Purple Sea Urchin tests, South NSW coast

One of the things I love doing is finding specimens and sighting wild creatures, then hopping online to learn about them. The shell of a sea urchin is called a test. When alive/fleshed they have an internal bony structure surrounding the mouth called a lantern or Aristotle's lantern.



These two are the biggest sea urchin tests I have ever found. They were also subject to the most intensive cleaning I have ever deigned to give a beach combing find. Of course when it's as special as these two it's worth it. Neither was found fully spined and both were still occupied but definitely dead. Their remaining spines were a deep purple and based on their size, and location are most likely Purple Sea Urchins.

I did a bit of research online into preserving them with spines (one was half covered) but that would have required pure alcohol.* I have only found isopropyl alcohol in 125ml bottles at Bunnings for almost $8. It would have taken at least two bottles to cover one of these urchins. Had either been fully spined I would have considered it worth it. This process would also have preserved the animal inside as well.

Instead I gutted them, removing the lantern and scraping out of the soft innards. After much rinsing out to remove remaining crud I soaked them in a weak bleach solution to help loosen the spines. I put one aside to dry out completely.  With the other I spent a couple of hours picking off any remaining external tissue and tried microwaving it to soften that up. It is quite gristley and near impossible to remove! This shrinks down into a shellac like substance when dried out, so I just let it dry out like my first one.




Photographed with a $2 coin (∅ 20.5mm) to give you an idea of size. As you can see the peristome (mouth) aperture is large. So big I could almost pop my digital camera's lens into it.


The periproct as viewed through the peristome . Yup that's the prettiest periproct I have ever seen - and the only one I have photographed I hasten to add.

A pickled sea urchin doesn't know its peristome from it's periproct!

*edit 01/08/2012
Gah! My initial research threw me a red herring with the 70% isopropyl because I assumed what was good for preserving starfish would have been good for sea urchins as well. Right after tracking down some 40% isopropyl in a 500ml bottle @ $4.50 I hop online...Further in depth research has uncovered that it is ethanol or pure grain alcohol that is best for preserving specimens in general. Quality articles on the subject confirm this. This is what the linked to site in this post about preserving sea urchins refers to. Common as muck methylated spirits (95% ethanol) diluted with distilled water to 70-80% purity would have done the job. Professionals use an industrial methylated spirits (99.9%) but you need a licence to get it.

I am finding that 40% solution rather excellent for cleaing my laptop, mobile phone, remotes and a range of other devices. So it's not a total waste of time.

Goodness, gracious great balls of...

At Broulee Beach, NSW. 6-8 year old girl to her possibly Islander Dad about something she has beach combed.
"Dad, look - it's like a super ball."
"Might be poo."
*pause* *thud of small object*
*man laughing*
Girl,
"Nah it couldn't be a poo because it's too hard."

Victorian Iron Man

If Iron Man's Tony Stark lived in the Victorian period he might have looked something like this:



Original image from Cassell's Family Magazine, 1886, page 576

The light source was powered by a similar sized battery, just to add to that likeness. Accompanying text:

'A very neat portable hand electric lamp has been introduced for use in mines, gunpowder works, and other inflammable places, besides being adapted for use as a railway or carriage reading-lamp ... the box, B which is of varnished teak, and has a flat, flexible leather handle ... The size of the box is 6 by 5 by 4 inches, and the weight of the whole is only 6lbs ... can be put under the seat of the carriage, or in the hat-racks, while the lamp is held in the hand, or fixed to the button-hole of the coat.'

The rest of the text discusses the chemistry behind the batteries suitable for such a device which I won't go into.

Robert Downey Jnr as Mr Stark wired up to a car battery: 

Solo Chainsaw - Vintage Ad. 1969

A start so effortless, even a tamed model in a leopard print bathing suit can use it.

Clipping taken from some newspaper, found under some old vinyl flooring at my old family home in Melbourne.

Virtual fish bowl...

... there's no water, no bowl, and the fish is rubber!

