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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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
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
My kit is ill-equipped for this task but the macro lens did its best. I may need a telephoto lens for these occasions.
A red fox laying on an electrical box, with the lower half of its body turned away from the viewer. It has half-risen, as though suddenly made aware of something in the direction of the viewer, and its face is ¾ toward the camera.
October 22, 2025 at 6:54 PM
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
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
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
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
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
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
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
We also saw an eastern wormsnake, which was a new find for me! Unfortunately this one appeared dead, though I could find no obvious wound.
May 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
We saw several Very Good Larvae - shown here in order of increasing excitement: Bicolored Sallow moth, a Photuris sp. firefly, and a HUGE DRAGON I mean Dobsonfly but holy heck it looks like a dragon!
A tan caterpillar with brown triangles in a row down its back, pointing buttward. A firefly larva, which sort of looks like weird plate armour. I do not know how to describe a dobsonfly larva. It has a huge armoured head with big jaws, an armoured thorax, and then just the weirdest floppy, leathery …tail-like abdomen trailing out behind it, with little fringes on the sides. IT IS SO WEIRD.
May 1, 2025 at 4:59 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
For anyone who might not be familiar, this is what Apheloria virginiensis looks like in regular light.
A black millipede with yellow legs. Each body segment is margined with bright yellow along the back and coral red along the sides.
May 1, 2025 at 4:52 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Forgot to post last night’s walk friends. @brianwolven.bsky.social and I even remembered to take the UV torch this time, yay! Just one proper glowy friend though. Apheloria virginiensis.
May 1, 2025 at 4:50 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Sup.
Cinnamom, the most relaxed calico in the world, lounging somewhat precariously on my legs, legs dangling over the abyss beside the sofa.
April 29, 2025 at 6:47 AM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
😂😂😂
Jammie Dodgers, not to be confused with Jammie Dodgers.
Jammie Dodgers the cat, a grey Scottish fold, snuggling her favourite human. Jammie Dodgers the British brand of sandwich cookie, with a jam-filled centre.
April 21, 2025 at 2:33 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
My latest fun nail art was inspired by a painting by Toronto artist Michelle Shook! I painted this during a live stream on my YouTube channel (I do them every Thursday night).
Close up photo of the manicure on my left hand with all 5 nails showing. The middle and ring fingers have a single large flower split between them - a big showy pale pink peony. The index finger has a side/back view of a smaller blossom, and the pinkie nail has just a bit of a leaf poking up. The thumbnail is left with just the background polish, which is a soft shimmery shade that shifts through lavender, blue, and green. An even closer shot of the index, middle, and ring fingers at a ¾ angle - the middle is the only one in sharp focus. A view of both hands together, the left laid over the right. The right hand has the same background polish but without the flowers. Instead, the ring finger nail has been water marbled using the same creme polishes that I used to paint the flowers on the left hand. A split view of the manicure and the inspiration - on top, a cropped version of the flower painting labelled “Painting by Michelle Shook @michelleshookpainter” (the artist’s Instagram handle). On the bottom is a photo of the 4 nails on my left hand that feature the flowers.
April 11, 2025 at 4:28 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Yeah yeah from us and Cinna!
A smug-looking calico loafing on a brown blanket with her front paws stretched waaaaaaay out in front of her
April 3, 2025 at 10:48 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
We forgot to celebrate properly, but this past Saturday marked one year since this little menace strolled into our house like she owned the place, after months of cautious interaction on the back deck. She’s a little shithead, and @brianwolven.bsky.social and I adore her.
Cinnamom AKA Cinna, Cinnamama, Cinnamonkey, or just Monkey - a calico cat with a docked ear, sitting beside a patio door, bathed in diffuse light from the overcast day. The photo was taken from overhead, and her face is raised but she’s not looking at the camera. I caught her in mid-nose-lick, tongue curling up and whiskers alert. A similar photo to the first one, but this time she’s looking directly at the camera and her tongue isn’t out.
April 3, 2025 at 4:05 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Okay well I’m mad that the animated gif isn’t playing because it plays just fine in the preview. Here it is as a video because you do really need to see it.
March 31, 2025 at 3:24 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Happy Trans Day of Visibility to my trans friends and family. I love you.
Animated gif of a skydancer (the tall waving inflatable machine thing) that is coloured like the trans flag. Each frame of the gif is a different fingernail with the inflatable (painted on with nail polish) in a different position, such that it appears to be waving back and forth in the wind. The whole image is framed in a trans flag. A still photo showing the full manicure. The thumbnail has the skydancer standing straight, the index and linking have it at an extreme bend in either direction, and the middle and ring have it at a less extreme bend in either direction. The background colour of each nail is a soft glowy pink. The middle finger also has a cute silver unicorn ring. A close up of the thumbnail with the waving guy standing straight.
March 31, 2025 at 3:22 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
There were lots of slugs and snails out tonight but I especially liked this bright turmeric-hued Arion slug. Also spotted my first juvenile Parcoblatta of the year - these cuties will be everywhere in a month.
A thick yellowish-orange slug crawling along the damp asphalt path. It has a creamy off-white fringe with a dashed white line, making the fringe look remarkably like a stitched hem on a piece of clothing. An amber-hued juvenile wood roach crawling up a tree trunk.
March 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
We also spotted a couple of large Dolomedes tenebrosus (the pictured one had about 3” or 7-8cm legspan), several beautiful Coras sp. spoods, and one Anyphaenidae - I’m dreadful with this group but this might be a Hibana?
A large Dolomedes tenebrosus (dark fishing spider) on a tree trunk, facing down with legs spread radially. Coras sp. spider partially wedged into a crack in some tree bark. A small, pale yellow-white spider with a double row of brown markings on the abdomen, resting on a lichen-crusted wood rail.
March 29, 2025 at 5:53 PM
vexedmuddler.bsky.social
Of course there were the two red-backed salamanders that I posted last night in reply to someone else…
A very grey eastern red-backed salamander, dorsal view, on damp asphalt A brightly salmon-coloured eastern red-backed salamander on damp asphalt. The view is foreshortened, from above to the front, so its head looks huge 😅
March 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM