Barnacles on the Brain

I've finally sat still long enough that barnacles have started to grow on me.

In fact, I'm developing quite a fondness for them lately in comparison to my youth when I was afraid of being cut by their sharp edges.

It's been a while since I worked the Raised Cup Stitch, a stitch that resembles a barnacle quite nicely.  Given that, I got out a doodle cloth and began practicing the stitch using varying weights of thread.

The barnacles to the left were stitched with a silk twist; the middle barnacles with Coton a Broder size 20; and the far right barnacles with Au Ver a Soie 100/3.  

I decided the Au Ver a Soie was a bit too thin and wimpy.  Barnacles are definitely not wimpy.  I liked the Coton a Broder the best...less bulky than the silk twist...but I may still try a finer silk twist if I can find one.

I learned that barnacles are crustaceans just like crabs, mainly because they spend two larval stages floating around in the sea before they attach themselves, head first, onto something.

Evidently, the substance that a barnacle secretes when attaching itself is one of the two strongest "glues" found in nature.  And they'll attach themselves to almost any surface, with little or no effect to the host...unless you're a boat ;)

Barnacles release a chemical so that baby larval barnacles will know where to plant their heads.  That's how you end of with large communities of the things...

Live barnacles have "doors" which open to release "feet" which extend out into the current to feed on plankton.  When the tide goes out or the barnacles are threatened, they close those "doors" and close up shop until the threat goes away.  That's why they tend to fare pretty well in polluted waters...and they've been on the planet for millions of years...

They have staying power.

I like that about them.  

Purple striped barnacles like the ones below tend to flourish in tropical climates which explains why I find them on the shells in Naples, Florida.  

Charles Darwin wrote four volumes on the barnacle just before penning his famed On the Origin of the Species.  In fact, the barnacle had such an influence on Darwin's work that there was a book written about it, Darwin and the Barnacle:  The Story of One Tiny Creature and History's Most Spectacular Scientific Breakthrough.

I love where my embroidery takes me.  

Now I just need to find a home on my block for a family of barnacles.

See you next time...