I've tried growing a number of plants in this second-hand shallow, bonsai dish that cost me about a dollar or less: parley seeds, bonsai rosemary, succulents and mint. Hopefully this one will live! I moved it into our bathroom a few weeks ago so my orchid that was there could go in the portable greenhouse over Winter.

Anyhoo, I like how my op shop fish looks like he's swimming in a bowl even though he is in air. He is actually a much brighter orange - almost fluorescent - in real life but it's hard to capture that with a camera.

Phở bia = a fear of Vietnamese soup

Phở bia = a fear of Vietnamese soup

Post-It note caption/inspiration for photo by my housemate. Styling and dramatic Photoshopping by moi. Model is Wallace from Aardman Studios. Wallace wears The Wrong Trousers by Feathers McGraw.

New fangled button

A patented design that became so ubiquitous in its success we now take it for granted.



'UNDER the appropriate name of "The Very Button," Messrs. Green and Cadbury have patented a two-hole linen button, which will be found to be among the most servicable that are made As a rule, buttons are a fruitful source of annoyance to nearly everybody, but we venture to think that "The Very Button" will be considered an exception to the rule. We can recommend its use for all kinds of under-clothing, and we think that no one will ever regret having given it a trial.'

Original image from Cassell's Household Guide, c. late 19th century. Estimated to be before electricity in houses, pre 1881/1882. Gas lighting and manual washing machines are mentioned elsewhere in this double volume.

T-Rex cares not for the Docklands

AARRGGGHHHRRR!!!
 
T-Rex on the attack down at the Docklands. Just look what he did to that ferris wheel. It may never run again...

Teddy's Dream after a Dormitory Feed!

Original image from The Boy's Own Paper, Saturday, February, 1899, No. 1048. - Vol XXI, page 8

The Black Market, The Dormouse and The Meerkat

The Black Market is an alternative culture market featuring crafts, art and bric-a-brac. I will be sharing a stall with my housemate who has knitted goods.

We will be called  
The Dormouse and The Meerkat.

Click here or below on the titles in the price list to see some of what will be on sale from me, The Meerkat.  There will be Black Market Specials on my artworks, dropped from their previous gallery/Wunderkammer prices. Prices start from $30.

The Black Market

Saturday, June 9

11-6

@

Revolt Melbourne Artspace

12 Elizabeth St, Kensington, Melbourne, VIC 3031

Entry is free for the Black Market, with ticket admission for other events as part of Fiend Fest.

Creature Comfort

Illustration by T. Cromwell Lawrence

Illustration by T. Cromwell Lawrence.


The good runners...


... and the beetle that loved them.

Original image from The Boy's Own Paper, Saturday, December, 1898, No. 1040. - Vol XXI, page 3

More Vintage LOLrus

Original image source: The Boy's Own Paper, Saturday, July 29, 1899, No. 1072. - Vol XXI, page 1

According to the text this is an illustration of a 'bladder-nose'. That's 'Mr. Bladder-nose to you, and not to be confused with the elephant seal, who is quite another bucket of fish.

Koalas like trams - and love Australia

These koalas were seen on the 112 tram to the city last Saturday morning, quietly blending in with the onboard decor.

'Dear' Old Aunt Sally

Original image and text from The Boy's Own Paper, Saturday, November 12, 1899, No. 1035. - Vol XXI, page 13

 'The following games will not only cause much amusement to the different players joining therein, but will afford that healthy exercise which is so necessary for the maintenance of health...

... Fig. 1 gives "dear old Aunt Sally," who, no matter how much we may knock her about, still smiles, and keeps it up too, as if in encouragement and invitation to have another shy. Aunt Sally's head should be carved out of a block of wood, and the sculptor's art exhibited need not be of any high order, as the more grotesque the features the better. When the head is carved it must be painted black, in imitation of a neggress* with a sweet smile, bright red lips, and pearly-white teeth**. A hole should be made underneath the head, large enough to insert the end of a broomstick, the other end to sharpened to a point, as seen in the illustration, so that it may be easily pushed into the ground ... A small hole should be drilled in the nose to receive a short clay pipe, a quantity of which may be obtained from the tobacconists' shops for a few pence ... round sticks, as A in fig. 1, about eighteen inches in length, can be made by sawing up broomsticks into the required length.

