Kemp first learned about diatom slides when he was a teenager. Scientists from the 1800s used to create these diatom arrangements, but the practice died out. “I had to work out how they did this,” says Kemp. He would spend his lunchtime looking at the elaborate designs. It took him eight years, but Kemp finally taught himself how to perfect the technique.
Today, Kemp makes and sells all sorts of designs, from circles made of 500 different diatoms to teeny images of ships.
To create his pieces, Kemp first needs to collect a lot of diatoms. Thankfully, they’re easy to find. “If you come across any body of water, you’ll find diatoms,” says Kemp. That includes horse troughs and gutters!
Kemp often visits the seashore for diatoms. He scans the beach for a layer of brown scum. “You can’t see individual diatoms unless you have a microscope,” he says. “But together, they form a brown layer of film on top of the mud.”