"Things" in jars

[Herr Döktor]

Kilner jar. God bless Wikipedia!

[SalieriAAX]

My explanation of how they worked was a lie, a lie.  That may have been because, unhelpfully, they spent the whole show talking about the jars and barely showed one on screen.

[Herr Döktor]

I recently picked up a Kilner-style jar a kitchen shop, I had to make some fake 1940s toffees for a museum in the States, and the jar was perfect.

[Vekk]

I recently picked up a Kilner-style jar a kitchen shop, I had to make some fake 1940s toffees for a museum in the States, and the jar was perfect.

Hmm just in case,  Here in the US. We call them Mason Jar's also.  I have never heard the term Kilner until now. But now I have!!

[Ben Franklin's Electric Kite]

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.

I know just the canister you mean, with a big glass knob on the top, a kitchen canister or apothecary's jar, and it comes in several sizes, up to a two-gallon one that's just about right for a human head. Unfortunately, the clarity of this jar is much inferior to a real old lab specimen jar. The glass is much thinner, and ripply. Also, the lids of old specimen jars are frosted-edged, fit deeper, and fit more closely. It's about as good as you'll get, though. They don't make the old glass specimen jars any more, modern ones are plastic with a bright orange screwtop lid.

Canning jars just don't give me the 'mad science!' feeling because, well. You could store your specimens in canning jars, but you don't really want to can your specimen. Food is preserved in such jars by being sealed and heat-sterilized inside. Your specimen would get cooked. Every time you took it out and put it back you'd have to cook it again, which would destroy it. Of course, if your canning jar in-use-as specimen jar was filled with formalin, you wouldn't re-seal it and cook it, you'd just close it, but the look of the thing, eh?

[Talyn]

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

Saw these over at IndyMogul, good job

[polyphemus]

I posted this once, but it was a while ago. I think this jar was a pretzel or cookie jar originally.

[Johannes von Koenigsbach]

I posted this once, but it was a while ago. I think this jar was a pretzel or cookie jar originally.

*gasp*  I don't know what it is.  But I love it with an intensity that may well be a crime....


JMK

[octochan]

I have a bunch of Kilner jars, among other similar glass vessels such as apothecary jars and one large jar with a glass stopper that has a hole in the top. The hole has ground edges, so I assume it originally had another, smaller stopper in it, or it was meant to be hooked up to some other apparatus.
My problem is finding things to put in them. I have a beaver skull, a small, mummified lizard, and a bunch of crudely modeled purple plastic fetuses (salvaged from someone else's project),  but these aren't quite the types of specimens one expects to find suspended in fluid.

[Titus Wells]

Oooooh, I found this thread! Let's start it up again!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[polyphemus]

My mummified sprite. See also the main posting.

[Matthias Gladstone]

Ah! I never knew about this thread.
My first attempt, sadly cloudier than I intended. It is flourescent though:

-Matt

[steamtastic]

i once made my own pickled gherkin in a jar once.
it not steampunky i know.

[Matthias Gladstone]

no, but far tastier (well, for some anyway!)

[polyphemus]

"A considerable amount of light can be obtained by connecting ordinary household 120 volt AC voltage across a pickle."
Google
'electric pickle' for the sordid details

[Phineas Lamar Alexander]

I have wanted to do this for the longest time. I have some experience in sculpting and casting but I don't have the best resources for doing this any longer. I used to work in costuming and had terrific access to all sorts of materials. Now sadly this is not the case... where might one acquire the putty mentioned above and what are some brand names please.

[Titus Wells]

I use milliput (widely available from UK craft and hardware stores) and sculpey. My thing in a jar, though, is a latex casting from a clay model. Fortunately, being a propmaker, I get all sorts of expensive materials like silicones and polyurethanes left over from client's jobs which I would never be able to afford otherwise.

[tombanwell]

I would like to try my hand at this, and am wondering what the liquid should be. Water being obviously the simplest and cheapest, but will it allow mold or whatever to grow? Are there other liquids recommended? Thanks,

[Titus Wells]

Mine are just water, with a splash of food colouring, but they've only been there for a couple of weeks. If you change the water every month or so you'd probably be safe. Of course, it depends what your subject is made of.....

[Capt. Dirigible]

For the past 25 years I've worked for a medical history library and  have come in  contact with several 'real' things in jars..including two headed fetuses..human brains and variously diseased organs'

About 15 years ago the curator of our  tropical medicine museum was having a clear out of pathology specimens. Some went to training schools some were destroyed..and some made it to our respective homes.
I still have a perfectly preserved human heart  (veins and arteries highlighted with dyes) in formaldahyde on a shelf in my lounge. I used to have a bi-sected human kidney as well but when my ex girlfriend and I split up she asked if she could have one of them and I let her have the kidney.

If you're really into 'things in jars' (and I mean real bits of humans and  animals not little man made monsters...cool though the pics here are)..you can always check out the Hunterian Society's Collection..open to the public and utterly fascinating.

[rovingjack]

I would like to try my hand at this, and am wondering what the liquid should be. Water being obviously the simplest and cheapest, but will it allow mold or whatever to grow? Are there other liquids recommended? Thanks,

I've mixed some stuff up before but I think in general what I'll do from now on is simple buy those massive bottles of bubble blowing liquid in red and green colors and mix them. It's soap glycerine and water. and that stuff sits on shelves at home for long periods without molding I think as long as you don't add anything that molds to it you should be alright.

I will note that my previous attempt included a heavily fragranced and high alchohol soap solution in water... and it began to effect the materials I had used to paint the object. It's essentially got a dilute paint thinner in it.

[Matthias Gladstone]

Perosnally I just used water, glass paint and highlighter ink - however, as i'm sure you can see, i used far too much highlighter ink!
A few drops are good as it makes the liquid flourescent. As my model wasn't painted, I also added a few drops of methanol to keep the mould off.
-Matt

[Siggy]

Saw this thread and thought I'd try my hand at it.  I'm afraid it's a rather poor first attempt as I haven't done much sculpting beyond playing with play-doh as a kid.  Sculpey is rather fun, though.  But here it is, anyway:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[polyphemus]

Dingy up the water with some tea, slap a label on it, put it somewhere to collect dust for a year...
Looking very good.

[Dr von Zarkov]

Large-capacity glass containers are available here.