Exploring Internal Lighting Possibilieites
The idea of internally lighting a turned hollow form - lidded box, narrow necked vase, etc. - got me hunting for little battery powered LEDs. They're pretty easy to find because they're being put in EVERYTHING. I got four, none over three bucks. In the photo below (1) is a five LED clip to the visor of your hat, light, (2) is a little LED keychain, (3) an LED light stick I guess to hang around the neck of a kid on Halloween night and (4) a flashing LED heart shaped dog tag thing.
Having an internal light source, I could start playing with transmitted light (through holes in an opaque piece) and translucency (thin walls let some light through while thick walls don't).
I began with piercing, specifically small, really small, holes - at diffrent angles. Had a piece of black ABS pipe (A) which I painted the inside of white for refelctivity, a cordless drill and a set of brad point drill bits. Quickly discovered that "normal sized" drill bits made holes that were too large for this application. I wanted points of light, not big dots of light. I was after holes that wouldn't be obvious holes, but look more like merely a texture. And for angled holes to be only seen when you look right down them - at the internal light - hey had to be pretty small relative to the wall thickness they're drilled through. Quickly discovered that small "normal" drill bit sizes were too big. So off to a hobby shop for some really small drill bits - and something to hold them with - a pin chuck (E).
While the hobby shop tiny twist drill bits produced the holes I was after, both in the ABS pipe, and in wood (C), drilling holes using a pin chuck very quickly became a hand cramping exercise in masochism. I needed a small collet chuck that would fit in a cordless drill - or better yet - a small flex shaft (motor on one end, flexible shaft inside a sleave, and a small handpiece on the other end that would hold the collet chuck. Much easier to control than a larger cordless drill. A trip to a lapidary and jewelry supplies store got me both. AND - two doors down was a TAP Plastic store - that had clear acrylic rods - in 1/8" to 1" diameters. The also had 1/8" diameter fiber optic "cable" for a buck fifty a foot. Bought a foot long 1/2" diameter clear acrylic rod and passed on the fiber optic cable - maybe later.
More holes in the ABS, some more in a scrap of wood (C) and it was time to test the idea on a little lidded box I never finished (G).
Some hole drilling, a little pyrography, some black felt tip pen touch up and a little red flashing LED inside - and I had this. The red light streaming through the little holes was brighter than what shows up in this image. Neeed to tone it down to make it visible, but not irritating, I was after subtle - not IN YOUR FACE!
Now if you shine a light in the bottom of an acrylic rod and shine light in one end - almost all that light will shine out - the other end. The sides of the rod don't let light shining parallel to it out. BUT - if you scuff the outside of the rod - say with fine sandpaper - light can escape from the sides - and the rod will glow softly. Just the look I'm after - see?
So now I can hide the LED light source - and its batteries and switch - say in a pedestal or handle - and get most of its light up into a piece via a scuffed acrylic rod..
Having experimented with light transmitted through holes, it was time to experiment with lighting something translucent. Since I had been playing with the acrylic rod I stuck with plastic for experimentation - white PVC pipe (D). If you're a home owner you usually have some half inch PVC pipe around from some past sprinkler job. In this case it was Schedule 40 (the thick walled PVC pipe). It's already hollow so that saves some hollowing time, it's thick enough and rigid enough to do some turning in it and it's somewhat translucent. Some narrow beads, some long coves - and I've got something that looks sort of like bamboo, or vertabrae and disks. Turn on the LED and the look changes completely - thin areas that cast shadows in reflected light become illuminated more than thicker areas.
Hmmmm - this turned PVC pipe / LiteStik (#3" and "D" in the photo at the top of this page) combination could be interesting. Let's make a Magic Wand, or better yet, a Magic Sceptor.
But - with the clear pastic case, the LiteStik won't fit inside the PVC pipe. So pry the case apart, save the top half - with the switch and battery holder, - cut off the top part since it's not needed and do a little sanding to make it fit.. OOPS - the turned PVC part is a bit short. No problem, turn a wood "coupling" to join it to another piece of PVC pipe - with a hole in it to get the the LiteStik On/Off button. Turn an external ON/OFF "button" to press down on the LiteStik On/Off switch below it and the mechanicals are done. Turn a top and handle for the ends - try a little gold foiling just for fun and now all that's needed is a way to get to the ON/OFF button inside. A small hole, a notch, some more turning and we've got THIS.
Note that to change the batteries, the LiteStik must be removable to gain access to the batteries. So, while the "coupling" is glued to the top piece of PVC pipe, the bottom section of the Sceptor is not. The coupling was made deeper on the removable side to create a tight, but still Take Apartable, fit.
Put everything together and you've got this (sorry about the crook in the photos - didn't seat the bottom part in the coupling).
OK - so the Sceptor is kind of hokey, and I got carried away with turning details, and the gold leafing is kind of over the top - BUT - the concept of internally lighting a translucent piece is demonstrated in an actual piece.
This internal lighting thing has lots of possibilities!
Wonder what would happen if I took a heat gun to the PVC pipe and heated it just enough to make some of it soft enough to be able to mold it a bit - or put a twist in it?