Saturday, June 18, 2022

model making and the queen of the night


We're finally getting our blue sky back but it's still hot and dry with temps in the high 90˚s. One thing about this dry weather is we have had no mosquitos to speak of so that's something at least.

My days are still basically the same...watering in the mornings and evenings, working in the studio, hiding from the heat streaming, fixing dinner my two nights, volunteering on Thursdays, sometimes yoga.

Here's the two new little corals.



Now I'm ready to compose them all in some sort of cohesive little reef. Either that or work on the feet and I still need to trim down the wax slab for the top so that it fits the bottom. Right now it's a little longer and wider which I did on purpose as it's easier to trim down than build up but I might keep it that way.

So today I arranged 6 compositions with the coral and crab. Turns out I don't have enough room for all 7 corals and the crab. I can use 5 corals and the crab or 6 corals. I put aside the one from the reproduction mold and these are the arrangements (feedback welcome)...


I'll probably play around with them a little more before I decide, before I permanently attach them to a base (and each other) for making the mold. I have to visualize what the steamed out mold is going to look like, make sure I have easy access to all the forms when I'm ready to fill the mold with glass frit.

Also today I worked out my concept for the feet. It's still very rough, still tweaking it, but I think this is it.



Three or four more days and maybe I'll be done with all the pieces and ready to set them up for the mold making process.

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Last week I noticed that the night blooming cereus had 20 buds developing, a few days later 4 had turned yellow and fallen off. Tuesday night two of the remaining 16 bloomed and I missed them. Wednesday night I set a timer for 10 PM and went out to look and they were just opening. I locked up and went to bed. I woke up at 2:30, cause that's just what I do, and laid there for half an hour trying to convince myself that I wanted to get up, throw on a shift, and go out and look. At 3 AM I had to get up to pee so since I was already up and out of bed, that's what I did. I didn't get the flashlight, just aimed my phone camera in the dark and depended on the flash. The flash tends to wash out the flowers but I did get a few tolerable pictures. Fourteen flowers open at once the air smelled provocative, sweet and lemony.



I have other flower pictures but they'll have to wait.



26 comments:

  1. Ellen... your Reef idea/concept is wonderful. You will be able to do so much with it!!!!

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  2. That was me above!!!

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  3. Wow! Splendid little corals. Splendid feet for the rectangular piece. I especially love this time of year in your garden when the night blooming cereus buds open.

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    1. I don't usually get this big a bloom until August or later. Must be the high temps.

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  4. I love your description of the air as smelling "provocative." What a lovely phrase.

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  5. Interesting corals! And the flowers are lovely. I wonder if the powerful scent is to attract the night insects that fertilize them? The night version of morning glory, whose name I forget, does that too.

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    1. I imagine so. And I think you mean Moonflower. I grew those several years ago and have struggling little ones right now.

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  6. I think that the crab in the arrangement will make it more interesting to the human eye. It seems to me that pictures with a person or animal in them are more engaging. Do you know what I mean? I love the corals but the little crab brings another level of life to it. And yes, corals ARE alive, of course, but in a different way.
    Speaking of alive- those night-blooming cereus are stunning!

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  7. I love your coral reef. I think each layout looks beautiful. I guess I'm no help here.
    The night blooming Cereus is so lovely. Thank you for venturing out and photographing that.

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    1. If I hadn't had to get out of bed to pee, I probably wouldn't have. But once up...

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  8. I like the ones with the crab added but you are the artist and you will know what will work best. I can't believe those lovely flowers only bloom at night. Wow! Nature can be crazy!

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  9. I like the ones with the crab, just for some variety. And i can't quite tell but it seems in your arrangements the crab is facing inward, toward the coral -- but it seems he should face outward, toward the viewer. That's just my two cents, since you asked. :)

    I can't even imagine how amazing that cereus must have smelled.

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    1. Yes it was facing inward but I have turned it around. For some reason I thought it tucked in better facing in.

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  10. The Queen of the Night lived up to her name once again. I love the flowers, especially the flower part that dangles out a little. They look kind of alien.
    The corals are pretty cool, so is the crab. I like them all!

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    1. They do don't they, with their many petals and fancy inner parts.

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  11. I like your prototype foot! As for the arrangement of the reef components, I'll like what you do, but it's up to you.

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    1. I'm liking the foot, made another one today. And I think I've decided on an arrangement.

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  12. Those coral feet are PERFECT! I rarely resort to all caps, but I had to with those. I like the extra interest the crab brings, too, although I'd have a hard time deciding what to omit. Your Queen of the Night is gorgeous. I can only imagine the scent.

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  13. Oh WOW! Double Wow! Fourteen blooms??? OMG that must have been something to behold. I recognize the plant as an Orchid Cactus and my friend/neighbor in my previous neighborhood has one like yours. I don't know that she's ever seen anywhere near that many blooms on her plant, though. When we moved up to Tehachapi, I gave her all of my Orchid Cactus plants. Some of them were stunning and I do miss them, but there's trades to be made in life. BTW, I like version #5 of your coral examples.

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  14. Great idea with the coral branch leg. And I just love your night flowering cereus. Thanks for getting up!

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  15. That queen of the night is just glorious! I like the arrangement where the crab first appears above (I think it's the 3rd picture). And the feet look amazing!

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  16. I just looked at the radar -- there's rain around Wharton and El Campo -- hope you get some.

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  17. You said you dreamed of a kitten. read this.
    https://www.millersguild.com/dream-of-kittens/#:~:text=Kittens%20in%20dreams%20represent%20purity,dream%20was%20positive%20or%20negative.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.