All is now ready. Stand Sally up, and place a pipe in her nose. Three sticks are to be given to each player, the game being to break the pipe by aiming sticks at it...'

I'm not going to dissect the obvious racism, and violence against women such a game suggests'. Almost one hundred and thirteen years later I think we can all agree this is so many levels of wrong. Additionally, promoting waste and destruction is hardly healthful exercise ... the modern equivalent would be to gather several empty glass bottles together to throw rocks at them, thus 'fostering quickness of sight'. I have put in italic the parts I found especially abhorent and leave it at that. I'll be flippant and say: Good luck finding an intact broom afterwards to clean up all that broken pipe!

*Blogger's dictionary doesn't know what this word is :) Good!
**We know that no one actually looks like this!

King of Cookies, design for Threadless

Please vote for my Threadless shirt artwork for the Sesame Street Design Challenge:

King of Cookies.

To vote for it and any of the other awesome designs by my fellow artists you can either create a Threadless account or use the Threadless Facebook application and use your Facebook log in (don't uncheck the boxes on that or it won't work). Thank you :)

Stupid is as stupid does.

Yesterday afternoon, J and I are out on the road, on our bikes to Aldi for some bicycle bits on special. Coming up to a set of red lights we negotiate past a car in a drive way reversing her way into traffic, her car end sticking out into the road. She would have needed other cars to let her in so it wasn't going to happen just yet. 
As I wave my hand to the driver politely acknowledging our passage through, the driver yells "Stupid bikes!".
I think 'stupid driver'. 
J asks me what she said, I repeat it. 
In true J fashion, without missing a beat he responds "But bikes aren't sentient."

Everything is prettier by candlelight

We sat by candlelight in the backyard with homemade pizzas and a roll of paper towel we have brought out for serviettes. I commented that by the candle light the roll looks like an expensive ceramic not cheap paper towel. My housemate's friend asks, 
"What would be the point/use of a ceramic paper towel?" 
I responded "It's a metaphor for the futility of cleaning!"

Moving meatballs/pictures. Don't judge a book by its cover!

Until Christmas a few years ago I had absolutely no idea about Terry Pratchett or his books only that they had busy, grotesque, knobbly and bulgy figures in gaudy colours tumbling about their covers. I found those covers by Josh Kirby (R.I.P.) off putting, suggesting baudy fantasy stories and thus had no interest in reading them. Pratchett purists and of course Pratchett himself seems to adore Kirby's illustrations but for me they show Kirby's 1970s fantasy and sci-fi roots. That is an aquired taste and it can be polarising - you tend to either love or loathe it. I don't deny the skill and technique that went into these pieces. They're just not appealing to me...

 ... unlike Spanish meatballs with aioli! I had these two items sitting on my desk today:



 One thing led to another - with bit of half a**ed, crappy Photoshopping you've got a delicious meatball troll and, as it turns out, a blog post:
 

Then one Christmas there was a curious telemovie and it made me laugh: Hogfather. I had also read Good Omens by Pratchett and Neil Gaiman which made reading on the train a little awkward but fun because I barely stifled my chuckles. Although I'd read most of Gaiman's Sandman series it was only after reading more Gaiman paperbacks that I realised the humour must have come from Pratchett. I have since grown to adore his work, and can see how he has honed his skill over time.

When reading Pratchett's books I choose the softly coloured, beautiful new covers by Paul Kidby over the old - though I hasten to add I'm happy to get my hands on a book irrespective of cover. These and the teleseries really capture the essence of  Pratchett's work for a new generation. The steampunk flavour of Going Postal was wonderful, the story excellent, the casting and thus acting - loved David Suchet - superb making it my favourite telemovie so far. I will always imagine the Patrician, Lord Vetinari as Charles Dance now.

