Random Interesting Stuff

Poetry Friday: The Dong with the Luminous Nose

One of the favourite nonsens writers among the folk in my house is the chap Edward Lear. We have a complete book of his nonsense stories, limericks, &c., which we find to be amusing, read aloud. Such as the story of the four little people who went round the world:

Shortly after this the Travellers were obliged to sail directly below some high overhanging rocks, from the top of one of which, a particularly odious little boy, dressed in rose-coloured knickerbockers, and with a pewter plate upon his head, threw an enormous Pumpkin at the boat, by which it was instantly upset.. .the Quangle-Wangle threw back the Pumpkin with immense force, so that it hit the rocks where the malicious little boy in rose-coloured knickerbockers was sitting, when, being quite full of Lucifer-matches, the Pumpkin exploded surreptitiously into a thousand bits, whereupon the rocks instantly took fire, and the odious little boy became unpleasantly hotter and hotter and hotter, till his knickerbockers were turned quite green, and his nose was burned off.

The astute reader of this blog may notice that my somewhat nonsensicle writing style has been largely influenced by stories such as these.

At any rate this post has been occasioned by the fact that the other day, I drew another picture concerning The Dong with the Luminous Nose, A poem of which I am quite fond*. This is one of my favourite Lear poems, & it has some interesting lines, which strike my fancy, such as:

But when the sun was low in the West,
  The Dong arose and said;--
--'What little sense I once possessed
  'Has quite gone out of my head!'--

This picture which I have drawn depicts the dong playing his Pipe, whilst the Jumbly Girl dances.

Happily, happily passed those days!
    While the cheerful Jumblies staid;
  They danced in circlets all night long,
  To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong,
    In moonlight, shine, or shade.
For day and night he was always there
By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair,
With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair...

I have tried to make this a realistic depiction of the account of the poem. Thus, My brother, seeing the finished picture, remarked that it looks several times as realistic as the picture in the book (by Lear himself). Actually, by the way, I have based the Dong's costume on that illustration, as I have drawn him with the same hair, belt, and boots. The blue shirt is basically the DPR shirt I mentioned in another post, and the pants are enhanced by some red garters, which I saw in the Jas. Townsend catalogue.

The Jumbly Girl was fun to draw, on account of being green. My sisters, seeing the finished picture remarked, 'Zowie, it's green, & it looks like a person' or something like that. Concerning the Girl's costume: I figured that she'd better have a white dress, as nothing else would match sky blue hands and sea green hair.

For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did,--
Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd
    Where the Oblong Oysters grow,
  And the rocks are smooth and gray.

Although I neglected to include Oblong oysters in my picture, In the background, I have inserted a sieve, with details taken from that other poem about the jumblies (another great nonsense poem):

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
  With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
  To a small tobacco-pipe mast...

..And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, 'How wise we are...

The whole of this picture I drew with prismacolor coloured pencils, using several different techniques, such as 'burnishing', etc. I drew the stars after I had finished the black sky, by using a sharp metal pont to pick small holes in the layer of pencil, which whitish dots of the paper showing thru I colored with white pencil.

Sidenote: The burning thingummy stuck into the sand is a Cresset, which I have heard of in books set in the eighteenth century.

So endeth this post concerning Poetry Friday. Go observe my sisters' blog, for a diverting post on what interesting things we do for Friday night entertainment.

* Ending a sentence with a preposition is a thing up with which I will not put.

(Attributed to W. Churchill) (maybe)

Artful Thursday: Mini Triptych

For a Christmas present, I made my Ma a Mini Triptych, depicting Mary and Jesus in the centre, as well as some angelic personages on the sides, playing divers kinds of instruments:

A triptych is a sort of three-paneled artwork with hinges, often used in medieval times as a reredos above an altar.

The dimensions of my mini triptych are: 4 1/2 X 2 1/2 X 1 1/2 inches. I used acrylic paint, as well as some pigma-micron pen. The whole thing is hinged so as to shut, with some hinges which I got at the hardware store.

The wood pieces I made from some poplar board I had left over from making wooden swords.

Thus endeth this mini triptych Artful Thursday mini post.

Leathern Sketch-Book Covers

Since mine sisters are often a-drawing in their sketch-books, I bethought myself that it would be a good thing to give them some leather sketchbook covers for these books. These I made, and indeed gave to them for stocking-stuffers for Christmas.

I made these covers therefore easily out of various colours of leathers, of which I have many scraps. They are made of three pieces of leather: a large piece as big as the sketch book is open wide, and two smaller pieces sewn on for pocket flaps, like a standard book cover as seen below:

 

These therefore fit niftily over the covers of the sketchbooks. Note: we have a goodly supply of the Strathmore Visual Journal Sketchbooks in the pocket 3.5 x 5 in. size. (Ma found them on sale at the store and bought the plumb lot.) This series of sketchbook is bound with nice hard covers in a pleasing plain brown color, and they come in a variety of paper types. We like the small sized ones as they are so handy to carry upon one's person at all times.

