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* In spirit of Curie's mission to promote undiscovered but exceptional content, we wish to use this twice weekly section to provide an author showcase for some of the outstanding authors who received Curie upvotes in past week. Curie curators and reviewers nominate authors for inclusion in this showcase and author approval is sought and attained.

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<center><h2>Featured Author: @fisherck
<a href="https://steemit.com/diy/@fisherck/how-to-and-how-not-to-laser-cut-chocolate">How To (and how not to) Laser Cut Chocolate</a></h2></center>

<center>https://s20.postimg.cc/e1idgb1sd/image.png<br><i>Image used with the permissions of @fisherck</i></center>

We start our Author Showcase today with a very unique post. I am willing to bet most people reading this have never seen a dinosaur laser cut from chocolate and assembled. This makes my childhood with solid and hollow chocolate bunnies for Easter seem so inferior.

I love how @fisherck put in all the work to find just the right blend of chocolate and starch to make this work. The precision laser cutting of the chocolate, the assembly, and using some of the softer chocolate as a sort of plaster or glue to hold it all together is just amazing.

For me, this is one of the best uses of an engineering degree I have seen!

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>I'm a recent graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering, and I enjoy using the skills that I have learned to work on DIY projects. I work on all kinds of projects, but I particularly enjoy those that involve using a laser cuter. I hope to not only share the cool projects that I work on, but also give a step by step tutorial on how you can make them too.

Be sure to keep an eye on @fisherck's blog for more unique tutorials and much more.

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<center><h2>Featured Author: @sjarvie5
<a href="https://steemit.com/photofeed/@sjarvie5/nua3b-the-grand-tetons">The Grand Tetons</a></h2></center>

<center>https://s20.postimg.cc/92uv1u359/image.png<br><i>Image used with the permissions of @sjarvie5</i></center>

I have followed photographer @jarvie for a while now, his work is so amazing. Well it seems he isn't the only extremely talented photographer in the family, meet his big sister @sjarvie5 . She joined the Steem Blockchain in February and I am amazed it has taken this long for us @curie to discover her. She has already contributed so many amazing photos and other posts.

While I love her "channeling Ansel Adams" photo, and many of the others are incredible, I think my favorite of the bunch is the one with the Bison in it. I am not exactly sure why, but I suppose it could be considered more unique than the others. Think about just how long you might have to stand there to capture another shot with a Bison wandering through the shot. 

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>I started photography in high school taking a class in which we got to develop our film in the darkroom. In college I worked in the photo lab on campus and started to do wedding photography. Throughout the years I have taken many pictures of people and places (my favorite subjects). In recent years I have gotten complacent in my photography. I came to Steemit to play @photogames (as one of the co-founders is my little brother @jarvie). My desire to photograph and share my photography is back. I am inspired and challenged by the games. Steemit has a great community and has been a great platform to grow as a photographer.

If you aren't totally interested in the American frontier be sure to check our Sara's newest post featuring <a href="https://steemit.com/photofeed/@sjarvie5/ancient-pyramids-in-egypt">Egypt's Great Pyramids and the Sphinx</a> that she posted yesterday.

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<center><h2>Featured Author: @happycrazycon
<a href="https://steemit.com/education/@happycrazycon/a-tutor-s-tale-part-5-should-social-emotional-education-be-taught">A Tutor's Tale Part 5: Should Social Emotional Education Be Taught?</a></h2></center>

<center>https://s20.postimg.cc/5eaoin619/image.png<br><i>Image used with the permissions of @happycrazycon</i></center>

I am pleased to see @happycrazycon finally get the "big" Curie vote. In one of my first week's as a Curie Curator I submitted one of her posts and for one reason or another it was not accepted. Since then she has produced so many quality posts and has gotten very little recognition. She also touches on so many topics that need to be talked about, but generally are not.

In this in-depth post she discusses the need to teach today's children about social and emotional issues. It is definitely something that is lacking in schools and today's society in general. Be sure to join in the discussion already started in the comment section as well as looking at her other posts, not just her newer ones, but scroll back as well to read many of the other great topics she has already discussed. She has had many great insights that might help lots of people.

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>Inspired a lot by people around me particularly my students and even strangers, I have created 2 series of my own to tell stories of others' lives and what I learn from them. The first is A Tutor's Tale which has reached its part 5 with this post, and the second is my Discovering the Undermined Gems which I seek for unnoticed gems to reward them. Having joined Steemit in December 2017, I have found my therapy through blogging and reignited a long buried passion for writing. I always seek to improve myself further by reading others' works and also try to stick with my own writing niches as well. I have been writing about life, parenting, humour, psychology, philosophy etc. which has greatly helped me in processing my thoughts better. One of my deepest urges is to write about emotional health, as I see too many suicides cases on the rise. It alarms my whole being and am concerned for my generation and those to come. I am so grateful for this wonderful platform. - @happycrazycon

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<center><h2>Featured Author: @pixelcolada
<a href="https://steemit.com/dlive/@pixelcolada/a2be7db0-4cfd-11e8-aa5b-83da28bb4ae3">Ashen For Nokia</a></h2></center>

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I always seek out the art posts that include some of the process steps. For me it just adds so much to the overall quality of a post. This post from @pixelcolada takes the process steps to another level. He is an artist and a teacher who shares not only the steps in the process, but the entire story of working on an ad campaign he once did that was to be placed on trains in Canada.

