With the problems of inflation, supply chains, travel restrictions, and other pandemic difficulties, it may be that items that you would ordinarily acquire for gifts for the holidays either are not available or are too expensive. As a consequence, we can look at some alternatives that are available to us as amateur natural historians and/or microscopists. All of these factors make DIY projects seem more and more appealing. So, let’s look at some possible items for gift giving.
1) An elephant. No, I’m not talking about one of those 6 ton beasties; rather a nice crystal elephant. Now, you’re thinking, I’m not a glass blower and even if I were, I’m not sure that I could produce something so elaborate in such a short time. Well, we’re not talking about glass ones either. Here we are considering a micro-elephant produced by Ferric ammonium sulfate. However, there is a catch; you might very well not get an elephant configuration, so you might have to settle for a lion or T. rex, depending upon your luck with the slides and your editing skills. This particular elephant appeared almost magically and there was no question about its identity.
2) If you’re handy with tools, you might consider making a canoe. You can go out into the forest, find an appropriate log, use your adze to hollow it out and shape it, give it several coats of sealant both inside and outside, so that it won’t sink, and then paint it a pleasant green to blend with the forest. You might warn the recipient not to venture beyond the shallow water, especially if he or she can’t swim. If, however, you decide to give one to Uncle Lester, you can forget both the sealant and the warnings; he is always grousing about everything and criticizing you in particular; also he can’t swim. However, all of that is a lot of work, so you might want to settle for a Closterium, a lovely desmid which your microscope can reveal to you, as it’s frequently found in algal samples.
3) If you are of a musical bent, you should consider a lovely lute. It has both a classic beauty and will, of course, with practice, produce lovely sounds to accompany your splendid vocal renditions. These are incredibly expensive and difficult to play well, so you might consider once more, a micro-version which can be obtained by carefully breaking apart a pedicellaria of a sea urchin or starfish. There are several different kinds, so you have to find a suitable one, and then take just one of the plates of the “jaw” and photograph it and voila, you will have a lovely lute.
4) Perhaps one of the people you want to find a gift for is into decorating for Christmas, in which case, you can present him or her with a star. If the color is not satisfactory, then we can change that to make it white and shiny looking. Here are those 2 options.
If you would rather have a “dancing star”, that also is possible.
5) While we’re into decorating, we should consider the table settings. A candle holder for the table is always a nice touch and here we have quite a lovely one.
These you can find at your local echinoderm shop and it is from New Caledonia; a relatively recent species called Coelopleurus exquisitus.
6) A centerpiece is always a desirable addition and this one has been placed on a Lazy Susan, so it can be rotated and the guests can see it from all sides.
That local echinoderm shop might have some of these, even though they’re mollusks. This is one is a South American chiton.
7) While we’re looking at chitons, here’s a rather interesting one. As you know chitons have 8 plates on the dorsal surface and in this unidentified specimen (possibly Calloplax sp. ; they are pink. I suggested to my wife that I could take 2 specimens, extract the plates, and then she could use them to paste over her fingernails, and that would leave her with 3 extras if any got damaged. Oh, yeah, 3 extras for each hand. For some reason, she wasn’t interested, but perhaps your wife or girlfriend is more adventurous.
8) You may want to treat yourself to some ultramodern cutlery, in which case, we have just the things for you.
This image is from crystals on a slide and I no longer have the slightest idea what it’s composition is. So, good luck in finding these rare knives.
9) Most holiday gatherings have at least one or two people who have artistic leanings, so you might want to consider a nice framed painting or two, such as those below. The first is an egret in flight and the second is the head of bird, in a rather stylized form, that shows a heart/eye as a symbol of desire. Either of these would be particularly appropriate if the recipient also happened to have ornithological interests. Both of these images are from slides of crystals and photographed with polarized light.
10) Perhaps there is a budding novelist or poet in attendance. Here’s a most appropriate gift for such an aspirant. It is a quill pen with a very truncated nib for shorthand or to remind the writer of the advice of Polonius, “Brevity is the soul of wit” which for a mere $100, we can engrave in gold on the quill for you, as shown in the image. This is relevant, of course, only if you are too lazy to make your own.
This “quill” is actually a scale from a butterfly wing.
11) We also should find a special gift for Auntie Em, who has been cooking and baking all day. So, after all that, she should have something to help her relax. The perfect item is a glow-in-the-dark bubble chair. Very comfortable. Its only drawback is that it takes 3 people to help you get out of it.
This was produced by blowing air from a pipet into a solution of soap from a child’s soap bubble kit.
12) In case you’ve got one of those people who plans out the whole year, he or she might already be thinking about Halloween and here are a couple of masks that would, I think, be quite suitable.
This, amazingly, is the dorsal view of a portion of a beetle from Peru.
Here again, we have crystals photographed using polarization.
Now, you might ask: What good are all these when they’re just computer images? Do I just have the people look at the computer screen? Well, duh, NO! You print them on high quality glossy paper, and put them in frames. You can, if you’re feeling especially kind and generous because of the mood of the season, also provide some nails, screw eyes, and picture hanging wire for each.
All of these wondrous ideas were provided by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, of whom you can get a glimpse below. Happy Holidays!
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Editor's note: Visit Richard Howey's new website at http://rhowey.googlepages.com/home where he plans to share aspects of his wide interests.
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