This was written December 3rd, 2025
Unseen Wonder
There he was, as usual, spending all day in his workshop. Good ol’ Professor Isaac, hard at work. His obsessions with Science-Fiction never waned, from H.G. Wells, to Asimov, from Jules Vernes to Orwell, from Arthur C. Clarke to Bradbury, he could spend all day passionately discoursing about them and their works of fiction. Yet, it wasn’t their exploration of ethical and moral issues, of what it means to be human, of the limits of humanity, that kept him interested. It was their imaginative worlds, and more importantly, their various gadgets and inventions. And somehow, none was more appealing than the plot device of The Invisible Man. Somehow, the eponymous character had invented a special dye that would, similar to grease on paper tissue, render any object transparent. Oh, such an invention seemed so unlikely, and yet so promising.
Of course, nowadays, no one believed such naive concepts. Amongst other things, of course it would come about with drawbacks. He’d already heard various people mock the concept of invisibility, for after all, if light passed right through your eyes, how could you possibly see? Yet, his dream wasn’t to turn invisible himself. It’s this wild notion of making something that should be visible invisible that fascinated him, in the abstract sense.
And so, he’d gotten obsessed with this notion. Obviously, he went a different way from the initial concept. He’d opted to start by taking color away from materials, like with bleach. This, to him, sounded promising. Yet, this turned into a dead-end. What ended up promising was when he discovered a process that seemed to weaken the electromagnetic interactions of some materials. Not how different particles interacted with eachother, but rather how they reacted to electromagnetic waves. Somehow, it lowered the probability of those interactions happening. Eventually, he found ways to reduce those to satisfying parameters. Not completely zero, but sufficient for practical purposes. And there he was, faced with a success, after so much devotion. The invention he had so long dreamt of was finally made a reality.
Now, obviously, he’d only applied this process to small scale experimental samples, nothing quite at scale. So he found himself faced with a choice. What should be the first object he test it against? While he could obviously rerun this as many times as he wanted, there would always be something special about the first object. So…what should it be? Well, as the sentimental fool he was, he wanted to commemorate this with a photograph that he would frame and keep around. Obviously, while tempting for the irony, it would be silly to just render a photograph invisible. Yet, right there was a great candidate: The frame. Accordingly, he made himself a simple wooden frame, except one that would completely enclose the photograph: No glass nor plastic.
Once complete, it was a miraculous sight. The photograph, right there, just floating in mid-air. He rejoiced and was so taken by it that he found his face dripping with joyful tears. Oh, the cathartic release of such success after so many failures, mixed with the pure wonders of such a sight. As he got ready to nail the frame to the wall, he suddenly had a new idea: What if he also turned the nail invisible? This could be interesting too. And so it was that a photograph could be found in the workshop, miraculously hanging in midair, with a small hole appearing just an inch above. On the photograph could be seen our dear Professor Isaac standing next to a mysterious contraption.
Now, of course, he spent the next few days in a manic state trying to figure out what he could do with this new discovery. But once this high subsided, he wanted to find an actual innovative purpose for his invention, and novel application to something old. His deepest desire was to bring his sense of wonder to others, which he was convinced his invention could do, if done properly. And, once again, he turned to fiction for inspiration: The Emperor’s New Clothes. While the purpose would not be to literally stay warm while being naked, he figured there could be interesting fashion implications to having invisible segments to fabric. After all, he was pretty sure he’d seen “retro-futuristic accoutrements” using plastic to approximate this effect.
Obviously, he currently only had the means to make bulk material invisible, so he could not really make precise adjustments to a specific piece of clothing. Still, by the nature of clothing, there was a simple solution, he could simply turn the raw material itself invisible. Thus, he opted to work with a local seamstress. He first decided to learn a bit more about the different kinds of threads that could be used to make clothing, in order to select the correct candidate. Eventually, he purchased a few cones of the adequate thread, under the guise of experimenting in order to produce a novel material. Eventually, he found a way to dislodge the thread from the cone, and how to re-wind it back on the cone. Obviously, the cone itself shouldn’t turn invisible, or this could raise suspicions. Once this was ready, he simply took the thread off, turned the bundle invisible, and re-wound it. With a few cones of invisible thread, he finally went back to see the seamstress, who thought he sure was to jest. That is, until he asked her to touch the cone. Obviously, it did look rather peculiar to her, as if it was just floating between his hands, but how could neatly clear thread truly exist? Even glass isn’t usually this invisible. Still, once faced with the reality of her senses, she was forced to acknowledge the reality. She, in turn, was filled with a sense of wonder rivaling his own from just a few days ago, which utterly delighted our dear Professor. After all, this was what he was seeking.
