Adventures in Electrostatic

Its been nice the past two weeks fussing over such a deceptively simple thing: light. Which type of light should I use, halogen, LED, cold cathode, normal incandescent, fluorescent. How much do I need; and at what power? And to complicate matters I have to think about light in the context of exactly what I want to do; namely, glowing through wood. Its all very illusive and tricky. There aren’t any standards by which to judge lighting that are reliable; sure there are lumens… but those are measured very differently across manufactures and applications, so really finding a light source is all about testing.

So thats what I did, test-all kinds of thicknesses of wood in various configurations and orientations. In the end I have learned an awful lot about small light sources, and that is great; but I have also become a little frustrated. I haven’t really made any decisions so it feels like I am going nowhere; THAT however, is changing next week. I think I now have the knowledge to move forward, so that is what I am going to do.

Not all my time the past week was spent on light though, some was also spent thinking about form: what this lamp should look/feel like. At this point I am thinking a light wood veneer and aluminum or stainless (which is going to be fun). I modeled it all in SketchUp and put it in a presentation for your viewing, so go there for more.