Shiny

Jewelry, Stones, Nature, General Crow Culture

[unfamiliarsculptures]

This leopard sculpture is obvara fired! This technique involves dipping a hot piece right out of the kiln into a yeast solution, creating unpredictable and unique patterns. This sculpture will be available this Friday, June 12th at 8pm Eastern time.

[english-idylls]

[lichenaday]

What's the difference between lichen and fungus, like mushrooms? Thank you.

Hoo boy, that's the question, huh?

So, fungi are a lot of things. "Fungi" is an entire kingdom of life, like "Plantae" (plants) or "Animalia" animals. Consider how much diversity there is within those 2 groups, and now shift your perception of what a fungi can look like to that level of complexity. In, say, animals, those complex differences are pretty obvious when looking at like, a clam vs a honeybee vs a crocodile vs a human. But in fungi, most of that complexity isn't super visible to the human eye because most fungi are small and cryptic, so it gets overlooked even though the diversity is there.

"Mushrooms" are the fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi: just one division of the entire fungal kingdom. A fruiting body is like, well, a fruit! It is a reproductive structure that releases spores, which are like the seeds of plants. These structures are attached to a "mycelium," a connected network of fungal hyphea (long filaments containing fungal cells). Think of the mycelium as like, the trunk of a tree, and the mushroom as an apple.

Not all fungi have a mycelium (the same way not all plants have a trunk)--many are unicellular organisms, and others have simpler body plans, and some (like lichens) have more complicated body plans.

Besides basidiomycete mushrooms, ascomycete fungi produce mostly "cup-shaped" fruiting bodies, often referred to as "mushrooms" even though they aren't technically mushrooms. Confused yet? Stick with me. What is a lichen? Lichenization (a fungus forming a symbiotic relationship with a photosynthesizing organism) is a lifestyle trait more than it is a distinct group. While most "lichens" are ascomycete fungi, there are some basidiomycete fungi that have lichenized as well. It is a way for a fungi (we call it the mycobiont) to basically "farm" algae and/or cyanobacteria (we call these the photobionts) to harvest energy from, and in return the mycobiont provides the photobiont with a safe environment.

Most lichens have "apothecia" as seen in the picture above: the cup-shaped fruiting bodies often found in the ascomycete fungi. BUT some (very few) lichens actually *have* mushrooms because they are a symbiosis between an algae and a mushroom-producing fungi (basidiomycete):

SO to conclude: --Fungi is a diverse kingdom of life --Mushrooms are a reproductive structure of a specific lineage of fungi --Lichens are a symbiotic organism made up of a fungus and a photosynthesizing organism (algae and/or cyanobacteria) --Most lichenized fungi are ascomycetes, but some are basidiomycetes --You can think of lichenization as a lifestyle as opposed to a specific group

Fungi are complicated and difficult and confusing, and wonderful and beautifully complex and endlessly fascinating!

[soymoss]

starling

[transastronautistic]

ID: digital art on a bright yellow background of a bird with blue-black feathers, which have yellow and orange asterisk-shaped stars on them

[hyydraworks]

They’re out of the kiln and I made a couple cups too 👀 🐙

[lionfloss]

Abandoned House In Detroit Brought Back To Life With 4,000 Flowers

[miamaimania]

Swallowtail wing ~ “Life on Earth” (1979) ◆ Yellow and black fractals in living architecture

[lookingforcactus]

Because I'm feeling whimsical,

What the fuck do you mean that's a quilt??? Round 2

All quilts are contest winners from the quilt show Road to California, 2022. You can see these quilts and the other winners from that year here.

Best of Show Quilt

Title: Harlequinade Maker: Rebecca Prior Quilter: Jackie Brown Design Basis: Maker's Original Design "Harlequinade" is a theatrical quilt filled with visual clues guiding viewers to discover a hidden story. Inspired by Venetian Carnival masks and commedia del'arte characters, the quilt features the antics of Harlequin, the trickster, who has his own ideas about freedom and fun!

Director's Choice

Title: Welcome Home Maker: David Taylor Quilter: David Taylor Design Basis: Original image by Margo Clabo, used with permission I first saw this image from friend Margo Clabo more than a decade ago. It took years to convince her to let me adapt her photo into a quilt. The image it depicts is especially sentimental for her. The challenge for myself was to create a pieced pictorial background and recreate a traditionally pieced quilt by using my hand appliqué technique. The project size was overwhelming, but I'm thrilled with the finished quilt. So is Margo. Time to exhale.

Note: To be clear, that is not a photo with a quilt in it, that WHOLE THING is a quilt.

Best Machine Stationary Quilting

Title: Emerald labyrinth Maker: Kumiko Frydl Quilter: Kumiko Frydl Design Basis: Maker's Original Design As a starting point I used an image from the entrance to the EL Barkookeyeh Mosque in Cairo. Thinking of an elegant and intricate garden I added bursts of natural color and filled the area between the large elements of the design with finer ornament inspired by butterflies and plants. I set the circular image in a rectangular frame with a subdued complimentary design of rippled reflective pools.

1st Place: Animal

Title: Woodland Wilds Maker: Ann Horton Quilter: Ann Horton Design Basis: Maker's Original Design My morning hikes in the woodland hills of our northern California home inspired this quilt. The rabbits are always alert for danger. This machine appliqued, thread painted and embroidered view through a window is surrounded by wild flowers on hand dyed silk and again surrounded by other wild birds and animals. I love my wilds things in the woods!

