My travelling mini-museum of dust is making a guest appearance in Falmouth, Cornwall from mid July. Dust is fascinating, and after all, we’re made of dust from ancient stars, once responsible for the elements that make up our human bodies.
Can these tiny specific samples evoke their origins, of locations, events and the characters connected to them? Sometimes the quest for dust includes an adventure, like a walk on the Great Wall of China in thick fog. I usually collect the dust myself, but if not, people can be generous. An archeologist I interviewed for one of my books contributed some 200AD Roman house dust from one of her excavations, and a designer working on the Dr Who set generously donated dust from the Tardis, posted to me in an Encyclopaedia Gallifreya bottle. Every little bottle has a story to tell. More stories to follow, see links below.
St Michael’s Mount Pilgrims Steps
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Wilton’s Music Hall
Celebrity Big Brother house
Bank of England
London clay (from 55m underground)
Swedenborg House 18C archive
Pollocks Toy Museum
Master Carver Hugh Wedderburn’s workshop
London Saharan dust
HMS Victory