Another of Gwyneth Thurgoods dramatic and beautiful 'microscapes' and a brief description of how she works.

I use microscopic images as inspiration for painting, etching and drawing. I find that using a monocular polarising microscope to conduct experiments with microcrystals heightens my creativity

Making Crystal Microscope Slides. As the first step in creating crystal microscope slides, I take minute quantities of sulphanilamide crystals on a spatula and place them in the centre of a microscope slide. I then squeeze small droplets of a solyent , such as water or acetone , from a pipette onto the tiny crystals, mixing and agitating the combination.This process causes a solution to form, which then re~crystallises ar varying speeds, depending on conditions such as ambient temperature and humidity. I use different approaches during slide preparation, and these often lead to unexpected results. In one approach, when the warm aqueous solution that I have created cools, crystals begin to form.

I then observe the exciting evolution of "landscapes" and "floral" patterns through the microscope, as molecules attain their order. I sometimes heat the solution on the slide using a spirit burner. Other times, I place the slides in a metal tray on top of a warm radiator or near a wood burning stove, allowing the mixture to slowly evaporate and crystallise from its liquid state. When I use acetone with sulphanilamide, the acetone is absorbed instantaneously, forming floral and butterfly shapes.
When I mix another type of solvent with sulphanilamide and sodium dichromate, beautiful "ferns" aand '1trees" appear. The formations are reversible : by adding more solvent, the liquid state returns and the mixture reforms into different patterns.

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