Oh yes, this is very flash indeed. It’s a jar of mechanically operated fireflies created by user Jesse over at Cre.Ations.Net and it’s delightfully Steampunk! A knifeswitch on the lid of the jar controls the internal lighting (UV) and a handle on the side turns the elegant and beautifully fragile mechanism within that jiggles and wobbles and rotates the mock-fireflies within. Springs and brass wires, knifeswitches and mysterious glowing things – it’s ticking several of my favourite tickboxes. There’s a video to be watched too – it really does look great moving. The internal mechanism is so delicate, that the jar-tube is utterly required to protect it, and the fireflies themselves are UV reactive BBs that glow unnaturally under the UV leds embedded into the lid. It’s utterly fetching and I am in awe of the creator. Very well done indeed! What a perfect device to have on a desk somewhere, begging to be cranked so that a mechanical dance of the fauxerflies can play out again and again. Thanks as well to the ever so creative Mr Zoelen for pointing it out.

(Also, can you spot the hidden message in one of the images?  I didn’t at first – how foolish I felt!)