Ghost of a Grasshopper

Ghost of a grasshopper

No, Mr. Grasshopper has not yet died and got himself stuck in limbo, rather this picture "Ghost of a Grasshopper" is really the shed exoskeleton of the common locust! In case you have forgotten we found a grasshopper in our garden a couple of days back! To make a long story short, mum wanted me to kill it but I didnt' have the heart to squish it and I couldn't throw it away because they always fly back so I kept it, and it looks like Mr. Grasshopper is now going through puberty!

Incomplete Metamorphosis Diagram

A grashopper's life begins in stages, though quite unlike that of a butterfly. A baby grasshopper is called a nymph and it often resembles nothing so much as a full grown grasshopper though many times smaller and without wings! To grow bigger, a grasshopper sheds its skin or exoskeleton. After the fourth moult, the grasshopper nymph begins to develop wing nubs near its shoulder blades and after the fifth time, it is a full grown grasshopper on its own. Now, if you recall from my earlier post, I don't really like grasshoppers and I kept this one with the pure hope that I might begin to grow to like it (and hopefully them?) with time.

But as you can see... they only just get uglier and uglier with age... sigh. I guess the next, most humane thing to do will be to take him with me to University and release him there. Speaking of University though, guess who just got a request to perform Sun and Moon from Miss Saigon the musical? That's right! And although I'll be more of a teacher this year, and an Honour's student to boot, I can't wait to re-offer my services to the Monash Performing Arts Club which I worked myself to the bone for! 

Tooth Fairy Pinup

Hey guys!!!

You know I've always really admired the pin up arts from the forties (what's there not to)! Historically the term Pinup or Pin-up was used to refer to models or actresses, whose images were mass produce as icons of "popular-culture". Pin up girls were often depicted in sexually suggestive poses and could be cut out from magazines or newspapers the way one might cut out celebrity posters from Galaxy Magazine today! However, when pinup posters were first mass produced and distributed in the late forties, they became an instant hit! Anyway, I tried coming up with one of my own. Rose as the Pin-up Tooth Fairy. This one is for the guys, if i say so myself.

So sweet she'll give you a toothache.

Whatcha think? Anyway if that will be all, I have work to do, like document my emerging moth!

TTFN ~ Tata for now

Climate Change

Hey guys!

I don't normally say this but oyyy what's with the weather! I'm not sure if this is the case with other parts of Malaysia but its been raining here all day! Not to mention the temperature's dropped so low that I can actually wear my scarves and jackets out of the house without sweating!!! Even the air seems...different somehow. Grayish and cloudy with just a hint of fog. This is the view from the rooftop of Bangsar Village. Check it out.

Now is that a gray day or is that a GRAY DAY??? Meanwhile it was so cold that I even joked to one of my friends that at this rate, give it a few more years and we'll be able to ski right down in front of our houses at Bukit Bandaraya! No need for any plane tickets to Korea or Japan or what not. At the same time though this just goes to show how messed up the climate of the world is turning out. Is it the cause of human activity? Or is this something the world goes through every couple thousands of years or so (like the ice age?) Who knows? Meanwhile, don't you think I look great in this knitted beanie Lei got for me?

I think it's reallly cute! Just love the poms on the top and the two dangling from the strings! I suppose if the weather keeps up I'll have a lot more occasions to wear it in the supposedly "tropical" Malaysian Weather. On a sad note, though, I guess this means a lot less butterflies this Chinese New Year. =(

Say No to Sharksfin Soup

Hey Guys

I'm here to talk about something that is very near and dear to me. Something that I am completely humourless about. Every year, millions of sharks are caught, finned and hten tossed back into the sea to supply the demand for the Sharks Fin Soup. Unfortunately, due to a combination of issues such as pollution, trawl fishing adn the sharks fin industry, the number of sharks in the wild have reduced to near extinction and because of the long time it takes for a shark to mature and the low number of offspring they bear in a clutch it is becoming extremely difficult for sharks to increase their populations in the wild fast enough to contend with these threats.

