Tusk, tusk!

Indian Elephant
Elephas maximus indicus

An African elephant skull.

I am the...

Walrus
(Odobenus rosmarus)

Putting my best foot forward

My best Rhinoceros foot, that is!

Lest any of you think I'm spending all of my time mixing unidentifiable substances or photographing miniature construction vehicles, I am still armed with a pencil every day!

Preparation

Because I work a full-time day job, plus have a wife and a life to keep up with, I can't spend nearly as much time, head down in an art project, as I used to. So I have found little ways to make some of the steps of an assemblage easier by doing them in advance.

For instance, the "spilled" bottles I include in nearly ever assemblage can take up to a week to dry; more, if the weather is humid. Because of that, I like to make them up in advance, and like everything else, it's easier to do several at a time - plus that gives me different ones to choose from when it comes time to put a box together. So, today was "Spill Day."

Once I had those finished, I realized I had almost no "filled" bottles, either. So I assembled a variety of different sizes and shapes, and started filling. Basically, nothing in our kitchen is safe - especially the spice cabinet - when I start filling bottles. Peppercorns, black sesame seeds, mustard seeds that I've dyed, along with thin flakes of copper, translucent beads, and anything else I find, get mixed with oil, corn syrup, ink, or any combination of them. Once each was filled, and sealed with a cork, cap, or glass marble, they get dipped and sealed with wax. (I use scented wax because it also tends to give the whole assemblage a nice scent, especially if it has been closed up for awhile.) So, today turned into "Bottle Day."

At some point, I need to stain some of the new boxes I bought last weekend. Because I mix my own stain, those are easier to do in batches, as well. Plus, there are new metal bits to rust up, new shelves/bottle compartments to build, and some new inclusions to sort through. Now, does all this prep work mean I'll be making more boxes in the near future?

It might... but that's for another day. Right now, I'm taking my wife out for Chinese food!

What's in a name?

Slender-tailed Cloud Rat
(Phloeomys pallidus)



With a name like that, I couldn't resist. And for being "rats," they're actually kind of cute.


That is, if you don't think about their teeth...