Brachiopod Wallpaper

My simple pen & ink drawings

Brachiopod 53cmx53cm repeat



Braciopod Wallpaper (several repeats)



Second colour way

I have been working from home today, as Professional Practice was cancelled because of tutorials, and I have managed to produce this wallpaper design based on two different Brachiopods. These are very primitive sea creatures that are part of the Molluscoidea phylum. They are bivalves, like some molluscs, but have a more interesting winged shape. I photographed these at the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge last summer and then drew them in pen & ink. I kept them in mind for a fabric design but since I made the decision to restrict the Fossil Collection to wallpapers, because of the cost of printing on fabric, I have used them in this wallpaper design. You might not recognise them as I have arranged one as a flower motif.

I also added a drawing of a portion of a zooarium of Vinculana virgo, which is a colony of Bryozoans. These are also of the Molluscoidea phylum that are a bit like mosses and attach themselves to the sea bed. I had to include them as yesterday, on my way for an overnight stay with my grandchildren, I tuned in to Radio 4's Material World program (You can take the girl out of physics but you can't take physics out of the girl!) and there was a fascinating report by David Barnes from Cambridge about his study of Bryozoa and how they feed on plankton that capture carbon dioxide dissolved in the oceans. Having studied many historic collections of these creatures, including some that Captain Scott collected in Antarctica in the late 19th century, he has discovered that bands, rather like tree rings, have thickened in recent years showing that there is more carbon dioxide available in the sea. Could this be the answer to Global Warming by them reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and depositing it at the bottom of the sea!