We turtles may be slow but an artist building a sea turtle sculpture from trash is slothful. Word around the turtlehood is that wendell may be incredibly creative, but she sure is lousy with tools.   I won't even bore you with some of the names Olive, Kemp, Flat, Hawk, Green, Leather and I came up with after watching her trying to figure out how to turn on the electric screwdriver. Jiminy flippers!  Entertaining to say the least...glue, thread and needle, screws...holy turtlehood.   Well, enough about an artist's tool skills, let's get to the good stuff.

Do you know how fast we sea turtles can swim? according to sharkreef.com, sea turtles can swim in bursts of 22 mph...not bad eh?  AND...we swim thousands of miles each year...WE KNOW HOW TO SAVE ON GAS!

Did you know that there are 7 (seven) species of sea turtles, and I being a gorgeous LOGGERHEAD am one of the seven.  My cousins are named, Olive Ridley, Kemp's Ridley, Leatherback, Flatback, Hawksbill, and Green.

Now the latest in the family gossip is that there is a new sea turtle species being created...by humans, no less.  Can you believe it?   Yes indeed, word has it that it is going to be called a Plasticback.   Hmmm, I wonder why they would think of naming something that?   Of course all the Longboat Key Turtle Watch,  Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, and the many other sea turtle conservancy group volunteers know why....hint, hint...PLASTIC TRASH. 

Be sure to stay tuned to the Turtle Trash Blog for more news on sea turtles and the building of a sea turtle sculpture out of recycled beach trash.   www.fineartbywendell.com ... oh and maybe some more turtle gossip (shhhh...about the artist even).    Remember...BE DIFFERENT...MAKE A DIFFERENCE.  

Happy 4th of September Turtle Trash Bloggers:  Today's efforts went into adding on to the plastron (Turtle belly) using plastic bottles, aluminum cans and other odds and ends--food wrappers and pens--which seem to work well.  All bottles and cans need to be flattened before they are attached which is very time consuming but fun once I start putting them together.   You will see rows which at a later date will be secured together by screws, wire, glue, and/or thread as the plastron of the turtle.  

As this sculpture build gains momentum, I see what I am working on but at the same time, see in my mind where I want that particular piece to fit in the sculpture farther down the road.   I am still in the beginning build stage.   As the sculpture moves along, you will see it come together and that is the fun part. 

 As we near the end, I will put out a call for name suggestions so put your creative turtle caps on and be ready.   Thanks everyone.   Until the next blog, here are some photos from today. 

2 September 2019
Hello, hello Turtle Trash Followers...it has been a while but we are making progress.   It took a while to come up for air especially with all those plastic bottles I had to swim through.   Good news is...we have light at the end of those bottles.  Yes, indeed.   Those plastic bottles are now part of the PLASTRON...the underside (aka belly) of the turtle.  Bet you didn't see that coming.  One thing I learned and am passing on to you is, the plastron is made up of nine "9" bones.

(Love Wikipedia at times...see below or go to:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_shell to read more.)

The plastron is the nearly flat part of the shell structure of a turtle, what one would call the belly or ventral surface of the shell. It also includes within its structure the anterior and posterior bridge struts and the bridge of the shell.[4][5] The plastron is made up of nine bones and the two epiplastra at the anterior border of the plastron are homologous to the clavicles of other tetrapods.[24] The rest of the plastral bones are homologous to the gastralia of other tetrapods.

There about 90...yes 90...bottles included in this part of the plastron with more to come.   THAT IS A LOT OF PLASTIC THAT OTHERS LEFT BEHIND ON OUR SHORELINES and in our GULF WATERS that our Longboat Key Turtle Watch volunteers picked up on their daily patrols.  THANK YOU LBKTW.    Ninety less bottles for sea turtles and other marine life to swallow.  

Well, that's it for today turtle trash followers.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for tomorrow's progress on our sea turtle sculpture.
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