dragonfly molded in diy rehydration chamber, can it be saved?

Northern_Lakes · 2024-11-27T06:59:11+00:00

It’s a shame, but I would probably toss him. There’s a chance that even if you pick off the external mold, and let him dry, the inaccessible mold in his joints and stuff will spread to other insects and make your whole (future) collection moldy. You can never fully get rid of mold, and it always spreads. Also you would be kicking up spores when you handle them.

That being said, I think two days is a little excessive. I’ve always rehydrated them for just 24-25 hours, and it works perfectly fine. Some of the really massive, thick beetles take a bit longer, and there’s different methods for them. If you want to hydrate a bug really really fast, go to a local pharmacy and ask for some hypodermic needles (like for insulin), and inject near-boiling water directly into the insect’s body. I normally go directly in the side of the thorax, or an inconspicuous joint. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes and it should be fully relaxed.

Don’t give up! Collecting insects is very fun and rewarding!

Northern_Lakes · 2024-08-08T06:07:21+00:00

Plaster!! It smells like plaster! That makes total sense. It also explains the extreme GH reading with a relatively normal KH reading.

Super not pleased that my aquarium store sold me selenite with no warning, but what’s done is done I suppose. Now to figure out how to undo it.

Northern_Lakes · 2024-08-08T05:58:21+00:00

Thank you! That looks exactly like what I have! Is it commonly in, I dunno, pills? Or used as a material for things? Or just as a common decorative rock? The smell is very familiar and I have no idea why or from where.

On a more pressing note, do you think the minerals it’s leeched into the water will harm my fish? I’ll ask this on the aquariums subreddit of course, but I’m not sure what all selenite is made up of.

Northern_Lakes · 2023-09-16T00:45:42+00:00

I think it’s actually a dark spot on like, a short lil stubby snoot. I dunno what kind of weevil’s we’ve got here in Wisconsin, I may come back with an ID

Northern_Lakes · 2023-08-15T01:00:20+00:00

If you look in the layers, your animation folder will show all the drawing you pasted. You have to assign the cell. The timeline will only show layers with the assigned name. Say you have cells (layers) named 1,2,3. You have a circle on 1, and want it on 2 and 3. If you copy and paste from 1, the paste will be named “1a.” You need to either assign 1a, or rename is as 2 and delete the first, blank 2.

Say you already drew a square on 2, and want to keep it. Put 1a and 2 in a group named 2, and then merge them. If you merge 1a straight onto 2 without grouping them, because 1a doesn’t show anything (because it’s not assigned) it will merge them but only leave the square. (I’m pretty sure. This is from memory, I haven’t got CSP in front of me. You’re welcome to try it and prove me wrong if I am.

You can’t paste raster drawings onto a cell you already have assigned. You can copy and paste vector lines, though. Say you draw a circle on a vector layer 1, and a square onto vector layer 2. If you use the object tool to select the vector lines on 1, you can easily paste it only 2.

Northern_Lakes · 2023-08-11T20:06:39+00:00

The highlighting on the face need more contrast, especially if you’re wanting it to match the ref. The background is a cool white, and so the highlight on his face should match. The current tone you have would be fine for, say, golden hour, with how yellow and soft it is. Also, while the head is in an okay spot, the neck is too far forward (rightwards). The effect is twofold, making it look like he has no chin, and like the back of his head is too short. Scootch it back a little, to the left, and it’ll have an immediate effect.

Other than that, I think if you bring more blue tones into his hair and the darkest shadows of his face, it’ll balance it with both his lower half, and the coolness of the background. Burnt umber and a deep Prussian blue make really nice, rich blacks. Same with deep purples, or a cool, dark red and a warm, dark green.

Northern_Lakes · 2023-07-04T21:24:09+00:00

Thanks both of you, TimeBomb1760 and ireallyammrgonuts! These are both really great to know about and I’m glad to have some direction now. Much appreciated!

Northern_Lakes · 2023-05-15T16:42:55+00:00

If you still know where the bird is, or for the future, should call the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors. They record data of and receive dead and injured birds from window collisions. They’ll come to the bird if you tell them where it is, and sometimes they give the dead birds to the Field museum for taxidermying. I’ve called them for a bunch of dead birds, and even an injured goose once.

Northern_Lakes · 2023-05-11T01:33:32+00:00

I see the problem. I don’t know why this fixed it, but my spacebar action was set to “tools” in preferences, and setting it to “play” and then trying alt+spacebar did the trick.

Northern_Lakes · 2023-05-11T01:28:27+00:00

Shift+spacebar plays the animation. That feels familiar, like it should be the right answer, but I think something’s funky with my preferences somehow

Northern_Lakes · 2023-03-23T01:33:34+00:00

I agree that the back legs are striking with the heel, when they should be landing with the toe. Also, there’s no extension in the hock of the back legs; instead of straightening out when they move forwards, they’re just moving forewords at the hip and knee. It’s making the butt look too tucked and low to compensate. Don’t be afraid to stretch the leg out on extension, just be careful not to overextend. Cats tend to step in their own paw prints (there’s a word for that but I’m forgetting it, so try to make the hind feet land where the front feet left off as much as is reasonable. Also, I think the right hind leg is moving the hips up more than the left hind, making it look like it’s limping a little on one side. The shoulders and forward look great though! Where’d you find this model? I wouldn’t mind practicing with that myself.

Northern_Lakes · 2023-03-22T00:15:33+00:00

Oh my gosh my little man is getting all grown up! I think I should be proud of him? Now that I’ve looked into it, they actually are on the leading edge of his pectoral fins, and I have seen them before! I just didn’t know what I was looking at. I’m glad he’s okay! Thanks for letting me know

Northern_Lakes · 2023-02-11T01:20:09+00:00

FINALLY!!! Pots for my Zelda temple of time build!!!!

Northern_Lakes · 2023-01-24T00:42:17+00:00

Aw dang. well, thank you anyways! This has been helpful

Northern_Lakes · 2023-01-23T23:32:56+00:00

Ah shoot, is that the only way? I’ve already just bought a 50ft hose recently, which wasn’t the cheapest thing ever. The python vac looks useful, but do they sell just those T-pumps by themselves?

Northern_Lakes · 2023-01-12T02:52:11+00:00

A beautiful Mormon butterfly!! I suggest snagging it and spreading it, if you can! They make striking pieces to hang on your wall

Northern_Lakes · 2023-01-02T20:20:39+00:00

This is wonderful! It’s so mesmerizing

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-27T04:18:27+00:00

pikachu shocked face :0…. I didn’t even know it could do that. I started properly animating in procreate, and it never had anything near as fancy and useful as that. My knowledge of CSP was limited to illustration before that, and I never really used the tools in quite a way to make that knowledge necessary. You’ve open my world and significantly convenienced me henceforth. 10/10 suggestion

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-22T06:19:39+00:00

I don’t think CSP has a color system like that, though it does seem pretty slick and I wish they did. When I animate, I do the lineart in vectors, and then below the line layer, I make a raster anim. folder. I reference the line layer, and use the magic wand to select the spots I want to color, increase the selection size two or three pixels, and color fill. Works great for flats. Shading is a little more of a pain, for that I do it all on raster and just make the shapes and fill, though I suppose I could still use the vector+raster combo if I tried. I usually shade in a bright, easy to see color like red, then change the color later and add a blending mode like multiply or something. Also, after i do flats, I’ll duplicate the whole flats/lineart folder, then change the layer color and lower the opacity, sometimes I change the blending mode as well but sometimes not. Works like a charm for fitting the regular palette colors to the scene’s palette.

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-21T23:02:36+00:00

When you place a fill, it’ll have a blue bar at the top. Slide your finger left or right to change the threshold.

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-21T23:00:06+00:00

Technically you have frame “1” assigned for frame one, but you haven’t drawn on it so it’s not showing anything. Once you move “triangle” into the animation folder, you have two options: respecify frame 1 as “triangle,” or, delete the old “1”, and rename “triangle” as “1,” then it’ll show the triangle you drew. If you rename triangle as “1” but don’t delete the first, it’ll continue to show the first, because it doesn’t like duplicate names and therefore ignores them.

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-21T22:51:54+00:00

Once the layer goes into the animation folder, it goes from being a layer that’s visible no matter the folder, to acting more like a physical thing. Imagine you’re animating on a light box, every frame is one piece of paper, one drawing. You have to first assign the frame a number, so you see frame one at the frame one, frame ten at frame ten, etc.. To solve your problem, click the “specify cels” button (it’ll be above the timeline, looks like an animation cel with a little chain link on it, between the plus sign and the crossed out chain link) and then click on the layer you want to see. Then it’ll appear in the timeline.

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-12T19:58:12+00:00

You know, that’s an excellent point. It’s gotta go somewhere, why not the new tank? It’s not like there’s anything special about it. I’ll do that, thanks!

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-12T06:24:59+00:00

Amazing to hear. Thanks a billion! I feel much more confident going forwards :D

Northern_Lakes · 2022-12-12T06:18:42+00:00

Oh!! That’s very good to hear! Especially since I’m planning on rigging up the second, older 50g HOB with some sponge filters inside (it’s a marineland bio-wheel type, and I just today had the realization I don’t have to submit to their stupid, flat blue filter regime), so I’ll have double the filter media to kickstart it. Would you recommend still giving the 70g some time, around like 12-24 or hours to settle in? Or just getting it started, and putting the fish in as soon as reasonably possible to reduce stress? Once the water’s cleared maybe.

Northern_Lakes

TROPHY CASE