Deerskin update and spooky story.

[firecrest]

I decided to climb back into the attic to see how the deerskin was getting along after its salting scraping and stretching that I did just before the darkages meet (3/4 weeks ago?)

It seems to be ok, it smells a bit musty but no more than when I got it. The edges smell a bit but I knew I hadnt scraped the fat off them right. I can just cut it off. It wasnt enough to interest the chihuahua, but she seems to be ill, she had the squits all over the place this morning and looks miserable.

Its bigger than me!

I took another picture in the attic about an hour ago. I have it draped over the picture frame which I took off the painting of the deer next to, which is a kind of irony I suppose.
I cant help but notice their appears to be two Orbs on the photo, one on the deer (that mark is not on any other photos) and one on the painting of the deer. I profess to be an atheist/agnostic, but the reason I remembered to go into the attic in the first place is that I had a dream there was the spirit of a girl up there and she was trying to get my attention by smudging the face off of a pastel painting of a child until I painted her face and left it up there. when the painting was unsmudged the next morning I knew she was pleased. When I first stretched the skin upthere I dreamt the same spirit was messing about with it. Its quite unlike me to have freaky dreams like that. Incidentally we only had the attic done up a few days before I stretched the skin upthere. Nobody has been up there for years before hand Spooky eh!

 

[firecrest]

darn I didnt post the spooky one!

 

[dogwood]

It is spooky!

But remember that the Indians thought that the spirit of the animal stayed with its parts (in a good way, not a bad way) and that's why they would honor the hide, etc.

It looks to me like you've done a pretty good job of scraping the hide. Are you planning on doing a hair-on tanning or are you doing buckskin? I've never been too partial to hair-on deerskin -- the fur is kind of harsh to me -- but that fur looks pretty great...

(I just finished softening two buckskins over the weekend, I'll get to smoking them when I have a weekend without rain!)

 

[Shewie]

That's why I couldn't see any orbs, I thought I was losing the plot then for a minute Lindz

Do you think it might be airborn particals of dust near to the lens which are out of focus ? Not sure but I like your story better

Lovely picture too

 

[firecrest]

Its my first one, so Im not sure what to do with it. I think Ill follow toddys advice and attempt to tan it in the washing machine. On the other hand I might leave it in the attic until lovely light weather. What on earth was I thinking going up there in the dark, Ive watched enough horror movies to know what happens to girls who do that!!

 

[BigShot]

First the blunt answer.
It's dust and absolutely nothing more.
The dust probably came from moving the hide, maybe from something you brushed past getting ready to take the shot, or possibly was just some of the passing dust that's constantly in the air.


Right that's out of the way - here's a bit more.

These things are pretty interesting, slightly more so because of the significance people attach to them, but just the mechanics of how they are made are quite clever.

When there's a speck of dust in just the right position, it reflects a tiny amount of the camera's flash back towards the lens. That reflected flash, were it in focus, would appear as a tiny, sharp point of light.
However, as the camera is focussed on something further from the camera than the dust, the light reaches the camera's sensor while still out of focus. Due to the way lenses and the likes work, instead of being a sharp point of light, they produce a blurry circle of light instead. Most of the time these blurs are brighter around the edges than the centre.

Some people "enhance" the photo with image manipulation software (photoshop, GIMP and the likes) to get more detail, and that manipulation occasionally looks like a face - which just adds to the apparent spookiness of it.



Anyway - there's a mountain of information about how orbs are formed, and even why they appear on digital media but not on film (something to do with the power and position of the flash if I remember correctly) so I won't go into the really technical stuff here - but instead give a fun little experiment for you.


Orbs on demand!
LOADS of the buggers!

First, get a dust cloth - you could even do a bit of dusting if you want - 2 birds with one stone and all that.
Then either set the camera up on a tripod/shelf/table with a self timer on it, get someone else to hold it, or hold it yourself with the cloth in the other hand.
Options 1 and 2 are more fun as you get to have your photo taken WITH the orbs - who wouldn't want that?

Hold one corner of the dust cloth and whip it towards the camera - just like cracking a whip.
Assuming you're doing the self-timer route, press the shutter... run to get into the shot... whip the cloth hard a few times... then "strike a pose" and "say cheese".

Presto - a photograph of yourself surrounded by your own little DIY ghosties.
Experiment with distance from the camera when you do the whipping and see how it affects the size of the orbs as you make the cloud of dust closer to and further from the point where they'll focus on the sensor.

Brilliant!

 

[dogwood]

Its my first one, so Im not sure what to do with it. I think Ill follow toddys advice and attempt to tan it in the washing machine. On the other hand I might leave it in the attic until lovely light weather. What on earth was I thinking going up there in the dark, Ive watched enough horror movies to know what happens to girls who do that!!

Fur-on tanning can be a little tough for a first hide, but it looks like it's in really great condition so you could be in luck.

In my mind, there's nothing quite like buckskin -- it's amazing stuff. If you want some good references and advice, check out www.braintan.com or paleoplanet's tanning area.

Also feel free to pm me if you like -- I do a number hides a year and will help in any way I can

 

[firecrest]

Im not letting dust spoil a good story!

 

[Humpback]

I seem to hear "Bambi" in a ghostly voice!
No, sorry, its just the central heating pipes

Alan

 

[Wayland]

I'd have to agree with the dust thing but the question is "how many spirits can stand on a particle of dust?".......

 

[firecrest]

well if you look closely, you can see jesus in one of them, I reckon Im on to a winner here...

Anyway the REAL question is - did I cure the skin ok? It left a sparse trail of hair behind it but I suspect that may just be natural molt. how will I know if the hair has slipped, how easy would it be to pull out?

 

[dogwood]

Anyway the REAL question is - did I cure the skin ok? It left a sparse trail of hair behind it but I suspect that may just be natural molt. how will I know if the hair has slipped, how easy would it be to pull out?

When the hair starts to slip, you'll know it because there will be hair everywhere. Deer hair can be kind hard to clean up -- just when you think you've found it all, there's some more! You'll find it in the weirdest places months after you're done.

To test slipping, pinch a tuft in your fingers and give it a tug and if it comes out and leaves a bald spot behind, it's starting to slip. You won't be able to pull out hair that is not slipping.

You might want to check several spots. It will not slip at the same rate -- the fur down the spine and on the rump will slip last, often by a large margin.

 

[firecrest]

Thanks for that, Ill climb back in the attic and test it. While Im there I might try bigshots orb experiment...