I had a bio lab that was all about microscopy.  That probably sounds boring.  If it weren’t for the fact that I’m in the research-stream version of my cell and developmental biology class, it probably would have been.  As it happens, though, I am.  The awesome thing about being in the research stream is that you have really small classes, and Really Sweet Toys.  While the other classes have to use the crappy old microscopes, we get to use Totally Freaking Awesome microscopes.  Where they get an old jury-rigged TV setup for fluorescence microscopy, we get Real Lab Equipment.  Bliss, I tell you.  Sheer bliss.  So anyway, my lab partner and I spent a good portion of our morning geeking out over the gear.

Okay, so we were only looking at tomato leaves (and the fine hairs on the stems), but it was still pretty nice to work with microscopes that you can actually adjust properly.  Refreshing.  Also, it is rumoured that in a later lab this term, we get to remove the ovaries from a female Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as a fruit fly.  I have no idea how that’s going to work, but I’m hoping for a Honey-I-Shrunk-The-Kids sort of scenario.

In pottery news, I have a couple of pieces from last week to show off:

Jonathan immediately pointed out that the shape of the handle is reminiscent of the Pompeii mummies, so this shall henceforth be known as the Pompeii mug.  I can’t unsee it.

The interesting thing about this simple yellow cup is that I used no yellow glazes on it.  The yellow colour is actually from an interaction between two brown glazes.  It’s also (in my opinion) a nicer colour than any of the actual yellow glazes.

I learned a new skill tonight, too - I trimmed my first foot:

I’m so pleased with it that I think from now on I’ll be trimming all of my wheel-thrown pieces.  It makes such a big difference to the look of the piece.

Finally, I tried my hand at a larger bowl than any I’d attempted before.  The elbow got a bit thin, though, and it started to collapse.  I managed to collar it just enough to rescue the piece, but it’s a bit lopsided.  Still, I liked it well enough to set it aside to be trimmed next week.

I’m not bitter, really.

I mean I did get one whole day of actual relaxation during my break from school.

One. Whole. Day.

Otherwise, here is how I spent the entire two weeks:

First I had to take the bus down to London and back (same day, and Greyhound is just getting more gross as I get older) to assess felines.  Then of course there was the usual last-minute shopping and packaging of presents to be done (much simplified by the fact that most of what we gave this year was my own pottery, and by the use of bags rather than wrapping paper).  I worked several days both before and after Xmas weekend at my old job up at the bike shop, sharpening skates and whatnot, which as an occasional activity is more fun than you’d think.  For Xmas weekend itself we packed up our bags (actually I packed them because my poor beleaguered husband worked on Xmas Eve Day - he’s such a trooper) and headed to my folks’ place way up north in Bracebridge.  I always enjoy visiting with them, but my Nana, who was there for the holidays as well, can be simply exhausting.  I love the old bird, but she’s getting to that point where you have the same conversation a dozen times a day, and she needs to be constantly entertained.  Not relaxing!  The really sick thing was that in my final four days of potential relaxation, I ended up gutting the entire apartment and building cat furniture.

I didn’t really intend to do the apartment.  All I meant to do was clean out the front hall closet so we’d have a place for the litter box.  But then I needed a spot for the things I took from that closet, and the bedroom closet looked like this:

…so obviously that had to be taken care of.  I swear I don’t know how it got that way.  By the middle of the first day, our bedroom floor was in this state:

I think I made about six trips to the basement to drop off reusable goods that day.

Of course the next day was more of the same, and the day after, and I ended up not only cleaning every closet and cupboard in the place, but also rearranged all the furniture, with the sole exception of Jonathan’s desk.  On the bright side, when we move in a couple of months it should be relatively little work to get everything packed and organized.

Recall that all of this began with the necessity to fit a litter pan in the front hall closet.  Ah yes, the kittens.

Well after all, we’re not planning on having any human children.

Kittens need things to climb on, like pant legs and sofas and computer desks…oh dear, Jon’s not going to like that.  So a cat tree is required.  One that will be stable, hypoallergenic and asthmatic-friendly (which means no carpet, thank you), cheap and not so horrifyingly ugly that it causes one to vomit immediately upon entering a room.  Well, that precludes pretty much every commercially-available cat tree.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some gorgeous cat trees out there.  Exactly three of them, according to my week-long exhaustive internet search.  They’re all over $500, and none of them are really ideal, to be honest.  $500.  I could get a new sofa with that kind of money.  I could buy a whole new wardrobe.

Since we haven’t got $500 to spend on a cat tree, and I don’t have access to anything like a wood shop, I decided to attempt to build a cat tree using

• two file boxes
• four shipping tubes
• two 50m rolls of 6mm sisal
• one 300m roll of 2mm sisal
• one tube of Weldbond (nontoxic and does a bang-up job of gluing just about anything to just about anything else)
• one pressboard shelf
• one box cutter
• a cat bed I’d made earlier in the week
• 4 large washers
• 4 small washers
• 4 3/4″ wood screws
• a Robertson head screwdriver (that’s square drive for you Americans)

The finished product:

Okay, so it might not win any design awards.  It is, however, as stable as any premade cat tree I’ve ever seen, carpet-free, cheap, and less horrendously ugly (at least in my opinion) than the carpeted monstrosities commonly sold for cats.

Oh, about the bed on the top - I made two of them using fabric taken from the legs of old pants from which the butt had degraded beyond usefulness (denim for one, corduroy for the other) and a couple of nesting woven baskets I had been using for mittens and toques.  Here’s a proper shot of the corduroy one:

I just cut the legs off, ripped them along the inside seam, put two legs together and sewed up a little bag, into which I stuffed quilt batt.

Next project: crocheted cat toys!

I’m so terribly pleased with my latest pottery piece.  Pleased, and a bit shocked at how well it turned out.  This is my first attempt at a serving platter, and is also my largest piece thus far.  It constitutes 3 weekends of studio sessions, and is intended as a gift for my Aunt Janet, who is a collector of gorgeous pottery by artists so far my superior that I hesitate to call my work pottery at all.  Still, I think my poor little offering won’t be so outclassed as to shame me - after all, I’m still pretty new at this stuff

Do please click on the photos to view larger versions, I think the detail in the glaze is worth it!

In other news, holy cow is Anaïs ever ridiculously preggers!  Here she is at a local artisan show with some of her latest samples - she’s been moving away from the hardcore bike messenger market (though of course she still makes those amazing bags) and trying her hand at some kinder, gentler designs.

Fullscreen strongly recommended for this little bit of lovely:

The animation is gorgeous and the subject matter creepy - a delightful combination.  I was a bit put off by the ending, as I felt that the new doll appearing by itself took something away from the opening sequence with Alma writing her name on the slate.  I suppose it works this way as well, but I like the idea that the slate is connected - that the act of writing one’s name upon it dooms the writer.  Instead, the ending seems to suggest that the slate is not relevant and that instead the child’s fate is sealed before she even enters the alley, which I find a bit dissatisfying. Still, all in all it’s a wonderful bit of animation.

Credits:

Written and Directed by: Rodrigo Blaas
Produced by: Cecile Hokes
Music: Mastretta
Art Director: Alfonso Blaas
Lighting Supervisor: Jonatan Catalán
Character Technical Supervisor: Jaime Maestro
Character Design: Bolhem Bouchiba, Carlos Grangel,
Sergio Pablos, Santi Agustí
Animation: Daniel Peixe, ManueBover, Remi Hueso
Sound Design: Tom Myers and David Hughes
Post Production Coordinator: David Heras

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.