Browse Items

Chemistry Lab Fundamentals -- Precision & Safety

Small group (max 4). Proper lab technique: titration, crystallization, fractional precipitation, safe handling of chemicals. I'll teach you the way I learned at the Sorbonne -- hands on, precise, no shortcuts. You will weigh to four decimal places. You will label every beaker. You will keep a proper lab notebook. Sloppiness in a lab kills people. I should know.

Cloud Chamber (Wilson Type, Desktop)

Desktop cloud chamber that makes radioactive particle tracks visible. Pour in isopropyl alcohol, cool the base, and watch cosmic rays and natural radiation leave vapor trails in real time. It's like seeing the invisible forces that pass through your body every second. Mesmerizing and educational.

Scientific Method Workshop -- Question Everything

Small group (max 6). Hands-on experiments: pendulums, inclined planes, falling objects. We'll replicate my actual experiments from the 1600s. You'll learn to form hypotheses, design experiments, collect data, and draw conclusions. Aristotle said heavy objects fall faster than light ones. I proved him wrong. You'll prove him wrong too, with your own hands.

Lens Grinding Kit (Optical, Beginner)

Everything you need to grind and polish your own optical lens. Glass blanks, grinding compounds, polishing pitch, a simple grinding jig. I ground my own lenses in Padua. It takes patience and steady hands. The reward is a lens that you made, that sees what no human eye can see alone.

Letterpress Printing Workshop -- Set Type, Pull Prints

Hands-on letterpress session. Pick individual lead type from the case, compose a line, lock it in the chase, ink the form, and pull a print. You'll leave with a hand-printed broadside. Tip: Set type mirror-image, left to right becomes right to left. The first time everyone gets it backwards. That's why we call it 'mind your p's and q's' -- they're mirror images in the type case.

Tabletop Printing Press (Working Replica)

Working replica of a 15th-century screw press, scaled to tabletop size. Wooden frame, iron screw, leather ink balls. Comes with a starter set of lead type (Textura blackletter) and oil-based ink. Print your own pages. The same mechanism that ended the Dark Ages, now in your kitchen.

Ink Making Workshop -- Oil-Based, From Scratch

Make your own oil-based printing ink from linseed oil, soot, and pigments. Water-based ink was fine for stamps but terrible for type -- it beaded up on metal. I had to invent a new ink. You'll leave with a jar of ink good enough to print with. Wear old clothes.

Electricity Demonstration -- Kite, Key & Leyden Jar

Safe indoor demonstration of static electricity, Leyden jars, and electrical conduction. We will NOT be flying kites in thunderstorms. I did that once and it was phenomenally reckless. Instead, we'll use friction machines and Leyden jars to generate sparks, charge objects, and understand positive vs negative charge. I named those, by the way.

Bifocal Lens Demonstration & Fitting

I got tired of switching between two pairs of glasses -- one for reading, one for distance. So I cut the lenses in half and combined them. Revolutionary? No. Practical? Enormously. This workshop covers basic optics, lens grinding principles, and why bifocals work. Tip: The best inventions solve annoyances, not emergencies.

Franklin Stove (Cast Iron, Working Replica)

Cast iron replica of the Pennsylvania Fireplace. More efficient than an open fireplace -- the baffle system circulates warm air into the room instead of up the chimney. I refused to patent it. Some things should be free. The Governor of Pennsylvania offered me a patent; I said no. Heat is a public good.

Steppe Survival Workshop -- Live Off the Land

Three-day outdoor survival. How the Mongol army traveled without supply lines. Dried meat under the saddle, fermented mare's milk, hunting on the move. Tip: A Mongol rider carries 10 days of food in two saddlebags. Learn to need less.

Mongol Composite Recurve Bow & Quiver (30 Arrows)

Laminated horn-sinew-wood composite bow, 160-pound draw. Effective range 350 yards. Comes with 30 arrows -- armor-piercing, broad-head, and whistling signal arrows. I will string it for you. Most people cannot.