Slightly springy weather

I emerge from my winter doldrums when the weather improves.  This year has taken until May to really start to feel better (at times March and April have felt more like November – I was tempted to post the poem No! by Thomas Hood on social media at one point).  However, things are now starting to look up and I’ve finally had some energy, and some dry weather, to tackle jobs in the garden.

Saturday I popped out to do an hour while my daughter was taking part in an online D&D session (I highly recommend Lord Foxley for children to learn and take part in D&D online).  4 hours later I’d tidied part of the patio and some other bits of the garden, potted up some mint and filled two large containers with dahlia tubers (3 in each) I’d bought in March.  I still have 4 dahlias to find pots for.  I started to dig out the fig from a pot (the fig having expired last summer), but, just as I was trying to remove it from the pot I noticed some small shoots below soil level!  I swiftly popped it back, patted it down, gave it a nice top dressing, water, and an apology!  Fingers crossed for a recovery!

Basil Mint freshly potted up

Today I cleared out one of my largest pots (the acer it contained didn’t like a baking south facing patio and has slowly diminished and died – but the pot was too big to manhandle to a better location).  It now contains a rose that has survived on my patio for a couple of years in a probably too small pot (it even survived last summer’s intense heat and drought).  So I think it should do well.

There’s not currently a lot flowering in the back garden at the moment (the baking summer and then very cold December and cold string have made things a little tricky).  However, some red valerian appeared last summer, self sown into the gravel at the edge of the patio.  It grows everywhere locally – but this is the first time I’ve got it into my garden.  It’s looking quite pretty behind the pots.

 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

When I told my teenage daughter that I’d broken my blog her response was that “blogging is dead”! So, before I put the effort in to fix this blog, I investigated (via social media) whether this was true. Is everything now Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and the Fediverse? I’m pleased to say that this isn’t the case. People are still writing blogs and also reading them.  So whether or not my blog is useful or interesting, it still has a place on the Internet.

Blogging is in our control and isn’t driven by algorithms or advertising that is controlled by a handful of incredibly rich people.  Well designed blogs and websites allow us to look back (try and see my tweets from 2014 or my first photos on Instagram) and read more considered posts (no need for a tweet unroll here).  So there’s definitely a place for blogs (hurray)!  That’s not to say social media is necessarily bad – Instagram in its early days was glorious.  However, on the current popular platforms, we are too open to manipulation and it’s much, much harder to find people with similar interests, but different lives, in different parts of the world.

The world has changed enormously in the 14 years since this blog started.  Personally I’d used Ravelry for a few months and chatting online was otherwise based around forums I’d access to via work.  Although Facebook and Twitter existed they weren’t so universal and Instagram didn’t start until a couple of years later.  Now we have algorithms controlling what we see.  Make a post with a link in it on Facebook – and no one will see it (you can try this out for yourself – it won’t be scientific but it is worth thinking about).  In addition, algorithms are inserting sponsored and “suggested” posts and click bait – distorting what we see and interrupting what we were hoping to read.  Then there’s the content that makes you wonder if a human even wrote it!

And this leads me to the title of this ramble.  “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” is a novel by Philip K. Dick – which is the inspiration of the film “Blade Runner”.  AI, I suspect, has the potential to be brilliant and lead us to the lovely world of computers being an integrated and helpful part of our lives while we explore and flourish (just like Star Trek portrays) or (as many are predicting) down a considerably more dystopian path.

I’m a software engineer, but not an expert on AI, so my knowledge is much the same as any layperson.  However, anecdotal reports seem to suggest that AI produced output isn’t particularly accurate and the AI will make things up and give fake sources for the information (I note that I’ve not given any sources for this).  My own experiments with ChatGPT resulted in output that was uninspiring at best and on technical subjects very shallow, albeit well written.  In conversations I’ve suggested that asking an AI for information is like asking an 8 year old, who can write exceptionally well.  We wouldn’t rely on the 8 year old’s response.  However, a well written response from a computer appears more trustworthy!

Now I never thought I’d come down on the side of the luddite (ironic for someone with a blog full of spinning, weaving and other textile craft)!  However, I personally don’t want to be reading uninspired work generated by an AI.  In the same way I don’t want anyone to read my blog and wonder if it’s genuine or produced by AI.  It turns out I’m not the only one to think this!  Searching for a No AI logo turned up a website dedicated to promoting AI free content.  So, in this somewhat serious post, I will include one of their fabulous logos.  I’ll also put a logo on my menus and a link to their “no AI pledge”!

