"Things" in jars

[sidecar_jon]

Does anyone have information on historically accurate jars/lids/sealing combinations? When were metal screw-on lids invented? Were they sealed in wax additionally? Googling images, "antique specimen jars" doesn't yield much.

John Kilner (1792–1857) invented the jar of that name. And they were used for specimens. Probably if one thought they might need to be taken out for inspection, however the rubber seal perishes and needs replacement quite often. I've seen sealing wax used as its hard and impervious to air. Often over a cork plug.

[Bobby_Brazil]

pretty neat and alot easier than finding the real thing good job!

[Quebrith]

I ran across this link today on popurls:

http://aranamuerta.com/2007/02/20/witch-kitchen-jars/

[Dr von Zarkov]

How about using those tritium-based glow keyrings?

Tritium-based illumination is severely restricted in USA due to radiation concerns. Even the esteemed SAS Betalight is unavailable.

[Commissar Swoosh]

Yea people are real nancies about irradiating the population. Wasn't it sold in little pendants that looked like glowsticks?

[Jake of All Trades]

I ran across this link today on popurls:

http://aranamuerta.com/2007/02/20/witch-kitchen-jars/

Nice!  I believe actually wanting to purchase snake oil is one of the definitions of a Steampunk. 

[CuriousGoods]

I just finished this (http://www.curiousgood.com/?page_id=365):

[Ramiel]

Tiff, that's cool!

[Vienna Fahrmann]

     Dear Curious,

    I'm glad you included a photo of the sheep head right side up.  I thought it was a frog when I saw it in the jar.  Nice item.

     Vienna

[Mydnight]

Luminous paint needs UV light to "charge" and then discharges over a couple of hours.  I think (correct me if my science is weak) water is a strong UV filter, so submersion is preventing the paint from charging up.

I think you could be wrong there -- UV light is also what causes sunburns, and people burn a LOT worse if they are swimming than if they are sunbathing.

[Dr von Zarkov]

One hesitates to interrupt the present thread, but may we suggest a source of a humanoid brain for jars?

Westminster Inc's range of "Growing Anatomy" includes a Human Brain which expands in water to 600% its original size (1.0 x 1.5 inches). These may be found at the better toy and museum shoppes in USA. Another source is Extreme Geek. Removal of the swollen organ from its aqueous environment shall, in time, reduce its size to the original.

[Difference Engineer]

I'm interested in other peoples experiences with making "things" in jars, preserved specimens etc. Couple of years ago i made about four, for other people and retained one for myself. I constructed a brass armature and built up with Epoxy putty (Milliput) painted then with aluminium paint and then a combination of sponged household gloss paint and modellers paint and the odd glow in the dark patch. The ones for others i placed in jars and filled them with Glycerine. Thinking it would be best for preserving the paint. The one i retained, i filled with ordinary water with a dash of yellow food colouring. I expected the water to fairly rapidly peel off the paint, but that hasn't happened at all, indeed its the same now as it was when it submerged.

Anyone had more experience with making such things?

I can recommend Glycerine as a medium, when moved it shimmers like a heat haze then settles to crystal clearness.

I made one or two during my days in undergraduate college, one a gift for a friend and associate who is a scholar of the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.  My medium of choice was Sculpey, using wads of aluminum foil as an armature.  I do not recall the brand of acrylic paint used on the sculpture, though the transparent epoxy sealant used to protect the paint gave it a most delightful slimy appearance.  Prolonged immersion in plain tap water (six to seven months, I do not recall which) did nothing harmful to the finish of the statuette, and so far as I know it is still in good shape and sitting on herr D:. P:.'s desk in his office.

Aethyr daguerreotype at this location (ported from an earlier version of the website).

[Difference Engineer]

Nicely done, Sidecar Jon.  I especially like the texturing of the final image posted - almost like an amphibian of some kind.  Tell me, what did you use as your armature, coat-hanger wire?

