and each night I got a little further into the story. I know Taylor has had similar experiences. It will be exciting in the future to get into dream interpretation with you all, but that is a project for a different day.

History of Sleep Sachets

Sleep Sachets have been common in some cultures and beliefs since the 16^th century. they were used widely throughout Europe for a variety of purposes. The aromas and energies of certain plants can help induce and maintain deep sleep, lucid dreaming, and even help relax the mind. If you’re one of those people that struggles to let go of the day’s tension to even drift off- then this is for you.

Sleep sachets are a good stepping stone because they can be both generic, and then easily built upon to personalize their influence once you know the basics.  The practice is simple: Create your sachet and then sleep with it under your pillow or in your pillowcase. You can always buy sleep sachets online from places like Etsy. However, sleep is a personal experience and as such; is one of those things that I prefer to make myself. To me, setting the intentions is the most important part.

Most of the common ingredients are things that most people keep stocked in their spice cupboard. If not, many are readily available online. If you like the personal touch like me or knowing where the plants came from- there are a few of my favorite herb shops listed below as well. This is by no means a comprehensive list- especially since in a lot of ways, Dream work, and herbology is open to some level of interpretation.

Herbals for Sleep Sachets:

Lavender:

Probably the queen of all sleep herbs, definitely the most soothing in most kitchen witch gardens. It may seem stereotypical since its modern resurgence, but there is both cultural truth and scientific truth to that. Lavender can calm anxiety, invite deep restful sleep, and ease tension and headaches. Lavender has been a cultural go-to since the Middle Ages. It’s also a great cooking herb and I frequently use it in my incense, so I always have some handy. If you are looking for sleep, Lavender is your friend.

Chamomile:

Chamomile has many medicinal properties when consumed as a tea or infusion. However, the energies and aromas are also attributed to cleansing of negative energy, purifying and calming. They have a slightly sweet apple like scent and are a great building block for sleep sachets.

Rosemary:

With a wide array of medicinal uses, and culinary uses- there is always Rosemary in my kitchen. Rosemary is used to amplify all kinds of magic as well as promote memory and protection. You can add Rosemary to amplify what you already have, but more importantly to protect you from bad dreams, and help you remember your dreams if that is something you struggle with. A member of the mint family, Rosemary is a fragrant perennial and is easy to find anywhere.

Eucalyptus:

Another plant that has its fair share of medicinal purposes, which is what makes it a staple in so many homeopathic kitchens. Eucalyptus is also known for its strong refreshing scent. A little goes a long way, but Eucalyptus has been known to stimulate the immune system, provide clarity in dreams and help induce creativity- if you are looking to add a bit of vibrancy to your resting hours.

Mug Wort:

Is one of my absolute favorite herbs. It is versatile and easy to grow should you choose to do so. Some unknowing people even consider it a weed. Since Mugwort is used in a variety of cuisines around the world it is fairly easy to find in most Natural food stores. She does contain a chemical called thujone that can induce a sense of being “high” in large quantities, as such- some people consider Mugwort to be dangerous. Mugwort aides in providing a restful nights sleep when drank as a tea or tincture, but used in a sleep sachet can also invite lucid dreaming. If you are trying to work through a particularly difficult dream sequence, using Mugwort for lucid dreaming is an excellent way to be able to affect different choices you may need to work through.

Rose Petals:

Most people associate roses with love magic, and there is something to be said for that. However different parts of the Rose flower have a myriad of uses. Roses also invoke creativity, and are again a subtle way to invite creativity into your dreams. My sister learned how to grow beautiful roses of all colors and types from my Uncle Alois when he was still alive so I usually have easy access to different colors of rose petals for different purposes. (you can also just buy rose petals at the floral section of any grocery store or buy them dried either online or from a local shop).

Herbal Shops:

I have a few herbal shops I am familiar with and really like, some of which ship nationwide if you are not sure where to start:

Happy Health High Horny Herbs:

Don’t giggle at the name, just trust me. This store is in Tempe, AZ but also ships nationwide. Their main website is Plant Pleasures (rbbotanicals.com) but you can also find them on a brief google search or on Instagram. I like their web format because you can sort different plants, resins, etc. by what you are trying to do and I think that is a great feature for beginners if you are just learning what does what.

Tenzing Momo:

For my Seattlites- this shop is a local favorite. Located in Pike’s Place they sell a lot more than just bulk herbs. I’ve never had a bad interaction there, the people are great, and it smells amazing. Not only that, but if you are looking for some instructional material (on everything from herbs to mushrooms, and a range of spirituality books), this is the place for you. These guys also ship; however if you are in the area- I highly suggest you go in person. Tenzing Momo | Tenzingmomo.com

Moddejonge’s herbals:

This woman does not ship that I know of, but I highly recommend if you are local to the Seattle area. This private shop does have limited hours (Tuesday- Saturday 12P- 5P) but I not only love the shop but the owner. She is educational, and very kind. You can find her on Facebook @ Moddejonge’s Herbals.

Reminder:

The important thing about making sleep sachets is to set your intentions as you make them. The plants themselves have set properties, yes. But never underestimate the power of energies and intentions. Magic is, in and of itself, the art of manifestation. Sleep sachets can be made from anything: Cheesecloth tied with twine or ribbon, I have a collection of small drawstring bags I have either found or were packaging for gifts, if you are really dedicated to the experience I also know a friend who sewed/ crocheted her own bag and then embroidered it to further set her intentions (plus it was fun). The possibilities are endless.

Hopefully, this helped give you some ideas, or sends you in the right direction. Please feel free to chime in, share your thoughts, or share your projects. If you’re a skagit local, you can come find us at the Mirkwood Magical Bazaar as we’re adding a new set of sleep sachett for begginers to our wares.

All the best, Always,

Mikaela

It’s baking day, and in light of the upcoming festival of Brigid I thought I would share my favorite recipe for Pulla. Traditionally a Finnish sweet bread, there are tons of variations on texture and spice blend. This one happens to be my grandmother’s. Technically, you can prep Pulla into any shape, but I was taught by braiding and I’ve always kind of stuck to that. Since Brigid is frequently associated with Braids and crosses, I somehow always associate the two.

This particular loaf is delicious with coffee, or a bit of honey or butter; not that that is particular shocking since it is traditionally eaten with coffee. It is soft and chewy with an aromatic blend of spices that will always warm my heart.

The Not So Secret of Making Pulla

In my humble opinion, what really makes your pulla next level is the quality/ type of your spices. In this case- spring for green cardamom, especially if you can get whole pods. Black cardamom will work- but green is in its own class. It take only the work of minutes to grind fresh pods into the most amazing flavor you’ve ever tasted. Bread takes hours too make correctly anyways- its worth the 3 minutes with a mortar and pestle/ molcajete. Some grocery stores now sell pods, additionally I know world market sells it and you can also get it online and from some smaller specialty stores.

But enough chat. On to the bread!

Mis en Place (Get Your Shit and Get it Together):

• 2 cups milk
• 1 Tbsp Yeast
• ¾ Cups granulated sugar
• ¼ Cup water
• 2 whole eggs, beaten lightly
• 1 Tbsp cardamom, ground
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 7-7 ½ Cups All Purpose flour or bread flour
• ½ Cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten separately for egg wash
• Baking sheet or stone wear (I am partial to stone wear as it leads to better crust).

Pulla Prodecure:

1. Begin by Scalding your milk in a small, heavy bottomed saucepan. You can scald milk in any saucepan- but its easier if its double bottomed as there is less chance of burning. You want small bubbles to be forming around the edge of the pan but not boiling. It will sometimes develop a small film on top- this is okay. Remove milk from heat. Add half of your cardamom to the milk and let it steep as it cools (this step is not necessary but definitely helps increase the flavor). Milk will need to cool to just above room temperature. Warm is okay- but hot will kill your yeast.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle (or a large bowl if you plan on mixing by hand) combine yeast with 1 tsp of the sugar. Add the warm water and let sit 5 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom. DO NOT RUSH THIS STEP.
3. Add milk, remaining sugar, remaining cardamom, eggs, and salt.
4. Begin adding flour, one cup at a time until you reach 5 cups. Let mix 1-2 minutes until mostly smooth. It is important that the dough have a few minutes to mix and develop gluten strands before you proceed to the next step, butter impedes the formation of gluten so if you add the butter to soon you will end up with tough, dense bread.
5. With the mixer still mixing, slowly pour in melted butter and continue to mix until dough is smooth and shiny. Once butter is completely absorbed, add the remaining flour ½ cup at a time until smooth again.
6. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel. Let sit in a warm, humid place until doubled in size (roughly 45 minutes).
7. Gently deflate and empty out onto a lightly floured surface. Break dough into 3 equal chunks.
8. Working with one third at a time, split each third into either halves or thirds again and braid in a 3 or 4 strand braid (2 chunk= 4 strand braid; 3 chunks= traditional braid).
9. Gently move braided loves to baking pans and let rise again 20 minutes.
10. Brush with egg wash.
11. Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool Fully before eating. Do not skip the cooling step. I know that it can be tempting to cut into a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven, and you CAN eat it still warm, but it needs to be 90% cool. This is where gluten cells solidify, air cells set, and most of your crust development occurs. Cutting bread early can leave you with collapsed, structureless, and gummy bread.

