I've been visited by royalty

Royalty~~in the form of this fantastic Regal Moth caterpillar, Citheronia regalis (Fabricius). I've seen caterpillars that are stunning and some that are large--but I've never seen such a big beauty as this one.  The outside cats had brought it to my attention~~well, not really, actually I check on them throughout the day to make sure that they are alright and haven't gotten themselves into any trouble.  I peeked outside and could tell that they had something large, green and interesting.  I was in for a real treat.

    

I'm not one that usually grabs a glove when something like this presents itself~~I've been known to handle frogs, toads, lizards, snails and even a slug or two without a problem~~but I could tell that this caterpillar was going to be quite strong in its gripping abilities.  Of we went together into the backyard, me and the caterpillar minus any cats, where I could study it closer and take lots and lots of photos of it.   I was truly amazed by its beauty--from the thorny horns on its head to the lovely marking on the sides of its body and everything in between.

This caterpillar is also known as the Hickory Horned Devil~~one of its host plants in the hickory tree. Oaks along with various hickories make up the backbone of the woodlands in this area.  After nearly 12 years of living in these woods I'm surprised that this is my very first encounter with one.  More great information about this caterpillar and the moths that they become is located  here.
I knew I had a great moth caterpillar in my hand but was unsure which specie it was, I set it down for a minute and ran inside to get the field guide along with a ruler to measure it.  By the time I had made it back the caterpillar had wondered off to isolate itself from this entire ordeal that it had been put through.  Sad to see it go, I was thankful for the opportunity to have seen it firsthand.

The field guide that I own was able to show me exactly what type of caterpillar I had just encountered and also the moth that it will eventually become. Since I enjoy posting my photos to Flickr I thought that I would take a look and see what other photos of the moth I would find there. I was really delighted to find a wonderful photo of the moth.  With permission from the photographer, Myeyeongaia I've posted two wonderful photos of this winged beauty.  The above a lovely female and below a couple in the midst of continuing the cycle of life.

Stained Glass Rainbow Butterfly~~new and improved version

Last week I had begun working on a new version of a Rainbow Butterfly in stained glass.  I had come up with the original idea a couple of years ago and have done a few versions of it.  For this new design I changed things up a bit by adding a lot more detail in the wings of the butterfly and also adding swirls and curves to the background--to give the piece more of a feeling of movement.

As in the previous butterflies I chose to use a textured glass made by the Spectrum Glass Company called Rough Rolled. It has a sparkly texture that really shimmers with sunlight or even objects behind it that reflect light.  For the background pieces I was able to piroot through my leftover scrap box searching for odd parts to use~~as it turned out I was able to use seven different textures to surround the butterfly.

This was the very last rainbow butterfly that I had done before making the changes that I did.  When working on the one above the thought came to me that I really wanted the colors to flow from the center outward--the only way to get that to work was to add more pieces to the project--which of course involves a lot more cuts and a lot of small pieces to wrap with foil. Also, even though I love the deep purple that I used its such a difficult color for me to photograph that I figured that I shouldn't use it again for a butterfly.

Shown here with all of the pieces for the project cut and about half way through the process of foiling.  Even though some of the pieces were/are tiny this step seemed to move relatively quickly.

Here it was ready to be soldered together.  When doing a piece like this with tiny parts its real easy to get globby and sloppy with the solder.  Remember to bring your patience to the soldering party.

Completed this butterfly measures 12 inches wide by 10 1/2 inches tall, about 30.5cm by 26.5cm.  Available for sale in my Etsy shop.

A little bit of time for some exploration

With the record heat this summer, its sad to say but I have not had much desire to go out exploring.  Sure, I think about it and that's as far as it gets.  I know I have missed so many wonderful happenings out in nature.  When I knocked off working this afternoon I was just itching to get out, even just for a few minutes.  That's about all the time I got, soon after arriving at a local county park thunder was heard in the distance and rain started heading our way.
There were lots of lovely water lilies close to the shore.  I was glad to see them--they have been doing an extensive 'clean up' of the brushy areas in the park--the places that I love to explore.  Good to know they didn't touch the lotus.

I just can't help but think of ET whenever I see one of these seed heads from the American Lotus.  From the looks of broken off stems, somebody must like them and have picked them to take home.

Lots and lots of dragonflies flying about this afternoon.  These two stop to take a break and seem to be sizing each other up.

Butterflies and more butterflies.  This Spicebush Butterfly has definitely seen better days.  Huge chunks of its wings were missing, but it didn't seem to have a problem flying from one buttonbush bloom to the next.

