iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Randomly thinking about this project today—I’d wanted to have a glass cube etched inside to keep it fully 3D though it’s kinda pricey. But I realized I could also try it with beads embedded in resin if I pour it in layers in a clear plastic cube.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I am grateful that I have so many wonderful friends, but after coming out of a really intense several months being insanely busy with the carousel I would like for them to stop inviting me places lol. I would like to do nothing. By myself. At home. Maybe I’ll see you in January.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We’ve been enjoying getting back to other hobbies now that carousel stuff has wound down. Starting a new dnd campaign soon and my character is going to a beast master ranger who is a lion tamer, sword juggler, and circus performer 🦁🎪

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Ahhh, my first weekend day off in….god I don’t know how many months. Since January? I know we did it to ourselves, but now we are really enjoying never being that busy again.

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Reposted by Jamie L. Molaro

Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Burning Man was dusty, I am tired, we had a great time! And we learned a lot more about the carousel than we honestly really wanted to lol. But despite some mechanical hiccups, we had a great year giving ~3500 rides. People really enjoyed the new art and reading the new stories! #SkyhorseCarousel

Selfie of myself in front of the carousel with messy hair and a bandana around my neck with constellations on it.

View of the carousel full with riders during the afternoon with blue sky and a few clouds above. There is dust in the air and you can see a large canopy tent and huge flags in the distance behind.

View from inside the lounge looking out towards the carousel showing people waiting in line to ride it.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I always feel so creative and rejuvenated when I get home from the burn. Unfortunately, a thousand emails and this inane federal research security training is slowly withering my soul just a little now that I’ve returned to work 🙃

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Just finished my post-burning man PT appointment which is always A LOT. Gonna lay on a heating pad all day, drink water, and keep ignoring my email. Maaaaybe I’ll do some laundry, maybe play a lil games.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Not a bad way to decompress from the burn, on our journey home through one of my very favorite places in the world.

A dramatic scene of open scrub land with mountains towering in the distance and bright clouds contrasted over blue sky above.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This is my 17th year going to event since 2005 I think? See you on the other side! I miss Fable already, but I know the house sitter has tummy rubs covered ;)

Selfie with my husband with the carousel base on a trailer behind us. His short reads “off to commit tomfoolery”

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Besides the outreach aspect, the carousel has of course also been a deep labor of love and self expression. Perhaps my artistic magnum opus, we’ll see. Even with the loose ends I’d like to do next year, it finally looks like the piece of art I’ve envision. I’m so excited to share it with people!

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Headed to Burning Man with the #SkyhorseCarousel in tow! It’s really fun to do science outreach in such a playful way, in a place where people are curious, open, and eager to learn and interact. Consider supporting the project to help cover paint and materials! gofund.me/b1cf3f003 #SciArt

gofund.me

Donate to Support the Skyhorse Carousel's Next Chapter, organized by Jamie Molaro

The Skyhorse Carousel is an amusement ride, art installation, and science ou… Jamie Molaro needs your support for Support the Skyhorse Carousel's Next Chapter

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I learned a new knot! The angler’s knot. Making new bungees for the carousel ceiling shade panels.

Picture of my hand holding a piece of bungee cord tied into a knot with a loop at the end.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Time for my annual solo speed crafting competition in the days before leaving for burning man every year.

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Reposted by Jamie L. Molaro

Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

If you checkout the #SkyhorseCarousel hashtag I have lots of posts on the topic, or you can get info at our website! www.skyhorsecarousel.com

skyhorsecarousel.com

Skyhorse Carousel

Celebrating human culture and cosmology through art and play.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Seshat was the goddess of knowledge and astronomy, inventor of writing, and divine record keeper, marking the passage of time on a notched palm rib. Here, the diagram she draws invokes how the Moon's "cratering record" is used in the study of planetary chronology. #SkyhorseCarousel #SciArt

side view of a carousel horse painted with haunches showing brown and silver craters as if the surface of the Moon. The saddle and saddle blanket are in a dark blue and purple color scheme with copper and silver details.

Top view of the saddle showing an Egyptian goddess with gold skin, a yellow leopard print dress, blue hair, and red jewelry. She holds a stylus up to a palm rib which looks like a long can with a crook at the top. Behind her are the dotted lines of a scientific diagram lined up to look as though she is drawing them. Below her is silver text in Egyptian hieroglyphs, and a distinct line in blue showing the symbols for several constellations. She has a symbol on her head which looks similar to a star or flower.

