This ceramic rocket is part of the Red Rose tea American Heritage collection. My grandparents always kept a jar full of Red Rose tea bags on their counter. A new figure came with every box and my grandfather would save it for the next time I came to visit. I only ended up getting 4 before he passed away, and I haven't been able to find any since. Since then, I've started a number of small collections and it helps me remember small sweet memories I had with him as a child. At this point in time, I'm not sure I want to try and keep collecting this set, since it feels like I shouldn't without my grandpa around. I went with the pointillism filter for the second image since it makes it look older, although I wish I had gotten it brighter while maintaining the saturation of the blue.
My parents brought this figure to me from the Ann Arbor art fair a long time ago. To this day, I'm still frequently asked whether or not the jellyfish is real. I believe it's just blown glass, but it's cool nonetheless. This piece is gorgeous and I appreciate the craftsmanship put into it; however, I'm still afraid of jellyfish. To put it simply, I'm afraid of any body of water that is not a well kept pool. I can appreciate all the different creatures from afar, but I really want to see moon jellies, among other aquatic species, up close and in person. For the first photo I actually flipped my phone upside down in order to keep the camera really close to the ground. I really like how the ground blurs out leading up to it, and I'd say that this might be my favorite photo from this section.
When I found this figure, I saw it as a great combination of two of my biggest interests: marine life and rocks. Hammerheads are one of my favorite shark species just because they look silly. The attention to detail while keeping a simple shape is impressive to me. I think that someday I'd like to learn how to carve objects, starting with wood. I tried out a few different angles for the second image but ended up staying closer to the original angle, as I feel it properly depicts the shape and curvature of the shark. I like how the mosaic filter makes the figure look like a piece in the background of an indie horror game.
Selenite is a crystal that promotes peace and calm, mental clarity, and well-being. It vibrates at a very high frequency, leading it to be most often used for cleansing. It has a glass-like luster that can be seen most clearly in the first photo. This type of mineral is very brittle and soft, having only a 2 on the Mohs hardness scale. I have an ever growing crystal collection and this selenite tower just happens to b the tallest piece of my collection (admittedly not that tall compared to expensive pieces). I adore the way the sunlight shows through this crystal and I'm looking forward to playing with different lights on it for photo taking purposes.
This is a plush keychain of the Sanrio character named Hangyodon, and I got him while in LA visiting family for a wedding. He's come on a variety of adventures with me since I picked him out which I feel amounts to some sort of meaning. I don't get to see my family in California often and I cherish any time I get to spend with them. It made for a good talking point since it's a bit awkward trying to start conversation with people I hadn't seen in years. I thought that the mezzotint filter looked the nicest over this photo since it appears to mess with the saturation of the image, so it really brings out the blue of his fins.