Periodic Spoilers

How wonderful it is to have my element cards for the Periodic Table finished! Here they are:

The Phosphorus card was painted with Glow in the Dark screenprinting ink first. It seemed fitting since the ink has real Phosphorus in it.

Here is what the card looks like in the dark (I used a blacklight for the photo since the phosphorescence fades so quickly):

Fermium was named after Enrico Fermi, and so was the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in nearby Batavia. Fermi Labs is also known for their conservation efforts, which seems rather paradoxical considering the types of materials that they work with. They have restored Prairie Grasslands on their property and herds of Bison that you can go see. Since I couldn't figure out how to carve a stamp of an atomic particle accelerator, I carved the Bison and Fermi's logo instead. Do you think they'll let me plant them in a letterbox at the Lab? Ha! I did consider carving headphones on the Bison since the atomic abbreviation and number is the same as a local classical radio station, but discarded that idea.

Strontium is a common element with many uses; some good, some evil. It is even more plentiful in the sun, so I went that direction with the trading card. Hidden between two layers of vellum is a multicolored stamp of the sun, which you can see when you hold the card to the light. The top layer of vellum is a red-orange with a shimmery sheen on it, which I chose because of Strontium's sparkly property in certain applications--like synthetic diamonds! This card isn't very photogenic though.

It's really hard to take of picture against the light, but here is what the inside of the card looks like--sort of.

With the exception of the lettering, all of the stamps on these cards will be planted in one form or another after this project is completed. Can't wait to see the rest of the cards!