Jason

@jmlowrey

(They/he, prefer they 🏳️‍⚧️ Pan/queer) Herein lies writing, reading, and fountain pens. Pretty much in that order. With a splash of tea. I make jewelry: hootowlcreations.com

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Jason@jmlowrey· 23d

I’m proud of these earrings because they’re the first ones where I’ve made every single component. The rings are nickel silver and bronze and the earwires are stainless steel. It’s a Byzantine chainmail weave. The rings are bare, so they’re going to pick up a lovely patina. #jewelry #art

Two pairs of Byzantine weave chainmail earrings held in the palm of a hand. The nickel silver rings are a darker silver color and the bronze rings are a warm, deep gold color. They have plain stainless steel earwires.

Jason@jmlowrey· 27d

I finished the writing 101 presentation I’m giving this Saturday for my local queer group. I have a list of recommended resources, all of which I’ve used myself. One is Never Say You Can’t Survive by @charliejane.bsky.social and my copy is studded with book darts. I need to properly annotate it.

A black hardcover book held over a keyboard. The books white pages are studded with small copper bits, which are book darts slid onto the pages to mark certain passages. The book is Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders, which is an excellent book about writing.

Jason@jmlowrey· 28d

I’ve been wearing this nickel silver and bronze Byzantine weave bracelet for a bit more than a week, and I love how much patina is on the bronze. It was much more gold colored when it was freshly made. The patina has deepened the color and added to the contrast with the nickel. #jewelry #chainmail

A nickel silver and bronze Byzantine weave bracket on my wrist. The bracelet is a chain of nickel silver jump rings twisted outward to capture two bronze jump rings in the middle.

Jason@jmlowrey· Jul 9

Just finished The Works of Vermin by @hironennes.bsky.social and it’s a hell of a good book. Art movements as political regimes, toxins that reshape physical matter, a sense of history written and rewritten in an endless poisoned palimpsest, and a lovely story structure. Highly recommended!

A black hardcover book with a centipede as an ouroboros embossed on the cover. The title The Works of Vermin is embossed in orange foil along the spine.

Jason@jmlowrey· Jul 6

Made this yesterday and it’s a small milestone for me because this bracelet is entirely made of components I crafted. It’s my very first clasp and while it’s rough, it’s holding today at work. I’m rather proud of it. I want to make more! #jewelry #chainmail #handmade

Jason@jmlowrey· Jul 5

Bench update! I’m refinishing a ring I made last year because it’s just too wide at the base and it’s uncomfortable. It’s a reminder that putting in the craft work while making will save me time in the finishing stage. #jewelry #handmade #myprocess

Jason@jmlowrey· Jul 3

This is my new travel journal with stickers by my talented friend. They bring me joy each time I look at them

A blue A5 journal with a Castle in the Sky sticker, a Mystery Shack sticker, and an Ohm sticker.

Jason@jmlowrey· Jun 19

Two nights ago I stayed up way too late so I could finish reading Fate’s Bane by @clclarkwrites.com. It’s a beautifully written novella about two women on opposite sides of a clan war. Naturally, they fall in love. The writing itself is gorgeous and I love how it approaches folklore.

The cover of the novella Fate’s Bane by C.L. Clark. Two women, one with brown skin and brown hair and the other with white skin and red hair, lay opposite each other in the grass of the fens. The title is a bright, vibrant green set between the two women.

Jason@jmlowrey· Jun 13

Please enjoy this photo of my friend’s cat giving me the murder look because I exist in the same space as her. She is the queen and I am a mere peasant.

Photo of a tan and brown coated cat who’s steadily going gray. Her name is Molly and she is sitting on an orange and yellow afghan blanket. Her eyes are mottled green and yellow and the pupils are narrowed in the murder look.

Jason@jmlowrey· Jun 9

The Elysium Proposal by @aebrossbooks.bsky.social was my in-flight read on the way to Portland today. It’s a very fun, very queer novella and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants some swashbuckling romance!

The cover of The Elysium Proposal by A.E. Gross, which features a figure in black silhouette wearing a captain’s coat and holding a sword. The background is a swirl of bright chartreuse and darker greens.

Jason@jmlowrey· Jun 7

Just finished reading @neonhemlock.bsky.social’s We’re Here Best Speculative Fiction 2020. I loved it! There are so many good stories in here. Special shoutout to @adeniro.bsky.social, @rblemberg.bsky.social, @ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app and @charliejane.bsky.social for writing some of my faves.

