blug

WHAT I DID

So I started the light-project thinking i wanted to focus on wall switches and wanted to reinvent the gesture, but i sadly found out that the 2 QProx boards (QWheel and QSlide, E511 and E411) were being discontinued and were considered obsolete by the manufacturer. They were apparently replacing them with a different kit number E 1106 which Digikey was not going to have it for another 7 weeks. Crazy. So, I decided to make my first lamp. I took Fukusawa's Cosmo 1 and Cosmo 2 as model and ordered the following 'ingredients':

- 70 feet of the Aqua 2.5 brightest EL wire
- Inverter
- 12V dc transformer
- beads
- light kit to hold light bulb
- 36 LED spotlight
- canopy
- metal wire for structure

I could call this partially a failure, but the process was definitely useful and a good learning experience, so this is how it went:

LAMP PROCESS

Materials needed and Swarovski beads. My first intention was actually to copy Fukusawa's lamp to figure out how much it was actually worth since on most websites the piece was marked as not purchasable.
After a few documented difficulties, I came up with a different form.

I made a metal 'soul' for the lamp in order to help shape the EL wire, but i realized that i would not have enough wire to cover it up well, the budget constraint allowed only for 70 feet to be purchased. I decided to make it cylindrical.

The process was long, tangled and tedious, but under some circumstances it could have almost been a form of meditation. The Zen of the Basket Weaving... and here are the canopies that I managed to find.

I had a few choices of light bulbs, but i decided to go for the LED spotlight, to test out the durability and the electrical usage. I found this specific light bulb inexplicably heavy, I am not sure if all LED bulbs weight this much, but I could not find any other ones outside the ones that Lighting Plus sells. On line they were also on backorder. John helped me in hanging it up.

This is what it looks like installed as bathroom light fixture. The ideal scenario for this lamp is as night light on while taking a bath. It adds a classier and more sophisticated look to the bathroom with the preciousness of the Swarovski crystals. It serves the purpose of adorning an LED spot light as well as create a specific magical atmosphere when the EL wire is turned on.

Lamp with bathroom light on.

Lamp with both EL wire and LED bulb on.

Lamp with both EL wire and LED bulb on in the dark.

EL wire on only.

FUK LAMP VIDEO:

CONCLUSIONS & PROBLEMS

- The inverter for the EL wire takes too much room and emanates a very annoying sound. I need to look into that and make a portable inverter or try to find a way to insert it in the ceiling. Hence the problem of the two separate power sources.

- It was very laborious and still expensive, if on the market and produced, this lamp would definitely come out to be costly, but at least low in power consumption and i think certainly attractive.

- Aesthetics definitely plays a role, i wish i could have made a more defined prototype, but this was the best for my possibilities this time around. The hand weaving was definitely somewhat frustrating at times.
But i do believe that the atmosphere it creates in the dark was worth the endless hours...

- The LED bulb is too heavy, so i might substitute with a more attractive and smaller bulb, maybe interestingly shaped.