kestrell: (Default)
Kestrell ([personal profile] kestrell) wrote2011-07-13 05:42 pm

The marvelous toy

My most favorite toy ever was a metal thingie I bought in a science store. It was basically made of wires hinged in all sorts of ways so that one could make an almost infinite variety of geometric shapes. I've been looking for a replacement for years, might this
http://www.smithsonianstore.com/new-arrivals/toys/chrome-tangle-68049.html
be it?
jesse_the_k: (Braille Rubik's Cube)

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2011-07-14 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
The Smithsonian's item is groovy looking but also rather modern in style.

I remember a marvelous toy when I was small which was a series of wire loops hinged with colored wooden beads. The wire tension inside the beads and between the loops was enough to keep them in place after one had fiddled and faddled to get interesting shapes. But that lovely thingamabob would always produce bilaterally symmetrical constructions; I don't think the chrome tangle could make any sort of symmetry.