Artists
George I. Bell
Puzzle Designer
Louisville, Colorado, USA
Statement
I am a retired mathematician and enjoy creating geometrical assembly puzzles. In the design process, one must carefully consider the symmetry of the final shape, and often during the process one finds new insights and understanding of the geometry involved. I use 3D printing to make most of my puzzles, for display objects I also work in wood.
Artworks
In 1975, Geoff Wyvill found a symmetrical arrangement of twelve identical rods where each rod touches five others. More remarkably, he found that the arrangement is stable and made it into a puzzle he named "Nova Plexus." Here I have doubled the diameter of each rod and added 30 half-depth notches to twelve hardwood dowels in four wood types. The resulting puzzle can be assembled into the same shape as Nova Plexus. I added a trapped tetrahedron to emphasize the tetrahedral symmetry. The tetrahedron was 3D printed in wax and cast in solid brass.
Cubane
9.0 x 9.0 x 9.0 cm
wood
2026
This interlocking assembly puzzle was inspired by a diagram of Cubane (C_8 H_8), a synthetic hydrocarbon compound. The diagram appeared in a 2019 Bridges paper by Bih-Yah Jin on bead constructions. My puzzle has four identical pieces with five spheres on each piece. Without the diagram, I would have never had the idea to make the outer spheres larger. A 3D printed version will be included for people who want to try to assemble this puzzle.