Last year, they had cut back these lovely buttonbush plants to the ground.  Thankfully, they had let them grow back for this year~~the butterflies were all over them.  Here a Tiger Swallowtail feeds alone...not for long.

This second one thought that the first one had an extra special flower and wanted a taste of it as well.

Such a short visit today~as it was time to head out I spotted this Great Blue Heron feeding close to shore in the shallows--looking for a tasty meal~~~maybe a small fish, maybe a frog.  It stayed in place for a while--but not long enough while I fumbled with the settings on the camera.  Just as I was about to take a shot at it, it decided to take off--it ended up being a pretty cool shot anyway.

Something a bit different~Abstract Blue and White Suncatcher

I've had the thought of trying this idea for a while--design something without the use of a pattern.  Finally, I've gotten around to doing just that. I started this piece off by simply drawing a circle on a sheet of paper and then filling in the circle with various pieces of glass, mostly scrap pieces that were sitting in boxes.  It was a bit harder then I thought it would be--but very fun anyway.  Some of the pieces were just a touch short~~that's when I had the idea of putting a couple of glass globs in to fill in the voids.

One I had all the pieces foiled and started the solder process, I thought to pull an old trick out of my hat by adding this solder effect.  When the solder is hot, a wet sponge is smashed onto the solder lines creating this crinkly effect.

Two shades of blue along with white glass, a dark blue gem, two light blue gems and one clear gem all together in this abstract suncatcher~~available for sale in my Etsy shop.
This one of a kind piece measures 8 3/4 inches diameter, just over 22cm.

Looks interesting hanging on a wall as well.

Why did the turtle cross the road?

I would have to think he did because he wanted me to write about him.  The other day I was leaving to run to town to take care of some errands and I've learned that its best to bring a camera along.  This Eastern Box Turtle was starting to make its way across the road~~of course I had to pull over and take a look.  It really did put a smile on my face when I realized it was so close to the speed limit sign.  This will probably qualify as a turtle rescue--there have been a few this year--pulling turtles off of busy highways.  And although its posted at 20 MPH not many people pay attention.  Even the school bus driver thinks he's trying to qualify for a NASCAR race when he comes through.

The shells of these turtles are just so beautiful. Such wonderful color and design. 

When I first took an interest in the workings of nature and bought loads of books to learn about the wonderful creatures around me, one of them was a book on reptiles and amphibians, their life histories and such.  Unlike mammals and most birds, reptiles show little outward signs of their gender.  With box turtles, eye color can sometimes be a determining factor along with the shape of the upper shell.  If the tail is visible, the male's are usually longer and wider than the females--although it would be difficult to compare without multiple samples. Here's a way to distiguish the two sexes.  The underside of the shell, known as the planstron will be concave in males and flat in females.  So--this one looks to be a boy.

These turtles have another wonderful design and that they can completely close themselves into their shells in case of danger--the planstrom is hinged to allow this.

Time to let him go.  After a few minutes I moved him over to the other side for some peace and quiet.  When moving turtles out of harms way--most likely a roadway, its important to move them in the direction that they were travelling--not back where they were since they will set out again.  There's a reason they were heading the way they were.

Stained Glass Oak Leaves Project~a woodland celebration

The Stained Glass Oak Leaves project that I've been working on has finally been completed. I'm absolutely delighted with the outcome, especially considering that I did not know how the three shades of green glass that I used would 'work' together--they really did and I would use them together on other projects. Looks fantastic hanging in my workshop window, the leaves are very lively and seem to move due to the Waterglass that I used for them.

After the lead came frame was added, this piece measured at 13 3/4 inches diameter, right around 35cm.

I last posted about this piece a few days ago while I was half way through the process of foiling the pieces. Let's take a look at the remaining steps for this project.

All the pieces have been wrapped with copper foil, except for the outside edge which will be lead came framing a few steps from now. At this stage I'll pin the piece down with thumbtacks to keep it in place while the pieces are soldered together. I noticed that one piece of this puzzle was taking up a little bit more space then it was intended to have--it was taken out and a little bit of the glass removed so that it would fit better against the neighboring pieces.

Time to glue the puzzle together, or in this case its solder. A liquid chemical acid (left) will be brushed onto all the copper foiled edges. A lead/tin solder (right) will be what binds the pieces together and creates the joints.

Using a hot solder iron (right) that melts the solder to a high temperature, a bead is run over the copper foil joints that have been treated with the acid flux--by chemical reaction the solder is attracted only to the foil and the parts are then bound together.

Its important to keep the solder and the iron moving slowly yet continuously over the pieces as to avoid globs of solder which can occur easily especially where several pieces join together.

