There was, he thought, no point in collecting anything else; this was everything else. It was the catalogue of everything that existed in the universe, stripped down to its 118 basic ingredients.

— Itchingham Lofte, element collector (from Itch by Simon Mayo)

Chemistry is essentially the study of elements – the 118 so far discovered or made – and their compounds. This blog concerns my creative endeavours inspired by chemistry and chemists.

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  Calx
  My last alchemical symbol, used for calx (lime) or calx vive (quicklime) from which calcium takes its name. An example is this table of alchemical symbols by AndrewContinue reading “Calx”
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  A return to Dalton’s symbols
  We first saw John Dalton’s circular element symbols back in the p-block where I used them for nitrogen, oxygen and silicon. Of course these symbols only exist forContinue reading “A return to Dalton’s symbols”
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  Daisy, Daisy
  Francium and hafnium, two seemingly unrelated elements but linked in my choice of designs by a flower, the simple white and yellow daisy, or marguerite. Hafnium, element 72,Continue reading “Daisy, Daisy”
• Finished!
  Apologies to my loyal band of followers for the lack of posts recently. I have been concentrating on the stitching as I was determined to get it doneContinue reading “Finished!”
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  Discovery by decay
  Protactinium – element 91 but my 100th element stitched! Not all have been posted so far, but this milestone means that I have just lanthanum and actinium leftContinue reading “Discovery by decay”
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  Pretty in pink…
  …and useful in the infrared. Many of erbium’s uses mostly rely on the characteristic delicate pink colour of its compounds. When added to glass, it gives a pinkContinue reading “Pretty in pink…”
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  A Nobel reward
  I’m feeling rather guilty about my choice of design for nobelium as we all know that Alfred Nobel wanted to be remembered for his prizes rather than forContinue reading “A Nobel reward”
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  Heavenly bodies
  Following on from cerium, four more elements named for planets and represented by the classical deities these planets are named for. Uranium was the first to be named,Continue reading “Heavenly bodies”
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  All is safely gathered in
  The naming of cerium helped establish a trend that started in the late 18th century of naming elements after a recently discovered planet. Uranium was first, discovered andContinue reading “All is safely gathered in”
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  Rare earth applications
  The names of the rare earth elements may not trip off the tongue of the person on the street but that’s not to say that they haven’t foundContinue reading “Rare earth applications”

Credit to the wonderful Cambridge Imprint for the paper used for the Periodic Table at the top of this page.