few years back, artist and botanist, and self-described explorer Tyler Thrasher became obsessed with a photograph of an on a leather couch. The colors so dazzled him that he wanted to begin opalizing things himself, which set him off on a self-directed expedition into the science of perception. Thrasher began speaking with people who mine for opals and people who study photonics and learned that opals could be made synthetically—but also that those recipes are closely held secrets.
So he decided to design his own recipes. Along the way, he explored the science of everything from poisons to optical illusions to impossible colors. His new book, , co-authored with his friend and designer Terry Mudge, is a vibrant exploration of what he’s learned about color and color perception.
We recently spoke about his new book, his love of color, and the power of amateur science. I dedicated about two years of my life to learning how to grow opals and studying opal science, photonics, light-interactive materials. And, when I grew my first opal, it was this little clear, whitish blob, and I shined a light on it, and it just lit up with all these brilliant greens and blues and flashes of orange.
And I freaked out. It was, in my book, the coolest thing I had ever made, hands down. And I took it, put it under the microscope, put the camera up to it, got to look at it up close.
And I was like, “I think I’ve literally made a whole separate universe of color.” There were all these dazzli.