<div class="pull-left">https://s20.postimg.cc/qb6wngood/image.png</div>He shows us all the different sketches he had to do to help steer the client in the right direction and away from some of the less interesting ideas they had. It really is a great breakdown of what many artists might have to deal with in their professional careers. In the end he had some amazing art for the client to put on the trains.

>I am an artist | educator and I try to make posts that I think my students or other artists might find useful. I am working towards building a small following to support the production of my graphic novel.  - @pixelcolada

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<center><h2>Featured Author: @gardeningchannel
<a href="https://steemit.com/gardening/@gardeningchannel/how-to-grow-amazing-strawberries">How To Grow AMAZING Strawberries!</a></h2></center>

<center>https://s20.postimg.cc/doqza8tu5/image.png<br><i>Image used with the permissions of @gardeningchannel</i></center>

Next up we have a great tutorial video on growing strawberries. James always brings great energy for his videos, Tuck is a bit more mellow, but helps nonetheless. I am originally from New Jersey and it is great to see someone from my home state actually out there gardening. It is nicknamed The Garden State and so many people just don't understand why. All they think about is the larger sections of the northern part of th state that are in the shadow of New York City, the industrialized regions. They do not realize just how lush and green it can be in the western and southern parts of the state.

Being in the northeast I think it is great how James talks about finding the right types of plant varieties for your own climate. Obviously something that will flourish in Florida, or maybe here in Oklahoma would have little chance of doing well in New Jersey.

Be sure to follow James, Tuck, and their @gardeningchannel for many great tutorials and updates on their food forests. I can't wait to see how these strawberries turn out. He also just posted an update on the entire food forest that you can see here, <a href="https://steemit.com/homesteading/@gardeningchannel/this-kind-of-garden-will-feed-you-for-life">this kind of GARDEN will feed you for LIFE</a>. Check out the size of that asparagus!


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<center><h2>Featured Author: @wizardofcheeze
<a href="https://steemit.com/art/@wizardofcheeze/watercolor-kit-essentials-starting-the-hobby-of-watercolor">Watercolor Kit Essentials - Starting the hobby of watercolor</a></h2></center>

<center>https://s20.postimg.cc/y8vt8qp0t/image.png<br><i>Image used with the permissions of @wizardofcheeze</i></center>

>I've been on Steemit for about 2 months and I'm working on becoming a curator for Curie. Through my time as a prospective curator I've learned a ton about how to recognize exceptional quality posts and I have been trying to implement them into my own posts. I owe this distinction to Curie and the great group of people there. Thank you! - @wizardofcheeze

I have personally been working with @wizardofcheeze in our #curation_links room on our Discord server and I can tell you he is progressing nicely in his curation skills. One thing that is always abundantly clear is that as people learn about curation and what @curie looks for in a post it translates into their own posting style. So many have taken what they have learned and elevated their own posts to new heights. This is clearly evident here.

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@wizardofcheeze gives us an in-depth and entertaining guide about everything you need to become a watercolor artist. He gives us great tips on paints, brushes, paper, and much more. In this post you will notice one of his works of art, it is labeled "A" in the final photo. He just posted the finished work about 2 days ago. You can go check it and all the process photos out here <a href="https://steemit.com/watercolor/@wizardofcheeze/original-watercolor-farm-life-over-fields">Original Watercolor: Farm Life Over Fields<a/>

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We have decided to add one #mycuriestory post to each Author Showcase.

<center><h2>Featured #mycuriestory Author: @veckinon
<a href="https://steemit.com/mycuriestory/@veckinon/my-curie-story-the-steemit-tooth-fairy">My Curie Story: The Steemit Tooth Fairy</a></h2></center>

After reading this post title I had some disturbing visions in my head. I couldn't help but picture some of my fellow Curators wearing the Tooth Fairy outfit with the frilly pink tutu. I have to tell you, my visions need to send people like Carl ( @carlgnash ) for a leg waxing before putting him in a tutu!

This week's #mycuriestory comes from one of our new Curie Curators @veckinon . He shares his story of going from Curie upvote getter to Curie upvote giver. A nice journey which includes a number of votes on his own posts, a stop in the #curation_links channel as a Prospective Curator, and now as a full-fledged Curie Curator.

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This Curie Author Showcase was written by Curie Curator @randomwanderings (Gene) with input from other Curie curators and reviewers. Author permission was sought and obtained from all authors featured in this showcase. All works are the copyright of their respective authors and used with permission.