#cicada
SS Cicada
I don’t know where I got the idea for a dirigible cicada miniature model but here we are. Falling asleep with my YouTube queue probably with videos on the recent 17 year cicada cycle followed by the use of airships during WW1 must have blended together in my subconscious. I enjoyed creating the last insect - the custom bee - I had to do another but this was too large for a piece of jewellery.
So I worked on each separate section, hoping it would all fit together in the end. That’s always the scary part - will the wings fit on the body? Will the scale of everything maintain the illusion of an actual, albeit fantastical, airship once joined? Unlike very clever model scene makers I don’t work with a scale ruler. As I don’t fabricate or cast metal there is no real point - I’ll still have to adjust a part in my collection to fit.
I started with the wings - they bring everything together and set the scale. Like the last piece - the body is a brass screw electrical terminal. The abdomen has two main parts - the high copper piece with a grill and a lower section made from a cut out earing drop I filled in with resin. The wings are also filled with resin and a very light dusting of green and gold mica.
I’ve been making miniature nebulas lately so that is where the glass “hot air balloon” came from. It is fitted with a vintage brass bead cap, chains, tiny brass drops and internal details. While I was searching for pieces I came across the hand blown green glass bead with a swirl pattern. I had to incorporate it but it was difficult to do so. Adding a piece to one side of a symmetrical design alters the way it hangs. The swirl on the bead is matched with the black swirled disk hanging under the balloon.
She has wrapped wire legs with metal crimps, two brass and steel “propellers” affixed to the front, one large rear flag and bunting on the secondary “balloon” tether. Everything attached is done so using screws and very rarely, glue. I have no idea how many separate components I used but it would be well over 100. I’ve been working on and off for a week - probably about 40 hours not including the time sourcing parts, taking photos and writing this. The rigging was a nightmare. The chain at the back, connected to a “U” shape piece is the ship’s anchor.
A friend who is a genius wood worker turned some gorgeous wood bases for me. I think it’s Jarrah. It has four brass legs on the bottom. The hanging mechanism consists of a filigree disk, a vintage brass corrugated bead and assortment of brass rods, copper and brass tubing and beads. The top section pulls out so it can be packed for shipping.
One final surprise. I left a hole in the body for a tiny green LED light. It is difficult to use - turning on by pushing the light into a battery. But it could be used on special occasions to show her off. The battery type is a bit exotic but available online.
I’m thinking about entering her in a local art competition before putting her up for sale. I hope you like her.
Look What You’ve Done. I’m Molting…MOLTING!!!
Adult female Cicadas lay eggs inside the bark of trees by means of an ovipositor. When the eggs hatch, the newly hatched nymphs drop to the ground and burrow.
Cicadas live underground as nymphs for most of their lives at depths down to about 2.5 metres (8 ft). Nymphs have strong front legs for digging and excavating chambers in close proximity to roots where they feed on xylem sap. In the process, their bodies and interior of the burrow become coated in anal fluids. In wet habitats, larger species construct mud towers above ground in order to aerate their burrows.
In the final nymphal instar, they construct an exit tunnel to the surface and emerge. They then molt (shed their skins) on a nearby plant for the last time, and emerge as adults. The exuviae or abandoned exoskeletons remain, still clinging to the bark of the tree.
Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts from two to five years. Some species have much longer life cycles, such as the North American genus, Magicicada, which has a number of distinct “broods” that go through either a 17-year or, in some parts of the world, a 13-year life cycle.
These long life cycles may have developed as a response to predators, such as the cicada killer wasp and praying mantis. A specialist predator with a shorter life cycle of at least two years could not reliably prey upon the cicadas.
Pantone 7748 color match.
A deceased male “Dog Day” Cicada I found on the ground while walking around my city’s town square. It got that name because they appear during the hottest days of Summer to mate safely. They can withstand the heat but their predators cannot. Their buzzing mating calls are really loud!
P.S. If this guy were alive, there’s no way I would pick him up from the ground He is beautiful to look at from up close tho. Especially that green.
