Peggy Wolven
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vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Peggy Wolven
@vexedmuddler.bsky.social
2.9K followers 360 following 890 posts
Fashion for the Scientific Body. Nails, nerdy and not.

https://linktr.ee/vexedmuddler

🩷💛💙 She/her, artist, scientist, nail polish nerd, friend to underloved animals.
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Reposted by Peggy Wolven
artologica.net
Pink unicorn pumpkin for @vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Pink painted pumpkin with beads and unicorn horn
November 3, 2025 at 10:22 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
No costume for Timiny Cricket this year but I did catch a nice little illusion.
A young grey tabby (Timiny Cricket) sits on a stair, 2 steps down from the landing, with his face turned toward the camera. Behind him on the landing is a black witch’s hat with gold skulls & crossbones. The hat is lined up perfectly so it looks like Timiny is wearing it.
November 1, 2025 at 1:44 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Happy Meowloween from Jammie Dodgers (and the rest of us)!
October 31, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.
September 19, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
brianwolven.bsky.social
The young calico who adopted us last year has desperately wanted to play with her two much older sisters, but they will have none of it.

Last Friday @vexedmuddler.bsky.social and I adopted this lovable little nugget, whom we have dubbed “Timiny Cricket”.
A small brown & tan kitten lies asleep between two cat toys, one a small salmon plushy, the other a plaid Christmas present. A small brown & tan kitten sits on a cardboard scratcher next to a screened window, looking over his shoulder toward the camera. On a totally irrelevant note, the window crank is crowned with a tardigrade figurine. A small brown & tan kitten dozes INSIDE an opening of the Ripple Rug. Guess it’s warmer in there? A small brown & tan kitten lies sleeping between us on the sofa while we watch a show.
September 2, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
brianwolven.bsky.social
I must ask why you neglected to mention Santa and his Elvers in the calendar promotional materials. 😕
August 26, 2025 at 2:06 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
@skypeascientist.bsky.social I just ordered an Eel Facts advent for @brianwolven.bsky.social but he has a question for you
August 26, 2025 at 1:41 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
@amyraehill.bsky.social hey @tychogirl.bsky.social follow Amy for awesome
July 4, 2025 at 10:46 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
He has a RACING STRIPE I love him so much 🥹
tshahan.bsky.social Thomas Shahan @tshahan.bsky.social · Jun 30
a few more shots of this beautiful species 🕷️🙇
June 30, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
tshahan.bsky.social
Photographed a LOT of handsome salticids in Costa Rica, but these Anasaitis canalis males were the fanciest! ✨💙 Very difficult to shoot - not just tiny - but super skittish too!

