Showing posts with label glass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glass. Show all posts

Friday, 28 September 2012

Elephant No. 362: Glass Vials




For a couple of weeks now, I've been eyeing a set of glass vials in a discount store, trying to think of a way to use them for an elephant. I admit that I was drawn to them mostly because I like little containers of any kind, but I didn't want to buy them unless I could make something interesting. I thought of filling them with sand or beads, grouping them, glueing them, and even buying multiples and stacking them. Then it occurred to me that I could simply paint them to produce a modular elephant herd.

The word "vial" comes from the Greek phiale and the Latin phiala, meaning "a broad, flat container". Technically speaking, a vial or phial is a small glass or plastic bottle. Vials are most commonly used to store medications and small samples.


Glass vial discovered in Syria, ca. 4th century A.D.
Collection of the Louvre, Paris
Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Double-handled_vial_
Louvre_MND1503.jpg


Glass vials have been around for millennia, used for everything from medicines, herbs and spices, to tomb offerings of gold and blood. Although traditionally sealed with corks, wax or even glass stoppers, modern vials often have flip-tops, snap caps and other closures. The bottom of a vial is usually flat. The small vials used in laboratories—often with a volume of 10 ml at most—are known as "bijou bottles" or "McCartney's bottles".

For today's elephant, this was the set of four vials I bought, for under $1.50. They range in size from 7 m to 20 ml (0.24 to 0.68 U.S. fl. oz.), so I guess a couple of them are technically "bijou bottles".





I already had a set of glass paints that I'd used for my painting on glass post, so I decided to use those, along with some regular acrylic paint.




 My idea was fairly simple: use all four vials to create a mini-herd of elephants.

I thought briefly about drawing elephants on the vials first, then decided I'd rather just get started. I began by roughing in an elephant on each of the four vials. The four pictured below are not necessarily my first attempt at each. For one or two of them, I wiped off my first try while it was still wet and started over.




These were pretty streaky-looking when the light shone through, so I waited for them to be dry to the touch, then glopped on more grey paint. When that dried, I added a few black lines for definition, and a bit of pink in the ears, the tip of the trunk, and on the toes. The elephant with an open mouth also got a bit of pink in the mouth, and two elephants got white tusks.


 

 



My idea from the beginning was to make a series of little bottles that could be grouped together to resemble a herd of elephants. I thus took advantage of the clear glass to draw some long grass on the side opposite to the elephants.




To finish up, I added dots of green under the elephants, and dots of gold above the elephants' heads, and above the grass on the reverse.


 

 




It only took me about two hours to paint all four of these, but that was partly because I didn't wait for the different layers of paint to dry. Although all of the paints dried relatively quickly, I was definitely risking smudges—particularly when it came to the dots. If you try this, I would recommend a bit more patience than I had, just in case. I didn't smudge anything this time; but if I had, it would have been pretty difficult to remove the offending area on something this small.

In real life, these are quite fun. The light doesn't shine through them as strongly as it does in these photographs, so they don't look quite as streaky. They're also fun to group, and actually look a little like a herd of elephants seen in the distance, which was exactly what I'd hoped for.





Elephant Lore of the Day
Suleiman was an Asian elephant presented to Archduke Maximilian II in the sixteenth century. Born in the stables of the King of Ceylon in 1540, Suleiman was originally presented as a gift to the Prince of Portugal in 1542.

Although flattered by the auspicious and generous gift, the Portuguese ultimately found Suleiman's care and maintenance too expensive and complicated. They accordingly offered him to Archduke Maximilian, who happened to be the Prince's uncle. Suleiman was sent to Spain then Genoa by ship, and finally overland through the Alps to Austria. He arrived in Vienna in 1552.


Woodcut of Suleiman, ca. 1552.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Soliman.1.jpg


Suleiman proved highly popular with the Austrian people. He was drawn and painted, and was celebrated in poems and songs. He was installed with some ceremony in the menagerie at Kaiser-Ebersdorf castle, but died only a year and a half later, in December 1553.

Suleiman's afterlife was rather bizarre. Although the Archduke had a commemorative medal struck featuring the elephant, he also had no qualms about having Suleiman's body vivisected and distributed across the Holy Roman Empire.

Suleiman's right front foot and part of a shoulderblade were given to the Mayor of Vienna, who had them fashioned into a chair that can still be found in Kresmünster Abbey. His skin was stuffed and put on display in Vienna until 1572, when Maximilian decided to give it to Albert, Duke of Bavaria.

