Natural Curiosities

While strolling around town one morning with my dog enjoying this incredible weather I spotted these prints in a store window. I've always loved the look of framed vintage botanical prints but I found these scientific drawings of bugs, sharks, and other creatures even more appealing. I snapped this photo with my cellphone to add to my inspiration files and almost forgot all about it. That is until just a few days ago when iDiY shared an great resource for vintage printable historical scientific illustrations.

The best part about the Vintage Printables website is that all images are public domain and free for download and printing. It doesn't get much better than that and I'll tell you why. I can guarantee you the prints in the store window cost well over $100 a piece. Granted they are framed and are pages from an book instead of prints but to create a gallery wall with them would be very expensive. Instead I can print out to my hearts content and create my own wall of curiosities for just the price of the frames. Speaking of frames, does anyone have suggestions of where I could find simple but a slightly traditional looking frames like the ones in the photo? My go to source for frames is usually Ikea but that look wouldn't really work with these vintage prints.

For those of you are interested in gorgeous vintage botanical illustrations there are plenty to choose from. If you are like me and would prefer scientific illustrations of odd vegetation or creatures, the site is really a treasure trove.

I studied marine biology and work as an environmental consultant which explains why I picked mostly sea creatures to display. If you're prefer something different, take some time to explore the site. They have a selection of egg prints that are to die for.