Stuff I get up to, and things I'm interested in doing, A secondary channel to my main art channel, this is drawer of the dresser, so to speak, where anything that doesn't go strictly under the Art heading fits.
Thank you so much for sharing your skills! I get so excited to learn something I didn't know anything about, especially in needlework. I look forward to watching your prior videos and trying my hand at a small project this coming winter
You are very welcome, and I hope you enjoy the sampler, which is the perfect beginner's project, to learn the techniques, and there's also a Buttercup Design project after that, although that one isn't vital to do, to be able to manage the current mini-project. Have fun.
I'm using the size 30 Madiera cotton thread that I used in the sampler. For anyone new to this, can I recommend you check out the link to how to do the Cordon, which is in the Description? Happy autumn sewing, everyone, and I'll have the second part of this lace mini-project for you soon.
So, a paludarium isn't exactly a terrarium, and isn't exactly an aquarium. It's got features of both, though, and I'm trying to make a tiny rainy fern with waterfall paludarium, in this tiny aquarium, which, let's face it, is far too small for fish. I have to wait a week for the marine glue and superglues I used to cure, before I fill it with water, but I'll keep you updated when I get it up and running.
Finally these two cute little common frog tadpoles in my small patio pond are getting legs. You can hardly see them, they're so small, but I'm sure they'll grow bigger quickly, and then their front legs will pop out too. They are fairly late in the year developing, with it being September now, but I think they'll manage OK.
Update on the baby sparrow I found in a parking space this morning: After a little kip at my gaf, I found some trees near where I'd picked him up, put him on a branch, and hopefully his tweeting will attract his parents' attention.
I'll go back to check if the parents turned up to feed him, or what, and let you know. Keep your fingers crossed that he tweets loudly enough for them to find him, because he still needs a little help from them, before he can fly away on his own, I think. Lovely little fella.
I went back later, and there was no sign of him. His parents may have located him, and/or he got the strength to fly off into a bush, for cover. Hopefully, he's doing OK, wherever he went.
I might even take a stroll back to the spot I found it, after brekkie, to see if the parents are around. They might be looking for it, as apparently they keep an eye on the baby after pushing it out of the nest to learn to fly, and if I can reunite them the baby bird has a better chance of flying back to wherever it dropped from, to let the parents finish caring for it, and give it a few meals until it's more confident in flight.
I found this baby sparrow sitting on the road, in a parking space. I couldn't see a nest nearby, and felt he'd be run over in minutes, if someone pulled into the space. With nowhere nearby to place him, what else could I do but bring him home, and he is having a big sleep at the moment. I'll let you know if he survives. I'm hoping he'll start flapping about on waking, and be able to fly, so I can set him free.
I’m looking forward to hibernation time. I see now that I can prepare much more than I have in the past. TY. I’ll enjoy any embroidery videos you do. 💖💖💖
Well, if you're already looking forward to it, that's half the battle won, as they say. I'm glad you like the lace videos, and I'll probably do something soon, having an idea for a piece, with a new stitch to show people in it.
Sorry about the slight crackle in places on the sound. There might be dust in the mic, or else my computer is on the way out. Here's a link to the puzzle mentioned. ru-vid.com/show-UC2Dr04MBvzrtwcKHpzVkzDQcommunity?lb=UgkxsWdl73JB2zNhCQ4kU0kj3txGoCQxagSw
All of the plants here like it very wet indeed, and some grow with their roots mostly in water, so I'm keen to see if these mosses and lichens like a submerged terrarium.
I uncovered thiis rather alien looking creature while making a tiny pond. It's actually the pupa stage of a griund beetle, and is trying to burrow further into the soil, after being disturbed. It will emerge in a few weeks as a shiny black beetle. These things aren't always loved by gardeners, because they like to snack on roots of vegetables, but the beetles are very striking looking.
With 3 tadpoles left, they need clearer water, and I needed to do some water changing and replanting, because the 1.5W fountain style pump couldn't handle all the algae from the water not moving for so long. Now, though, the water is gently moving, and the tadpoles shouldn't be too freaked out by it, and I need the surface of the water to move a little, because apparently that's where the oxygenation happens. Algae overgrows in stagnant water. I'm learning a lot with this little pond, and I'd like another little pond in the back garden. I'm eyeing up a plastic washing-up bowl and cereal bowl for a shallow end, in my new plans. I love this solar powered fountain pump, although it's not strong enough to do a bog filter off, and I would probably end up doing rainwater water changes every so often, in a back garden tiny pond.
Strictly speaking you aren't really supposed to bring them back to the wild, but you could say this little fella had a sheltered upbringing, because his small pond was covered, and regular partial rainwater changes were done. After they crawl out of the water on tiny legs, they become even harder to keep, unless you've a suitably large pond with a deep end for them to hibernate in, and not wishing to continue hunting for things in my garden safe and suitable for him to eat, the best course was to return him. I've three tadpoles yet to go, which I suppose I could have returned on the same day, but it's so much fun watching them develop that I couldn't bear to part with them yet. They haven't much time to get their act together, and legs growing, before the end of summer.
