Smithsonian Museum of Natural History View #3: The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

First off, let me promise you that from a distance this looked exactly like some sort of open diorama of a coral reef, and I thought, why on earth would they do something like that? Then I quickly ascertained that this was no "coral" reef, but a wild conglomeration of yarn and other materials crocheted into an amazing facsimile of a coral reef.

The first thing you see in this exhibit is this humongous open mound of crocheted magic, but then you see that it is not alone.

There are cabinets like aquariums holding other displays. The contents of each is not a random menagerie of faux coral, but rather a collection of specifically designed fakes that represent actual sea creatures.

The details are nothing short of wonderful. By which I mean, "Wonder-Full," of course.


















Each display not only houses a unique cadre of hand crafted specimen, but also sets a mood that can seemed to fall someplace between grand opera and the muppets!












Some are even quite glamorous, too!

It's worth taking the time to really study these "reefs." What might first appear as a tangled pile of gaudy locks of yarn, evolves into a kingdom of sea creatures as individual and interesting as the real thing. Sure, you see the pink starfish, but do you see the orange one?