A Small Model, and a cute mermaid. **

This is a little "fibonacci cone"  with 21 stitches base circumference, then 4 rows half treble in 4 ply cotton, decrease to make 13 stitches, do 3 rows, decrease to make 8 stitches, do 2 rows, decrease to make 5 stitches, make 1 row in double crochet, decrease to make 3 stitches, make 1 row single crochet, decrease to make 2 stitches, finish off.  The work is done simply spiralling up keeping in line with  the beginning thread.
The concentric circles might be the shape as if seen from the base up the cone.  I had been mistakenly thinking of the "fibonacci ripples" from my blog posts of April 2011, but the numbers are different there.  I had then discovered for myself a number of equations,  eg the radius of a circle with circumference F(n) eg 21  is almost 1/10 of F(n+1)  ie  3.4 units.  True all along;
 Moreover the "almost", the incremental difference, when dividing the larger by the smaller, is phi, 1.618;  the Golden Rule,  etc.

A bit of a mess!  Experiment to see how it takes a layer of roman hydraulic cement.  Fine clay dust plus fine grey cement, equal quantities, with minimum water to create a kind of gel.  Apply with knife to dry crochet cone,  or it might work better with wet surface.
Make body by squishing dacron cushion filling material in cement mix, or you can use wool or whatever to give body.  Sticks for eyes.  This is a very rough model!

Finished model.  The next efforts might be a little more careful.

One notes that grey cement has a high proportion of fly ash from blast furnaces burning coal.  They will do anything to flog waste materials especially this which is in supermassive abundance in our civilised world.  Care about the fact that there is a high level of toxic heavy metals in fly ash which might harm plants, soil micro-organisms, insects, birds et al.  Next time I will use white cement which I think is only burnt lime.  The Romans used Vesuvius ash and fine clay, and their aqueducts still stand to this day.
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My secret wish is to make a DIORMA of crocheted seashells with and without moulded bodies, with hyperbolic green seaweeds,  some Nautilus, maybe some Octopi (8 and 144, divisible by 8),  plus mobiles of mermaids, an example has been already drawn by a young lady with a confident hand:- 

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On the subject of sculpture, please have a look at http://www.reubenmargolin.com/ 

I heard a wonderful interview on LNL, Radio National, some time ago.  He was fascinated by mathematics when he was young.  He remembered watching a caterpillar walking in its own peculiar way.  Years later he MADE one, sculpted in wood and with a MOTOR.   You would be amazed to see the giant sculptures he's made,  one like a huge amoeba, with motors to move the body.

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A Better Photo

Here is a better photo to show details of hands and feet and of my mother's lovely face.
That's me age 7 in lower left hand corner.  I must have had to stay still for awhile.
1954 and we had a family tragedy.  We children were put into the care of Burnside Homes for Children, Parramatta, Australia, for 8 years.  No more sculpture.

Two books have been written about Burnside by Kate Shayler, of Hazelbrook, NSW.  - "The Long Way Home"  and most recent, "Burnished" which describes life for a whole bunch of us, polishing floors, shoes etc.  My name in the books begins with A.

 Kate has her own website.

****"Burnished" has recently won
 the 2012 Global Ebook Award for Biography.




24/12/2015 More:

20 years ago my aunt inAaustria found this card in a shop in Linz.
She recognised it as a sculpture made by her sister, my mother.
"Trudi's Engel 1942".