Today we explored a type of photography invented in 1852 called cyanotype, aka blueprints. Looked at examples of cyanotype prints and explained process. Ben made two designs that were both creative and aesthetically pleasing. We cut out hearts and put them on a template between two layers of plexiglass, and one design included a doily. Ben cut a leaf into an unusual shape that looked super cool inside of an empty heart I cut out. We placed each design on top of a cyanotype treated 8x8" cotton cloth square, put these 8 minutes in sunlight, then rinsed the cloth in water to reveal lovely results. The colors will continue to increase in contrast until tomorrow morning. Note the different shade of green in the prints for the: thinner doily, medium thick leaf and thicker construction paper.

After completing these fabric valentines, we explored the best site for identifying snakes in Florida: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-snake-id/ and when asked which of all the snakes he thought was most beautiful, he chose the corn snake aka red rat snake, a species that I have kept as a pet in the past. I did not mention the following, this is to help with the birthday surprise: With snakes, most people will set down newspaper or a paper towel as substrate but one could also have part of the tank simple like this and another part along the heat gradient could include sandy leaf litter for natural hiding options. You will want an under tank heater, a longer tank (20L), and one side to have a red heat lamp that is always on. Corn snakes can be found locally in both leaf litter and in trees, so some branches from outdoors would be good too. The branches should be under the heat lamp so the snake can get closer to the heat if needed. One side of tank should be around 70-80 F, and the hot side should be 80-95 F. They will drink from a bowl of water and eat pinky mice.