Category: Art

A Piece Of Christmas Magic

December 18, 2014

Most of you know how much I like these things:

These two were purchased last week at the dollar store. Had I not already sent/wrapped the Christmas gifts you may have received one too! I quickly set them up and found they weren’t the most well-constructed of kits:

They are made of porous cardboard with the edges dipped into food colouring (or in the case of the snowman, not dipped). A small packet of liquid is included, which is poured into the reservoir at the bottom.

It doesn’t take long for the liquid to move up the cardboard until it reaches the tips, where crystals begin to form. If the crystallization occurs where the cardboard contains food colouring, the crystals themselves are coloured as well.

So what’s happening? Well it’s actually quite complex. The solution contains water and a mix of alkaline and ammonium salts. Since it is a liquid, capillary action causes it to move into the cardboard. Once the water evaporates (which is most likely at the edges) the remaining salts form crystals. The process is quite quick (less than 6 hours) and once completed the crystals are fairly rigid and the ‘tree’ can survive for years if protected.

We actually have a few (better) ones in our curio cabinet, including a panorama of Mt Fuji that we must have had for a decade now! I sent many of you trees like this a few years ago. I wonder how many of you still have them?

There are many good explanations of the science behind such trees online (this is a good one), and you can even find instructions on how to make your own. If I taught chemistry instead of physics, I think I’d certainly work this into one of the lab experiments!

Jewelery Making

December 14, 2014

How are you enjoying

so far? Is it everything you dreamed? 😉

Todays post is about KLS’s new hobby – jewelery making. Or beading maybe. Making bead jewelery perhaps?

Either way she into beading and uses beads to mostly make jewelery. Today she is making a pair of earrings. Here’s a shot of all the material before assembly begins:

The first step is to put loops on all the beads. She’s got a large amount of specialized tools to help with all the different steps:

Here’s all the beads once the loops have been fashioned:

The excess metal (stainless steel) is then snipped off:

And the beads are added to the silver piece one-by-one:

Once all the beads are on, it’s just a matter of adding the hook (also silver) and the earrings are complete:

These took her about fifteen minutes, and all the material on the first shot are in each of them. Note that she added two tiny silver beads on each side of the fancy bead in the middle of the bottom. These aren’t as complex as some other earrings she has made, but I’m sure you’ll agree they are quite pretty!

Here’s a shot of some of her beads:

And her Swarovski beads:

The beads are all made of glass, crystal or (not precious) gemstone. The fancier the cut the more expensive they tend to be, with the Swarovski ones being the priciest. The beads are much more expensive than the metal used in the jewelery.

Here’s a collection of other items she has made and wears herself: