I’ll be posting several pictures about my “On Our Own” project of building a self-sufficient micro farm. Current task: Build a Monolith Dome.

The site took 2 years to decide on. It’s not my ideal place, but it is probably for the best. The soil is loam which is best for farming, the only drawback is the amount of rocks. Minnesota has a large amount of mixed soils and rocks from the glaciers moving through, but we plan to make us of the stones too, so it’ll be alright.

Putting the floor plan on the table…literally. This is our original plans for the dome, we have some changes we’ll be making, but this is the simple layout. This was a lot of fun for the kids too. My daughter loved being Dora.

Northstar Drilling putting in our well. Well a hole at least. No water found here, so they moved about 50 feet and hit good water. What we did get out of this was a good amount of clay my son and I collected and cleaned for a future project. The clay was pure gray, really nice.

Pratt’s Affordable Excavating put in the road and leveled our building site. Not really wanted it level, just scraped, a little misunderstanding, but made the best out of it. Figure it’ll help with the foundation ring, won’t need as much forms.

Josh Heintzman from Tenonizer Technology and Log Furniture and Railing digging the first hole. He dug out the whole foundation as well as the deep hole for our next project, the sunken green house down below.

I’m glad Josh did this, I would have buried myself. Check out Josh’s videos on YouTube! Joshnkeri5’s channel.

Josh Heintzeman pulls out a “small” rock. Boy there were a lot of rocks!

Finishing up the foundation! The depth and wide of the foundation had to be at least 18 inches min. We dug about 22 in. on average. Since this is a dome, we don’t need a basement, and I’m doing a frost footing. You’ll notice I’ll sound like I’m a real expert in this field, but I’m not even a beginner, I’m working up to that.

I’m creating a test for the foundation “Ring beam” which is where the Monolith Air form will attach too. It’s got to be smooth and precise. What a challenge. I must say at this point, that I went to Monolith Dome Institute in Texas and took their class. If you are an “On Our Own”er then that is a must do before jumping into building a Dome.

The form for the face of the”Ring Beam” where the Airform will attach too. I added more supports and adjusted it about a hundred times until I was satisfied.

Oh ya sure. Dat’s right, I live in central Minnesota. Early reminder of the days to come. I wasn’t too happy here, but drove on. The snow melted the next day, and then it got warmer again.

Eventually I finished, but it became October and I knew October in there parts gets about 2.5 inches of rain. A good time for this I thought… well…. this year we got 7.5 inches of rain and screwed up my whole forms and washed dirt inside. I scoop it out, and the next day it was all washed in again. I loved the repetitive slimy work, Loved It! Also this was the time my 5 year old discovered how cool the digital camera was, and broke it. Stay tuned for more posts about my “On Our Own:Monolith Dome project. “

]]> http://buscacienciacat.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/29-11-2009-particules-extraterrestres/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:03:25 +0000 buscaciencia http://buscacienciacat.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/29-11-2009-particules-extraterrestres/ http://rarelizzie.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/that-was-quick/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:46:22 +0000 rarelizzie http://rarelizzie.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/that-was-quick/

Well you did not have to wait long:  Following my last post showing you the two pendants made using an idea developed by Linda Peterson, where I said that you would have to wait for Linda to reveal exactly how we achieved the patterns; well, she has done a little video short on Friendly Plastic TV so go and check it out right now!  She calls the technique Glisten and Shine.

I have been itching to show you this stuff since October, but I really did  not want to jump Linda’s gun, it was her original idea, and I just played with it to develop the texture and a few other things besides.  Linda’s video demonstration gives me the excuse to show you some of the effects I have achieved using variations on her clever idea.

The basic idea is that you apply a fairly light coating of Genesis paints using your finger, blending colours as you go.  Then yo utake a stamp (foam, rubber, clear) and stamp into the paint to remove some colour and reveal the FP underneath.  Details can be added using a wooden cocktail stick or something similar.  If it does not work out like you want, then simply wipe the paint away and start again.  Nothing is permanent until you heat set it.  When the plastic is warm you can add texture – I do this using both ends of my embossing tool.

The image above is of a piece of Rainbow Friendly Plastic underneath the Genesis paints, and I used both ends of my embossing tool to give variety to the texture.  I love the contrast between the matt paint and the almost iridescent FP underneath

Foam stamps lift off the most paint.

Silver Spectra is the underlying colour here

I adore the way the colours worked out in this one.  I have not textured it yet.

A red rubber lettering stamp did the trick here.  The underlying FP colour was Burnt Orange

I added alcohol inks to this one as I really liked the way the surface puckered up and became all wrinkly (except for the colour, it looks a bit like the back of my hands without hand cream!).  This was heat set using the heat gun.

I have since added some extra gold to this stick of FP.  I used a mixture of stamps on this one, and I love it so much I don’t want to do anything with it just yet, except leave it on the side to look at.

This potential pendant was made from the brown strip (3rd image down), but with added colour in between the layers of Envirotex Lite.  Choose carefully what you want to cover with Envirotex as it does not always enhance the design, but this one is successful.  You may not think so from the image, but it does look good in real life!