A Modern Utopia by H.G. Wells

If you have enjoying Wells' other works you may well find this to be a disappointment. An especially inappropriate book to introduce a H.G. curious, new reader. Wells is a fine novelist but A Modern Utopia is an essay/novel hybrid which doesn't work. Wells often introduces his books with great humility and self deprecation. I've learnt to take that with a pinch of salt because I have seldom found his works wanting. However in this case it's justified. I tried to finish it, resorting to skimming but it was still too much effort for what little reward I received. He should have written an essay without a narrative - at least then the unfortunate sci-fi reader would know that they are not in for an adventure. For the philosophical reader who is stimulated by theories about what might make a modern Utopia this could be a very interesting book. I am the aformentioned reader.

First time cooking leeks and barley was mostly a success - yummy with room for improvement. I did the most of the prepping and J did the cooking. It's a pattern we have sort of fallen into rather than set out to do and it seems to work. He says it's because I like using my fine knives so much. I do, they're a pleasure to work with.

Cutting up food with skill into nice even or interesting bits is a bit like assembling a collage or carving a sculpture which I love doing. I relish collecting fresh herbs and things from the garden so that bit is a bit like gardening which I also enjoy. Plating up can be a stimulating exercise in composition but my skills in this area are honest and homely rather than restaurant style.

I often get asked by customers if I like cooking which I answer with a tentative yes. When there's time to put something worthwhile together and I'm not tired I do enjoy it. I take an interest in trying new things - especially with J inspiring me with greater confidence.

How about you - do you enjoy cooking? Do you grow your own produce or herbs? What's your favourite thing about cooking?

Shun knives are good...

Presumbly a TAFE or Uni student in a kitchenware shop in the CBD looking at various knives in showcase. Loudly to his friend who is somewhere else in the shop:
"Stop making me look at the Shun knives [friend's name]. They're giving me a stiffy!"

Please score my Threadless design: Genie Windish, is a sweet icecream covered ass.

Sorry to double post for those of you on a feed but Genie Windish is now ready to be scored and hopefully with your support, PRINTED! Simply create a Threadless account and your score will make a difference. Depending on how this goes I will most likely create and upload more designs so it's worth your while if you'd like to wear some of my art on a t-shirt. There are also many other wonderful artists on Threadless who you can support too. Be sure to share with your friends :)

My first Threadless t-shirt submission: Genie Windish

My first Threadless t-shirt submission! You do need to create a Threadless profile in order to score it. Please take the time to do so if you'd like to see it get printed :) Thank you!


The design is based on the original collage, Sweet Genie Windish....

A little bit about palm oil and how to avoid it.

For both your health and environmental reasons palm oil needs to be avoided. Labelling laws for palm oil vary around the world making it difficult to know what you're buying. It's an issue I felt so strongly about that I wrote to my local member of parliament about it. Disappointingly a potential law requiring its labelling was rejected in Australia.

Palm oil plantations have had a devastating effect on Indonesia's unique rainforest habitat and thus the population of endangered orangutans, Sumatran tigers, rhinoceros and thousands of other animals dependant on this ecosystem. If the destruction of this habitat for palm oil plantations isn't stopped, we could see these endangered species extinct within our lifetime.

What can you do as a consumer? Writing to your member of parliament, or signing petitions could still eventually create enough demand for change if enough people ask for it. If your government is as apathetic as mine you can still make a difference. Spread the word about palm oil and how to avoid it:

'to avoid buying palm oil, when buying food look for the label stating it is vegetable oil. Then look for saturated fat. If only vegetable oil (no animal fat listed) is used and there is 5%+ saturated fat in the product - you are buying palm kernel oil, palm oil or coconut oil, most probably palm.'

