My Store

Who:

My Name is Tommy  Armstrong. I have been a mineral collector, paint chemist, paint store manager, water and wastewater treatment Superintendent and a photographer. I went to school at UNC Chapel Hill and studied geology and then transferred to North Carolina State School of Design and studied landscape architecture. Dropped out, got married, had kids, and then returned to get a degree in Multi-Disciplinary Studies with an emphasis on design. 

What

Digital photography made it possible to really photo mineral specimens economically. It also allowed focus stacking so that one could achieve (if one wanted to) infinite depth of field.  On retirement, I made it one of my goals (one of few that have sustained) to photograph my minerals with the idea of creating landscapes, patterns, and creatures out of my minerals or just interesting or pretty pictures. I did a series of pigments dispersing in paint at the paint factory/paint store. I was the paint chemist at a company named Cal-Tone Paints in Raleigh, NC started by a man named Milton Croom. Cal-Tone was the first company IN THE WORLD to manufacture and sell to the public acrylic housepaint.  I also did a series of abstract photos at my wastewater treatment plant of drying biosolids. And there are a smattering of those in this store, but the main emphasis now is on minerals as they are ongoing. 

All designs in this shop, with a couple of exceptions, were derived or more accurately "found" in or "created" from my mineral specimens. So really everything is "natural". A good mineral specimen can be appreciated for years if they resonate with the viewer. First of all, they are all unique-none exactly like another-at least the ones I pick out. Many are affordable as a number of the designs on this site are from specimens that cost from $10 to $900. They are the inorganic world's art. Many are from classic locations with which serious mineral collectors are familiar. There are quite a number from North Carolina as that is the emphasis of my collection. 

Why

Many of the abstract photos I have taken throughout my life have to me always have begged to be made into tiles or fabric patterns or rugs or whatever and with POD, can get it done. I print all my photos and enjoy them, but quite honestly, no one really would buy a print to hang on the wall--but to me they sure do make for some good clothing and accesory patterns. And they are damned fun to create as one can never visualize how they will come out until they come out. It is also a good way to connect with my paint chemist days as pretty much all my minerals are ones that have been used as pigments in paint.