Mosquito MicroArt

© 2015 DinaripperCreations "Mosquito Wing"

Wow, this took me all afternoon and I wasn't sure if it would turn out, but it did!

I'm amazed by how beautiful this is.  It looks like a watercolor.  You must click on the image to get a closer look.

When I was working on this (all 95 photos!) I observed that the veins/hairs in the wings looked like rosemary.  Yes, the herb.  The little feathery eyelash-like hairs on the edges of the wing was a big surprise too.  This does explain why mosquitoes are so annoying with their amazing flying skills.

Even horrible blood suckers such as these can be beautiful in their own way.  Mother Nature is really a neat gal.

MicroArt

"What the...?"  I can hear you say, either out loud or in your mind-thoughts.

Meet Mr. Mosquito Larvae (aka baby Culiseta longiareolata), magnified (4/0.10 160/0.17 lens) on my microscope.  Yes, I have a microscope.  Doesn't everyone?

I've blended my love for biology with photography and created a bizarrely beautiful finished image.  This was painstakingly pieced together by me with over 30 images.

Here is my first MicroArt of an ant.  Poor guy.

I find at first glance the mosquito larvae kind of looks like a fish fossil.  What do you think?

I think I may have to print these out and frame them.  Although, I'd like to do one more, but I'm not sure what.  A spider would be very cool, but also a bit scary to work on.  I'll have to give that some thought!

Hmmm, looks like I may have to give the old 'scope a good cleaning too.

Happy Birthday, From Ravelry!

Aw, Ravelry put a cute little Birthday cake next to my Ravatar.  Thanks, guys!

I've always liked this little picture of George Washington Fred with his little silver wig of Handmaiden Seasilk.  So cute!

Adorable Woolies

Woah!  I forgot I even had started this blog!  I gave it a facelift and hope to keep it up-to-date since I really do like the whole blogging thing.

My niece, Emma bought me this book called "Felted Knit Amigurumi" by Lisa Eberhart.  She had written an inscription inside "I thought of you when I saw this book.  Make me this one please! <3 Emma <3" and she had circled the Apple.  How cute is that?

There were so many cute little things in this book, and they seemed pretty easy to make.  All of the animals looked so sad though!



Of course, like the good Aunt that I am, I had to make her an apple to send back for Dori to take to her.  Dori wanted me to make her a cactus so she could put it on her desk at work.  She figured she couldn't "kill" it and it's sort of like having a plant.  Yeah, yeah, yeah...

Of course, like the good sister that I am, I made Dori a cactus after she left.  I think it turned out better than I expected if I do say so myself!  I just have to get it in the mail to her now.

What to make next...?

Needle Felting is MAGIC!

WOW!  Needle felting is easy and fun AND you can make super-cute stuff like this little otter!  Dale and I were in Gig Harbor yesterday and we stopped into a cute little toy store.  They had these kits for sale and I picked up the otter.  I saw these in one of my knitting magazines and I've always been curious on what needle felting was and how to do it.

Well, the directions were simple and very easy!  The kit contained plenty of wool (roving wool is what it's called), two felting needles, tiny beads for eyes, and some ribbon to hang your otter.  I made mine into a Christmas ornament and will be sending it off in a package I'm putting together. 

At first it looked like a turd.  I kept showing it to Dale and screeched "Hidey Hooo! It's Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo!"  I did have my doubts that I could create such a cute and professional looking finished product like was pictured on the package.  I just kept working and following the directions and realized that needle felting really wasn't an exact art. 

 

The little woolie turd started out soft and squishy.  I'm not trying to gross you out!  You just keep jabbing the wool with your special needle and then add little shapes of other colored wool balls you make by jabbing, jabbing, and yet more jabbing.  I realized that you're sculpting your wool and the needle turns the soft and squishy into a firm and shaped form.  

I found this to be very easy and very satisfying! The hardest part was the little sea star, but I was able to remain faithful that my jabbing and jabbing and coaxing would pay off.  It's crazy because the sea star was pretty big when I started to shape it.  I was afraid it would be too big, but with the jabbing you can condense it and it just seems to shrink. 

I have enough wool to make another little otter and I believe that I will, but I think I'm going to get some more roving wool from one of my favorite yarn sites, knitpicks.com and see if I can come up with some of my own creations!  I'll keep you posted!

Oh!  If you ever decide to try needle felting, I highly recommend that you also purchase a thick piece of foam to work on.  All of that jabbing and jabbing can be a little rough on your fingers!

Army Men Desk Organizer

We had a Secret Santa Gift Swap at work and I wanted to make the person who I picked, something unusual but yet functional. The person I picked was a male, lower-enlisted Soldier and I didn't know him very well, but what interaction I had with him I decided that he was a good guy.

I had made something similar to this several years ago, but it was a bowl made from melted plastic lizards and frogs. It didn't turn out as well as this. My technique has gotten better!


I'll have to blog about how I did it, but I didn't take any pictures during this construction. Hmmm, that means I need to make something else... YEAH!