Lights 1

I’ve always had a fascination for lighting and the more unusual the better. Making lights can be very time consuming but also very rewarding. Only a basic knowledge of electrical engineering and/or electronics is required. Some simple power calculations to prevent a fire and an on/off switch sees you through most projects. The time aspect prevents this becoming a small business; there are no manufacturing efficiencies when everything you do is a one-off prototype. There are also some great

lighting effects you can buy from specialist shops and on the Internet. I’m always on the lookout for something slightly out of the ordinary. This page contains both my favourites lights at home and some nostalgia items that do not often see the light of day ( actually, that’s the whole point of lights isn’t it ? ). Click here for a guide to photographing your own lights.

Catalogue : L001

Title : Bi-colour LED Lamp

Self-Built : Yes

Light Source : 12 x 20mA red/green LEDs with plastic lenses

Special Features : Knob to fade gradually from green to red and a green felt, non-scratch base.

Comments : One of my first ever lighting projects. Before the arrival of blue and white LEDs, the bi-colour LEDs were state-of-the-art technology. Built out of a ceramic vase sprayed black. Required some careful hole drilling ! The actual light output is tiny; definitely for effect only. Still looks good today in a dark room. In daylight the floppy heat-shrink tubing and black cable ties look a little geekish.

Catalogue : L002

Title : Mathmos Pebble Light ( Aduki ni )

Self-Built : No

Light Source : LEDs

Special Features : Mains or battery power. Shiny chrome underside.

Comments : A great art piece. Glows softly in the dark, changing gradually from green to blue every 15 seconds. Had this a good few years and now the battery is duff. So mains only. Mathmos specialise in mood lamps so check them out

Link : www.mathmos.com

Catalogue : L003 a/b

Title : Xmas Light Flasher

Self-Built : Yes

Light Source : Red/Green LED Chain

Special Features : Variable chase flash

Comments : These were probably my very first lighting projects - festive lights for displaying in the window at Christmas time. When I built these, flashing light chains were prohibitively expensive and most were based on those tiny filament bulbs that seemed to last one season and could never be replaced because there were a thousand types all slightly incompatible with each other. Remember every Christmas you took them out of the box, plugged them in and... nothing. Or bright flash then nothing. So LEDs were a technological breakthrough. Model ‘a’ used a relay and made an annoying click, click click sound every second. Model ‘b’ was solid state with big, chunky power transistors and red / green timing control. About 40 LEDs I think, circa 1988. You can buy better ones now for buttons. Made in China like everything else.

Catalogue : L004

Title : Disco Owl

Self-Built : No

Light Source : Red/Green/Blue base

Special Features : 2 part construction

Comments : This simple lighting effect is a glass owl sitting on a LED illuminator base ( made in China ). The base plate is a mirror with a hole containing 3 LEDs. The colours cycle around red, red/green, green, green/blue, blue, blue/red and back to red. Extremely bright. 3 x AAA batteries. The ears of the owl project nice patterns on the ceiling - this was found by accident after various objects were placed on the base. Hence, disco owl.

Catalogue : L005

Title : Blue Cube

Self-Built : No

Light Source : Single blue LED

Special Features : 12V mains transformer for low voltage

Comments : This has a magical simplicity about it. A single blue LED sits in a block of acrylic and shines upwards. Here a Lithuanian paperweight has been placed on it ( and why not ? ). In the dark the LED is bright enough to give everything an eerie glow. Although the cube is very transparent there is enough ‘particulate’ to scatter the light so that you can see the beam from the LED lens ( you can just see this in the photo just above the LED ). The only downside I can see is that replacing the LED is going to be tricky. I think it is fading.

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Catalogue : L006

Title : Time Portal

Self-Built : Yes

Light Source : 16 x super-bright blue LEDs, 16 x super-bright white LEDs

Special Features : Circular metal frame carries power

Comments : This was a labour of love. The concept was simple - 2 perfect copper wire circles bridged by 32 LEDs. From a distance it was to look like a circular time portal. The construction proved a lot harder. The copper wire was bought enamelled to keep un-oxidised but had to be scraped clean at every junction boxes. Lots of mindless soldering. It was built on a wooden template to maintain alignment accuracy but started to distort on the wall. It is kept in place with small picture hooks. But it was worth the effort. At night it is science-fiction. Even from the road outside.

Catalogue : L007

Title : Spiral Staircase

Self-Built : No

Light Source : 6 x Tea Lights

Special Features : Heavy metal frame

Comments : I have a pair of these for each end of the dining table. Simple elegance and a design classic.

Catalogue : L008

Title : Dream Cloud

Self-Built : Yes

Light Source : 100 x bright white LEDs

Special Features : Inline 5V transformer hangs from conventional ceiling rose

Comments : Another labour of love. This one nearly killed me with boredom. The mesh was carefully chosen to take the weight; I wanted something lighter but it collapsed. Ended up with rabbit hutch wire. The anodised steel wasn’t designed for soldering so I had to Dremel every contact point. The frame carried the ground and I hooked up all the positive terminals with wire. Took me 4 weekends to finish this project. The result is like nothing you can buy in the shops; it is a true dream cloud.

Catalogue : L009

Title : Aroma Burner with Glass Bowl

Self-Built : No

Light Source : 1 x Tea Light

Special Features : None

Comments : A design classic. Simple, elegant, functional.

Catalogue : L010

Title : UV Glow Vases

Self-Built : Yes

Light Source : 1 x 4ft ‘Black Light’ UV striplight

Special Features : Appears to float on air

Comments : You can have a great deal of fun with UV fluorescent dye. These lights were inspired by many sources : Las Vegas, theatrical shows, water-cooled PCs etc. The blue vase was originally filled with 8 bottles of slimline tonic water. As everybody knows, tonic glows blue in sunlight due to the presence of quinine. This worked well for 6 months but then the water turned golden yellow. Some kind of non-reversible chemical reaction had taken place. So I opted for commercial dyes. These are incredibly expensive but a few drops goes a long way. The real success of this project is a large glass table with the UV tube suspended below to give even ‘underfloor’ lighting. From a distance you just see glowing vases with no visible means of illumination. Requires a very dark room to see them in all their glory.

Link : www.glowshop.com

Catalogue : L011

Title : Paper Light

Self-Built : No

Light Source : 1 x 40W tungsten candle bulb

Special Features : Heavy, metal frame. Very diffuse white light.

Comments : The shade of this light is a rolled up sheet of paper. Not any old paper, but a stiff sheet of something not very flammable ( at least that’s what I hope ! ). Gives a nice glow.

Catalogue : L012

Title : Bond Ice Light

Self-Built : Yes

Light Source : 6 x Tea lights

Special Features : Ice !

Comments : It was all homemade, starting with the mould. The centre piece of a James Bond-themed party in 2005, it started with self-printed number stencils laid on Oasis florist foam. Carefully hollowed out, lined with cling- film to make water-proof and then placed in the freezer. An epic work of love for all things fire and ice.