[Difference Engineer]

For organic (read: dead animal) specimens, I've had reasonable results with ethyl alcohol.  This is what I used to preserve the small lizard that my wife gave to me whilst we were courting.  I haven't ever changed the alcohol, and it's been nigh on seven years now that he's been sitting in his beaker...the only problem is a slight discoloration of the alcohol itself, as well as loss of pigment in the skin of the lizard.  I happen to like those two aspects, so it presents no hardship to me.

Ethyl alcohol works nicely with crustacea, much moreso than mammalian specimens in my experience.  My only complaint is that said samples tend to lose most if not all of their colouration, though it can be entertaining to spin tales to youngsters about why one has a bright pink crayfish floating in a jar.

[Difference Engineer]

I've always wanted to do a floating brain in bubbling fluid, along with the eyes/retinas and spinal cord still attached - ie, it was still "alive" and the, um, person still conscious of the fact that they were a brain floating in a jar.

I got this idea from the Second Robocop movie, after the villians brain was removed and before it was placed in the bigger robots body.

It is also reminiscent of a Mi-Go Brain Cannister, from Lovecraft's stories.

[Difference Engineer]

or... encase the "thing" in a sealed condom and sink it in the jar...

...preserved tentacles or internal organs, perhaps?

[Difference Engineer]

I've been toying with the idea of creating a kind of blue "Energy crystal", crafed out of polymer clay and placed in a specimen jar. However, I also want it to glow in the dark while submerged in the water, a faint blue glow. Would any of you gentlemen happen to know a medium to coat the 'crystal' with that could create this glow and allow it to be submerged? Any help you gents could offer would be greatly appreciated as always!

I used transparent epoxy for that purpose.  So far as the associate I gifted the piece to says, it still glows for a goodly period of time after years of submersion, so long as he gives it opportunity to recharge itself through exposure to luminiferous aethyr.  If you like I could dig up the name of the epoxy used as sealant.

[sidecar_jon]

Nicely done, Sidecar Jon.  I especially like the texturing of the final image posted - almost like an amphibian of some kind.  Tell me, what did you use as your armature, coat-hanger wire?

Brass rod (as i had them handy) and galvanised garden wire...texturing was dots with a Q-tip. and paint on a rough sponge.

[Commander Obadiah]

The reason people get more sunburnt in the water, is because the UV is reflected off onto them from both the sky and the water. The reason could be that glass is a perfect UV blocker.

Commander C. Obadiah

[Lord Croker]

Not all glass blocks UV. Otherwise UV tubes would have to be made of something other than glass!

Charlie.

[Commander Obadiah]

I stand corrected, and at a vague northward lean.

Commander C. Obadiah

[Baron von Fogel]

Alright, I've been meaning to get around to registering on the forums here, but seeing this thread topic has spurred me to finally do it.  Last fall, I made a number of mutant mammalian fetuses in jars.  I won't blather on about them too much, so here is a link to my blog, where I've posted a number of photos and a description.

http://baronvonfogel.blogspot.com/2007/10/fetus-for-sale.html

Enjoy!

Cheers,

~Von Fogel

[Ben Franklin's Electric Kite]

Does anyone have information on historically accurate jars/lids/sealing combinations? When were metal screw-on lids invented? Were they sealed in wax additionally? Googling images, "antique specimen jars" doesn't yield much.

Quite an old post to be responding to, but old laboratory specimen jars don't seal at all. They are very thick, clear glass and have a heavy lid with a big knob on top. Igor tops off the fluid from time to time.

You can, at least in the US, buy real formalin from aquarium-shops.

[Phineas Lamar Alexander]

 Or you could resort to the next best thing.... The glass kitchen canister that was so popular a few years ago is still readily available at most of the Linens and Things stores as well as Bed Bath and Beyond.

[SalieriAAX]

I recall watching lunatic runaway Daily-Mail Conservative Jeremy Clarkson on the BBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" (A programme where celebrities trace their genaeology) and one of his ancestors in the 19th century held the patent on a jar with what I think was a glass lid which I think sealed itself as hot contents cooled down and lowered the internal pressure.  I have no idea what it was called though, which is very helpful.