Feel Free to play with spice blends and amounts. Some people will top their Pulla with sliced almonds or include raisins or dried berries. If you’re looking for more bread tips and tricks, check out the rest of our bread 101 series here!

Have fun and go make a mess!

All the best, Always,

Mikaela

Happy Imbolc! We have made it through the darkest of the days and are moving slowly towards spring. Though it is not Imbolc yet, I thought it would be a good time to teach about this holiday for those of you that want to learn or prepare.

History of Imbolc

The celebration of Imbolc dates to the pre-Christian era in the British Isles. Based on a Celtic tradition, Imbolc was meant to mark the halfway point between winter solstice and the spring equinox in Neolithic Ireland and Scotland. It represents the return of the light, rebirth, and is often celebrated with cleansing fire. Imbolc is also the festival of Brigid; goddess of fertility, poetry, crafts and prophecy. Brigid was considered one of the most powerful Celtic gods, the daughter of The Dagda, the oldest god in the Celtic pantheon Tuatha du Danann.

Prior to Christianity, Imbolc was celebrated from the evening prior to February first to sunrise on February 2^nd. Through the rise of Christianity, Brigid was adopted as St. Brigid- one of three Irish Patron Saints. Brigid (or Bridget) is the patron saint of nuns, newborns, midwives, dairy maids and cattle. As such, there is also a large amount of overlap between the pagan holiday Imbolc and the Christian holiday of Candlemas- also traditionally celebrated on the 1^st of February celebrating purification and the return of the light.

Celebrating Imbolc

This is time to refresh and prepare for spring. It is time to celebrate the turning of the wheel and the return of the light. Celebrating Imbolc is easier than you think, and your intentions are everything. Here are a few ideas to help you connect with the spirit of Brigid this year:

Light a fire/ hold a bonfire:

You can either do this at home, quietly and alone if you prefer to reflect (a fireplace will do). Or if you have a fire pit, it is also the perfect time to invite friends over, host a bonfire and welcome in the new season together. Allow time to dream with your friends and discuss with those who are important to you what you are excited about in this coming season and what you wish to accomplish this year.

Refresh your alter:

Focus on candles in red and white. Leave offerings of myrrh, cinnamon, and basil; or rosemary and lavender. Garnet and Amethyst are also traditional stone for an imbolc alter. Weave a brigid cross and leave it on your altar.

Spring clean your home:

Nesting time is over. Now is a great time to declutter, dust, and cleanse your space. This doesn’t just include jeejaws and unused clothing, but also the energies in your space. Take some time to deep clean your home, and your mind at the same time (I really like to reflect while I clean- I find it therapeutic). Donate the items you are getting rid of if you can to give them new life as well.

Make Dream Sachets:

We are going to teach more about these very shortly so check back this upcoming week! Dream Sachets in a nutshell are little packets or pillows of herbs, florals, and spices that you keep under your pillows to not only help you relax, but also induce sleep and inspire different types of dreams.

Start planning your spring planting.

Take a look at what will grow in your area at different times, what conditions those plants need, where in your yard to place them, and what you would like to be able to produce this year, though it is too early to plant.

Prepare your imbolc meal:

Remember, Imbolc was a feast day. You can cook for yourself but especially if you are having guests over, host a potlock- share in the remains of your winter harvest. Traditional imbolc foods include bread, seed cakes, root vegetables, soups, & dairy; Hearty foods meant to see you through the end of your winter weeks. However, the meal matters less than the intentions behind it when you are gathering with friends. Keep an eye out for the Imbolc Recipes I will share this weekend!

Take a cleansing bath:

Imbolc is a celebration of purification. Take some time to relax, soak, reenergize. I don’t just say this because I’m a sucker for bath bombs. You would be amazed at what some quality ‘you time’ can do for your outlook on life. Remember: you can’t pour from an empty cup. If you haven’t seen our post on a floral milk bath ritual- check it out here.