Oops!

I broke my site!  Please bear with me while I get things working again.  Some things may be a bit odd for a while and things do look different – but I think I quite like this new template – maybe (update: I didn’t like the theme and have reinstalled the one I was using – but it’s going to take a while to get back to it looking good).  I’ve moved to a different server so https should work (hurray – no more complaining browsers!) and I should have enough space (the start of the downfall).  They also have 24/7 technical support and are powered by renewable energy (which makes me happy).  Everything’s here – but with a move to another server domain name changes can take a while to filter through – so things may look a little odd for a bit.  I will be tinkering until it’s all working.

Wearable Electronics Resources

Yesterday I posted about using the LilyMini Protosnap.  I’m still working on it. I broke some of the board apart (more than I intended) and started programming up 3 sets of LEDs. At the moment the project isn’t in a movable state (there’s a huge risk of short circuits). I need to decide how I’m going to turn it into a wearable project (possibly a light reactive shawl). After I took this picture I put some tape over some of the wire ends, to keep things a little more under control.

Half board, half wires. Shows a partial LilyMini Protosnap board with wires to complete a circuit. LEDs are partially on.

Is it just me, or does the coin battery holder have a passing resemblance to a Cyberman?

Last night I spent sometime exploring the internet, so I thought I’d compile a list of useful sources (both book and internet based). This list is not exhaustive!  Links are generally the book/source titles (poor affordance there!):

LilyPad Sewable Electronics Kit Guide

Sparkfun produce a kit (though very, very, expensive in the UK, if you can get it) which includes all the materials and electronics (including a LilyMini Protosnap board) to complete 4 projects. This is a PDF of the project book. A hard-copy can still be bought from anywhere selling LilyPad devices.

Textile Messages

This is a series of essays edited by Leah Buechley (creator of the LilyPad devices) grouped into topics that explore wearable electronics from developement to uses. It is not insructions. I’ve linked to Goodreads for a description of the book and reviews. It is currently listed at a very high priced on Amazon – although it was a fraction of that when I bought it last year.

Sew Electric

This is a book of projects by Leah Buechley and Kanjun Qiu. It is currently out of print. However, the projects appear in full on the book’s website.

How To Get What You Want by Kobakant

This has an extensive range of information including links to further information.  It includes example projects, DIY sensors (like a knitted accelerometer), even bought and made materials (e.g. spinning sensor yarn).  This Breadboard Pincushion is exactly what I need to avoid the prototyping problem I’m currently having.

SparkFun

For completeness, here’s a link to the information on programming the LilyMini.  The US sales site for the LilyMini Protoboard does say that this isn’t programmable and to do so at our own risk.  I didn’t read that until yesterday – so too late now!  There is also a LilyPad Resource Centre.  And a search in their tutorials finds lots more information.

Wearable Tech Projects from HackSpace

This book includes a range of different types of projects utilising a wide variety of skills.  It’s available to buy (as of July 2022) or as a PDF download (which is free or a donation given for it).

I also ordered a book last night.  If it’s any good (and I remember) I’ll update the list to include it!

Wearable Electronics

Sometime ago I decided that I’d like to play with wearable electronics.  (I’m a software engineer – so it was going to happen eventually).  I bought some equipment, then everything got in the way.  Last night I finally got the electronics out and started to play.

One of the things I bought was a “LilyMini Protosnap”.  This is a mini circuit all ready to be programmed.  I ran into problems initially, and spent a lot of time trying to get it to work.  However, after re-reading the instructions I noticed that I needed to install an older version of one of the libraries.  So I tried again, but I still didn’t have any luck (I now had it complaining about missing files during compilation).

In the end I uninstalled both libraries and Arduino, then re-installed from scratch.  When it came to the libraries I installed the versions shown in the instruction screenshots (Arduino SAMD Boards v 1.6.14 and SparkFun SAMD Boards v 1.4.0).  This worked!  So if you’ve bought a LilyMini at some stage and it doesn’t work, then this is worth trying.

I’ve managed to load each of the 4 example programs onto the LilyMini and have had a play creating my own program.  I now need to think about how I want to use this in a project (probably with more sequin LEDs and no button).