Linne’s Cicada.
Painted to be turned into stickers for Light Grey Art Lab’s Pandora’s Box.
I have extra stickers available in my shoр if ya want one~
Found this freshly dead swamp/morning cicada (Tibicen tibicen) on the ground. When the thorax (specifically, the mesonatum) is pushed down, the forewings rise. Really interesting!
Did you know that the microstructure of a cicada’s wings is antimicrobial? Read more hereandhere.
lucky me I’ve probably seen more cicadas this year than in my whole life.
a good omen from the cicada gods. things will be ok I think
Some birthday gifts A large peice of labradorite (my favorite stone) and a cicada keychain (my favorite insect)
My grandpa just called a cicada a quesadilla.
ok honestly I felt like we were robbed of a good friendly dynamic between Nico and Annabeth. so here’s some headcanons nobody asked for
- if Annabeth was never kidnapped during ttc I feel like she would be the only one that doesn’t find little ten year old Nico annoying
- she probably sees herself in Nico when she was only seven and being introduced to the demigod world for the first time so she totally gets it
- like with all those hc’s that have the athena cabin and other campers doting on baby Annabeth, you can’t tell me she sees Nico and isn’t immediately like “yeah I’m totally gonna indulge the shit out of this kid”
- like when the hunters and Artemis arrive she just volunteers to watch him and listen to him geek out about mythomagic stuff
- Artemis: “I thought you wanted to be a hunter”
- Annabeth: “excuse me but I’m learning about Demeter’s attack points at the moment”
- Artemis (audibly): what the fuck
- Annabeth takes Nico’s side, more so than Percy, when Bianca joins the hunters because she knows exactly what it feels like to have your family abandon you
- let’s say if Annabeth goes on the quest, whether or not Nico makes her promise to protect Bianca, she subconsciously does just that to make sure Nico doesn’t lose his only family
- Bianca’s death is devastating and Annabeth takes it the hardest because all she can think about is how Nico will react and how it felt when Thalia sacrificed herself on half-blood hill or when Luke betrayed her and she couldn’t even keep someone else’s family together much less her own
- Nico’s reaction is still the same and he runs away at the end of ttc
- I feel like during the next two books Annabeth is a lot more worried about him and her and Percy are both just equally exasperated at this feral 11 year old roaming the country with some ghost
- she’ll insistently remind him of how he has a home and family at chb and this might change his feelings of ‘not being wanted anywhere’ a bit and make him less reluctant to stay after the war
- after the titan war she’ll force him to come sit with her down in the amphitheater and play mythomagic and it kind of becomes their thing
- Percy will be walking by one day and see Annabeth and Nico waving their arms around and arguing over game technicalities and he’ll just smirk and be like “nerds.”
- at the end of boo when he comes out to Percy and Annabeth, she gives him a proper hug to show her support
(because that high five was stupidok)- after the events of hoo they’re both so burnt out and traumatized but annabeth drags him out to try to play mythomagic with her again
- when he argues that he’s too old for it now she’s like “ok fine I’ll find something else for us to hyperfixate on”
- they find all these weird super complex games to play with each other and it almost feels just like old times
- neither of them admit it but it’s a nice way to escape and distract themselves from their trauma in tartarus
A White Ghost Cicada
Bugs Are Truly Spectacular And Here Are Pics To Prove That
Photographer:Browndog888
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a resonant cicada (Megatibicenresonans), doing what he does best… being really loud
resonans is the second-largest cicada in North America, surpassed only slightly by its close relative M.auletes, and i‘m pretty sure they’re some of the loudest out there as well
something i did in class :)
todays beanie is: twitterbug the cicada!
These 2 sweet cicadas, Leo and Lluvia, were made earlier this year for a truly lovely individual (first 3 pictures belong to them). I love that they’re both out there having adventures
It’s been far too long since I’ve made a cicada. Rufus here will be available on Sunday at 6:00pm EST
