Projects & News
practical alchemy, microbiology, yeast, pigments, nature of life
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​Jan 2 2025
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Happy new year! Lately I'm raising microbes and expounding on the marvel of yeast. Experiments include wild yeast propagation, various substrates, yeast vs. mold and in microbiology raising Stylonychia and other critters and experimenting with environments.
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Alchemy - my newest pigment is Crème de Fer (TM), a powdery earthy golden red. It's in the testing stage and things are looking good.
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My lab consists of a microscope, mortal & pestle and a whole lot of jars and pots with varying life forms creating aromas from swamp water to fresh bread. Besides Stylonychia I have ciliates of all kinds, shapes and sizes, vorticella and microscopic wetland mites who munch decomposing leaf litter.
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Decided not to buy a camera for this microscope (Vevor) as the microscope is great for watching microbes but showing a lot of problems already, like it often won't stay in focus unless I physically hold the knob in place; partial miscalibration and overall cheap construction. Good enough for now, though.
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Being of German heritage I also write a lot about German history and mythology. My fantasy fiction novels are based on the fascinating folklore of Germany. Visit my blog for recent blathering and enjoy the day.
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Previous:
Hi friends! My microscope arrived today and it's a beauty! Set-up day tomorrow. Hoping to get a closer look at bacteria and other microbes involved in rust making and decomposition.
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Iron oxide pigments coming along. Waiting is the hardest part. Experiments with acetic acid and ethyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide are yielding intriguing results. I've had to MacGyver a separatory funnel (and if you know who MacGyver is, I know how old you are). It's the middle of the night so when light comes I'll get decent pics. Here's one from yesterday of the monster growing from my acid solution:​​​​​​​​​​
Enjoy this wonderful quote sent by a friend.
​" ... As a pledge and firm foundation of this matter, note the following conclusion. If anyone intelligently and reasonably takes care to exercise himself in learning about the metals, what they are, and whence they are produced: he may know that our metals are nothing else than the best part and the spirit of common stones, that is, pitch, grease, fat, oil, and stone. But this is least pure, uncontaminated, and perfect, so long as it remains hidden or mixed with the stones. It should therefore be sought and found in the stones, be recognised in them, and extracted from them, that is, forcibly drawn out and liquefied. For then it is no longer a stone, but an elaborate and perfect metal, comparable to the stars of heaven, which are themselves, as it were, stones separated from those of earth.
Whoever, therefore, studies minerals and metals must be furnished with such reason and intelligence that he shall not regard only those common and known metals which are found in the depth of the mountains alone. For there is often found at the very surface of the earth such a metal as is not met with at all, or not equally good, in the depths. And so every stone which comes to our view, be it great or small, flint or simple rock, should be carefully investigated and weighed with a true balance, according to its nature and properties. Very often a common stone, thrown away and despised, is worth more than a cow. Regard must not always be had to the place of digging from which this stone came forth; for here the influence of the sky prevails. Everywhere there is presented to us earth, or dust, or sand, which often contain much gold or silver, and this you will mark."​
~ Paracelus (the Great) Coelum Philosophorum