Crystal Ball Project 111

This image was part of a series of experimental shots using a crystal ball to either magnify part of the image or reflect the surroundings or both.... more

by Sarah Loft

Title

Crystal Ball Project 111

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph - Digitally Painted Photograph

Description

This image was part of a series of experimental shots using a crystal ball to either magnify part of the image or reflect the surroundings or both. In this case a friend is holding up the crystal ball and catching the inverted reflection of a peacock feather.

Per Wikipedia: A crystal ball, also known as an orbuculum, is a crystal or glass ball and common fortune telling object. It is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying in particular.

Crystal balls are popular props used in mentalism acts by stage magicians. Such routines, in which the performer answers audience questions by means of various ruses, are known as crystal gazing acts. One of the most famous performers of the 20th century, Claude Alexander, was often billed as "Alexander the Crystal Seer".

A transparent sphere of any material with refractive index greater than one brings parallel rays of light to a rough focus (that is, a focus with significant coma). For typical values of the refractive index, this focus is usually very near the surface of the sphere, on the side diametrically opposite to where the rays entered. If the refractive index is greater than 2, the focus is inside the sphere, so the brightest accessible point is on its surface directly opposite the source of light. However, few materials have that property. For most materials, the focus is slightly outside the sphere. The closer the refractive index is to 2, the closer the focus is to the surface of the sphere, and hence the brighter the spot formed on an object touching the sphere.

Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology displays the third largest crystal ball as the central object in its Chinese Rotunda. Weighing 55 pounds, the sphere is made of quartz crystal from Burma and was shaped through years of constant rotation in a semi-cylindrical container filled with emery, garnet powder, and water. The ornamental treasure was purportedly made for the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) during the Qing dynasty in the 19th century, but no evidence as to its actual origins exists. In 1988, the crystal ball and an ancient Egyptian statuette, which depicted the god Osiris were stolen from the Penn Museum, but were recovered three years later with no damage done to either object.

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Featured in the Beige,Brown,Sepia group, March, 2014.

Featured in the Bedroom Art Gallery group, July 2017.

Featured in the Out of the Ordinary group, August 2020.

Uploaded

May 27th, 2013