Here is a small selection of scenic elements from the Booth Museum in Brighton. The folded rock is a little crude but most of them are carefully made. The attendant mentioned that all the leaves were made of wax and the snow from crushed glass to get the sparkle. 
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Booth Museum
Brighton has a small Natural History Museum largely made up of Edward Booth’s collection (founded in 1874) which he gave to the city in 1890. I visited the museum as a child and enjoyed its untouched (and somewhat down at heel) ambience. As I mentioned a few posts back I have moved to Brighton and went to visit the museum today. I went with some trepidation, fearing that it had all been smartened up and over explained. Miraculously the museum is well kept in a state of almost suspended animation and is completely wonderful – still down at heel and slightly faded but with a wonderful collection of birds in small diorama boxes. They do not have pictorial backgrounds – just a sky blue – but they do have quite elaborate foregrounds. I will post some details of these in a day or so. There are hundreds of these boxes – small glass cases – with carefully observed worlds in them.
It is well worth a visit – I noticed on the website that it will be closed between 25th of February and 1st of March 2013.
Samurai
From the Ashmolean in Oxford
Map
Map
Another exhibit from the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. I like this map a lot – it is described by the card shown above – because it concentrates on condition more than physical characteristics. It is also made so that it floats if dropped into the sea from the small fishing boats that used such maps. It is photographed through glass so there are a lot of reflections.
Instrument Two
Quite a few people have asked about the contents of the drawers on Instruments Two and Three.
Here they are in sequence:
Spare fittings
Tools
Spare Parts
And a spare pair of eyes..
The contents of the bottom drawer is a Victorian pari of glass eyes in their uncut blown state. They are set 65mm apart (the typical separation). They are a reminder of the ambiguous state of the instrument in dealing with the pictorial structure of the picture plane, which negotiates between the three and two dimensional worlds.
Where I used to live…
Our new street…
Our world arriving in stereo
The view from the end of my street
Between us and the beach…
Just to illustrate the last post, we have moved from Winnipeg to Brighton, quite a change. Our new street looks out on the sea, a great pleasure when leaving the house in the morning. Also strange and fun worlds between the city and beach. Should be up and running soon….
I will resume posting tomorrow – I have just moved to Brighton in the UK and am waiting for my internet connection which should arrive tomorrow (Friday).
Mathematical models
Mathematical models
Mathematical models
Mathematical models
A few more mathematical models from the Science Museum in London.
Instrument Six (Nat Chard)
Instrument Six (Nat Chard)
Instrument Six (Nat Chard)
A group of quite old pictures of Instrument Six in stereo. THere is quite a lot going on so the 3D view clarifies them. The top view is of the instrument in photographic mode with a single bulb as a light source while the lower two are of the instrument in real-time mode where you can see the floating shadow directly. For those new to the blog, Instrument Six is able to separate an objects shadow from the surface on which it should land and get the shadow to float in mid air. It is explained in earlier posts, for instance here and here.
Use the normal process for resolving the stereo images.
Mount
I have posted a few dinosaur armatures on this blog. I enjoy the precision of the support, not only for the bones and their relation to each other but also the character of the animal that is given by the pose that the bones are set in. It is a more intimate precision than that found in the arms of planetary models, for example, which are far more abstract.
This mount is from the Museum of Comparative Anatomy in Paris (I have posted some pictures of the mammal and dinosaur skeletons from the same museum previously). It holds a skull fragment that is clearly not the item that it was originally made for (it appears to be for a skull with a lower support for the jaw). The precision of the mount to fit the original bones comes not only through the geometry but also the delicacy of its structure. It also implies a strange hybrid of the original skull with the imposter fragment.
View previous posts for suggestions on how to resolve the stereo image.
Nat Chard 