The Weird Unicorn's World

I go by many names but Shara is the most common. A place to put all the strange, awesome, cool and weird things I find in my travels along the Inter-Tubes. I am an artist that just enjoys completely random things. Don't like what I post, then don't follow me.

[thehereticpharaoh]

This is what hieroglyphs and figures in ancient Egyptian temples looked like before their colors faded. They were recreated using a polychromatic light display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, following thorough research.

[weirdunicorn]

Okay, so to all my crafters/artists out there, these Czech glass beads sold at Michaels, and apparently other craft stores too, particularly the Opal Aqua Luster or Silk Green Aqua White Luster varieties, or certain "Superduo" styles, contain uranium dioxide, which acts as a colorant and makes the beads radioactive.

Normal background levels of radiation are typically around 20–60 CPM (counts per minute), some say 5-100+ depending on sensors, but people are reporting getting readings of 300-2000+ and needless to say this is concerning.

Michaels claims the glass protects you…that may be wrong going by the readings people are getting.

The beads emit alpha radiation, which cannot penetrate skin, but can cause cancer/health risks if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through wounds. So if any of these beads are broken and the dust gets in your lungs or a cut, or if a child or pet ingests them, it can be a problem.

According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there is no recognized danger to handling or using uranium glass, as the glass itself blocks most of the alpha particles…unless broken or in dust or ingested.

BUT! They may also emit beta and gamma radiation. Gamma is highly penetrating, passing through the body and causing deep organ damage, while beta particles typically cause superficial burns on skin but can be dangerous if ingested.

An easy way to tell if a bright green or yellow-green glass bead of any type (or bright green glass in general) may be radioactive is to shine a UV light on it. If it glows a bright neon green, you got radiation!

So anyone that uses beads in their crafting or art, be aware, better safe than sorry!

[mysharona1987]

[roachpatrol]

I WOULD PAY TEN TIMES AS MUCH FOR CHOCOLATE IF IT MEANT REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF SLAVES IN THE WORLD? HOW IS THIS ANY KIND OF PROBLEM. 

[kaijutegu]

good news, you can! the company’s called Tony’s Chocolonely and their entire purpose is to make slave-free chocolate and reform the chocolate industry.

https://tonyschocolonely.com/us/en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony%27s_Chocolonely

Whole Foods carries it. If you don’t want to support an Amazon-owned company, World Market carries it. You can also buy it directly from the company. 

It’s the best chocolate I’ve ever had and it’s 100% slave free. Tony’s Chocolonely works really hard to push for transparency within the chocolate industry and actually has and is following an action plan to eliminate slavery within cocoa production. They’re good people who make good chocolate.

[rsbenedict-deactivated20181216]

A list of slavery-free chocolate companies:

Aldi

Aloha Feels Chocolate

Alma Chocolate

Alter Eco Chocolate

Amano Chocolate

Askinoise Chocolate

The Beach Chocolate Factory

Belicious

Black Mountain Chocolate

Cacaoteca

Caribeans Chocolate

Castronovo Chocolate

Charm School Chocolates

Chocolate Cartel

Chocolat Celeste

Chocolate Tree

Chocolate Troubadour

Choconat

Coco Chocolate

Compartes Chocolates

Dandelion Chocolate

Dark Forest Chocolate

Denman Island Chocolate

Divine Chocolate Co.

