Week In Pictures

Week In Screenshots

It's Not Working, Is It?

   Well, I was planning to sit down last night and write some blog posts for both of my blogs to fill out NaBloPoMo a little bit, but I ended up watching Koruth play GTA instead. I was planning on joining the IntPiPoMo by Admiring Azeroth, but I've not been on WoW all that much lately, and given that I didn't grab any shots over the past 5 days, and it being unlikely that I will in the next few days either, I'm not so sure it'll happen. I'll try, mind you, if I aim to take about 2-3 shots a day I should manage the 50 shots, but I'm not certain it'll happen soon. Still, I'll try.

   I've not been on WoW much lately. You know how it is with the late end of the expansion. I'm more interested in what the next expansion will be. Patch content only tends to keep me interested for a week or so. Once everyone else buggers off and the places are more empty, I tend to lose interest myself since I have no friends to play with, so I think I can be forgiven.

   Instead I've been focusing, as before, on prepping my shops for Christmas. I did get one very exciting sale the other day, which has made a huge dent in my Christmas financial crisis, so I'm dead chuffed about that, among other details. As it is, though, I just have to hope for more sales.

   I also really enjoyed the Hallow's End competition - don't worry, guys, I've bought the loot cards you each picked out and they are on their way! I was thinking about doing it again, this time for a couple of Landro's Gift cards, which can yield one of many different things, but I don't think it could be a Christmas/Winter Veil-specific story, because while there is an awful lot of creepy/haunted/disgusting things in WoW suitable for Hallow's End, there's not much in the way of jolly, gift-giving and happiness really. So it would either have to have a broader theme, or no theme at all. I don't know, I'll think on it. I have a month to decide, unless anyone else has any suggestions.

Entry 28 - Chiselgrip

7th Day of Summer

   I did indeed find safety to the east with the Orc and the Dwarves. They were happy to share food with me, especially when I told them what had happened to the north with the Dark Iron clan. The Dwarf in particular seemed pleased with the aid I gave his people, while the Orc just seemed happy to have new company. He told me that they were going to wage war upon the Blackrock clan who dwell within the mountain, and when I offered them aid, they told me they could cope. I was a little surprised, given the scale of things in the area against the Blackrock Clan, but they seem confident enough. They were quite helpful, too. When I told them I wanted to get to the ruins to the north, and I asked if it would be reachable, they told me about another camp to the east which was directly south of and only a short distance from the site. I told them I'd set out the next morning, and when I awoke, Ariok (the Orc) was already up and preparing to leave the camp. He wished to escort me since he was heading there too, and it was just as well he did. While I learned a bit of fighting from the Dwarves recently, I'm still not as skilled as I could be, and my minimal abilities would never have defended me from the Blackrock ambush that was waiting by the roadside.

   Before I even knew what was happening, Ariok was already on top of them, and he did a fast job of taking them out, but I couldn't help blaming myself. I hadn't even dismounted before it was over.

   Ariok told me that the Orcs that ambushed us were young and hotheaded, and saw a group of two travellers to be an easy target. "They were wrong," is all he said in regards to their actions, however, and we continued onwards.

   There were no further attacks, fortunately, and we made it to the next settlement by supper time.

   I must also add, as it was a great honour, that Eitrigg is here within Chiselgrip. He's a highly respectable Orc, and more of them should be like him. I was a little surprised to see him out here, as I had expected him to never leave Orgrimmar, given his position towards the Warchief, but it has made the Burning Steppes seem a safer place.

   I've only seen the ruins of Thaurissan from this settlement, but the ruined walls are quite low. The area seems expansive, and a rift has opened through it and, I'm told, is filled with fire imp Demons. I'm a little disappointed with the remains, but I'm still going to explore it tomorrow. It's quite accessible, and, other than the imps, I don't see any other threats.

-- Atherya Sunleaf              

WCC: Blizzcon Cake

   This week's WoW Crafting Challenge, like my last one, is more focused on current events within our own world. Last week I made the Hallow's End sweets, and despite having started about a week before the post went live, it ended up going up a day late as I finished one piece very last minute after a few failures.

   This week, given that Hallow's End and Halloween have now passed, I focused on Blizzcon. I am not going, due to money and my duties as a carer, but I did buy myself the virtual ticket as soon as it was available. This is the first time I've had any exposure to the convention so I'm quite excited, but I'm also relatively certain that I won't watch the majority of it. I really just want to watch the expansion reveal, the talent show, and the costumes, but I have to watch a few panels to get my money's worth.

   So, for my Blizzcon focus, I decided to make a cake to celebrate the convention. Also, cakes are easy, and I wanted something easier after the hell I went through with the last project.

   I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Don't get me wrong, it could have gone better; the fondant broke up here and there, but that did turn out to be a blessing in disguise, because trying to move the entire piece of hand cut fondant would have been a real nuisance, and when it broke into pieces it became more of a jigsaw and allowed me to place it easier.

   I admittedly cheated with the cake. I always do these days. I do know how to make a cake from scratch, it's hardly difficult, but what I struggle with is actually cooking it. I've played about with the oven temperature but no matter what I do I just can't get it to cook properly. I burn the edges and the middle doesn't cook, even if the temp is high, low, or in the middle. And if, by chance, it does cook, it won't leave the bloody tin! However, I tried a box mix once, Betty Crocker's Devil Food cake, and it worked a charm. I've used it about 5 more times since and it's been a success every time. For this cake I used another Betty Crocker mix, just a standard vanilla sponge cake so I could color it, and like the others, it worked just fine.

   The cake is vanilla, but coloured with ocean blue lustre dust. It took the entire little pot of colour to colour both box mixes (two were used because of the shape and size of the pan I was using), and it took an entire pot of ice blue lustre dust to colour the vanilla buttercream. I made that much myself, at least.

   It's got a layer of white buttercream inside, (which looks fake while I look at that picture! I suppose my camera is still on the blink) and is covered in blue buttercream frosting, and the 'Blizzcon' logo was cut from fondant. It was actually a lot of trouble. I made myself a birthday cake last year with a dinosaur fossil on it. I made the dinosaur from royal icing, which I piped onto parchment over the top of a printout, which I basically traced with the icing. I didn't think this through completely because I thought this cake would be the same, but I forgot that, with the dinosaur, I was putting icing on rather than taking it off, so that wasn't going to work. So I had to cut out the template and cut around it. Then I realised there was no way I could roll the icing flat with a perfectly level surface, so I decided I'd have to cut it backwards. So then I had to cover the template in clingfilm to keep the ink (it was dry but you can never be too sure) from getting onto the fondant, which I had to cut perfectly to shape. Once I'd done all that, which took a damn long time (if I'd have thought it through more I could have printed it backwards instead) I was finally able to start cutting. I used a sharp knife and started around the outside. Doing it backwards was complicated, but I managed well enough. I put it in the oven to dry it off (it can take a day or so to harden otherwise, so I preheated the oven, let it heat up, turned it off and let the dry heat remove the moisture from the fondant) and then peeled the backing off, and I was left with a smooth, level surface. I made the cake then, let it cool, iced it and then arranged the logo on top.

   It's a really simple looking cake, I know, but it tastes good, and has everything you need except perhaps a Blizzcon murloc. I really wish I'd thought of that sooner. Though, making a murloc out of fondant wouldn't be easy. Fondant's stickier than clay. I'm quite happy with the outcome to be honest. It could be better, it could be worse, but it ticks cake decorating off of the list!