Magnetic Sculpture

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Along with main sculpture you will also receive six magnets for floating; 2 x 3mm cubes, 2 x 4mm cubes and 2 x 4mm spheres. The ancient people of Monte Alto were perhaps seeking out these basalt boulders that had these magnetic properties,” Paris says, adding that they could have also been effectively using a type of primitive compass in their searches. From keeping cabinet doors shut to cleaning up stray metal objects, there's no doubt that neodymium magnets can be extremely useful for a variety of purposes. But, did you know you can make stunning sculptures with them?

Chinchilla’s coauthor Roger Fu from Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences tested the sculptures by first running a magnetometer over them and mapping out the areas with the strongest anomalies. Then the team chose four sculptures and ran further tests using a larger, more sensitive instrument. At least some of the stones used to craft sculptures were hit by lightning at some point in the past, magnetizing the material, according to the research conducted on 11 basalt figures. Moreover, the potbellied sculptures were carved in such a way that protruding features had the strongest magnetic forces, suggesting the artisans knew which parts of the material were most magnetic. The people of Monte Alto] chose the boulders, and they shaped them in such a way that the magnetism would be measurable at certain points of the anatomy of the sculptures,” Chinchilla says.

He was self-taught and an autodidact in all types of material whether it was philosophy or history or politics. This project uses some serious magnets, and with that comes serious potential for damage and injury. Here's the obligatory lecture to help you avoid trouble...

Designed and made in the US these use the little known Bismuth which happens to be the most diamagnetic element. That means it repels both north and south poles. With a magnet at the top of the structure which provides the lift you are able to place a small magnet in either gap and watch as it floats, given stability by the diamagnetic property of the Bismuth (only one magnet can be placed in the sculpture at a time, either in the top or bottom hole). A fascinating and intriguing object that is ideal for the home or office and is sure to amaze friends and colleagues. It's better to tie the knot too far from the hole than too close. If you're too far, you can tie one closer and trim the far one(s) off. If you're too close, you'll have to remove the knot so the line will fit into the hole along with the rivet.Spectra fishing line is strong and abrasion-resistant, but it's also a little "slippery" for knot tying purposes. We can use that to our advantage, though. Thread one end of the line through the hole in the clevis pin and tie an overhand knot around the end of the clevis. Our goal is to keep the knot small, so it doesn't show beneath the cube, so the overhand knot is a good choice for that. On the other hand, it will slip, and this is slippery line. The solution is to tie another overhand knot on the loose end of the line to act as a stop knot (see series of pictures below). The people of Monte Alto didn’t live in isolation. Though Chinchilla says the sculptures at Monte Alto are the “most impressive,” several potbellied sculptures were found distributed around the coastal region of what is today Guatemala, El Salvador and the Mexican state of Chiapas, suggesting the Monte Alto influenced other cultures in the region. There's something sensual about these works that brings the audience in to look closely and take delight in these sculptural and sonic worlds.

If you're starting with the kit skip to the next step, otherwise, read on for help getting your parts together. You'll need: The cube magnet is attached to the braided line with a clevis pin. The line is tied through the hole in the clevis pin, and then threaded through the hole in the cube magnet. This part takes a bit of fiddling. Read through the entire step and look at the pictures before starting so you understand how the pieces relate to one another. Knowledge of magnetism could have even predated the Monte Alto culture, Chinchilla says. Archaeologists discovered a magnetized bar rich in hematite dating from 1400 B.C. to 1000 B.C. at San Lorenzo in the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz, one of the major cities of the Olmec. If this bar was somehow used as a magnetic tool, it would mean that Mesoamerican knowledge of magnetic forces predates even the early descriptions by Thales of Miletus.

Colibri by Derek Hugger

Takis's studio, he began developing it in the 1960s or the early 1970s and it wasn't completed until much later. In a celebration of dynamism, we’ve found 14 of the most astounding kinetic sculptures ever devised by human hands. Sisyphus from Lego byJason Allemann The people of Monte Alto carved large stone heads in addition to potbellied sculptures, many of which are strongly magnetized, suggesting the 2,000-year-old culture was aware of magnetism.