Saturday, February 20, 2010

Heart and Stroke Month

So I'm deciding to write a more serious piece today since February is the month in which the Heart and Stroke Foundation likes to inform people about their heart health. I thought I'd help do my part and spread the word, especially since I’m a nurse who works on a cardiac unit lol.

Heart Disease Information:

When it comes to your heart there are certain risk factors in which you can change, and some which you can't here are a list of both types.

Things you can't change:

  • Genetics: some people are predisposed to heart disease
  • Age: don't you wish you could change this lol
  • Family History: if you have more than one immediate relative who has heart related issues, it is important to keep on top of your heart health as this puts you into a higher risk category for heart disease
  • History of a stroke or TIA's (transient ischemic attack)
  • Ethnicity: First Nations, African or South Asian people have a higher risk factors for heart disease

Things you can change or control: Which is probably the most important list out of these two

  • High Blood Pressure: increase blood pressure adds more strain to the heart muscles
  • High Cholesterol: you get a build up of plaque which remains in your arteries and causes your heart to work harder to pump the blood through
  • Diabetes: if you have diabetes it is important to properly control your sugars
  • Being overweight: with a higher percentage of body fat, you also have more blood vessels and this added distance creates more work for the heart
  • Excessive Alcohol Consumption
  • Physical Inactivity: a sedentary lifestyle is never good for the body
  • Smoking: the carcinogens and pathogens from the cigarettes create plaques which remain in your arteries and veins
  • Stress: increased stress increases your blood pressure

The most important thing about your heart is making sure you take care of it.

Stroke Information:

For a stroke I feel the most pertinent information would be the warning signs. Should you have a sudden onset of the following 5 things, immediately call your local emergency services:

  1. Numbness or Weakness
  2. Confusion
  3. Dizziness
  4. Sudden Vision Problems
  5. Trouble Speaking

For more information here please visit the Heart and Stroke Foundations website at www.heartandstroke.ca

~Meg

He who enjoys good health is rich, though he knows it not.

-Italian Proverb

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Pyrography How to Guide

A continuation from Sergey’s blog:

Step One:

Step One

Before you begin working on your piece it’s important to lightly sand the wood. This prevents you from getting any splinters while you’re working on the piece as well as preventing the small loose pieces of wood from coming up and burning while you’re working on your piece.

Step Two:

Step Two

The next step is to draw out your design or image. The drawing itself does not have to be complicated, and in fact it makes it a bit easier if you just have the general shapes. The drawing is strictly used as a guide to follow along with as you burn the design in.

Step Three:

Step Three

Now comes the fun part! I find it useful when burning in the design to actually outline the shapes before you begin the burning process. This prevents your lines from disappearing and also gives you a nice feel for the wood, since depending on the variety of wood they all burn a bit different.

Below are the remainder of the images so you can see the process itself. As for the technique itself, everyone does it a little different and it’s important to find out which way is comfortable for you.

Fine Fur

For the fur I find a cross hatch works well with the finer fur....

Shaggy Fur

...and longer downward strokes work well for the shaggy fur of the bison.

Finished Bison

As you can see by varying up the different strokes shows the varying changed in the bison’s fur. The most important rule with pyrography, is to just play around with it! It’s supposed to be a fun hobby not a chore.

Grass

For grass I find simple strokes varying in pressure give the grass a nice textured look

Beginning of the Background

Always remember to include some sort of background if you’re doing a full piece image

Finished Piece

And an hour or two later this is the finished product. I may go back and darken up parts of the prairie to give the piece more depth, but for now I’m calling this piece complete.

So there you have it a simple “how to” for pyrography! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment on here, or you can email me at artistmeg@yahoo.ca


~Meg