While trying to remelt some old composition rollers recently, I found that some of the material wouldn’t melt. Neither higher temperatures nor additional water helped. All I ended up with was a lumpy soup, from which I strained the lumps…
Year: 2017
A Book Arts Fair Rises from the Ashes
Much to our dismay, we found out a month or so ago that there would no longer be a Book Arts Fair at OCAD University in early December. This marks the end of over 30 years of fairs at OCAD U,…
Casting Composition Brayer Rollers—the Motion Picture
I’ve posted on YouTube a video of near-epic length showing my bumbling through the casting of some small composition rollers for a Kelsey hand brayer. The rollers are about 6×1⅜″ on a ¼″ core. I had originally intended to re-melt…
Tagged with: Tarheel Roller
Fate of the Turtle Nests
It’s been months since some snapping turtles laid nests in my yard, and I can finally report on how things turned out. A few weeks after the eggs were laid, I found some evidence of digging at one of the…
Tagged with: snapping turtle
Tororo-Aoi Pods Ripening
The seed pods on my tororo-aoi plants have started to mature. As this happens, they turn brown, dry out, and develop splits along their five lengthwise ridges. The seeds inside are probably dry and ready for storage for next spring.…
Valley Beater available in Bellingham WA
We’re passing on this note about a Valley Beater for sale, located in Bellingham, Washington, which is very close to Vancouver BC: I am located in Bellingham, Washington, which is very close the US/BC border, just beneath Vancouver and Surrey,…
Tororo-Aoi (and other) Flowers
My tororo-aoi plants have started blooming. So far, only the transplanted plants are big enough to bloom; the direct-seeded ones are just getting to the point of thinking about producing flower buds, and the plants from the seeds from AliExpress…
Surprise Tororo-Aoi Sprouts
About a week ago I planted the tororo-aoi seeds I had purchased through AliExpress into our front garden. I had previously had no success sprouting them indoors, and decided as a last try to direct seed them where my other seeds…
Tororo-Aoi Growth
The tororo-aoi seedlings I showed in a previous post have been in the ground for a few weeks now, and, except for the one destroyed by forces unknown, all have grown several true leaves and are 10-15cm (4-6″) tall. I…
Oh, Snap!
Alder Creek runs along the back of our property here, for about 60m (200′). The creek is in a small valley, perhaps 6m (20′) deep with a fairly steep embankment. Over the past week, we’ve had (at least) three snapping…
Tagged with: snapping turtle
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