Duncan Jim and Jeanne
Archive for December, 2014
We want to wish you a Merry Christmas
Thursday, December 25th, 2014The Tree for 2014
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014This is for comparison purposes:
The Concolor Fir
This is a Rocky Mountain tree! It smells great and keeps its needles better than other types of (dead) trees. I have heard that they have a rather limited cutting season, but if we see them next year this is the type of tree we will get.
A Hub Ornament
This is a TARDIS police box on sled runners made out of candy canes. The round thing is a Fort Collins Creator Hub button.
Tree with decorations
Projects going into 2015
Monday, December 15th, 2014That means they are not yet finished:
Press Cylinders
More like 4 inch diameter PVC pipes with a 1 inch steel pipe through the center (we hope) prior to filling with concrete. It’s an idea I’ve had for a while to make a printing press for intaglio plates. May or may not work…
Heavy cylinders
In this step, both cylinders are filled with concrete and allowed to harden. Some plywood end stock was fitted to each end to help set the steel pipe through the center. Whatever happens next will not happen until next year. See you then!
And in another corner, some project involving electro-forming:
This project is about electrochemistry, copper anodes and sulfuric acid; the idea is to coat various non-conductive surfaces with metal by a process called Electro-Forming. It’s how bronzed baby shoes were made (if you remember those.)
Some sort of plant pod
This is an example of a non-conductive surface that could be coated with metal. Maybe they could be made into earrings? After they are dried, the surface is coated with lacquer and, depending on a number of conditions I haven’t quite worked out yet, the surface is made conductive and then electro-plated. At this moment I have not perfected the method.
An Assassin Bug
Naturally I have a constant source of insects (dead or alive) to choose from. The coating process seems like it may require some intervals to properly get the job done with insects. The initial coating requires a freshly deceased subject such that the legs and antennae can be manipulated without breaking off.
Gold Bug
Or something like that. Sufficient time to dry out is important at this stage. I’m giving this guy at least a month to dry completely before I do the final coating.
Creator Hub break time
About this time there was a little diversion to make a few holiday projects with the Hub Crew at the Harmony Library. Hope to get back with more projects next year!
A Zoo of Sorts…
Wednesday, December 10th, 2014First, the rats at the FCMOD:
Kids love watching the Rat Ball!
The FCMOD has these plastic exercise balls where a good sized rat can be encapsulated for a moderate amount of time. I have never released the rats out of their cage before today, but I now find that the rats love to get into these balls and roll around the museum floor. According to the Rat Forum, rat balls are not much fun for the rat, but how do they know that?
Dancers at the Zoo
In December the Denver Zoo puts on the “Zoo Lights” with more than 150 brightly animated light sculptures decorating the zoo’s trees, lawns and bushes. The cultural entertainment included the above costumed dancers; They didn’t introduce themselves but the costumes resemble Mayan culture, possibly a ‘deer dance’.
Also, Mrs Indonesia was there
… and a gamelan played to a group of Asian dancers; I will return to this place next week to check out the lights!
Mysteries at the Museum
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014A male Ghost Mantis is in the following picture:
Museum worker Chris lowering the shade
At the last HOLA (or Hands On Live Animals) I was attempting to use my new magnifier app on my new smart phone to take a close-up picture of Phyllocrania paradoxa otherwise known as a Ghost Mantis. Just when I was getting the phone ready, the leafy looking bug decided to take off! As in fly away… He (and it was a male mantis) made a few circles at a height of about 25 feet in the air and then finally rested upon the shade near the window. He’s in the upper left of the window in the above picture but you can’t see him.
Ghost Mantis at the top of the window shade
Using the zoom function of my camera (Not my smart phone) I was able to get the above shot of the little ghost while he rested on the shade. Chris got a ladder to reach the pull chord for the shade and gently lowered the little bug-a-boo so he could safely be returned to his cage. All is fine, so I thought, but when I returned to the museum the following week I found out that 1) Chris got a job a CSU and is no longer employed at the museum and 2) The females in the mantis cage ATE THE ESCAPEE ! … I guess they were a bit pissed off that he wanted some time away from the girls.