Suleiman's stuffed effigy survived for centuries in the Wittlesbach royal collection and the Munich Residenz. Ultimately transferred to the Bavarian National Museum, Suleiman was stored, forgotten, in a cellar. Although his effigy survived even bombing raids on Munich in 1943, conditions in the cellar were damp, and Suleiman's skin mildewed. Following the war, Suleiman was dismembered yet again, and his hide was sold—rather poignantly—for shoe leather.

That isn't the end of his story, however. So famous was Suleiman that several books have been written about him, including the recent novel, The Elephant's Journey by José Sararamago. He has also been featured in at least two exhibitions—one of which was presented in Vienna, where Suleiman had been so celebrated in life.



Commemorative medal designed by
Michael Fuchs following Suleiman's
death in 1554.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Soliman.2.jpg

To Support Elephant Welfare
Fauna & Flora International
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Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Elephant No. 360: Marbles




When I was little, someone gave me a small worm made of marbles glued together with some kind of silicone. It even had tiny googly eyes. Even back then, I found it intriguing that something as slippery as glass could be stuck so firmly together with glue—as witnessed by my many attempts to pry the pieces apart—so I thought I'd try it for today's elephant.

Marbles are small spherical toys made usually of glass, although there are also marbles made of agate, clay, steel and plastic. The earliest known marbles were made of stone, and date to the Indus Valley civilization (ca. 3300–1300 B.C.). Games involving marbles made of stone, clay and glass were also played in Rome and Ancient Egypt.

In 1846, a German glassblower invented special "marble scissors" which could be used to clip off and form individual marbles. Mass-production of marbles began with ceramic marbles in the 1870s, followed by the first sets of mass-produced clay marbles, which were produced in the early 1890s.


Traditional marble scissors.
Source: http://dumpdiggers.blogspot.ca/2007_12_01_archive.html


In 1903, the first U.S. produced glass marbles were being mass-produced in Akron, Ohio on a machine patented by Martin Frederick Christensen. M.F. Christensen & Son manufactured millions of toy and industrial glass marbles until the company closed up shop in 1917.

For millennia, children and adults have played games with marbles. One of the most common games involves first drawing a circle in the sand. Players then take turns rolling their marbles into the circle, attempting to knock other marbles out. Other commonly played games involve shooting marbles at holes or at target marbles. In many of these games, the winner of each round keeps the other player's marble.

Most marble-related games involve rolling marbles along a surface; in others, players toss marbles from a standing position. Marbles are also used in board-style games such as Chinese Checkers, in which each player hops his or her marbles over those of other players.


Chinese Checkers board.
Source: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ChineseCheckers.html


There are many colourful terms in the world of marbles. One of my favourites is the move called the "elephant stomp". This is when a player gets to stomp his or her marble level with the surface of the ground, making it virtually impossible for other players to hit it.

Different types of marbles also have interesting names. Alleys, for example, are marbles made of marble or alabaster—"alley" being short for "alabaster". Toothpaste marbles are the ones with a little twist of coloured glass in the centre. Aggies look like agate; bumblebees are yellow with two black stripes on each side; catseyes have a central eye-shaped insert of coloured glass; and elephant eggs are a type of particularly large marble. For an exhaustive list of marble names and types, visit the Wikipedia page on marbles.


Different types of marbles.
Source: http://mariemillard.blogspot.ca/2007/12/i-havent-lost-my-marbles.html


When I was young, I had a small jar of marbles—some of which I had won away from my brothers and other neighbourhood boys, and some of which I bought because they were pretty. Today, a marble collection can range from a couple of handfuls contained in a jar or bowl, to elaborate displays grouped by maker, style, material, quality, age and rarity. Because of their relative fragility, even a tiny chip can have a major impact on value.

Marbles were originally made by hand. If made of stone, bone or ivory, they were carved and polished. If made of clay, ceramic or porcelain, they were rolled into balls then fired and usually glazed. Handmade glass marbles are produced by stacking glass rods together to form a pattern, which is then cut into marble-sized pieces with marble scissors and rounded while still molten. Mass-produced glass marbles are produced by dropping blobs of molten glass into a groove. As the glass passes along the groove and cools, it is shaped into spheres.

