Description
** Limited Edition of 176 **
I’m an artist, and this is a very special, affordable, precision, laser-cut & engraved, “stained glass” version of a special artwork of mine. I use the phrase “stained glass” because that is what it completely intentionally looks like – but actually it’s made of a mix of transparent, translucent, frosted, fluorescent, and opalescent pieces of acrylic – which is much safer than glass and can be cut considerably more precisely. It’s a unique art puzzle of a long-eared owl – or is it a bunch of small creatures that such an owl would eat…? Be under no illusion, if you are brave enough to mix up all the 44 pieces, it’s quite a challenge – and very rewarding when you complete it. It comes with a pair of white cotton gloves so you can try the puzzle without tarnishing its beautiful clean finish – and so you don’t have to spend time buffering off fingerprints!
It measures 290mm tall, 190mm wide, and 11mm deep (or 90mm deep if you include the custom designed 90mm long clear acrylic mice support “feet” it can optionally stand on). This is a sandwich consisting of three layers of acrylic firmly held together by strong magnets. The front and back outer panels are 3mm and 5mm (respectively) thick premium RECYCLED crystal clear cast Perspex®. These are the two slices of “bread” that support the inner “stained glass” art puzzle “filling” – and have strong magnets in their corners to hold the sandwich firmly together.
As standard it comes with a pair of unique, specially designed, complementary, stylish, crystal clear, 10mm thick, mice support “feet” – that the main artwork can be securely stood on. Placing this on a windowsill will show the art puzzle to best effect – allowing light from all directions to shine through it – and frontal light to reflect off it. Alternatively, you can choose to have the custom double-sided transparent openable magnetised wooden handable frame (see the last photo in the product gallery) – you decide the framing option when buying.
To try to actually do the puzzle, lift the main magnetised triple panel off the mice “feet” and lay it down, facing upwards (engraved side). Then slide the front 3mm clear panel horizontally about an inch or so (25mm) – so it is no longer being pulled by the magnets of the back panel. (Sliding the strong magnets apart is the easiest way to separate the panels and is the best way to avoid mishaps!) Now lift the front clear panel clean away and set it carefully to one side (preferably on a clean surface!). (Or simply lay down and open the wooden frame if you have chosen that option). This exposes the puzzle, so you can slide all the pieces off the thick clear back panel, scramble them, and now you can try and put it back together…
This limited edition of 176 was painstaingly made by using 44 different types (tints/opalescents/frosts/fluorescents) and colours of acrylic sheets – large enough to make four of the same per sheet. 44 times 4 gives 176. Every effort has been made to use the 44 different coloured tints/opalescents/frosts/fluorescents in this 44-piece art puzzle, and so each one should be unique because there are 44! (factorial) possible combinations – which is 2.658 to the power of 54 – that’s 2.658 with 54 zeros at the end (e.g. 1 million is 1 to the power of 6 – or 1 with six zeros at the end)! And because each one is different, they all have to be photographed, uniquely numbered, and sold separately – otherwise you would not know what you are getting – and they can differ very widely because they are effectively randomly coloured (albeit very carefully screened/curated by me).
While the pieces are smooth to the touch, it’s not suitable for unsupervised young children because some pieces are sharp by their very nature – like the tips of the tails of some of the small animals, and some pieces could easily be swallowed.
I’ve tried to be as eco-friendly as possible. The 3mm and 5mm clear cast acrylic is recycled, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t find 10mm recycled clear cast acrylic (used for the mice “feet”), nor could I find the multitude of colours in recycled form. The packaging is minimalist, but very strong (using double-walled cardboard), completely recycled and recyclable (I designed and made it).
Below is a video of me talking about these stained glass art puzzles on YouTube (https://youtu.be/afCATxQkIFc)
