Making Magnetic Art Sculptures
A DIY guide to making your own magnetic art sculptures with neodymium magnets
Reviewing most commons ways that magnets lose strength or have less pull force.
In this article we will cover the following topics:
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1. What is Magnetic Art and Magnetic Sculptures?
Magnetic art refers to the creative practice of building shapes, designs, and three-dimensional sculptures using magnets. Magnetic sculptures can be a simple geometric shape to complex patterns with repeating shapes forming some type of structure or imitating real-life objects such as animals, technology or other common objects.
Magnetic art is a growing hobby like magnet fishing and is a creative outlet where you can put to use your imagination and DIY skills to make something unique and spectacular. In addition to having infinite creative potential, you can turn all of your creations into decorations for your desktop, room or workshop. Just be careful as larger neodymium magnets used in magnetic art are still dangerous!!
2. What are the Best Magnets to use for Building Magnet Art?
Not all magnet sizes and shapes are suited for making magnet art. Of course it all depends on what type of sculpture you are trying to make, but most people tend to choose magnets that allow for repeating patterns or that can be made into basic shapes that can be combined into more complex ones. Below are lists of which magnets and steel parts are best for building magnetic art sculptures and which magnets and shapes may not be the most suited for magnet art.
Top 4 magnet shapes to use for building magnet art
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Cylinders
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Rings
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Cubes
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Blocks
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Steel Balls
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Not magnets, but are vital in building many types of magnetic structures. |
Top 3 things to avoid when choosing magnets for building magnetic sculptures
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Magnet too strong - If the magnet is too strong, it is not well suited for making magnetic sculptures.
- Can create a pinching hazard.
- The field may be too strong and attract other magnets or steel.
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Hard to handle magnetic field shape - Some magnetization directions or field shapes are not the best for making art, but it depends on what sculptures you are trying to build.
- Diametric magnetization and blocks magnetized certain ways may not attach the way you would expect and may not be best for many models.
- Certain shapes like arc segments may work for some sculptures, but will likely be hard to attach in the way you would imagine.
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Mismatched magnet vs. steel ball size - If you are using steel balls with magnets, make sure the magnets are not too big for the steel balls or the magnets will over-saturate the steel and likely want to stick to the neighboring magnets rather than the steel. We have put together a recommended size chart below.
Top choices for each magnet type
| Steel Ball | Recommended Rod Magnets | |||
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| Steel Ball | Recommended Ring Magnets | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recommended Cube Magnets | ||||
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Shop All Neodymium Magnets
Strong neodymium rare earth magnets in all shapes, sizes and strength grades. Use our magnet calculators and check each pull force plus our Leverage & Friction articles etc. to find the right magnet size, grade and strength for your project. Still need help? Contact us for magnet technical and project design assistance!
3. How to Start Building your Own Magnetic Art
If you do not have a model you are trying to build or something already in your mind, you can start with some of the basic shapes below. You can then combine them to form more complex shapes and eventually free-standing magnetic structures.
For example, you can start by building simple triangles, then make the triangle 3-dimensional into a tetrahedron, then combine 2 tetrahedrons to form a triangular dipyramid then use the dipyramids to form a tri-star looking shape like below.
Sometimes just changing the angle can make a new shape. Here we changed the angle of the tips of the star sculpture and it formed a new shape. It could also act as the base for a larger structure.
You don't always need it to be just magnets! Feel free to be creative and use other things as a base. Some magnetic structures that are a bit unstable may work best on a steel base.
Take the basic shapes and try combining them in different ways to make new shapes. The possibilities are endless!!
? Words of caution
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Pinching hazard - Neodymium magnets are strong! Be careful not to pinch fingers when handling them as it can cause internal bleeding or even break the skin.
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Magnets are brittle - Neodymium magnets are fragile and magnets that are not gently placed together and are let to attach themselves will accelerate and may shatter. This is especially true for thin shapes like long thin bar magnets and cylinders.
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Plan ahead - Make sure to plan ahead. Sometimes when you combine shapes you actually need to remove steel balls or cylinders etc. The magnets will attach to the strongest field nearby be it another magnet or steel ball not part of its own shape. If you plan ahead you can remove redundant pieces first to make all of the magnets happy.
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Be gentle - If you push too hard on the magnetic sculpture or when trying to put it together, the magnets will likely snap to another magnet or steel ball nearby. This happens because when the magnet is pushed it will shift and attach to the strongest magnetic circuit in its new location.
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Neo magnets are NOT toys - Neodymium magnets are not toys and are not meant for children. They are extremely powerful and can easily cause injury.
4. Top 10 Ideas for Magnetic Art Sculptures
Below is a list of some of the most popular magnetic sculptures to build.
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Magnetic stacking desk sculpture
Magnetic stacking sculptures have been around for a long time and have a large variety of metal objects you can stack on top of them. Strong neodymium magnets allow stacking of more objects, providing more possibilities for desk sculptures.
The below desk sculpture is a DIY base we made from a plastic lid with a DC6B-N52 disc magnet and DXC8 disc magnet taped under the lid. The magnets are thin enough that the base (lid) is flat which allows for stacking of many metal parts.
We tried a variety of metal objects to stack with including steel balls, nuts and bolts and other magnets. With the strong DXC8 disc magnet, we were able to stack the sculpture rather high and even have limbs rotate and stick out which is not possible with weak magnets due to massive amounts of leverage.
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Six sided star sculpture
This magnetic six-sided star can be created by combining triangle shapes together. This used NSB4 steel balls and D2X0 cylinder magnets
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Block stairs sculpture
This sculpture is a large flight of stairs made completely from B444 block magnets!
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Small pyramid sculpture
This magnetic pyramid can be created by combining triangle shapes again and again and them merging them into the pyramid shape. This was made using 14x NSB8 steel balls and 36x R424 ring magnets.
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Large pyramid sculpture
This large magnetic pyramid can be created by combining triangle shapes again and again and them merging them into the pyramid shape. This was made using 30x NSB8 steel balls and 96x R424 ring magnets.
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Small tetrahedron sculpture
This small magnetic tetrahedron is a triangular pyramid can be created by combining many triangle shapes into the pyramid shape. This was made using 10x NSB8 steel balls and 24x R424 ring magnets.
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Large tetrahedron sculpture
This large magnetic tetrahedron is a triangular pyramid can be created by combining many triangle shapes into the pyramid shape. This was made using 20x NSB8 steel balls and 60x R424 ring magnets.
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Small icosahedron sculpture
This small magnetic icosahedron can be created by combining 2 pentagon shapes, staggering them then connecting all joints. This was made using 12x NSB8 steel balls and 30x R424 ring magnets.
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Large icosahedron sculpture
This large magnetic icosahedron can be created by combining 2 pentagon shapes, staggering them then connecting all joints. This was made using 12x NSBC steel balls and 30x D4X0 cylinder magnets.
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Large octahedron sculpture
This large octahedron can be created by combining square shapes and layering them up with some triangles on the outer faces. This was made using 38x NSB8 steel balls and 144x R424 ring magnets.
Need help picking the right magnet for your magnetic art sculptures? Contact us with your details and we'll help you find the best magnets for your project.
