Alien flower night light

Start drinking milk! To create this light you will need the plastic from 10 gallons of milk in addition to the DIY lamp standards such as electrical wires, switch, plug, etc.

There are many variations to this polyhedron theme. Dan made a good instructable on the subject. To make mine I modified a simple model I found here which is based on slipping 20 triangles together. By changing the shape to a star of David I avoided having holes in my shade.

A key element to this design is the small color changing LED bulb -- some blend smoothly from one color to the next, however mine was "cheap" ($9 on Canal Street in NYC) and just flips color every few seconds. My kids don't care though, they love it just the way it is..

Step 1 Materials

10 empty gallon sized plastic milk bottles
12 inches green rubber tubing
24 inches rigid electrical wire with a "solid" copper wire inside (as opposed to many thin strands).
Electrical cord with plug attached (preferably cut off some broken appliance)
on/off switch (I chose a button, but you could use a toggle or even a switch on your electrical cord -- if it came off a lamp it might already be there)
Lightweight keyless socket with an edison base (i.e. regular light bulb size)
4" clay flower pot
small plastic container (such as an empty paint sample jar) which fits in the pot
Plaster
Pebbles
Sticky colored styrofoam from a toy store
green electrical tape
And of course the small color changing LED light bulb

Comments

[ZombieMonster]

Loved the last pic! So recyclable!

[SRRPC]

hey will that "styrofoamish" stuff harden?

[belsey]

 No, on the contrary. Over time it tends to get even more sticky and gooey than it was at first.

[swartley3ga]

I really like it and I think your instructables are very thorough =)

[jolico]

mitsubishi anyone?

[craftyclaws]

Nice!

[jaxsy]

smartylampsThis is great! Smartylamps.co.uk sells those danish darlings of the designer lampshade world. For a long time been looking into pushing things forward and making them from recycled / milk bottle plastic also great to find people making these polyhedra shapes..theres some great geometry to get to grips with, more research needed. Good stuff. Going to link you to www.smartylamps.co.uk and hopefully have some proper plastic shades on there soon, check out this guy - Nick Sayers - he's made the Iq light sphere from estate agents boards! He's perhaps run out of materials now the housing market has dived. Anyway this is not and essay. Top site.

[belsey]

Thanks for the links, I enjoyed looking at his work.

[jaxsy]

smartylampsLink to the estate agent boards sphere - http://flickr.com/photos/nicksayers/collections/72157603881109321/

[smitasrivastava]

its lovely !!!!! Hey you r very creative Keep it up.

[belsey]

Thanks -- you should post something too. It's kind of addictive, and submitting projects for contests is a way of getting motivated to turn all those ideas in your head into something tangible...

[libraryCat]

I was thinking someone should do a variation like this for this contest! Good Job!

[belsey]

I'd been plotting this for a while, (collecting the bottles) when the contest came around and motivated me to get it done. It's definitely a variation on a theme, this type of shade has been around for a while, still I like my little flower...

[LuminousObject]

Also, it might be cool with a black light in it.

[belsey]

That's a great idea -- I think I'll try that when I save up enough milk bottles!

[mynameisjonas]

five stars and faved! but does the plastic melt if you leave the lamp on for too long?

[belsey]

Thanks! No, the plastic doesn't melt, at least not with the low watt LED bulb I use which is completely cold even after hours of use.

[Sparkington]

That wiring look dangerous and could shock someone. You could have use a decent electrical box and and a light switch. I wouldn't recommended that anyone to wire up the light switch like this. Is the socket got a plastic cover to cover the live terminals? If not electrical tape will break down and could hurt someone. But it is an awesome lamp shade.

[belsey]

I do concede that as it is, I could not market this lamp as a UL listed fixture -- I could have used a better socket, such as some of these. However, unless you are armed with a pair of scissors and the determination to shock yourself, I can assure you it is safe. In all my years of taking apart lamp fixtures I have never encountered one with a "true" electrical box. Those are designed to be put inside walls, and are not needed inside lamps. The plastic jar I used here works perfectly to protect and isolate the wiring, especially with the extra insulation I wrapped all the connections with before putting it together (I didn't take a picture of that step, but I did mention it). I also mentioned that the wiring can be done more simply by using the type of switch which goes on the cord. I don't happen to like that kind much because it is more likely the lamp will get knocked over -- but not everybody is as clumsy as I am...

[LuminousObject]

This looks really cool. We go through a lot of milk at our house, so I'm sure I'll be able to get the jugs.

[finfan7]

Regarding the styrofoam "growths": Awe man, I finally get my martian light rose to bloom and it gets the pox. Anyway, cool project. Different from what I was expecting when I clicked the link but very interesting.

[agdollison]

looks like a model of a virus