I bought a solar powered tiny pump (1.5W fountain pump) to aerate the surface of their pond, which, it turns out, is where all the oxygenation happens. Slightly moving water means less algae overgrowth (and less green murk) in the pond, which keeps them happier, as does some calcium source., like a teeny bit of cuttlefish in there Jeepers, it's a lot of work!
Need more moss, I think. I expect this lot will be gone by tomorrow, as they are finding it very tasty indeed. Hopefully if I keep planting it, and give them enough other leafy green things, they'll eventually leave it alone.
Isopods always look happy, so they settled back down quickly after the little refresh of their terrarium. I moved some into the second terrarium, because the first had too many after a year (I think I had five at first). I also refreshed the substrate in one, and added some soil to the other, as well as giving plants a haircut, and adding more moss, and giving them back their favourite bits of wood, with lots of helpful springtails on it, and, of course, their ladder they like using to climb up the ferns.
Although technically they are closed terrariums, one terrarium does get opened briefly, regularly, for feeding purposes; I drop in little bits of carrots, broccoli and even raspberries as treats. They always make me laugh, with their funny antics and big climbing expeditions up the wood and slate "mountains" , through the ferns, and up the little ladder I've included in there for the purpose.
This is the colony of Myrmica Ruginodis that I took a sliver of for a terrarium. Both parts of the colony are doing fine, and these ones decided they wouldn't let rain stop flights out, on a misty August day.
All sorts of different Sheildbugs can be found at this time of year, and these two seem particularly fond of the blackberry bushes, if not the rain, so much.
This new colony of Lasius Flavus is in my mini-terrarium now, because they decided to found a colony right in the middle of my garden path, in the contents of a spilled flowerpot. I discovered them while clearing the spill, and I had to decide to do something with them, as I was sure to walk on them where they were. So, I'm now doing a special luncheon feast to make up for the disruption to their new nest.
Ant café. Think it'll catch on? I got a really cheap led light that charges from usb for my little table that I like to look at the ants at as I take a coffee or tea break. I feel the light levels are low enough that it doesn't disturb them much, and there's very little glare with the light diffused by the ornamentation on front of the lights.
I'll probably hide the wiring under the table, next, because I have a little hanging rail under the shelf. The wiring's always the ugly bit of lighting.
These ones can bite, apparently, but considering I'd destroyed its' web and scooped it into the terrarium hotel until the rain stopped, it was pretty chill. It's a lovely round glossy spider, and this one was black with cute white polka dots on its' back, which it wouldn't let me film! It's out there somewhere making a new web, so it should only take moments for the little hammock to be slung up again!
Turns out sealing their wooden house with linseed oil wasn't a good idea, and now I plan to sand the mould off, and seal again using beeswax. They didn't mind my changing things a bit, because they still had their tunnels. They loved the new water dispenser, and the rock that has a cave under it.
I can't overwinter frogs in this, because it would need to have an area that's a lot deeper, but I have to solve the immediate problem of getting better water quality for the few little frogs that are in there at the moment. The fountain has a very weedy motor of 1.5W, but I think anything bigger would be too much for their small space, and for them. I'll know in about a week if the water improves, by the look of it.
I'll clean the sponge in a week as well, and I bet it does catch some of the unhealthy gunk that's starting to take over the bucket too much. It's a lot of fun learning to make little ponds.
Sorry I was late with this last one. There was a lot of work to complete. Hope you enjoy it. The links back to both projects' playlists, should you need to refer back to particular videos for more detailed explanation of techniques, are in the Description Area, under the video.
I'm learning about bog filters at the moment, for small ponds, but this one is just designed to work with the rain, and refill regularly, as an experiment.
A new tweak to the Myrmica Ruginodis ant terrarium - a plexi-acrylic sheet at feeding time. It's very quick to put on and off, meaning no escapees (I also have an extra outworld I put them into, when I'm giving them a big feed, just in case). This new temporary roof means less stress for myself and the ants, when I'm clearing away their previous meal, and I can clean and put barrier gel onto their terrarium roof, while they enjoy their Sunday breakfast!
If you want to see how the lace I appliqued on to the cover was made, I have two new lacemaking courses on the channel. A lot of you asked how, so now you'll know! I did this Irish Lace Sampler Project as a sew-along in-depth tutorial series.: ru-vid.com/group/PL4eA_QDz8srHxS3aDF0KIrgVqSn5E8I99 The next Project, when you have the hang of a few stitches, and the way the Cordon for stitches is made, is making a lovely Irish Needlepoint Lace Buttercup, I designed especially for Irish Lace Beginners and Improvers, in another tutorial series, and there's a Playlist for that as well, here: ru-vid.com/group/PL4eA_QDz8srGvM37pabcsxjCavepBMtX5 Have fun.