Genesis paints are synthetic oil paints and are not in the least bit smelly when you heat them.  In the past I have tired using real oil paints and Markal Sticks, but heating those up gives off horrible smells and I have no idea whether they are toxic or not.  However Genesis paints are designed to be completely safe when heated, as that is the only way to make them dry out.

If you take the plunge and buy a few pots, do not have heart failure at the price, the paints last for ever, and a tiny bit goes a very long  way indeed.  You may want to share your purchase with a friend and decant some into another pot.  Because they require heat to set, you should be able to keep them fresh for years and years.

You do not have to use the griddle to heat set them, but it does give a very nice finish.  Why not try the oven on it’s lowest setting  instead.  The heat gun will also set the paints, but it tends to wrinkle the surface (see wrinkly image above).  Also take care to heat it for long enough with the heat gun, it is tempting to stop too soon.

What are you still reading this blog for? why are you not rushing out to buy some Genesis paints and try it out for yourself?!  Honestly, the pictures cannot really do the effects justice, they really are gorgeous. 

As a finale, here is a slightly out of focus image of a bead I made using some FP I had coloured in this way.  I hope to have more on this method of bead making in the not too distant future.

I have now compiled a selection of photographs into a 26-page hardcover edition! If you are interested in purchasing a copy they are $60 shipped directly to your door! Please contact me through the reply section of this post.

Title: Constructing the Night Sky: Experiments in Astrophotography

Morning Everyone.  I know that when you read this it may not be morning for you, but for me, as I write this it is 5.30am.  Don’t ask me why, I just woke up with the brain buzzing so I got up and made a cup of tea, put the dog on the chair beside me for company and thought I might add a post to the blog.  If I pause as I do this, it is either to slurp some tea or cuddle the dog!

I meant to post about these two pieces of jewellery when I came back from Jen’s Starving Artists Playground in Colorado in October, but I completely forgot to do so.  But here for your edification are two pendants made using a clever technique that Linda Peterson and I have been working on using Genesis heat set paints.  The basic idea was Linda’s, but I have expanded on it and taken it in my own direction, but you will have to wait until she is happy to divulge all the ins and outs of exactly how to create patterns using Genesis, but I promise you, it will be worth the wait.

The first is in a Paisley pattern with added extras.  I used Floral Garden Pink Friendly Plastic as my base, and have coloured it with Genesis heat set paints which have then been stamped into.  I added layers of Envirotex with a bit of extra colouring between the layers. Below gives you a close up of the pattern.  The whole piece is about 3 X 5 cm

The next image is a close up of a similar sized pendant, but this time I started with a Mauve (Those good folk at Amaco are colour blind because it is pink, Mauve is on the way to purple, not a soft pink!) piece of Friendly Plastic, and added layers of colour, stamping and dotting between the layers of Envirotex.

Both pieces are mounted on my attempts at Linda Peterson’s pewter bezels which I made when at Jen’s in Colorado.  Linda has done a great little video on making these bezels which you can check out on either her blog or the Friendly Plastic blog.

I finished both mounts with a quick spray of clear varnish as I know from experience that the pewter sheet can leave black marks on your skin if you don’t.

One of the questions that I have been asked over and over, is can you use Clear Stamps with Friendly Plastic; well the answer is yes.  When I was in America I bought myself some as I did not previously possess any, with the aim of trying this out and not relying on hearsay.  The black scrolls on the pendant are stamped with clear stamps, and the Paisley pattern on the top  pendant is also a clear Stamp.  The trick is to keep them well oiled or lubricated and they work a treat.  To lubricate them I use either ink (if I want an  inked design), or oil (cooking oil or baby oil is fine), or silicone.  I had heard that some people found that FP ruined their clear stamps, but I have had no trouble whatsoever using my now growing collection of lovely designs.  I particularly like the clear stamps (mounted on acrylic blocks) because it is so easy to see where you are placing  your design/ texture.

Although I used Envirotex Lite on these two pendants (actually I think Linda kindly gave them their first coat  when we were in Colorado), you could just as easily use Magic Glos and it would be a whole heap quicker as it dries using a UV lamp in 5 minutes rather than waiting 12 hours between coats.

This is the starter pack for Envirotex Lite that I stock.  4 fl oz goes a VERY LONG WAY, so only mix up just a small bit at a time, and it is really easy to mix as you do this in equal parts, so the only measuring you need to do is mark a line on your mixing pot!  I include two free mixing pots to get you going. 

Magic Glos is extremely simple to use  as you apply it straight from the bottle, no mixing etc.  However you do need some UV light to make it cure, and if you live in not so sunny climes then the UV in sunlight is not going to do the trick for you and you will need a UV lamp. These are very easy to find under “Nail Lamps” on EBay – mine cost £5.

