Ice Heart Maker

This toy was made as a prototype by an international toy company, but has not yet been produced commercially. The two blocks of aluminium are extremely good ...

Here's a real oddity that I picked up at the New York Toy Fair. It's an ice-heart maker. Extraordinary idea. This is heavy block of aluminium, here's another one underneath. This is the shape of a heart, or half a heart, and the other half sits there. When I put a piece of ice in the middle there it's astonishing how quickly the ice is melted by the aluminium. I suppose it's because it's got a very high thermal conductivity. And what would be left at the end of it will be the little bit of ice which is in the centre where the heart shape is, so we should have a heart shaped piece of ice to finish with. But look at the speed with which the aluminium block transmits heat to the ice and melts it. [Takes top half off] There we are, and underneath is a little heart shaped piece of ice in the middle there. What a lovely idea. What are we going to do with it? Goodness knows, but I do love things which are inventive like this.