Everyday: 12/5/15

From the Photos My Grandmother Gave Me After Someone in Her Family Died (digital photograph)

efflorescence, to flower out

Today I went to our new place to clean and paint. I knocked a lot of this white salt-like stuff off our 2 brick walls. I later searched to see what it was, because I inhaled a lot of it, and I found out it is efflorescence, which is a French term and translates as "to flower out." It has this name because the salt seems to bloom out of the wall. This happens when masonry is flawed and thereby becomes internally wet. When the water evaporates out of the cement it pulls salt with it. The notion of a building blooming an ephemeral and crystalline substance that results in an unwanted and 'ugly' form seems beautiful to me. The French name and it's translation seals the deal - so I need to make something with this stuff...