Thursday Is Bear Day!

'Thursday' The Bear

Processing is a good version of the Java computer language that enables you to produce static and also exceptionally good moving images and designs.

For my part, however, I am still at the ‘using it for static images’ stage as it is a great way to produce patterns and similar designs.

However, it can also be used to produce more diverse objects, including people and, especially, bears!  Hence, the image today is of ‘Thursday’ the bear.

Why is he called Thursday?  It’s a bit long to repeat but have a quick read of my Learning-Processing blog entry to find out.

Modernise – ‘To give Something A More Modern Look’

A More Modern Look

This is just a short rider to one small piece of the post I did yesterday.

I included a link to my ‘Learning Processing’ blog where I had just posted a fabric design.  I wanted to experiment with the colours since I knew already that this was a hard piece to do.

The problem is that there are two parts of the pattern, the main stripes that have colours next to each other and the background and slimmer stripe.  The main colours have to be exactly right to set the mood of the pattern and give it the right balance.

I allocated myself the evening to experiment and tried a variety of colours before settling on the colours that you see now.

It certainly has a modern look, that’s for sure, and is not at all like the designs I usually produce but I was not 100% happy.

However, as I say in the blog, time ran out and this is the final design.  But, having asked others and thought about it and had chance to look at it again in the morning, I am much happier.  I think now that it represents a modern and updated look to what was an old colouring.

This was fun to do and something I will certainly try again.

Fabrics, Lino And Stately Homes

Sandringham In The Rain

We returned from our break at the cottage in Norfolk having had what has to be described as a ‘good’ week for weather.

We had sunshine on every day except for one when it rained from morning to night in the way that it can only rain in Norfolk!

On that day we decided to make good a promise we had made ourselves a long time ago and visit Sandringham.  The house is the occasional home of Queen Elizabeth II.

I purchased a very modern and good looking jacket some years ago that was made in China and what a fine jacket it was so, in order to keep dry, I chose that jacket to wear.

In my mind I had thought that we would spend most of the time in the house and that we just had to get from the car park to the house and then back again.  How wrong I was!

It is quite a walk from the car park and then you have some refreshment areas and a gift shop and again quite a trudge to the get to the house itself.

Only a few rooms are open to the public and, although they are very interesting and very good to view, you soon find yourself back outside.

The next port of call is the museum and more refreshments and, again, this is quite a walk.

Perhaps in dryer weather it is more pleasant but my discomfort was compounded by the discovery that my wonderful Chinese coat was anything but waterproof!  Water had leaked from the shoulders on both sides resulting in my having to change out of my shirt into a tee-shirt and run as best as I could back to the car!

I was not pleased by this but the visit to the house was still worthwhile and we will probably go again when we are next there and the weather is better (or I have another coat!).

Aside from this we had a nice time and I managed to take several hundred photos but, unfortunately, not one of the famous Norfolk sunsets.  I always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong sunset!

Never mind, this is something to look forward to next year.

Upon my return I set to work on more patterns made with Processing and my ‘learning-processing’ blog has a fine lino pattern and a retro sofa and cushion fabric to look at.

The Little Things Make A Big Difference

Made With Processing

We have some building work going on here so, to make things easy, I have been working my way through the lino book I posted about some time ago.

Linoleum is one of those home furnishings that have fallen out of fashion and is now seen as a cheap alternative to carpet or floor tiles.  However, lino designs show a great wealth of innovation, taking their inspiration from similar patterns of the day and also inverting their own designs.

Many of them are hard to reproduce with Processing so I have begun with the simple ones but many of these designs show the basics of pattern making and have a hypnotic fascination – at least for me!

One thing I have learned, using Processing to produce designs, is that it’s the little things and the attention to detail that makes all the difference.

The pattern above was reproduced in blue as was the illustration in the book.  I then decided to try it in other colours.  I use HSB as a colour mode so changing colours is easy but I came across a problem.  All the other colour schemes that I used looked odd with the black squares.

After some experimentation I found that black squares look perfect with blue but each other colour requires it’s own dark hue in place of black.  The red pattern shown is a perfect example, requiring a dark red colour for the squares.  This pattern also looks good in green but again, a dark green is needed for the squares.

