Monday, July 30, 2012

I: Illumination

Below are a few projects playing with lighting that I've make over the past few years.

The Floral Vase


I took a small vase with a cork topper and some small fake white flowers and pushed a few of the stems that were attached into the bottle to lay with the shape of the bottle. Cork it up and let it sit somewhere in front of a light source!

Glow Stick Chain






This "project" was really fun and unanticipated! While at a friend's birthday party we started playing with glowsticks and I linked up a few of the same color into a rainbow chain that could then be twirlled around for good pictures with extended lighting exposure from an open shutter. I ened up keeping the chain for 2 years, adding to it whenever I got more glowsticks and draped it over a mirror for a fun little twist in my dorm room!

Canvas Firework Lamp








This canvas firework lamp was supposed to be an easy and cool pinterest project! Instead, it turned into an exhausting nightmare that just wouldn't go right! 
Take a canvas of any size (I used a 20"x 24"), a strand or two of christmas lights (I used 200 lights), an awl (to poke the wholes, or in my case a leather needle, safety pin, and small phillips head screwdriver, after learning that scissors don't work.) Simple enough, right?
What I didn't take into account was that you have to draw out a pattern on the back to show where your lights will be so you know it will look good. The original source suggested leaving 2 inches of space between each whole, but I definitely ignored that and it turned out just fine in the end with a little maneuvering. I ended up counting and recounting the dots of the drawing at least seven or eight times before thinking I had a correct count because each one was different. After poking all of the wholes, a tedious effort in itself, I discovered that I poked two too many. I'm sure there is some magical trick to healing canvas that I don't know about yet, but I've just let it slide. If you look carefully enough at the photos, you'll see the wholes :(
As if that weren't enough, Once I had maneuvered the mess of twisted christmas light cords through the wholes, I realized that some were slipping out and I had entirely missed other wholes! :( :( Double sad face!
I went back and fixed all of my mistakes and hot glued each individual christmas light on the back to the canvas for good measure. God forbid any of these lights ever crack or burn out...
IF you do attempt to recreate one yourself, make sure to plan carefully so that the wall plug has enough room to reach an outlet from wherever you decide to place your lamp! 
Click for the Inspiration Source

Recycled Negatives Display








I have always loved photography and had boxes of old photos printed from film. I just love the quality that photos get from being printed from film negatives. I found a bunch of negatives from my favorite photos over the years and thought I'd try to find a way to display them. Found an old 8"X10" clear acrylic frame, cut up the negatives into individual slides, lined then up and taped the backs to thin piece of clear plastic from an old calendar clipboard (random item), so that they would stay straight and not fall out. You could probably use a piece of parchment or wax paper, but it won't be as sturdy. Just an idea... You can see the pictures well enough without a backlighting source, but it definitely helps to have light!
The idea stemmed, months ago from a pin of this...

Stick around for more! Thanks! :)

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