The cover of We’re Here The Best Speculative Fiction 2020 published by Neon Hemlock and edited by C.L. Clark and Charles Payseur. The cover features several fantasy inspired figures and there are two progress Pride flags.

Jason@jmlowrey· Jun 1

Just finished The Mystery of the Bitten Peach by @ceciliatan.com and it’s a lovely, queer novella that I know I’ll revisit again. It explores multiple thematic layers of queerness, identity, and love. Highly recommended.

The cover of The Mystery of the Bitten Peach by Cecilia Tan, which features a Chinese person of indeterminant gender dressed in luxuriant gold and black robes. They hold a dragons mask in one hand and a carved jade peach in their other hand.

Jason@jmlowrey· May 31

Not a pet pic or anything I made, but my mom’s lilies started blooming today.

Jason@jmlowrey· May 24

I suspect I’ve been drinking too much Earl Grey tea, or reading too many British things, that I default to spelling the color gray as “grey.” I need to yield to the American spelling if I want my gray earrings to have any hope of succeeding with SEO. Just added these to my website, too. #art

A pair of chainmail earrings made with bright aluminum jump rings. Glossy gray beads run down the middle of each earring. The weave uses smaller rings connecting the larger rings to the side of each bead.

Jason@jmlowrey· May 23

I should wait until I have this on the we site, but it’s just sooooo cute!! My mom made this beaded cross stitch hedgehog picture a while back and it still doesn’t have a home. It makes me sad no one has taken her home, so please me know if you need a whimsical hedgehog picture in your life. #art

Photo of computer screen where a beaded cross stitch hedgehog is in white frame. The hedgehog is holding an orange and yellow flower as an umbrella and the whole thing is so stinking cute.

Jason@jmlowrey· May 20

Comrade Tea Frog wishes you a good morning and an excellent day!

A smiling bright green plastic frog sits atop a floating lily pad that caps a tea basket. The mug it’s inside is light speckled tan with pink glaze around the rim and along the handle. A round medallion with two dancing figures in Renaissance garb says “The Georgia Renaissance Festival, A Royal Springtime Tradition.”

Jason@jmlowrey· May 20

The mad lads at Sailor have done something again. Stilo & Stile has shared details on Sailor’s revamped 1911 Realo 18K fountain pen. It’s got a clear body, a larger piston filler at 1.5ml, and you can unscrew the grip section to swap out the entire unit. That last part made me pull a double take.

A Sailor Realo 18k fountain pen. Its body is translucent black, with a solid black cap. I found this an odd choice, and offer still is the pinched waist where the grip section meets the pen’s body.

Sailor’s Realo fountain pen, without the cap. It highlight’s the translucent body and larger piston mechanism inside. The pinched area where the grip section meets the body is even more pronounced and it’s apparent it has something to do with the resigned filling mechanism.

Behold! The pinched area of the Sailor Realo is where the grip section screws into the pen body, as though it were a standard 1911 fountain pen. This new Realo allows for the entire grip section to be unscrewed and swapped out, which ought to make changing nibs much easier if you don’t mind the grip section and pen body being different colors. In this photo, a solid white grip section is screwed into the translucent body.

Jason@jmlowrey· Apr 30

Today I read The Citizen of Eastport by @vbruth.com. If you’re looking for a really good noir-tinged science-fiction story that’s very queer and has complicated characters, you need to read this book. I enjoyed it immensely. Kilo is just a great character and I need Vi to break me over her knee.

The cover of the book The Citizen of Eastport by V.B. Ruth. Three character busts are over the title, while a silver robot is above them and a round token with a horse on it is in the background.

Jason@jmlowrey· Apr 29

After the writers retreat I drove around New Mexico with some friends. I’ll share some other photos, but this soda dam north of Jimez Springs is notably gorgeous.

A soda dam, which looks like a cave’s internal mineral deposit, but outside. There’s a tiny waterfall deep in the center of the dam and there are worn rocks scattered through the creek bed. It all smelled sulfurous.

Downstream of the soda dam, which is a fairly wide creek running decently fast. The valley arches up sharply next to it, and that slope is covered in trees.

Jason@jmlowrey· Apr 18

Every time I debate about letting go of an EF nibbed fountain pen, I’m reminded of how much I enjoy them once they’re inked. I love my M, B, Stub, and Cursive Italic nibs so much, and there’s a joy found in the pencil-like feedback of an EF nib. It’s sharp and precise. I love this Opus 88, truly!

An Opus88 fountain pen with a black barrel and a bright steel extra fine nib sits on an open notebook. The word behind it say, “This machine kills fascists,” and “Get up, get up, there are worlds to conquer,” and “Never flinch. Never fear. Never forget,” in Dominant Industry’s Earl Grey Tea ink, which is a bright orange with a hint of yellow that does imitate the stain of a tea on a surface.

Jason@jmlowrey· Apr 12

Please do enjoy this photo of extremely cute crocheted opossums from the art market this weekend! (I did not make these opossums. I did buy one as a birthday present for a friend.)

Four crocheted opossums, all with white faces and pink noses and grey bodies and cute bead eyes sitting atop each other in a sideways basket. They are adorable.

Jason@jmlowrey· Apr 9

This week has been stressful and today I’m under pressure to do as much as I can before I leave to set up for an art show. The Two Mix remix album for Gundam Wing is amazing and has made my day much, much better. It’s a maximalist album and I love it!

Screenshot of an iPhone playing the album The End of Endless Waltz by Two Mix, which is a remix album of their Gundam Wing songs. Wing Zero with its angel wings is in the background and the foreground are two figures dressed in the white and blue vaguely 18th century suits with ruffles and epaulettes that is a Gundam Wing signature. One figure has a metal gauntlet covered in gemstones. Why? Why not is the real question.

Jason@jmlowrey· Apr 5

I bought this Aurora Talentum at the Atlanta Pen Show last week and I love it. I was penabled over the course of two years into wanting an Aurora fountain pen and I’m quite pleased with this one. Diamine Early Dusk is a dry ink, so I’m looking forward to putting a good, wet ink in this.

An Aurora Talentum fountain pen in sky blue with silver hardware sits on a Rhodia dot pad. Above the pen, written in a light blue to dark blue shading ink is the sentence, “Aurora Talentum inked with Diamine Early Dusk. Thank you, R.B.!”

Jason@jmlowrey· Apr 1

Every year Pen Chalet does a little April Fools rebranding. They run a sale simultaneously and it’s harmless. This year they made a sticker that’s obviously AI generated because no fountain pen looks like this and no one would draw a fountain pen in this way. This is disgusting and I hate it.

A sticker from Pen Chalet that says Pen Palette. It has all the hallmarks of an AI-generated image. The sheen of colors, two fountain pens that look like they have rubber styluses on the end and nibs coming out of the caps. The nibs are net, and on one golden fountain pen the nib is partially removed from the barrel at an and the nib is melting.

Jason@jmlowrey· Mar 28

I’m having a great time at the Atlanta Pen Show. I’m awful at taking photos of events. However! I did make this pocket sketchbook at a class. I’ve also bought three fountain pens….

The cover of a hand folded pocket sketchbook. It’s purple paper with bright orange paisley style leaves and flowers.

The inside of a hand folded pocket sketchbook. The inner flap is purple with bright orange paisley style flowers and leaves. An accordion of drawing paper is folded into it.

Jason@jmlowrey· Mar 24

Quick preview of some chainmail earrings I was working on last night. They all need earwires, and I’m going to make more for an art show in April. After that I’ll have some of these on the website. #jewelry #handmade #chainmail

Jason@jmlowrey· Mar 19

Thank you @marieparks.bsky.social for the Flightless merch!! I’ve preordered this fantasy heist with Asexual rep, and I’m excited for it! If anyone wants a queer heist story that’s about economic inequality, go check this out and preorder, please!

Photo of book merch for Flightless, a fantasy heist with ace rep. There are portraits of characters as stickers, an I read queer books sticker, a fantasy map, and a bookmark.

Jason@jmlowrey· Mar 14

I experimented with some 18ga wire for the ribbon weave I use for chainmail earrings and bracelets. The 4mm is the better option because it keeps things tight and still gives space to the beads. The 4.5mm interferes with the bead placement and looks messier. It’s been fun to play with this! #jewelry

Two sets of ribbon weave chainmail samples, which feature translucent iridescent glass beads on copper. Both weaves have the larger rings connected by small copper rings. 4mm on the left and 4.5mm on the right.

Jason@jmlowrey· Mar 5

Made progress tonight on a secret chainmail project for a friend. I really love the weight brass and copper being to this Byzantine weave. #jewlery #chainmail

Closeup of a Byzantine weave chainmail chain that alternates between brass and copper links. A pair of pliers and some brass rings sit in the background.

Jason@jmlowrey· Feb 28

Many thanks to @fridaytea.com for the wonderful tea haul that I acquired this week. I know I love the Earl Grey and I’m excited to try the rest!