Create Seed-Starting Pots From Newspapers

Instead of buying expensive peat pots to plant your seeds in, make these spiffy planting pots by rolling recycled newspaper around a glass or jar. The finished pots are sturdy and will break down quickly once they've been planted in the soil.

Ron Klein

Ron Klein

again and again and again and again
2009
Appropriated Objects
10'x8'x2'

Mineral Art from Slovenia

Quartz var. smoky, locality: Breznica pod Lubnikom, Slovenia

Marija Nabernik, smoky quartz, watercolor on art paper, 2009

beautiful jewels

Quartz Ring

pieces by, Adina Mills

Quartz (Var: Amethyst), Calcite, Quartz

Topography in Aqua No. 102 (8 x 10 original papercut)

'This unique piece is intricately hand cut from five layers of high quality, acid-free cardstock. The top layer is a bright white, while the layers underneath are in ever-darker shades of a slightly textured aqua. The back is signed and dated as an original piece. The up and down orientation is yours to set.

The work measures 8 x 10 inches (about 20 x 30 cm), and is about 1/8" thick. It will be sent to you carefully wrapped and supported to ensure it arrives safely.'

View more in the shop: Crafterall.

Debra Baxter

i'm pretty sure i've posted this before, but i never get tired of looking at Debra Baxter's work.



Crystal Brass Knuckles (I am going to realign your chakras motherf*****), 2009 Quartz crystals, sterling silver 7 x 6 x 2.5 in


Untitled (open/end), 2009 Alabaster, Quartz crystals, grandfather's leather belt 22 x 15 x 7 in


More of Debra Baxter's beautiful work can be viewed here.

Han Bing

在人间 Mortal World
Mortal World: Castaway
Work year: 2005
Medium: Photo media
Width: 180
Height: 120
Edition: 4

Han Bing is an artist living and working in China. He works typically within the medium of photography, while using some forms of installation and performance art.

Carly Waito

Carly Waito

See more of Carly's paintings here.

Uploaded on December 19, 2009
by katyaford

more giant crystal cave


"As a professional photographer who specializes in environmentally difficult, narrow and wet canyons worldwide, it was almost impossible to obtain clear photographs even using every trick and technique I know, because of the extreme ambient environment. These crystals are probably stable, as the temperature in the cave is over 150 degrees Fahrenheit with 100% humidity. In other words, these structures are enveloped in steam. As a photographer used to working in dark and dangerous environments, this experience was unique. A human can only function in this environment for six to ten minutes before severe loss of mental functions occurs. I was so excited while photographing the crystals that I really had to focus and concentrate intensely on getting back out the door, which was perhaps only thirty to forty feet away."

found on canyonsworldwide.

range of proportions

In 1919 a young mathematician, Marcel Tolkowsky, wrote a Masters thesis on the proportions for round brilliant cut diamonds. This became the basis for what is now known as the “Ideal Cut" diamond.

The proportions he chose produce a beautiful diamond. But it has taken more than 80 years for the industry to realize that his theorem predicted a range of proportions, not just the single set of parameters shown on the image; he was aware of a trade off between maximum brilliance and maximum fire that results from varying combinations of crown and pavilion angles.

You can read Tolkowsky's book here and play with his mathematic model thanks to Mathematician Jasper Paulsen.

Giant Crystal Cave Comes to Light

National Geographic, is the shit. Giant Crystal Cave Comes to Light.


"Geologist Juan Manuel García-Ruiz calls it "the Sistine Chapel of crystals," but Superman could call it home.
A sort of south-of-the-border Fortress of Solitude, Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) contains some of the world's largest known natural crystals—translucent beams of gypsum as long as 36 feet (11 meters). "


"Delicate as glass, the "megacrystals" require great humidity and a temperature of about 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) to maintain their current form."


"Its walls studded with crystal "daggers," the 400-foot-deep (120-meter-deep) Cave of Swords is closer to the surface than the Cave of Crystals. "


Thanks to the 13,200 gallons (55,000 liters) of water pumped out of the mine every minute, the acres surrounding the mountain have been rendered ready for farming a rarity in Naica mountain's Chihuahuan Desert setting
This same epic pumping operation makes it possible for humans to study the Cave of Crystals. If the pumping is stopped, the caves will again be submerged, and the crystals will start growing again.

So what happens if—or when—the mine is closed?

"Should we continue to pump water to keep the cave available so future generations may admire the crystals?" geologist Juan Manuel García-Ruiz said. "Or should we stop pumping and return the scenario to the natural origin, allowing the crystals to regrow?"