Fossil Cupuladriid Bryozoans Pendant

Cupuladriid Bryozoans now that isn’t a word you get to hear every day! The Bryozones are small aquatic creatures that have chalky skeletons and can be found all over the world and are often preserved as fossils when they die. The lady who introduced me to the world of Cupuladriid Bryozoans actually wanted some of the fossils making into a pendant and a paperweight.

Cupuladriid Bryozoans

She had studied fossil Bryozoans for her Ph.D and part of that study was researching climate change and the effects on the Bryozoans. Apparently there is a relationship between the Bryozoan size and the temperature it was formed in; so they can help identify the Earth’s temperature at different times in history....that is all I know!

Cupuladriids

I do not normally agree with setting fossils within resin. I have bags of fossils at home from my fossil collecting days when I was younger and I wouldn’t dream of setting them in resin. I have always had the opinion that they have survived millions of years so why should they end up in there? She put my mind at ease by telling me that thousands of them exist in the world today and that she has lots of them doing nothing in her loft. Also as part of her research the Cupuladriids are often crushed for testing purposes... this made me feel better!

Anyway here is the pendant that I made with some of the Cupuladriid Bryozoans:

Fossil Pendant - Cupuladriid Bryozoans

...and here is the paperweight made using the Bryozoans:

Fossil Paperweight - Cupuladriid Bryozoans

So there is your introduction to the world of Cupuladriid Bryozoans isn’t it fascinating? I love the unusual requests I am getting for my custom made paperweights at the moment; I have received some unusual things including a pound coin, a blade of barley and pork scratching!

Mick

Unusual Mobile Phone Gifts

I had an unusual request this last week from a lady who wanted a mobile phone themed Christmas gift making. Initially she wanted a mobile phone top-up card to be encased within a paperweight however the top-up card would not fit any of my designs. She then suggested having a mobile phone SIM card to be incorporated within the paperweight and here it is:

Mobile Phone SIM card in a paperweight

As well as the mobile phone SIM card she also wanted a message within the paperweight. You may remember a few weeks ago that I developed a technique of using transparencies within my jewellery and paperweights to form personalised messages. Well these are proving to be a convenient way of incorporating messages and I have used them on several occasions since.

On this occasion the lady wanted the message ‘Break glass in an emergency!’ within the paperweight. Now this has given me a great idea; it would be great to make a paperweight with a cigarette inside, and to add a similar message as a gift to somebody who is giving up smoking. How frustrating that would be since you would never get it out!

Mick