Morning at the Museum

Today I had a fantastic day, I was truly honoured to have been invited along to Bangor University’s Brambell building to look around the University’s natural history museum!
I have always been interested in natural history and always thought it was a great shame that apart from Stone Science in Anglesey there are no natural history museums in North Wales to help nurture any interest children might have in natural science. This little-known collection is occasionally open to the public and school groups so as you can imagine I was in my element browsing through this collection of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and fish. The collection started out in the 19th century and continued to grow over the years with donations from zoos, circuses and stately homes. What makes this collection doubly exciting is the way in which the exhibits are displayed. The staff have worked hard to make it both informative and accessible to visitors. It retains the air of a bygone era when conservation was unheard of but the specimens are presented in such away that allows the viewer to get up close, a sure way to maintain interest in the natural world in both children and adults.

As I walked in through the main door I was greeted by a collection of eggs and a long line of skeletons, several species made up the line including a gorilla, a tiger, hippopotamus and the skeleton of a baby elephant. Legend has it that this baby elephant belonged to a circus but it died during a visit to Bangor.  Above the skeletons was a vast array of mounted animal heads, staring down from the walls that ranged from the now extinct Irish Elk to a Cape Buffalo. Many of them have their stories included on the mounting base, clearly trophies that have been donated by guilty ancestors, not wanting to be reminded of their family’s sporting past. It is sad to think that these animals died for someone’s leisurely pursuits but personally I find comfort in knowing that these animals will now live on in the museum as a means to educate future generations that will both appreciate, study and conserve these animals.

The collection is divided into several categories with no corner spared, each one highlighting a creature of some shape or form, marvellous representatives of the wonders of nature. All I could do was say ‘fascinating’ and “oh, wow!” as I wondered around the displays. The second floor (with a view overlooking the first floor) of the museum was equally fascinating as this section was devoted to the specimen jars. Rows of jars and tins each one in no apparent order but each one seemed to belong, and each seemed to have a story to tell. Some items may prove a little too much for some visitors such as the rabbit, hedgehog and cat that had been partially dissected with the organs labelled but I thought it was incredibly interesting! As I write this I really can’t focus on one particular element because selecting my favourite from the collection is quite a challenge! The anteater skeleton perhaps? Or maybe the cabinet containing several species of New Zealand birds (Included a Kakapo, which is now under threat of extinction). I was suitably impressed by the narwhal’s tusk, The Elephant trunk preserved in formaldehyde?  I shall cheat and say I liked the whole museum! Before I left I took a moment to examine the various mineral cabinets scattered throughout the museum, which until recently had been in storage I find this interesting as I found the museum itself to be a real hidden gem! My sincere thanks to the University for allowing me this opportunity.

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

My Turing Sunflower

I had hoped to make this a double header sun-themed science thread. 
Unfortunately (if not rather predictably) the weather prevented me from observing the transit of Venus on the 6th. Dense low forming clouds prevented me from seeing this celestial event that will not occur again for over a century! I’m still rather bitter about this so let us hastily move on to the other sun related topic I had intended for this thread, Sunflowers.

I think its safe to say that we have now firmly established that I like science, but did you know that I am also partial to a spot of gardening as well? Well I am, More so if I can combine science and gardening together and that’s just what I have done! Like thousands of others I have planted a Turing sunflower in honour of the great mathematician Alan Turing on this his Centenary year as part of a new research project led by MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester)
Alan Turing the famous code-breaker, developer of the Enigma machine and the founder of computer science/ artificial intelligence in his later life became interested in phyllotaxy (the mathematical arrangements of leaves on plant stems) and the spirals on sunflower heads that conform to a Fibonacci number. Turing hoped to explain the ‘Fibonacci phyllotaxis’ but tragically died in 1954 before the work was completed. This year the University of Manchester is encouraging everyone to grow 3000 sunflowers to celebrate life of the great man and complete his work! Mathematicians at The University of Manchester hope to analyse thousands of sunflower heads to test the extent to which they follow the Fibonacci rule, to explain why this happens and the reasons why they sometimes don’t. The results will be announced during Manchester Science Festival (27 October – 4 November 2012) alongside a host of cultural events across Greater Manchester to celebrate Turing’s life.

