frost catcher 001 18dec2006 | ||
frost catcher 002 19apr2007 | ||
frost catcher portable 001 02nov2007 | ||
frost catcher portable 002 17jan2008 | ||
frost catcher portable 003 08oct2008 | ||
frost catcher portable 004 dec2008/jan2009 | ||
frost catcher impromptu 29dec2009 | ||
frost catcher portable (009) 01jan2011 | ||
ice rain catcher portable 21dec2008 | ||
frost heave in a bottle an experiment of sorts 23nov2007 |
frost catchers |
Frost catchers started as an idea about interacting with the environment. In December 2006 the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon, where we were living at the time, was experiencing a week or so of fairly heavy frosts. |
Within that stretch, for a day or two, we had some frosts that were spectacular. Frosts like none I'd seen before. I was out taking photos of the vegetation near the creek and then decided to drive a bit up the road to see what the frost was like in some of the swales. There I started seeing the fencing coated in fuzzy spines. |
I heard later that these heavier frosts may have come about because of seeding they were doing near the Airport (about 7 miles NW) to knock down the fog. Whatever the reason, it was quite a show. |
After seeing these fences I started thinking about making something that would use different materials and surfaces to interact with frost development, just trying to see what might result. With another cold night approaching I very quickly put together some bits & pieces I had in the shop, strapped it to a shovel and planted it in the backyard. This was the first piece listed above. I did get some frost, and in nice patterns, but I never did see the heavy-spined hoar frost again (maybe they had stopped seeding the fog). |
I posted the results (image below) on the fluxlist blog. |
The idea was elaborated upon, to great effect, by Allen Bukoff. He started a site dedicated to frost catchers and proceeded to make some wonderful pieces (the image below is a detail from one of them). |
The Rogue Valley warmed up too much for my second catcher (listed at the top of the page) to do much beyond some rime (it looked good doing it though). |
And then a move to the north end of the Willamette Valley - the other end of the state and a very different climate. The frosts this November (2007) have been fairly heavy and entirely ignoring the frost catchers from the south. I decided to take a catcher to where the frost WAS showing up, my windshield. That's the portable one listed above. I realized very early on that I didn't know much about the science behind frost formation. And after reading a bit I realize I still don't. It all makes some sense until you actually start tracking the specifics - humidity, dew point, temperature - and then it all starts seeming somewhat random again. It keeps it interesting though, going out first thing on a brisk morning, walking through the fog of your breath, to see what might have appeared from the mists of a cold night. |
h o m e |
© jamie newton |