In the United States, many companies started in Akron, Ohio, where the original marble-making machine was located. Today, the world's largest maker of mass-produced marbles is Vacor de Mexico, which produces 90 per cent of the world's marbles, at the rate of more than 12 million per day.

Glass artists also produce art marbles for the collector market. Many of these are much larger than the average playing marble, and are meant solely for display.


Spectacular art marble by Mike Gong.
Source: http://www.marblesgalore.com/page/15/


For today's elephant, I bought a sort of hodge-podge bag of strange bumpy marbles for less than two dollars. I bought these particular marbles because there were weird-looking, and because there were twice as many marbles in this bag as in any of the nicely packaged sets.





To glue the marbles together, I bought a tube of clear silicone.




I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, nor if I was even going to be able to construct an elephant shape of glass marbles. The trunk was a particular concern, as there aren't teeny marbles anywhere to be found.

Accordingly, I started with the trunk, glueing three marbles together in a slight curve.




Next, I put four marbles together in a square to provide a place to hold the trunk. I then added another marble to the back of this head shape. My idea was that the extra marble at the back of the head would help to anchor any body shape I added.





I attached the trunk next, and left things to set for a while. Although this process is very, very easy, it takes at least 10–15 minutes for the silicone to set each time. It won't be completely cured within 15 minutes, but you can at least handle the piece enough to glue on something else. Because of this, making this small elephant took most of the day—although the total actual working time was probably about 45 minutes.




After this, I got a bit distracted with other work I had to do today, every so often wandering over to glue on another marble or two. I also forgot to photograph the various stages. To give you an idea of how I did it, however, I glued on the marbles approximately like this: four marbles between the existing head and the body; a ring of six marbles around a central marble for the main body; four single marbles glued to the bottom of the body for legs; two marbles at the back to fill out the body; and two marbles stuck to each side of the head for ears.



 



This was easy enough for a child to try—although it would have to be a child with considerable patience, unless he or she was making something like a simple worm or snake. For more complicated forms, they have to be built in a sort of modular fashion, reassessing the shape at each stage. In my experience, the shape can't really be laid out any other way.

In the end, I rather liked this process. It's not something you'd use if you were in a hurry, but the final piece is actually rather pretty, despite the strange mismatched marbles and my rather lackadaisical approach to a tidy glueing technique. It's also quite heavy, so I think it will probably end up on my desk as a rather fun paperweight.





Elephant Lore of the Day
Lawrence Anthony—who became known as "The Elephant Whisperer" for his ability to heal the psyches of traumatized adult elephants—writes about being out in the bush one day, watching the still-unfriendly herd. He was studying them to learn the locations of their favourite watering holes, as well as what they were eating and where.

When he thought the herd was a safe distance away, he got out of his landrover to make a call on his brand-new cellphone. Some instinct, however, made him look over his shoulder, just as he was about to complete his call. To his horror, he saw the herd's most dangerous elephant, Frankie, a mere twenty metres away, with the rest of her family herd in tow.

Anthony leapt into his landrover with, as he wrote, "an alacrity which surprised even me." In his haste, he dropped his new cellphone. Soon the herd had arrived at the very spot where he'd been, and were milling about the phone. Anthony had no choice but to wait until they left, before he could retrieve the hapless device.

Suddenly the phone rang, its sound piercing the quiet. The elephants stopped in their tracks, turned around and approached the source of the unusual noise. Frankie arrived first, sleeking her trunk over the small piece of plastic, trying to figure out what it was. The others soon followed suit, and Anthony watched as seven elephants swung their trunks around over a chirping cellphone in the African bush.

Frankie finally decided that she'd had enough. Raising one of her feet, she stomped on the cellphone. The ringing stopped. The herd then turned around and ambled off.

When the herd was finally out of sight, Anthony went to retrieve his phone. Although it was buried deep in the soil, it still worked.

In addition to becoming famous for helping to rescue animals from the Baghdad Zoo during the recent conflict in Iraq, Lawrence Anthony has also become known for an unusual tribute paid to him following his death in March 2012. As if knowing that their friend and rescuer had died, the herds of Thula Thula walked twelve hours from their home in the bush to visit Anthony's home, remaining there for a short time before turning around and walking back.


