Here I am bowing a Cymatics plate made of steel. It is painted with black enamel and I sprinkle table salt on the surface before playing it with a violin bow. This is one of the oldest methods for creating cymatics patterns; Ernst Chladni used this technique in 1787 in pretty much exactly the same way I am here.
The plate vibrates showing the actual shape of the sound being played. As you can see, every time I shift the bow slightly or change anything about the way I play it, the shape of the sound, and the pattern the salt makes changes as well. The size and shape (and thickness) of the plate are all variable factors, so there are infinite possibilities for variation.
I am now working on my first set of 15 steel Cymatics “paintings” using salt on untreated steel. More photos and videos of that to follow (sign up for my cymatics mailing list above if you want to be notified when I have photos of my new cymatics work up for viewing).
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I am currently in a forensics class. To add to your growing body of literature if you type in bone histology/osteon you will see these little circular shapes. They remind me of the shapes of some of the images of cymatics you show.
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Jodina Meehan Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
K- thanks for the intriguing hint, I will check it out. I love finding avenues for cymatics connections I’ve never encountered before!
–Jodina
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