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

The Jubilee Menai Strait Party

The Jubilee, I love it. It’s one of those rare occasions that this country gets to unite and celebrate its history rather than some silly sporting event that predictably fizzle out at the crucial point. 
Wanting to celebrate the Jubilee with Beth and my daughter (who missed the last one by being born 4months after) we attended a street party with a difference, this year we attended a Strait Party, as it was set on the banks of the Menai Strait! Organised by the National Trust in the grounds of the magnificent Plas Newydd, situated along the Menai strait. This former home of the Marquess of Anglesey provided a historical backdrop and marvellous views of both Snowdonia and The Britannia Bridge for the special day.
We took our seats at the Strait party table and watched the boats sailing along the Strait (although admittedly I was more interested in the Cormorants).  Just as the food was about to be laid out a few drops of rain started to fall BUT this was no problem for me as I had come prepared! I had brought along a little invention of mine, cobbled together the night before ‘The Union Umbrella’ allowing me to be both patriotic and dry at the same time! Once all the food was brought down the sloping lawn via a ‘food chain’ everyone enjoyed a delicious selection of cucumber or coronation chicken sandwiches, pork pies and a selection of cakes! Finished off with a complementary glass of champagne to toast our Royal Highness’s 60th year on the throne.  At one time ‘we’ appeared on television as part of a live link up with ITV coverage of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
We moved on to the lawn to listen to the brass band that delighted the crowd. At one point they played ‘Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines’ as RAF’s Sea King search and rescue helicopter (Of which Prince William now serves as captain) performed a flyover the Strait as the crew waved to the crowd that responded with waving their flags. The weather held back until it was time to leave, and that was our Jubilee celebration! 60 years of the reign of Elizabeth the Second where a good time was had by all.

In the North Wales Chronicle with Beth (and the 'Union Umbrella’)

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

Waltz on the Wye 2012: (2 of 2) The Contraption Exhibition

I mentioned in the previous post (in great detail!) how I had a table at the Mechanised Market. As busy as it was I did manage to slink away from the stall for a short time to quickly pop to Chepstow Castle to take some pieces for the contraption exhibition.  A strange thing to do really considering how I didn’t actually have any contraptions this year!  The truth is that I wanted to make full use of this glorious location and introduce the public to my newest creations. So I took along some exhibits from my ever growing collection of ‘Wonderments and Atrocities’ the ‘Womblus Wimbledon Vulgaris’, ‘Mus Digitatus’ and The Finger of Paul Daniels.I then ‘hung around’ incognito for a short time to observe people’s reactions, which pleased me as they achieved the exact response I was hoping for.

Photographs the ‘Womblus Wimbledon Vulgaris’, The Finger of Paul Daniels and ‘Mus Digitatus’
provided by Mr PP Gettins

My creations where in good company this year, standing amongst an amazing array of bright ideas, creative designs and ingenious methods! I had taken several photographs however my atomic blast camera flash didn’t do all of them justice so please forgive me if some pieces do not feature in this blog...There were several returning faces at this year’s exhibition, starting out with Mr. Matt McCall whose hats and goggles never fail to impress. Determined to make up for the poor selection of photographs I had taken of his work last year I took several this time round and here they are.

You will recall that last year’s winner was my arch-nemesis Mr. James Richardson-Brown, with his K-1909. This time he brought another famous robot with him, the Terminator!

I was pleased to see that organiser Andy Dingley had followed up last years ’s Pufferfish lamp with an Inflatable Glow Fish that did just that when you approached its cage! (He was also responsible for the amazing tentacle seen beckoning people into the castle to see the contraptions)

Other favourites included the HMS Victorian Enterprise (I am afraid I didn’t catch the artist’s name if this is you please drop me a line so that I may properly credit you.) and Vincent Swann’s Handyman’s Exo Spine

This exhibition had an extra coup to it this year as it had a special guest artist displaying his work, expert prop maker Mark Cordory! Obviously as a fan of ‘Knightmare’ and ‘Doctor Who’ it was fantastic to be able to see his work up close as each one was a splendour to see.  I sincerely hope to see Mark and his work at future events very soon. Once you have finished with these photos check out his site for further examples.

And the winner of this year’s Best Contrapion prize was awarded to Jarkman for his Skeleton pocket watch. This beautiful time peace was completely custom made from brass and ebony and was quite superb to look at but alas I have no photographs instead I urge you to follow the link and see how he made it! It’s worth noting though that not all fantastic designs and ideas where on display at the exhibition. Aside from the fabulously dressed folk that came in to look at the exhibit Miriam McDonnald (who recently, responding to my work called me the “Butcher of Trumpton”) was due to deliver a talk on how to knit ankle-less socks once she had finished minding the exhibit. As I was unable to attend the talk she very kindly showed them of to me and I thought they where simply marvellous, follow this link for more details and free pattern!

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

Infostatical Cuff-links

At the Waltz on the Wye event I was able to briefly catch up with Andy as he rushed between ‘here’ and ‘there’. He handed me a little box “here you go, an engagement gift” he said. To my surprise and delight it was a pair of Jarkman’s QR sterling silver cufflinks!

For those not in the know, QR codes were invented in 1994 and unlike regular bar codes the QR code can carry up to several hundred times more data. Apps for scanning codes on smartphones have made QR Codes more common place in recent years making them a fantastic promotional aid. So now thanks to these beauties I can send any owner of a smartphone directly to my home page with a flick of my wrist!  I love these and I thank Andy, Rachel and Jarkman for my wonderful gift. I urge you to check out Jarkman’s web site see the amazing way these were created and order some for yourself. You will not be disappointed!

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

Waltz on the Wye 2012: (1of2) The Mechanised Market

A week has passed since our trip to Chepstow and I still haven’t documented my account of it! Let’s set that right shall we?  We have a lot to get through… Right, Having attended last year’s annual Waltz on the Wye weekender, (as I am sure you know by now this is Wales’s No 1 Steampunk/ Neo Victorian festival event). It promised to deliver even more entertainment for its second run and they certainly made good on their promise. However, this year it was (mostly) business not pleasure for Beth and myself as we had a stall at the Mechanised Market! 
 Friday: We made good time arriving in time for the Friday night entertainment Morgan & West, the time travelling Victorian magic act. Like many others I first discovered this duo on ITV’s 'Penn and Teller's 'Fool Us'. (The only Saturday night variety show I might add that I actually enjoy… although I am biased as I like magic and Penn & Teller). What was marvellous about their act was that aside from the fact that they did actually ‘Fool’ Penn & Teller the act was reminiscent of a Victorian conjuring act and I like that as well. A wonderful blend of magic and humour they wowed the audience, they also (albeit unknowingly) made reference to one of the pieces I intended to display the very next day (second blog entry). After the show we managed catch up with some familiar faces, One quick drink later and it was back to the B&B we had an early start in the morning!

Saturday: All the stallholders where let in to the Drill Hall to set up their tables, ready for the Mechanised Market so what did we bring? On the official site I promised “Wonderments and Atrocities” Id like to think I kept true to my word as our table consisted of;

Glow in the Dark Marie Curie Portraits (each one hand drawn, painted and numbered) 
Atomic Tie Pins (Genuine Russian Uranium Mine Tie Pins) 
Cretaceous Cutting (Lady Fern felix-femina cuttings taken from my fernarium) 
Silurian/ Sea Devil Embryonic phase prints 
Jarkman’s QR cufflinks 
arfon.net brain logo fairy cakes (prepared by Beth)
Wilf Lunn Science Spotlight Postcards 
Ultimate Greeting cards   (a simplified greeting card simply tick the appropriate special occasion) 
The anatomy of the Air Kraken prints
Penny Dreadful Air Kraken prints

(left to right) Glow in the Dark Marie Curie Portraits stand and demonstrational Radioactive Hatbox

Marie Curie portrait (before) and (after) as seen via demonstrational Radioactive Hatbox

