Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Dental Hospital Slides

Scotland, April 2005:
On my way to the darkroom in the mid morning, I walk past a dumpster. Acting on reflex, I glance in and notice that it is filled, to the brim, with sciency looking things. I resist and go to the studio, but am unable to concentrate. I have to go back, and I find a few friends to come with me. It turns out that this dumpster is filled with things from a lab in the dental hospital across the street. The lab is closing down. After about an hour in the dumpster, we are invited up to the lab to take what we please. Here is what I found:
-boombox with tape and radio, working
-2 binders full of negatives and slides (see below)
-1 binder of "Skull Loan Forms", blank and filled out
-rolls of exposed but undeveloped slide film
-3 glass eyes
-1 old wooden first aid box, with old first aid
-wire rack filled with glass bottles and tubes (later hopefully turned into an ant farm by a guy named tim)
-Immersion chiller
-Lab coat with dental X-rays in pocket
-Dozens of boxes of slide mounts (for microscopes)
-dozens of boxes of tounge depressors
-nice family photo album filled with pictures of something that looks like a detatched finger (but is probably a tooth)
-Dentist's mirror 9the kind they stick in your mouth)
-Industrial knife sharpener/grinder
-1 box (300 count) of new 60 ml specimin jars
-1 box (700 count) of new 7 ml vials
-new box of vinyl gloves
-2 tubes of diamond compound.
-bottle of "Dilap Fluid", pressurized, with unicorn on lable
-8x loupe with mm gauge
-plastic sculpted gums with real teeth imbedded, apparently used to practice fillings
-nice little plastic sticker that posed the question "pH electrodes getting thirsty?"
-leitz wetzlar 5x4 camera back looking thing.
-Eluant control panel
-bunches of other things that we were not allowed to take, including 2 fridges filled with tooth samples from dozens of different species. someone else did get the dentist chair though.
Later that night i went to see Oi Polloi, but it just couldn't live up to the morning's activities.



Thursday, August 16, 2007