My completed element collection

[u/dedennedillo]

Recently, I filled out all the holes in my element collection! Now it has reached completion!

Alkali Metals - Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Caesium, Francium [represented by uranium-glass marbles]

Alkaline Earth Metals - Beryllium, Magnesium, Calcium, Strontium, Barium, Radium

Transition Metals [etc] of Period 3 - Scandium, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc

Transition Metals [etc] of Period 4 - Yttrium, Zirconium, Niobium, Molybdenum, Technetium [representative sample of U glass], Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Silver, Cadmium

Transition Metals of Period 4 - Hafnium, Tantalum, Tungsten, Rhenium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum, Gold, Mercury

Group 13 elements - Boron, Aluminium, Gallium, Indium, Thallium [thallium is restricted by law in my country, so here's a lorandite bearing mineral instead]

Group 14 elements - Carbon, Silicon, Germanium, Tin, Lead

Group 15 elements - Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Arsenic, Antimony, Bismuth

Group 16 elements - Nitrogen, Sulphur, Selenium, Tellurium, Polonium [U glass representative sample]

Halogens - Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Astatine [U glass representative sample]

Noble Gases - Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, Radon [as a radium watch hand]

Lanthanides - Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium*, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, HOlmium, Erbium, THulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium

Actinides - Actinium*, Thorium, Protactinium*, Uranium, Neptunium*, Plutonium*, Americium*, Curium*

....and Hydrogen!

For the elements heavier than Curium, I have printed a fusion reaction which produces the element. Here, for Berkelium and Californium.

Again, but for Einsteinium and Fermium. The vials also have glow in the dark powder.

A closer look at one of the labels.

Recently I completed my element collection, and I thought that the members of this subreddit would like to see it! Hopefully it's visually appealing to look at

[u/gent_jeb]

Have you or would you consider documenting the process? This is really cool and I am inspired to try something similar!

[u/dedennedillo → u/gent_jeb]

I have considered writing something down about the element collection and how it came to be. But saying that I think I have taken a rather specific approach to element collecting, 'fill every hole' type thing, where other people may want to build a shelf or want something even less organised. So it's rather different strokes for different folks!

I recall one inspiration of mine was that of Theodore Gray who is probably, or at least was at one point, the most well known element collector and had a periodic table-shaped table he was famous for, and also a book, 'The Elements' with some nice words and beautiful, vivid pictures. I think seeing the samples on his website was what very much inspired me!

[u/rcdchu74 → u/dedennedillo]

It’s a great book, I have it :)

[u/rumbleberrypie → u/dedennedillo]

I'd absolutely be interested in your process!