Hello! I’m Julie Laurin and “A Tiny World” is a new passion project of mine! I picked up a microscope after reading Rob Dunn’s “Never Home Alone”. It had always been on my wish list and finally, higher-end microscopes are affordable now. I use an OMAX microscope and have been enjoying looking at pond samples, learning more about marine life and bacteria, and I’ve also taken a liking at making art with my microscope. For example, I’ve starting mixing paint and dyes with melting snowflakes to create really interesting alien-like images.

I’ll upload a gallery a bit later. But for now, here’s what I plan on doing with this website:

• I’d like to share my findings – I’m looking through my microscope several times a week, and sometimes, for five to ten hours at a time! I love photographing what I see, so I’d love to share! I might even do some live video feeds at some point.
• I want to share the art that I make with my microscope – I think there are endless possibilities and I’m enjoying exploring how I can mix art with microscopy.
• I want to start an easy to find index of freshwater creatures. I often have no idea what I’m looking at and have had a hard time finding a one-stop resource that lists them all.
• I want to share the work of other scientists and artists, and eventually, I’d like to profile some of them via interviews or a podcast.

So, that’s what I’m hoping to do with this place. It’s a tall order. I work in IT management during the day so I hope to update this daily, in the evening, if not at least a few times a week. Feel free to write to me with any ideas or suggestions! Also, I’ll be adding a little Amazon wish list if you wish to support my work. Eventually, I might get on Patreon, but for now, a book or things like petri dishes would be an incredible show of support for this project – and tell me more of what you’d like to see!

Thanks – and enjoy.

-JL