Thus we may see that the covers make the sketchbooks look considerable more cool.

Look, they work:

As Mr. B. Hatke recently said, when one has an amazing expensive leather-covered book, one may not wish to spoil it with goofy sketches. However, we may observe that, having a small cheap sketchbook, by covering it with a leathern cover, it may look nice, and one may doodle stuff in it with abandon.

Artul Thursday: Lord of the Rings Art

 Since today is Artful-Thursday, I am posting some various pictures concerning Middle Earth.

The picture below is, indeed, an 8 X 10 oil painting, which I giv'd to my sister, for Christmas.

 I also made this smaller 2.5 X 3.5 painting for my mother, depicting Minas Tirith.

Besides oil paintings, I have in fact drawn lots of LotR stuff in my mini-sketchbook. Such as, Randolph (or whatever this guy's name is):

 Also, Galadriel, wearing a real shiny ring:

 This guy is just supposed to be a random ranger.

 I drew a picture of Denethor, while attempting to not make him look like th' movie. Such as, before watching the movie, I always thought he had a beard.

 I have, in fact, also drawn two various hobbits (nobody particular):

 

 This fellow is supposed to be Very Scary:

 I have draw'd this picture of Dernhelm also in my sketchbook.

 'When there's a whip, there's a will, my slugs!'

 Finally, here is a larger picture of Gimli, being 8.5 X 11.

 Thus we may see that I draw Lord of the Rings depictions rather frequently.

Wordless Wednesday: Jumbucks

 

Bodhran, Music, Etc.

Guess what, my sister Mary Rose got a bodhran (Irish drum) for Christmas.

It's really fun to play; you sort of take this little stick (called a tipper), and strum it like a guitar, while at the same time moving your other hand around inside the drum to vary the tone.

We made a video of some divers songs, in which Mary plays the bodhran, and I play the dulcimer, and Lydia plays harp:

Also there are more videos of other songs, to be seen on my mother's blog, and my sisters' blog.

Check 'em out, they're real nifty.

St. Hilarius and St. Felix

Chrysophylax accepted, after a plausible show of hesitation. He even shed hot tears, lamenting his ruin, till there were steaming puddles in the road; but no one was moved by them. He swore many oaths, solemn and astonishing, that he would return with all his wealth on the feast of St. Hilarius and St. Felix...

Today is the feast of St. Hilarius and St. Felix!

So, will the dragon bring the treasure?

The blacksmith shook his head as he went back to his smithy. "Ominous names," he said. "HIlarius and Felix! I don't like the sound of them."

Say, has anyone read Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien?

It's a real interesting book! And my Mother got it for me for Christmas (although previously we had read it from the library).

Random Epic Garments

 Since I have recently in the latest several months made many nifty items of clothing, I thought as I would post about them.

 In the above picture may be seen a great deal of these aforementioned garments. Such as, a long brown vest (I am also naturally wearing my cloak, and sword, etc.).

I made this vest a few days ago, out of some nice wool coating, which I had ordered online previously. I sort of made my own pattern, by measuring and tracing with chalk.

I formerly intended this vest to have a sort of eighteenth century look, but as I had a great deal of fabric, I thought I would make it rather long. Thus it has a knightly effect, or perhaps it looks like something which Faramir or Boromir would wear.

 I have made several other shirt-like garments, so I had a kind of idea as to what would work. In the picture below I am tracing the arm-holes of the vest by using a paper pattern I made, and already used for many items which I have made.

 Here we may see the finished vest. It is entirely lined with a cotton sheet, which I got from the thrift store. Also, it has a great deal of pewter buttons from J. Townsend.

 Also this vest has nifty pockets, which are made within of that previously mentioned sheet.

 The seams of this vest are, indeed what my Ma calls, 'felled'. Actually, I suppose that I have learned somewhat of garment-making, such as pockets and seams, by ripping apart other garments to use for various projects.

 I also just last week made these 'leg-winders'. They probably are called Garters, as in 'Cross-Garter'd Hose'. But I call 'em 'leg-winders', as I wind them about my legs.

 I made these out of an old pair of wool pants, out of which I had previously busted the knees.  I cut out long strips, being 3 1/2 inches wide. I sewed these together, and folded them up, so that the final width is about 1 1/4 inches. Each 'winder' is in fact 12 feet in length.

 Perhaps a few months ago, I had previously made these gaiters, as my former pair had quite worn out. For the material, I cutted up a wool skirt from the thrift store. This is of thicker material than my previous gaiters, which were made of a pair of pants.

 They have fastening devices made of two rings, and leather straps. The leather is from an old jacket, and the rings are from the hanging apparatus of a ceiling lamp.

Here is another picture of the whole outfit. I am also wearing some gloves, which I made from a leather jacket.

Also in the above picture, I am wearing under the vest a sort of blue shirt with baggy sleeves.

