33 Million year old pocket watch charm

Over the last few years I have been on a mission to customise my pocket watch, make it personal and precious to me. I wanted to have something attached to the T-bar itself but I just couldn’t find anything that I liked, so I decided to create something that represented several factors that interest me… One of my “all time” favourite movies is Jurassic Park, a life long fan of dinosaurs I was easily swept along with the ‘dino-mania’ that struck the United Kingdom in the summer of 1993. One of the enduring images of that film (for me) was that of a fossilised insect in amber. The insect that once fed off the blood of dinosaur was the vital component needed by the scientist of Jurassic Park in acquiring “Dino DNA”.  With that in mind, along with my continued interest in natural science and history I decided that I would like a piece of amber that contained a fossilised insect attached to my pocket watch… At first glance it might seem to be a piece Citrine but it would in fact be much more!   Now, a piece of amber containing a perfectly preserved culicidae insect from around 65 million years ago would be extremely costly and not an ideal/practical item to have hanging on a watch chain that is in every day use… So I opted instead for a piece of amber dating from Eocene/ Oligocene era (around 33 million years ago) Admittedly there where no dinosaurs around at that time, however an insect that lived amongst early ‘prototypes’ of the animals we now know was still equally exciting!    Realising that locating a genuine piece of fossilised amber on the Internet could be tricky I contacted someone I trusted, Ian Barrett at Jurassic Jewellery who was only too happy to help me with my request. So much so that he tracked down several examples for me to choose from. Once I (finally) settled on one I liked he attached a link to it and had it posted out to me the very next day.  It’s now on my watch and I adore it. Being a small piece of amber I was concerned that the insect might not be entirely visible but this is not the case. Hold it to the light and you see a beautify-complete fungus gnat that once existed in a time of 8-ft flightless birds and horses that averaged 14-inches!

Check out Jurassic Jewellery’s web site and tell them Arfon sent you! 

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

The Parrots of East Molesey

Having been down Southeast England/London on a more regular basis I was pleased to finally be able to tick the ‘Ring-Necked Parakeet’ off my bird spotter list last Sunday! I was in Molesey, Surrey sitting in the shade on what was a warm evening when suddenly I heard a parrot squawk, I dismissed it as perhaps a neighbour with a parrot and an open window but NO there it was a Psittacula Krameri perched in the tree! Having read about these feral birds for many years I was delighted to see one for myself! Although I can understand why they are unpopular with some residents I thought it was delightful to see these birds swooping over head as we sat by the Thames on a hot day with Hampton Court in the distance.





© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

New Hellbound Media Project

I thought it was about time I revealed my current project with Hellbound Media with you.
Slaughter House Farm is the latest offering from this fine publishing company and it will be available later in the year. Naturally I can’t give too much away but permit me to try and reel you in with these concept drawings!

 © Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Robin Hood's Oak/ the Major‘s Oak

This is the Major Oak a large English Oak (Quercus robur) located in the heart of the Sherwood Forest Country Park in Nottingham. This tree is thought to be between 800 and 1,000 years old and according to lore Robin Hood and his Merry Men used its hollow trunk as a hideout. I paid a visit to Sherwood Forest to see it for myself and I am pleased that I did. In the mid 18th century, it was actually known as the Cockpen Tree because of the hollow interior that was said to have been used to pen cockerels for cock fighting. It later became known as the Queen Oak before Major Hayman Rooke (1723 –1806) included the tree in his book about the ancient oaks of Sherwood in 1790 and it then became known as The Major‘s Oak, and subsequently the Major Oak. It became a tourist attraction in the Victorian times and has brought flocks of tourist in ever since. In a 2002 it was listed as one of fifty Great British Trees and voted “Britain’s favourite tree” and quite right too! I believe the first time that I heard about it was during the 1980’s watching Blue Peter in a segment that involved its conservation. I have a vague memory of them discussing the possibility of preserving the tree under a dome. The image of an entire tree (and Robin Hood’s tree no less!) being preserved under a dome instantly fired up my imagination! The dome never happened, but attempts to preserve it are still ongoing, a fence was installed to protect the roots and as you can see from the photo steel pole struts have been placed all around to support its heavy branches. Although collecting the Major Oak’s acorns is forbidden some have, and descendants of the tree exist (The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry has one on campus) back in 2003, 260 saplings grown from the Major Oak’s acorns were transplanted onto seven acres of land in Dorset in the hope of creating an Oak Forest for the future. Find out more about it here and if you are ever in Nottingham take the time to visit Sherwood Forest and see this legendary tree for yourself!

2015 Update: I visited again in December 2014 with a better camera…

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Wonderments and Atrocities: The Finger of Paul Daniels

The latest addition to my collection of wonderments and atrocities is The Finger of Paul Daniels.
This idea was the result of reading a shocking news report back in January that claimed “Magician Paul Daniels cuts off finger with circular saw”. Like many reading this heading I was very concerned but thankfully it wasn’t quite as bad as they had made out! Much like the time he had supposedly been blinded by Sooty it was just another example of the press exaggerating the facts…Thankfully the man himself was able to give an accurate account of what happened on his blog… “True, the saw did rip through the top knuckle area of my left forefinger but it never came right off and it is already healing up. The little finger of the left hand has a tiny bit missing from the tip but it never touched the nail. The middle finger is untouched. The worst bit is that I have lost the top section, the part that had the nail on it, of my ring finger.” Relieved and reassured my mind started racing! what magical powers would the forefinger of the great Paul Daniels weald?! I was reminded of Galileo's finger displayed in Florence and started to put some ideas to paper, playing on the notion of what if the finger had been cut, retrieved and put on display? So here it is the Finger of Paul Daniels for all to marvel at!

 ©Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

Wonderments and Atrocities: Mus Digitatus

Getting to grips with this new look Blogger has caused a slight Blogger Blockage! I’m getting the hang of it now so hold on to your hats you are about to witness a deluge of threads!
Right, You will recall that last year I had a Womble (Womblus Wimbledon Vulgaris) stuffed, mounted and displayed. Not long after, I added another creature to my collection of wonderments and atrocities Mus Digitatus more commonly known as the FingerMouse.  Another creature I remember fondly from my childhood that I simply had to have in my possession!  Still trying to retain that Victorian taxidermy look he stands in a glass case along with some plants and a butterfly. Clues as to how this animal came to occupy the glass case can be better explained when observed through the right side of the case…

Additional: I have had this specimen in my collection for several months but decided to keep it under wraps until he could be unveiled at this year’s Waltz on the Wye event. I was packing him for transporting to said event and discovered that a money spider had also inhabited the case all this time! He was carefully removed and placed in a more suited location but his delicate web was left undisturbed.

*UPDATE* 03/01/2013 - "Yoffy" himself Mr. Rick Jones approves! He sent me a delightfully encouraging e-mail and then shared with his Twitter followers.   

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

RIP Maurice Sendak

I was saddened to hear of the death of Maurice Sendak yesterday. I like a great many others around the world I grew up reading Where the Wild Things Are his work was a wondrous source of inspiration. I’m fairly confident that it was one of the very first books I ever read, I remember how it used to poke out of the line of books on the classroom’s books shelf and draw you in by those magnificent illustrations. 25 years later I was able to enjoy the book again by sharing it with my daughter who found it equally enthralling!
Thank you Mr. Sendak.



© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world