Lawrence Anthony with an unnamed member of the Thula Thula herd.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/what-
elephants-can-teach-us-about-love-20090617-chyi.html


To Support Elephant Welfare
Fauna & Flora International
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Friday, 14 September 2012

Elephant No. 348: Mirror




A couple of weeks ago, I saw some mirror tiles in a dollar store, so today I thought I'd buy one and see what kind of elephant I could make.

A mirror is technically any object that reflects either light or sound in a way that preserves much of the original quality. There are variations on this, of course, including mirrors that deliberately distort the reflection, and mirrors that absorb some wavelengths of light while reflecting others. In addition to their most common use as something we look at, mirrors are also found in optical and scientific equipment such as cameras, telescopes, lasers and machinery. Some aren't even used for visible light, but are instead designed to reflect sound or electromagnetic radiation.

The earliest mirrors were probably pools of still water contained in a dark bowl. The first manufactured mirrors were produced in Anatolia around 6000 B.C., and were made of pieces of polished obsidian: a form of naturally occurring black volcanic glass. Similar stone mirrors have been found in Central and South America, dating to around 2000 B.C.


A chunk of obsidian. Found in many parts of world, obsidian
was used for the earliest manufactured mirrors, and is still
used today for some new age mirrors and scrying glasses.
Source:http://thedutchrose.blogspot.ca/2010/08/mirror-mirror.html


Mirrors made of polished copper were produced in Mesopotamia from around 4000 B.C. on, and in Ancient Egypt beginning in 3000 B.C. By 2000 B.C., bronze mirrors were being produced in China and India, along with mirrors made of a copper-tin alloy. Mirrors made of this alloy, as well as mirrors made of precious metals, were more difficult to craft at this period in history, and were owned only by the wealthy.


Reflective surface of a Chinese bronze mirror, Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618–907).
Source: http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9154230


It is thought that metal-coated glass mirrors were invented in Sidon in modern-day Lebanon around the first century A.D. Glass mirrors backed with gold leaf are mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History in A.D. 77, and the Romans had also by this time developed a means of coating blown glass with molten lead to make cruder mirrors.

As early as A.D. 500, the Chinese were experimenting with mirrors made with silver-mercury backing, and by the early Renaissance, Europeans had found an effective way of coating glass with a tin-mercury amalgam. By the sixteenth century, Venice had become an important centre for the production of mirrors made with this technique.

It wasn't until 1835, however, that silvered glass was used in mirror-making. The process invented by German chemist Justus von Liebig involved depositing a thin layer of silver nitrate onto glass. This was soon adapted for mass-production, and mirrors became more affordable. Today, mirrors are often produced with a process that involves vacuum sealing aluminum or silver onto the glass.

The coating is a little more complicated than a simple metallic layer, however. The glass is first conditioned with tin chloride because silver won't bond directly to glass. The silver is then applied, followed by a chemical activator to harden it. A copper coating is then added for durability, followed by paint to protect the coating from scratches.

Mirrors have had many uses throughout history. One of the more interesting is the "Archimedes Death Ray". According to legend, Archimedes used a massive array of mirrors to burn Roman ships during the Siege of Syracuse in 214–212 B.C. A recent re-enactment of this event proved, unfortunately, that it was impossible to light ships on fire using the bronze mirrors of Archimedes' time. The mirrors did, however, make it very hard for people on the target boat to see anything, which may have given rise to the original legend.


Artist's concept of mirrors used by Archimedes to set Roman ships on fire.
Source: http://gammaworldwar.blogspot.ca/2011/05/post-
apocalypsewhen-is-that-exactly.html


Another unusual use of mirrors is far more recent. Because of its location in a steep-sided valley, the Italian town of Viganella gets no direct sunlight for a full seven weeks during the winter. Accordingly, in 2006, a computer-controlled mirror measuring 8 x 5 metres (26 x 16 feet) was installed, and now reflects light into the town's piazza.

Mirrors have also featured prominently in works of art, sometimes functioning as a symbol of vanity, the passing of time, and even death. Artists have also used mirrors to assist them in their work. During the Renaissance, Brunelleschi discovered the principles of linear perspective with the help of mirrors, and Leonardo da Vinci famously recommended that, if you want to see whether your painting is an accurate representation, take a mirror and reflect the actual object in it. If your painting and the original object look similar, you have been true to life.