After she had finally convinced herself this was a reality, without delay she went about to work, trying to figure out how to actually deal with this miracle material. She cut and measured a few pieces, tried to figure out how to properly use it despite the clear challenges posed by their unique property. Obviously, working with a material you can’t see if by no means trivial. Yet, eventually, most professionals manage to find ways to deal with such work without explicitly relying on their sight, but instead their other senses. And so, it didn’t take long for her to find her bearing, And she got quickly at work, possessed by the muse. Inspiration was present and accounted for. It would take a few days, but it would be a true masterpiece.
When it was finally ready, they decided to first expose it on a mannequin. It was quite the sight, a clear see-through spiral circling the down the bodice of the dress. Same swirling pattern going along both arms. It was definitely unique and unorthodox. But they couldn’t wait to see it in action. They had to see it. And the seamstress herself decided to go for it. The results, breathtaking through its “un-realness”. As she swirled, looking at portions that seemed ripped straight out of the dress, while still remaining completely coherent with the other components, it felt simply astonishing. They were beyond themselves, and they were excited to see how people would react to their work.
Unfortunately, fashion is but fleeting, and capitalism takes any sense of marvel out of the equation, turnings the most amazing of things into cold numbers. What-more, the reaction he was counting on also correlate with a sense of novelty. Once this wears out, things appear but mundane. After all, the first time electric light was brought on the scene, people walked from miles away to see its introduction on the public scene. Now, it’s but a simple and boring commodity no one things but twice about.
Thus it is that, despite the great success of their marvelous fabric, the awe the Professor was seeking on faces lasted but a season. Afterwards, while you could see people wearing his fabric at every corner, no one cared about…or honestly, really noticed it anymore. It just…was. And while he did feel a sense of pride in having created something everyone was using…his goal truly was to be able to share his own enthusiasm with others.
But the old man wasn’t simply going to throw the towel. Back to the drawing board it was! If a product was not going to be enough, what else could he do? Well, this whole enterprise had netted him quite a profit, so he had the funds to try to improve his process. What if he could do better than the existing bulk process? What if he could “tattoo” invisibility. That was quite the interesting prospect. And amazingly, he did succeed after about a year.
And what a revolution this was! Now, for an actual application. Well, an actual tattoo seemed like a valid application, but this was as-of-yet untested on living flesh. After all, it’s not like he’d just taken a rat and tried to turn it wholesale invisible. So, where to start with this? Well, he opted to try with a living plant. He had a little Aloe Vera in his workshop, and it was the right width that he could apply it to both sides to make it seem wholly transparent. Thus, he decided to “cut” one of the leaves, as in, turn a slice of it invisible (might as well not risk it with the whole plant). This way, it looked like parts of the leaf was simply floating in mid-air, and you could even see the inside of it through the cross-section.
What a mighty result it was. Gorgeous and intriguing…while it lasted. Within a day, the leaf had started to wilt, and worried as he was, he opted to simply cut off the entire leaf. Luckily, after a few days, the plant was back to full health. But what was the true cause? Initially, the scientist suspected it might be related to photosynthesis, since it could obviously not take place on those invisible sections anymore. Still, after long deliberation, he figured it would not account for the results, especially with such a short section having been turned invisible. So clearly, the process was toxic to the plant. Maybe it reacted in some expected way, releasing some toxins. Maybe the process itself was directly harming the plant. Hard to say. But…what if it were just plants that could be so affected. Well…he didn’t dare subject another creature to this treatment, too high a risk, so he’d never know. Still, he suspected the result would be that necrosis would gradually form and spread from the site of the operation.
Well, he was one application out of the window, but plenty left to fish out. If he was a more sinister man, he might have considered the application to weapons. For example, weapon concealment would become a simple matter. Or in melee combat, turning a blade invisible could cause the opponent to misjudge both the length and the position of the weapon. Or worse, hiding a body would become a much simpler task. Obviously, other indicators would be present, such as being able to interact with it physically, or the putrid smell. But turn it invisible and toss it in water, and no one would find it. And even still, in the case someone did find the corpse…identifying it or where it came from would become a Herculean challenge.
