Klein Bottle

Props for the concept of this and the fact that you have to step back from it and think, wait, hold on, what?!?

Manipulating glass to produce what is, essentially a well known frequently used liquid vessel - but in such an unusual way...

9. Klein Bottle

If you want to give a mathematician something to try to wrap their head around, a Klein bottle is a good place to start. A real Klein bottle is an object with no inside and no outside that can only exist in four dimensions. These glass models exist in three, which means that unlike the real thing, they can actually hold liquid.

The difference between the models and the real thing is that by adding an extra dimension, you can make it so that the neck of the bottle doesn't actually intersect the side of the bottle. Take a couple aspirin and try to picture that in your head.

from

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2aSAPB/dvice.com/archives/2010/12/11-cheap-gifts.php

Gallium

6. Gallium

Gallium is a silvery metal with atomic number 31. It's used in semiconductors and LEDs, but the cool thing about it is its melting point, which is only about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. If you hold a solid gallium crystal in your hand, your body heat will cause it to slowly melt into a silvery metallic puddle. Pour it into a dish, and it freezes back into a solid.

While you probably shouldn't lick your fingers after playing with it, gallium isn't toxic and won't make you crazy like mercury does. And if you get tired of it, you can melt it onto glass and make yourself a mirror.

from

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2aSAPB/dvice.com/archives/2010/12/11-cheap-gifts.php

Aerogel

Aerogel: See-Through, Strong as Steel & Ligher than Air

Despite its incredibly low density, aerogel is one of the most powerful materials on the planet. It can support thousands of times its own weight, block out intense heat, cold and sound – yet it is 1,000 times less dense than glass, nearly as transparent and is composed of %99.8 air. The lowest-density silica-based aerogels are even lighter than air.

Despite its fragility in certain regards and its incredible lack of density, aerogel has amazing thermal, acoustical and electrical insulation properties as illustrated by the images here. A single one-pound block can also support half a ton of weight. NASA continues to find new space-based applications for this incredible material.

An aerogel window one inch thick has the effective insulative capacity of a ten-inch thick glass window system. While it is still expensive and has other limitations, this material – originally developed nearly a century ago but still undergoing experimentation – could prove to be one of the most influential materials of the 21st Century.

Aside from its other capabilities, aerogel also has amazing absorbing abilities. Some speculate it could be the future solution to oil spills. It is also being tested as a possible slow-release drug deliver system for potential human patients.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2deYup/dornob.com/aerogel-see-through-strong-as-steel-ligher-than-air/

Frozen In Time

For my first attempt at investment casting I'll be casting a wax candle.

Starting of by burning down candles to create a very unique outcome as every candle burns differently.

Building a little mould for the R.T.V and mixing it up.

(R.T.V ratio; 10:1)

24 hours later the R.T.V is set and the mould is made!

Jewellers wax was melted down on a hot plate...

The wax was poured into the mould...

Once set the piece to be invested was ready!

The final piece was tidied up using a warm piece of cotton and finished off with a wipe with paraffin; It was sprued onto the investment cast tree (by Jill)  and sent away for the magic to happen. A few days later the metal piece came back

Neat little process; good amount of detail was picked up.

Harry Allen

Smart smart man

Dialogues on Design: Harry Allen from DesignPhiladelphia on Vimeo.

His "experimentation" with materials and manufacturing processes - also the forms produced - is really interesting. Turning convention, completely on it's head.