Christmas Cows

Some drawings I did for Christmas cards this year.  I very much enjoyed drawing them.   

Canon Powershot SD980 IS: Goes to Florida

I was recently in Florida with my camera, and here are some of my favorite photos from the trip.  I love the versatility of the camera; it works well for super close (best), medium distances, and is even ok for landscapes. 

This last photo is for all you people who, back in 1969, doubted we ever really landed on Cape Canaveral (also it was taken out a moving bus window).

  This is the camera I use.  More photos (various) here.

Re-potting Phalaenopsis Orchids in Sphagnum Moss

A few months ago I re-potted some of my phalaenopsis orchids which had finished blooming.  This was my first time, so I wanted to wait awhile to make sure it was successful, but the orchids are doing well (and budding and adding leaves and generally quite happy) so I'm confident that it went well.  Here's what I did:

Supplies: Sphagnum Moss, New Orchid Pot, Scissors

1) Buy a new pot.  I found some nice clay ones that are very well aerated.  Orchid pots need lots of holes so the orchids don't sit in standing water and rot.  Clay also helps take up moisture to further prevent this.  Your new pot should not be much larger than your old pot, as orchids like to be in fairly confined spaces.

2) Remove the orchid from its old pot.  In my case, the orchids had a plastic pot inside the pot they were in, so I had to cut it off.

3)  Remove old moss/potting material.  The purpose of re-potting is not just to give the orchid a bigger space to live in, but also to remove old decaying potting material.  The potting material will be very tightly wrapped around the orchid, so be careful when pulling it out.  You may need to cut out sections at a time.  The roots of the orchids come in two varieties: roots growing under the potting material, and roots growing in the air.  Make sure you know which are which (the air roots are shiny), because when you re-pot the orchid you will need to keep them the way they were.  You may also find some dead/decaying roots.  These will be black.  These should be snipped off with the scissors to prevent them from rotting anything else.

4)  Now that you have your orchid and its healthy root system, you need to start re-potting.  I used sphagnum moss because it looks good and I'm accustomed to watering orchids in sphagnum moss.  The trick to re-potting is to get a TON of moss around the orchid  (note: some people recommend soaking the moss before re-potting, but I did not do this).  First I took a large ball of moss and put it inside the space directly under the plant which the roots wrap around.  Fill this as much as possible.  Next, I put some moss at the bottom of my new pot.  I put the plant part-way into the pot, then continued packing in moss around the outside of the roots.  You shouldn't be able to easily lift the orchid out of the pot once you've added enough moss, so keep adding until it is well wedged in.

5) Finally, add some water.  You'll want to water lightly for the first watering or two after re-potting so the plants can adjust, then go back to regular watering after a few days.

My orchids have been doing quite well since I re-potted them.  They have new leaves, new roots, new spikes, and lots of new buds!

For more Orchid related blog posts, click here!

Minnesota Song Birds

My latest drawings, another series of song birds (not to scale).

From top to bottom, left to right: Tufted Titmouse, House Sparrow, Nuthatch, Cedar Waxwing, Purple Finch, Baltimore Oriole, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 

Still debating whether or not to try water-coloring them.

See all the Song Bird drawings

Two Purple Finches

I was never wholly satisfied with my first purple finch drawing, at the bottom of this post, because even though it was made to be water-colored, it seemed like it still was just too lacking in detail.  So I made a new finch, and the new one makes me much happier.  The new finch displays a lot more 'coloring' and patterns, even in black and white, so you have a better sense of what the bird looks like.  Here are both of them, see if you can spot the differences :)   Here are all the Song Bird drawings

As always, these are the pens I use and love: 

Pet Portraits: Lily

The latest Pet Portrait, Lily.

These are the awesome pens I use:


For more Pet Portraits, click here

Botanic Drawings: Humulus Lupulus (Hops)

Technically not my first attempt at drawing plants (see these flowers), but my first faux-scientific looking one.  Humulus Lupulus, also known as Hops.   
















These are the wonderful pens I use:

Pet Portraits: Ted

In Memory of Ted

To see other Pet Portraits, click here

These are the pens I use:

DIY Water Balloon Ice Candle Holders (Luminaries)

I really enjoy making ice candle holders (luminaries) in the winter, and usually use a generic mold.  This year it was suggested to me to try making them out of water balloons.  The idea is simple: Take a standard balloon, fill with water, put outside to partially freeze.  Once an outer shell of ice has formed, rip the balloon off the ice and dump out the remaining water.  Add candle.

This turns out to be rather tricky.  I have done a few experiments so far and can not yet consistently get these to work, but if you're willing to risk a few failures, the final result is quite nice.  So here are my directions along with comments on what I've learned by doing this:

1) Inflate the balloon, then deflate it most (but not all) of the way, THEN add water.  The idea is to get a bubble of air (maybe an inch or so across, more if your candle will be bigger than a softball) inside the balloon.  I'm not entirely certain on the physics, but in my testing I have found that having that air bubble keeps the ice beneath it slightly thinner.  This means that when you take off the balloon, you will have a good place to make a hole through the sphere of ice.

2) Wipe off (dry) balloons before putting outside to freeze (you don't want them to freeze to the ground)

3) Check on the balloons periodically while freezing.  You don't want them to freeze all the way through!

4) You can use a key or other sharp object to tear the balloon off; it's pretty easy.

5) Very carefully break into the ice by gently tapping the flat surface where the air bubble had been.  This should be the thinnest ice, and break easier than other sections.  If you can't break this part, the ice has frozen too far, but at least you have a pretty ice ball.  If you can break this part, break a large enough circle that you can set a candle into it.  Don't forget to empty out the water!

6) Add a candle! You're done! If you're like me, you made one successful candle after four tries, but hopefully reading this means you've increased your likely hood of success.






EDIT:  If you fill the balloons all the way up and do not leave a space, you may end up with this:
http://julia.typepad.com/julia/2012/12/dinner-partied.html 

DIY Penguin Christmas Village: House

These are the main buildings in my Penguin Christmas Village.  I try to only make things that I can build and bake in one go, so I don't do a lot of buildings because they are tricky to make (the soft clay doesn't support itself well).  However, that same factor also gives them a nice, slightly gingerbread look, so it works out well.



See all the Penguin Christmas Village articles here!

How to make a Penguin Christmas Village House: 

First, start with a large roll of brown clay.  This should be at least five or six inches long.  Flatten this out, and make it as rectangular as possible, about an inch to an inch and a half tall.  Then, fold into a square.  These are the walls of your house.  Don't worry if they are not perfectly straight up and down (they won't be).  Pinch the corners to make them stay, and pinch the clay together where the walls over-lap.  This is the hardest part of the entire building! Once you have this done, the rest is easy.

 Now that you have your structure, make a small thin rectangle for the door, and add an even small ball of clay (flattened as well) as a door handle

 Next make a semi-circle out of green, then add two dots of red to make a wreathe.  For windows, start with a square of yellow on each side of the house.

Add a white trim border around the yellow square window, then a white cross-hatch.  The roof starts out as a large red rectangle, similar to how you made the original walls, but not as long. 

You can add a small chimney to the roof before putting it on the house.  Make a small fold in the middle of the roof to give it some slope, then place it on the building.  Add a rope of green clay for a garland. 

 Finish off the garland with some red dots, and you're done!

Bake at 275F for about 15 minutes to harden.