Avalus has a penchant for finding interesting things to photograph on his way to work. Here are a few colourful birds, and he says,
… a flock of birds I encountered on my way to work. Again, I have no idea what kind of bird they are.
©Avalus, all rights reserved
It’s been a while since we had a degupdate, and to be honest, for a long time I couldn’t bear to look through my phone for pics, because I would keep coming upon pics of sweet Gracie. Even though I know logically that I didn’t do anything wrong, and a veteran degu keeper assured me that so far they always lost animals when socialising new animals, it still broke my heart.
But Candy and Estelle are very happy together. Candy is a very dominant character (and Gracie was as well, which I think doomed the whole thing from the start), while Estelle is a very gentle character and they fit together well without hardly ever even having a mild fight. Now that spring is here it’s time to start feeding them fresh greens, which has to be done carefully, because after a winter of hay and dry feed, switching them to large amounts of fresh green would make them sick. So for the last two weeks or so they have gotten a few leaves of dandelion each day and they agree that its the Best. Thing. Ever.
The pics are all of Candy, because Estelle still is camera shy.
Candy doesn’t know what shy means. She also doesn’t know what holding still means. Now that they’re fully grown, the differences between the two of them become more visible, at least to their human family. Candy is lighter in her colouration, the ears and feet are sand colour, while Estelle’s are darker.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
And here’s a video of Candy. You can hear the little one in the background doing her “degu voice”.
Well, Spring isn’t exactly here yet (we still have lots of snow), but it’s arrived in Germany, and Avalus is sharing and giving me hope.
©Avalus, all rights reserved
©Avalus, all rights reserved
©Avalus, all rights reserved
Japanese Woodblock prints, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Kuniyoshi is considered a master of ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), and his favourite subject was cats. He was obsessed with cats, and his studio was often overrun by them. He often portrayed them as well-loved characters from stories or as part of kabuki theatre. His art is inventive and often playful, and it quickly became popular and well respected, lifting him out of the poverty of his early life.
Amusements of the First Snowfall, 1852, Utagawa Kuniyoshi
I love cats and these wonderful creations by Anne, Cranky Cat Lady are glorious.
Photos of my Mystical Cats from Lyn Belisle’s Mystical Cat Shamans class. The faces are her work (she does lovely ceramics) but the rest is mine. Leafy girl is Thera, Protector of Wild Things, the turquoise cat is Bast, my Mewse. Because you know how much cats love to help with your work. Lots of vintage bits and pieces, handmade paper, and beads. They’re pretty big, about 14″ tall, and I’m going to have to move stuff around so I can hang them.
Thera, ©Anne, Cranky Cat Lady
Bast, ©Anne, Cranky Cat Lady
Jill Bearup is has made much more fun and informative video on the infamous boob armor than those made by doods (which were not always bad) and I really think it is worth watching if you are interested in that kind of thing.
…portraiture, by Alice Neel
Alice Neel suffered many tragedies in her life, including the loss of several of her children. She suffered a nervous breakdown, attempted suicide and was hospitalized for over a year. Her work is infused with emotional intensity and a fearless realism. There was some criticism of her work contemporarily because it did not hold with the ideals of how the feminine should be portrayed in art, but Neel is now considered one of America’s best portrait artists. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City will be hosting an exhibition of Ms. Neel’s art from March 22 until August 1, 2021. Virtual Tours are available by request.
Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia), 1967, Alice Need. Image from The New York Review
I am not going to embed any of those or link to their site, but I have got an awful lot of ads on YouTube lately for the products in the title and I totally do not get it. Like, at all, on so, so many levels. It is a male-centered effort similar to the one that convinced women they should shave their legs.
At some time in our evolution, our species has decided for selecting for hair that grows almost indefinitely on our heads and to a very limited degree on other parts. It is a sad fact that cutting/trimming or excessively grooming head and facial hair is a necessity, otherwise it would get too big and entangled and would impede normal function. Those are our species’ equivalent of peacock’s tails or irish elk’s antlers. And I do get why someone would opt for regular shaving instead of regular trimming for whatever reasons – convenience, aesthetic preference etc. We have to chose there one of several options.
But I completely do not get why I should shave my chest or my groin. And I won’t. Regular hygiene is sufficient to keep me comfy and non-smelly and there is absolutely no health benefit to shaving body hair. In my case, there is even a downside which also the reason why I have a beard – I have sensitive skin and I react badly to shaving. However, that is not the point. We are the only species that is capable to alter or even downright mutilate perfectly healthy bodies for mere fashion. I will never understand why some people feel the need to inject pigment into healthy skin, or pierce and cut healthy functional organs in order to put pieces of metal in them. Oftentimes in a manner that impedes normal functioning and sometimes even endangers health.
I am not saying people should not be allowed to shave their balls, tatoo their faces, or pierce their tongues. Your body, your choice, just do not expect a compliment from me and we will get along just fine. But I find it ridiculous if it is a personal choice, doubly ridiculous if it is a fashion trend and several orders of magnitudes ridiculous if it is a concentrated effort of a company to sell me products that I neither need nor want. Unfortunately, they will probably succeed in convincing some, even though not me personally.
Open thread, you can talk whatever you want, under the condition of not being an asshole.
Avalus took some good photos of this little guy, but he hasn’t been able to identify what type of bird this is. My bird guides are North American, so not really useful to identify a European species, but I bet that one of you can help us figure this out. Leave us a comment with your ideas.
