Misa Hino (Floramisa)
Tell me a bit about your history playing XIV! What pulled you in, and what inspired you to start creating art and merch for it?
I started playing XIV back in Stormblood. I distinctly remember someone in my FC posting patch notes about the new Byakko mount. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, but the EX mount that had the biggest impact on me was the Lakshmi mount because it reminded me of Okami. My upperclassman in grad school was the one who introduced me to the game after we both graduated. I didn’t have a very strong track record in sticking with MMOs, but I was willing to try it out since we lived in different states and I wanted to still keep in contact. What kept me playing was how beautiful the game looked but also how warm and welcoming the community was. I joined my upperclassman’s free company, and the people I met there were so kind and supportive that I wanted to pay it forward when I became more experienced. It is my greatest joy to provide that same safe and encouraging environment for new players to grow and experience the game… which is also what inspired me to create merch for it.
I have been a part of artist communities since childhood. I started my internet career on Neopets and then moved onto closed species on deviantART. I was also pretty crafty, selling polymer clay charms on Etsy in high school and college. I began working with resin in grad school as a hobby to keep myself sane, haha. I saw artists on Twitter posting their custom resin job stones and after playing the game for so long and developing that strong passion for it, I wanted to do something similar.
The job stones I create have themes ranging from inspiration in the game to random concepts I thought might look nice. There’s no real rhyme or reason for what I choose to make themes out of, but the primary motivation for making them is simply to spread the love and joy I feel when playing the game. I want other players who love the game just as much to be able to show their support for it through my crafts (and eventual merchandise).
How does your personal creative outlook or style influence the merchandise and art you create (XIV or otherwise)? What do you hope people take away or feel from your work?
The biggest impact on my creative outlook and style is that I firmly believe simplicity is key. There are times when I feel like art and designs can look too busy with how much detail is put into them. I also feel like too much detail can take away from the beauty of the design itself. With crafts as small as my job stones, I think there’s a very nuanced balance required to make them aesthetically pleasing.
There’s also something to be said about making my crafts as high quality as possible. I’m actually not sure if everyone does this or if it’s just me, but when I order a handmade craft from someone else, I grow to memorize each and every detail about the piece. Whether it’s the placement of the design elements, any imperfections, etc… it’s a piece that I carry with me at all times. It’s my very own belonging and no one else’s. I hold my products to a very high standard because that’s what I’d want from other artists. Because it’s my own thing, and I’d want it to properly represent my passion for the game.
Keeping that in mind, I always take the extra time to place certain memorable elements in my job stones where I think my customers will notice and hopefully appreciate. I want them to look at my work and realize that everything they see was intentionally placed with extreme attention to detail, born out of love and care. I don’t know. I think it may be a weird quirk to have, but it’s something I take much pride in being able to say I do it.
Is there a piece of art you’ve created that you are especially proud of – for example, a piece that pushed or “leveled up” your skills, or one that was particularly popular, or perhaps something that came out exactly as you had imagined it?
The funny thing about me is that I am always improving with every piece I make. I take into account what works for me or what makes me struggle so I can learn for next time how to make it better.
That being said, I did have an unusual order recently that requested a bailless job stone. When I was making the sample basic job stones to sell in my shop, I didn’t give them any bails because I wanted to save money on supplies. I ended up regretting this decision because I heavily struggled with varnishing them without the help of gravity (I usually hang the job stones from their bails to let the varnish coat evenly). From then on, I automatically drilled bails into my job stones for ease of varnishing.
When this order came in, I was a bit reluctant but still accepted it because I needed the money. I went through 3-4 different varnish attempts before figuring out a way to use gravity without drilling any holes into the stone. The end product came out beautifully, and I’ve mastered the technique. I am now more than happy to craft undrilled/bailless job stones for anyone who wants one.
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
My next venture will definitely be into creating manufactured merchandise. I am a big fan of XIV’s carbuncles, so keychains and maybe enamel pins are on the list of things I want to do.
I also typically send bonus stickers with my shop orders, but I am running low on the handmade stickers I’ve kept for however long. I am currently working on a new bonus sticker for my job stone orders, specifically. It’s an especially adorable concept, but I’ve only shown previews to my Kofi supporters thus far. Here’s a sneak preview, but if you’re interested in seeing the full art and progress as it’s made, please consider subscribing to my monthly Magicat Club on Kofi!
