Over The Years,

we have featured artists using all manner of canvases,

photographs Mito Nishikura/Twitter,

 from wood to leaves, but this is the first time we have seen an artist use bottle tops,

artist Mito Nishikura uses discarded plastic bottle caps as her preferred medium,

Osaka-based artist Mito Nishikura recycles the caps into miniature works of art,

Nishikura, a graduate of the Kyoto Saga University of Art, only started painting on plastic bottle caps in June of this year, 

“I really want to know if you create your artworks with a magnifying glass, because it’s really hard to paint such details with only the naked eye,” one Twitter user commented on one of Mito Nishikura’s artworks, 

the talented Japanese artist confirmed that she doesn’t use a magnifying glass when painting, and even a posted a small clip of herself working on a tiny masterpiece, on Twitter. She just holds the bottle cap in one hand, using two fingers, and painstakingly adds strokes of paint with a very fine paintbrush, each bottle cap can take up to 3 hours to paint, and what amazing results she achieves, you can see more of her work on Twitter and Instagram.

Gunkanjima, Or Battleship Island,

is a small abandoned island off the coast of Nagasaki, it is also known as Hashima Island,

all aerial photographs shot with drone by Jordy Meow, as it happens we have mentioned it a few times before, as at one time the island, with just a 1.2 km circumference, it was home to 5300 people, making it the most-densely populated city in the world, 

the island also featured in the Bond movie Skyfall, 

it was an island built on coal, the Mitsubishi Corporation purchased the mine for 100,000 yen, the now world-famous company had expanded rapidly after its inception as a shipping enterprise in 1873, and had purchased the Takashima Coal Mine in 1881, Hashima's annual coal production reached a peak of 410,000 tons in 1941, but there is a dark side to all of this, about 1,300 laborers had died on the island, some in underground accidents, others of illnesses related to exhaustion and malnutrition, still others had chosen a quicker, less gruesome death by jumping over the sea-wall and trying in vain to swim to the mainland, during its 84-year career under Mitsubishi, the island produced some 16.5 million tons of coal, and now the good news, the last resident stepped onto the ship for Nagasaki on 20 April 1974, for the full history and horror of the island have a look here as Suh Jung-woo, one of the Korean laborers fortunate enough to survive the ordeal, remembered Hashima in a 1983 interview,

although the island does offer tours, over 90% of the land is off limits due to risk of collapse, so today a change of perspective as these are all aerial photographs, the homes that were built there were feats of engineering. The multi-storied apartments were made from reinforced concrete–the first in Japan­–and built around the time when the technology was first being proven around the world, also Gunkanjima even had what is thought to be Japan’s first rooftop farm,

many thanks indeed to Jordy Meow for these fascinating photographs, so what happened to take the island from the most-densely populated city in the world to a totally deserted island? oil, coal was no longer needed, Gunkanjima shrank just as fast as it grew, operations officially ceased in 1974 and the last remaining residents left the island in April of that year, for almost 50 years the island has been slowly deteriorating, today just haunting images of what for many was hell on earth.

Blog Posted And I Was Out,

off to the number 54 bus stop,

another nice bright day,

not a cloud in the sky,

I was soon upstairs passing the Foxgrove Lodge entrance to the park,

and Peter Pan's Pool, sans geese and ducks this week,

in Catford a bit of street drama, as a handcuffed suspect was led into the back of a police van,

the chestnut trees along the sides of the road, looking really sorry for themselves, their leaves dry and falling,

but still plenty of chestnuts on some of them,

the never ending refurbishment building,

Lewisham market,

in full swing,

the florists next to the station,

this week had a few heathers on offer,

I was in time for the 09.33, but it was delayed to 09.37, which means I will miss the connecting train at Dartford to Gravesend,

but I was in luck, it was 10.11 and the 09.58 has still not arrived, 

so a quick photograph of the pond next to the station,

waiting at the bus stand it started to cloud over,

and by the time I had arrived at the hill near to the nursing home the clouds were looking a bit dark,

nearing the home I had to look and see how many apples were left,

quite a few as it happens, I meet Duncan in the day room, he was his usual happy self, we chatted away, before we said our farewells, 

back down the hill, the clouds did not seem to have gotten any worse,

I arrived back in Blackheath the butchers, florists and railway station opposite the bus stop,

the fountain at Peter Pan's working this afternoon,

Foxgrove Lodge looking nice in the bright sun,

thankfully it did not rain,

I arrived home before Diana, so I watched the third episode of Wolf Hall, which means that the first disc is finished, next time disc 2 and episodes 4 - 6, Diana arrived home in time to see a record set, one contestant from The Chase walked away with £80,000, not bad for a afternoons work! it was a new record for a single contestant, I have to admit I failed miserably at the questions,

 

next time for a read and a sherry,

before our chicken liver pate starter, with a lettuce, spring onion and radish salad,

eyes down and tuck in,

next a real treat, a wagyu steak with all of the trimmings,

delicious!

lastly a strawberry tart, we finished just in time for an Endeavor, followed by a New Tricks before we were off to bed.

