To catch the moment between two heartbeats
A girl who is sitting on a proboscis of a mosquito, a camalcade in a needle eye, a working watch in an eye of a dragonfly… all these unusual things are not freaks of imagination or fantastic. The exquisite technical creations belong to a Ukrainian master of microminiatures Mykola Syadristy.
Elena Serebryanskaya
A famous Russian writer of the 19th century Nikolay Leskov wrote a novel about a phenomenal handy man named Levsha (Left-hander) who managed to shoe a flea. From that time the name of this Leskov’s character is a synonym of any person who can make some extraordinary sophisticated things.
At the beginning of his career Mykola Syadristy, once repeated the feat of the ancient Russian master, was often called “modern Levsha”. But those who see the other works of this Ukrainian virtuoso will certainly say that Mykola Syadristy went much farther than his predecessor. His works – unique and impressive – amazed many people all over the world: from France to Japan and Argentina, from Sweden to the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The permanent exhibitions of the master can be found in Kiev Lavra and in Andorra Principality (opened to the public by a private collector).
The tiniest timepiece in the world
It all began in 1967 at Montreal technical exhibition EXPO-67, where Syadristy demonstrated the finest working electric motor in the world. Its size was 1/20 cubic millimeter – 20 times smaller than a poppy-seed. To make this unprecedented unit Mykola had to scrutinize all the information about micro motors and to work out his own instruments. Since then for every work he uses tiny tools several times thinner than a human hair. These tools are disposable – he simply throws them away when the work is finished.
For the next work – Time – the master studied the principles of watchmaking. He placed a small watch in an eye of a golden dragonfly executed in actual size. The watch consisted from 130 spare parts and is the tiniest timepiece in the world. While working at this object Mykola Syadristy consulted with some specialists in watchmaking field. They replied that it is absolutely impossible to make a working mechanical watch less then 9 mm, because at this size the plasticity of metals affects the precision (the world’s smallest watch mechanism still produced, Jaeger-Lecoultre Calibre 101 is measuring 14 x 4.8 x 3.4 mm and comprised 74 parts, ndlr). So the master decided to make an electrical timepiece: its motor is situated in the abdomen of the dragonfly and the watch with ruby stones and the gears and pinions made of strong steel is ticking in an eye of the golden insect.
Climbing the Everest
It is clear that practically each work of Mykola Syadristy can be placed in Guinness World Records Book. For example, the master put his signature on the cut of a hair. This is the tiniest inscription in the world made by hand. He made the smallest bottle of Coca-Cola: the height of the golden bottle is 1.65 mm and the length of the logo – 0.7 mm. The golden mill, composed from 203 different parts, was placed by the author into the half of a popper-seed. Its height is 1.8 mm. By the way, this item is a model of a real mill, situated in the International Wind and Water Mill Museum in Gifhorn (Germany).
The most complicated work of Mykola Syadristy is “In the Memory of Alexander Grin”*. A miniature frigate is made of gold, platinum and glass. The ship is 3.5 mm long, and its rigging is only 0.003 mm thick (400 times less than that of a human hair). The model consists of 337 parts. Such a supercomplicated job was executed by Mykola Syadristy in 71 day. He compared this work with the climbing of the Everest, and everybody who saw this jewellery masterpiece can agree with him.
The favourite materials of Mykola Syadristy are gold and platinum. He appreciates them not because of the high price but mostly for their properties which he knows very well. Working with every material at micro level requires deep knowledge of the matter. And the master is an expert in this field. He even wrote a book “Secrets of Microtechnique” in which he described the behavior of different materials in the context of micromechanics.
An artist of the 21-st century
In his works Mykola Syadristy also uses fruit and grape seeds, rice, sugar, steel needles and even spider line with which he sewed together the miniature Kobzar. The tiny poetry book is 0.6 square mm in size and includes twelve pages with the verses of the Ukrainian famous poet Taras Shevchenko.
Needless to say that making such fine objects requires a lot of concentration. The man has to leave all the vanity of the world and come into a kind of a meditation state. Even a heartbeat can lead to a wrong movement which will spoil the work. So he has to catch the moments of absolute silence between two heartbeats.
This unique man lives in Kiev. He writes philosophical poems, studies people and tries to understand the nature of time and life. Mykola Syadristy calls himself “simply an artist of the 21-st century”, and his extraordinary works of art illustrate the idea of unlimited potential of human beings.
*Alexander Grin (1880 - 1932) is a prominent Russian writer. His novel “Scarlet Sails” became the classics of romanticism in Russian literature ■