Having had the opportunity to experiment with the  Envirotex and Magic Glos and seen what the Envirotex Queen of Friendly Plastic Jana Ewy can do with it, I can see the benefits of a lovely thick layer of gloss coating on the right pieces of Friendly Plastic.  But in my book it is still not the be all and end all, as by nature I am  more of a matt kind of girl, or at least low gloss.  Many of my techniques such as Lacework and certain (but not all) types of Oooze don’t lend themselves to a gloss coating of Envirotex or Magic Glos, but in the right place, there is simply nothing like it.

For many of us, Advent is a vaguely familiar tradition – something we do in the context of a church worship service to offset the craziness of an otherwise completely secular holiday, a gentle reminder that the tree and the presents and the shopping are loosely based on the story of Jesus.

This Advent season, we want to try focusing more intentionally on preparing our entire beings for the arrival of Messiah. We’re doing this through what I’m calling “Experiments in Advent,” activities that engage our thinking, planning and doing; and hopefully lead us to a posture of anticipation. We invite you to join us:

Saturday, November 28: MONOTATION – Details online at http://therenewproject.org/2009/11/24/monotation/.

Sunday, December 6: Make Something Party – Details online at http://therenewproject.org/2009/11/05/december-make-something-parties/

Very cool!  The wordle is made up from my delicious tags.  I tried to insert it into a school wiki but I can’t seem to figure it out.  I’ll keep trying.

Nicole Rodriguez in Broward County recently blogged about the 23-year old investigation of life after death by the Pembroke Pines-based Survival Research Foundation. Dr. Arthur Berger, head of the foundation told her he believed there is sufficient evidence that suggests there is life after what we call death.

Here’s how the active study works: while their hearts are still pumping, participants leave some type of locking device behind. They are the sole keepers of the device’s code. After they drop dead, they must communicate the secret code to the holder of the device. And if it’s correct – ta-da – proof of an afterlife.

So far, nobody’s cracked the code, although a computer was successful in testing different combos until the right one worked.

So Dr. Berger, where is your sufficient evidence suggesting life after death? So far, the experiment is batting zero. Yet he hasn’t given up. Berger claims to be working with participants all over the world. Maybe one of them will pass on the secret code … but after 23 years of trying, it doesn’t seem likely.

In this piece, the artist was looking at surfaces and media where the camera will be seeing itself.
This piece is part of [Techno Me] exhibition done by Rusaila Bazlamit, Makan, March, 2009

I’m sitting in a room, or should I say closet, at the Psychology Institute, all on my lonesome, with a bunch of papers and a pen. I say “closet” because the room is so small and windowless, however it’s a bad choice of words because it leaves me no word for the actual closet that is also in here, and which takes up almost half the floor space. That closet is locked. I checked, because I’m bored.

The two ladies who left me here with the papers and the pen and the instructions to answer the questions (on the papers) as honestly as I could said they’d be back in 20 minutes. That was 10 minutes ago. I’ve completed the questionnaires – the usual stuff about how depressed I am/am not, whether my BIS or my BAS is more active, how I’m feeling right now, whether statements like “Even when I’m watching TV on my own I laugh out loud at the jokes” generally suit me 1)not at all, 2)not usually 3)neither/nor 4)usually 5)that is so totally me!

The unusual thing this time, was that before they left me to the closet and my own devices (but after the informed consent and voluntary participation form signing) they gave me a nasal spray. The nasal spray may or may not be a placebo – if it is not, it is oxytocin, a hormone. A hormone that makes you feel snuggly and huggly, in fact. So far I haven’t developed any warm feelings towards anything. Not that there is anything in here to develop warm feelings towards – except, as mentioned, the closet. Now if it would only open up to me, maybe we could develop our relationship…

—–

When the ladies come back, I will be taken to another room to do some tests. The tests will involve “pleasurable or neutral stimulation” of my arm while I watch some pictures flash by on a screen, and then some more questions. This time about the pictures and/or the stimulation. Sounds… kinky.

—–

They should be back by now. I will probably feel like hugging them when they come back, but it won’t be thanks to the oxytocin! Mere booooooredom can induce that kind of joy in me on the reunification with entertainment. I should probably let them know, it could be a confounding variable.

yesterday I did an experiment. We made a filter .
we playd football. we made clothes for the scare
crow.we played pegs game at night. we had
fun!
from yeison and sebastian

On Monday,we did an experiment with sugar,oil,salt
salt and sand.sugar and salt are soluble and oil and sand are insoluble.
we played the pegs game at night.
from EDER and IKER

Yesterday we did an experiment;we made a filter, did an experiment with soluble and insoluble materials,we played football,we made clothes for the scare crow and we played pegs game. This is fun.
fron nicole and paula

allowing my written word to enter the world wide web is scary

only because i have only ever written for myself

we all know that i am a hair too honest

so that isn’t the issue

it is just counterintuitive to be typing on keys

rather than scrawling with pencil

so thus begins a new experiment

So this weekend, I decided to play around with my camera and try new things. Ha but of course, I always go back to my good ole’ mirror picture by the end.  And I after I took this, I just then noticed that my chipped nails would be captured as well. I have an extreme issue with peeling and scraping off my freshly pained nails.  I need help with that but otherwise, I like how the picture came out.