"Snowflake" Bentley's fleeting beauty

“Every snowflake has an infinite beauty, which is enhanced by knowledge that the investigator will, in all probability, never find another exactly like it.”

Last week saw a unique weather event---snow in 49 of the 50 U.S. states.  It seems an appropriate moment to honor the romantic Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley (1866-1931), whose picture, and pictures, hung in my childhood home.  At age 15, Bentley was given a microscope and began looking at snowflakes.  By age 19, he had developed the techniques that allowed him to photograph individual snow crystals.

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind."

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

Over his lifetime, Bentley photographed 5,381 crystals, and no two are alike.  In 1931, his book Snow Crystals, containing more than 2400 snow crystal images, was published.  As kids, we would pore over this book trying to choose our favorite snowflakes and confirm for ourselves that no two were alike.

Ironically, Bentley died from pneumonia contracted during a walk in a blizzard.   Last week ten of his original photographs were put up for sale by the Carl Hammer Gallery at the American Antiques Show in NYC.  They cost $4800 each.  The photos above were all taken from the gallery website.

 

Happy Valentine's Day

(click to enlarge)

The beautiful rugs of C.F.A. Voysey

 

 

 

   

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  I was looking at these beautiful reproductions of the rugs of Charles Voysey (1857–1941) recently.  Voysey was an English architect and designer who was influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Craft movement.  The rugs, which retail for about $4000 for an 8'x10', are sold here among other places.

For those with less money to spend, here are some artsy-crafty rugs from Home Decorators Collection.  I have Orange Blossom in my kitchen and love how cheerful it is (this rug was also sold by Garnet Hill last year at a higher price).  I wish I had a spot for Marigold.

 

 

McIntosh

  

Summer Day

  

Orange Blossom

  

Marigold

 

Poppies

Here's an earlier rug post you might like:  Some Magic Carpets

Etsy, a love-hate relationship

Etsy is the on-line equivalent of a crafts fair where, like such fairs, you can find beautiful hand-made items amongst an even greater amount of stuff one might consider junk.  Of course, one person's trash is another's treasure (as indeed you may conclude below).  I love the fact that (with PayPal) there is an easy mechanism for a crafter to sell their creations to the world.  I hate the fact that the Etsy site is so massive that it is almost impossible to find anything by browsing (unless you have a lot of time on your hands).  Most of the stuff I've bought on Esty I've found via links from other web sites.  So, in that spirit, here are a few of my recent purchases.....

octopus bag

cute pouch

math clock (the perfect gift for all the geeks in your life)

now sold here

cool tee of Scutigera coleoptrata that live in my basement

 

now, cooler hoodie available from same vendor

I never bought these wall decals but would if I still had toddlers

Seeking The Scarlet Pimpernel

Or pink?  Pierangelo, a Morris fan in Italy, is scouring the world for Pimpernel wallpaper in this particular colorway.  Please leave a comment if you can help.   Ciao!

....later....I found the fabric here!   In cotton, $10 per yard.

Morris! V&A Pattern, Part 3

 From the Victorian & Albert Museum archives.....the only volume in the set dedicated to a single person......of course!

Wild Tulip wallpaper, 1884, block-printed paper

 

Acorn wallpaper, 1879, block-printed paper

 

Tulip textile, 1875, block-printed cotton

 

Cray textile, 1884, block-printed cotton

  

Rose wallpaper, 1877, block-printed paper

 

Fruit wallpaper, 1866, block-printed paper

Garden Tulip wallpaper, 1885, block-printed paper

Marigold wallpaper, 1875, block-printed paper

Pictures from the four volume book set "V&A Pattern".

Related Posts:

Part 1, Mughal Empire Florals at the V&A 

Part 2, The Fifties

WWMD? Valentine's Day

What would Morris do on Valentine's Day?  My sister and I were pondering this question last week over a bottle of wine.  He was obviously a great romantic.  Maybe he would have written an epic love poem with hand-painted illustrations or some equally grand gesture out of the realm of mere mortals.  But maybe he just gave small hand-made tokens of his affection....possibly accompanied by chocolate....

and maybe a nice bottle of red wine with a faintly erotic sounding name......

or possibly a romantic book.....

or a special photograph.....

 

and of course flowers (but really, we should consider doing this more regularly, like picking up milk   ;-).....

Happy Valentine's Day!

California fireplaces are the best!

Years ago I bought my first house in California and was thrilled to discover the gas pipe under the fireplace grate that provided instant flames under logs of any size.  No more struggling with kindling, newspaper, or firestarters --- this was civilization at its best!  You can imagine what a let-down it was to land in New England years later and discover that building codes forbade the installation such gas lines.  Why???

 

While sitting next to the crackling fireplaces this week, I was also pondering the somewhat cheesy appearance of some of the fireplace mantles in this historic Lodge.  Apparently, they were all replaced relatively recently in the 1980s.  Would the passage of time make the mantle below look more elegant and beautiful? 

 

Selected Insects (and Tarantula) from Lake Arrowhead

The North Shore Tavern in 1932, playground of the rich and famous (in particular, Hollywood movie stars).   Now the facility is  owned by the University of California Los Angeles and is called the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center. The Tavern was given to the University of California in 1957.

Local insects collected by Bob "bug man" Dowell in front lobby

 

 

  

and of course, the stink beetle and the hairy stink beetle.....