Brighten Her Day!

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, it’s a great time to pick up a beautiful suncatcher for Mom. Our new hand-painted suncatchers are designed by artist, Amia Li. Each one is intricately painted with hummingbirds, flowers, birds, dragonflies, ladybugs, lighthouses, dolphins, horses, fairies, or other nature or native American themes.
The secret behind Amia’s beautiful designs lies in her use of “ripple glass,” a natural surfaced textured glass developed by stretching the hot glass sheets while still pliable. The result is a cathedral glass appearance that adds richness to the designs.

Each suncatcher has a removable chain, so it can be displayed on a stand. For romantic lighting, we suggest our new candle votives that beautifully display a small oval suncatcher in front of a glowing candle. Or try one of our new dreamcatcher windchimes on your deck to compliment the colors and sounds of spring. Ripple glass picture frames, flower vases, and crosses are also available. All suncatcher items are individually gift boxed, and we provide complimentary suction cups.

Mention this article, and receive 20% off your suncatcher purchase on or before Mother’s Day!

New Stylish Sculptures

We are excited about the response we have been getting to our new line of sculptures, the “Majestic Wild Animals” collection by Herco. These silver toned sculptures have fluid lines and innovative forms which capture the majesty of nature’s wildlife.
The sculptures are very affordably priced, and come in a variety of animals and birds, from elephants and giraffes to eagles and horses. They make great home or desk accents and are a supergift idea for Father’s Day.

Mention this article and save 20% on any “Majestic” piece June 1-19

Lift Your Spirits with Music

With the arrival of spring, we have done a little “spring cleaning” in our music department, removing the slow sellers and adding some great new titles.

For those who enjoy the upbeat tempo of Brulé’s native American rhythms, we have a great new c.d. called The Collection featuring their greatest hits and showcases their tremendous talent.

Another wonderful title is an enchanting Celtic C.D. called Avalon, named after the location of King Arthur’s castle Camelot. Its lively melodies in violin and flute, accompanied with the snap of the drum, are truly delightful.

Inspired by the natural beauty of the mesas and canyons of the Southwest, the Mesa Sunrise compilation of songs captures the spirit of the ancient Anasazi civilization. Native American flute, Indian drums and digitally recorded nature sounds have made this a best-selling c.d. for recording artist John Huling.

Stop by soon and listen to our new titles. We’d be glad to answer any questions or play additional tracks to help you make a selection. We guarantee you’ll find a c.d. to bring you many hours of listening pleasure.

Fun Fluorite Facts

Fluorite (CaF2 - calcium fluoride) is a mineral with a veritable bouquet of brilliant colors. The colors range from the hallmark color purple, to blue, green, yellow, colorless, brown, pink, black and reddish orange. Intermediate pastels between the previously mentioned colors are also possible. Fluorite is only rivaled in color range by quartz, making it is easy to see why fluorite has been called "the most colorful mineral in the world".

Most fluorite specimens have a single color, but a significant percent of fluorites have multiple colors, and the colors are arranged in bands or zones that correspond to the shape of the fluorite's crystals. One crystal of fluorite could potentially have four or five different color zones or bands.

To top it all off, fluorite is frequently fluorescent and, like its normal light colors, its fluorescent colors are extremely variable. Typically it fluoresces blue, but other fluorescent colors include yellow, green, red, white and purple. Some specimens have a different color under longwave UV light than under shortwave UV light. And some will even demonstrate phosphorescence (the ability to continue glowing after the ultraviolet light is removed) in a third color! If you count the normal light color, that's up to four possible color luminescence from one specimen! The word “fluorescent” was derived from the mineral fluorite, since fluorite was one of the first fluorescent minerals ever studied.

Another interesting property of fluorite, is its octa-hedral cleavage. Fluorite has four identical directions of cleavage, so when cleaved in the right ways, can produce a perfect octahedral (symmetrical 8-sided) shape. Many thousands of octahedrons are produced from fluorite crystals each year, and are very popular due to their low cost. Fluorite mine workers are reported to sit down at lunch breaks and cleave the octahedrons to make extra money.1 The octahedrons we carry at Wilderness Reflections come from Southern Illinois and are chiseled from the edges of crystals 600-1500 feet underground!

What’s a Crinoid?

Crinoids, also known as "feather stars", “sea lilies” or “comatulids” are harmless, colorful creatures. They are among the most ancient and primitive of ocean invertebrates.

Crinoids are echinoderms (meaning "spiny skin"). To feed, they extend their arms to catch bits of plankton or detritus (waste matter) passing in the current, making them "suspension feeders". Tiny fingerlike tube feet that line the featherlike arms flick passing bits of plankton into special food gutters that run along the center of each arm; microscopic cilia carry the food along the gutter floors to the mouth. The number of arms a Crinoid has varies widely between species; some may have as many as 200, each up to 14 inches in length.

Crinoids are distinguished from other echinoderms by the fact that their mouth is pointed upward, unlike their starfish cousins. There are nearly 550 species of comatulid crinoids worldwide.

Come see our new display of fossil crinoids. These specimens were found in Erfoud, Morocco, and date back to the Devonian Period (about 400 million years ago).

Ty® Beanie Update

In case you haven’t heard, Ty® has recently introduced a new line of Beanie Babies called Pinkys that have been very hot. Pinkys are adorable Beanie babies, such as monkeys, guinea pigs, horses, and bears - all in vibrant pink colors. The hangtags on the Pinkys have a glitzy design, which sets them apart from regular Beanies. You won’t want to miss out on this new collection, as they are currently some of Ty’s best sellers!

Join Our Mailing List

To be added to our mailing list, please send an email to Nature-News-Live@Wilderness-art.com with 'subscribe' in the subject line

To be removed from our mailing list, please send an email to Nature-News-Live@Wilderness-art.com with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line