Category: Magnet Limit
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86.5: Beneath the Surface – Judging
1st Place: “WHERE ARE THE TURTLES.” by Daniel Notary Daniel took first place with his turtle peaking out of the water. A fairly simple design, though he said “The head was somewhat simple to make, but after dropping it once I realized it was a little harder to recreate.” All the plants and rocks drive…
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86: Beneath the Surface
“…you can stare right at something and not see what lies beneath the surface.” –Jodi Picoult This is possibly our final contest, hopefully not, but here is why. The December 2020 contest is to produce a sculpture which creates the illusion that more lies beneath the surface. Swimmers, zombie hands, sea monsters, mammoths in tarpits,…
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85.5: Homunculus III – Judging
1st Place: “Santa” by Krazy Kat Krazy Kat secured 1st place with her super adorable Santa Claus. Perhaps this entry was more popular due to the season, but most likely it’s the perfect use of colored magnets and Kat’s Christmas Spirit. Certainly a jolly ol elf. 1st prize earns Krazy Kat $100. 2nd Place: “The…
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85: Homunculus III
The November 2020 contest is reviving a classic. Create a humanoid figure with magnets.
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84.5: Zen Stringed Instruments – Winners Announced
1st Place – “Magnetic Stradivarius” by Krazy Kat In first place is an impressive instrument. Krazy Kat’s Magnetic Stradivarius was modeled after a real violin in her home. The single strand magnet strings on the violin and the bow are impressive. An excellent job of including lots of details. First place awards Krazy Kat with…
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84: Unlimited Zen Stringed Instruments
The October 2020 contest is to create a stringed instrument out of an unlimited number of Zen Magnets. To narrow the scope a bit, limit yourself to one of the instruments from this list. We’ve hosted a musical instrument contest once before. If you made a stringed instrument in the past, feel free to use…
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83.5 Truncated 12-Triangle Subunit – Winners Announced
1st Place: “Prespective” by Kimball Kimball took 1st with this great shot. Comprised of a full Mandala set with interlocking subunits, the intersections of the build spell the word ZEN. Creative, well executed, nice job. 1st place awards Kimball $85 2nd Place: “Snowflake” by Zach Zach came in second with the Snowflake build. Nice symmetry,…
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83: Truncated 12-Triangle Subunit
The September contest is to build a sculpture using only truncated 12-triangle subunits. To create a truncated 12-triangle, make a ring with 3 Zen Magnets, then wrap 9 more magnets around the outside. You may pinch the subunit for your construction (see examples below). There is no limit on how many magnet spheres you may…
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82.5 Magnets in Motion – Winners Announced
1st Place – “I ❤️ Magnets and Tops” by Ssoltero SSoltero took first place with a classic pentagon top, colored to achieve a rainbow effect when spun. Plenty of motion blur here. 1st place awards SSoltero $85. 2nd Place – “Zen Bowling” by tend2it In second place we have tend2it’s “Zen Bowling.” The motion blur…
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82: Magnets in Motion
The August 2020 contest is to photograph magnets in motion. You may approach this two different ways: 1. The magnets are stationary and the camera is moved while the shutter is open, or 2. The magnets are in motion and the camera is in a stationary position. Either way, you’ll need to utilize a long…
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81.5: Hazardously Suited to Scenery – Winners Announced
1st Place: “Bridge” by johnny5 A decent attempt at blending a magnet sculpture into a landscape. The foreground trees mimic the background foliage colors enough to be convincing. Wishing that background was a little more in focus, but johnny5 said his aperture was completely maxed out. Bottom line, it looks like a bridge, and it…
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81: Hazardously Suited to Scenery
Your July 2020 mission, if you choose to accept, is to create an architectural construction and photograph it so that it appears to be a part of a landscape OUTSIDE. It’s landmarks mixed with the forced perspective contest, but not photographed on your desk. You can use any number of magnet spheres for your bridge,…
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80.5: Two Tone, One Set – Judging
1st Place: “Who is the real cactus?” by Luisin Luisin took first place with his two toned cactus. The inspiration for this build is lined up on his windowsill. He achieved the spiral effect by alternating magnet colors in a long single strand. All that work paid off, because first place awards Luisin with $90.…
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80: Two Tone, One Set
Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides. Junishiro Tanizaki The June 2020 contest is to create a build with exactly 216 magnets, split evenly into 2 colors. You will need 108 magnets of one color, 108 of another. Utilize…
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79.5: Unlimited Zen Aircraft – Winners Announced
1st Place – “Ready to takeoff” by Ra Tascon Ra Tascon took 1st place with his old school biplane complete with magnet runway. Most of the building blocks are quite simple, but together are very effective in completing this plane. The composition is very nice also. The runway leads your eye to the airplane, and…
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79: Unlimited Zen Aircraft
Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible. –Eddie Rickenbacker The May 2020 contest is to create and photograph an aircraft made entirely out of Zen Magnets. The Zen Gallery is chocked full of magnetic aeronautics, yet we’ve never held a contest. To be clear, the challenge is…
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78.5: Artsy Tree No. Three – Winners Announced
1st Place: “Lothlórien Apple Tree” by YoyoBandalore A construction hybrid, YoyoBandalore’s tree features a molded trunk while the leaves and fruit are composed of hexagons. Nice, vibrant photograph with sharp focus and a hint of Tolkien. 1st place awards YoyoBandalore with $70. 2nd Place: “Triple Ball Shaped Topiary Tree” by tend2it Some meticulous trimming went…
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78: Artsy Tree No. Three
Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life. -John Muir Long time no see, magnet sphere tree. The April 2020 contest is the treequel to the previously held abstract tree contests: #10 and #40. Use any brand of magnet spheres to make a self-supporting upright tree. No…
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77.5: Silhouette – Winners Announced
1st place: Electron Orbital by YoyoBandalore YoyoBandalore took first place with his bridged cuboctahedron. In order to achieve this photograph, “Figure was placed on a translucent cutting board with white wrapping tissue on top. The cutting board was supported by two champagne flutes with a LED light shining from below.” Precision framing and the tease…
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77: Silhouette
There are not many original shapes or silhouettes – only a million variations. Charles James The March 2020 contest is to create a build with 1728 magnets or less, and photograph it’s silhouette. Ergo, the magnets must be lit from behind, so they are shadowed in the photograph. You may construct whatever you please. Remember…
