Homage to Halysites

Some time late last year I visited the Chester Grosvenor Museum to see good old-fashioned fossil exhibition. Naturally there was a wonderful array of interesting specimens, lots of food for thought on the nature and process of casting. The above specimen is a Halysite, a fossilised chain coral.  

Below are a taster of samples and experiments of casting using gold and silver chains and other vintage pieces of jewellery.  

This visit must have provoked me to find out more than just looking at fossils as beautiful objects. So, being fascinated by all things "natural history" I've been expanding my rock knowledge! This year I have been spending a fascinating couple of hours a week on a geology/fossils course at Manchester Museum. More posts on that to come.

Blue John

A weekend in the Peak District - what an alien landscape to me. It was like driving in the sky, going over that road. 

Anyway,  I found myself hiding away, underground, taking photos like this. 

Out of the Dark

emerging from the cave and seeing the sky.......

more from the Iron + Ink collection

Sunny October Sunday

Last weekend was sunny enough to get some photographs taken outside of some tables (kitchen/dining not coffee tables - they were BIG) made by my dad. I took the opportunity to get a few shots of some bangles against the wonderful markings in the wood. 

I will do a dedicated post on the tables soon.

As I said, they were all of a good size, this one was fairly enormous, about 10 or 12ft. I took this shot standing on some stepladders! 

There were six tables photographed that day, (glad I wasn't involved in the lifting and carrying of them!) Out into the open from the workshop, to get the most of the autumn sun before it sank too low. 

Graphic-y stacks

Horizontal twiggy ladders.

Unfortunately cant remember source of image to credit it.

Straw plaits

Brushes and Pencils

belonging to artist Tenka Gammelgaard

Cider barrels, 

 trip down to Hereford, 2010 

Twigman

Raggety!

Above image from the Rupert the Bear 1970's series - as scary a childhood tv memory as one could wish for. Apparently, in this scene he has trashed Rupert's living room in a fit of temper. 

And yet in adulthood (hah!) I find I am quite fond of him; hooray for irritated, grumpy, unlikeable children's story characters.

Twig talk

I took these photos earlier this year, wandering back from a walk in Victoria Park one February weekend in London. 

I noticed underfoot these lovely twig markings. The oblique sunlight had picked them out. 

I wondered exactly how they were made, as if they had been trodden into the now dry earth whilst it was soft mud, where were the shoe prints?