Reminder:

However you choose to celebrate, focus on your intentions moving forward into this new season. Remember that now is not necessarily the time to grow, but to prepare for growth. Renew yourself, set your intentions, and set yourself up to make the most of the growing season before you.

All the best, Always,

Mikaela

Sustainability is one of those topics that seems to perpetually be at the forefront of the news. And it should be. Given the trajectory of the world and our modern disposable habits; we have some very real, very alarming problems on our hands. It is easy to get discouraged. There is so much information out in the world, and it seems to be changing every day regarding what is good and what is bad. In a lot of ways, it seems like sustainability is out of reach, or that many of the things that could make a huge impact in the world are beyond ‘the little guy’; the people like you and I want to help but are just one person.  

So today, we are going to dial it in, and bring it a bit closer to home. There are massive, large-scale legislative, societal, and corporate changes that need to be made, BUT there are a number of physically actionable things that any one person can do every single day around the house to make an impact. Some of them might surprise you if you were raised like we were. Technology has changed since we were kids, and with new information comes new decisions.  

We could give you a list of hundreds of things you could do around the house to be more sustainable; some more achievable than others. Instead, we will boil it down to 5 main categories:

1. Use fewer finite resources.
2. Think reusable instead of disposable.
3. Purchase with a conscience.
4. Work with your surroundings.
5. Use your community.

Most of what you commonly see in lists of how to be sustainable can be associated with these categories, so in our household, we try to remember them and constantly ask ourselves if our actions fit within them.

Use Fewer Finite Resources.

When we talk about using fewer finite resources, we are talking about water, electricity, gas, petroleum, (tree) paper products, etc. This is a fantastic place to start because, not only is it low cost…  you will save money. Usually because these resources can run out, you have to pay more and more to use them. And any adult can tell you that utilities are EXPENSIVE now-a-days. A couple ideas to consider are:

• Carpool or walk when you can to save using gas.
• Consider keeping your thermostat range at an ambient temperature closer to the real temperature.
• In older buildings, check weather stripping and window/door seals. It will make it easier to maintain your internal temp for cheaper, save electricity, AND there are even fixes available on the market for rentals.
• Swap to LED lights and turn lights off when you leave a room. Electricity adds up and some lights actually put off heat.
• Wash clothing in the cold setting and then line dry them when possible.
• RUN THAT DISHWASHER! Remember that not all convenient appliances are unsustainable. As technology has continued to progress and sustainability movements have increased, many kitchen appliances can be more sustainable than people! Newer models of dishwashers, for example, use less water than the average hand washer.

Think Reusable Instead of Disposable.

So, this can mean a couple of things. It can be switching out consumables to reusable items that do not need to be replaced and repurchased as often such as:

• Switching disposable, synthetic sponges that accumulate germs to reuseable dish cloths that can be washed. Alternatively, you can use all natural sponges or loofah’s grown from squash that can be composted.
• Use reuseable bags at the store instead of plastic bags.  It cuts down on waste, looks cuter, and they are less likely to rip.
• Reduce kitchen plastics and single use packaging by using glass storage instead of plastic Tupperware’s, reusable snack bags instead of Ziplocs, and waxed fabric covers instead of saran wrap.

To some extent, everything will get worn out eventually so sometimes avoiding the disposable can also mean just investing in a higher quality item that will have more longevity. A good place to invest for this would be in your electrical products.

• You should try to keep your keep electrical products for at least 7 years (Read more here) and starting off with a better quality item will reduce how often it needs to be replaced.
• Another item to try extending the life on is your vehicle. Considering going electric is great to decrease gas use, but what many don’t consider is that constantly getting new vehicles creates additional, hard to dispose of waste.

You can also include recycling or upcycling in this category. Try to avoid throwing something in the trash as much as possible.

• Learn to recycle CORRECTLY. By this I mean, actually look at what recycling is available in your area. Some towns have different capabilities such as different items they are equipped to recycle or different sorting needs. Additionally, you need to make sure that ONLY recyclables go in that bin… not your leftovers that were still in the recyclable to-go container.
• Consider donating, selling, or altering old clothing instead of trashing it. And as an extension, shop vintage and thrift when possible. You will find the coolest fits for very reasonable costs.
• Switch to all natural cleaning products as this means less harmful waste in the dumps.
• Shop zero waste toiletries (like toothpaste tabs) to cut down on even more trash.
• Stop using plastic toothbrushes when there are completely biodegradable alternatives.  

Purchase With a Conscience.

There is a bit of overlap between this category and the last. Yes, this can mean in the broadest sense, thinking about buying something (like a vehicle) and thinking about the longevity of it or the long-term consequences of its construction. What we really mean though is think about the who, what, where, and how of your product. Is your food from a sustainable, local farmer or was it grown mono-crop style and then X amount of gas used to transport it across the country to you? If it is sea food, how is it harvested? Is the farm known for using anything particularly harmful or, and I hate to bring politics into this, do they support some movement or practice you really think shouldn’t be allowed? Every purchase is a vote; for who you wish to succeed, what legislations has backing, what becomes mainstream, etc. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Buy your produce from permaculture farms and farmers markets, whenever possible. It will be fresher, local produce so your food will taste better, less gas will be used in transport, and you are supporting your local economy instead of some far away big wig.
• Switch to seasonal produce. Out of season produce needs additional resources in an artificial setting to produce… produce. *Ba-Dum-Tss*  It is more expensive because they need to waste additional resources to create it. Save money and resources by avoiding off season avocados.
• Pay attention to where your beef comes from. This is accurate of any meat or produce but let’s use beef as an example. Avoid huge feed lots. They are very harmful to the flora, fauna, waterways, etc, produce huge amounts of methane gas, and often contaminate the surrounding areas.

Work With Your Surroundings.

What we mean by working with your surroundings is to try to give back to it. Up until now, our categories have been about how to minimize how we damage the ecosystem… take less, pollute less, waste less, etc. Now I want you to think about how you can contribute positives. Things like:

• Composting! We have talked about this a bit in the past, but composting can even be done in apartment settings. It decreases what is going in your trash, effectively contributes much needed nutrients back into the soil and depending on your process can actually save you money on things like fertilizers or chicken feed if you choose to feed them scraps.  
• Using a rain barrel for your gardening will help you not use processed water in your yard and cuts down on your water bill. A lot of rainwater is wasted and ends up in drains when it can’t get through roads, sidewalks, buildings etc. Instead, saving it and using it to water plants or your yard means it will end up back in your local aquifer as well.
• Skipping the pesticides and instead looking for more natural alternatives, like companion planting, will allow beneficial local insects like bees, etc. to flourish.
• Planting a native sanctuary garden or zero-scaping allows you to support local wildlife, cut down on supplemental watering, prevents the spread of invasive/ nonnative species, and can still look fantastic/be aesthetically pleasing.

Use Your Community.

Find your community and use them. We do not mean pull a “Mean Girls” and manipulate them. What we do mean is that you should find a community and utilize the tools that they offer. People who maximize their sustainability do it because they care about making a positive difference. They WANT to share that passion and help others do the same. Finding sustainable options and making good decisions can sometimes be tough. The good news is that there are communities of people passionate about sustainability who are trying to make it a more accessible option. They aren’t trying to milk it for money. Instead, they just want to educate and change the world. Think about:

• Looking into food waste boxes like Misfits Market and Imperfect Foods… they sell boxes of discounted produce that isn’t pretty enough to sell in the grocery stores. It is totally perfect and would otherwise be wasted because it doesn’t meet a visual standard. This also helps you try new seasonal produce as well.
• Joining a co-op or collaborative like Grove… this is a great way to find products that align with your morals. Grove for example is a subscription for affordable, natural, sustainable home and self-care products. In many cases, their alternatives as cheaper than what we can find at the grocery store and they have a huge variety of products from natural sponges to bamboo paper products (good quality toilet paper and paper towels), to individual toothpaste tablets.

That is a very simplified version of things but hopefully it will help jumpstart your brain and give you some points to think about when trying to live more sustainably. And remember that this doesn’t need to be a large overhaul of your life all at once. Just remember the 5 areas we discussed when you make your next decision. When you are choosing between products or actions, just make one choice different at first and you will find that the rest just gradually follows.

Catch you later!

RavenWerks Guild

Hello Adventurer! Nice to see you back in the Guild Hall! Are you ready for our next lesson? Now that we’ve talked about world building, and we’ve discussed the benefits of D&D, as well as gone over some of our favorite beginners’ tools– it’s time to talk characters. Specifically: How to build a playable D&D Character.

Anybody can slap together a race, class, and some basic stats and run with it. But that’s not the same thing as creating a playable D&D character with depth that is believable and fun for you to interact with. We’re talking about the kind of character that your DM falls in love with and therefore can’t kill. Well, they can still kill them, it’ll just be a lot harder for them to bring themselves to do it.