One side soldered completely. Lots and lots of crud left over from the solder process--this will be cleaned off thoroughly later, although a gentle wiping away of some of the gunk is in order. Now, the piece will be turned over and the back side will be completely soldered as well. BUT---this is the fun part~~~the piece can finally be picked up and looked at.

This will be the first time and I've seen what all of the hours of work have come to. Very very happy with things so far!

Back side soldered, the piece can now be cleaned thoroughly for the first time. Here, I'm using a powder called whiting, which is calcium carbonate. Brushed into the solder joints, it helps to absorb and residue leftover from the soldering process. It also cleans the glass as well.

Time to wrap it up. For the outer ring, I'm using what's called lead came--this is U shaped came as it resembles the letter "U". There's also "H" came that is used in leaded glass work--I don't use this in anything I do. There are a couple of different ways to purchase came, I've gone with the most economical method sold rolled onto a spool.

A measurement is taken of the circumference of the piece~~here right around 43 inches (just under 109cm) will be enough to wrap the outside. A length is cut off the roll of lead, laid out smooth and flat and cleaned off to remove any oxidation that might have formed.

There's a couple of different ways to approach wrapping the piece with the came. Mine is to face the U channel of the lead in an upward position and then to gently roll the center glass into the channel. Here, its been rolled and tacked down to a board using horse shoe nails to hold all in place for the next step.

Where the copper foiled joints of the glass meet the lead came outer ring I connect the two with solder to connect the ring and keep it in place. All of the joints are soldered this way on the backside only. On the front facing side I only solder the ring where the two ends have met and also where the rings that hold the piece will be put in place.

For smaller pieces its fine to attach a simple ring to for the purpose of hanging. For a larger and much heavier piece such as this I've created a ring with a 'tail'. The 'tail' end will be embedded with solder into the solder joint. This will create a hanging loop that is virtually impossible to remove short of cutting it off or reheating with an iron and removing.

Here the hanging loop his shown embedded into the solder joint.

To tone down the shiny silvery solder lines I've applied black patina to the metals. I've found that the easiest way to patina a piece is with a sponge dipped into the liquid patina then applied onto the solder lines and lead came. The excess is wiped away and the patina is allowed to set up for a short amount of time. To remove the residue from this step I'll wash the entire piece with soapy water, a sponge and a toothbrush run on all the solder joints paying special attention to heavily angled joints since this is where anything that doesn't belong tends to hide.

I let the cleaned patina'd piece set overnight, the next day I polished all the joints to protect them using a couple of different carnauba based waxes which also cleans and the glass and gives it a nice sparkle.

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I've got another leaf based design that I'll be starting on tomorrow. The leaves are much simpler in form and the overall size will be a bit smaller.

My name is Critter

I thought it might be fun to interview one of the new additions to the cat world. He's not really all that new, he came to us about a year ago now. Meet Critter, a handsome Tabby cat who likes to talk a lot.

Q. Hello Critter, nice to meet you, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you come from?
A. Hi! My name is Critter, I know its a strange name. My human mom gave it to me. At first I didn't think I'd like it, but its really grown on me now. I was born a few houses away from here. I look a lot like my cat mom. She had a lot of boyfriends so I don't know what my cat dad looks like or anything about him. When I got older, the people where my cat mom lives tried to send me away to another house, but I didn't like it there. The man was real loud and smoked funny smelling cigars and the lady liked to clean the house all the time and chase me with the broom. I had to leave there but I didn't have anywhere to go. I thought I might go back to see my cat mom. While walking to my first home I saw a human sitting outside a friendly looking house--cat friendly, anyway, cause I saw a cat sitting in the window. She said something to me that sounded nice so I went to see her. She was really nice to me, she didn't yell or nothin and she patted me on my head. I was tired and she said I could take a nap if I wanted to. I kinda decided right away that I wanted to stay.



Q. What do you like most about where you live?
A. A lot! But, I have to say that I love cardboard! My human mom gave me a box when I first moved in and I just fell in love with it. It made me feel so cozy. I like hanging out on the front porch, too. Sometimes my human mom puts funny things on my head~~she does a lot of silly things. But, my human mom doesn't care if I sleep all day and I'm good with that. She calls me the 'shop supervisor' but I know she's just kidding.



And I've got plenty of food to eat. I even have a couple of brothers that I can play with, too. At night, my human mom lets me stay in the place where she makes stuff so I'm safe and don't have to worry about any other critters getting me.

It was nice getting to know a little bit about you, Critter. Its good to hear that you are happy with your home. I'm sure your human mom will be coming along shortly to give you big hugs and kisses.