Close up view of the craters on the horse, and also shown is the head of a leopard on the side of the saddle.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

We took the carousel back apart to prep it for transport and put all the horses onto the new scaffolding rack we designed. But I needed something to protect their hooves from knocking into each other so I bought them all leg warmers 😂😂😂 #SkyhorseCarousel

Large rack made of blue scaffolding holing all the carousel animals

Up close shot of two horses with foam pads strapped over their saddles, and each wearing a pair of knit leg warmers in complementary colors.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I’ve been reflecting a lot on the last decade of my career, with several intense and exciting years followed by a slow winding down of longterm projects and brief lull as I transition into something new. I finally feel I’m in my next waxing Moon phase with new projects, new teams, and renewed focus.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

There is so much good art in here, folks! And I really enjoy getting exposure to other fields of science this way.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Had a birthday party for Ian over the weekend and everyone got to ride it for the first time since we finished painting ☺️

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Friends, the #SkyhorseCarousel is finally fully painted and reassembled, isn't it STUNNING?! Between the horses and scenes, the carousel celebrates the culture and cosmos of >30 different cultures worldwide! You can read all the Sky Stories and see photos here: www.skyhorsecarousel.com #SciArt

Full shot of the carousel, with its scenery panels painted in a rich deep blue and with gold trim. Colorful scenes painted within each panel inset depict different celestial creatures, and below the ridable horses are also an array of bright colors.

Closer view showing a horse with a gray and blue color theme, with details depicting Moon phases and ocean waves. Next it one of the large center scenery panels shows a dramatic scene of an aurora over a dark mountainous landscape and a fox in one corner.

The heads and front halves of two horses, one in colors like a sunrise with solar symbols on its halter, and the other in black and orange with lightning bolts and a Greek border design. Behind them you can see a center scenery panel with a painting of the surface of the Sun and a swallow flying towards it.

Closeup view of one of the scenery panels at the top of the carousel with a depiction of an Aztec jaguar deity surrounding by a ring of calendar symbols and other adornments.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Finally trying a new hair dye brand after I used up my last bottle of purple Special Effects, the brand I’d been using for the last…25 years?

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Wow working outside in the heat all day, great time for the AC to go out 😵‍💫

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Last week we finished wiring the last of the scenery panels and today is the laborious task of moving the controls into a brand new operator’s station. It’s a huge pain! The old crate was falling apart and the bolts rusting through, so now all the wiring will be better protected. #SkyhorseCarousel

A control box and a breaker box with a mess of large cables going between them resting on a dolly on the ground.

An empty, sky blue metal crate waiting for the controls to be mounted inside.

The inside of the carousel showing the motor with its large gear and the electrical rails that power everything.

My hand holding a bulb cover for a light, with some sockets and plugs on the table below.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Lots of different skills needed to maintain this carousel—today I’m sewing new straps that are part of the system holding the shade panels in place at its roof. I don’t sew that often anymore, but I should!

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Reposted by Jamie L. Molaro

Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

The Rainbow Serpent is a water deity in Dreamtime stories from various Australian Aboriginal peoples. When the rainbow is seen stretched across the sky it is said to be bringing water from one watering hole to another. The snake pays homage to their indigenous dot art. #SkyhorseCarousel #SciArt

Large carousel panel in blue and gold with the center scene showing a painting of large dramatic stormclouds and rain in the sky. Across the scene is a brightly colored rainbow which morphs into a snake. The snake has a pattern of rainbow colored dots which fade into a metallic white color towards its head.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

You did! So! Many! Edges! Lol. Both on the scenery panels and the shields. I could never have done this project without a group of wonderful and talented friends to help me!

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Reposted by Jamie L. Molaro

Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

A Mongolian story tells that long ago, seven suns appeared in the sky bringing intense heat and drought to the land. A hunter vowed to shoot them down, but a swallow flew in front of his last arrow causing it to miss and saving the seventh sun, though splitting his tail. #SkyhorseCarousel #SciArt

Large carousel panel in blue and gold with the center scene showing a painting of the surface of the Sun including solar flares and other realistic textures and details. A swallow is seen to the lower left flying towards it in a yellow color with a colorful flower within its body.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Well, National Carousel Day was Sunday but we were so busy working on it I forgot to post :) But I can finally share the center scenery panels, they turned out gorgeous! My concepts brought to life in collaboration with talented painter and friend Laura Lawson (IG: @laurajlawson). #SkyhorseCarousel

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Magical guest at the caesalpinia today!

