Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Stainless Steel Container: A Description

The color is brushed metallic silver. It mirrors the light and makes a frosty gray line. Out in the sunlight, it is hard to look at because the shiny metal reflects the sun. There are very fine streaks going horizontally around the cylinder. All the edges are rounded and smoothed. It does not have any sort of seam. It looks as if it is one solid piece of stainless steel. I can wrap both hands around the cylinder with my fingertips touching. The top of the container is open, and the bottom is closed off. There are over 300 holes smaller than my pinky tip. From eye level, I see a rectangular cylinder with rectangles made of dots. The shape reminds me of a big cup. It can hold other objects such as pencils, silverware and other knick knacks. I would like to use it as a pencil holder in my room. It feels like slick glass but grips to my fingers with a bit of traction. The holes feel like a cheese grater. The texture reminds me of my pocket knife. They are both made from stainless steel and have the same brushed finish. On my forearm, the cylinder feels like cold glass, almost like ice. Against my cheek, it feels cold at the beginning, then the metal heats up rapidly until it is the same temperature as my cheek, so it feels neutral. When I smell it, I imagine a surgeon’s rooms with everything made of sterile stainless steel. The smell is sharp and makes my nose tingle. It makes me feel comforted because the smell of metal reminds me of working at StarBot where I do robotics and engineering. The object alone does not have any sound, but if I flick it with my fingernail quickly, it will make a high-pitched ringing resonating sound. When I drop it on a tile floor, it makes a clanging sound and it reminds me of when you pull pots and pans out of a cupboard.