Acorns and Oak leaf handmade necklace. Pearls Citrines asymmetric wire wrapped in sterling silver pendant. Nature inspired jewelry by Arctida

As some of you may know, I’m a molecular biologist, meaning that I’ve studied a lot of so called *green* biology (flora and fauna studies). And even thought I work in the lab I love anything to do with nature which is also my biggest inspiration source for all of my Art. So here is my latest nature-inspired piece - Acorns and Oak leaf handforged necklace made of Citrines, Pearls and oxidized Sterling Siver.

 
While browsing thru other types of handmade acorns I found this very cool tutorial on how to make felted wool acorns by Tonya Utkina. Aren’t they simply adorable :)


Oh and did you know that acorns and oak tree are sacred in many cultures and has long been seen as a symbol of strength and power. Because the acorn only appears on a fully mature oak, it is often considered a symbol of the patience needed to attain goals over long periods of time. It represents perseverance and hard work.

Cyanobacteria - Asymmetric contemporary oxidized sterling silver necklace with Green Agate for your favorite Geek Chic

I’ve been thinking about making an addition to my Microbiology collection for some time now… This time I got inspired by Cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae and blue-green bacteria). They are probably best known for the extensive and highly visible blooms that can form in both freshwater and marine environment and can have the appearance of blue-green paint or scum. Because these blooms are toxic, it is common to close the affected beaches and thus many people get really upset with these little bacteria:) So it may surprise you that the cyanobacteria are actually one of the largest and most important groups of bacteria on earth.

…just a little bit of mandatory nerd (= science) talk now :)

Cyanobacteria are aquatic and photosynthetic, which means, they live in the water, and can manufacture their own food. Because they are bacteria, they are quite small and usually unicellular, though they often grow in colonies large enough to see. They are the oldest known fossils, more than 3.5 billion years old, in fact!

Many oil deposits are attributed to the activity of cyanobacteria. The oxygen atmosphere that we depend on was generated by numerous cyanobacteria during the Archaean and Proterozoic Eras. Prior to that, the atmosphere was unsuitable for life as we know it today.

Another great contribution of the cyanobacteria is the origin of plants. The chloroplast with which plants make food for themselves is actually a cyanobacterium living within the plant's cells. Sometime in the late Proterozoic, or in the early Cambrian, cyanobacteria began to take up residence within certain eukaryote cells, making food for the eukaryote host in return for a home.

So here is my new Cyanobacteria necklace, and for those who do not care about science as much as I do, a simple pretty abstract neck piece :)

 

 

As you've probably guessed these last pictures are microscope shots of the Cyanobacteria colonies and my visual inspiration :)

Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE) monthly challenge - "Cretaceous Ocean"

So the April is almost over and here are the results of the monthly challenge from Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE). This month’s challenge was a creation inspired by the theme of "Cretaceous Ocean".

…just a little bit of mandatory nerd (= science) talk now :)

The Cretaceous was a geologic time period approximately 145 to 65 million years ago. It was a period with a relatively warm climate and high sea level. The oceans and seas were populated with now extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists; and the land by dinosaurs. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds as well as flowering plants appeared. The Cretaceous ended with one of the largest mass extinctions in Earth history, the K-T extinction, when many species, including the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, disappeared.
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So I’ve decided to try my new acquired skills in digital drawing and create underwater scenery what could’ve been seen at that time. I’ve used my own shots of the Triops (tadpole shrimp or shield shrimp).

 
Their external morphology has not changed since around 220 million years ago, which would mean that their early relatives were much bigger but looked exactly or similar to what these little guys look today. The rest of the scenery was digitally drawn in Photoshop by yours truly :)

S. pneumoniae bacteria asymmetric necklace - rock crystal clear Quartz oxidized sterling silver - "Microbiology" monthly challenge

I have just joined the coolest team ever on Etsy! (apart from my EST team of course :) It is called "Mad Scientists of Etsy (MSOE)" and most of their members are scientists who posses an artistic dominant gene :) Yay, I'm not alone!

This month’s challenge was a creation inspired by the theme of "Microbiology", how cool is that! My master thesis project was about S. pneumoniae (Streptococcus pneumoniae) bacteria, so I felt that this could be a perfect opportunity to show them in artistic way :)

Warning! Science talk now... :)

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a normal inhabitant of the human upper respiratory tract. S. pneumoniae can cause pneumonia, as well as infections in other parts of the body such as in the bloodstream (bacteremia), lining of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis), bones (osteomyelitis), joints (arthritis), ears (otitis media) and sinuses (sinusitis). Usually, they are seen as pairs of cocci (spherical or spheroid shape), but they may also occur singly and in short chains. The primary virulence factor (or in other words the ability of a microbe to cause disease) of pneumococci is their polysaccharide capsule (which can be seen as a "halo" around the cells on the last pic). It is non-toxic but helps bacteria to evade the host immune cells.