Sunday, September 23, 2018

Hold the Door!


Cat wants out. Sorry Cat, it's a Nowhere Door! The Nowhere Door is installed. It gives me pleasure for many small reasons; the lintels aligned perfectly, there's a little gap under the door for the wind to whistle through in winter, the staircase will fit next to it with a millimeter to spare. Although I hoped for all these things, they happened more by accident than by careful measurement.

This is where it started. After thinking it over, I decided that I couldn't live without a door with a fanlight without illumination. Part of the house had to be dismantled to cut a hole in the back wall. In the process walls got dirty and I had to repaint.

Tidied up and measured for the door.

The Del Prado Dollhouse has a plastic front door with a fanlight (left). It will be installed at the front of the house in the future. I made something similar for the Nowhere Door, using several layers of card stock.

With my own studio door as inspiration ;-)

Somehow I lost track of my intention to take photos for the blog, and when I saw again, the door was finished...
I used some pretty lace tape behind the fanlight once again and the doorknob and back-plate were made of card stock and an electrical contact point. I painted it gold, and even managed to cut out a tiny keyhole. Very satisfying.

Note about working with card stock: It's easy to cut with a guillotine or scissors and one can shape it with an emery board, which makes it a pleasure to work with. Once I started painting it warped and blistered here and there. I don't think I'll use card stock again, wood feels better.

Sneak peek at the soon-to-be staircase through an outside window. I'm making slow progress with that but it's coming together.

When one door closes, another always opens. That's how life works. Important doors have closed for me in the last few years, and for a while, it seemed like every new door I tried was a Nowhere Door. Lately, there's an open door in the distance and I'm so excited to see where it leads I feel like screaming at the Universe, 'Hold the door!'. If it's the right one, it will be open when I get there.

It's been a scandalously long time since I wrote a blog. Thank you for continuing to read, and welcome to my new readers. In real life the studio is busy, the new writing job is going well, and a tarantula had 780 babies. That's newsworthy of its own post, but I'm quickly going to latch it on here if you want to continue reading.

The ball that looks like a mushroom in the foreground is the egg sac.  It's about 5 centimeters in diameter. You can see the tools I work with and in the background the glass incubation box.

 Yep, 780 babies in there! They are 7-8 weeks old. At this developmental stage, they are referred to as 'eggs with legs'. The yellow dots that look like their abdomen is actually the egg they developed from. As soon as I opened the sac and saw that it was viable, I sent the picture to the breeder who mentored me through the process. Breeding tarantulas is not like other kinds of pets, it's so complicated that a viable batch is huge news. Within half an hour of posting the photo, all the babies were sold.

 Babies in the incubator. They are about 2mm long.

Over the next several days, each little spider was carefully transferred on the tip of a soft brush to an individual deli cup with special soil and kept warm in the incubator. The little spiders were delivered in batches of 100 to dealers all over the country. They will stay in their small containers for up to two years until they've grown enough to be sold to hobby keepers.

I kept a few of the babies to raise for my own collection and will show progress pictures as they grow. Right now they are what's called first instar slings. They don't eat yet; they are still absorbing nutrients from their egg and although they can wriggle their legs, they can't walk. When they molt for the first time (in the next week or so), they will be second instar slings and will start on a three-times-weekly diet of dead insects, since they are too small to catch their own food.

You might wonder what happens to baby tarantulas in nature if they are so weak and dependent? The mother tarantula guards the egg sack for up to nine weeks. By that time the slings have molted for the first time, and the strongest ones eat their siblings. When the mother opens the egg sac the babies disperse. Some will die of hunger and some will be eaten by the mother if they don't get out of her territory quick enough. Only a few survive. Since virtually all tarantulas are endangered and some species have disappeared entirely from nature, breeders intervene to try to raise as many as we can.




18 comments:

  1. I love how your door looks! Maybe prime the card stock with gesso before painting?

    And while I usually don't mind spiders, and find tarantulas interesting... something about all those little guys just gives me the shivers. I hope they all grow up healthy. But they still creep me out. I have no idea why.

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    1. Dear Sheila. Thank you for your comments on my blog during 2018. I loved reading them, and I loved visiting your blog. Your contest build was breathtaking and I'm always amazed at the dedication with which you work out every little detail. Looking forward to sharing your creative journey this year!

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  2. The 'nowhere' door is fabulous. It is amazing how the room has been transformed by it and the bit of light coming through the fan light. I love it.
    ... and the teeny, weeny spiders. Even though they look more like little sprouts LOL
    Anna x

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  3. Aah Megan, kyk hoe mooi kom jou huis aan. Al is ek skrikkerig vir spinnekoppe - storie oor jou tarantulla en haar babas is baie interessant.