The Betrothal of the Arnolfini, 1434
Jan van Eyck (ca. 1395–ca. 1441)
Collection of the National Gallery, London, U.K.
This is one of the most famous mirrors in the history of art,
reflecting the entire room in miniature.
Source: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/v/van_eyck/
arnlfini.jpg.html


In later years, artists such as M.C. Escher, whose work generally featured optical illusions, used special mirrors to help him draw more than what he could see directly. And of course, the large majority of self-portraits would not have been possible without mirrors.


Hand with Reflecting Sphere, 1935
M.C. Escher (1898–1972)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:
Hand_with_Reflecting_Sphere.jpg


Artists also use actual mirrors in their work, either as accents, or to create massive reflective works. The form of East Indian embroidery known as shisha work also uses mirrors, which are embroidered into the fabric.


Rabbit, 1986
Jeff Koons (1955– )
Koons made multiples of this mirror-finish rabbit, based on a popular
Easter inflatable from the late 1960s. I actually had one of the original
inflatables—and probably still do somewhere.
Source: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/articulations/2007/10/art-for-the-masses/


Mirrors are also found in the world of entertainment, from disco balls to halls of mirrors in amusement parks. They also feature prominently in literature, both literally—as in Alice's adventures through the looking-glass—and figuratively, as in the biblical "through a glass darkly."

Mirrors figure prominently in the world of superstition as well. Spectrophobia is the fear of mirrors, and some traditions hold that mirrors reflect the soul and can even capture it. By the same token, a vampire cannot see itself in a mirror because it is undead and has already lost its soul.

If you break a mirror, it is said to herald seven years of bad luck, and witches often used mirrors to cast spells or to see into the future. There is also a Buddhist belief that a house with a triangular-shaped roof allows a negative spirit to enter through the door. Hanging a small circular mirror in front of the door prevents this.

In the animal world, an ability to recognize oneself in a mirror is considered a mark of high intelligence. To date, only a few species have passed the so-called mirror test: humans, bonobos, chimpanzees, organgutans, gorillas, dolphins, orcas, magpies—and elephants.

For today's elephant, I bought a mirror tile with a bevelled edge, measuring 25 x 25 cm (10 x 10 inches).




I thought I might try glueing little bits of mirror onto the surface in an elephant shape, so I pulled out all the mirror shapes I had. Some of these are shisha mirrors from India, but I thought I might need a few smaller pieces. The small bags were purchased at a dollar store a couple of years back, and cost a dollar per bag.





I started by laying out the mirror pieces on the tile. I didn't photograph the process, as mirrors are obviously so reflective that it was hard to see anything but the surrounding room when it was lying flat.

I mostly used square mirrors for the ear area, large round mirrors for the head and trunk, a few diamond-shaped pieces for the mouth and tusk, and tiny round mirrors at the end of the trunk and for an eye. I also let some of the square ear pieces trail over the bevelled edge, because I thought it looked more interesting that way.





To secure everything, I used a glue gun. This worked fairly well, but because the mirrored surface is so slick, a few of them popped off when I washed the final mirror. I reglued them with a larger amount of glue, but I'm not sure how secure they are in the long term. Next time, I might use silicone instead.

I was surprised at how well this turned out. Interestingly, the mirrors don't fragment the reflected image as much as I thought they would, so you can actually still see yourself. One thing I didn't like was that, because the different types of mirror have different colours of paint on the back, there is a faint difference in colour and edges. It's not catastrophic, but it's something I'd take into consideration next time. In the final mirror, you can see the difference in the diamond-shaped pieces, and the smaller circles. These have an orange backing, whereas all the others are dark grey.

It took me a little under half an hour to place the mirrors and glue them down, so it wasn't at all time-consuming. I also like the final result well enough that I might actually hang it up somewhere, either in a frame, or with a simple hanger of some sort affixed to the back.





Elephant Lore of the Day
This is one of the most sobering elephant stories I've read in a while, and rather heartbreaking in its way.

Despite the best efforts of conservationists in Vietnam, it is now considered inevitable that elephants will soon be extinct in that country. In 1990, there were an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 elephants in Vietnam. Three years ago, there were about 150. Today, there may be only a few dozen.

 The problem, of course, is poaching. In 2009, a representative of Fauna & Flora International spoke hopefully to reporters about a feasibility study aimed at creating an elephant centre in Vietnam's south-central province of Daklak, where most of the country's domestic elephants were then located. As of September 2012, however, Vietnam's conservation groups had essentially thrown in the towel, giving up on the possibility of saving Vietnam's last elephants.

