Through The Sandglass

Guest post: Baltic gold: the amber rush

Danuta Ziętala writes:

When you visit the Polish coast you have to take a souvenir: a necklace made of amber, a bracelet made of amber, or other jewellery. Prices depend on size, working, the precious items inside (mosquito!).

I want to encourage you to experience the "amber rush". Last spring I experienced it while assisting my friend Tomasz in taking some dunes measurements. Spring and autumn are best to look for amber.

I was lucky twice: (a) we reached Jantar village (jantar in old-polish language means amber), (b) last night there was a storm. Early morning Tomasz and I got to the beach and saw local people wandering in the water. They know that storm = new supply of amber. They sell it to tourists and jewellers. Of course you can see amber all over the beach. Small pieces are glittering between sand grains – an incredible and pleasant feeling.

You start collecting one after another and cannot move a meter because there are so many of them. The most interesting for me was that if you want to find a bigger piece, you should check the wooden sticks washed ashore. Why? It turns out that amber is as light as wood and they flow together in the water. 

Where is my amber????

There were so many sticks. They even built the shore.

Everybody could find some amber. I found one, and another and another.... this was my "amber rush." I forgot about the world. I forgot my duties. Tomasz was looking at me with understanding and did his work, patiently waiting till I gathered all the amber I could see. 

I keep my amber on the window sill. It glitters in the sunny days. Some really small pieces I used to prepare a tincture which is a treatment. I am proud of my amber collection and after Schwarzenegger I can say: "I'll be back."

Jantar is a small tourist village located in Pomerania District in Poland. It is so special because of mouth of Wisla River, which brought amber from central Poland. Visit Poland so you can see the beautiful sandy beach and experience the amber rush on your own!

Thanks for this, Danuta - keep up the hunt and Tomasz, keep up the dune-measuring!

Robot sand artist

 

I don't think Jim Denevan need lose any sleep over possible competition, but this is fun!

From New Scientist:

No, it's not alien art. A robotic beach artist has created giant drawings in the sand. Developed by Paul Beardsley from Disney Research Zurich and his colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the wheeled robot can recreate a drawing sent to it from a phone or tablet.

It computes a path across the sand that approximates the artwork and sets off. A rake attached to its rear etches the pattern in the sand. Each drawing takes about 10 minutes, and the idea is that the robot could be controlled remotely, turning the beach into a digitally controlled sketchbook.

Since the robot moves on three wheels, it is better at creating smooth curves rather than sharp corners. To carve a right angle in the sand, it draws a line then lifts the rake, before using a laser scanner and an inertial sensor to reposition itself so it can trace the intersecting line.

The team plans to equip the robot with a range of tools so that it can imprint a variety of textures or erase previous markings, and is also taking inspiration from the Nazca Lines – ancient motifs produced in the Nazca desert in Peru. "We would like to make huge sand art that amazes people," says Beardsley.

The robot was presented at Techfest in Bombay, India, in late December.

From India to France

 Indian artist Sudarsan Pattnaik and his tribute to those killed in the attack on  Charlie Hebdo, courtesy of Agence France-Presse and Asit Kumar.

 

Honeycomb shelters

What, you might reasonably ask, is this image? This is, after all, a blog about topics arenaceous, and folded paper ornaments would, while somewhat seasonal, hardly seem relevant. But a couple of explanations: first, ever since I was a kid I have loved those two-dimensional paper ornaments that magically unfold into three-dimensional glory (I still do). Second, this is a blog about all things sandy, but, with the forthcoming arrival of the new book, it is also becoming a blog about all things arid. And third, it will continue to be a blog about things I personally find compelling, stimulating, fascinating and provocative.

But still…

Having just embarked on a new year, I’m sure that I’m not alone in hoping, despite all the depressing evidence to the contrary, that 2015 will bring improvements, innovations and creative solutions that make genuine and sustainable changes to our world. Ideas, that’s what we need, creative ideas tested and put into practice. And in a world where we now see record numbers of refugees – tens of millions, plus the “internally displaced” - it’s an idea derived from folding paper, “honeycomb” ornaments and origami, that I would like to highlight here. For this is what the image at the head of this post is about:

 

Jordanian-Canadian architect and designer Abeer Seikaly won the Lexus (yes, the guys who make the cars) Design Award in 2013 for her collapsible woven refugee shelters. She is now living in Amman, Jordan, well-placed to witness displaced people and the traditional variations between nomadic and sheltered lives. As she writes in her design brief (please look at that link):

Human life throughout history has developed in alternating waves of migration and settlement. The movement of people across the earth led to the discovery of new territories as well as the creation of new communities among strangers forming towns, cities, and nations. Navigating this duality between exploration and settlement, movement and stillness is a fundamental essence of what it means to be human.

In the aftermath of global wars and natural disasters, the world has witnessed the displacement of millions of people across continents. Refugees seeking shelter from disasters carry from their homes what they can and resettle in unknown lands, often starting with nothing but a tent to call home. “Weaving a home” reexamines the traditional architectural concept of tent shelters by creating a technical, structural fabric that expands to enclose and contracts for mobility while providing the comforts of contemporary life (heat, running water, electricity, storage, etc.)

These are not only portable shelters that are elegant and distinctive, but they are designed to provide electricity and water. As described in this report:

The outer solar-powered skin absorbs solar energy that is then converted into usable electricity, while the inner skin provides pockets for storage – particularly at the lower half of the shelters. And a water storage tank on the top of the tent allows people to take quick showers. Water rises to the storage tank via a thermosiphoning system and a drainage system ensures that the tent is not flooded… Well ventilated and lit, the shelter opens up in the summer and huddles down during cold winters. But most importantly, it allows refugees to have some semblance of security, some semblance of home.

As far as I can see, this apparently brilliant idea remains “conceptual but proven to work.” Could 2015 possibly bring it to reality?