Unfortunately, the LilyMini ProtoSnap appears to have been discontinued (that’s a shame – it’s a neat concept – and solves the prototyping problem for wearables for beginners).  However, if you do look at the LilyPad electronics, prices are very variable.  I’ve just seen the LilyPad LilyMini Protosnap for over £40 (although there are not many around).  When I bought mine last year it was just £10+VAT – which was a slight reduction from their original asking price of £12+VAT.

The Protosnap running some code:

LilyPad LilyMini Protosnap running some code. 2 of the 4 LEDs are brightly lit.

Some code (in C/C++):

Image of C/C++ code in the Arduino Development Environment

Now I need to break the board apart so I can experiment with more sequin/LEDs and think about how I’m going to use this in a project (glittery shawl?)

I think the back of the board looks very pretty:

Photo showing the back of the LilyMini Protosnap board - 2 of the elements look like flowers.

2021

Oh where has the time gone? (I’ve just spotted the copyright message for the site is 2017!!!)  A few days ago we went for a walk locally and the weather was lovely, so I thought I’d re-start the blog with some photos.

Signs of spring:

Setting sun through the trees:

The only way I could persuade my phone (camera!) to take a photo of catkins was to have it in silhouette:

My walking companion (small child running away – again…):

More catkins:

Pretty sky:

The moon (honest!):

Silver birch:

Pretty bark and moss:

Until next time…

Solstice plus one

Last night I had a lovely evening discovering encaustic art.  I had a wonderful time playing with an iron, melted wax and a lot of colour.

It was great fun and messy – yet quick and easy to clean up.  And the smell of beeswax was delicious.  I think I’m going to have to do more.

Last night was the solstice and when I got home the highest white clouds glowed in the twilight:

And today I’ve been admiring tulips on a tree:

Experiments in Fimo

The Fimo and glass pendant I made at the weekend is now varnished (to protect the mica) and strung onto cotton threads. (I tried to buy more at the weekend but the selection in Hobby Craft was extremely poor, so it’s strung onto brown cotton).

I’ve also been trying out some new techniques. This swirl pendant was a lot of fun to make.

I tried making faux mokume gane (faux because I’m not working with layers of metal). During my first attempt I got carried away and rolled my block too many times, meaning the colours were almost blended together. I decided to use the cutoff scraps from my first attempt and have another go. So my mokume gane is somewhat random, but still interesting. I added flowers from a cane I’d made.

This resulted in a patterned sheet that I used to make a few hollow doughnut beads.

During my creative researches, I discovered that polymer clay doesn’t play well with all plastics. Polymer clay (in its raw form) contains a plasticiser, so any plastics of the same type will react with the plasticiser ruining both the clay and the plastic item. Plastics that are safe with polymer clay are polyethylene terephthalate (PETE – #1 when recycling), polyethylene – either low density (LDPE – #4 when recycling) or high density (HDPE – #2), polypropylene (PP – #5). Acrylic is also safe. Plastics that are not safe include polyvinyl chloride (PVC – #3), vinyl, and polystyrene (#6) from which things like CD cases are made.

It’s always good to know what the real thing should look like – so here are some mokume gane rings in precious metals. Very beautiful. I think this is quite funny, really. Mokume gane is technique to make woodgrain patterns in metal and faux mokume gane is emulating the metal in polymer clay 🙂

Resources
Hollow Bead Tutorial
Swirly Lentil Bead Tutorial
Plastics and Polymer Clay
Plastics by Numbers

Indian Summer

We’re having some lovely autumn weather at the moment. Which has enabled a couple of nice walks at Anglesey Abbey with the children. The second visit was prompted by my son managing to delete the contents of his camera’s memory card, complete with some lovely photos from our first weekend visit, when trying to copy them to the computer!

This morning I spent teaching binary complete with props – a set of weighing scales and ounce weights (plus extra pretend weights at 32, 64 and 128 ozs). This afternoon I went to Creating Space and made a pendant that incorporates a dichroic glass cabochon I made a few years ago.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to get back into modelling with Fimo (polymer clay). The clay has changed from the Fimo I used years ago, so it’s taken some getting used to. This is made with Professional Fimo with mica and the glass cabochon, photographed before curing in the oven:

I’m looking forward to finishing this off and making it into a necklace.