Not only that but the table was right next to the table of my arch-enemy  James Richardson- Brown who along with his own creations and patches made by the delightful Manda Rin he also had copies of our newly published joint venture ‘Brajj’s Guides Present The Life of the Air Kraken’.  The book made its debut at the Waltz on the Wye, allowing anyone that hadn’t already pre-ordered his or her copy the chance to check it out before buying.
Once the table had been laid out, I adjusted my cravat (I wore my trademark black suit, waistcoat and lab coat) as the doors opened to let the eager and friendly public in to have a look around the various splendid stalls on offer.  Beth (dressed as a Pre-Raphaelite model) and I gave countless Glow in the Dark Marie Curie Portrait demonstrations. We kept a lamp light on the demonstration portrait, removed it from the easel and placed it in the demonstration radioactive hatbox complete with slit so the viewer could see the full effect of the glow in the dark paint. Everyone was amazed at the effect and I even had it on good authority from several children that it was “cool”. I was doubly pleased when photographic supremo and onsite photographer PP Gettins successfully photographed the glow in the dark effect! (Although I never doubted him!) So between the demonstrations of glow in the dark portraits and the signing copies of ‘The Life of the Air Kraken’ there was barely any time for lunch! But we somehow managed it and remembering how delicious the tea was last year (provided by wonderful Strumpets with Crumpets) we realised that it lacked only one thing, so we brought our own china down with us to experience the full potential of a refreshing cuppa...

One of the great things about having a stall is that its practically everyone convened at the market place allowing me ample opportunity to chat with all manner of well-dressed ladies and gents (to name them all would require a separate blog entry!). Sadly my plan to photograph everyone that came up to say hello fell flat with my only taking a handful of photographs, but trust me they all looked amazing!

(left to right) Mr. Mat McCall and Mr. Gremlyn Bridge. The Ambling Band
Miss. Nikki Price. Mr. Kelly Knight and Miss. Lucy Rees

I often experience ‘waistcoat envy’ at these events and this weekend was no exception it happened on two occasions first to Martin Kingston wearing a delightful kingfisher waistcoat and the second time was with Jarkman who sported an amazing custom made Ernst Haeckel waistcoat (featuring octopi and jellyfish).  I can’t recall ever experiencing ‘watch envy’ before but I did this time round when Jarkman showed me his beautiful Zlatoust Diver's Watch that actually made me question my objection to wearing wristwatches! I was able to chat with my fellow stallholders as well, the likes of Prof. T Bottom the man behind Trolls Bottom alcoholic elixirs and unctions (Keen to restock on mead Beth very kindly treated me to a bottle!). Kelly Knight and Lucy Rees of Dr and Knight's Curiosity Emporium also had a table that featured many wonderful creations (The EggShips being my particular favourite). I said that this event also allowed me the opportunity to make new acquaintances this was also the case with stallholders as I met the Almighty Bobbu!
As late afternoon drew closer it became more than apparent that everyone was having a superb time, being so close to the door I was always aware of what was going on outside the hall. On two occasions curiosity had the better of me and I simply had to go out and investigate further this was due to…
Three clockwork ladies riding a pedal-powered gramophone tandem tricycle and Meg Kingston’s mobility scooter customised into a time machine that filled me with full on nerdy excitement (one of my all time favourite movies!) which was rightly awarded the Spirit of Steampunk award!

(Left to right) Three clockwork ladies with a pedal-powered gramophone tandem tricycle and Mrs. Meg Kingston’s time machine mobility scooter (with a rather fetching waistcoat reflected on the front of the device)

The positive vibe continued into the second half of the day, the evening’s Cabaret and Ball. Beth and I returned dressed in our eveningwear (I sported a newly discovered species of plant in my buttonhole called an Audrey 2…)
We settled down with a glass of Pimms as the beautiful Lily Belle compèred for the evening, linking a vast array of acts that lead through to Chap-hop MC - Professor Elemental. Having now heard Mr. B the gentleman rhymer on two separate occasions it was rather nice to hear the other half of this gentleman rivalry! We then decided to call it a night as we had another day on the stall. At the risk of sounding repetitive I shall fob you off by merely saying that Sunday was similar to Saturday only with everyone even more happy/ talking about the evenings entertainment. Rounded off with a huge raffle, and Mr James Richardson-Brown and myself awarding a prize to the winner of our Air Kraken competition (congratulations again Heike Harding-Reyland!) finished off with huge rounds of cheers and applause for Rachel and Andy for organising such a marvellous event.
The event was generously garnished with friendly smiling people having a good time, as a stallholder and a spectator at the evenings events I thought it was truly Fantastic. As side note I would like to thank everyone that came to the event and came up to the stall to say “hello” and listen to my ramblings about glow in the dark portraits, greeting cards and atomic tie pins! (Double thank you(s) if you bought something!) Your support it greatly appreciated I sincerely hope to see you all very soon.
Now, for part 2 of 2!

Additional photographs provided by Mr PP Gettins and Mr David S Tails
© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

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.