Jewellery brand of the month: Painfully Pretty

The next brand I want to talk about is the Australia-based:

PAINFULLY PRETTY

Painfully Pretty creates beautiful acrylic jewellery themed around mental health and chronic illness. They also offer accessible jewellery options, such as magnetic clasps for necklaces.

The red cameo brooch is from the Melancholia collection. I have it in purple, but I also have my eye on this red version. John Keats’ poem Ode to Melancholy is engraved round the edges.

cameo brooch

The Semicolon Parasol brooch is from the same collection. It is decorated with a semicolon, which has become a mental health-related symbol.

parasol brooch

The Blossoming brooch is inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson and is made up of three purple anemone flowers. It has a clasp on the back to thread a chain, so you can also wear it as a necklace!

blossoming brooch

The Flora Watch Dial brooch represents the ‘Radium Girls’, who worked in factories in the early 20th century and became victims of poisoning.

Flora watch dial brooch

The Corset brooch is another piece from the Melancholia collection. Inspired by Victorian corsets, it is engraved with the phrase “Laced by expectations”.

corset brooch

Find Painfully Pretty at the following locations:

Website: painfullyprettydesigns.com

Etsy: etsy.com/uk/shop/painfullypretty

Instagram: instagram.com/painfullyprettydesigns

Facebook: facebook.com/painfullyprettydesigns/

Brick Wonders – Horniman Museum & Gardens

When I visited the Horniman Museum, I also visited the exhibition Brick Wonders. Like all special exhibitions at the Horniman, Brick Wonders has an admission price, but I found it to be well worth it.

The exhibition showcases Lego models of attractions around the world, including an Egyptian pyramid and old London Bridge, as well as miniatures inspired by the Horniman itself. It was great fun to admire the attention to detail that went in to building each model.

Lego model of the Horniman Museum
Horniman Museum
Lego model of the Natural History Gallery of the Horniman Museum
Natural History Gallery
Lego model of an Egyptian pyramid
Construction of a pyramid
Lego model of the Trojan Horse
Trojan Horse
Lego model of London Bridge
London Bridge
Lego model of a space shuttle
Space shuttle
Lego model of the Horniman walrus
Horniman Walrus

Brick Wonders costs £9 for adults and £5 for children. It runs until Sunday 27 October.

Horniman Museum & Gardens

Horniman Museum

I visited the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, south London, on a sunny day with a friend. I’d been before, but it was a while ago, so I thought it would be good to take another look.

Horniman Museum entrance

History
The museum was named after its founder, Frederick John Horniman, who had inherited his father’s Horniman’s Tea business, the world’s biggest tea trading business at the time. Horniman junior loved collecting, and was able to indulge his passion thanks to the cash from the business. His extensive travels enabled him to collect some 30,000 items, mostly relating to natural history, world cultures and musical instruments. Horniman founded the museum in 1901 to display and showcase his collections.

The main museum is free to enter, and is a popular attraction for families with children – but there’s plenty to interest adults as well.

Horniman’s Vision
This gallery looks at the history of the Horniman and displays some of the earliest exhibits, including pottery, European armour and natural history. Much of what is displayed here was originally on show in Surrey House, Horniman’s family home, which originally stood on this site. Horniman started collecting in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, and his collections grew and grew.

World Gallery
Ceiling of the World Gallery

World Gallery
The World Gallery encompasses cultural artefacts from all around the globe, and the collection is of international importance. Despite its roots in 19th-century colonialism, the gallery displays are thought-provoking, informative and sensitive.

World Gallery
World Gallery

Music Gallery
This gallery contains musical instruments of all shapes and sizes, an impressive collection made up of instruments from all around the world. It isn’t just about the instruments themselves, but how they are used around the world to mark special events, such as weddings and funerals.

Natural History Gallery
Natural History Gallery

Natural History Gallery
The Natural History Gallery is home to taxidermied animals including the famous Horniman Walrus – notoriously overstuffed as those responsible did not realise walruses have lots of wrinkles! The gallery is something of a time capsule as it features rare and unusual species, some rather threadbare as, naturally, it isn’t possible to just go out and replace the exhibits. It’s a fascinating learning tool and an interesting experience, similar to the Natural History Museum.

Walrus
The famous Horniman Walrus

Aquarium
There is a charge to visit the Aquarium, but it’s worth it if you’re interested in marine life. Fish, jellyfish and frogs are among the creatures on display.

Gardens
The gardens are free to visit, encompassing 16 acres of grasslands, sunken gardens and meadows, with amazing views over London.

There is also a Butterfly House, but there is a charge to enter and we decided against it on this occasion. A gift shop offers a range of gifts (including cuddly walruses!) and there is a cafe for refreshments.

A trip to the Horniman is definitely worthwhile, even if you don’t live in the area. Being mostly free, it is a cheap day out and very interesting.

FACTS

Address: 100 London Road, Forest Hill, London, SE23 3PQ

Website: horniman.ac.uk/

Opening Hours: 10-5.30

Price: The Museum and Gardens are free; there is a charge to visit special exhibitions, the Aquarium and the Butterfly House.

Dark Matter – Science Gallery London

science gallery London

The Science Gallery London, part of King’s College London, is an exhibition space that hosts a variety of different exhibitions relating to different aspects of science. I attended the Dark Matter exhibition.

Dark matter is something I have an interest in, largely through reading the His Dark Materials trilogy, although since my scientific education ended with compulsory schooling, I can’t say that I know a great deal about it. This exhibition uses art, philosophy and literature to look at our understanding of dark matter, making use of the latest research from the Physics department at King’s.

What is dark matter? Well, that is the point: no one really knows. According to the world’s leading scientists, 95% of the material that makes up our universe cannot be observed. The exhibition looked at what dark matter might be and how our understanding has changed over the years. I enjoyed the exhibition, and would definitely like to attend more exhibitions at the Science Gallery.

FACTS

Address: Great Maze Pond, London, SE1 9GU

Website: london.sciencegallery.com/

Opening Hours: Tues – Sun 10-6

Price: Free

Science Afternoon Tea

When my friend E came down to London for a visit, we decided we wanted to go for afternoon tea, and chose the Science Afternoon Tea at the Ampersand Hotel, because it sounded like fun.

The experience was inspired by the nearby Science Museum in Kensington, and won ‘Best Themed Afternoon Tea’ at the Afternoon Tea Awards 2018. We booked online, and were pleased to be able to book a vegetarian option directly (vegan and gluten-free options are also available). A children’s version is also available, and arrives served on a rocket: personally I think this would be a great place to introduce kids to the delights of afternoon tea!

science afternoon tea

We chose the version of the tea with a glass of champagne, which was a lovely treat. The display stand came out with swirling mist, as if a science experiment was being conducted! We were allowed to choose the tea of our choice (or coffee, luckily for E, who doesn’t drink tea).

The sandwiches, featuring delicious ingredients such as truffle egg mayo, hummus and roasted vegetables, were yummy, and we were brought extra as the staff could see that we were demolishing them. The scones were possibly my favourite part: one plain, one white chocolate and cranberry, with clotted cream, strawberry preserve and lemon curd.

science afternoon tea

In terms of presentation and uniqueness, the cakes were definitely the highlight, designed to look like planets, the night sky and other science-related items. There was a petri dish containing jelly, a macaron which resembled a nebula, a half-moon cake and a planet mousse with a chocolate spaceman. Finally, we were brought a wooden box in which we had to brush away chocolate ‘soil’ in order to reveal a chocolate dinosaur ‘fossil’.

The Science Afternoon Tea got the thumbs up from both of us: it was a very speical experience but the food was also delicious in itself – no need to choose between taste and presentation. I would happily go back and experience it again.

science afternoon tea

The Science Afternoon Tea is available on the following days/times:

Mon – Fri: 1:00pm – 5:30pm

Sat  & Sun: 12noon – 6:30pm

It costs £44.50 per person (£54.50 with a glass of Charles Heidsieck Champagne)

You can view details here.

Top Secret: From Ciphers To Cyber Security – Science Museum

I visited the new Top Secret: From Ciphers To Cyber Security exhibition at the Science Museum with a friend. The exhibition was free, which I thought was really impressive, and very enjoyable.

The exhibition was designed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of GCHQ, the UK’s Intelligence, Security and Cyber agency. There was even a Lego model of the GCHQ headquarters in Cheltenham.

Lego model
Lego model of GCHQ headquarters

The exhibition started with the First World War and explored how communications and intelligence developed over a century. It featured artefacts, documents and declassified files.

The best-known aspect of the exhibition was probably the work of Alan Turing and the team at Bletchley Park to crack the Enigma Code, but there was also information relating to the Cold War, including a model of a house displaying a story about a quiet suburban couple who turned out to be Soviet spies.

There was also a hands-on area where you could have a go at cracking codes yourself, which was probably designed for children but which my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed.

The exhibition runs until 23 February 2020 and is then due to visit the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. It’s well worth a visit.