But these were not the kinds of applications he would ever dream of (nightmares still count as dreams). He was a hopeful and optimistic individual. It’s been said many times over, but joy and childlike wonder, these were what he aimed to share. Having had plenty of time to think, he decided to go from a product to art. After all, when people discuss a sense wonder, the way to instill it seems to be through art. And this recent upgrade was quite well-suited for it. Initially, he decided to make sketches on wooden slates, turning parts invisible instead of adding darkness, making it a dual approach from graphite drawing. It was also akin to those portraits made through controlled smashing of glass, although somewhat in reverse. Initially, he took the same approach as with drawing, marking down with his “invisible ink” the components to add, what you would usually see. Eventually he opted for the opposite approach, removing the negative space from the drawing. And for those who think there was really no distinction between this and sculpting wood, let me disavow you of this belief. His version was not only extremely intricate, but it also came with less physical restraints. Indeed, with a sculpture, you need to worry about structural integrity, whereas here, there is no such concern. What-more, he didn’t stop there regardless.
Having started with a process akin to graphite, he opted to also use similar techniques for “shading”, going with some “invisible hatching”. This lent pretty surprising visuals. But he didn’t stop there, he already knew he there were ways he didn’t have to turn something all the way invisible with his process. Thusly, he decided to improve his process to also have control on how invisible things would become. And with this, mind-blowing results abounded. He was so engrossed with the artistic process and refining it that he made huge bounds, both on the art itself, and his techniques. He also mixed and combined different techniques together. For example, hatching with lower invisibility.
Ah, and if you thought he’d only stopped there, you would be foolish. He spent many years perfecting his skills in art, seeking help from different professionals, while not letting them in on the secret, worried this would spoil the ultimate surprise, and result in the rug being pulled from under him. His next move was to experiment with 3d art. He started by simply drawing invisible patterns on vases and cups. On various objects he had. Some of those were rather interesting. He also tried to turn some liquid containers invisible, only to eventually realize that if they were meant to keep the liquid insulated, they’d lost a lot of their efficiency. However, if that wasn’t its primary use, it made for a cool novelty. Then, he moved on to incorporating the invisible art to 3d objects, allowing for different objects to appear to be fully floating in thin-air.
But why stop there? What about kinetics? He learned to actually get his art moving. Gears, wires, all of it at play. But obviously, you can see the twist coming. All of the machinery he would turn invisible. This way, it all looked as if the object were moving through the air of their own accord. This all looked so magical. Now, he finally had created something that should inspire true wonder.
And thus, he decided to exhibit all of his creations issues from artistry and craftsmanship, and expose it for all to see. And the reaction he was looking for was there, bigger than ever. Oh how joyful he was, from bring such joy and awe to so many people, especially the kids. But as you might have guessed, this did not continue on forever. Art itself also tends to follow fashions. Some pieces persist, but most don’t elicit much beyond their initial release. And even then, interest only gets renewed much later. Thus it was he realized his quest was likely in vain. Oh but does that mean this Professor gave up and turned bitter from his frustration? No, of course not. This story has a happy ending.
Eventually, he decided to look outward to the main ways people can still elicit this sense of awe. He discovered that best results are obtained when people are actually themselves seeking this sense of awe. Clothing was definitely not it, since it was purely utilitarian. Art was a better candidate, but the art community keeps seeking new thrills, leaving true wonders behind in search of novelty. His issue was that he opted for the wrong target-audience. Although he did discover through this recent portion of his quest that the applying and dedicating yourself to learning and perfecting a skill can actually achieve similar results, although at a personal level. And thus, he eventually opened an art atelier and served as a mentor to many, and found some of what he was looking for through the progress of his students, the blossoming of their skills and their own amazement at the progress and discoveries their hard work resulted in, along with how the world gradually changed around them as they learned to look at things differently. However, that is not the only place he got his wish fulfilled. In this world, magic and wonder still exists and is kept alive where people seek it and are willing to suspend their sense of disbelief. This is in the so aptly named art of magic. And with his new invention, he was able to make many contraptions that defied common understanding. He routines became more and more elaborate, and he each time he performed, it would be to a full auditorium. Yet, he did seek neither money nor merit, but instead was hoping to bring some joy back to the heart of those who grew to see the world as drab, to ignite their curiosity, inspiration and drive, and see the twinkle in their eyes as they think the world might still have a glimmer of magic. And he did succeed And thus, if you ever find yourself to pass by Isaac’s old village, I recommend you stop by his workshop, where all of his sculptures are still being exposed. You should also buy a ticket to watch him perform, this is one show you will never regret seeing, even if you suspect his real tricks. And who knows, you might also get a chance to speak with such an enthusiastic character that might renew your fate in yourself, this world and your curiosity. If you feel uninspired, this might re-ignite your inner flame.