Chinese Ants and a Rat for a Bat

Well, I'll have to change my "weekly blog" title to just "blog" or perhaps "occasional blog" would be more accurate. I was surprised at the date of the last entry, but it has been a busy few months. Although undocumented, progress has been made.

If you've been keeping track of the painting hours, you'll see I've finally broken the 300 hour mark. This was an afternoon spent filling in parts of the mural behind the trees.

Areas I won't be able to get to as easy once the bank is in. I say easy, but there were moments when a mirror might've come in handy as I was painting parts I couldn't actually see! I would reach around the tree, paint a little, then go and check it from outside the case to see if I covered the area I thought I was going to cover...interesting.

If you've stopped by the case recently, you'll see the two birch trees have been erected and we also temporarily installed the bank as well, to check the fit and to get those foam panels out of my studio for a while so I could set it up better. We brought the panels in to try and work out how to build our way out of that corner and still be able to clean the glass. I believe we have worked out several problems - we will hold the bank back a bit from the glass for one thing. This will allow someone to be able to reach every glass panel all the way to the base to clean it. We've also decided to build the slope of the bank with enough strength to hold a person who can climb it to reach the upper parts. I am designing the top of the bank to create a safe and open place to stand and not risk any of the habitat while doing so.

We've since brought the panels home again to finish. I'm now coating them, having 90% of the carving complete. The stages of acorn to oak sapling have been molded from clay and will be added once I print the fabric leaves (similar to the sumac leaves) I suggest you check out the Youtube video entitled "Acorn to oak - 8 months time lapse" to see my inspiration for this addition to the nature case. I've also got some other critters molded and ready to be added to the bank. I've also worked out a system to add the "fascinating facts" to the Nature Case. More about that later.

I'm proud to boast of a couple of real bargains, almost as good as the Craigslist foam that began this journey. The most realistic ants I could find I purchased for only $1.21 and some change ( and this included shipping!) They were so cheap and I'll get 50 red as well as 50 black; I'll decide when they get here which to use.

Only problem is, they are coming from China and I don't expect them till March! Well, at least they were a good deal!

The second find was really from a tip from Joey. I have molded a small bat that will reside in the large crevasse in the cliff, but needed some fur to replicate his coat. Joey mentioned that he had seen a Halloween leftover that might fit the bill, so for less than $1.00, I've got another "donor" animal.

Well, that's about it for now on the progress. Please check the donor page, as we've had more generous gifts come in. And thanks again to the Stenbergs for their commitment and generosity, you have been just what this project needed to keep going.

Back to work!