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Post by kk on May 15, 2017 17:48:20 GMT -5
Love how the colours stand out in the Lucky Strike.
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Post by kk on May 15, 2017 17:42:22 GMT -5
You misspelled the ever lady word. I just say some ladies. Maybe he misspelled because this could easily be a ladyboy? ??
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Post by kk on May 15, 2017 17:40:14 GMT -5
Don't know aggressive beasts like you got over there, but yesterday had an encounter with ........ Something I had never seen around here before. Had heard rumors, but never seen a life one. A 10 inch/ 25cm Centipede (Scolopendra family), as thick as my thumb. No picture, as it caught me by surprise on the walk back down, and then I was too mesmerized for too long before fishing for the phone to take pictures. He took off in a hurry; amazing how fast those things are....... Not my picture. Picture by cowyeow taken here on the island. Must be the type I saw. I remember it brighter coloured.......? Violence of a different kind,.... Looks like, this fella is an unwanted species the "Asian Longhorned Beetle" as he kills trees. Saw him last Monday; I'm not a bug-guy, but that one stood out with a body-length of a good 3 inches. Could see him from nearly ten yards away.
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Post by kk on May 15, 2017 17:23:27 GMT -5
You cut a very nice section of sodalite, giving you you the perfect semi-translucent inkblue for most of the cab.
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Post by kk on May 14, 2017 7:48:02 GMT -5
OK, time to start the bird. Thanks for bearing with me,
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Post by kk on May 13, 2017 19:36:37 GMT -5
Thank you. Will take my time with the bird, as I don.t wanna risk the wing-tips. Would be devastating to the overall look if one of them would break off. In front of the bird, I might keep the material and give it some form of wave pattern. Somehow, it does remind me of stormy seas.......
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Post by kk on May 13, 2017 19:12:25 GMT -5
Superb workmanship on both, the cabs and your wraps. Love the clean simplicity of your wrapps. A lot of wraps I see these days are too elaborate and hence look too busy for my taste. Hells canyon and the Montana is/are my favorite combos here.
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Post by kk on May 13, 2017 19:06:26 GMT -5
Thank you. Will take my time with the bird. The biggest worry will be wing-tips. Pietersite is rather easy to flake off. And loosing any of the feathers could ruin the whole look. Other than that, it should be quite straight forward.
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Post by kk on May 12, 2017 18:01:36 GMT -5
Let me start by saying thanks to Bobby1 who sold me this challenging slab eons ago. Due to the alignment of the fibers (original cut) and the thinness of the slab, I never dared to challenge it. Now I have grown a bit, so I finally I dare to get carving. As said, one slab, 3 challenges on 3 different platforms. Namibian Pietersite, "The Slab" Cut-offs and preforms, wet Done. This bigger one, needed an extra day of rubbing away on 2000 grid paper to get more chatoyancy into a head on view. Still needs an angle to get the full effect, but it turned out quite reasonable. Like the intense colour, and once one sees the effect its smoth as silk. This is the easier of the two cabs, as its small, so realigning the fibers to get all round effect was rather easy. Has full colour-range head on, as well as from most angles. Colour changes with light-source, but overall its quite bright. Maybe a bit more intense to naked eye than in pictures. Here my fav picture thus far Now on to the carving part,...... Thanks for looking, Kurt
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Post by kk on May 12, 2017 6:58:08 GMT -5
Ouch, did not read the required colour-sheme beforehand. Lucky for me, it just about fits in...... Let me start by saying thanks to Bobby1 who sold me this challenging slab eons ago. Due to the alignment of the fibers (original cut) and the thinness of the slab, I never dared to challenge it. Now I have grown a bit, so I finally I dare to get carving. As said, one slab, 3 challenges on 3 different platforms. Namibian Pietersite, "The Slab" Cut-offs and preforms, wet Done. This is the easier of the two cabs, as its small, so realigning the fibers to get all round effect was rather easy. Has full colour-range head on, as well as from most angles. Colour changes with light-source, but overall its quite bright. Maybe a bit more intense to naked eye than in pictures. Here my fav picture thus far Thanks for looking, Kurt
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Post by kk on May 3, 2017 3:15:47 GMT -5
As we dont have proper seasons like most of you experience, we have way too many cultivated plants and flowers all year round. But while Hong Kong is known for its city and business, there is a whole other side to this place. Many of which I have shown over the past few years. Now with having gotten involved with the cabin up on one of our tallest mountain, I regularly come across things I had not seen before. Never seem to fail finding new weird things along the way. Weather horrid, no rain but in the clouds all day. Yet, well worth going up, doing a little work, calling it a day early, and then taking time to look around in the mist for a Lilliput world that is right there if one just takes the time to look for. Never seen that one before, flower is about a quarter of an inch in diameter Flowers are somewhere between 1-3mm in size And the strangest thing I found today; again a plant that knows how to collect water..... Flowers are about 3mm at best. Last but not least something for James: As you mentioned water-logged a few days ago; here is something that blooms right now and comes in multitudes that one can only describe as weed (waterlogged all year round, but blooms only once a year for about 5-6 days)
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Post by kk on May 1, 2017 17:47:24 GMT -5
Great artistic use of one of those maddening sand-shot nobbys! Cab cutters like me would despair but you've carved the lemon into lemonade, to badly mix a metaphor. I don't know where you find the creative energy after schlepping all that heavy equipment up to your new-found Shangri La. Had the piece for quite a while, not knowing how to preserve the Crystal-part. Cabbing seemed out of the question as I would have lost most of the colour by rounding it into shape and would have gotten a 95% black cab. The challenge here was its size (about one centimeter) and the thinness. Its hard for me to hold if I cant feel any weight in my fingers. As for energy: there is enough of that, but its hard these days to get time on the foredom. If anything, the time spend on hiking, gives more time to think about new projects. But sitting down to do it is an entirely different matter. This is the only piece for the month. The only other things are done on the road; rubbing away on Fire Agates, trying to improve on them.
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Post by kk on May 1, 2017 9:19:30 GMT -5
That is another Chinese made duplicate Kurt. They copy all of our stuff and often make it better lol. We have some upland Iris that look very similar. Iris can be tricky to do taxonomy on. Randy has too many snapping turtles, his has to be the wetland Virginia. Iris Setosa for example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_setosa[/quote] Possible..... But I do not show cultivated flowers. They are found in the wild, far from human settlements past or present.
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Post by kk on May 1, 2017 8:50:55 GMT -5
Had a challenge last month themed femininity. My entry, Australian opal.
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Post by kk on May 1, 2017 8:32:37 GMT -5
Yes Randy, the Arundo is aquatic to a degree. But your Iris Viginica is a hard core aquatic plant. I have found them white, light blue, dark purple, dwarf, and an incredible 8 foot tall monster. Other hybrids of Virginica watergardenparadise.com.au/irisvirginica.phpHardcore Aquatic? Actually, I found them in tall grass on a slope. Nearest water-source? A good 200 yards away. Its humid up there, but no permanent water-supply. Here is a better picture of the same flower with different angles
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Post by kk on Apr 25, 2017 4:24:07 GMT -5
Need to win the lottery, buy sufficient land-rights, and then get you over here to set up a system like that. I could see myself in such a business for the rest of my life......
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Post by kk on Apr 25, 2017 1:32:48 GMT -5
New album from here on out. Cabin proved habitable, so now here on out its about finishing and refining things, as well as general life on the way and round the house as the seasons change. There is always something new or weird to be had....... 2%? Simply because that is what my father always told us. When you do something, do it as well as you can, and when you are done and happy with it, find a way to improve it another 2%. Went up to the cabin on Sunday to get measurements for the missing windows and get a head-start on the inner door. A dreadful day, raining most of the day. But saw some weird and fascinating blooms on the way. Trees that are in full bloom (no idea as to name) Some iris, I presume After finding out the name. "Dancing Crane Cobra Lily", I had to get a picture explaining the dancing crane in that. Single stem, branching out to form the leaves, giving the appearance of wings..... Found this cheater. very small, creeping along the floor. Needs to stand out, so produces between one to three white leaves to increase chances of detection. But the prize for weirdness, must go to this fella (no idea about name) Nothing special as such? OK, lets have a closer look No wonder, that one feels watched at any and all times. Even plants are watching you...... In the meantime; finished up on the quartz and just finished this months entry for the challenge.
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Post by kk on Apr 23, 2017 5:57:47 GMT -5
Went up to the cabin this morning. A dreadful day, raining most of the day. But saw some weird and fascinating blooms on the way. Trees that are in full bloom (no idea as to name) Some iris, I presume After finding out the name. "Dancing Crane Cobra Lily", I had to get a picture explaining the dancing crane in that. Single stem, branching out to form the leaves, giving the appearance of wings..... Found this cheater. very small, creeping along the floor. Needs to stand out, so produces between one to three white leaves to increase chances of detection. But the prize for weirdness, must go to this fella (no idea about name) Nothing special as such? OK, lets have a closer look No wonder, that one feels watched at any and all times. Even plants are watching you......
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Post by kk on Apr 22, 2017 8:08:45 GMT -5
About two weeks ago, I noticed this strange tree. Looks like a bloom is to flower, but then a bunch of leaves appears and the colourful outer pedals fall off. And was lucky to get some shots of that one. Only found up high here, and seems to flower only for a very short time (I think max 3 days). Myrtle
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Post by kk on Apr 21, 2017 20:19:46 GMT -5
Spring is in full force over here, wet wet wet. Last years pictures are from sealevel, this time round I'm more likely to have pictures of blooms at the higher region around here (1800 to 2400 feet) A few favorites, from Easter weekend: A changeling, open and close with the sun Effective way to harvest water for a lot of plants up at those regions And my favorite, simply because I had never seen it before
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