A very large black and yellow butterfly with its wings splayed open sitting on a cluster of very bright red-orange flowers.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Finishing up the last of the re-wiring on the carousel—nothing like using a heat gun in 95 degree weather lol 😵‍💫

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Well we really enjoyed rewatching all the new Doctor Who’s before catching up with Ncuti Gatwa as the newcomer—he’s great but so far all the content on Disney+ is just sooo way too Disney it doesn’t even feel like Doctor Who anymore. We made it through the xmas specials, not hopeful looking forward.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

In the meantime, I have sooo much science to catch up on…

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I just finished a painting marathon over the last 2 wks to finish all the scenery panels in time to gloss coat last weekend. They are now done and SO beautiful! A friend even came into town to do a few special, fancy paintings for it. I’ll share once the carousel is reassembled! #SkyhorseCarousel

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

There is so much niche hobby drama going on in the National Carousel Association right now. Re-elections, members being banned, lawsuits—goodness lol.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Home stretch getting the scenery panels painted and ready for final gloss coat this weekend. Painting to ungodly hours all week, and totally worth it. It’s been a long few months! I’ll both be glad I’m done and miss it at the same time.

Selfie of myself with a tall scenery panel in blue and gold color showing in the background. A part of the scene is showing in warm orange and yellow tones, but you cannot tell what it is from the image.

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Reposted by Jamie L. Molaro

Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

The interim photos weren’t very interesting, so here’s the finished panel! I love the Cherokee basket weaving patterns and the bright colors they use. And the turtle came out pretty cute :) #SkyhorseCarousel

Finished scenery panel showing a turtle reaching for a basket of berries as if to eat one. Nested diamond shapes in three colors frame the scene behind the turtle and basket, including one fatter stripe that contains a geometric basket weave design in the same three colors. Geometric moon phase shapes line the bottom of the scene, and in the far left corner a little strawberry with a bite taken out it sits alone.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Finally working on my last rounding board, phew. This one has a cute turtle! It has a Cherokee theme around how the 13 scutes on a turtle’s shell represent the months of the lunar calendar. #SciArt #SkyhorseCarousel

A carousel rounding board showing layers of colors and stencils over it, and a paper diagram of the design and paint color swatches on the top.

Closeup of the paper showing the design of the scene. It has nested diamond stripes in straw and brown colored hues, with a wide stripe in the middle showing a complex, geometric basket weaving design. In the center is a basket of fruit and a turtle to the right looks as if he will take a bite. At the bottom a line of geometric style shapes represents moon phases.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Feels good to have a NASA badge back again :) Thankfully they let me go to the JPL badging office even though for Artemis I’m badged through JSC.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I have acquired the tiniest megaphone. More like a kilophone really. It’s adorable 😁

My hand holding a very small golden colored megaphone.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Finally finished FFVII Rebirth and I have to say that they didn’t ruin it nearly as much as I worried they would. I think the whole multiple worlds things was unnecessary and didn’t really add to the game, but overall it was well done and I liked where they added some depth to certain stories.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Somewhere between getting back from walking the dog and taking a shower I lost a whole cup of coffee. It’s nowhere in the house it seems, I am so confused and was subsequently under-caffeinated for my meetings.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I really love my neighborhood, in most ways it’s a proactively, genuinely close and supportive local community…but people in the neighborhood chat complaining about pedestrians throwing away dog poo bags in their trash cans is some of the NIMBYist shit I have ever heard 🙄

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Just saw a roadrunner on my patio! We used to see them all the time in Tucson but it was my first sighting here, they’re my favorite!

View out my office window to the patio with a roadrunner standing in the middle.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I’ve been working on the Māori panel. We were fortunate to find an indigenous tattoo artist to create for us a drawing of Te Māngōroa, the name for the Milky Way and the shark that Māui placed in the sky as a celestial guardian. #SkyhorseCarousel

Cartoon of the planned scenery panel showing a great shark in the sky over a photo of the Milky Way, and below a wave pattern design and silhouette of a Maori canoe.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Fable is very glad I’m home 💜

A fox-like dog sitting smoosh faced on a couch with her eyes closed in contentment as a hand rubs her belly.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Phew, glad to be home from a long week at Johnson Space Center for an Artemis Geology Team meeting. It was amazing to meet the team in person and I learned so many things about space suits! Here’s a video from touring the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, one of the astronauts training that day humored us 🤣

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Well, nothing like a forced computer reset to get you to finally close all the tabs you’ve kept open “just in case”, as well as all the documents you were and those you should have been working on.

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Jamie L. Molaro @spacejammie.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

In the meantime, I’ve been working on this panel in parallel. The stencils went on pretty quick so I don’t have many shots midway, so you’ll have to see the scene revealed as I pull them off instead :) #SkyhorseCarousel

A scenery panel all taped up with stencils showing vague sections of white and red, but not much really visible.

Panel with part of the stencils removed showing what looks like rays of yellow hues emanating from the panel center.

Part of the edge of the panel with stencils removed revealing a red section with a yellow border, and small sections of geometric, brown and white border designs.

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