Mandala/Tessellations by Hava Edelstein (as always :)).
Large plastering of UV ink, it looks awesome in person.
I’ve refined my algorithms for processing multiple colors.
I’ve got my next 2 big plots lined up, but I’ll abstain from revealing their test renders until their full size reveal, likely this Fall. Both are collaborations with artists.
It’s a great year for fireflies, we harnessed the magic into lanterns.
When I plot stuff that goes beyond a pen’s ink capacity, it’s a pain to swap pens. It’s a constant worry and the operation has the potential for ruining a plot. So I’m experimenting with ways to have enough ink on board, or maybe refill. Of course I’m learning that pens are designed within tight tolerances of pressure & viscosity.
I think this one is going to work. I made the reservoir’s volume 5 times that of an unaltered Precise v5 pen.
I always make an ink mess with each experimentation. I’ve learned that PLA printing is not liquid tight. And so thank you Nathan for the resin printing :). One other silly lesson I’ve learned is that various paper can suck up ink at different rates.
It’s not much but for us it’s huge, we finally have enough water and ways to move it that we can give the gardens a good soak. For the past 9 years we’ve been reliant on the weather, which usually does its job in Vermont. Although when it didn’t, we’d be reactive and move a lot of water by hand only to keep plants alive. Now we’re able to soak several hundred square feet of soil whenever they could use it, and it’s less manual labor. Double win!
We want to build a rain capture system to diversify strategies, but that’s dependent on other projects. We’ll get there.
I thought I was capturing the wonderful nature story of ants helping a peony bud open. Alas, looking it up I learned this wonderful piece of folklore is untrue. Peonies do not in fact need ants to break open. It still seems as though they have a symbiotic relationship, the peonies feed the ants with nectar, and the ants keep other insects at bay. They only drink the nectar and to not dig into the plant like other insects might. They do seem focused around the bud’s seams, but this might simply be because that’s where there’s the most nectar.
On this close up you can see the nectar droplets on the seam.