If You Own A Tesla,

this post might interest you, (also if you are thinking of buying one),

a group of Tesla owners in Norway have a list of complaints about their cars, I should mention that Norway is indeed adopting electric vehicles at a higher rate than any other country, and it is also Tesla’s biggest market per capita, from the article:

'some Norwegian owners also sued Tesla through a consumer protection agency, and Tesla was found guilty of throttling charging speed and asked to pay $16,000 to thousands of owners'

now there’s another group of “dissatisfied Norwegian Tesla owners,” and they claim to be going on a hunger strike to get Musk’s attention, I was so amazed when I read the list of alleged complaints, most of which are known issues that have gotten some attention in the past and have mostly been fixed, but there are definitely some that might still occur:

• The car won’t start in cold weather
• Door handles won’t open in cold weather
• Intense squeaking noise
• Car won’t start in warm weather
• “Bubbles” in seats
• Loose front seat
• Trunk lid filled with rain water
• Autopilot does not work properly
• Internet is slow and does not work as it ought to
• The wipers do not work (well enough)
• The car creaks when you pass speed bumps and other bumps in the road
• Decorative moldings loosen
• The lights do not work properly
• The doors stop working properly
• Doors that open by themselves
• The computer does not work
• Yellow edges around the display screens
• Windows that do not close completely
• Systems reset on their own
• Problems charging
• Reduced power
• Rust problems on new cars (especially Model 3)
• Poor paint quality means that the car has to be repainted
• You were promised free charging throughout the car’s lifetime, but the new charging stations do not fit the car
• Lower battery life that Tesla claims
• Problems with the air conditioner
• Not all problems are solved when the car is serviced
• Tesla promise to contact you, but you do not hear from them
• You have to wait on the phone for a long time before Tesla answers

they wrote on their website:

'We are a group of dissatisfied Norwegian Tesla owners. We believe that if Elon Musk is made aware of our troubles, he will solve the situation. Please help us get his attention'. 

I wonder if anyone will address the group before they die?

 speaking of Tesla here is a word I had never heard of before, verticalization, Tesla investors and fans will tell you that verticalization is one of Tesla’s main competitive advantages. By developing its own components, it can improve them at will, but by selling directly to the customer, 

from the article:

 'vehicles come with any defects, dealerships can refuse to get delivery. After all, who would buy a car that comes without brake pads, with misaligned doors, dirty or damaged interiors, mismatching paint, and other similar problems? These are pretty common situations with Tesla EVs'.

also from the same article:

 'Tesla Service Centers are company branches. If the EV maker’s priority is to deliver as many vehicles as possible, it will dismiss any complaints to keep pushing them to customers. Better saying, “it will” is the wrong verbal tense: it already does that and has been doing it for quite a while. Their favorite excuse is that the EVs are “within specs.”'

again from the article:'

'with Tesla and its pressure to sell as many cars as possible, there is another problem, reported at Giga Shanghai. According to PingWest, when Tesla’s few suppliers deliver components that do not match the EV maker’s requirements, the company just fits them into the vehicles to deliver them as soon as possible. A supplier representative said they send Tesla whatever they have because the EV maker keeps asking them to speed up production. That may happen in all Tesla plants.'

well if it all the same with you I will continue to buy my car from a dealer and like all EVs avoid them like the plague! give me my trusty Jaguar any time, for the full article have a look here, as it happens both articles should be compulsory reading for any future Tesla owners!

Is This A New Style Of Tattoo?

using a black backgrounds,

that have floral designs along with butterflies and birds appearing through the dense black,

they are the work of Chicago-based tattoo artist Esther Garcia,

Garcia, has twenty years of experience as a tattoo artist, and is known for her lush botanical designs and her artistic project-based approach to tattooing,

as it happens this approach of having a black background has a added benefit,

not only are they different,

they are a way of covering up old unwanted tattoos,

it might have seemed a good idea at the time to have your loved ones named tattooed on you, but chances are your new beau will not be amused,

“I found it meditative and very enjoyable to make a smooth saturated surface where there was chaos before, but pretty soon I was looking for ways to make it a bit more ornamental,” Garcia explains. “I am very influenced by Dutch master paintings of lush florals and fruit, and I love the depth and richness that a dark background offers. It turns out to be a great way to evoke delicacy in a tattoo, and doesn’t need to involve cover ups at all.”

in addition to continuing her tattoo practice, Garcia is also working on a textile and commercial design collaboration with Chicago designer Kyle Letendre,

You can see more of Garcia’s tattoos on Instagram, and see what upcoming projects she has available on her website, as I have mentioned before, I think I am a tad too old for Tattoos, and I have to say I am not really keen on them, but there it is.