Eating Evolved

Eat Your Hat

El Ceibo

The Endangered Species

Equal Exchange

Fairafric

Forever Cocoa

Fresco Chocolate

Fruition Chocolate

Gayleen’s Decadence

GEPA Chocolate

Giddy Yo Yo

Grenada Chocolate Company

Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate

Guittard

Habitual Chocolate

Hagensborg Chocolates

Health by Chocolate

Hilo Shark Chocolate

HNINA Gourmet

Honest Artisan Chocolate

Hooray  Tuffles

Ithaca Fine Chocolates

L.A. Burdick Chocolates

La Iguana Chocolate

Lake Champlain Chocolates

La Siembra Cooperative

Lillie Belle Farms

Madecasse

Malagasy

Maverick Chocolate Company

Max Havelaar

Mayan Monkey

Mayordomo

Mia Chocolate

Montezuma’s Chocolates

Nayah Amazon Chocolates

Newman’s Own Organics

Purdy’s Chocolate

Omanahene Cocoa Bean Company

Ombar

OpuLux Fair Trade Chocolate

Original Hawaiian Chocolate

Parliament Chocolate

Montevérgine

Patric Chocolate

Plamil Organic Chocolate

Potomac Chocolate

Pure Lovin’ Chocolate

Rain Republic

Rapunzel Pure Organics

Ritual Chocolate

Samaritan Xocolata

Sappho Chocolates

Seed & Bean Chocolate

Shaman Chocolates

Sibú Chocolate

Solkiki Chocolate

Sweet Earth Chocolates

Sweet Impact Fudge

Sweet Riot

Sun Eaters Organics

Taza Chocolate

Terra Nostra Organic

Terroir Chocolate

TCHO

The Chocolate Wave

Theo Chocolate

The Original Chocolate Bar (Houston, TX)

Tobago Estate Chocolate

TONY’S CHOCOLONELY

Vivani Chocolate

Vosges

Wei of Chocolate

Xocolatl Chocolate

Zotter

[c-ology]

even better post about chocolate that does not use slave labor

[eb3yr]

I reblogged this not even a day ago but!!! My local shop just rearranged everything and put Tony’s Chocoloney on the shelves. It tastes SO GOOD and this post is the only reason I knew to try it.

[weirdunicorn]

[aidashakur]

[velvetvexations]

[targetedknowledge]

[weirdunicorn]

Made a little Cactus Cat, a "fearsome critter" from the American Southwest. It's said to be covered in hair-like thorns, with long spines extending from the legs and its tail; said to use its spines to slash cacti at night, allowing juice to run from the plants. On later nights, the creature was said to return to drink the now fermented juice.

[weirdunicorn]

A friend of mine, Clayfect on Youtube, challenged me to make a robot...not something that's usually in my wheelhouse to be honest lol. But I managed to make this little fella, Scrapbot! Pretty happy with the results, though it definitely was a challenge lol.

[weirdunicorn]

Jackalope container I made. The container itself I made a while ago but had lost inspiration for, but then I decided to make the cactus and jackalope for it and I am so happy with it now^^

[weirdunicorn]

One of my mushroom octopi, this time modeled after my favorite flamingo, the Jame's or puna flamingo.

[weirdunicorn]

A Kraken pretending to be a Sea Serpent, inspired by the art below I randomly found years ago. Just a goofy little wiggly armed friend for my desk lol.

[weirdunicorn]

A baby Mothman, just minding his business lol, and some Erosion Birds (new obsession, late to the party though lol) that I made a while ago and forgot to post. The birbs look kind of like melted nekkid Peeps since I made them so tiny, they're barely an inch high XD

[weirdunicorn]

I made a bobblehead! He's a baby Jersey Devil, one of my favorite cryptids. Made using the spun cotton method, I wanted him to look both innocent and devious, if that's possible. I'm pretty proud of him, he's the biggest sculpture I've done so far at 4 and a little over half inches high.

Here's a very short vid showing his head wiggle capabilities: https://youtu.be/tfc8FaaugP8

[weirdunicorn]

I have a very good friend that told me that the Danish word for cricket is fårekylling and it translates to… Sheep Chicken. 😆

I couldn't get the image out of my head, so I had to make one for myself. Apparently its named that because of the sound they make, kind of a bleating chirp, which I can understand. But still, the idea of a Sheep Chicken just tickled me and now I made one and named it Cricket 🤣

[weirdunicorn]

Made a baby Kraken having a bubblebath ^_^

He's about 3 inches high, made of my usual bits and trash; ash, glue, wire and paint. The tub is a condiment container with cardstock for the 'wood' planks, more cardstock for the 'metal' bands and bolts. The rings are actually O-rings used for jewelry. The rubber ducky is more ash and glue, the scrub brush is cardstock and twine. And the bubbles are hot glue drops and small hole-less beads, with a thin silver paint coat to make them shimmer.

Overall I am very proud of this one!

[weirdunicorn]

Made a Biblically Accurate Angel out of Spun Cotton. I love how the angel said "Be not afraid" but I can guarantee if I saw something like this I would very much be afraid! XD

[weirdunicorn]

I made another Mushroom Octopus!

This one is based on Coprinus comatus, the Shaggy Ink Cap.

And I made a very very rough tutorial video on how I made it if anyone is curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04iVRswDFUo