'if palm oil is used in cosmetics it must be labelled. No exceptions. However, it is usually not labelled as Palm oil. It is labelled as Elaeis guineensis. This is the name given to palm oil by the International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI).'
From http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/shopping-
guide.html

A bit harder to avoid are possible palm oil derivitives:
'In non-food products like soaps and detergents, the list includes elaeis guineensis, sodium lauryl sulphate, cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, isopropyl and other palmitates, steareth-2, steareth-20 and fatty alcohol sulphates – all of which may be derived from palm oil.'
Sodium lauryl sulphate is the most common lathering agent used in toiletries.
From Borneo Orangutan Survival's site.

Further reading if you want to know more of the names palm oil deritives hide behind.

Sweet F*** all

Top of a bollard, Broulee, NSW, Australia.

Señor Pantalons, the juvenile King Parrot

Taken at the holiday house in Broulee.


Señor Pantalons. I'll explain later.


A little birdy sitting in the tree
Nomming berries quietly
Señor Pantalons is he
Señor Pantalons


Señor Pantalons is a juvenile King Parrot. Eventually he will be all red with green wings. For now he's just got red 'pants' hence my nick name for him. He's a lot less wary of humans than the other birds visiting (crimson rosellas adult and juvenile, bower bird female and juvenile, little wattlebird) hence I have been able to pop a few good shots of 'him'


It's tricky capturing those pants with the camera.



An adult King Parrot who was accompanying Señor Pantalons.


A juvenile Crimson Rosella.

Royal Albatross - partial skull

At Broulee, NSW, Australia I found a partial marine bird skull which I hypothesised to be that of an albatross. I took it back down to the seashore to take some photographs of it.


The Ancient One
digital image

Using the Seabird Osteology site, I have since identified it as the skull of a Southern Royal Albatross. According to the bird field guide I have to hand there are two races of these species: Diomedea epomophora is endangered and the other, dark winged , Diomedea sanfordi is vulnerable. Without having seen a full corpse with feathers I can't be sure which one it is. It is a little smaller than the depicted specimen - beak is about 14cm - so I'm guessing it could be a female or going by the slight difference in eye socket shape, a juvenile.


Time eroded
digital image

I certainly didn't expect to find a piece of endangered bird on the beach and had to make sure it wasn't something more common like the comorants seen in the area. As it turns out, all Australian species of albatross are either endangered or vulnerable. It's not something you want to know but at least now I'm a little more informed on the subject, and thus so are you.

My Meerkat Experience at Mogo Zoo

From J: the best Christmas present EVER :) Mogo Zoo, NSW, Australia offers various Animal Encounters, one of which is a Meerkat Experience. All of these photographs and the short clip were taken by zoo keeper Bek/c while I enjoyed feeding my favourite little peeps. Bek/c took heaps of photos for me so I'm only including some.




[sings]Getting to knooooow you,
getting to feed you stuff from a bucket.



The dominant meerkat of the five boys spent most of the time with his head in the bucket except when meal worms were brought out...




... and put on my head, shoulder and lap.


It didn't hurt, but it took a bit of getting used to having this little critter run his paws and claws through my hair. Their claws are very long but dulled by digging and foraging.


Call me back later, I'm feeding the meerkats!


My favourite photo of us.


Their fur is a not as soft as a cat's but not as coarse as some adult dogs. Afterwards my hands smelt spicy and earthy - sort of like curry powder or maybe tumeric.


Keeper Bek/c said this was the cutest pic she had ever taken of this little chap. He is the oldest meerkat of the five, at nine years old. He was once the head male. Not anymore, he sat apart while the others did their thing. So sweet though as you can see by this pic.


I don't remember his name but here he is again...


...and here too.


The four amigos sun bake in a line. Apparently the keeper had never seen them lying in a line like that before.



Please M'am, may I have some more?

Precious little pygmy marmosets

At Mogo Zoo we were admiring the agility and cuteness of the pygmy marmosets. A boy of about 8 walks by and excitedly asks his older brother of about 12
"Can we order one of those?!"
"Yeah sure - they're six million dollars!"