Hi Folks,
Well Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope you're having a great day today. We're having moderate temps this week and the snow storm the other day turned out to be no big deal which is always better than the alternative. Sometimes the weatherman is just plain wrong, and for once it was in our favor.
Not too much to report on upcoming projects. I did forget to mention that some fleeting sightings were made recently of a mysterious beast, and I do hope to bring you more info on that soon. Also, kitchen project #2 will begin production soon, and it is a complement to the one below...
Today I have a super fun treat for you. For years I have been thinking about doing something like this and I'm so happy to finally have it come to fruition. You see, like many people, my kitchen fridge has always been covered in an assortment of take out menus, kid's art, library hours reminders, stray business cards, trash bag stickers, shopping lists, etc. The trouble is, most kitchen magnets are just plain pathetic. I find myself frustrated all the time because they fall off or easily slip down. Finally this winter, after picking up yet another magnet off the floor, I said enough already! I will build the kitchen magnet of my dreams. :)
These little gems are based on my familiar 5 flute Magnum bead design. I added a short waist so that the fluted handle stands off a bit for easy grip, and then a bell shaped skirt which houses the powerful magnet. OAL is 1.5 inches and they have some nice heft to them. I have satin 303 stainless steel ones today to start with, and then coming up will be bead blasted stainless, bronze and eventually titanium as well.
It took me a while to figure out just how I wanted to do the magnet part. I found some super strong neodymium magnets and tried a couple different ones out before settling on an ideal size/strength ratio for this design. These are perfect for their size. I thought about using screws and a doughnut shaped magnet to attach but the pull simply was not strong enough. Solid magnets turn out to be the best in this case. Anyway, the magnets are potted with green Loctite 680 rather than super glue, so should be bonded permanently in place.
Now, I wanted my magnets to have some BALLS. Literally! LOL, I got to playing around with a proto and I had some chromed ball bearings lying around. It didn't take long to realize that these could become awesome little fiddle toys just by adding some balls, hence the name MultiMag. I tried several sizes and combos of ball bearings before settling on the configuration below. These guys are deceptively simple and quite addictive. I have literally spent hours playing around with them and there is a lot you can do, particularly when you have more than one set to mess around with. Most of them have the poles facing the same way, and I'm not sure which one it is that is facing out. However, you can do a lot with them no matter which pole is exposed.
SAFETY WARNING: Strong rare earth magnets and ball bearings are a swallowing and choking hazard! Please keep these far away from small children. Also keep away from pacemakers, electronics and credit cards. I know everyone probably already knows this but it definitely bears repeating to be extremely respectful of strong magnets.
MultiMags will run $45 plus shipping (postage rates increased slightly last week) and they come with a little velvet bag so you can carry them around if you wish. They will make great gifts too obviously. The batch today is good sized, so it will be a limit of 4 per customer please. Thanks for stopping by as always and hope your Valentines Day is terrific!
Sold out, thank you so much!
