Witchery in the City

This is a rare antique figural fish etui (sewing kit), dating back to the 1870s.

Shiro Kasamatsu, 1958

The bugs' circle dance. Entomology in sport. 1859. Frontispiece.

Internet Archive

Eastern Greek Gold Double Horse Earrings, Caucasian, 5th-4th Century BC

A matched pair of hollow-formed sheet gold earrings, each an addorsed pair of horse-heads with filigree and granule detailing, filigree loop to each mouth, coil to each forehead, six loops to the underside each with a chain and sheet gold date(?) pendant; to each face an inset glass cabochon; twisted wire loop above. 18 grams total, 59-63mm (2 ½")

Wild Garlic Woodland by Michelle Bullimore

The Gothic Pool of Landa, Burgos, Spain 

photos by 1-anahimes 2-noecamr 3-antiwedding on ig

Greek Gold  Earrings with Goddess Motifs, 4th Century BC

A pair of gold earrings with central shield decorated with bead wire to the edges; within each shield a series of loops bordered by bead wire; to the center a rosette consisting of four layers of petals with concave centers and with bead wire edges, with central bead; to the edge of each shield a series of heart-shaped leaves and two layer rosettes with acanthus leaf ornament to the center; from each smaller rosette a miniature figure of a goddess with hands to breasts and wearing a sheath dress; from the central acanthus leaf is an inverted pyramid pendant with miniature rosettes to each corner and bead wire edge with loops below; to each face of the pyramid a palmette motif in bead wire; granule beads to the base of each pyramid; from each of the heart-shaped leaves on the shield a loop in loop chain joined at the bottom by a rosette from which hangs a ribbed seed-like pendant; wire loop to the back. 29.93 grams total, 65mm (2 ½")

Disc and pyramid earrings are widely found throughout the Greek world: in addition to the East Greek examples, they have been discovered in the North Pontic region, on Cyprus, in Greece and in South Italy. The East Greek jewelers seem to have been particularly fond of pendants in the form of Nikai, Erotes and female figures.

The small pendant images on this earring bear similarities to motifs associated with the so called ‘bee goddess’ that was popular in Asia Minor and referred to as “The Pure Mother Bee”  in ancient Greece. Honey was regarded as an elixir in Mediterranean societies; a magic potion that ensured a long and healthy life. In addition to being an elixir, honey was a healing substance with a variety of medicinal uses due to its antiseptic qualities.

I finished the last constellation tonight. All 40 of them are now done! Went through and double checked and every stitch is in place for them and all the beads are in place. Which just leaves the milky way part to do.

Started stitching the Milky Way in. Slowly making progress on it as I am hiding the travelling thread so the back will look nice.

Looks pretty cool and keeps the readability of the other stitches. Very happy with it. Just a thousand or so to do. As they are in a grid roughly every centimetre apart.

Update on the constellation quilt. I have gotten the last Milky Way stitch done now. Which means the quilting part of this project is done. My next step will be to baste the edges down, remove the pattern, trim the quilt square, and lastly attach the binding.

Progress on the constellation quilt has come along quite a lot now. Finished the binding on the quilt over the weekend. I prefer to machine stitch the binding to the front then hand stitch the back side. It gives such a nice finish to the quilt. Took the time to measure it also and it ended up being 72" by 72" (183cm by 183cm).

With that done I could finally start removing the pattern. Which is taking both less time and more time that I thought it would. As it rips really easily so that goes fast, but the tiny corners and removing it under the beads is slow. You can now see the difference in the glow effect with it against the dark front of the quilt instead of the pattern.

Behold the stars of the constellations of the northern sky! I love how this quilt has turned out. It was a lot of fun to work on and the effect is so cool in person. Overall I would estimate it took about 90-100 hours to complete. Give or take 10 hours if you want to count the time I spent custom dying the fabric.

I made sure to get a nice photo of it in daylight. For once I also remembered to get a quilt label on it. The back really shows the difference in readability of the quilting on the ice dyed fabric compared to the solid front. Thank you everyone that has followed this. I am glad you all found joy in it.

Those that are interested, here is the pattern I used by Haptic Lab. I made the large northern hemisphere version, and plan to make the matching southern hemisphere one next year. I also got your back for the less crafty people. Haptic Lab sells finished quilts in this pattern, both as a large quilt and a small one.

Endless summer, Todd Weaver

The Lazy Italian Girl (1757) by Jean Baptiste Greuze

god, you take a five minute break and some asshole paints a picture

I bet Jean Baptiste wasn't helping with the washing up or doing the laundry

Honestly, she looks like she has cramps. (She also looks not unlike me)

Honestly, she looks

like she has cramps. (She also

looks not unlike me)

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

Glow Worm Caves, New Zealand by Daniel Kordan

Source details and larger version.

You 🫵 like Goblins, or you wouldn’t be reading this!