©Avalus, all rights reserved
©Avalus, all rights reserved
©Avalus, all rights reserved
©Avalus, all rights reserved
I am finishing the kitchen-knives sets, and one of the tools that I was still missing in my toolbox was a branding stamp that could be used for wood and leather. For leather, I have used an impromptu one made from wood stabilized with epoxy, but that cannot be used to brand wood of course. But when making that I have figured out a process that could be also applied to making one out of steel, so after a lot of procrastinating the task, today I have finally bitten the bullet and took the two hours it needed.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size
The handle is from an extremely old and out-of-shape potato peeler. Maybe even antique, but I know of no museum that would take it of my hands so I have recycled it. The screw is recycled from old furniture. The stamp itself is from tool steel, although I will not be hardening it.
I could not tap the hole in the stamp very deep and well without re-grinding and thus destroying the taps, because standard taps need to go through. Thus I could not cut very good threads in there, just two turns of half-assed ones. But that should not be a problem, a few dents for the thread to latch on to should suffice, friction should take care of the rest. It is not supposed to come apart, and if it comes apart, I will braze it.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size
The one advantage of having a logo consisting of only straight lines is that it made the job relatively easy. A bit of filing, a bit of grinding with an angle-grinder, and here we go. Up close there are some flaws and the width to height ratio is a tiny bit off, but that is just life. I have tossed one attempt due to flaws, but I think this one will do.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size
Wood branding is not an exact science, there will always be some irregularities. But with some practice, I should get crisp and nice logos that can be placed even in visible areas. Which is my intention.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size
And there is absolutely no doubt that on leather, the results are way, way better than those I got with my wood-carved impromptu stamp.
I may give it a go one more time to get the proportions better, but in the meantime, I am going to use this one. I doubt anyone will complain about it.
Ahh, my friends, Spring is coming. We actually had a “heat wave”, with more than 20°C in February. Climate change will be no fun, but there’s nothing you can do about an early spring day but enjoy it. The pics here are a few weeks old, but I didn’t get around to post them. BTW, <b>Charly and rq</b>, the cranes are on their way. I sent them with greetings for you.
©Giliell, all rights reserved A little wet siskin
©Giliell, all rights reserved Not a siskin, but a wet yellowhammer
©Giliell, all rights reserved A female sparrow. We’ve got lots of them, but usually behind the house is tit territory and they keep t the hedges in front of the houses.
©Giliell, all rights reserved While taking those pic I thought “that’s actually the weather when the hawfinches used to come” and look who made her appearance.
And then we had a very rare visitor, and they didn’t want to stay for an extensive photo shooting, so I only got one halfway decent pic:
©Giliell, all rights reserved
If you ever wondered what the back of a sparrowhawk looked like…
From Avalus,
A muddy, frozen puddle by the roadside.
Boring, one might say.
©Avalus, all rights reserved
But, what interesting patterns in the ice, indicating the shrinking liquid underneath.
Let’s look closer.
©Avalus, all rights reserved
Structures emerge between the layers!
Let’s look even closer.
©Avalus, all rights reserved
The ice sheet that seemed so uniform from afar is structured, almost like cathedral glass, from many tiny crystals of ice.
Everywhere, there is beauty in the universe.
(This was pretty much my thought process when I came by that frozen puddle. That, and my cold feet, reminding me of my poor choice of shoes I took for that walk :D)
Let’s start with the spring part and some explanation about how certain pieces are done.
While blue is and will always be my favourite colour, occasionally I want some other colour as well. In this piece I went for greens and yellows.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
I’m not quite sure what to do with it. Most certainly a necklace, as it’s about 2″ wide, but I don’t think I’ll just screw an eyelet on. More like some easy wire wrapping. This piece has been worked “top to bottom”. All these UV resin pieces have many layers, which means I’m constantly working on 2 or three projects at once, adding a layer to one while the other one is curing under the UV lamp. There are two ways you can go: bottom to top or top to bottom. Most pieces are worked bottom to top: you start with a base, which can either be a free form, an epoxy blank or a bezel, and then add layer after layer.
When working with a mould, or in this case a concave blank, you add things to the bottom side (though of course you can add stuff to the top as well). This gives you a watery or ambery feeling as the light is bent and reflected.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
This on the other hand is bottom to top. The seashell and the pearls are sitting on top of the blank with a blue background.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Starry night earrings. What can I say, I love everything galaxy themed…
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Not yet sure what to make with this one. This one has also been worked top to bottom in a mould as opposed to the other way round that full spheres are worked.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
A little fun with some left over resin from the oval pendant.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Sparkly earrings with blue rhinestones and home dyed pink baby’s breath.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
These were easy. I drilled some holes into the turquoise blanks and glued in the rhinestones, and now I’m again unsure. They would make rather large earrings, but also rather small pendants…
And last, but not least, Hekuni Cat’s die:
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Hmpf. I’m constantly looking for good UV resin. I found some on Etsy and I really liked it, and I got 200 ml and when I tried to reorder, the seller no longer exported to Germany. Then I found some from a small German company, which wasn’t too expensive and I decided to give it a try. The website helpfully informed me that if I added another 489 € worth of good I’d get free shipping, but I declined. I was really keen on trying it out and thought that the die would be a good project for it.
Oh dear. First of all, it stinks. So. Much. I put on a normal N95 respirator and it was still almost unbearable. It can only be worked with wearing the half face respirator I also use when finding some hidden asbestos in the house. Then it came out rather runny, but quickly started to thicken, so it was a nuisance to get into the mould. I thought that this meant it was already curing, but then it didn’t cure for a long time and all the inlays pretty much sunk to the bottom.
When it had finally cured I noticed it had shrunk so much that there was a big hole inside and I needed to fill that one up with more resin. What I will say for this resin is that it cures extremely hard. Which made cleaning the project up difficult, of course…
Hekuni Cat, if you want another one I’ll make you a new one. If not, or in any case, I need your address. Youc an send it to Affinity submissions, voyager will surely pass it on to me.