Three Aminos. I dissolved three amino acids – alanine, glutamine and taurine – in grain alcohol and then allowed these protein building blocks to recrystallize on a microscope slide. They went all gorgeous on me. The scene here would fit on dragonfly's nose. Click on the image for a larger format.

A video experiment with my crystal imagery along with some original music inspired by Philip Glass.

Crystal Garden. On a microscope slide I recrystallized a combo of alanine and glutamine. These are two of the 20 amino acids that into the proteins that make life possible. The actual area shown here could fit on a bell pepper seed.

For Thirsty Eyes. When I let a few drops from an expired bottle of eye-drop lubricant recrystallize on a microscope slide, the dissolved substances in the medicine solidified into arresting forms. The scene here is about the size of a fly's eye.

Ahh Vanill-ahh! I recrystallized onto a glass slide the primary flavor note of vanilla, aka vanillin, aka C8H8O3. This most welcome chemical was first isolated and crystallized by the French biochemist Nicolas-Theodore Gobley in 1858. The actual area of the image is the size of a bumblebee's eye

Analgesia. The combo of acetaminophen and codeine can ease pain. This is what those medicinal ingredients look like when they are dissolved in an ethanol solution and recrystallized onto a microscope slide. The area shown here might fit onto a speck of glitter.

A detail from today's roiling summer-dome sun. Just kidding. This is a detail from a microscope slide on which I recrystallized the combination of the amino acid alanine (a molecular component of protein) and stevia (a sweetener). The actual area depicted here is smaller than a match head.

Conjuring a microBird. A solution of the amino acid taurine (in your Red Bull drink) and urea (in your urine) recrystallized onto my microscope slide. I was astonished to see a tiny crystalline bird looking right back at me with a tad of disdain. The bird would just about fit inside this printed p.

Table Sugar, a still life. I recrystallized sucrose from a solution in grain alcohol. It took days for the crystals to form on my glass slide. I spied these two formations, which reminded me of a long married couple. Go figure. This couple would fit between a honeybee's shoulders.

Hey, sugar. I took you, just as you are, from the first pressing of your cane home and still holding hints of molasses, dissolved you in intoxicating DIY (75% alcohol), and let you ripen on a glass slide into sweet crystalline micro-sculptures, each right-sized if you were a hard candy for a bee.

I had forgotten that I submitted a photomicrograph of the soluble and recrystallized components of an opioid pill to Pulse, an online medical, health and healing venue. To my delight, yesterday the editors posted the image and a deep caption explaining it. pulsevoices.org/visuals/opio...

Opioid Facets - Pulse

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Cold Sun. This, from the archives, makes me think of a star with its broadcast of heat and light dialed down, a fantasy in heat-wave times like these. The image shows a recrystallization on a microscope slide of the amino acid, alanine. The area depicted would fit on the head of a match.

Sweet and Sour. Vitamin C and the sugar substitute stevia, recrystallized from a solution onto a glass slide into minuscule yet jaw-dropping formations, like this one. It would fit inside of a Cheerio's hole. As always, all of the crystal photomicrographs that I post could be hanging on your wall.

Steve and Alan. A combo of the sweetener stevia and the amino acid alanine recrystallized from on my microscope slide from an ethanol solution into organic, kelpy formations. Here is one that grabbed my eyeballs. The area here might fit inside this printed O.

Double T: T and T for the amino acids threonine and taurine, the latter of which was first found in the bile of a bull and gives Red Bull some of its pep. I recrystallized this duo onto a microscope slide and this formation caught my eye. The area shown would fit in a Cheerio hole.

Conjuring a Canopy. An experiment in recrystallizing salicylic acid (C₇H₆O₃), a staple for wart medicine and a chemical precursor to aspirin, yielded a variety of formations on my microscope slide, including this one. The area shown would fit inside the hole of a Cheerio.

Dear Friends, here is something for you to know ... The Golden Hour art exhibit: June 4 - July 24, 2026, South Orange, NJ An eclectic mix of paintings and photography by local artists. ALL WORKS OF ART IN THE EXHIBIT, INCLUDING MINE, ARE FOR SALE! www.creativeincommon.org/gallery

Relax! Cylcobenzaprine–a wingnut-shaped molecule with the formula C20H21N–was first studied as an antidepressant, but now is mostly prescribed as a muscle relaxant. I recrystallized the water-soluble components of a cyclobenzaprine pill onto a glass slide. This formation is the size of a fly's eye.

Vanilla Gone Spectral. I recrystallized vanillin, the primary flavor chemical in the celebrity flavor vanilla, in Mezcal. Here's a snapshot of one of the formations that solidified onto my microscope slide. This crevasse-like formation would fit in a needle's eye, just about.

Come hither. The amino acid and protein building block, alanine, and citric acid, a sour-adding kitchen denizen and a essential player in your cells, recrystallized from a solution onto a microscope slide. This formation, the size of a snowflake, seemed to beckon me into its crystalline microscape.

Geometry Worship. C3H7NO2, 13 atoms in a configuration known as alanine. C6H8O6, 20 atoms in a configuration know as citric acid. Here, I recrystallized this duo of compounds on a glass slide and took this picture through a microscope. The formation is the size of a typical snowflake.

Whirlihoo. Chemicals really do the darnedest things. LIke this. I dissolved two amino acids, alanine and glutamine, into a sub-shot of Mezcal and then recrystallized the solutes onto a microscope slide. Here's one of the microscapes I saw on the slide. It's smaller than an appleseed.

My Facetation With The World. Here's another visage from a glass microscope slide onto which I crystallized a combo of the amino acid alanine and the sweetener stevia that I had dissolved in grain alcohol. The area seen here would fit readily on a canvas that would fit inside this letter O.

Surge Against Maroon. I recrystallized the amino acid alanine and the sweetener stevia in on a glass slide. A polarizing filter and a patch of clear plastic food wrapping in the light path did some optical physics to generate the colors. The actual area seen here would fit readily on a fly's wing.

Three Aminos. On a glass microscope slide, alanine, glutamine and glycine (three of the 20 amino acids that build into your body's proteins) recrystallized from an ethanol solution. I used vodka for my solvent. The patch of the slide shown here is the size of a mouse's eye.

Canopy on Kepler-452b. I let a solution of the amino acids alanine and glutamine recrystallize on a slide. This scene, one of the many I spied on the slide, would fit on a bell pepper seed. Perhaps looking up through tree-like life on a habitable exoplanet like Kepler-452b would look like this.

Glycine is one of the 20 amino acids that build into your body's proteins. In 2016, NASA scientists found glycine in particles of the comet Wild 2 that were returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft. I recrystallized glycine on a glass slide. The area shown would fit inside of this printed o.

Abstract of an octopus dream. I found this sesame-seed-sized composition on a microscope slide on which I recrystallized the amino acid combo of alanine and glutamine from a solution. It elicited a cephalopod hallucination, until I looked away.

Begetting Flames. The recrystallization of the amino acids alanine & glutamine onto a glass slide almost always delivers surprises wrapped in beauty. Here I see a core of flame on the purple side of the spectrum giving way to flames on the yellow/red side. This visage would fit on a dragonfly's eye

Curtain Call. Could be a design for a 3-leaved theater curtain. What you see, actually, is a result of a recrystallization onto a microscope slide of the acetaminophen/codeine combo in a percocet pill that I had dissolved into an ethanol solution . The area you see would fit inside this printed O.