The Red Bakkie

 Have acquired a new vehicle to mount the puppet on - bright red and very old school.

Puppet Car - Real Scale Prototype

 It's been a busy festive season for me but I got a lot of building done on the Mutant vehicle project.

I have been building a first version of the torso of the puppet (that will be seated on the back of the truck facing backwards as if leaning against the cab). 

I currently have a working shoulder (both rotating and lifting from the upper arm) which is working quite nicely. Also a head and neck piece which can both shake and nod the head. Here's a little demonstration video.

The Puppet Car - A Mutant vehicle for Africa Burn 2024

 As me and mine are attending Africa Burn next year again I am keen to build another mutant vehicle.

Although still at an early design stage the idea is to build a giant working puppet sitting on the back of a bakkie. I have a few fellow fools who are keen to help me, I have a plan (kind of) - I currently need a vehicle and a place to build in.

These are my first paper models - this one to give scale (BIG):

 

And this first image of my internal workings of the torso - the basic plan to operate the head, neck, shoulders and elbows.

Pineapple - still alive!

 The great pineapple experiment is going forward - slowly! 

Pineapple II survived it's planting in indoor soil and slowly rooted itself - after 6 months it has begun to get root bound and needs transplanting into the big outdoor world for winter.  

Here it is, looking bigger, in its new outdoor pot:

Pineapple II

My aqua culture experiment with pineapples went well until it didn't - a week or so after my last photo I noticed the stem around the roots had begun to rot! Careful dissection showed nothing could be saved; I'm unsure of my mistake, perhaps I left in the the water too long (or placed it too deep).

So I started with a new pineapple but this time directly into the soil (which is also possible).

Minx - Running Darkness

A high tone / low tone photo of which I quite proud:

Aquaculture

My pine apple stork has dried out a bit and has been placed in water to promote new root growth (with toothpicks holding it in place)

Pineapples!

I discovered recently that Pineapple plants can be grown asexually from the fruit; as it happens each pineapple plant takes two years to yield a single pineapple and then dies - very interesting.

So I thought I'd photograph this process; starting with a pineapple:

We ate the fruity flesh for breakfast and cleaned all the fruit off the leafy top bit and strip off a few leaves:

The next step is to let the 'spike' dry out for a few days before trying  to get it to grow roots.

The Doorsill

My next carpentry project is the 'sill' at the bottom of my front door - after our builder left I found the old wooden bit below the door frame in really poor condition (powdery and so frail I just pulled it out with my fingers. But underneath I found an old level of flooring make from polished stone; presumably from a much older version of my house.

I'm replacing the step but think I have to get a bit creative with the old flooring and show off this old stone.

Death Flower Dead

The outward facing flower - all closed, dried and dead and fallen on my red tiles.

The other flower - closed and dying....

Postbox in Situ

My postbox project completed and installed; just waiting for the first postal delivery after lock down.

Flower Death - closing

Another photo of the first flower almost entirely closed and the backward facing one beginning to curl closed..

Post box - Completed

Finally finished my lock down carpentry project - the completed postbox in bright color.

Death Flowers - The Beginning of the End

The succulent flowers usually last for 5-8 days but our subject seems to be dying already - perhaps it has been pollinated or perhaps this is due to it's sun exposed position. The backward facing flower still seems to be in full bloom.

Postbox in light

The postbox pieces are built and glued and pivoting nicely. Here a high tone photograph of them before varnishing on my new concrete side alley.

Open Succulent Death

For days they are just alien green pods and then suddenly one morning both opened together:

Succulent Death Flowers

These otherwise rather forgettable succulents very occasionally put on these weird alien pod-things.
So I got out my SLR and took a dark tone picture to amuse me.

The succulent garden

I've been slowly reviving our succulent collection over the past few months, after the house renovations it's all laid out again.

 And a closer shot of the center of the collection.

Lock down project all cut up

My design expressed in wood; all cut and the plan looks good in stark contrasts.

Lock down Project

A new DIY project to finish what my builders started.

A formal plan:

And some last minute supplies I grabbed before lock down....

The Outside Wall

Outside our property a big bright orange statement; here half done with the orange but no green and the number mapped out in chalk.

The outside completed a day or two later

House Completed before Lockdown

A day or so before lock down our professionals heroically finish up, clean and shove off.

All complete and we are suddenly very on our own in our pretty, fixed-uo house.\

A funky shot of the shiny door to the great 'outside' all bright white and green.

Turning around the house and front door are full of life.

And the bright colours (which go with the climbing walls) continuing done our exercise passage:

and this picture of the other passageway full of bright and with a new cement floor.

Fixing the Pool Area

As well as the main house our professionals are working on some other outdoor spaces.

Around our pool 'before':

With the foreground broken box removed and new paint and fixes:

White washed

The house looking very white - a good undercoat going on...

What's good for the house is good for the garden?

The house is looking lovely, clean and bright thanks to the trusty builders.
Our lawn on the other hand suffers...

Flat out Plastered

Cracks filled, bricks covered - soon there will be paint

House - The Pros fix the outsides

Got some professionals to open and close and paint ALL the outside of my house.

Old plaster work removed on the weather facing doors:

Also the old metal conduits have rusted and expanded pushing themselves out - about to be replaced with proper plastic.

Bedroom Blues - Completed

All the blues are in play - some open arty photos of the space

Bedroom Blues - In Progress

Over the new year We redo our bedroom ourselves - very blue:

Flying Carpet Car in Disarray

A rather contrasty photo from when we had just taken the roof off the car in a blaze of angle grinders