In situ, stack (3 shots?), Pentax, Laowa 25mm

Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica - ground level, shaded areas w/ tree cover
June 30, 2025 at 3:06 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Aside from being pride month, it’s also immigrant heritage month! I'm a recent immigrant to the US, so I did this mani as a celebration of my Canadian heritage. I recreated 4 famous Group Of Seven paintings - the last image shows the paintings they’re based on. Details in alt text!
This photo shows the full mani, all 5 nails visible, though the index and pinkie are a bit out of focus. My thumbnail features the Canadian and US flags flying side by side. The other 4 fingers feature my best attempt at recreating famous landscape paintings in nail polish. On my index, J.E.H. MacDonald's Autumn Algoma. On my middle nail, I painted Lawrence Harris' The Idea Of North. My ring finger (which I think came out the best) Franklin Carmichael's Autumn in Orillia. My pinkie shows my best attempt at Arthur Lismer's Isles of Spruce. A close up of my thumbnail showing the Canadian and American flags painted waving against a blue sky with big fluffy white clouds. A little further view of just the 4 fingernails on which I recreated the paintings. On my index, I painted the right half of J.E.H. MacDonald's Autumn Algoma. It depicts a densely wooded hillside across a lake, in rich autumn colours. The lake and sky are vivid blue and clear. There’s a single ragged spruce tree in the foreground. On my middle nail, I painted Lawrence Harris' The Idea Of North. This is a stark northern landscape painted in a somewhat abstract style. It depicts a large blue and white smoothly sculpted glacier against a blue sky with billowing clouds making long fingers over the peaks. My ring finger (which I think came out the best) is Franklin Carmichael's Autumn in Orillia. This is a somewhat desaturated and impressionistic painting of a forest, but this time up close and personal - you’re inside the woods for this one, and there’s an impression of birch trees and shrubby undergrowth, all in orange and yellow. The slay has a washed-out overcast appearance. My pinkie shows my best attempt at Arthur Lismer's Isles of Spruce. I had to take a thin slice out of the middle of this painting, so I chose the spruce spars in the very centre and made them the whole image. Again the scene is autumnal, but the towering dark spruce trees rising from a small rocky islet dominate it. A collaged image - on top, a close up of my 4 finger nails. Below are 4 images of the original paintings the nails are based on: J.E.H. MacDonald's Autumn Algoma, Lawrence Harris' The Idea Of North, Franklin Carmichael's Autumn in Orillia, and Arthur Lismer's Isles of Spruce.
June 18, 2025 at 3:38 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Back on my bullshit with a mani inspired by Arcane (the series). All handpainted with regular nail polish. The last photo I just included for dramatic lighting and my cool beetle tattoos.
Shot of all 5 nails on my left hand, facing the camera. The thumb nail is painted with a blue braid with gold tube crimp against a grungy teal background, index features a complex gold cog-like piece of steampunk machinery against the same teal background, middle has a painting of the hextech anomaly with a black starry background, ring finger is Jinx’s purple toothed hood against a grungy hot pink, and pinkie is Vi’s “VI” face tattoo against the same hot pink. A close up of the 4 fingers Detail shot of the thumb nail Just a cool shot from a bit further away - can’t make out much detail on the nails but the dramatic lighting and my beetle tattoos look cool with it.
May 27, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
Teeny little dung beetle! The species is Scooped Scarab, although Scooper Scarab may be more appropriate 🌿
A small, matte black beetle in my hand, side view. He's quite round overall, and his most distinguishing feature is a projection from his thorax that reaches forward above his head. The same beetle from the top. From this angle, you can see his scarab-y antennae, and it's clear that the projection from his thorax above his head has two points.
May 26, 2025 at 12:45 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
A simple dragon scale-inspired mani.
Photo showing all 5 nails facing the camera. The whole mani uses 4 polishes: one white with a soft pink shimmer & iridescent flakes, one pink with blue iridescent flakes and yellow shimmer, one shifty metallic emerald-to-lime green, and one sage green with pink shimmer. Each nail is in one of the 4 colours, with scale lines in another colour, and a couple of scales filled in with a third colour. A close up shot of the thumb nail, which has been painted in the pink polish with the shifty metallic green polish for the scale lines and two scales filled in with white. (This is also the colour scheme on the pinkie nail) A close up of 4 fingernails facing the camera at a slight angle. The index has the sage base with white scale lines and 2 scales filled in pink, the middle has the white base with sage scale lines and 2 pink-filled scales. The ring finger has the shifty metallic green base with pink scale lines and 2 white-filled scales. The pinkie uses the same pink-based colour scheme as the previously-described thumb.
May 24, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
artologica.net
Does selling original paintings for $10 compensate me for my time and artistic vision? No. But is it a great business move? Also no. Here's why I do it anyway #sciart
An Itty-Bitty Love Story
Because everyone should have original art
artologica.substack.com
May 16, 2025 at 6:12 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
This manicure is not about copper nanotubes.
A close-up photo of a manicure on 4 fingernails. The nails are painted with a bright pinky-red creme polish and have hand-lettered c u n t across them, one letter per nail from index to pinkie. The lettering is lined in a sparkly black-adjacent polish and filled with a shimmery purple polish. Another angle of the manicure, this time including the thumb, which has a simplified vulva illustration on it in the same polish colours, but the dark polish is the base instead of the pink-red.
May 16, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
🚨 Your Opinion Needed 🚨

We've had a number of people asking for a Bigger than Binaries shirt, so @franzanth.bsky.social & I discussed...

... and we will DO IT!

