Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Tracks

The wind has been howling from the north these days as the colder air marches in. On the Chesapeake Bay this also means extra low tides. The water literally blows out of the Bay in to the Atlantic ocean when the north wind works its charms. The boat rides low, the boarding ramp tilts, and the spits of sand around the marina expose all sorts of treasures.

Each morning Zach runs out to see who's been treading along the shore. A heron? A horseshoes crab? A dog?

I remembered reading in a book about casting tracks in plaster of paris (was it I Love Dirt?), so we gave it a try. We used basic plaster of paris from the craft store mixed with water. Then we cut out the bottom of a plastic cup to use as a frame around the print to hold the plaster in place while pouring.

We poured the plaster of paris over the print and waited a bit for it to dry.


Carefully pull it free, and voila!

It's so cool to have the sand stuck on to the casting. Can anyone guess what critter made this track? We hope to make some more as the wind and tides allow.

11 comments:

gardenmama said...

Wow Cindy, what a great idea!
I love this so much and will give it a try! Hmmm... is it a monkey!? lol just kidding of course ; )
I love your little guys outfit : )It looks like your family knows just how to enjoy a beautiful day!

Caz said...

I'm going with Racoon :D

kherbert said...

racoon?

Lily Boot said...

that is sooo cooool! Gosh you and Zach get up to some fun times. That worked so well and the you're right - the sand looks very authentic. btw, I love your new blog blanner. :-)

Michele said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michele said...

Cool. Wish we could do that here but alas the only thing that leaves tracks around here are rednecks.

Dim Sum, Bagels, and Crawfish said...

Very cool project! I am also going with racoon. Have you checked out Jim Arnosky's books. He's got some good ones about tracking animals.

Joy said...

I was thinking raccoon too. What a cool project! When I grew up on the beach in SC, we used to always look for deer tracks on the beach. They always looks so different and interesting compared to the sea creature tracks.

guavajelly said...

Brilliant! I'm going to try this.

christine ~ ourdayourjourney said...

these are great!!! can not wait to get to do some of these.

Little Lovables said...

racoon, they are so cute!

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