Scanning Electron Microscope

I wish I had one. It would take pictures like this, at least that's what I think it looks like. These are fractals that I generated using the Mandelbulb rendering software. The coolest thing about fractals is that the closer you look, the more you see. Makes you want to just dive in and keep zooming, which you can do until your computer's floating point arithmetic runs out of digits.

Closeup of one of the blue lines in the bigger pic below

Digital Snowflakes

I've taken a challenge to make art every day in January. We're not required to finish something every day, which is good.  I have done a bit every day so far - even when we've been on the road. I'm sharing pictures today of some digital renderings I made of fractal equations. I thought they looked like snowflakes, so I colored them as such.  I'll post some of the other (traditional media) finishes from this week when I bother to get the scanner back on.

rotated and zoomed

Coffee Break

Finished this today: ink and gouache, 6" square.

Coffee Break

The ink came out a bit heavier than I had originally envisioned, particularly on the orange border. But it didn't look finished with just the paint. In the top photo, you can't see the gold is metallic and the red looks a touch more gaudy than real life.

Here is the initial sketch, for anyone who cares.

Not the Hat You Were Looking For

Life is too short to drink delicious homebrew labeled crudely with only a Sharpie. It also looks a bit more classy if we give a bottle to a friend.  This beer is not new, but has entered the window where it is fully carbonated and drinkable and was, embarrassingly, one of three batches on the shelf without proper labels.  It's a clone of Magic Hat #9. So if someone asks us if it is Magic Hat, we can answer, "Nein."

It's supposed to be a rabbit puckering a bit (as the beer is an apricot sour) but my daughter thinks it looks like a skull, with the necklace as teeth. I need to brush up on my rabbit drawing skills.  Done in ink and gouache. All of our beer labels have a character wearing an eyepatch, a long-running inside joke from our first batch.

And on the bottles it looks nice and cheery.

Cheers!

Squirrel Zombies

Did you ever notice how much a walnut resembles a little tiny brain?

If a squirrel were to become infected with the Zombie virus, or afflicted by a Zombie curse, or whatever mechanism you attribute to zombification, would it be adequate for it to continue feasting on walnuts? Would my dog continue to chase squirrels or would they chase him?

The squirrels are always busy planting walnut trees in my yard, but we usually pull them up before they become large enough to require implements of destruction for their removal.  I don't even know where the nearest walnut tree is, but the squirrels do.  I found a recipe online to make ink for dip pens using black walnut husks. Rather than wait until one of my squirrelly gardner's sapling reaches the twenty feet of height usual before a walnut will starts setting fruit, I turned to friends to get a supply of husks.

I probably undertook this project at the wrong time of year, because the husks had dried and became integral with the shells. All I could do was separate the nut meats from the not-nut meat bits.  And this is where the recipe gets fun. It says to add the hulls to water and basically let it mold and ferment for a few months. If only all recipes were that easy to follow! The water got dark immediately, so it must be doing something in there. To be continued...

Future Ink

Meanwhile, it has become apparent that I really need to properly label all of the these things I have brewing in the back bathroom.  I wouldn't want to drink the ink, or try to write with the beer.

The "Other" brown liquid staged while chemistry does it's thing.

Holiday Needles

It's time to get serious and dust off those needles for the holidays. I wish I knew better what all of my friends and family wanted for holiday gifts, but in the absence of specific guidance I will do my best to churn out random crap of my choosing. If you think you are on that short list that gets a handmade something, feel free to cry out "MINE" if you see the ideal thing posted or to drop me a line with a thought on what you would like. I am not psychic; I simply play one on tv.

Totoro Mittens. Lovely, but too small for Hannah. Note: will only be gifted to a true Totoro fan.

Hat, in cream, reds, brown and green wool. Can't have too many hats, now can we.

Flannel lounge pants of comfiness, an idea suggested by Alan, who liked the pair I made him last year and thought everybody should be so comfy. Light blue with fishing/boat motif.

I apparently have a strong need for everyone I know to be warm. :-D

Life's a Beach

Then you have to go home. Actually it is quite nice to be home. I was on the road three times in September and I missed being at home with the family.  I did enjoy our little beach house stitching retreat last weekend.  We had about 25 ladies rent a house in Lincoln City, Oregon for a few days.

This was the third year I've gone with this group, so there was much catching up to do with old friends (and my Mum), but also meeting some new folks.  Much food, wine, and chocolate was consumed. The weather was fantastic, so long walks on the beach were almost mandatory. Some of us actually got a little stitching done. I got to see a lot of Ink Circles projects in the works, including about five versions of Cirque des Coeurs.  We had a special viewing/fondling/sale of Carrie's Threads Limited Edition silks.  I can't use any limited edition things in my regular charts, but that does not stop me from collecting them for personal use. Mwah hah hah.

Oregon Flock and Fiber

Road trip last weekend with my son to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. Woot.  Have finally gotten my car unpacked and the laundry working its way through the machines, although I have yet to hide put away all of my new fluff. Started with a little detour through Portland to hook up with a friend and drop off the new cross stitch models at Acorns & Threads. Very nice! The weather couldn't have been more pleasant, which was also true of all the people we met.

Turns out that Paul is a spinner too. He was particularly fascinated with all of the different custom wheels and their mechanisms for converting and transferring power. He was also helping a few folks calculate various drive ratios for different wheels & settings.  (Reminder: math is everywhere!)  He chose some brightly colored wool to continue practicing at home. At this point he says he has no desire to learn to knit or to wear anything knitted. We will have to see where this all goes.

Paul's selection of rovings. His first "stash."

It is hard to not get caught up with all the lovely fluff and stuff. Met a very amazing fellow John Beard who was demonstrating a Native American style of handweaving called Ravenstail Weaving. Saw all sorts of inspiring projects. Numerous things came home with me, including a full raw fleece (which Toaster, our dog, thinks smells just aMAZing.)

Bamboo&Silk whorls, silk hankies to spin

Did I really need another sock book? 

John Beard and my Mum

Silken eye candy

If I spin my Silk&Bamboo right I can make something like this.

Sheep and Goat's eyes creep me out. Those big rectangular pupils look better on octopi!

I have 5.5 lb of this now.

On the way home, we took a much enjoyed break and hiked up Multnomah Falls. Spectacular! It was totally worth circling the parking lot three and a half times waiting for a parking space.

As much as I'd like to jump in and start playing with the new fluff, it seems I have a long list of things that actually need to be done. 

TTFN,
Tracy

Twelve Divided by Eight

Working on a new drawing.  The last one had such a boring border, that I have perhaps overcompensated by making this one almost all border. I'm excited to get to the inking part.  He'll look so much better by the end of the weekend.

Yeah, I love octopi.

Celtic Hex Mandala

Blue ink and colored pencils on this one. I can't believe how boooo-ring I made the border. Must get more twisted next time.