Now, I'm going to take a big leap of faith here, and at the risk of coming of cheesy or naggish about my animal rights activism I'm just going to take a leaf out of Pam Anderson's lettuce bikini (also who can forget her controversial ad in Montreal?) and say that we've already caused the extinction of so many species, let not the blood of another animal stain our Human hands. This Chinese New Year, I believe we can take a cheaper, more human alternative - artificial, crab-meat based Sharks Fin Soup! This Chinese New Year, have a heart...

SAY NO TO SHARKS FIN SOUP!!!
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Mr. Grasshopper

Hey guys!

Do you remember the cartoon James and the Giant Peach? It was based on Roald Dahl's book of the same name about a boy who spills a bag of magical crocodile tongues resulting in a trip halfway around the world in a giant peach (yeap, the fruit), kept aloft by a flock of seagulls and accompanied by a bunch of giant, and intelligent insects all seeking to live the American Dream (if that's not propoganda I don't know what is!) Meanwhile, one of my favourite characters on the show was non other than Mr. Grasshopper.

Mr. Grasshopper from James and the Giant Peach

In James and the Giant Peach, Mr. Grasshopper was a "great-green grasshopper" that was the size of a dog (though in the movie he was taller than a man) who is the wisest and one of the kindest characters in James and the Giant Peach. Mr. Grasshopper speaks with the cultured air of an English Gentleman and is passionate about such things as art and music. He even sings!




Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of grasshoppers in real life! For one, they eat up my plants at an ALARMING RATE and for a second.... well let's just say I had an extremely traumatic childhood experience with a full grown locust when I was but a wee lad. But I digress. A few days ago while we were rooting around the garden, we found a grasshopper chomping happily on one of our vegetables. Needless to say mom told me to get rid of it. However, pest or not, I felt bad simply killing the poor creature, and throwing it away was not an option because THEY ALWAYS COME BACK. And that's how I found myself, an unwilling caregiver to said grasshopper.

Not very pleasant to look at is he? But hopefully we'll come to like each other with time.

ML: O.o...Your hair is bigger than ever I see...
Me: Yeah, I'm keeping a second brain in there.

Chinese New Year Card

Hey Guys!

Chinese New Year, like any other holiday is the time of the year when you start sending cards out to relatives and friends. All of a sudden, people whom you've never seen or spoken to during the past year become so important as you try to rack your thoughts, praying that you've not left anybody out! Each year for Chinese New Year I like to come up with a piece of artwork. Last year, I my design was that of a Phoenix-like bird with flowers growing out of its tail-feathers. However, this year, because Wings of Paradise has been doign so well, I decided to use our mascot, Rose instead. She's dyed her hair back to black and dons a lovely Chinese dress and Chinese stage makeup to pose for all of you. And here she is.

Happy Chinese New Year 2011

Okay, I guess some of you might be wondering why I chose a butterfly theme since this is, after all, the year of the Rabbit but well, I guess its just the butterfly-bias in me operating. In the meantime, if you do drop by The Gardens at Mid Valley, try to keep this (last year's Chinese Yew Year design) in mind. I'm just saying, the likeness of the concept is REALLLY UNCANNY though I must say, one of my favourite CNY decorations thus far (I'm really not into the tacky Chinatown-esque pavillions and red lanterns)

flower-phoenix

In the meantime though, keep your mouths open and your nostrils flared, because I smell a fresh batch of Chinese New Year cookies ripening in the oven! Till next time, here's from all of us at Wings of Paradise wishing you a Happy Chinese New Year!

Curse of the Golden Spider

Hey guys!

First of all I am feeling a little dissapointed because my trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah got cancelled. The deal is, we saw some really cheap and awesome bookings online for airplane tickets to fly to Sabah and back so we though, why not! Anyway the trip had to be cancelled because, by the time we managed to round up enough people to go on a holiday with.... well let's just say the prices skyrocketed! We're all very dissapointed although, it looks like we'll be going to Penang after all (and though its a downgrade from Kota Kinabalu, at least we'll all be together! On a separate note, I was rooting about the garden this morning (pun intended) when I found a most beautiful golden jumping spider.

