When TikToker NLaitran posted a video of her mom’s crocheting masterpiece, her fans just couldn’t get enough. They wanted several videos so they could see it up close and at every angle.
The massive lifelike coral reef she hand-crocheted is quite the sight to behold.
“This video wasn’t long enough, but I just had to show off my mom! She’s amazing,” NLaitran wrote in the caption of her first video.
That video was viewed more than 4.5 million times. Mom was definitely surprised by all the attention she received.
“She’s blushing,” NLaitran said.
NLaitran’s mom did an incredible job. Not only was she able to crochet realistic-looking pieces of coral, she crocheted those pieces in gorgeous colors of all different shades to make them look as close to the real thing as possible.
The piece was so large that she had to make it in sections.
She then lays it out on a table on top of a crocheted table runner that looks like the seafloor. When combined, the pieces take up the entire table.
But there’s even more awesomeness to this piece.
It glows in the dark and looks absolutely spectacular under blacklights when it turns into dark and vivid neons colors.
Apparently, crocheting coral is a thing.
The trend started out as a way to bring awareness to the diminishing health of the world’s coral wreaths.
“In 2005, Los Angeles-based twin sisters, Margaret and Christine Wertheim tried a different approach to communications by starting the Crochet Coral Reef project,” Scientific American reports. “The idea was born from their love of the Great Barrier Reef, their oceanic neighbor, and their appreciation for handiwork and the community it can create, simply by participation. Maragret, with a background in physics, math, and science communication, and Christine, a professor of experimental writing and feminism, created a revolutionary art program to engage the public in coral reef science.”
Crochet is actually the perfect medium for making the rippled and ruffled edges that you see in coral. It looks just like the real thing.
People were invited to contribute to the Coral Reef project through workshops and many of the artists would add their pieces to touring art installations.
More than 8,000 people all around the world contributed to the project.
“As a science communicator, and I’ve been one for 35 years, I’ve never seen any science communication that’s had this kind of grassroots engagement, ever,” Margaret Wertheimbtold Scientific America.
Those involved with the project said that it gave people who wouldn’t ordinarily connect with scientific issues a way to learn more and engage.
Art inspires and is a great way to expand awareness of environmental issues.
“Those of us who care about science, who care about communication should branch out in new ways to reach audiences that aren’t already in the loop,” Margaret Wertheimbtold said.
But NLaitran’s mom’s crochet coral reef may very well be the only one that actually glows in the dark AND has a little Nemo attached to it. Either way, it is a true masterpiece!
Check out how beautiful it looks under the blacklight in the video below!
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