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  4. The door may lead to nowhere, but what an adventure it was getting it in there! It came out lovely, and I love that it is modeled on the real life gorgeous door to your studio. No matter where the next door leads you, you'll have a reminder of what you enjoyed while waiting to get there.
    Congratulations on such a successful egg sack, and on selling nearly all of them so quickly! It's going to be so rewarding for you to see the new babies become healthy adults! It's all so fascinating to read about!

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  5. So far I've heard the Talking Heads sing about the road to nowhere… but I like your door to nowhere better (although I'm not sure about the cat… maybe you should think about a cat door to nowhere? *LOL*) The door turned out awesome - but even more awesome was that picture with the look through the window. It was fascinating and interesting to learn about your tarantula babies - an egg sack of 5 cm with 780 babies… Mother Nature is incredible! It's great to hear that all of them were sold and will get into good hands helping to safe this endangered species. Best wishes for this special door to be the right one!

    Hugs
    Birgit

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  6. Hello, Megan - I love that the Nowhere Door has the potential to lead Anywhere that one might want to go. The door turned out beautifully - and how could it not, with such a handsome Real Life door as a model? I admit that while I'm not afraid of spiders, I do feel squeamish looking at them - but I pulled up my bootstraps so that I could show my two visiting grandsons your tarantula post. They were extremely interested and had many questions and comments, so it was worth some secret shudders on my part just to see their enthusiasm. Thank you for helping to save these tarantulas.
    Marjorie

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    1. Dear Marjorie. Thank you for your comments on my blog during 2018. I loved reading them, and I loved visiting your blog even though you, like me, don't seem to have so much time for writing. Looking forward to sharing your creative journey this year and giving a spider update every once in a while!

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  7. Megan, your door looks really nice! You know that I'm a big fan of cardboard. It's so easy to cut and shape. The only problem are water based colors and glue, which warp the pieces. Letting them dry under a weight solves this issue :)
    Currently I'm working on the entrance hall, too. I took the stairs out, because they were oversized and I'm building a new wall to hide them. But I'm working soooo slowly...
    Regarding your babies, I 'm happy for you, but the idea that they multiply so abundantly makes me shiver.
    Waiting to see your new progress in the house and in your spider family ♥

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    1. Dear Ersilia. Thank you for your comments on my blog during 2018. I loved reading them, and I loved visiting your blog and seeing your Facebook posts. We seem to like many of the same things! Looking forward to sharing your creative journey this year.

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  8. Greetings Megan!
    This was such an interesting and informative post! The fanlight in your door allows in some additional light whilst the door gives the hallway a sense of extention and mentally draws the viewer futher down the hall, towards the intersection. You did a Marvelous job of duplicating your RL door so a BIG HIGH 5 to you!!!
    About the baby spider; Ugg.
    I try to like them because I realize that they are one of GOD'S creatures and that they serve a purpose in the grand scheme of things but they still creep me out.
    Nevertheless, I learned some interesting facts about Tarantulas which I would have never known if it wasn't for this post, so Thnak You for this FYI aobut this important passion of yours and of your dedication towards conserving this species of endangered arachnids;
    - just don't eat them! ;D

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  9. Yay babies! They are adorable :) Congratulations! Please keep us updated. Are you on instagram?

    Your door to nowhere and everywhere turned out great. I need a door right now, perhaps I’ll make a mini for inspiration.

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    1. Dear Keli. Thank you for your comments on my blog during 2018. I loved reading them, and I loved visiting your blog. Your winter cottage project turned out stunning, I'm in love with the exterior. The boats you've been working on lately are also inspiring. Looking forward to sharing your creative journey this year!

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  10. Great looking door! Yucky looking spider eggs.LOL

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    1. Thank you for your comments on my blog during 2018. I loved reading them, and I loved visiting your blog. Yep, little spiders are not for everyone, even if they are miniature :-) Looking forward to sharing your creative journey this year!

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  11. Love your door Megan.. The baby spiders.. not so much.. :D But the do still fascinate me in a morbid kind of way. I'm glad that you had a string of happy coincidences that made the door fit perfectly in its place. You would never know it was card. I know what you mean about card.. I have a love hate relationship with it. It's much easier to cut but the warping.. no fun at all. I do agree, putting it under weights does help.

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    1. Dear Sam. Thank you for your comments on my blog during 2018. I loved reading them, and I loved visiting your blog. I think we both had sad experiences last year, but I'm happy to see that you are writing again. Looking forward to sharing your creative journey this year!

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  12. We need an update....with lots of baby pictures!

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