If you want to see how the lace panels I appliqued on to the pouch were made, I have two new lacemaking courses on the channel. A lot of you asked how, so now you'll know! I did this project as a sew-along in-depth tutorial series. Have fun, and I hope you enjoy this Irish Lacemaking adventure: ru-vid.com/group/PL4eA_QDz8srHxS3aDF0KIrgVqSn5E8I99
That's great, but it might be a good idea to do the Irish Lace Sampler first. The little two panel sampler is where you learn most of the stitches we go on to use in the Buttercup, and it covers each stitch and technique in a lot more detail than I go into in this next project, which you would be easily managing having worked your way through the sampler. It's up to you, of course, but I'm suggesting the easiest route to completing the project for you. Here's the playlist for that. Have fun! ru-vid.com/group/PL4eA_QDz8srHxS3aDF0KIrgVqSn5E8I99
They've only moved in recently, but I love watching them building in the afternoons. I gave them a wooden house, soil section at the back, with mosses on top, which they're tunneling in, and a sandy bit at the front, which they also seem to really like.
I found it much more challenging and harder to see exactly what you were doing but I realise i'm still a beginner and i enjoyed it and sort of got there in the end. Practice makes perfect. Thank you.
I can see how that would be an issue, if one didn't refer back to videos in the earlier series, the Irish Lace Sampler vids. Each technique was covered in a more detailed way there, but I amn't able to do very long videos in this series, for equipment reasons, so I couldn't cover the techniques in detail again, and keep each one under 20mins. I've kind of designed the series as Sampler and Buttercup together, if you see what I mean, and I refer viewers back to the earlier videos to clarify points of technique, in the current series. If you bookmark the playlist for the sampler, to refer to, it makes it much easier to find what you need, and I'm also bringing this out as a pdf instructional book in my Etsy shop when the series is finished, to include the two projects together, for anyone who likes to have written instructions as well. I really appreciate that you're getting such fun out of these lacemaking videos, and giving really useful feedback.
p.s. That diamond pattern is really an intermediate level technique, so well done to anyone who managed to get the stitches counted right, for all the rows, and the pattern looking nice in the end. You can call youself a decent Irish Lace maker now!
@@Skavop aww thank you, second time went better but even attempt 1 looks pretty decent. I will see if I can find your etsy shop. I'm totally taken with this lacemaking x
I know what you mean, and you did really great. Because I haven't made the last video yet I haven't got the tutorial book up in the shop yet, but the shop link's here, if you want to have a browse around www.etsy.com/shop/DonnaEmeraldArt
The first workers had all emerged at night, so I missed these amazing moments. It's quite something to see, as the other workers unravel the silky covering, and the worker wriggles around before the great escape!
2:40 Is this two separate threads, one for laying over the line and a second to do the couching? Or is it a loop from the middle of one single thread that's also on your needle? (I'm completely new to this. Never knew it was a thing until youtube suggested your channel.)
Yes. Two completely seperate threads. One is the doubled thread for the cordon, and the other one is threaded onto your needle. I hope that clarifies it. I hope you enjoy doing it, and feel free to ask any other questions about the techniques I show as you progress through it.
@@xmobile. Yes indeed. In fact, if you are starting completely fresh, and find it confusing, I'd advise you to do the Irish Lace Sampler project first. It has its own playlist, consists of 6 vids, and goes through each part of the process, and each stitch, in a very detailed way. Takes a few sessions to do. Just a suggestion, and it's up to you, of course. The link to that playlist is under this video, in the Description Area.
If you want to see how your Lace Buttercup will look after you've completed today's section, jump to 16:44 with a click on the blue timestamp I've included here, and have a close up look of the sections we're tackling.
What a grand sight at breakfast time. Half a dozen eggs from my Lasius Flavus. The Lasius Niger queens are doing well too, although Parthena is taking forever over her larvae. Queenie is now on her fifth worker, and they are all fussing over two more big pupae, and a pile of larvae, helping them develop. I have Myrmica Ruginodis doing OK in the terrarium, and hopefully they'll continue to do well.
I was sad to see a dead ant in the new terrarium setup, but it was a bit funny to see them wander about looking for somewhere to dispose of the body. They're still at the redecorating stage. Tunnels are coming along nicely at the section at the back. Keep your fingers crossed they do well. This is the new Myrmica Ruginodis colony.
I moved them in, and already they are rearranging all the furniture. Luckily, there are not downstairs tenents to complain. The log at the front is actually a disguised water feeder, and they are keener on filling the front of it with a soil and sand mix, at the moment, than moving into the soil section I carefully cut out from their original nest, and slotted into the back. When the nightshift came on, however, they began digging new tunnels in there, and they are also exploring the wooden house I made for them. Can't wait for breakfast time, to see what they got up while I slept. I set this up at the ktchen coffeebar, too, so it should be a wildly entertaining brekkie!
I kept about 30 ants, with hopefully some polygyne queens in there, and slotted the remaining section back down into the original nest, after keeping it intact in a bag overnight. The rest seemed OK about going back in. Queens are quite hard to distinguish from the others, with not much of a size difference, but I think I found a few. Fingers crossed everyone's happy with the living arrangements.
This is something I'd no idea Lasius Flavus did. They had their brood up there, under the leaf, heating them in the sun, but of course by the time I grabbed my camera they'd moved them to safety. Sunbathing!