But we need your opinion! Which color should we print?! We can only do one.

Vote here! www.surveymonkey.com/r/5ZYWPHS
three versions of the same design, all of which say "Biology is bigger than binaries", with a central image of a bee, a clownfish, and a lily. The one on. the left is pink, the middle is orange, the right is light blue.
May 14, 2025 at 4:51 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Sometimes your nails just need a little velvet worm. Handpainted using nail polish. Inspired by photos from @wizentrop.bsky.social
Close up of manicure across 4 fingernails (thumb excluded). The background colour is a sort of swampy jelly green with green flakes at the tips. The velvet worm image starts on the middle fingernail and stretches across the ring and pinkie nails. It’s depicted spraying glue, which shoots across the index nail. The species depicted is blue with yellow speckles. The same manicure but from a bit further back and showing the thumbnail as well (which does not have any image painted on it, just the background green colour). Also visible is a mushroom ring on the middle finger.
May 14, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
jeffvandermeer.bsky.social
No, we are not going to live on other planets. Bullshit artists like Musk might as well be the leaders of death cults. arstechnica.com/culture/2025...
Silicon Valley billionaires literally want the impossible
Ars chats with physicist and science journalist Adam Becker about his new book, More Everything Forever.
arstechnica.com
May 10, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
humanbyweight.bsky.social
Hello! My name is Alie. I'm an engineer + scientist who's written award-winning field guides about bugs, founded my own engineering firm, and invented brand-new classes of thermal insulation and metrology equipment.

I'm so proud to be visible as an autistic trans woman in STEM! #womeninSTEM 👩‍🔬🧪
A photo of a white woman with long brown hair and big glasses wearing a teal shirt standing in a forest. She is grinning and holding an insulation prototype over her head. The cover of the book "The Cicadas of North America". Many cicadas of all shapes, sizes, and colors are arranged radially out from the center. The cover of the book "The Social Wasps of North America". Many wasps of all shapes, sizes, and colors are arranged radially out from the center.
May 6, 2025 at 8:51 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Fish nails! Hand painted using nail polish, inspired by a design from a nail artist on Instagram, AllisonDoesNails.
Shot of a manicure showing all 5 fingers of one hand. Each nail has a different base colour and a fish hand-painted on it. The entire manicure uses 5 colours, giving a graphic look reminiscent of the work of Shepard Fairey. The 5 colours are: light turquoise, dark teal blue, bright red, dark brick red, and a pale yellowish-cream. A close-up of the thumbnail. The base colour is turquoise, and the fish is painted in bright red with cream and dark red accents. The thumb has a silver knuckle-ring that says “vexed”. A close-up of 4 finger nails. The index nail is bright red with a cream, teal, and red fish. The middle nail is teal with a dark red, turquoise, and teal fish. The ring nail is cream with a teal, red, and cream fish. The pinkie nail is dark red with a turquoise, bright red, and teal fish.
May 6, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
mynnkitchen.bsky.social
💔 May 5th is MMIW Day. Wear red to show your support, then get involved and contact your representatives.

#mmiw #mmiwawareness #mmiwusa #mmiwactionnow #may5 #may5th
May 2, 2025 at 1:31 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
May the 4th be with you.
May 4, 2025 at 5:35 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
When you have a lovely game night with friends but you’re a bug nerd so the only photos you take are of a couple of spoods on their front porch.
Male orb weaver, looks to be an Araneus species but they all look the same to me. Habronattus coecatus, a black and tan jumping spider
May 4, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Peggy Wolven
flyingtrilobite.com
Very excited to share with the SciArt Feed 🐡, that Kalliopi Monoyios @eyeforscience.bsky.social , has joined Bluesky!

Scientific Illustrator, Paleoartist, Writer, Fashion Designer, and one of my former @symbiartic.bsky.social teammates along with @katiemckissick.bsky.social .

Welcome, Kalliopi! 🎉
Home - Kalliopi Monoyios
Art by Kalliopi Monoyios designed to mature the conversation around plastic and American consumerism
www.kalliopimonoyios.com
May 1, 2025 at 5:33 PM