Dip pen

Bought a new dip pen and nib today, did a quick drawing to try it.

 

Pebeo India ink on Canson drawing 220gsm paper.
First time I've used a dip pen in about four years, I really like this one. Kind of glad I lent my last one to a friend then forgot which friend. Wouldn't have bought this one otherwise, which is a real pleasure to use. I do not have fond memories of my last one, which was very inconsistent and held hardly any ink, so had to be dipped after drawing about 10cm of line at best.

From what I can gather, it's a D. Leonardt & Co. Mapping Nib. I picked it out of about a dozen different nibs because it looked like it would produce the finest line, and it didn't disappoint. More than that, I'm really impressed with the amount of drawing that can be done with a single dip into ink. I gave up on trying to resurrect my broken Staedtler Mars matic 0.13 technical pen, which produced magnificently fine black lines, but was incredibly temperamental. This should serve as a good substitute, an added bonus over the technical pen is that line weight can be varied easily with pressure. Whereas the Staedtler, by design, produces a single consistent line thickness.

Planted aquarium feeding 19-12-2013

Feeding the inhabitants of my 120 litre aquarium some frozen bloodworms. Added six Chilodus punctatus recently, they seem to be doing well. They remind me of sheep, the way they hover around in the Glossostigma, grazing on things. I've bought C. punctatus a couple times years ago, when they were expensive and poor quality, and they didn't live very long. These specimens appear bigger and healthier, and they were surprisingly cheap.
Normal lighting is 2x 50 watt LED floodlights, added a dual tube T5HO fluorescent for purposes of recording, which evened out the lighting a lot, preventing fish as the front of the aquarium from being backlit and looking like they're in shadow.
Got a big piece of honeycomb rock to add.

120L Planted Tank Progress

 

*750x400x400mm, 5mm float glass

*White foamcore background

*2x 50 watt cool white/~6500 kelvin LED floodlights, 8 hour photoperiod

*JBL CristalProfi 120 - 600lph canister filter, Elite Mini 150lph internal filter for circulation and CO2 diffusion

*AquaOne 150 watt stainless steel heater with external temperature control

*DIY CO2 with unbranded glass and ceramic diffuser

*Layered substrate - unwashed Brunnings propagating sand, coir peat, Osmocote Native, marble chips, Blood & Bone, terracotta clay, unwashed Brunnings propagating sand, washed pool filter sand - recipe courtesy of 2Toned on Aquariumlife.com.au

*Fertilisation is maybe 5ml a week of a mix of potassium, phosphorus, iron, trace nutrients, glutaraldehyde, and a teaspoon of Seachem Equilibrium.

 

Livestock including but not limited to: Bolivian ram pair, blue ram pair, three angelfish, a discus, an Ivanacara adoketa, 8x Corydoras sterbai, 4x Macrotocinclus affinis, a Crossocheilus siamensis, 4x pencilfish, 5x ember tetras, 10x neon tetras, Malaysian burrowing trumpet snails.

 

Plants including but not limited to: Nymphaea lotus, Staurogyne sp., Blyxa japonica, Lymnophyla aromatic, Ludwigia repens, Hemianthus micranthemoides, Vallisneria sp. spiral, Vallisneria sp. snakeskin, Rotala sp., Glossostigma elatinoides.



 

Had this aquarium running for over a year now. It has DIY CO2 provided by 4 litres of yeast/sugar/water, which requires warmish temperatures to ferment productively, so in my cold house the plants died back over winter. The return of warm weather increased CO2 production and plant growth. This is growth from the first replanting at the end of cold weather to the present.

 

13-9-2013

 

Pretty sparse. There's a clump of emersed-grown Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, Eleocharis parvula, Hydrocotile sp., and Utricularia sp. in the middle foreground, cut from an outdoors shallow pond. The Ludwigia brevipes in the middle-left background was brought in from a deep outdoors pond.

Hygrophyla polysperma in the middle-right background, Echinodorus amazonicus in the back left corner, a few crowns of Helanthium tenellum hidden in the middle, and a Cryptocoryne sp., maybe wendtii. The Nymphaea is a tiny stunted trio of leaves just below the filter intake on the back right, it barely survived the winter. The Limnophila aromatic and Rotala sp. are a few struggling scraps on the far left. There is one tiny crown of Blyxa japonica in front of the H. polysperma, all that survived of the Blyxa forest I had six months prior.

 

26-9-2013



 

Thirteen days later. H. polysperma is taking off, it's probably the easiest plant I've ever grown. Added a single emersed-grown Rotala sp. stem on the right, just out of curiosity. The emersed leaves are bigger, darker and rounder than the immersed growth.

 

29-9-2013

 

Three days later, the L. brevipes and H. polysperma growth is apparent.

 

30-9-2013

 

The next day after a water change and trim. The H. polysperma has been mowed, the tips of the L. brevipes cut and replanted.

 

23-10-2013

 

23 days later. Nymphaea sp. and B. japonica are finally picking up. Added some Rotala sp. to the middle, H. tenellum is spreading, group of L. brevipes is thickening up after pruning and replanting tips, H. polysperma has been mowed again. L. brasiliensis and E. parvula have started sending out runners. I don't think the Hydrocotile sp. is an aquatic variety, it struggles to put out new leaves.

 

4-11-2013

 

12 days later, H. polysperma's rapid growth has become a problem, quickly shading the plants around it. V. sp. spiral is spreading runners across the front and back right, V. sp. snakeskin on the left is developing some long leaves.

 

5-11-2013

The next day after pruning, replanting and water change. H. polysperma removed, Rotala sp. planted in its place. E. amazonicus at the back left is getting a bit out of hand.

 

23-11-2013



 

18 days later, not sure what changed but everything is growing really well. E. amazonicus is shading out everything on the left. Rotala sp. stems are doing well. From a single emersed-grown stem, there's now a dozen or so substantial stems on the right with the V. sp. spiral. E. parvula and L. brasiliensis from the clump in the middle foreground are spreading, as is the H. tenellum to the left. I'm going to pull all of them out next water change.

There's a great big clump of Glossostigma elatinoides temporarily planted at the front right that I got for the ridiculously low price of $3. G. elatinoides is probably my favourite aquascape groundcover, all the other foreground plants are being removed to make way for it.

The oxygen bubbles rising from the big red leaves of the Nymphae sp. at the back right remind me of a haiku I wrote about the same plant a year prior.

 

Oxygen bubbles

Rising from red lotus leaf

Photosynthesis

 

23-11-2013

 

Same day, all other foreground plants removed, great big E. amazonicus pulled and moved to an outdoors pond. Its root system must have covered the entire footprint of the aquarium. Uprooting it completely would have churned up the entire substrate, I had to cut it free of its roots. The disturbance lifted clay, peat and silt, clouding the water pretty thoroughly.

 

24-11-2013

 

Late evening/early morning after pruning, replanting, cleaning, and ~75% water change. G. elatinoides planted in the foreground, L. brevipes in the back middle mowed, a few kilograms of fine washed sand poured into the crater left by the E. amazonicus removal.

 

24-11-2013



 

In the evening of the same day, after a ~50% water change, cloudiness finally gone.

 

12-12-2013

 

18 days later, as of just before lights-out at the time of writing, everything's getting enormous. G. elatinoides is sending out runners, hopefully it will grow into a proper carpet. Added a couple rocks to the back left sandpit, would like to add a single large rock but don't have one I like. Middle background L. aromatic will need to be trimmed and should grow back looking even better. Rotala sp. between it and the Nymphaea sp. is so long it's growing across the surface of the water, thinking of planting it at the back left in front of or instead of the unidentified fine-leaved green stem plant. V. sp. snakeskin at far left is growing extremely long leaves across the surface of the water, it will only become more of a problem over time. Thinking of removing both Vallisneria sp.

 



Kydex Sheath for a Bark River Magnum Fox River

Ink and Fish and Knives

 

Kydex is a brand of thermo-plastic that gets soft when it's heated. It's a very nice material for making knife sheaths out of, since it can be moulded to a specific knife for a custom fit, and the sheath can be designed to retain the knife securely without requiring an additional clip or strap to stop it falling out, which is a feature I really like. The knife can quickly be drawn and sheathed with one hand.

I've recently tried making a few kydex knife sheaths with pretty good results. There are much more efficient and professional ways to bend kydex, but this is the way I did it with the limited tools I have.

 

The knife I'm making a sheath for is a Bark River Magnum Fox River, a large game processing and general camp knife. Here it is in the leather sheath it's sold with:



 

 

It seems decent as far as leather sheaths go, but it's a bit bulky, awkward and rustic for my liking.

First step, I put two layers of masking tape around the blade of the knife and the handle up to where I was expecting the sheath to go. This will protect it from being scratched excessively and give the blade a little space, as you don't want the kydex gripping the blade itself.

 

Cut kydex to size. I'm using black 2mm/.08", which is pretty standard for a knife sheath, and making a taco-style rather than pancake-style. Taco meaning one sheet folded over the knife, whereas pancake is two sheets layered with the knife between. You can test-fit with a piece of paper and trim it to size to get an idea of how big the kydex needs to be. I left a good 2.5cm/1" of excess in front of the edge for riveting.

I'm not sure if anywhere local (to Australia) sells kydex, but you can order sheets of it on ebay from overseas relatively cheaply. This is half a 30x20cm/12x8" sheet, the other half I already used to make a sheath for a similar sized Bark River knife for a friend.
Next, heat the kydex. I'm doing this over a small portable butane stove, with and a cake cooling rack. A heat gun or a large electric hotplate are more typical and lessen the chance of burning the kydex, but I don't own either, so I'm using what I've got.

I'm also doing this outside so that in the event of kydex scorching I don't stink up the house with burnt plastic fumes. I just moved it constantly over the highest flame setting not more than 5cm above it. Once it's floppy like a wet cloth it's ready to be folded over the knife and pressed. You'll want to wear gloves when handling it because it's very hot, and you need to work fast as it cools down and stiffens quickly.
My press consists of two foam kneeling pads, two planks of wood, and three sheets of paper to prevent the foam sticking to the hot kydex.

A more professional press might involve thicker foam and clamps.
Hot kydex bent over the knife, layered between paper and foam and wood, I stand on it for about five minutes to form around the knife and wait for it to cool. Shoes optional.

Removed from the press, the sheath is quickly taking shape. I ended up reheating and repressing several times to get the blade positioned the way I wanted it - not too far from the spine, not too close from the spine.

I didn't get any photos of the next few steps, but I used a white conte pencil to mark off the excess I wanted to trim and where I'd drill for eyelet-rivets. I trimmed and rounded three corners with a bench grinder, marked holes 38mm apart so the sheath would be able to accommodate a Tek-Lok if I wanted, and drilled the holes with a ~6.5mm/1/4" bit.
The eyelet rivets I used are slightly bigger than necessary, but they're what I've got so they're what I used. Ideally they should be a little smaller diameter and a little longer, but they still have plenty of grip.
Once trimmed and riveted I sanded the edges of the sheath to smooth it out, and cut any burrs off the inside throat. I then reheated just the throat and bent it upwards to give bigger surface area for my thumb to push against when unsheathing the knife.

 At this stage the sheath is more or less finished. But I wasn't happy with the retention of the sheath - it was gripping the blade too much and the handle to little, and the spine area of the sheath wasn't pinched tight enough so the blade would often get wedged in there when sheathing. Kydex tends to want to return to flat sheet form when reheated so I just heated it as a whole which let it expand and loosen around the blade, then with a pair of needle-nose pliers wrapped in several layers of masking tape so as not to leave teeth marks, pinched the spine tight, and pinched in the throat area around the heel of the blade.

With the retention adjustments, I can hold the knife in the sheath upside down and shake it and it won't fall out, with a short push of the thumb the knife is released and draws freely, and there is no rattle. This is better than any kydex sheath I've paid for.
I added a spring clip with a Chicago screw and a small elastic band wound beneath the post head (in lieu of a rubber washer I'll sort out later) to eliminate rattle and hold the clip in alignment but allow for adjustment.

It's a large heavy knife, but so sheathed, it carries comfortable deep in a large pocket. I'll probably add another eyelet down from the current clip attachment so it can be moved down slightly and carry inside a belt with the throat of the sheath sitting higher.

 

Comparison with the manufacturer's leather sheath. The kydex is a lot shorter and slimmer. I could trim the excess to make it narrower, but I like it as is for the moment.

This is the fourth kydex sheath I've made and I think it's the best so far.

Overgrown and overstocked

This is my first semi-serious attempt at an aquascape. Sorry for the phone quality photos but they're the best documentation I have of one month's progress from initial design to present state.

3-12-2010

I was aiming for the scape to grow into an intersecting triangular composition, background sweeping from rear top left to rear bottom right, crossed from front middle right to front bottom left. In practice this shape only stays put for a few days before it's grown out again.
This particular aquarium had been set up for a year or more and homed innumerable different fish and plant species prior to this aquascaping. The most important transition from its previous state was increasing the lighting, adding carbon dioxide (via the yeast, sugar, water solution in the bottle at bottom right), and thinning out the number of plant species for homogeneity and focus.

5-1-2011

The plants have grown extremely well save the Echinodorus 'ozelot' which I suspect is just relatively slow growing and also gets shaded, and the Pogostemon stellata, which is behaving like a strange twisted little creature that fears light. The Hygrophila polysperma and Rotala wallichii in particular have grown very fast and require frequent aggressive pruning.
This aquarium is also used as a grow out for fish before they are transferred elsewhere. Current residents include five insatiable Geophagus sp. 'Rio Branco' whom will soon be moved to sandier pastures.

I'll post more about the technical aspects of the aquascape soon.

Turning the TAP on

My colleagues and I spent Monday hanging Turning the TAP on. My thumbs are still a bit sore from forcing countless thumbtacks into chipboard. I have 46 works in the show, all of which are small paintings on plywood in ink, watercolour, gouache, or a combination thereof.

Read about the exhibition and the participating artists here: http://turningthetapon.blogspot.com/

Read more about the exhibition here: http://www.wsifineart.blogspot.com/

TAP gallery's website here: http://www.tapgallery.org.au/

The opening is tonight, Wednesday 17th November, 7pm, 278 Palmer Street Darlinghurst. There will be food, wine, music, and lots and lots of fine visual art.

Rose in watercolour

A video I recorded in the studio yesterday of probably my favourite combination of tools and materials; waterbrush, xuan paper and watercolour.



The original subject was a cutting from a cultivar of rose I'm trying to propagate.