Pale Polka Dots & Pastels / How Are Seashells Made?

Since I moved out of home I have not been able to buy myself any new clothes - otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford to eat - however this vintage dress is fairly new. I got it from my (now) local markets about a month ago, from a girl who was basically my exact age, body size and style and getting rid of all her old clothes. I could have easily made her a very rich lady that day, but I had enough self control to only buy one of her amazing dresses. I chose this one for the amazing collar detail, and the interesting separation of the top and bottom halves of the dress (the top bit is all lace underneath). I decided to make the collar detail even more interesting today by adding these supppper cute kitty collar clips sent to me by the incredible Ladybird Likes. Ladybird Likes makes the coolest brooches out of old sewing patterns and wooden cut-out animals... you definitely should go and check the shop out! dress - Thrifted clips - c/o Ladybird Likes tights - Ebay shoes - c/o Sammydress hat - c/o Wholesale When I visited the beach last week, I went on a little bit of a sea shell-collecting rampage. They were so pretty, I couldn't just leave them lying around on the beach! #hoarder4lyf After checking nothing was living inside them, I cleaned all the junk out of them and let them dry. I had planned to do something crafty with them, or something... (if you don't already have the mind of a hoarder, you wouldn't understand the strange urge that makes us collect everything which might be even slightly useful some far-off day in the future)... but then I accidentally left them sitting on this table and went home without them. Still, I realised that I didn't have a clue how sea shells are created. Are they created by living creatures? Are they made out of living tissue like cells, or are they more similar to rocks? How on earth do they form the shapes that they make? So I did a little bit of researching. Sea shells are made by sea creatures from the mollusca phylum, including snails, clams and oysters. The shells are not made of cells though - rather, they are made of calcium carbonate, which is excreted by the sea creature in a bottom-up fashion. The shell is actually what is called their "exo-skeleton", which basically means a skeleton which exists outside the body. The shells must be able to grow larger as the sea creature grows, so this bottom-up way of growing works well to accommodate that. The newest part of a sea snail's shell, for example, is the opening of the shell where the animal's head peeks out (the largest part of the shell). The Scientific American has written a really good answer to this question, which I reckon you should read if you are interested in shells (it's also got stuff about turtle shells, which are very different to sea shells). Hermit crabs, on the other hand, whom I also saw plenty of on the beach that day, don't make their own shells like these other sea creatures do - they borrow the shells that the molluscs make. That's like wearing another animal's skeleton. Crazy hermit crabs. When I'm older I'm totally going to be that nerd-parent who enthusiastically tries to teach their kids science things when they're on school holidays and just want to build sand castles. Ah well ;) I hope you're all super well! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr