Where can I buy a cheap plastic version of this crystal?
June 7, 2018 8:09 AM Subscribe
For a children's birthday party, I want a cheap approximation of this crystal, as seen on the UK TV show "The Crystal Maze." Ideally I'd pay less than £2 each.
It doesn't have to be a perfect replica, but I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding even an approximation. Searching for "plastic gems" turns up things like these large diamonds (wrong shape) or these tiny gems (way too small).
A UK source would be slightly easier but a US source would be fine, too.
If you can give me a specific link to buy them, that would be fantastic -- but, honestly, I'd appreciate even a suggestion for a more precise search term to describe the gem shape I'm looking for.
It doesn't have to be a perfect replica, but I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding even an approximation. Searching for "plastic gems" turns up things like these large diamonds (wrong shape) or these tiny gems (way too small).
A UK source would be slightly easier but a US source would be fine, too.
If you can give me a specific link to buy them, that would be fantastic -- but, honestly, I'd appreciate even a suggestion for a more precise search term to describe the gem shape I'm looking for.
That looks a lot like a suncatcher or prism crystal. These will likely come with a tiny hole for hanging but might work. Like these?
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 8:31 AM on June 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 8:31 AM on June 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Here in the US, but I have some little bouncy balls my wife gave me for Christmas a few years ago that match this shape exactly! These aren't the exact ones, but they looked very much like these.
posted by Krazor at 8:59 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Krazor at 8:59 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
They may have been these, but it looks as though they've been discontinued, sadly.
posted by Krazor at 9:01 AM on June 7, 2018
posted by Krazor at 9:01 AM on June 7, 2018
The one you linked in the OP is pretty cheap, why is that not good enough?
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:18 AM on June 7, 2018
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:18 AM on June 7, 2018
GoblinHoney, I imagine the OP is looking to purchase several for a Crystal Maze-themed birthday party, so doesn't want to be forking out a tenner apiece for them. (The programme involves teams completing multiple challenges, each for one crystal.)
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 9:41 AM on June 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 9:41 AM on June 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
It's not quite as inexpensive as you were looking for, but this is close: ebay.co.uk
posted by Laura in Canada at 9:55 AM on June 7, 2018
posted by Laura in Canada at 9:55 AM on June 7, 2018
The image printed on one facet of the above-the-fold example looks like this shape, "Conway polyhedron dcD", although other views of the crystal itself show that it's not the same shape.
If approximately-spherical triangular-faceted shapes would be acceptable, I searched on Google for "crystal icosahedron" and the most interesting things I saw were sets of five or seven "Platonic solid" shapes on eBay in multiple materials that would break down into the desired price range for each piece (example) so maybe if you can figure out where they're coming from (many vendors had them) or if you could persuade someone to sell you sets of just icosahedrons, that would fit your needs.
posted by XMLicious at 10:02 AM on June 7, 2018
If approximately-spherical triangular-faceted shapes would be acceptable, I searched on Google for "crystal icosahedron" and the most interesting things I saw were sets of five or seven "Platonic solid" shapes on eBay in multiple materials that would break down into the desired price range for each piece (example) so maybe if you can figure out where they're coming from (many vendors had them) or if you could persuade someone to sell you sets of just icosahedrons, that would fit your needs.
posted by XMLicious at 10:02 AM on June 7, 2018
Best answer: Here you go: a 6 pack of 40mm crystal doorknobs for £10.99 including delivery.
Obviously you need to pry them off their base, but that shouldn't be too tricky.
posted by ambrosen at 10:29 AM on June 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
Obviously you need to pry them off their base, but that shouldn't be too tricky.
posted by ambrosen at 10:29 AM on June 7, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you'd rather not pry off the doorknob bits and you're OK with actual glass you could try these or these
I've ordered similar ones from Amazon for my kids as suncatchers and they're actually quite nice and create beautiful rainbows around a room. Just make sure you check the delivery times as sometimes they are shipping from China.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 12:50 PM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
I've ordered similar ones from Amazon for my kids as suncatchers and they're actually quite nice and create beautiful rainbows around a room. Just make sure you check the delivery times as sometimes they are shipping from China.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 12:50 PM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I knew AskMe would come through. Not sure which of those options I'm going to take but several of them look like they'll work perfectly.
posted by yankeefog at 8:22 AM on June 8, 2018
posted by yankeefog at 8:22 AM on June 8, 2018
Response by poster: UPDATE: I ended up going with these doorknobs and they worked brilliantly. I didn't even bother prying off the metal bases, because they made perfect built-in crystal stands.
I marked the doorknob answers as "Best Answer" since that's what I went with, but I appreciated everybody's answers and I'm keeping them in mind for future crystal needs. Thanks again!
posted by yankeefog at 5:11 AM on July 19, 2018
I marked the doorknob answers as "Best Answer" since that's what I went with, but I appreciated everybody's answers and I'm keeping them in mind for future crystal needs. Thanks again!
posted by yankeefog at 5:11 AM on July 19, 2018
« Older I’m tired of being a woman in a world dominated by... | What is being said in this song? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
You said plastic, but you could go with a glass doorknob and remove the metal portion.
posted by jenny76 at 8:20 AM on June 7, 2018 [3 favorites]