Woke to a beautiful sunny and cool day. What a relief from the 90s and humidity! Today we visited the Franklin Conservatory a couple miles east of Columbus. Having seen so many fantastic gardens and conservatories in our travels, we came with some pretty high expectations. This park was OK, but did not impress. There were however three elements that made it worth the visit.
First were several pieces from Dale Chihuly. We’ve become big fans of his work, so these were a treat to see.
The second was a display of Origami works. If you’re not familiar with Origami, it is a Japanese art form that creates objects from a flat sheet of paper through a series of folds and creases. Actually, a paper airplane is a form of Origami. What surprised us were the several large sculptures on display throughout the park. These were not paper. Since they were outside in many cases, being made of paper would be a problem in the rain. Well, they are actually stainless steel cast from an origami paper object. We have no idea how they did this, nor how they are coated to look like paper. We think it maybe some type of powder coating.
Here are a few pictures. The first shows the Origami object along with the sheet of paper showing the creases neccessary to make the object from a single piece of flat paper.
How do they figure out where to make the creases???
The third cool feature in the Park, was what they call Butterfies and Blooms. They have a large conservatory of tropical plants where they release butterflies into the area. But the most interesting part is a display area showing the butterflies emerging from their chrysalises. Some pictures follow.
The chrysalis is hung upside down, as in nature, allowing gravity to assist the butterfly in emerging. Most butterflies only live 2 to 3 weeks. They fly around, eat, try not to BE eaten, and lay eggs. Not much of a life.
The chrysalises that Franklin uses come from all over the world. These are mostly from South America. They have to be very careful not to let any of butterflies get loose. They use double doors and the last set are monitored to make sure none escape. Their larva could raise havoc with our eco-system here.
Campground is full tonight. Activity picked up big time since yesterday. Not sure what we are doing for the next couple days.
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