Interesting how the transfeminine version got marked mature literally *as* I posted it, very clearly hitting some sort of automated filter, while the cis version was untouched by the filter even though it was otherwise identical
You ever see something innocuous, minding its own business on the clearance shelf at Michael’s and before you know it, it takes over your life for a few weeks?
So it was with this desktop greenhouse.
I took it home and after taking an appropriate time to “season” my idea in my mind (read: a month or two) I set to make my vision of a mini botanical garden a reality.
I started by removing the heavy glass panels and building a raised floor above the latch. I wanted to use the base as a foundation on the building.
I wrapped the foundation in plastic stone textured flooring (meant for Christmas villages) and built a pond at one end of the same. I then gave it a more realistic paint job and designed a rough layout for my plants and displays.
I also knew I wanted to make the ironwork significantly more intricate, but I wasn’t sure how just yet…
Up next - PLANTS! I went wild making all kinds of plants. Some were specific species and some were more conceptual.
I made several trees with polymer clay and moss, cacti out of beads and flocking, cattails out of raffia, hot glue and coffee grounds, and giant monstera leaves out of paper and wire.
This part should have taken me a long time, but it really came together fast. I loved finding ways to replicate natural shapes and patterns using bits of this and that.
I did make adjustments to my plans as I went like eliminating benches in favor of a simpler overall design.
Then I needed to fill my pond with water. For this I used resin. Lily pads were added to the top layer, and I wired in simple LED fairy lights. The batteries are kept in the box under the foundation.
In a weekend frenzy I added more plants, metal (paper) steps, new (plexi)glass windows, a roof, wrought-iron vines (paper again), doors that open, and a hose reel disguising the latch. Suddenly, a project I thought would take months was finished…
I love my desktop botanical garden. Right now it sits on a simple lazy Susan in my office. But I’d love to get it a proper display box to protect from dust.
Thank you for coming on this little journey with me. This piece packs a lot of joy into a tiny space. I always love building miniatures, and I’ll be doing more in the future I’m sure.
I’ve been iffy about posting this one, it’s not at all like what I would prefer to make. So…obviously this isn’t just a trans allegory. I mean I would love to be able to be a nightmarish eldritch creature of flesh and metal, but that’s not the main point of these renderings.
I’m tired of insatiable greed dominating the world. I’m tired of being squeezed for more and more while making less and less. I’m tired of not even being able to help everyone I care about, let alone my broader community.
Imagine having an incomprehensible amount of wealth and choosing to increase it further instead of making lives better. I will never understand billionaires or our corporate overlords.
no animal was harmed during the making of this video. not one. for the few minutes that we were shooting film, the guns of each hunter fell silent. the industrial bolt throwers observed a moment’s peace and the jaws of every predator hung softly open. no fish bit any hook and the bait worms held off on drowning only until the cameras stopped. the tails of ruminants ceased to flick just as their attendant flies, in unison, landed on their flanks to catch their tiny breaths. a spider instantly stopped winding silk around a wasp, patiently waiting for the caesura to end. a young veterinarian paused with the syringe in their hand. somewhere, a colicky baby stopped biting its mother’s nipple and nursed happily for the very first time. we’re sorry. we’re sorry it couldn’t have been longer. we didn’t know this would happen.
i think after 35k notes of people tagging welcome to night vale, which i’m certain is good but which i’ve never listened to more than maybe 3 minutes of, i can say now that this was not written with a soothing radio voice in mind. the voice here, in my imagining, is grief-stricken, on the verge of tears.
if you’re interested to know what this post IS biting, if it is not biting WTNV, it’s basically just a conflation of the key descriptive passage in Jorge Luis Borges’ short story El Aleph with my favorite passage from Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse V (the war movie that plays in reverse), plus a little piece of imagery borrowed from the staggeringly brilliant and tragically underappreciated poet Cornelius Eady, specifically the bit about the flies, which is lifted in part from my favorite image in his poem “Victims of the Latest Dance Craze.” if you aren’t familiar with any one of these, please consider this my recommendation of all three.