Golden jumping spider

It was extremely difficult to photograph because the way it reflected the light from its chitinous shell wreaked havoc on my auto focus lense so eventually I put it on the inside of a pickle jar lid and took the photos from there! I really is quite magnificent and I've never seen one like it before. Maybe if it bites me I'll turn into spiderman eh? ...Meanwhile, if you cannot see the iridescence in the above picture, here's what it looks like up close



Golden Spider

Beautiful isn't it! It was rather reflective too so, if you look really closely you can perhaps see the reflection of me taking this photograph! Anyway, as one should often do, I released the little guy back into the hibiscus bushes when I was done taking his photographs! Another wet-ish day for us, which is quite uncharacteristic at this time of year but perhaps i spoke to soon, looks like the clouds are starting to shift! At any rate, take care everyone and happy Chinese New Year!

Leapord Geckos need Good Homes

Hey guys!

I know when the word cute and adorable comes to mind lizards are generally the last thing one would ever think of. Myself, I usually think of cute little baby birds, all naked and blind in their little cozy nests... but I digress! Personally I've never been a huge fan of geckos. Sure I leave a few grains of rice out for them to eat every now and then but let's face it, they're soft, they got creepy eyes, they stare at you and their tails fall off! Also let's not forget that they eat butterflies too, which can't be good! Which made it all the more alarming, that when Weiyan showed me these lovely little darlings I couldn't help but feel immediately taken to them! Without further ado, meet the broood


The two males. Eublepharius Macularius

By the way these are leapord geckos, so named for the lovely spots on their backs. These are the two males, they get along really well it would seem and don't you just love the tiny little one in the back!!! I know he's my favourite!!!

female leapord gecko

And this is the big mama of the group (literally), that is to say she's large though not necessarily the mother of the other two since I was told that they breed and you know THAT would be disturbing, but look at her, look at that expression! Don't you tihnk she's got a sorta don't-mess-with-me-I'm-a-queen *cough*Jabbathehutt*cough* look about her? Perfect for Star Wars fans by the way!

Anyway I must admit that I have an ulterior motive for showcasing these little lovelies here on my blog today. You see, they won't be having a home much longer as their owner can no longer keep them in a bit and so, he's really desperate to find good and loving homes for all of them. So here's the deal

- 3 healthy and breeding leapord geckos
- Full sized glass terrariums

for a low, low price of RM400!!! And that is a low low price and if you think I'm cheating you, you can go check out the prices at your local pet store! Seriously though, if you are interested at all, drop by Daniel Wong's facebook page and leave him a buzz.

The Purple Flowers Cometh

Hey guys!!!

As most of you Asians may already know, the Lunar New Year is about to begin whihc is basically what the Chinese call the Chinese New Year which, I suppose is pretty amazing because I get to celebrate two new years in a single year! New Year usually means ang pow (money packets) and cookies for a lot of people but it also means house-cleaning and decorating in anticipation for recieving guests during the new year! As always my favourite spot to spruce up is the garden. Lunar New Year, amongst the Chinese families usually means a lot of lime plants and a lot of chrysanthemums and. while we're never short of limeplants in this household (I raise them for butterfly breeding) chrysanthemums are usually harder to come by. However, for a change of pace this year I decided to deviate slightly from the usual chrysanthemum flowers and grow something else a little more...delicate.

creeper

In a strange coincidence (with my fascination of bottles, jars and transparrent containers) I also have a particular preference for plants that creep, climb and tangle! True vines are my favourite, with their soft stems and curly tendrils but even the more woody and hard climbers (such as some species of roses) will also do in a pinch! What I like best about growing these creepers, however is that not only are they fairly easy to cultivate, they also provide lovely coverage for cement, brick or stone walls! Nothing more refreshing than waking up to a wall of green with little violet, pink or orange flowers sticking out here and there. And the flowers truly are abundant, and stricking and all manner of bees and sometimes small birds come to visit on a regular basis. In fact, some love it so much they choose to stay permanently! We have in the Garden, as of today, four hives of stingless bees that produce a rather bitter-sweet nectar that drips from their nests in the brick walls.


