Planet Brighton

Here is a Tiny Planet view of Brighton Pavilion

And here are their opposite wormholes

Such Fun!!

Tiny Planets

Tiny Planets is a photographic App husband put on the iPhone when it used to be his. I have owned the device for over a year now, only for photos and audio books, and recently discovered it.


  This is what the app looks like on the phone, if you fancy buying it after seeing what it can do... (and no I'm not being asked to advertise it... I'm just sharing the gorgeousness of what it can do).

You give it your photos and it turns them into tiny planets or conversely into tunnels/ rabbit holes

eg here is a starter photo I took of the Easter cakes my sister made

and here is the cake vortex!

Here is the tree that fell down during the recent storm and blocked the traffic from coming down our road

And here is planet treefall and tree-vortex

Not sure if it's a threat or a promise, but there will be more!

Ancient Amigurumi - Last one is a Hoody!

This was a bear dressed as a rabbit, and looking rather menacing whichever it decides to be

Next ... Little Planets.

Ancient Amigurumi 4 - Shy Monkey

This is my favourite as it is just unbelievably cute (like the ones in Monkeyball - the computer game).

I experimented with a mouth that wasn't happy for a change, but the result is eternally heartbreaking and makes you just want to pick it up and cuddle it.

So tempted to unstitch it and make it happy.

Talking of Happy... Happy Easter!

Ancient Amigurumi 3 - Lion

I must be getting flashbacks in my craft-mind.
I have recently started making an Amigurumi lion and had completely forgotten that years ago I made this one.

And the tree - that was great fun!

I think the lion I am making at the moment will be cuter that this but have come to a standstill as I can't find the pesky black safety eyes I bought in the summer. 
Will let you know when I finish it.

Ancient Amigurumi 2: Sheep

The next two creatures to grace the fake grass are sheep! I seem to have made them in three varieties and confess to a desire to have another go at these.

There's fashionista sheep with her tiny skirt and flowers with traditional shaped sheep, although purple in colour.

Followed by a slightly Mr Tumnus-inspired beardy sheep. It must be this one I subconsciously wanted to make again as I bought the fluffy white wool last week on a whim, a couple of days before my daughter dug these out and reminded me I had made them many moons ago!

Ancient Amigurumi 1: Panda

Well , maybe not exactly ancient, but my grown-up daughter dug out some of the first ones I ever made for her, so I thought I'd show you.

Fake grass from the Tiger shop, where apparently it's an Easter/ Springtime table runner!! I had never thought of putting fake grass down the centre of my table! Much more sensible to put crocheted creatures on it and photograph them.     =)

Egg Experiments - The Results!

Well, in some ways it didn't turn out as I'd hoped (see 2 days back for the start) but in others it was great. This was the initial pic where the wax pattern had been drawn on, before it was submerged.

The vinegar dissolved the shell much faster than I had expected and, instead of the 4 days the internet predicted for such experiments, the duck egg took just 26 hours. Ducks' eggs different to chickens'? White different to brown eggs? White vinegar different to brown? No idea. You can see the translucency and the yellow of the yolk through the membrane when you do the experiment, so you can see when it is time to stop and rinse.

The vinegar took ALL the shell, leaving only membrane and wax but they both survived the emptying process of getting the eggy bit out and left a fragile but beautiful translucent piece, which I put an LED light inside, thus

You can just about see the cell battery I sellotaped it to on the left side on the cloth.

I then put it in front of one of those battery operated candles and photographed it as the colours changed. Here are the results, choose your favourite shade!

So, despite the vinegary smells for a few days and the fact that it wasn't as robust as I'd hoped because the vinegar ate all the shell not just the un-waxed bit, it was well worth it for the photo-y fun we had with it at all stages!

Beautiful Eggs and Bubbles

Here are some of the photos I took of the duck egg in the vinegar, while waiting for the shells to dissolve (see yesterday's blog for the start).

 The bubbles produced are part of the process of the dissolving and we shone a LED torch across them to get the pictures. I then applied a variety of effects to them afterwards.

So gorgeous! We decided that, even if the hoped-for result does not occur, we (husband and I) will have had such fun photographing the process towards it!

Experimenting with Eggs

This is something I've been wanting to do for a couple of years now,,, just to see if it works... but have never got around to.

But as this is the year of the resolution to: 'Finish the unfinished or clear the crap' (ie do all the stuff I keep saying I'll do/ needs doing or get rid of it), i got on with it!

Here is the egg I chose: duck, just because its bigger and whiter than hens' eggs.

I drew on it with white, melted beeswax . This is the tool from an encaustic set I have had for years, often intended to get back to and not done so. It heats like a soldering iron but has a central reservoir like a dip pen. When it's hot, you dip it in the wax block and it draws up a small amount which you can then draw with. Not meant for eggs but why not?

I know from experiments year 4 have done at school that vinegar dissolves egg shells, leaving just the rubbery membrane and the egg inside. So I wondered if some of the shell was coated in wax, whether it would stop that part from dissolving and leave a great tracery pattern of shell.

Here it is in the white vinegar. The hope is that the vinegar will eat the shell where there is no wax, leave it intact where there is wax, and that I can pop the membrane and peel it out without breaking the delicate pattern, leaving a beautiful egg tracery.

I have no idea whether it will work, but husband and I have had great fun taking photos of the bubbles that formed, with different lighting on them. More of those later.

Wish me luck and I'll let you see the results - whatever they may be!

Fabulous Skies

Let's have a bit of wide open blue sky to herald the official start of Spring and encourage the sunshine to come out and warm the place up!

These were taken locally at a lovely open space called Newlands Corner (although its rather ancient hills and woodland).

Just for a bit of fun, have the clouds on high-funk alert!!

Actually that's more ominous than fun, but still worth a look.

Happy Spring!

Amigurumi Mouse and Rabbit

Here are a couple of cuties I made in the Summer

I sometimes wish I could read/write patterns as I would stand a chance of recreating the same thing again if I needed to but, as it is, I just start an Amigurumi with very little idea what it will turn out looking like. I suppose that way at least it's always a surprise!

Mopatop Amigurumi

I made this dragony-thing with some lovely bright green wool I bought. It just seemed to lend itself to dragonness. 

Once it was finished it accidentally appeared to resemble the TV character Mopatop that my daughter used to watch when she was little.

And here's the real Mopatop.

But maybe the amigurumi one was from his younger slimmer days!!

Crochet with marmite

Not the easiest of skills - to crochet with Marmite - but I had a go in the summer.

The result was a an amigurumi Marmite jar..

It was decorated with felt hearts as it was husband's wedding anniversary present (say it with Marmite!). The wool was black with little sparkles in.

And here is a sense of scale, with a summer of love jar and a tiny one we found in a pound shop, just made to come on holidays!