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iisaw's avatar

Enigmatic Instrument

By iisaw
1K Favourites
384 Comments
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Not an astrolabe. ;)

Process:

The "Cosmolabe" was made of layered brass sheets:

I did the designs for the markings in Illustrator, printed them out reversed and inverted on a transparency from a laser printer, ironed them onto the brass (with judicious use of a sharpie for clean-up) and acid etched them with the circuit board fluid you can get at Radio Shack. Then I cut out the pieces with a jeweler's saw and filed them smooth. The permanently fixed pieces were riveted together using small brass brads.
IMAGE DETAILS
Image size
879x448px 426.35 KB
Make
OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Model
X400,D580Z,C460Z
Shutter Speed
10/800 second
Aperture
F/4.6
Focal Length
14 mm
ISO Speed
100
Date Taken
Mar 23, 2007, 6:26:44 PM
Published:
© 2007 - 2020 iisaw
Comments384
anonymous's avatar
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tekmark's avatar
SO YOU MAKE COSMIC CLOCKS THAT UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE

YOU CAN OBTAIN ETCH RESIST PEN
EVLWNS's avatar
Most excellent. Most excellent indeed.
mimeflayer's avatar
Stunning.
A Voynichian NonAstrolabe
It's this kind of originality, firmly grounded in the traditional but uniquely moder,
That keeps me coming back to DeviantArt.
And the craftsmanship is superb!
Well Done!
iisaw's avatar
Thank you very much!
N0rgel's avatar
thanks for posting, it's very inspiring!
Cloud-Dragonz's avatar
Cool so the laser printer "ink" works as a resist? Never thought of that :)
Mishka069's avatar
OOOh that's really cool bro, such skill, such patience, you are truelly a craftsman of the old school...;-)
iisaw's avatar
Pheenix42's avatar
This is movie-prop quality!
iisaw's avatar
Pheenix42's avatar
You're very welcome!
BabakoSen's avatar
Oh wow, it's got Voynich script on it!
iisaw's avatar
Yup! Not one in a hundred thousand people would recognize that!
ChibiWall's avatar
Fantastic! I have no words °A°
iisaw's avatar
Thank you very much!
Paul-Nasca's avatar
Oooh acid etching on brass! Great idea, and great work!
iisaw's avatar
azamnoor's avatar
Very nice!!! WOW!!! I Love it!!! As I am a astrolabe lover, this is truley a piece of among the finest metal artworks. Can I buy this? - Azam Noor, Malaysia (azzameen@gmail.com)
iisaw's avatar
Thank you very much! I'm sorry but the original is not for sale.
KOGR's avatar
is thsi functional to ratio?
iisaw's avatar
From within the design parameters, yes.
yruhauntingme's avatar
Could u tell me where I've seen this code before it has something to do with the Codex Sinaiticus.
anonymous's avatar
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