Resources that will help you Build a Playable D&D Character:

D&D players handbook: we talked about this in a previous post. You can read more about it here.

Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide: also on that list of resources for beginners’, this is where this book is really going to be your best friend.

You and your brain.

Building a Playable D&D Character

I won’t walk you through every single step in detail because you don’t need me for that. We’re talking Nitty Gritty 4 Dimensional Characters here, Backstory, personality, believability, the whole shebang. I’ll still cover the basics, because there are some things to consider. But for an in-depth look at the races, classes etc. you will want to refer to your D&D players handbook, or your DM if it’s a homebrew campaign and you maybe have some more race options you’d like to explore.

Select your Race:

This will be the foundation of your stats and your skill set. Refer to your D&D handbook. If you are selecting a home brew race you will need to work with your DM to reference believable/ reasonable stats/ race advantages etc.

Select your Class:

if you are playing 5E your base options are barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, warlock, wizard, blood hunter. Refer to your D&D handbook for a breakdown of each.

Choose your alignment:

this is the beginning of believability in a playable D&D Character. Some races are inclined towards certain alignments (ie dwarves: lawful good, Tiefling: Chaotic neutral) that being said you still have flexibility SO LONG AS it can be explained or rationalized by your backstory. Think about the kind of character you want to build. This selection impacts your character’s morals and decision-making process.

Alignment is an X/Y axis scenario (X: lawful, chaotic, Neutral Y: Good, Evil, Neutral). Both Axis’ have a neutral component.

• Lawful: The rules matter more to me than individuals. “The Law is hard but it is the Law.”
• Good: Other People’s well-being matters more than own. “For the Greater Good.”
• Chaotic: Individuals matter more to me than the rules. “You say rules, I say Guidelines.”
• Evil: My own wellbeing is more important than rules or the general public. “I am my own Rule.”
• Neutrals: My opinion of what is more important is on a case-by-case basis. “The Devil is in the details.”

Lawful Evil:

A lawful evil character is going to follow a strict moral code. It might be warped, sure. But they are going to follow the letter of the law just as much as a lawful good character. They’re just following their own law. Think Darth Vader or Lord Voldemort.

Lawful Good:

A lawful good character is going to follow the letter of the law for the greater good, regardless of what that means for themselves. You see this a lot with Paladin types. A good example is Captain America.

Lawful Neutral:

we do what we must. They are characterized by being bound to a code or set of rules. They may not agree with all of those rules, but they understand the necessity of following them for a functional society. The punisher is a good example of this.

Chaotic Good:

Chaotic Good characters are going to do what they believe to be right for an individual regardless of what the law says (think Robin Hood).

Chaotic Neutral:

A Chaotic Neutral Character is the essence of “I do what I want when I want as I see fit.” These characters do have moral codes and beliefs that they live by, but it is on a case-by-case basis and they take all the semantics into their account. Decisions are made at their discretion. Riddick is a great example of Chaotic Neutral.

Chaotic Evil:

In contrast, a chaotic evil character is going to say “Fuck the rules and fuck you.” The Joker.

Neutral Good:

Gandalf The Grey is a prime example of “Neutral good” in that he has a strong desire to do good and make the world a better place, but unlike a lawful good he is willing to compromise on societal correctness to do so (insert every instance in which he utilizes hobbits to achieve his long term goals), occasionally seen as unreliable but largely at the end of the day they are about balance and acknowledging that there are multiple sides to every situation and decisions are not a one size fits all.

True Neutral:

True Neutral is less common because it is harder to play than you might suspect and it’s easy to accidently slip into “Neutral Good” as the line is very fine- this is one of my favorites and I think this excerpt from Gamer’s Decide explains it best: “The True Neutral alignment represents a character who is neutral on all alignments, and does not feel strongly about good, evil, law, or chaos. They may act in their own self-interest, but they do not have a particular moral or ethical code that they follow. They may act to preserve balance or neutrality, but they are not necessarily committed to doing so.”  Geralt of Rivia is an excellent example of true neutral.

An Additional tool for this is the Save the Cat Prompt on Page 16 of the RPG backstory builder.

Choose Your Background:

Here you will also want to refer to your player handbook for the basic categories. You can also chat with your DM for a homebrew to customize something that matches your character better. Remember that this is not your backstory- it’s your background. In the vaguest of terms think of it as the style of your upbringing: Urchin vs Noble vs Criminal vs Hermit etc. each one comes with its own set of proficiencies or perks.