1st Place: Human Image

Title: The Memories That Remain Maker: Lynn Czaban Quilter: Lynn Czaban Design Basis: Library of Congress Photos - LC-USF33-006183MI and LC-USF33-0061 I am fascinated by the human face and our ability to communicate without uttering a single word. The Portuguese word 'saudade' meaning a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for something or someone that one cares for and loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be had again.

1st Place: Naturescape

Title: Desert In Spring Maker: Andrea Brokenshire Quilter: Andrea Brokenshire Design Basis: Maker's Original Design My Mom and I embarked on an epic travel trip we named our "Thelma and Louise Adventure" In Palm Springs, CA we visited the Living Desert Botanical Garden. This quilt is inspired by one of the photographs I took that spring day of a Prickly Pear Cactus in full bloom. I loved the leathery texture of the cactus leaves (paddles) and the almost translucent citron yellow blossoms.

2nd Place: Animal

itle: Not Today Maker: Kestrel Michaud Quilter: Kestrel Michaud Design Basis: Maker's Original Design The chase is on! The Roadrunner is after his next meal, chasing a Common Collared Lizard through a steampunk junkyard. The desert is a favored dumping ground for the detritus of progress, even in a fantasy world. A steam-powered industrial revolution creates iron refuse and pieces of broken machinery have been left to decay in dry desert air. That doesn’t bother these critters. To them, this is home. Will that lizard wind up as dinner? Not today!

2nd Place: Human Image

Title: Declaration of Independence - Voices of Freedom Maker: Nancy Prince Quilter: Terri Taylor Design Basis: Reproduction of John Trumbull's Painting The quilt is a reproduction of John Trumbull's painting which depicts the moment in history when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. The quilt front and back were created in Photoshop and custom printed on fabric. Four thousand hours over 4 years was necessary to create the quilt. The back captures the story of the Declaration and its signers.

Note: I'm not at all patriotic. But credit where credit is due. That's a fucking quilt.

3rd Place: Animal

Title: Midnight Flight Maker: Joanne Baeth Quilter: Joanne Baeth Design Basis: Maker's Original Design Several years ago we had an injured Great Horned Owl roosting in our willow tree during the day. I took several pictures and was inspired to create him in fabric. The background features a painted sky, old buildings, melting snow and a rabbit on the run The foreground is the swooping owl which was constructed by painting and inking each feather and thread painting over fabrics and needle punched wool rovings

3rd Place: Naturescape

Title: Day Into Night Maker: Deb Deaton Quilter: Deb Deaton Design Basis: Maker's Original Design Inspired from photo by Robert Murray with his permission. When the Arizona sun begins to set, the sky comes alive. I saw this photo and knew the splendor of this landscape needed to be captured with fiber! Sky is hand painted. Raw edge applique. Mixed media used: oil pastels, color pencils, inks to enhance the fabrics and create more dimension. Cheesecloth: painted to create spikes of cactus. Tulle used to capture the sunrays. Machine quilted.

[solarpunk-nightbird]

Fiber arts are magic, okay?

So pause for a moment, in your scrolling, and look at some of these beautiful and artist-created masterpieces of art.

Ad if any of these quilts made you feel awe or joy or beauty, then you will have proof that awe and joy and beauty still exist in this world - in at least one thing

[depsidase]

[sennamaticart]

Lunchtime

[faggotfungus]

Kiosk at Radau River waterfall in Bad Harzburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. 2022 No longer in use.

[miamaimania]

Large Emerald Moth (Geometra papilionaria) by Unknown photographer ⬣ Where moth ends and leaf begins, even predators can’t tell.

[herpsandbirds]

favorite creature(s) from the cascadian region?

I love the PNW! There are several creatures from the region... but if i have to choose, it's the salamanders!!!

Northwestern Salamander (Ambystoma gracile), female showing defensive posture with milky whte toxic secretions, family Ambystomatidae

photograph by John P Clare

Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa), family Salamandridae, found on the West Coast of North America, from northern California to southern Alaska

Poisonous.

photograph by Oonaugh

Cascade Torrent Salamander (Rhyacotriton cascadae), family Rhyacotritonidae, Multnomah County, Oregon, USA

photograph by John P Clare

Columbia Torrent Salamander (Rhyacotriton kezeri), male, family Rhyacotritonidae, Pacific County, Washington, USA

photograph by John P Clare

Coastal Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus), family Ambystomatidae, Opal Creek Wilderness, Oregon, USA

This large salamander can reach a length of up to 34 cm (13 inches) total length.

photograph by Dave Huth

[cryptonature]

Hey witches.

Hey scientists.

Hey artists.

Hey naturalists.

Hey writers and poets.

You’re my people and I appreciate you.

[broderiemyworld-deactivated2020]

tessa_perlow via Instagram

[wokeleftistmob]

[ID: An embroidery piece of an anatomically correct heart (made from glittering beads in various shades of green) surrounded by two white flowers and numerous leaves (made from embroidery thread) on white fabric. End ID]

[redstonedust]

a sucky part of any disability is when you fight and claw and push your way past a limitation to achieve something and it was awful but you DID it despite everything fighting against you. and people respond with "oh you did it? guess it wasnt that difficult huh." yes it WAS difficult thats the PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lovertm]