I made this several months ago, and I figure it has a sort of piratical effect:

 When making this shirt, I was actually attempting to imitate a style, such as the shirt of the Dread Pirate Roberts, or the Pirate King, or some folks in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This style has long sleeves which are especially baggy around the wrist.

I figured that the way to achieve this effect was to make the sleeves exceptionally long and wide, with smaller cuffs at the ends:

 I made for this shirt a sort of nautical collar, which also has wooden toggles to fasten it up:

 The bagginess of the sleeves is attached to the shoulder by having some neat wrinkles (aka pleats) in it. These I ironed into creases previously to attaching the sleeves:

Thus we may see the finished garment.

Besides the above garments, observe this epic hood which I recently posted on th' Etsy Shop:

It is made of wool, with a cotton lining. Also, it has a liripipe, and a nifty embattled edge!!!

Thus endeth this post of epic garments...
 

Hot Cockalorum W/Flint & Steel

 Say, folks, I'm Back.

Since the last post, I had finals week, and then I had to furiously make Christmas presents, and then I got Pewmonia, and now I'm finally better, so I figure it is about time for a post.

This post therefore is about making fire with flint and steel. For a Christmas present, I got my brother Jonathan a tinder box, and also some flint and steel, which I purchased from Jas. Townsend & sons. (by the way, I naturally also got myself the same articles)

Since that time, we have often made several fires.

Since we don't at this time have a good place to make a fire, such as a fire pit, we have been having little fires in this sort of Pot.

The way by which one makes a fire with flint and steel is not rather complicated, and is described below.

In the first place, one must have some tinder. We have been using charcloth, which is cloth that has been charred, which is very good at catching a spark and smoldering.

The way to make char-cloth is: You take some little scraps of (100% natural fibers) cloth, and you heat them up in an enclosed container, by means of sticking the container in the fire. By which they don't get enough oxygen, and so undergo incomplete combustion, and thus become charred.

So, I have been using an altoids tin, with small holes poked in it. I sanded some of the paint off the sides and the top. When I stuck this box in the fire, the paint burned quite off of the unsanded sides, and smoke came out of the little holes, by which I knew that the process was working properly.

Here we may see the finished charcloth, which is rather black, as you can see. I tried some linen, and some cotton cloth. I am thinking at this time that the cotton works better, although I have not at this time tested these very thoroughly.

Below is a picture of my tinder-box and all the stuff I keep in it: Flint and steel in a leathern pouch, charcloth in a sort of leather envelope, and a small knife in a leather case.

So, having explained the manufacture of charcloth, here follows the Procedure of making the fire.

Having flint and steel, and charcloth, you begin by putting the charcloth on the ground. Then, by looping the steel around one hand, you sharply strike the flint against it; the flint being harder than the steel, scrapes small particles of the steel off. Which occasions so much friction that the particles of steel glow and burn up, being in fact sparks.

When the right kind of spark hits the charcloth, it will cause a small orange glowing circle upon the charcloth:

At that time, one takes the charcloth and places it in a previously prepared wad of dry grass, etc.

We have, however found that grass is not quite fine enough to catch fire easily enough, so in the midst of the grass, we have been using some very fine fluffy dry stuff from this strange kind of ornamental grass we have growing around our house.

So, taking this bundle of tinder, you blow rather hard upon the smoldering charcloth, by which effort it glows more brightly, and gets hotter.

Eventually, by blowing enough, it should burst into flame.

At this time, you rapidly chuck the burning tinder wad into the place prepared for the fire.

When trying several times to start a fire, we failed, by having our grass burn, without our sticks catching fire. Thus we may see; it is necessary to have some intermediate small dry twigs.

After the twigs catch fire they therefore burn long enough for the larger sticks to catch afire.

Thus we have seen how to start a fire with flint and steel.

When the fire is burning nicely, you can toast some marsh-mallows over it.

We may see that us folks had a jolly time with this fire.

It may be seen that, traditional fire starting is very interesting, and fun, and nifty. You can also watch a video of the process here.

Disclaimer: All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

In other words, do not try this at home, especially if you are a kid! And you may not blame me if you do try it and get burned or otherwise harmed from this information.

 So endeth this Post.

Plein Air on ye Mountain

I recently did paint this picture on Thanksgiving break, as we went unto the mountain:

Originally, I was sitting in a location the view of which made for a rather uninteresting picture of a pile of rocks, which ended up looking like a terrible mess of black and white splotches of paint.

Accordingly, I Moved to a better place, while wiping away some parts of the picture with a paper towel, I somewhat modified it.

Then, I painted a more interesting composition of the horizon, which looked somewise like this photograph:

Being finished with my painting, I forked it over to my sister, who kinda likes that place, as it is full of birds. Previously, I put it in a frame ():

Say, did ye readers know, as my sisters have a blog?

It's really interesting, and they draw lots of pictures. Also, they ackshully post, as they don't go to college all the time...

Here be the link:

http://ponderedinmyheart.typepad.com/the_saracens_head/

Check thee it out!