Spend some time thinking about this, as this is what you will build your backstory off of (or if you’re like me you already have your backstory and you’re going to pick the background that fits with it the best and gives you the proficiencies you want or are looking for.) You can use the roll technique and use some personality traits from the handbook if you want or pull your own, but this is where your characters quirks start to develop.

Arm Yourself:

Spend some time thinking about how you want your character to be involved in combat. This is heavily affected by your race and class but I have seen some unconventional blends that have worked. Its all about believability. If you are a physical fighter instead of a spell caster etc. you may want to spend some extra time in chapter 5 of the Player’s handbook as it goes into detail about different types of weapons and may give you some ideas, or templates to pull unconventional weapons from.

Write a basic backstory:

You don’t have to be an award winning novelist. Or even a good writer. I urge people to try for a paragraph or so, but I also totally get if you have an idea in your head but you aren’t an avid writer. My husband uses bullet points for the ideas he has and the things that are important to him and doesn’t bother stringing them into paragraphs. He can talk to you about his character but isn’t going to write a story.

However your brain works- write down your origin story: Who are you? Where do you come from? Why are you adventuring? What is your purpose? Who raised you? If you were making a 30 second intro clip for your character’s video game- what’s the premise?

Let’s Get Gritty:

So you have your basic build. Now let’s take basic and build it 4 dimensional. Let’s give it personality, nuance, believability, and pizazz. Nobody plays D&D to be boring- that’s what real life is for. D&D operates in the realm of possibility. Have fun. Play with it. This is how we take the basics of stats and story, and add flesh and blood until we have a playable D&D Character.

Appearance:

maybe you thought this would go in the generic section, but I want you to go beyond how tall you are, what color you hair is, and what color you are based on your dragonborn heritage. Picture your character clearly in your head.

How has their lifestyle affected their physique? Calloused hands could just as easily be from a lifetime of baking bread as they can from hefting a sword. Is your profession or background reflected in your wardrobe or jewelry? Could someone guess what you do based on your appearance or gear? What’s the likelihood of someone guessing and getting wrong? Are the little splatters of pigment on your fingertips from ink or the toxins you lace your weapons with? Do you have freckles? Identifying tattoos? What is your body language like? Do you come across cocky? Mousy? Stuffy? Intelligent? Might your appearance intimidate others or impact how villagers view you? Do you  face any biases because of your appearance?

Language:

A big portion of buidling a playable D&D character is developing parts of them that you can interact with and bring to life. How does your character speak? What’s their vocabulary like? Do they have any phrases or terms that they use regularly? This is a great way to add depth and believability to a character and make game play more fun.

A sorcerer is going to have a much different vocabulary than a soldier or a priest. Does their hometown impact their accent or their colloquialisms? Can other people tell where they are from based on their speech? Is there something that makes their vernacular unique? A fun little added tool you can use in addition to these questions is the idiom generator on page 14 of the RPG backstory guide.

Religion and Beliefs:

In addition to whatever your D&D ‘deity’ is, or two whom your character pays homage, spend some time thinking about what their beliefs are. Do they actively practice their religion or passively believe in something? How much does it affect their day to day life? Do they observe any strange or interesting holidays? A fun (though not all inclusive) prompt for holidays is on page 18 of the RPG character backstory.

Core lessons:

A good way to build out a playable D&D character is to think about all formative things your character has learned up until the start of the campaign. All real people have them. life events and lessons that have shaped how we view and interact with the world. These should be based on your characters traits and backstory but with more detail. Try for a minimum of 5. What events, choices, or traumas have they lived through that have shaped their character? An amazing set of 5 questions to help you with this is on page 26 of the RPG Character backstory Guide.

Party Preferences:

What kind of company do you keep? Obviously, you don’t get to pick what kind of characters your friends or party members choose to play, or what your DM evilly decides to do with that. BUT based on your backstory and character you should be able to describe who your character would like to adventure with, or if there is anybody your character would absolutely not do well with. It will affect how your character interacts with the other player characters as well as any NPC’s your DM cooks up.

Think about it like this: if your backstory is written around the fact that your family was murdered by a war band of goblins and another party member happens to be half goblin… you might have some prejudices or some strained interactions to work through. It will also be a factor in how you interact (or should interact) with NPC’s. remember- you are not you, you are your character. An example of this concept can be found on page 28 of the RPG character backstory guide.

