From little things

[merrileemakes]

A few little projects to finish off the year.

Back in August I went to a workshop led by a local artist. His art involves embroidering with repurposed textiles, which he uses to express his queer identity. Honestly, as a workshop it was pretty rubbish. The artist gave a 10 minute rundown of his approach and then pretty much left us to it for the next few hours. More of a 'make and take' session than an actual workshop. The organiser did hire a photographer to take photos for a solid half hour though, and splashed the images all over their socials and local newspapers. It felt very performative, like the goal of the workshop was to rainbow-wash themselves rather than provide an actual experience to the people who paid to be there. So I'm really fucking salty about that.

I did finally finish my project through.



I've tried to engage with this organisation a few times over the past 2 years and almost none of them have been positive. They've been bugging me to renew my membership and I'm ignoring them. They can get stuffed.

I've also finished my scarf from the last warp I put on my rigid heddle.



It's a cute, simple scarf. I threw it in the washing machine for 15 minutes and it fluffed up really nicely too.

I've borrowed a Kromski weaver's choice heddle from a friend so I think my next rigid heddle warp will be something to play around with that.

Finally, a little unplanned project.

We have an ornamental garden pond. The local birds love it. Sienna also loves it.


(The sign reads 'This is a pond NOT a buffet', which is one of the many dumb things I have shouted at Sienna over the last 10 years that my partner found hilarious. So much so that the made this sign.)

At the end of November we has a series of big storms, and some Spotted Marsh Frogs briefly took up residence in the pond. They do this every so often and I really enjoy falling asleep listening to them croak.

After this last temporary frog residence I noticed a bunch of foam on the pond. Cool, I thought, they were making a little bubble nest for potential eggs, like a beta fish.

Then a day or two later when I went to clean the pond (a twice-weekly affair this time of year) I noticed that some of the 'bubbles' had little black dots in them. I transferred them carefully to a bucket for a closer look.



A bit of Google Lens-ing and searching and yep, they're frog eggs! I transferred them again into a large tub and checked on them every few days. It wasn't long until...



Life!



I think over 100 tadpoles hatched! There were so many and they were so tiny.

But not for long.



I've been keeping their tub clean and feeding them (one of the potted pond plants and also fish food and peas). I don't know how long I'll keep them. At the point they start growing legs their gills start transforming to lungs, and if they don't have access to land they will drown. Their tub has zero access and I'm a bit stressed about that. I've contacted the local Frogwatch group to ask for a good place to release these tadpoles.

--
The title of this post comes from a beautiful song about a powerful moment in colonised Australian history, where 200 First Nations people went on strike for seven years to protest their stolen land, stolen wages and stolen rights.

Comments

[thatjustwontbreak]

Oh my gosh the tad poles are so exciting. Here's hoping Frogwatch will get back to you soon.

That workshop sounds so exploitative. No thank you.

[yourlibrarian]

Oh nice, like the heart! Heh about the sign.

I remember seeing tadpoles like a black ribbon around the edge of our lake when I was growing up. Must have been a million of them. But there were definitely predators about.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Honestly, as a workshop it was pretty rubbish. The artist gave a 10 minute rundown of his approach and then pretty much left us to it for the next few hours. <<

Sadly, many people who are good at doing things are terrible at teaching, because they don't think about what they do, how they do it, or how to break down a process into steps that anyone can do.

I wrote a book on Pagan liturgy with a poetry section. I have repeatedly had English teachers tell me that they photocopied that section to use in class because they couldn't find any other good explanation of how to write a poem step by step. It's fair use.

>>I did finally finish my project through.<<

That is gorgeous.

>> I've also finished my scarf <<

I love that plaid. Is some of your yarn varigated? It looks like some of the horizontal stripes appear and disappear.

>> The sign reads 'This is a pond NOT a buffet', <<

*laugh* I just put feeder goldfish in mine during times when I've had a pond.

>> I think over 100 tadpoles hatched! There were so many and they were so tiny.<<

EEE! They're so cute! :D

>>At the point they start growing legs their gills start transforming to lungs, and if they don't have access to land they will drown. Their tub has zero access and I'm a bit stressed about that. <<

Option 1: Put in a branch or slab of bark so they can climb up.

Option 2: Put in a flowerpot with potting soil or gravel sloped so they can reach it.

And once they're out of water, they would like a place to hide, like a small flowerpot with moss inside.

>>Frogwatch group to ask for a good place to release these tadpoles.<<

Good idea. A nice thing about raising tadpoles in a tub is that many more of them survive to the froglet stage.

>> colonised Australian history, where 200 First Nations people went on strike for seven years to protest their stolen land, stolen wages and stolen rights.<<

More power to them.

[bookscorpion]

Oooh tadpoles! Seeing those is a thing I really miss, we used to have a garden pond when I was a kid and it was the best thing. I hope Frogwatch will get back to you soon!
The scarf is lovely! And the sign made me laugh :D

[threemeninaboat]

That is an adorable heart.