Online Catalogue | New Products
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These beautiful little flipbooks come from Italy. They are in full colour, and the charming scenes have a very smooth, cinematic, movement, and are printed on high quality paper.This set is new for 2010 and introduces Pinco the Wizard. Each sequence shows Pinco working his magic. However nothing seems to go entirely to plan!You get a set of 3 flipbooks, each 9 x 6cm, each with a different story. One of the stories is illustrated here.
5 metres of Nitinol Wire, to allow you to create your own shape memory objects!We already sell the 'Hot Wire' - a length of Nitinol Wire that forms the word 'hot' when placed in hot water. However we have had a number of requests from people who want to create their own versions of the Hot Wire, with a different message or design. So here is 5 metres of Nitinol Wire, which will allow you to have a go yourself.You will need to hold the wire in the final required position. A simple method might involve fixing an array of nails to a piece of wood, and winding the wire around them. You may have other methods available for creating the 'mould'. To set the shape, the wire will need to be heated to a high temperature. At 400 degrees Centigrade, it will take about 15 minutes to 'set' the shape in the wire. At 500 degrees Centigrade, it will only take a few seconds, if you are heating the wire directly, eg with a flame. These temperatures are much higher than can be achieved with a normal domestic oven. One way to achieve the high temperatures required would be to use a small blowtorch. A kitchen blowtorch (the sort of thing used for finishing a creme brulee) would be ideal, since this produces a small flame, which is easy to control. Once the shape has been set into your wire, you need to let the wire cool down, and once it is at room temperature you can bend it into any shape you like. If you then heat the wire to a temperature in the range 80-90 degrees Centigrade, the wire will then revert to the shape that you originally set. You need to let the wire cool down (holding it under the cold tap is fine if you are in a hurry) before bending it again. When you are setting the original shape in the wire, it is important that the wire does not get too hot, as this will impair its function.People who bought this item also bought:
A new design of padlock that is operated by a thumb control button in the centre of the lock. The button slides in 4 directions - up, down, left and right - and you can set your own 'movement' combination of anything from 2 to 90 movements! Perfect for the i-Pod generation!55mm body with protective aluminium finish. Hardened steel shakle - 7mm. Unique patented design. 4 glossy colours - black, white, blue and pink.People who bought this item also bought:
This 2010 Calendar contains 365 optical illusions - one per day! Created by the Dutch designer Paul Baars, this calendar contains an amazing variety of designs, some old and some new.Please note - the calendar is in Dutch. The dates are fairly obvious (Vrijdag 9 Juli is Friday 9th July) but occasionally there is a line of explanation underneath one of the pictures that is in Dutch. However there is such a wealth of images here, including many we have never seen before, that we feel sure that anyone that likes optical illusions will love it.The calendar is 168 x 115mm (and 27mm thick!)Watch the video...People who bought this item also bought:
Welcome to the world of Mikro Man! Designed by Sam Buxton, and made in the UK, Mikro Man Deep is his latest creation, and comes as a flat sheet of precision etched stainless steel, 263 x 83mm. Your job is to fold the stainless steel, and create the remarkable underwater scene you see here. Mikro Man is descending in a highly detailed, deep-sea exploration vehicle, collecting samples as he manoevres down to the sea bed. The scene is populated with extraordinary creatures found at such depths, together with coral, kelp and a stream of bubbles from the top of the roving submersible.People who bought this item also bought:
This clever bottle stopper incorporates a combination lock. So you can close the bottle securely, and prevent anyone else getting at your favourite tipple!The bottle lock is made of stainless steel, and has a 4 digit combination lock in the top. Slide it into the neck of your bottle of wine or spirits, and as you turn the top of the lock, the stopper expands and grips the inside of the bottle securely. However you cannot unscrew the lock unless you first enter the correct combination. It could be a neat way to make sure that Scrooge hangs on to the Spirit of Christmas!The combination bottle lock is 7cm x 5cm, and it comes in a very smart gift box with a magnetic flip top lid. People who bought this item also bought:
A new puzzle that challenges you to bring order to the fundamental building blocks of the universe!Quarks is a plastic spherical puzzle, 80 mm in diameter, with 8 holes where you can place your fingers. The puzzle can be rotated in any one of 3 dimensions. The object of the game is to randomly disrupt the pattern of quarks, and then to bring it back to the original configuration, thus bringing order back to the universe!The design of the puzzle was inspired by the wondrous world of quarks. There are six coloured swirls on the ball, just as there are six types of quarks - Up and Down, Strange and Charm, Top and Bottom. In this puzzle each quark is a pole on the hemisphere with its family partner on the opposite hemisphere pole. Quarks interact through particles called Gluons. There are 8 types of gluons and every 3 quarks joined by gluons provide atomoc particles of the matter in the universe.Just like theoretical physics, this puzzle is not as simple as it looks. However if you get completely stuck, there is a secret solution inside the box. What are quarks? Quarks are subatomic particles that are one of the fundamental building blocks of all matter in the universe. These tiny particles are what make up the nucleus of atoms. Atoms are small, but quarks are 100 million times smaller than an atom.Quarks - the brain teaser with a cosmic twist - comes in a smart presentation pack. People who bought this item also bought:
Here is the latest design in our series of 'impossible locks'. Well, maybe not impossible but certainly pretty difficult.This is quite a large and heavy lock, 90mm high and nearly 800 grams in weight. The design is reminiscent of an old fashioned American safe.There is a complex internal design, and there are 5 steps needed to open it. Hand made from brass and stainless steel, this puzzle lock is just as fiendish as our previous Impossible Locks!People who bought this item also bought:
This is the tenth year that we have produced a Christmas Pack, full of unusual novelties and toys. And we never repeat an item that has been included in a previous pack. Some of our regulars use the Christmas pack instead of crackers, since the little toys and novelties that we include are normally nicer and more unusual than the toys you find in crackers.There is a Christmas Card, part of which is a piece of paper with wild flower seeds embedded in it. Once Christmas is over, you plant this piece of paper and wait for the flowers to arrive! Then there is an unusual balloon, in the shape of an animal. They make for an eye catching balloon when you blow it up. There are six different designs, so we cannot say exactly which one you will get.There is a pair of holographic glasses, which show spooky fake eyes when you are wearing them. There is then a solar powered key fob that shows a flashing zodiac sign. Again apologies, but we cannot control which zodiac sign you will get. These will keep flashing for years, powered by the light of the sun. There is also a set of 3 bio dots. Attach these to your skin, and their colour is supposed to tell you your mood. All driven by the temperature of your skin.The Reaction Timer is a cardboard ruler. You get someone to hold it, while you hold your fingers poised. They drop it without telling you when they are going to do it, and you have to catch it. The calibrations tell you your reaction speed. try it before and after the Christmas sherry, and see how far your reactions have been dulled!There is a single jumping disc, which we normally sell in sets of 3, and also a rocket launcher pen, which we normally sell on the web site in pairs. However this is the first time these items have appeared in a Christmas Pack. We are also including one of the Pop Eyes, which we also sell on the main site. There are 6 designs, one of which will be included in each Christmas Pack. Again, we canot say in advance which animal will be included.We then have 2 memory plastic items. One is a banner, which was produced for the London Marathon. You pull to open it up, and then release it and the whole thing rolls up. No springs or elastic bands. It is all driven by the 'memory' in the plastic. Also there is a small item which when you release the rubber band around it pops open into 3 magic wands.There is then a Wacky Whirler, a little plastic object that can be used to cut a plastic drinking straw into a little spiral. You can vary the pitch by turning the plastic screw to and fro. It is a craft item, allowing you to create intriguing plastic spirals. We include some straws to get you started.Finally we include a magic rose cube. This is a very elegant piece of origami, and Tim has spent many hours making these! It starts as a paper cube, some of the sides are red, others are green. Unfold it slightly, and you will have an elegant red rose! You can then fold it back into a cube. Watch the video...We also have a few of our Christmas Packs from previous years left, which we are selling at reduced prices. People who bought this item also bought:
