Phoenix

February 25th, 2012 § 1,045 comments

The phoenix is a symbol of immortality in its renewal and is suitably made of fire, as flames destroy but also cleanse. A phoenix identifies a true king with its passing shadow, so too can a fire reveal an element by enduring a flame test.

Boron, one of the solar system’s rarest elements, for example, turns a brilliant green. Phoenixes are an ancient myth, but by designing a phoenix made of a real element, it can be a metaphor for its traces and history with human use. Boron has been known to humans since AD300, first used as a glaze for ceramics. Since its first uses, boron has reinvented itself in various applications, such as glass, tank armour, bullet proof vests, shielding in nuclear reactors, MRI devices, participation in the compound that makes our strongest magnet and outer spacecrafts. It has low toxicity to humans but is essential for all life as it strengthens cell walls in plants.

Like boron, we have an idea of a phoenix’s properties and beginning, but they both exist in our daily lives in small, mysterious marks.

-Christie

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