Awesome Copper

Seth Robinson is adept at making metal objects. For this project, he created a 16-pound copper ice press that produces smooth spheres of ice. Creating the press involved lost-PLA casting, sand casting, and machining the metal to create its perfectly round parts. Once a cylinder of ice is placed inside, it can make a sphere in about 20 seconds.

We love the look of those wood tables that incorporate epoxy to create a river effect. Burls Art thought it would be cool to try filling those gaps with copper instead of resin. As you’ll see from the video, it’s not as simple as pouring molten copper into the wood. The heat would set it on fire. Instead, he had to create molds from the wood and then cast copper in those.

After making a neodymium magnet float inside a thick copper tube, metalsmith Seth Robinson thought he’d see if he could achieve the same inside of a sphere. What he ended up casting was a cool-looking truncated icosahedron with holes in it so we can see if the magnetic orb inside would levitate. (Thanks, Jesse!)

Beautify any mechanical keyboard with these lovely real metal keycaps from Awekeys. They’re made from recycled aluminum with copper plating. The keycaps produce an extra-clicky sound and are cool to the touch. They fit a variety of MX key switches and come in a base 116-key set, with add-ons like etched eagle-themed keys by artist Daniel Mitchell.

Memobottle celebrates ten years of making slimline water bottles with a special Elements metal series. The watertight containers come in satin steel, copper PVD, and titanium. The steel bottles come in four sizes, from 8 oz to 20 oz. The copper ones are available in a 16 oz. size, and the titanium in a skinny 20 oz. size.

Burls Art is back with another unusual handcrafted guitar. For his latest build, he melted 50 pounds of braided copper wire and tin, then poured the molten metal into Petrobond molds to cast its neck and body. He made a mistake with the first casting, but fortunately, metal is easily recycled, and a do-over was possible. The finished guitar weighs nearly 40 pounds.

Ordinary LEGO bricks are made from molded plastic. For something with more substance, check out these cool metal building blocks from ScrappersOutpost. The CNC-machined bricks interlock just like the real deal too. They come in aluminum, brass, or copper, and there are discounts for buying multiples. They also make a keychain version.

Look Mum No Computer enjoys making music with analog audio gear like modular synthesizers. In this video, he goes even further to avoid digital technology by making a reverb device out of a spiral of copper tubing. By placing a small speaker at one end of the tube and a microphone at the other it produces some interesting audio delay effects.

This unique jacket from Vollebak is made from 11 km (6.83 mi) of thin copper wire layered with polyurethane and polyamide. The result is a lightweight garment that resists water, wind, and bacteria – and looks amazing. It has a total of seven pockets, including two fleece-lined side pockets. Its neck is also lined with fleece for comfort and warmth.

Given its softness, copper is not a great material for weaponry or tools – but it sure looks awesome. In this video from Mini Katana, they teamed up with a metalsmith to turn thousands of pennies into a unique sword. But hunting down enough vintage copper pennies was only the start of their problems.

This pocket-sized machined copper flashlight from CountyComm has a right-angle-mounted light so you can clip it into your pocket and aim it forward for hands-free use. It runs on a single AAA battery and outputs up to 185 lumens thanks to a bright Cree G3 LED. A glow-in-the-dark reflector makes it easy to find, and it comes with a stainless steel pocket clip.

MecArmy’s miniature compass is small enough to wear as a pendant, on your keychain, or attached to a bag. It features a high-sensitivity movement with an anti-magnetic bearing and glow-in-the-dark markings and comes in copper, brass, or TC4 titanium for $10 extra. Measures 1.48″ L x 0.925″ W x 0.51″ H.

This palm-sized flashlight from CountyComm looks great with its solid copper body and tactile finger grip texture. Powered by a single CR123 battery, its Cree XP-G3 LED offers three brightness modes: 5 lumens, 55 lumens, and 450 lumens. Put it in your pocket or hang it from your keychain. It measures 2.75″ long and weighs 2.7 oz.

We’ve seen what happens when introducing a red-hot metal sphere to a jawbreaker. So what do you think will happen if you place a molten copper ball into a glass filled with popcorn kernels? Snap Object has the answer. After a slow start, things really get going once a little oil is added to the mix. We’re impressed that the glass didn’t crack.

There are obsessions, and then there’s this. Artist Robert Wechsler spent seven years making this sculpture entirely from pennies. He built the 540-pound tower of pennies by cutting four slots into 100,000 pennies, assembling them into strings, and then into sheets for stacking. He had to build a special rig to press the pennies together, a dozen at a time.

AltDynamic is back with two larger sizes of its Superegg desk plaything. The machined metal eggs feature a superelliptical shape, and now come in 2.4″ (Mighty) and 2.88″ (Mega) variants. Each can be ordered in stainless steel, copper, or titanium, with mirror, satin, or machined finishes. Mini and Classic sizes are also available during this Kickstarter campaign.