September 2020 - Jane Baxter Art

Photo showing my eye with tears that are pooling on my contact lens

I’m trying out something new! I’ve coined it ‘sandwiching’!

It was time for my appointment with my optician during the week. She is keeping a wee eye on my transplant eye, but mainly helping me in my struggle with a lens/ lenses in my other eye.

This one is the eye I rely on – my better eye. It still has advanced keratoconus [kc] and low tolerance for the contact lenses required to see clearly. I can manage some days with a few hours wearing my lenses. Having kc means I need a hard contact lens to correct visual distortions and enable semi-decent vision. It’s an rgp – rigid gas permable lens.

‘Piggy backing’ is a term which describes wearing a soft contact lens underneath a hard contact lens (to improve comfort). Two lenses in one eye. This has been the best solution to date, albeit a struggle at times.

One of those times came a week or two ago when I just couldn’t see properly through my lens…

If you look closely at the video below/go to full screen/zoom in, you can see how hydro-phobic my contact lens is. My tears ‘pool’ on the surface, rather than covering the lens in a nice smooth coating.

We’ve tried many different things to aleviate the problem. I’ve also had my eyes and inner lids checked out for allergies, meibomian gland dysfunction etc. These lenses were specially made from the same material as my lenses @20 years ago, when I had no such issues.

This is my ‘better’ eye – my non-transplant eye – and the one I rely on to see!

But then, fairly often, *this* happens.

It’s like trying to look through vaseline or a steamed up shower screen… It is eminently frustrating. And it’s not predictable.

That day I’d all-but had enough…

but then, I had a thought!

What if I put a soft lens on top of the hard rgp, as well as underneath?

An rgp sandwich!

I tried it – nothing to lose. And guess what?…

It worked!

It wasn’t perfect, but for an hour I could see! There was no steamy vaseline effect – the 3rd lens created a new top layer which my eyes tolerated.

I got in touch with my fab optician/ lens fitter, and she was happy for me to experiment and let her know how I got on!

My appointment went well – my optician said that we are ‘pioneering’ this ‘sandwiching’ technique. She is happy to think creatively!

She is ordering me a new rgp – made from a thinner, more gas permeable material. As I only wear my lenses for such a short time most days, my eyes shouldn’t become deprived of oxygen. She is also ordering much thinner soft lenses with a different shape, which should also aid oxygen transfer and hopefully not flap up above my lower lid – which has been happening with my original 3rd soft lens.

I also had a scan of the whole of my eye. The chart on the wall ‘explains’ it all, but tbh, I don’t understand (and we didn’t discuss it at my appointment).

So all in all, the little ray of hope is still shining, where I felt it had been flickering for some time.

A good day at the optician!

A somewhat sketchy sketch of a Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus) drawn using the ink produced by a fellow Shaggy Inkcap!

We stumbled upon this colony of Shaggy Inkcaps whilst walking Rosie. It showed us several stages of life/ reproduction – emergence, growth and disintegration. Alternatively – a race through infancy, del-ink-wency and decrepancy!

A fascinating, yet brief, cycle of life.

Shaggy Inkcaps are short lived, and unlike Common Inkcaps, they are pretty common! They spread their ripe spores through deliquescence – a wonderful word – the liquefication of their caps. They literally turn to ink!

You are advised, if picking to eat, to cook them within an hour or so, before they start to deteriorate. The degeneration is quick! After taking a few photos, we decided to come back the next day to observe the changes.

On our return, this Inkcap had disappeared altogether – not a trace of it could we find!

I popped the decaying body of another specimen into a dog poo bag (handy things!) and back home, transferred it to a cup. You can see in the first photo [below] that the gills have changed from white to pink, and then brown/ black.

I believe deliquescing can happen in a matter of hours, but I left this sample overnight.

Ink-lination

And as you can see above, it produced a fair amount of lovely, deeply-fungus-fragranced dark ink!

Clearing out my parents’ house recently, I was delighted to find a set of ‘Round Writer Pen’ nibs and wooden pen. I’d never seen them before – nor the sketchbooks my great-grandfather used. (He created some amazing calligraphic poster/ art work (watch this space), likely a good hundred years ago…). This seemed an ideal opportunity to give the pen a shot!

Calligraphy isn’t my strong point (I’ll blame it on my recent (manual) chain-saw accident…). It is something I’d love to have the discipline to learn. I do have an interest in handwriting, though it has been a while since I’ve actually hand written a ‘proper’ letter. The last time I tried, my hand ached – a sign of the times? Muscles more used to tapping than writing.

I’m doubtful about the light fast-ness of the ink – I suspect it will fade fast in direct sunlight (shall test and get back to you). I had pondered mixing it with something – alcohol? – but decided to try it straight! Wildfooduk reports that, “The black mess left after the mushroom deliquesces used to be used as ink after boiling with a little water and cloves, or urine”.

Back on location

…we found a huddle of newly emerging fungus, and as the gills would still be white, we picked 3 for breakfast! As they mature so fast, you really have to eat them within an hour or two of picking, so a swift pedal home, and preparations began!

Whilst I wouldn’t describe their taste as the ‘boiled polystyrene’ mycologist John Wright suggests, their other attributes are more appealing! Texture of softened slug isn’t one, mind you. GallowayWildFood‘s Mark Williams gives them a 3/5 for edibility, so it’s not all bad!

Shaggy Inkcap on toast – with garlic and Natex (a delicious Marmite-like yeast extract). They don’t look so appealing now I’ve mentioned the slug thing!

Out of interest, Common Inkcaps (Coprinopsis atramentaria) are also edible – but cannot (or should not) be eaten with alcohol. ‘Tippler’s bane’, they become poisonous if you consume alcohol 2 days either side of consumption! I’ve read that even the use of alcohol-based fragrances or deoderant can cause an unpleasant reaction. In this case, the shaggier the ‘shroom the better!

Back to the drawing board.

The ink itself is a lovely warm shade, with a grainy (sporey!) texture – bittier in some places than other! (I did have to fish out a few fungusy filaments). It took several layers to build up the depths in places, and I would like to try it on ‘proper’ paper and with more time to experiment.

I had an intriguing thought – I wonder if my sketch will start to grow…

I think they are lovely looking fungi, and if not used, I’ll spread the remaining spore-laden ink in the compost, on the back garden, or perhaps even at the allotment! Fingers crossed for a cracking crop next year!

Malcolm took this short video of the Shaggy Inkcap that disappeared overnight.

…and he insisted I add another scan of my sketch to look at again.

A Contact Lens ‘Sandwich’!