Stingless bees are a very welcome addition to my Garden for many reasons. The first being that I don't find their small size alarming at all! (unlike those horrible carpenter bees) and the others being that they make excellent pollinators and, of course, they do not sting! They truly are magnificent little creatures and to read more on my stingless bees, or watch a video of them swarming, simply click this link and follow. By all means though, the purple and blue flowers are amongst my favourite, which probably explains the mass growths of butterfly pea vines that I have cultivated endlessly in the Garden. The latest of which are probably these lovely morning glories which blossom in teh day and shut their flowers at night.


Violets are blue~

Beautiful, isn't it? And now that's a face that any butterfly, bird or bee would love!

Blue Lycaenid butterfly (Chilades Pendava) on Chilli Plant

On a separate note, I went out this morning to hunt for tadpoles but realised, upon arriving at my destination, that I had forgotten to pack my jars! Brilliant, just brilliant!

Little boy blue, come blow your horn!

I am sad

I am sad...

horribly and terribly sad. And why?

dead shrimp

Because I'm very sure pet shrimp don't swim upside down!!!! WAHHHHHHHH (T.T)

Riverbed in a Jar

Hey guys!!!

If you remember the last time, I constructed a little self-contained biosphere consisting of a large jar filled with dirt and a few small plants dubbed "Rainforest in a Jar", and following the success of that biosphere I decided to come up with a new one, this time with simple life-forms in it! For this new biosphere the theme I went with was a fantasy under-the-water theme and for stones I used a rainbow-coloured gravel instead of the traditional brown. The plant is a small michrantimoide and for life-forms I used small red coloured shrimp which, I am told are really called "Cherry Shrimp".

aqua biosphere

I just set up the biosphere and left it on my table awhile ago but I was told by a friend that the shrimp might die (because they may not be used to the filtered water I use) so I'm still crossing my fingers that at least one of them survives the night (then I will know I'm essentially in the clear!).

Cherry Shrimp

And these are the two shrimp, which, for now still look pretty active and healthy and happy although...I can't but sure but could one perhaps be scuttling with a bit of a limp? :X

Wings of Paradise @ Chic POP Street Market post mortem

Hey guys!!!

I'm sorry I couldn't do this earlier but I was extremely tired yesterday! As you may remember yesterday was the awesome date of Chic POP Street Market @ Jaya One and thanks to my awesome friend Caryn from yellowcabtrappings, I managed to display and sell some of my one of a kind butterfly winged jewellery. I must say I did fairly well, almost half my stock nicely sold to appreciative customers. I am thankful, truly, to everyone who purchased this one of a kind gift from Nature and to everyone who stopped to show interest or ask questions because, there's really no better way to promote love for butterflies and nature and to tell people about my sustainable butterfly population breeding programme and everything else that I do.


Wings of Paradise sales in the middle of the day

Oh, and if you will allow me to get sidetracked here for a moment, I am pleased to report that these flowers which I have planted to attract butterflies a year a go is finally blossoming. The flowers are really quite pretty and they resemble nothing more than red, fluffy make up brushes! I am told the nectar is really sweet and, though the butterflies have yet to return this time of year to breed, other insects like ants and bees are already partaking in their sugary delight!

Beautiful isn't it? And though they have not much of a fragrance, bees are already starting to come by the bucketloads!

But speaking of sugary delights, I must express how delightful I am for my dear friend, Caryn, firstly for providing me with this wonderful opportunity to meet so many new people, and secondly for how extremely well she had done from yesterday sales! I know you're just going to start counting your profits today dear but I have a hunch you are going to do exponentially well!!! And to top it all off, she even treated all of us to dinner at The Pink Chef. That's what I call grace and no questions there!

