Comments on: Make: Projects – Invisible Glass Photography

By: Sean Ragan

Sean Ragan — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:35:17 +0000

Sure. It’s attached to the original project here:

http://makeprojects.com/Project/Soda-Can-Label-Embossing/1921/1

And here’s the direct link for the right-handed cutting template:

http://make-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/lvGBBvDODNYRnNg5.pdf

And for the left-handed cutting template:

http://make-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/wwUmwIrccNIHYqOV.pdf

By: R Herndon

R Herndon — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 06:54:05 +0000

Any chance you can post a URL for the original project’s printable spiral that leads to superior scissor cuts when hand-making the tape from drink cans?

By: Sean Ragan

Sean Ragan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:17:21 +0000

Thanks, Kelly. One interesting thing I’ve seen already is what happens when the inner container is not filled with oil, but with something else. Or even left empty. Basically, the container seems to disappear and you’re left with a sort of magical-looking hole, in the shape of the interior volume of the container, in the liquid. The hole by itself looks very strange, and I think a person could get some really cool shots by filling it with weird stuff: gravel, hair, ketchup, the contents of a just-activated chemical light-stick, etc.

By: Kelly Egan

Kelly Egan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:34:58 +0000

Actually just answered my own question… might be interesting to see what happens to those handblown glass paperweights with the swirls inside. Thanks for the idea!

By: Kelly Egan

Kelly Egan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:58:15 +0000

I don’t understand. If you remove the oil and the glass beaker, you have no reflection and a lot less mess. Is there a more complicated set up / situation where this technique really pays off?

By: John Edgar Park

John Edgar Park — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 02:59:36 +0000

You rule. Thanks for going the extra ten miles to get the shot!

By: Dave Bell

Dave Bell — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:27:55 +0000

Way, way back, in a prior century, I inadvertently did this in high school.
I had picked up a surplus 45/90/45° prism (WWII tank periscope part, some 2x2x6″), and wanted to strip the silver off the wide face. I placed the prism into a deep Pyrex dish, and poured on a mixture of sulfuric and hydrochloric acids (“Aqua Regia”), and left it overnight.
To my shock, all I saw in the dish in the morning was the protective backing paint, slumped drunkenly in the dish, as if against a melting ice cube! Fortunately, I poked it with a glass rod, rather than my first impulse of reaching in and grabbing it.
The prism was there, perfectly intact, but perfectly cloaked.
The silver had dissolved, leaving the paint untouched.

By: Sean Ragan

Sean Ragan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:05:38 +0000

A good suggestion, echoed by David Kirschtel, that did not occur to me as I was writing. Baby oil and Karo syrup were also possibilities. All are rather more expensive than corn oil, but if I were to do it again I think I would go ahead and spring for a water-white liquid. Glycerine would be a lot easier to clean up, too.

By: Sean Ragan

Sean Ragan — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:02:39 +0000

Not so surely, actually. Water has refractive index n=1.33. Pyrex has one of the lowest refractive indices of commonly available glasses at 1.47. Wesson oil, though requiring color correction, had the best combination of refractive index, price, and availability.

By: argentosapiens

argentosapiens — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:49:43 +0000

Why not glycerine? It’s clear and has n=1.473