If you thought I couldn't get any more obsessed with my Sephirothe character, think again. He now has his own line of designer emoticons!

Neutral Sephy:

Innocent Sephy:

Scowly Sephy:

Evil Sephy:

Distressed Sephy:

Blushing Sephy:

Since I've got a private phpBB for roleplaying I thought I would customize the smilies to something more appropriate, so I've begun work on a set of emoticons with an anime theme. I'm going to have the popping vein of anger, the sweatdrop of embarassment and of course my favourite: 'dot dot dot'

I'm trying to think of more to do and in the meantime I've made two tiny emoticons of Aku from Samurai Jack. I'm not sure how these will turn out on my dark page, but here they are: and

I know they're tiny, but that is the size of the emoticons associated with phpBB. You can feel free to use them, just make sure to put them on your own server space. And some credit might be nice although it's not totally necessary. Just don't credit them falsely if you get my drift.

(And I'm not talking little skirts with matching tops.)

Philip and I are going to try our hand at iaido, which is a Japanese martial art meaning roughly, 'The Art of Drawing the Sword.' As the name implies, a katana is needed, specifically an iaito. We actually bought ourselves a sword each, but the standard fittings for them are kind of boring. The tsuba (hand-guard) is usually plain black thats had shapes cut out and the fuchi (handle collar) and kashira (handle end cap) have such exciting themes as a seated samurai. (With a really really bad paint job I might add. The gold paint was way too thin when they tried to add accents.) The rest of it is pretty cheap too, like the black cotton ito (handle wrapping.) Also, black cotton attracts cat hair like nothing else.

While Philip immediately started practicing trying to get the sword out of the saya (sheath), what did I do with mine? I took it apart. It is now in several pieces on the floor but I'm having fun. I'm going to completely redress it as soon as I get the remaining parts I need, two seperate items of which have already gotten lost in the mail once each. Once I'm ready to start I'll try to take some decent photographs since there is actually very little information on the internet about doing this and my stumblings as a novice will undoubtedly be of some use to others like me. That will be reserved for a "Part 2" posting.

In the meantime, I already have some hints/tips for others looking to refit their katana.

1) Do NOT underestimate those cheap Hong Kong China copy/reproduction tsubas you can get from eBay. Everywhere else on the internet that references them practically screams at people to avoid them like the plague. Avoid them only if you are looking for something other then a reproduction. Some of them are quite nicely cast and a great bargain for the price. The one I purchased for myself is even the same weight as the tsuba that came with my sword so I won't have any balance issues. Once you get it, you'll most likely find that an antiquing solution has been used on it to make it look old. If this bothers you, use something like a nail varnish remover or turpentine to remove it. It might be a few days worth of work, but personally I didn't want to risk something stronger that would have been truly toxic. After I cleaned up my tsuba to its natural coppery glow, I applied black enamel to the flat background areas. I then applied a couple coats of clear gloss varnish to seal it all in. In the end I now have not a cheap, fake antique China copy, but a beautifully detailed, luminous tsuba with a raised bronze cherry tree motif on top of a deep black base. It turned out looking very Japanese! The only warning I would give about Chinese tsubas is they are not created equal. Lately some particularly bad copies have crept up onto eBay, but if you look at the pictures you can usually pick out the ones that look like they still have sharp detail and smooth edges. In my book the 'crappy Hong Kong junk' tsuba was a best buy - it was cheap, good quality, and full of potential.

2) This is going to sound dumb to some, but hopefully useful to others. When you look at the design on a fuchi, what you perceive as being the direction of 'up' will in fact point towards the handle and not the blade. I've got it right in my mind now but at first that seemed backwards to me.

3) Removing the tsuka: Use this method at your own risk! It was what was recommended to me and worked for me, so I am passing it along. To remove the tsuka (handle) from a blade tang (after taking the peg out), sit down on the floor with your sword. With the tip of the blade facing straight away from you, put your feet on the edges of the tsuba and push on it evenly while pulling on the tsuka. It'll come free. I kept my blade inside the saya during this just to make sure the blade had extra protection. When doing this or otherwise messing with the whole handle area, don't worry about screwing up the habaki (blade collar) or pushing it out of place, because the habaki itself is fully caught on the edge between the sword tang and the blade part itself.

4) Do not take your iaito apart unless you are prepared to do a LOT of work, most especially if putting on new pieces. They may not fit to the same exact snugness of the ones that came with your sword, although the sizes are pretty standardized. In order to made them fit properly you'll have to fill in the excess space. I plan to use washi paper and rice glue for this. Also, keep in mind that rewrapping a handle from scratch is a whole process and art in itself called tsukamaki. If you want to change fuchi/kashira or menuki (decorative finger grips), you'll have to rewrap the whole thing.

5) If you can't find a colour of silk ito you like, just buy white and dye it yourself. A lot of the dyes that can be used on silk will say that colours may turn out lighter then expected, but with Dylon's "Jungle Green" hand-dye it turned out darker. Just something to keep in mind. Also, the silk of an ito is so tightly woven that some of the inside areas may stay white, but it shouldn't actually effect what you see.