Again, attention to colour detail is needed to make the designs look as good as they can and this is very evident in the various lino photographs in the book.  I have tried to create patterns that reflect this attention to detail and careful colour choice.

A (Very) Deceptively Simple Design

Plaid 6

I keep forgetting to post a link to my Learning Processing blog.

Have a look at the link above to see just how simple a pattern can be but take so long to get right!

Amazingly enough, this design is an old one.  It’s French and from the mid 19th century and I imagine it was produced in considerable quantity.

‘Made With Processing’.

I keep forgetting to post a link to my Learning Processing blog.

Have a look at the link above to see just how simple a pattern can be but take so long to get right!

Amazingly enough, this design is an old one.  It’s French and from the mid 19th century and I imagine it was produced in considerable quantity.

‘Made With Processing’.

Water, Water Everywhere…

Mars

The latest discovery of ice on the surface of Mars adds to the recent find of water molecules on the Moon to reveal that water is, perhaps, as ubiquitous as we might have hoped!

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been wandering across the surface of the planet taking photos (nice job if you can get it!) and a recent comparison of images taken of the same spot revealed fresh meteor impact sites.

But what was so good about the images was that they revealed the existence of ice just below the surface.  See this NASA science report.

Ice like this means that once, most probably, water actually flowed on the red planet!

And all this comes hot on the heels of a report that the Moon has been found to contain molecules of water bound up with the other chemicals existing on its bone dry surface.  See this MSNBC report for more information.

Water, it seems, may be far more common in our planetary system that we thought and, of course, this has major implications for the search for life, both existing or that may have existed, on planets other than our own.

The latest discovery of ice on the surface of Mars adds to the recent find of water molecules on the Moon to reveal that water is, perhaps, as ubiquitous as we might have hoped!

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been wandering across the surface of the planet taking photos (nice job if you can get it!) and a recent comparison of images taken of the same spot revealed fresh meteor impact sites.

But what was so good about the images was that they revealed the existence of ice just below the surface.  See this NASA science report.

Ice like this means that once, most probably, water actually flowed on the red planet!

And all this comes hot on the heels of a report that the Moon has been found to contain molecules of water bound up with the other chemicals existing on its bone dry surface.  See this MSNBC report for more information.

Water, it seems, may be far more common in our planetary system that we thought and, of course, this has major implications for the search for life, both existing or that may have existed, on planets other than our own.

The Fifth Plaid – Developed!

The Fifth Plaid

Things have been a little hectic these last few days as my wife is still having trouble with her arm and has, at last, got to see the consultant.  To help him decide what it is that is wrong with her, she had to have an MRI scan and that took up most of one day.

However, she got through it and has now recovered and gone off to London for a business meeting for a few days!  We will be back with the consultant this Monday so I wish her good luck.

I’ve also been involved in something else which has taken up some time plus I have had to set up Solaris on one of the machines.  I like opensolaris, I always have, but setting it up takes up quite a bit of the day.  Not that it is complicated, you understand, but because I always end up playing with it and then I have that problem I always get with computers – I never seem able to turn them off!

However, back to fabric design.  The fabric shown in the image above is a copy of another roller printed fabric that is of a little more recent origin.  It is European and dates from around 50 or so years ago.

I have to say that this is by far the most accurately reproduced fabric that I have done so far and I am very pleased with the result.

The colours you see are a development (I suppose you would say) of the original ones following some experimentation (easy to do with Processing).  The original can be seen here and does not, I think, look so good but there you are.

Things have been a little hectic these last few days as my wife is still having trouble with her arm and has, at last, got to see the consultant.  To help him decide what it is that is wrong with her, she had to have an MRI scan and that took up most of one day.

However, she got through it and has now recovered and gone off to London for a business meeting for a few days!  We will be back with the consultant this Monday so I wish her good luck.

I’ve also been involved in something else which has taken up some time plus I have had to set up Solaris on one of the machines.  I like opensolaris, I always have, but setting it up takes up quite a bit of the day.  Not that it is complicated, you understand, but because I always end up playing with it and then I have that problem I always get with computers – I never seem able to turn them off!

