Happiness In A Pill

Forsooth Instructabrarians!

Here's a nostalgia trip for 90's fans.  Remember those dimestore Magic Grow animals and dinosaurs that you got when you would find in Safeway when you were a kid?  They came in blister packages and You would put them in water and then after a few seconds they would suddenly burst into a creative foam creature? And then sometimes you would laugh as someone mistook them for medicine and then swallowed them? Classic.

Well, as it turns out, somethings never get old.  After spending a few hours at the SAN FRANCISCO TECH SHOP, yes, I MADE IT AT TECH SHOP, I have successfully recreated this childhood past time, but with my own creative designs.  Thus we have my childhood Happiness In A Pill. For Emergencies Only!

Step 1: Inspiration

Magic Grow toys always fascinated me as a kid.  Not because I thought they were amazingly complicated or astounding, but by how simple they were.  Even as a child I knew they were basically just sponges haphazardly shoved inside a disposable capsule.  Nothing really groundbreaking here.

And yet, I still found them totally AWESOME.  So when I decided to make my own, I decided to create ones with some of my more adult interests now to continue my childhood fascination.

Comments

[freeza36]

I loved playing with these when I was about 4. Great Job!

[pneil1]

wow that project is really cool and i wonder what it does if i put one in my mouth

[pillsy07]

i always wondered what would happen if you swallowed one of those grow pills

[sjbrown]

Fun project, I remember these being so amazing when I was a kid. A question though: what's that foam made of? Is it safe to cut in the laser cutter?

[SHIFT!]

Hmmmm, I'm not quite sure what the foam itself is made of (except for saying "foam") but it is laser cutter safe, at least to a certain degree. Set your speed to 100 and your power below 20 and you should be fine.

[sjbrown]

One should always check that materials don't give off fumes that are corrosive to the machine or toxic to humans. A bit more detail here: http://www.epiloglaser.com/tl_msds.htm

[ilpug]

you can buy empty capsules bulk at a health food store. At least, in Northern California you can.

[rrkrose]

I love these things! My sister and I used to use them all the time. To bad I don't have a laser cutter. :(

[Browncoat]

Oh man. If I can manage to make one of these that holds an outline of the spaceship Serenity, I will be the HERO of the next Shindig!!

[SHIFT!]

PM me your mailing address Browncoat and you're there!

[Browncoat]

Really?! Well aren't you a Big Darn Hero! :D

[sunshiine]

I loved this! Thanks for sharing!
sunshiine