With the YCT mannequin, Quin

leading lady, Caryn Lim herself

In the meantime, I suppose all is returning to normal at the Cyren household, the rains are finally letting up, the Garden is beginning to blossom from the torrential months we just had and, if I'm not mistaken a certain pair of lovebirds are beginning to go to nest. A most auspicious omen indeed.

 

Fluttering in to Chic POP Street Market 6 @ Jaya One

Hey guys!!!

It's been a really buzy week at the Cyren household because in collaboration with Ryno Limo and her online shop Yellow Cab Trappings, I've managed to land myself a small spot at the Chic POP Street Market 6 being held this Saturday at Jaya One. Of course, this is a rather exciting occasion for myself as it will be the first time my little self-made business Wings of Paradise makes its public appearance! For those of you who are not yet acquainted with my rather small business, Wings of Paradise is a little something I came up with after noticing the dead butterflies in my butterfly house. Although the bodies dissappear (scavenged by ants and other animals) I was amazed to find that butterfly wings (fragile as they are) are surprisingly resillient to the ravages of Death. I wondered, if I could somehow find a way to preserve and strengthen these wings, then might not their natural beauty continue to flutter and delight people long after they are gone. And this is how Wings of Paradise first started.

The Wings of Paradise mascot

Preparing for the Chic POP Street Market 6 there were many things I had to do. First of all was collecting and deciding which wings I was going to strengthen. I picked a few eventually, discarding most of the heavily damaged ones and although I do not have that large a number of wings, I suppose one should always take small baby steps when trying something new. To strengthen the wings, I first encase them in two sheets of clear and durable plastic.

Encased wings ready for cutting

The next step is then cutting! Cutting these wings out from their plastic casings can be quite tough. Not only is it tiring on the hands but the eyes as well. I prefer to give my wings what I call a close cut, which means I leave as little plastic as possible on the margins to effect a nicer, more natural look, and one wrong move of the fingers could result in torn wings and destroyed merchandise.



Some of the already cut wings, pierced and ringed as well.

The remaining process is more simple. I simply pierce a little leftover plastic on the tip of the butterfly wing and hook a silver ring into it so that they may be turned into necklaces or earrings at my customer's leisure. I normally do set butterfly wings into elaborate pendants or earrings but since this was a rather last minute tihng, I did not have the time to do so for the Chic POP Street Market 6. All that's left was to then arrange then nicely on my display board.


Wings of Paradise display board.

I also had a few leftover wings so with them I made these little "Fairy Charm Bottles" which are ornamental and will also be sold at the street market.

Fairy Charm Bottle

Last thing I did was to make the bags. This was probably the most time consuming of the entire process, not because it is particularly challenging to make but rather because there are SO MANY TO MAKE! Fortunately for me, my bag-making skills which I picked up from working at an art shop are now finally paying off! I like it that they're paper because we should always try to be as environmentally friendly as possible and I made them in different colours because its always good to have colourful things!

Hand-made Rainbow Paper Bags

Furthermore, I would like to remind you that no butterflies were killed or harmed for the making of these pendants. Eacj amd everu omsect was carefully and lovingly bred, raised and allowed to die a natural death before being turned into timless and natural pieces of art. And last, but not least, what is a debut without supporters! If you like what you see, or you like what I do, please drop by at the http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=172526752785852for further information, just click on the Chic POP links all around the post :)

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Inside the Cocoon or Any larger and you'd be calling Ellen Ripley to deal with it!

Hey guys!

You know I've always wondered what exactly goes on inside a moth's cocoon for the longest time and then I found this. It's actually pretty nifty, its a video some guy posted of a moth cocoon that had been cut open to reveal the growing larvae within. Of course he editted it pretty nicely too and with psychadelic music and since its been awhile since my own nature documentary shorts, why not watch somebody elses?