Looking through your custom jobstone showcase, you show such a wide array of decorations and materials that you use in your designs. What is your process for starting a new custom from scratch, and how do you know you’re fully satisfied with a final design?
When it comes to my own designs, I keep a spreadsheet of themes I’m currently working on but also themes I want to work on in the future. There is a public version of this spreadsheet in my product catalog. My private spreadsheet includes details on all the colors and materials I want to use, including a brief description of what I envision. It may look like I work with many materials, but there’s always a constant formula: The base resin mix, glitter mix, 2-3 inclusions (glitter flakes, gold/silver foils, pearls, metal charms, films/stickers, etc.), and the final varnish layer. I try not to add too much to one stone because I don’t want them to appear too busy.
For most designs, I typically go through 2-4 iterations before finalizing them. I start by just putting together the concept I envisioned and then work on balancing the elements with each iteration. The Eternal Bonding design took me the longest, ending with I think eight iterations before I was happy with the final product (the thought process behind this was: “If this is a stone that represents someone’s love to another, I don’t want it to look halfhearted – it has to be perfect.”).
For custom orders, I usually sketch a concept design for the commissioner to review and provide input. Once we agree on a design is when I will go in and actually work on the physical craft. This way, it’s not entirely “what you see is what you get” – the commissioner is still able to have a say in the concept of their own making.
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Ursus Dice & Resin Crafts
Tell me a bit about your history playing XIV! What pulled you in, and what inspired you to start creating art and merch for it?
I started playing in 2020 along with a group of friends since we were all looking for something to play together. It ended up being the story that really pulled me in and has kept me playing pretty consistently. Once I made it to the Shadowbringers expansion, I was completely hooked and had to know how the rest of the story went. I think what really inspired me to start creating things (specifically keycaps) was that I thought it would be super cool to have a functional piece of art that you can actually use when you play!
How does your personal creative outlook or style influence the merchandise and art you create (XIV or otherwise)? What do you hope people take away or feel from your work?
My creative style is that I tend to do things spontaneously when the inspiration hits. It’s pretty rare that I make any sort of detailed plans before starting on something. I just like to dive right in and figure it out as I go. It’s definitely reflected in my work since I end up making a lot of unique designs that I never replicate.
I hope that people take away an appreciation for completely handmade items. Pretty much everything I make is handmade by me from start to finish. It takes a lot of time and energy to do it and a lot of the work goes unseen. I think that is why I try to share my ‘in progress’ work or explain how I make things so that people can see all the work that goes into it!
Is there a piece of art you’ve created that you are especially proud of – for example, a piece that pushed or “leveled up” your skills, or one that was particularly popular, or perhaps something that came out exactly as you had imagined it?
I love my ‘Crystal Tower Split Sky’ keycap design. It’s one of the first designs where I really wanted to ensure that I could replicate so that everyone who wanted one could have one! A lot of my keycaps I make tend to be one of a kind. Making these helped me to understand how to make a design that looks good, but is simple enough that I can recreate it consistently. Now that I know I can do it, I want to make more designs like this that I can keep in stock for my shop.
What is a future project you hope to pursue, whether in fandom spaces or in your personal work?
I would really love to work on a set of keycap designs that are either based off of notable locations or cities in FFXIV!
Coming from a background in resin dice design, what unique challenges and/or design opportunities have custom keycaps presented for you compared to dice casting?
Making custom keycaps definitely pushed me to think a bit outside the box. A challenge I faced was figuring out how to make my own molds that would consistently give me high quality keycaps. There is a ton of info online when it comes to making dice molds, but not so much for keycap molds. If the alignment is off just a tiny bit, it is very noticeable when the finished keycap is on a keyboard. My experience with making dice mold helped quite a lot and after some trial and error, I created a keycap mold making process that works well for me!
I’ve found that with keycaps I can sort of plan out my design and sometimes make changes on the fly if something isn’t working out the way I thought it would. When compared with how I make dice, there is more flexibility and a lot less guesswork.
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