Mood Ring Toilet Seat... WHAT?

by evanandkatelyn

20K15221

Intro: Mood Ring Toilet Seat... WHAT?

Making a mood ring toilet seat might be the weirdest project we’ve ever done... but it's Reddit's fault (mostly).

STEP 1: WHY?

We first started thinking about this project when we saw an image of it on Reddit at the subreddit DiWHY. At first you only might wonder... WHY? Just why would you want to make this?.. but then we started wondering... HOW? What would be the best way to make this? Well, there are some pretty standard ways to turn ANYTHING into a "mood ring" like object. Before we get into that though, some background on how thermochromatic crystals work.

STEP 2: HOW?

The liquid crystals we used twist as the temperature changes. At lower temperatures it is non-reflective (black) but as the temperature increases, the light passing through the crystal undergoes Bragg diffraction at the wavelength that has the greatest interference is reflected back, which is perceived as a color by our eyes.

STEP 3: Example

Here is an example of a past project undergoing temperature change. In this case we brought this controller from an air-conditioned room into the sunlight which heated up the controller and bent the crystals through their range of colors.

STEP 4: Find the Correct Object

Start with a black object (preferably shiny/glossy). The smoother the better. If you spray the thermochromatic liquid crystals over white, the effect is almost nonexistent because the white color will always reflect ALL light, instead of just the light that the crystals are reflecting.

STEP 5: Airbrush

Use an airbrush to spray a fine mist of the thermochromatic liquid crystals. We started with the cheapest $9 airbrush we could find... and SEVERELY regretted that. The cheap single action airbrush clogged every 2 minutes or so. We upgraded to a dual action one that cost all of $20!! It was so much better because we were able to open up the nozzle to a larger diameter and it clogged much less and was easier to clean.

STEP 6: Protect

The thermochromatic liquid crystals are suspended in what is basically water and NO adhesives/sealers at all. Just rubbing your finger across the coating will rub it off so you need to protect it. In the past we used an enamel spraypaint but that was NOT durable enough. Maybe we did not use enough coats but something like a 2k high gloss clearcoat (basically a spray epoxy) is much more durable. Just spraying a few coats of that on should be good enough but we wanted to play it safe so we went the extra mile.

STEP 7: Protect (more)

We added RESIN! We love resin. It really smoothed out all the imperfections and left an amazing smooth and durable surface.

And that's pretty much it! Just need to do a quick test to make sure the crystals are still responsive under all that resin!

STEP 8: Test

... annnnnnd it's VERY functional still hahaha. Much more high definition than we imagined.

If you want to see more of our process and the problems we ran into along the way we have a full video available here: https://youtu.be/Aj9SDSAOXf4

17 Comments

Emerald04 2 years ago

This is hilarious : ) I found the instructable very intriguing lol.

guidess 3 years ago

Please, please, PLEASE! Don't ever take it out of your guest bathroom. It's not just enough that it exists. It must remain on active duty! "A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases..."

winneremerald12 4 years ago

Ahaha, at first I was like, "WHY JUST WHY" but then I was intrigued. "hMmMm..."
And read all the steps. LOL that gif tho

Rross22 4 years ago

does punished props have an instructables page ps watched the vid

brlittle 4 years ago

The heat bloom in the crystal after flaming the resin wasn't from the torch. The process oof setting the epoxy is exothermic. I'm betting that triggered the crystal.

NeilRG 4 years ago

Does the seat indicate an improved "mood" after use? Can it be calibrated? This might be a useful research tool for Gastroenterologists!!

dug1000 4 years ago

Truly the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while! Thank you!

pawarana 4 years ago

Where you can buy this paint?

XanderM7 4 years ago

Where do you buy those Crystals ????

BlackDidThis 4 years ago

the next time you do so such an airbrush project with a camera at that close a proximity: I would strongly advise you to protect your camera... Especially when you are doing so many coats.
The darn thing gets everywhere! And your equipent may pretty much suffer from this.

Ohtaror 4 years ago

So....how long does the evidence last?

skwilsonwa 4 years ago

Can you post a link to the product you used for the TH. Crystals please. Thanks

wordsnwood 4 years ago

Of all your recent projects THIS was the one you decided was worthy of Instructables....
🤣🤣🤣