Magnetic Sculpture

Product Information

If you're starting with the kit skip to the next step, otherwise, read on for help getting your parts together. You'll need: 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?

MAGNETS ARE A CHOKING HAZARD AND WORSE! Magnets are one of the few items that when swallowed may need surgical removal. If you have a child who even stands the remote chance of putting a magnet in their mouth please save this activity until they are older. Alternatively complete adult supervision is required for this activity. To make it safer we used large industrial sized magnets rather than small neodymium magnets which are just too tiny and tempting for little ones to put in their mouth.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 Monte Alto culture is known in particular for their sculptures, which include the potbellied figures as well as giant heads that resemble sculptures of the Olmec civilization, which predates and coincides with Monte Alto. Chinchilla says it’s difficult to know how the people of Monte Alto related to their neighbors, as we don’t know what type of language they spoke, whether something similar to the Olmec language, a Mixe-Zoque tongue related to the Mixtecs or an early type of Maya language. 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.

Recommendations

Pull the stop knot tight, then grasp the clevis pin and pull the other end of the line until the stop knot is pulled up tight against the overhand knot. Now trim the line close to the stop knot and use a flame to melt the new end of the line into a small ball. The ball keeps the stop knot from pulling through, and the stop knot keeps the overhand knot on the clevis from pulling through. 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... After priming and painting our nuts Ican’t say I recommend this step. The paint just doesn’t adhere well to the metal. It did add a lovely splash of color which was enticing to my kids but be prepared for lots of chipped paint!

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. And while waiting for the train he becomes inspired by the flashing lights and the antenna and aerials that he sees around the station platform. He's been there since the mid-1980s and in 1993 he created a research centre for the arts and the sciences called the KETE Foundation, and is now known as the Takis Foundation. 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. The possibilities are endless for creating awe-inspiring works of art using magnets in a range of shapes and sizes. These pieces can make a great desktop piece for your office, or even just a fun conversation piece for your living room. The best part? You can easily change the shape of the sculpture over time.

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).