The most immediate reason was the recent slaughter of two of the country's few remaining elephants. For several years, there has been a tiny and poorly funded Elephant Conservation Centre in a national park in Daklak province. The Centre has been sheltering a herd of 29 elephants, trying to rebuild their numbers. In late August 2012, however, a pair of the herd's elephants were found slaughtered in the forest, including the herd's only male. His head and trunk were severed, and his tusks of course were taken.

Without an adult male, the herd is no longer considered sustainable. Even worse, this was the sixth male from the herd killed in 2012. Poaching is rampant in Vietnam, and males are the only Asian elephants with the much-coveted ivory tusks.

Poaching is not the only issue in Vietnam, however. As in many other parts of the world, elephant habitat is rapidly disappearing in favour of rice, coffee and rubber plantations, as well as roads, dams and factories. Hardwood forests which stood for centuries, and once sheltered elephants and other wildlife, have also been clear-cut and the wood exported.

Unfortunately, there is little general understanding of elephants in Vietnam, and no real political will to save them. When new areas are being developed for industry or human habitation, scant thought is given to the elephants and other animals already in residence. Further, farmers have essentially been given carte blanche to destroy any elephants straying onto their farms.

In the past, some efforts have been made to relocate elephants. In 1993, authorities sought to relocate 13 elephants from southern Vietnam to make way for an industrial farm. All but one of the elephants died. The lone survivor was sent to the Saigon Zoo.

By all accounts, the rise of the middle class in China is largely responsible for the disastrous depletion of elephant populations worldwide. Ivory is highly coveted in China for everything from chopsticks to sculptures, and it has been suggested in many quarters that, if China ever lost its taste for ivory, the worldwide epidemic of elephant poaching would collapse overnight.


Male Asian elephant in Vietnam, 2004.
Sadly, this elephant has probably since been killed for his tusks.
Photo: Thomas Schoch
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Working_Elephant_Vietnam.jpg


To Support Elephant Welfare
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Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Elephant No. 297: Mirror Ball




I came across a display of cheap mirror balls at the dollar store yesterday, which set me to wondering if I could make an elephant-shaped version.

A mirror ball—sometimes known as a disco ball, or even a glitter ball—is a round object covered in small square pieces of mirror. The ball is suspended in the middle of the room and usually rotates slowly. When light is shone on the mirror ball, the multi-faceted surface sends glints of light in all direction.


Mirror ball with spotlight on it.
Source: http://www.powermusic.com.au/product-list/effects/24-mirror-ballpin-spot/


The first mirror balls were likely used in the late 1890s for events such as balls and other high-society events. By the 1920s, they were being widely used in nightclubs, and even films. By the 1970s, mirror balls had become a staple of clubs, discos and roller rinks.


A mirror ball can be seen at the very top of this picture, ca. 1919, featuring
the Louisiana Five jazz band.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LouisianaFiveBandstand.jpg


Today, mirror-style balls have entered popular culture. They are often associated with extravagant parties, weddings, ballroom dancing, and Christmas, and are frequently featured in rock concerts. Mirror-ball trophies are presented to the winners of ballroom dancing competitions, and perhaps the largest glitter ball in the world drops in New York's Times Square at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Despite their rather kitsch and low-tech origins, glitter balls have recently found a place in the high-tech world. Local computer networks often use infrared beams to transfer signals. With a single beam, however, if a person walks in front of it, the signal is cut—similar to what happens when the dog plants itself between your television and your remote control.

To combat this problem, something called a "chaos mirror" splits a single infrared beam into an array of reflected beams. This type of mirror consists of a box containing seven highly reflective surfaces: four curved and three flat. An infrared beam enters the box, bounces around, and splits into numerous beams that leave the box at multiple angles. This greatly increases the possibility of the beam reaching an infrared receiver.

For today's elephant, I bought three small mirror balls: one to serve as a base, and two to pull apart. Each mirror ball was about 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter, so not really "jumbo", but they'd do.




I've never tried this before, but I figured I could probably use foamcore and double-sided tape to build up one of these balls into a mirrored elephant. 




I started by cutting two pieces of white foamcore for the ears. I secured these to the sides of the main ball with double-sided foam tape.




