Diatom art

I love this stuff! If you want to see more then check out Klaus Kemp's work. He has singlehandedly reinvented the 'lost art' of diatom arrangement and taken it to new heights.

There are some beautiful photographs of his work here, that show, at different magnifications, the beautiful structure of the diatom shells.

Definitely a hobby for the patient. Traditionally pig eyelashes were used to collect and place the diatoms because the shells will stick to their oily tips (who knew there was a use for pig eyelashes beyond the obvious pig related one?). The diatom shell is then placed into the mounting material on the microscope slide. Once placed it is hard to make changes........