UK Reef (detail) - with candy striped anemone by Ildiko Szabo (foreground) and anemone grove by Beverly Griffiths (background). Photo by George Walker.source
This afternoon at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, physicist Margaret Wertheim of the Institute for Figuring will be giving a lecture and workshop on crocheting coral reefs with the "hyperbolic crochet" technique. While her creations can't replace the real reefs that are rapidly disappearing, they are purdy, and some of the forms are remarkably similar to real species of coral, diatoms, and anemones.
More about the crochet coral reef project(s) here.
PS: If you do make your own yarn reef, you might want to buy this adorable Squishable Octopus to reside in it. So cute!
- Log in to post comments
More like this
What do hyperbolic crochet and coral reef organisms have in common? They both evolved to maximize surface area within a limited volume. So, naturally, a crafty and talented group of mathematicians at the Institute for Figuring who are concerned about the effects of global warming would want to…
For Darwin's Birthday Weekend, a reposting of my review of David Dobb's Reef Madness:
Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral is a book about the origins of modern science, the interplay between theory and empiricism, the machinations of the Victorian scientific…
Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral is a book about the origins of modern science, the interplay between theory and empiricism, the machinations of the Victorian scientific gentry, epic rivalries, polyps and plankton.
Reef Madness is by David Dobbs, of Neuron…
This is a repeat, but it is at least three years old, and I haven't done a fiber arts piece in a while, so I thought I'd get us chatting. The cooler weather certainly makes me want to knit!
The title here is somewhat tongue in cheek, of course, but I do think that we knitters and crocheters,…
Ahh yes, we mad knitter scientists have known about the crochet coral for some time. Pretty magnificent! There's also Baby's first DNA ( http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/knit-gallery.html#dna )and knitted bacteria (http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/10/knitted_bacteria.html ).
Btw, love your blog!
You got me with this one; those anemones are totally cool. You always do seem to find the tastiest visual treats.