Next, I formed a trunk by feeding wire through a few small styrofoam balls. I used these only for the thickest part of the trunk, taping on bits of foamcore at the end, where the trunk tapers. I taped this whole assemblage to the main mirror ball, again using double-sided tape.





My plan now was to cover any white areas with sections of double-stick tape, using the highly sticky surface to attach the mirrors. And if that didn't work, there was always glue.

Next, I peeled off all the mirrors from one of the other balls. They came off really easily, not even taking bits of the styrofoam ball with them. They also came off in long strips. I noticed that, on the back, the original mirror pieces were already linked together in lines with double-sided tape, meaning that they're probably applied to the original ball in a long, spiralling string.

This is what the mirrors from a single ball amounted to.




I began by attaching strips of double-sided foam tape to the ears. This stuff is incredibly sticky, making it great for sticking mirrors, but a total pain to handle. It sticks to everything, including fingers and scissors. Handling the tape was, by far, the most frustrating part of this activity.

I tiled mirrors across the ears on both sides. I should have thought of the mirrors when I cut the ears, because I ended up with some very strange bits hanging off, and a gully between the back and front of the ears. I decided I'd deal with all that in the clean-up phase towards the end.





Once I'd finished both ears, I turned my attention to the trunk. This was even more complicated to fill with mirrors. I had expected I'd be able to spiral mirrors around the trunk from the base to the tip, but it really didn't work that way. It ended up having lots of gaps that were too small for mirrors, but too big to leave as is.




When I'd filled ears and trunk as well as I could with the little mirrors, I started working on cleaning up the gaps and ear edges. I started by running a line of mirrors around the outside of each ear, removing any pieces of mirror that were sticking up on the flat sides. This made the edge look nice, but the gaps left behind on the front and back of the ears were awkward to deal with. I simply stuck individual mirrors over the gaps, not really paying much attention to aesthetics at this point. I filled in the gaps on the trunk the same way. I supposed I could have used a tile nipper to make custom-shaped pieces, but that would have made it an elephant-a-day-and-a-half.




To finish up, I reinforced the places where the ears and trunk joined to the head. I did this by linking together a series of two to five mirrored squares with a thin strip of double-sided tape on the back, then sticking the strip to the head and to the appendage. This wasn't strictly necessary—in other words, the ears and trunk weren't falling off or anything—but I thought it was a good idea to make things a little more secure.




Despite the annoyance factor of dealing with the tape, this was a really easy activity. It's also very inexpensive, costing me less than three dollars for the two mirror balls. I even ended up with a few leftover mirror tiles. If you have a theme party of some sort, this might be a kind of fun thing to try. It will take you a couple of hours, but I thought the results were worth it.




Although there are bits that aren't as tidy as I like, when seen from a distance, this is a lovely little piece. It's sparkly and shiny, and does what it's supposed to—in this case, turning my tiled bathroom wall into a disco.





Elephant Lore of the Day
Pity poor Arjuna the elephant. Trained to take part in the important Dussehra festival in Mysore, India, Arjuna was being groomed to one day take over the role of lead elephant. Then tragedy struck.

One day, as Arjuna and a fellow elephant named Bahadur were being led down to the river for a bath, the elephants were spooked by a vehicle. In the chaos that ensued, Bahadur's mahout fell to the ground. Arjuna accidentally stepped on the unfortunate man's head, crushing him to death.

Despite the fact that it was an accident, Arjuna was now considered unfit to serve as lead elephant. This is not because he was dangerous, but because he had killed a man. Since the Dussehra festival is also a religious occasion, Arjuna was now seen as sullied, and no longer worthy of the position of lead elephant.

Arjuna was demoted to poacher patrol in the nearby Bandipur National Park. He still takes part in the Dussehra procession, but will now never be lead elephant. Oddly, of all the procession elephants, Arjuna is the only one who refuses to accept a ride to Mysore when the festival nears. Although no one is sure why, Arjuna insists each year on walking the full 80 kilometres (50 miles).

With elephant jogging speed topping out at 25 kilometres per hour on a good day—not including breaks for elephant snacks and water—it can be a very long walk.


Elephants arriving in Mysore for the Dussehra festival, 2008.
Source: http://www.mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&
broadcastid=96610


To Support Elephant Welfare
Elephant sanctuaries (this Wikipedia list allows you to click through to information
on a number of sanctuaries around the world)
Wildlife Trust of India
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