Add detail to your core stats:

Sure, a barbarian is strong, but go deeper. How are you strong compared to other barbarians? How did you come to be this way? Of course a rogue is high in dexterity (if they’re a good rogue) but how might someone else be able to tell you’re dexterous, what might hint at your master thief skills? There’s a fun exercise in the RPG character guide called “Across a crowded Tavern” on page 32 that will highlight some ideas for this.

What drives you forward:

when all seems lost and things aren’t going according to plan (and they won’t). what inner strength, power, ideal, or memory pushes you to keep going. What stops your character from tapping out even when 80% of them is ready too? Check out the exercise on page 45 of the RPG book for some examples.

Create a mental snapshot of home:

what did your childhood home look like and how might that environment have impacted who your character currently is? Were you raised in a city? A village? A tribe? In a metropolis or a forest? A cave dwelling civilization? Where did you call home? where did you usually sleep? Do you miss it? Where did people socialize? What did community interaction look like? What did people respect? Who was in charge? Check out page 47 of the backstory guide for more prompts.

Creeds, mottos, and ideals:

this is different than beliefs, lessons, or idioms- even though lessons and idioms typically have meaning or deeper wisdom in them. Not a slogan, or a catch phrase (although those are equally endearing in a character- we see you Naruto). It doesn’t even necessarily have to be something your character technically excels at but rather something they hold in high esteem, a trait they aspire to, or something they believe in outside of religion. These are statements of belief outside of deities. Examples might be:

• Life is what we make it.
• We have nothing if we don’t have our morals.
• The only thing stronger than a man’s given word is his heart.
• Power is the only guarantee of freedom
• We always have a choice.
• It’ll feel better when it quits hurting.

Valuable advice:

what is the best piece of advice your character has ever received? If they could pass on any one piece of advice what would it be? Similar to creeds and mottos, but distinct in that this is something they have learned, that they live by, and act on whenever possible. A belief they hold in the livable present. Examples might include:

• When you get the chance to dance, dance.
• The man is the head of the family, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants.
• Tuck your chin, you’re going to get hurt, expect it and be ready.
• This too shall pass
• The friends who criticize your actions are the ones who really care about you. If they didn’t care they wouldn’t waste their breathe.
• If you love something enough, and for long enough, the rest of the world will eventually have no choice but to accept it, regardless of its original perception of it.
• All things worth having are worth working for.
• You’re always going to be “too much” of something to someone, do not dim your light for anybody.

Fears, Flaws, and weaknesses:

nobody, or character for that matter, is perfect. Even superman has kryptonite. To make a character really fun to both play, but also interact with for your DM and party members come up with a short list of “shortcomings” or flaws. They could be major or minor, or something your character is actively working on improving, extra props if at least one of them is something that your other party members can leverage.

• You snore terribly.
• You’re a dwarf that can’t hold your ale- a complete lightweight, the family doesn’t talk about it.
• You have a gambling problem
• You are a terrible cook- like give someone food poisoning bad.
• You are severely ADHD- this causes problems in combat, problems with your memory, and with everyone elses sleep schedule. You lose everything contstantly.
• You have a soft spot for strays and are always trying to “adopt” the local critters. Even when your party can’t hide them, feed them, or otherwise deal.
• You are terrified of the dark- dungeons, am I right?
• You can’t swim
• Terrible anemia
• Petrified of zombies
• Invasive thoughts with no filter. Your party does not appreciate you making your disturbing thoughts their newest fears.
• You have a crippling fear of heights.

Consider your long-term goal:

I want to leave you with an idea for character development as you go forward to create. Remember that what you are building is the base of your character. The point of D&D is to play/tell a story. Characters develop during stories. What you are making is the origin story, the idea, and the potential. But remember that your character is going to interact with others, be subject to circumstance, and hopefully have the opportunity to grow. Don’t try and create a level 10 character with an “I saved the world” backstory. That’s what the story is about.

But also, do not limit your character ideas to what your current stats are- your character is as fluid as its development is. Some gardeners become protectors in great stories. If the templates and basic things don’t seem like they are ticking all the right boxes, or that nothing quite describes the character you’d like to build…. Remember that multi-classing is a thing. The possibilities are endless depending on what choices you are willing to make. In much the same way as real life you can choose to learn multiple things to create your own field of study/ specialty. If you’d like to learn more about multi-classing, check out page 163 of the D&D Players handbook.

Now go out there, build an awesome character, and keep your eyes peeled for our next D&D post where Taylor will cover actual execution and playing of this awesome character you have created.

See you on the battlefield!

Mikaela