A mirror array that spells out "Marry Me?"

November 14, 2021 6:36 AM

Ben Bartlett, a physics PhD student, proposed to his boyfriend of eight years by using an hexagonal mirror array to reflect the light from the setting sun onto the ground to spell “MARRY ME?”. To max out the romantic quotient, the proposal was on the beach on their 8th anniversary, Mobius rings included. Oh, and the 3D printed mirror array is open-source.
posted by of strange foe (16 comments total)

Marry Me?


New hexagonal mirror array, who dis?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:02 AM on November 14, 2021 [23 favorites]

The page where he explains the whole project is pretty cool, if sort of casually technical.
posted by hippybear at 10:14 AM on November 14, 2021 [2 favorites]

Yes! Awesome!! I've been mulling over the idea of small windowsill ornaments that reflect sunlight to cast constellations on the ceiling. This is a perfect proof of concept.... Now if only I knew anything about the tech, haha
posted by rebent at 10:56 AM on November 14, 2021

You could maybe find a Maker space in your area and they might offer workshops to get you started.
posted by hippybear at 11:26 AM on November 14, 2021

Of course, the “Marry Me” edition has to be fabricated in a Matchmaker Space….
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:47 AM on November 14, 2021 [7 favorites]

This was the first project I've done with 3D printing

Yeah, well, I didn't trip getting out of bed this morning, beat that.
posted by dmd at 12:34 PM on November 14, 2021 [9 favorites]

Just lovely (and extremely cool!). A much needed smile today.
posted by obfuscation at 12:43 PM on November 14, 2021 [2 favorites]

Yeah, well, I didn't trip getting out of bed this morning, beat that.

If you could design a robot that could do that as efficiently as your meat computer drives your meat robot to do that task, you'd also be eligible for a PhD.
posted by hippybear at 12:44 PM on November 14, 2021 [2 favorites]

Also, can I say thank goodness it wasn't a gender reveal because the entire beach would have burned up and turned to glass and lives would have been lost.
posted by hippybear at 12:47 PM on November 14, 2021 [28 favorites]

No, Frank. Not now.
posted by whir at 3:51 PM on November 14, 2021 [12 favorites]

I love every thing about this story. <3
posted by evilmomlady at 4:40 PM on November 14, 2021

Hey, we have that ring as our replacement wedding rings*! I wonder if his is from the same smith?

*Turns what we'd hoped were plated meteoric iron that happened to be inexpensive were actually cheapass plated meteoric iron that wore quickly and badly.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:54 PM on November 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

No, Frank. Not now.

Oh how could I have forgotten about PBF for so long?
posted by Literaryhero at 7:20 PM on November 14, 2021 [1 favorite]

oh my HEART
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:32 PM on November 15, 2021

This is incredibly cute and a genius idea....but doesn't it spell out WARRY ME? Am I misreading this?
posted by apparently at 7:30 PM on November 16, 2021

I thinke the way it's being held in the picture (with fingers over some cells) has removed some reflections distorting the M. The Y is a little messed up too and the write up says that that's where the mirrors for those letters would be.
posted by Mitheral at 5:56 AM on November 17, 2021