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Mikro Man is exploring the rain forest. The humidity is high, and the going underfoot is tough, but he is too fascinated by the wildlife to be worried about minor discomforts. Careful with that parang though!
This unusual painted wooden Japanese spinning top incorporates an unusual motion, and an unexpected visual effect. You start by standing the top upright, and spin it using the wooden handle. Initially the top spins vertically, but very soon it topples over, so that it is now spinning flat on the table. There are now two actions happening; the top is still spinning along its axis, but it is also rotating on the table. The combination of these two motions is such that when you look down on the top from above, you see a pattern of coloured hearts, that first rotates in one direction, and then in the other direction. Hard to obtain outside Japan, we have both a small and a medium version of this top. The one shown here is the medium version, which is 96mm in length.The video does not show the effect quite as well as you see it in real life.Made in Japan
This unusual painted wooden Japanese spinning top incorporates an unusual motion, and an unexpected visual effect. You start by standing the top upright, and spin it using the wooden handle. Initially the top spins vertically, but very soon it topples over, so that it is now spinning flat on the table. There are now two actions happening; the top is still spinning along its axis, but it is also rotating on the table. The combination of these two motions is such that when you look down on the top from above, you see a pattern of coloured hearts, that first rotates in one direction, and then in the other direction. Hard to obtain outside Japan, we have both a small and a medium version of this top. The one shown here is the small version, which is 65mm in length.The video does not show the effect quite as well as you see it in real life.Made in Japan
The iPhone 4/S takes excellent photographs, but because it cannot focus on objects that are very close, this limits it when it comes to taking real close-up or macro photographs. This is where the Macro Lens Kit comes in. With its 25 x magnification, you can get as close as 2 cm to an object. This comes close to transforming your iPhone into a picture taking microscope!THis kit will take about 15 minutes to construct. There are pre-printed, die-cut cardboard parts for the casing,the lens mount, and the storage box and bracket. In addition you get a precision lens, with a focal length of +30 mm. You will need to provide the glue. The Macro Lens Kit slips snugly over the end of your iPhone, in such a way that the macro lens is positioned precisely in front of the camera lens. Immediately you are ready to start taking macro photographs. When you have finished, simply remove the macro lens, and pop it inside the storage box, which you also construct from cardboard.We constructed the Macro Lens Kit in order to test it, and all the photos you see here are ones we took ourselves.Instructions are supplied in English and in German.Made in the EU
Fyrflyz is a spinning toy that has a built in light display. You may remember as a child those spinning toys that came on a loop of string, and by alternately tightening the loop by moving your hands apart, and then allowing the loop to become loose by moving your hands together again, you could make the spinner go faster and faster.This toy builds on that idea, but instead of spinning a simple disc, there are two LEDs. Switch on the lights (batteries are included) and spin your Fyrflyz! The web site shows lots of tricks and techniques. There are 3 designs, Nytfyr has a white and a red LED, Cyclone has a green and a white LED, and Blue Angel has a blue LED and the second LED changes colour. If you order more than 1, we will send different designs. Fyrflyz comes in a smart blister pack, and is very robust. There are also plastic grips for your fingers to hold the loop of string.
The special edition Frabjous is a sculpture and geometric assembly puzzle made from dichroic acrylic. The swirling geometric form is composed of thirty identical pieces that catch and reflect the light in stunning fashion. Mathematically, the planes of the shape are the face planes of a "great rhombic triacontahedron," a self-intersecting polyhedron with thirty rhombic faces. But the puzzle piece is a carefully designed subset of the rhombus that doesn't intersect copies of itself. Weaving the parts through each other so each remains planar is trickier than it looks. Instructions are included. Recommended for ages 16+. The word Frabjous is, of course, from Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, "O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" Frabjous is designed by George Hart, Artist, Museum of Mathematics (MoMath)Made in USA
This cardboard construction kit will enable you to build a fully working solar projector. This will allow safe observation of sunspots, eclipses and planetary transits. It is normally very dangerous to look directly at the sun, unless you are using a special solar filter. But with this kit, you can observe the sun in complete safety, since you are looking at a projected image. In addition, due to the use of a convex mirror, the image of the sun will be magnified, and will appear either 55mm or 75mm in diameter, depending which mirror you use. The Solar Projector works on a similar principle to a camera obscura, and the image of the sun appears at right angles to the incident sunlight, which is very handy when the sun is high in the sky! The optics consist of a glass achromatic doublet lens, 30mm in diameter, two interchangeable convex mirrors, 16.5mm in diameter, and an acrylic mirror, 54 x 90mm. The pack contains 8 A4 printed and pre-punched cards. You will need to supply the glue, a small piece of thread, and two little weights, eg glass or metal beads. The projector sits on a Dobsonian base, and can be adjusted to any height from 0 to 90 degrees. The built-in quadrant allows the user to determine the sun's altitude. The finished projector is 20 x 20 x 25cm. The kit comes with the original instructions, which are in German, together with an English translation of the text. This kit will take a number of hours to construct. We suggest that the kit should be made by an adult, and that any observations made by children should be done under adult supervision. Made in the EU