However, back to fabric design.  The fabric shown in the image above is a copy of another roller printed fabric that is of a little more recent origin.  It is European and dates from around 50 or so years ago.

I have to say that this is by far the most accurately reproduced fabric that I have done so far and I am very pleased with the result.

The colours you see are a development (I suppose you would say) of the original ones following some experimentation (easy to do with Processing).  The original can be seen here and does not, I think, look so good but there you are.

Madder, Weld and Woad

Plaid

I’ve always been interested in the colours of natural plant dyes and the three plants above produce some of the oldest dyes that are known.

Common Madder (Rubia tinctorum) is a medium height plant that scrabbles over the ground and is found in most countries in the temperate Northern hemisphere.

Since very ancient times it has been used as a fabric and leather dye giving a strong red colour.

To use as a dye, the roots are gathered and ground up to a powder and added to hot water.

Wikipedia link to Madder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubia

Weld (Reseda luteola) is not such a common plant and grows in slightly warmer conditions to be found around the Mediterranean and into warmer Asia.

A tall (over 6 foot) plant, the roots, stem and leaves are used.  These are simply chopped up and added to hot water to make a yellow dye.  Probably, this was the very first dye that was every used by man.

Wikipedia link to Weld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mignonette_%28Reseda%29

Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is found in warmer areas but will grow happily in a climate like Briton where it has been cultivated since at least before Roman times.

It is a not unattractive plant with small, yellow flowers but because it grows so quickly it can soon become a weed.  To make the blue dye, the leaves are added to hot water.

The dye produced is, in fact, indigo and has been made this way for many hundreds of years.  Now, however, indigo is produced commercially from chemicals to satisfy the huge world demand for the colour.

Wikipedia link to Woad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woad

Mordant.  No discussion of dyes would be complete without discussing mordants.  To intensify and make colourfast a dye it is necessary to use a substance called a mordant.  Traditionally, this substance is alum, a mineral salt extracted from the ground.  Mordants are dissolved in water and the dyed cloth then soaked and dried.

The image above is a simple plaid made with the computer language java environment, Processing, and these plant colours are used both for the plaid and for the material.  A similar image is on my Learning Processing blog site and a link to the page is here.

I had a look on the internet and there are many people growing and using natural dyes to treat fabric.  This is a very interesting subject and well worth a look and I recommend a search for the words “natural plant dyes”.  However, be sure to allow yourself at least half an hour to read the fascinating pages that appear!

So far as I can see, there is no reason why it should not be possible to grow these plants in your own garden if you live in a temperate latitude.  Again, search for the name of the plant and then the word “seed”.

I’ve always been interested in the colours of natural plant dyes and the three plants above produce some of the oldest dyes that are known.

Common Madder (Rubia tinctorum) is a medium height plant that scrabbles over the ground and is found in most countries in the temperate Northern hemisphere.

Since very ancient times it has been used as a fabric and leather dye giving a strong red colour.

To use as a dye, the roots are gathered and ground up to a powder and added to hot water.

Wikipedia link to Madder

Weld (Reseda luteola) is not such a common plant and grows in slightly warmer conditions to be found around the Mediterranean and into warmer Asia.

A tall (over 6 foot) plant, the roots, stem and leaves are used.  These are simply chopped up and added to hot water to make a yellow dye.  Probably, this was the very first dye that was every used by man.

Wikipedia link to Weld

Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is found in warmer areas but will grow happily in a climate like Briton where it has been cultivated since at least before Roman times.

It is a not unattractive plant with small, yellow flowers but because it grows so quickly it can soon become a weed.  To make the blue dye, the leaves are added to hot water.

The dye produced is, in fact, indigo and has been made this way for many hundreds of years.  Now, however, indigo is produced commercially from chemicals to satisfy the huge world demand for the colour.

Wikipedia link to Woad

Mordant.  No discussion of dyes would be complete without discussing mordants.  To intensify and make colourfast a dye it is necessary to use a substance called a mordant.  Traditionally, this substance is alum, a mineral salt extracted from the ground.  Mordants are dissolved in water and the dyed cloth then soaked and dried.