Pretty nifty isn't it, although, any larger and you'd probably be giving Ellen Ripley a call to deal with it! Some really freaky alienish stuff. In fact the caterpillar at one point reminded me of the insides of those eggs from Alien. But in all seriousness, if you watch the pulsating larvae within the cocoon you can see under its skin some white fillament looking things and I think those are the fats stored by many moth caterpillars to use when they finally emerge as adults (most moths live off this fat and do not eat at all). Either way you'll be as pleased as I am to know that the cutting of this cocoon did not in anyway harm the larvae within and that this moth eventually grew and flew its own way :)

A long time ago, when Twilight meant the end of the day and not the most BARFTASTIC horror franchise of all time

UCO pt. 2 All Moths Make Silk

Hey Guys!

Remember the Unidentified Crawling Object I found in university a day ago and then brought it home because it looked lost and then it kinda stopped moving so I poked it with a stick and at first it wiggled around a bit but in the evening I poked it with a stick and it didn't move so I thought it might be dying? Well if you didn't you can read about it here. Anyway turns out it wasn't dying at all! Around the evening time, little U.C.O got really agitated and active and it turns out, it was simply building itself a cocoon!

Little U.C.O weaving a silken cocoon

A cocooon is a bag, woven from a silken thread produced near the mouthparts of caterpillars that protects the growing larva within! All caterpillars can produce silk but only moth larvae construct a cocoon for themselves. A little trivia for all of you out there, a moth's silken cocoon is unique in that if one were to unravel the strands of silk, you would find about three to four meters of only one single strand! Looks like U.C.O decided to make its cocoon underneath a hibiscus leaf which was originally there for it to eat.

And look, a couple of hours later here's the completed Chrysalis inside its protective silken and leaf cocoon.

Doesn't it look simply cozy!!! I modified the plastic cup slightly by cutting away one side and replacing it with a cloth netting so that when the adult emerges it can crawl up the netting to spread out and dry its wings! I love making stufff~ Anyway this is how it looks like

Pretty nifty ain't it?

So I guess one mystery of the U.C.O has been solved. It's definitely a moth larvae (cuz of the cocoon) but what will emerge from it in about two weeks time, I wonder? Well, I can hardly wait!


PINATA! PINATA!

Unidentified Crawling Object!!!

Hey guys!

I've got some amazing news! I've just handed in my Honours application as well as my approval of graduation so, if all goes well I suppose I will leave with a degree, come back for a research-based-honours and top it all off with a sweet tutoring gig at Monash University! In the meantime I noticed, as a I was leaving campus, a rather fat and brown caterpillar clinging to one of the concrete pillars. It looked terribly lost and out of place so what I did was I went to the cafeteria and got a little plastic cup to put it in. Now I really wanted to let it go but I had no idea which plants it would feed on so instead I decided to keep it and try my luck with a bunch of leaves. I plucked leaves from a few plants nearby including tigerlilies, hibiscus and eucalyptus.

Unidentified Crawling Object

Now, I suppose I can tell you now that its really difficult to find the foodplants of a caterpillar if you've found one that was not on the plant to begin with because most caterpillars are horribly picky eaters (I can so relate) and they often won't touch anything but the leaves of the plant they were hatched on, so you can imagine my chagrin but also acceptance and resignation when this particular caterpillar touched NONE of the leaves I picked for it. In fact, it didn't even move much the entire day prompting me to prod it with a stick at one point to make sure it was alive. It was. It didn't like it very much.

Unhappy Crawler! :(

The next thing I got to doing was trying to identify the little creature! If I knew what sort of caterpillar it is, maybe I could bring it the foodplants it wanted and it would be less cranky! So, I emailed Michael and the folks at Penang Butterfly Farm about it but I didn't get a reply. It stopped moving again after that so I thought it was dead. I poke it with a stick again but it didn't move much. "Oh dear..." I thought. More updates soon.

