strange nature

 
 

A historic tree-lined path in Cambridge UK has become shrouded in spectacular cobweb-like nests created by an infestation of ermine moth caterpillars (Yponomeuta evonymella).

Residents have called it the “avenue of ghosts” after the historic tree-lined path was transformed by caterpillars which have created the strange white web-like nests. The entire avenue of trees is now draped with the spectacular cobweb-like clusters. The silk webs surrounding the trunks and branches were the “combined effort of many, many caterpillars”, experts said. “They form a protective web over the tree on which they’re feeding to try and protect themselves from birds and parasitic wasps. The web sometimes covers hundreds of caterpillars and the damage to plants and trees can be severe, although they usually bounce back to health the following year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-22886109

artist susanna bauer

"I go walking. I find a leaf, a piece of driftwood - or sometimes it finds me.  I take it home and its new life begins. "

Susanna Bauer describes her works as ‘a series of individual stories that evolve and shape themselves in the process of making’. She has worked in the television and film industry as a model maker for over 16 years, making objects like King Arthur's chalice, cheeses for Wallace and Gromit, miniature buildings, robots and spaceships! Always driven by a love of making and working with her hands, she now makes small sculptural objects with found natural materials. She uses crochet as her method of creating, working with very fine hooks and thin yarn to transform her finds into objects that carry their own narrative. Leaves are shaped into cubes or become encircled in delicate lace. Pieces of driftwood grow woolen cocoons or transform into abstract figures. Her work explores the tension between fragility and strength, form and texture, preconception and interpretation.

http://www.susannabauer.com

Chelsea Fringe

It has been called best thing to happen to urban gardening with exhibits such as pimped pavements, gardening in a toilet, a Floating Forest and a gnome invasion. The Chelsea Fringe provides a quirky counterpoint to the annual established RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The Fringe is all about harnessing and spreading some of the excitement and energy about gardens and gardening. The idea is to give people the freedom and opportunity to express themselves through plants and gardens, to open up possibilities and to allow full participation.

Its events encompass everything from grassroots community garden projects to avant-garde art installations. Their ‘open-access’ principle means that just about anything goes – as long as it’s interesting and legal, and on the subject of gardens, flowers, veg-growing or landscape.

http://www.chelseafringe.com

Recycled Brooklyn

“An old oak pallet used to be a tree, might have stood in a forest somewhere for 50 years.

It did its job, carried tons of goods all over the world, and now it’s going to the trash heap…?!” 

Matt Loftice of RecycledBrooklyn found green crafting inspiration in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, he saw an article about a man recovering all of the wreckage to rebuild his home after it was destroyed. 

“Doors, windows, lumber…he was he was grabbing stuff that looked like garbage and making piles near his property, determined to start over using little more than his hands and hard work,” said Matt. Seeing this made him look at old and discarded materials in a new light. “To me, an old door was just an old door – the kind of thing you’d see, step over and just keep going. Stopping to look at it, however, it occurred to me that an old door can be pretty much whatever you want it to be – a desk, a dressing vanity, a coffee table…”

His home in Brooklyn is an endless source for inspiration and materials. “Ideas come and go, a short walk with my dog might become an entire afternoon and then it just kinda happens – a few pieces of discarded plumbing pipe catch my eye. I imagine a standing coat rack and the next thing you know, my dog and I are dragging stuff home.” Besides larger pieces, like doors, he even salvages his hardware and paints.

Check out their online store: recycledbrooklyn.com
Don't forget to like them on Facebook: facebook.com/RecycledBrooklyn

In memory of Kathreen Ricketson

I was stunned to hear about the tragic deaths of WhipUp founder Kathreen Ricketson and her partner, Rob Shugg today. The couple was on vacation in Australia with their two children. She was writing a book about the family’s year-long travels around Australia and I had been following her fascinating blog just hours before her death.

“The book is not just any old travel book,” she wrote in a recent online post. “It will be part on the road memoir, part family camping adventure how-to, but mostly it will be a whole bunch of fun projects that can be done in a day or a weekend by those who want to get away from it all and reconnect with their families.”

The family left their home more than four months ago, with Kathreen regularly sharing photos of their travels with her online audience of more than 5000 Twitter followers. In one entry, she said the couple were home-schooling their children and described their visit to the Ningaloo area as a “dream come true”. On Wednesday afternoon shortly before she left for that tragic swim, she posted the picture at the top of this post - a bag she crocheted out of plastic grocery bags while sitting around the campfire.

Kathreen was a cornerstone of the crafting community. Since 2004 her blog: Whip Up has inspired countless people and her legacy will live on as that site will continue.

Via Craftnectar:  The way she would want to be honored is for all of us to try new things and challenge ourselves. She’d want us to plan fun activities with our kids and live big, adventurous lives. She’d want us to cherish our friends and make beautiful things from even the most humble materials.

The beautiful photos above are some of the ones Kathreen shared recently from their trip.

http://whipup.net/2013/05/16/25397/
http://action-pack.com/category/road-trip/
http://craftnectar.com/2013/05/17/missing-the-super-do-ers/