The image above is a simple plaid made with the computer language java environment, Processing, and these plant colours are used both for the plaid and for the material.  A similar image is on my Learning Processing blog site and a link to the page is here.

I had a look on the internet and there are many people growing and using natural dyes to treat fabric.  This is a very interesting subject and well worth a look and I recommend a search for the words “natural plant dyes”.  However, be sure to allow yourself at least half an hour to read the fascinating pages that appear!

So far as I can see, there is no reason why it should not be possible to grow these plants in your own garden if you live in a temperate latitude.  Again, search for the name of the plant and then the word “seed”.

Spot On The Way

The Sun

The sun has been blank for, let me see, another long period of 14 days again but all that may be about to end.

On the far side of the sun and about to rotate into view is a sunspot, or what appears to be the beginning of a spot.  It also looks as if it has the potential, at least, to be a good sized spot.

The sun has been blank for, let me see, another long period of 14 days again but all that may be about to end.

On the far side of the sun and about to rotate into view is a sunspot, or what appears to be the beginning of a spot.  It also looks as if it has the potential, at least, to be a good sized spot.

For more information see SpaceWeather and my ham radio blog.

Mount Wilson Observatory

Mount Wilson Towercam

You will remember that I posted about the fire that was threatening the observatory at Mount Wilson?

Well, the fire slowly crept up the mountain but never quite made it to the top, thanks to a little luck and a lot of dedicated work by the tireless firefighters on the mountain.

It now seems likely that the observatory will be safe and we will continue to see more pictures from the webcam like those above.

The reason that I, and may other people, were so concerned is not just that this is a world famous observatory but for the history that the observatory enshrines.

Founded as long ago as 1904, the observatory sits atop Mount Wilson high above LA where it has an excellent view of the sky through the clear mountain air.

It’s hard to realise that at the beginning of the last century such concepts as the position of the sun in our galaxy and even the existence of other galaxies was not known.

Housing, at that time, the world’s largest telescope, Mount Wilson was at the forefront of astronomy and, as such, was instrumental in settling the great debate that raged when I was growing up about the start of the universe.  It settled once and for all the idea that the universe began with a big band and has not always been in existence as postulated by the steady-state theorists.

But this is not just a museum curiosity, for even today it houses many advanced facilities used in the study of astronomical objects with unprecedented resolution and clarity. The 100-inch Hooker telescope remains in active scientific service, and the solar towers are daily collecting data representing the world’s longest continuous record of the sun.

Cautiously we can cross our fingers and say that the mountain observatory has been saved, although I will continue to keep my eye on the webcam to ensue that no further threats emerge.

You will remember that I posted about the fire that was threatening the observatory at Mount Wilson?

Well, the fire slowly crept up the mountain but never quite made it to the top, thanks to a little luck and a lot of dedicated work by the tireless firefighters on the mountain.

It now seems likely that the observatory will be safe and we will continue to see more pictures from the webcam like those above.

The reason that I, and may other people, were so concerned is not just that this is a world famous observatory but for the history that the observatory enshrines.

Founded as long ago as 1904, the observatory sits atop Mount Wilson high above LA where it has an excellent view of the sky through the clear mountain air.

It’s hard to realise that at the beginning of the last century such concepts as the position of the sun in our galaxy and even the existence of other galaxies was not known.

Housing, at that time, the world’s largest telescope, Mount Wilson was at the forefront of astronomy and, as such, was instrumental in settling the great debate that raged when I was growing up about the start of the universe.  It settled once and for all the idea that the universe began with a big band and has not always been in existence as postulated by the steady-state theorists.

But this is not just a museum curiosity, for even today it houses many advanced facilities used in the study of astronomical objects with unprecedented resolution and clarity. The 100-inch Hooker telescope remains in active scientific service, and the solar towers are daily collecting data representing the world’s longest continuous record of the sun.

Cautiously we can cross our fingers and say that the mountain observatory has been saved, although I will continue to keep my eye on the webcam to ensue that no further threats emerge.