Wonder Woman

Hey guys

Wonder Woman has always been one of my favourite superheroines, I mean what's there not to like, she's powerful, she's beautiful AND she stands up for justice and gender equality everywhere!  Anyway so I was basically bored this evening and doing some doodle sketches of Wonder Woman and came up with one that I really liked (mostly for the hair) but unlike my usual art I didn't settle for simply colouring her in. The problem with drawing iconic superheroes is...well there's just so little you can play around with the character itself, not much you can modify in terms of hairstyle, costume etc. and the most you can do is play around with the background. Instead I decided to do Wonder Woman in silhouette, leaving in colour only the golden accessories that are iconic to her. Check it out

Wonder Woman doesn't wear black!!!

Okay so I actually think its pretty cool but I've gotten many comments and feedback saying "Wonder Woman doesn't wear black" well... I know that but I guess this is just me expressing what creative freedom I still have without making the character completely unrecognisable.

Of all people you know who I am...who the world needs me to be. I'm Wonder Woman.

The Evolution of the Lady of the Lake.

Hey guys

I just think its pretty amazing when you take a look at one of your old works and then suddenly feel inspired by it again and then re-do the same thing, with the same concept, but better! Check this out.

Little lady of the lake ver. 1

This "Little Lady of the Lake" was done exactly two years ago! Back then I was very much into silhouettes and I came up with this as a tattoo design for a friend. I was pretty much satisfied with it the way it was back then but then for whatever reason upon looking at it today I decided to try it again but with a style that I've only recently started experimenting with. 

Little Lady of the Lake ver 2. rough sketch

I pretty much left everything the way it was making only minor changes. Of course the fairy/mermaid thing was no longer in silhouette so I had to draw her details in but I still wanted to keep her looking as smooth and lithe as she did before so I settled for a more matte/wet hair look as opposed to my usual voluminous locks. The colour scheme was changed as well to give it a warmer feel.

Little lady of the Lake vers 2. Coloured

Now I tried to go a little bit different with this fairy. Rather than stick with my usual line art, I decided to leave her wings un-outlined and then colour them in directly to give them a more firey-enegy like sort of feel which I replicated for the 'water" once I liked how well it turned out for the wings. Funny, isn't it? I suppose inspiration only comes in bits sometimes and on retrospect I probably should have not done so many of those glowing water bead/pearl things in her wings and hair. Oh well, maybe in the next two years I'll look at this and come up with something even more awesome!!!!

Photos from the Butterfly Park

Hey guys!!!

This post has seriously been long overdue but then again this blog had not been set up yet when the Sisters and I went over to the Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park so I suppose I have my excuse. Anyway all this while I've been feeling pretty satisfied with my Canon Ixus 11015 digital camera but then again I had never been able to use a DSLR properfly before. Fortunately, Lei's brother got her one and she decided to take it to the butterfly park with us. I must say the diference is really amazing but you know a picture speaks a thousand words so enjoy the photograph highlights of some of my most favourite creatures in the world.


This is proof that butterflies love me XD

And closeups of the lovely creatures...



Great Mormon (Papillio Memnon)



Pallid Faun (Melanocyma faunula)

Malayan Lacewing (Cethosia Biblis)

The Green Dragontail (Lamproptera Meges)

And of course, our national butterfly, the Rajah Brooke's Birdwing (Trogonoptera Brookiana)

I think one of the most amazing sights we witnessed there, however, was the act of multiple butterflies puddling which is (as of yet) something I've never seen in any other butterfly farm/house. Really a wonderful sight although, walking was difficult because we didn't want to accidentally crush one of the delicate creatures

Chocolate Albatross (Appias Lyncida)

These were a bunch of chocolate albatrosses puddling, that is, they were sipping up nutrients necessary for their reproductive health from the wet soil. And just to give you a bigger picture of how many butterflies they actually were doing this

And this was just one portion of the park!

Other species also puddling at the park (to lesser extents) were these Great Helen Swallowtails. 



Great Helen (Papillio Helena )

Over all it was a pretty good day spent. We stayed for for almost an hour plus but then again what can one expect when it was a visit from a bunch of butterfly freaks like ourselves! I hear that the Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park is going through some renovations and expansions, perhaps in a few months when we return there will be even more things to see and enjoy!

Till then, TAKE CARE FOLKS!