They wiggle a little, they're made on the stove, they come in all shapes
and
sizes, and they're fun for the whole family. We're not talking about
Jello®
shapes, we're shouting about GelGemsTM!
Professional chemists Irene and Alfredo Tubert accidentally created
GelGems TM while trying to cook up some family fun in their kitchen
at home in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For years, Alfredo had been a developer of adhesives. At home, on their
kitchen stove, Alfredo and Irene experimented with a special gel polymer
they had created. They found that the gel not only stuck to a variety of
surfaces, it could be shaped and colored without limits. In short, this
chemical wonder was great fun to play with.
The Tuberts' daughters, Cecilia, Andrea and Inés, prompted their parents
to
create squares, circles, triangles, stars, hearts, paisleys and dozens of
other shapes. They stuck them to windows, refrigerators, computer
monitors,
drinking glasses and bathroom tile, creating spectacular scenes, mosaics
and
designs. Due to the unique properties of the gel, the shapes removed
easily
without leaving a mark, then restuck anywhere.
By the middle of 2000, the enterprising Tubert Family was ready
to show their neighbors what they had been cooking up. They
participated in a local fair, where crowds lined up to
buy the gels. Since then, demand has grown so large that production
has been moved three times: first from the Tuberts' kitchen
to their garage, then to a small store and finally to a factory.
