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This sun dial, or shepherds' dial, is one of the simplest of the portable sun dials. These dials have been used for centuries - there is a reference to such a device in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The sun dial comes in a neat presentation cardboard tube, and there is a short printed history of sun dials included, as well as illustrated instructions for how to use your sun dial. The gnomon (the little wooden pointer) comes packed inside the sun dial. You simply push it into place, and then twist the top of the sun dial so that the gnomon is aligned with the correct week and month - these are printed around the bottom of the dial. You then suspend the dial by the string, so the sun dial hangs freely. Gently twist the string so that the gnomon is pointing directly towards the sun. The shadow will then be cast directly underneath the gnomon, where you can read the time according to which line the shadow is touching. The line are much closer together in winter, so the sun dial is less accurate on these dates. The dial is drawn up for Greenwich Mean Time, so you will need to make adjustments if you are not at GMT. The sun dial is 12.5cm high (excluding the string) and the storage tube is 15cm high.Made in the UK
This elegant hand made top is constructed from African blackwood and brass. Just as the Stoics believed that it was possible to find an inner equilibrium, the amazing staying power of this top demonstrates the strength of all those who have found their inner centre!Wind the string around the body of the top. Place the steel pin in the hole at the top, and pull the string firmly. Once the top is spinning, you can lift the pin out.With a little practice the top can be made to run for 5 or 6 minutes. Maybe, if you find the perfect equilibrium, even longer...A wonderful hand made designer top, from the same artist who creates the Staying Power Top for us.The top comes in a smart presentation package, attached to a block of stained maple, together with instructions.Made in EU
The Japanese company Hanayama have been making a range of cast metal puzzles for over a quarter of a century now. The design of their puzzles is amazing, as is the craftmanship with which they are made. Hanayama make a wide range of cast puzzles. We have just selected a few of our favourites to offer here in the Grand Illusions Toy Shop.New for 2012, DONUTS is Level 4 Difficulty (i.e. difficult). It comes in a smart presentation box.These do not come with a solution. However if you visit the distributor website at http://www.eureka-puzzle.eu/eureka/index.php?/all-cast-puzzle-solutions.html and enter the complete barcode found on the box your puzzle came in, you will be able to access the solution.
Welcome to the world of Mikro Man! Amazingly engineered to fold up from a 150 micron-thick piece of precision-etched stainless steel, 95 x 35mm (flat). To promote his design skills, British product designer Sam Buxton used a process he discovered in the electronics industry to devise a stainless steel business card that could unfold into a 3-D replica of himself working at his computer. A manufacturer spotted it at a London design expo and now you can own one of nine Mikro-Man designs.Here we find Mikto Man doing a bit of DIY. With his stepladder and his cordless drill, he looks equipped to tackle almost anything!
Welcome to the world of Mikro Man! Amazingly engineered to fold up from a 150 micron-thick piece of precision-etched stainless steel, 95 x 35mm (flat). To promote his design skills, British product designer Sam Buxton used a process he discovered in the electronics industry to devise a stainless steel business card that could unfold into a 3-D replica of himself working at his computer. A manufacturer spotted it at a London design expo and now you can own one of nine Mikro-Man designs.In this design, Mikro Man has popped out to the local supermarket. However he is watching his diet, and has been quite frugal with his purchases. It looks like some low calory drinks are the main item. Seems to be a bit low on the fruit and vegetables though!
The Pseudoscope creates one of the most remarkable of all optical illusions, and was first described by Sir Charles Wheatstone in the 1830s. The Pseudoscope swaps the incoming images, so that the right eye sees what the left eye would have seen, and vice versa. The pseudoscope therefore does to front and back what a mirror does to left and right. This means that foreground becomes background and visible background becomes foreground, or more simply, background advances, foreground recedes. When you view objects with this scope, the convex becomes concave. A tree turns inside out as it were - it's front branches appear at the back, whilst the back branches come out in front, hanging or suspended in mid-air as their support is eclipsed by branches in front. The scope will suggest to the viewer that a person's face is hollow or concave but your brain refuses to accept such nonsence and so peoples' heads merely appear odd or uncomfortable to look at. It is best then to choose to look at a landscape or tree or anything which may suggest ambiguous perspective. In a real sense pseudoscopic vision fights `normal vision'. It is, after all, a major alteration to the way information is being presented to the brain for processing, and some people, not all, find there is initially at least, a tendency to suppress the extraordinary interpretation of space it reveals. Because of this unfamiliarity, in some instances, the full pseudoscopic experience might take a little time to assert itself. These pseudoscopes come as a kit form, and require some assembly. There are a total of four mirrors. There are two front silvered glass mirrors (the two small mirrors) and two acrylic mirrors (the large ones) included in the kit. You will need to provide glue. The kit comes from Germany, but we provide an English translation of the instructions. Experience space on the ‘Flipside’!Made in EU
These lenticular cards show a Victorian or Edwardian portrait photograph that has has an additional - slightly less flattering - image incorporated, so when you turn the card to and fro, the image changes from the normal picture to a more spooky picture!Created by Edward Allen, the cards are 5 x 7 inches. If you ever thought that one of your ancestors had a darker side, here is the proof. Best not show them though - they would be turning in their grave!
