Thursday Salute to Originals: Hydraulic-Pressed Materials

Remember all those times you used to tinker with Play-Doh? More specifically, making “noodles” out of the Play-Doh with their various presses and molds? If you do, then we are excited (and a little nostalgic) to introduce you to artists and factory owners Lauri and Anni!

These ladies are based in Finland and run the Hydraulic Press Channel on YouTube, but they don’t quite experiment with Play-Doh in the way we just described… On their channel, you will find tons of amazing (and oddly satisfying) videos of their Hydraulic Press experimenting with various types of materials – and yes – one of them is indeed Play-Doh.

But one of the materials that really caught our eye was the “Non-Newtonian Fluid” (a fluid whose viscosity is variable based on applied stress or force) they used in one particular experiment – Crayons, soap, and other liquidy soft objects. Their Hydraulic Press exerts 150 bars of pressure, which has the humorous and interesting effect of spewing material all over! We guarantee you’ll laugh and be amazed by the brilliant artistic results seen below.

This Thursday we’re saluting Lauri and Anni for a couple of reasons. First, we find the science-turned-art behind the Hydraulic Press absolutely amazing. Second, the videos on their channel are just so addicting. And lastly, we admire the sincerely unique use of so many materials!

Sources: Hydraulic Press Channel, This is Colossal