GloBot

This guy didn't glow to begin with. He started out as a Sound Warrior, one of 4 bots and deities I assembled from styrofoam packaging inserts to do battle with reflected sound after I moved into a big empty loft space with brick walls and rock maple floors. The first time I tried to watch a movie in that space the sound was so jumbled I couldn't even understand the words. Miraculosly, 4 of these guys fanned out behind my TV totally defeated my sound issues and restored sound clarity to my living space. BUT... that's not why we're here! Were here to MAKE IT GLOW!

When we left the first rented loft and built out our own space, we no longer needed an army of sound sucking styrobots. However, at the time I was looking for creative lighting for the new space and had been discovering the gorgeous translucency of thin styrofoam sheets when backlit. I grabbed a shadeless lamp, held it behind this guy and he just about sprang to life! I placed him directly in front of the double doored entry to our basement loft and he kept us safe for another few years until we moved again. 

Step 1 Collecting Materials

The key to Building a good StyroBot is to have a good selection of styrofoam packaging inserts. If you're like me, you probably have many old appliance and electronics boxes in the attic or garage you're saving just in case. Some of the items they once contained are probably long gone. Additionally, you've probably never once returned an item in any saved packaging so you can start by freeing up some space, breaking down those boxes and collecting all the packaging inserts.

Another thing you probably don't realize is that most of your friends and neighbors have similar collections. When I started this project I posted a note on the forum for our 40 unit converted factory building. Over the next few days, about 100 different packaging inserts were left outside my door! I built four of these pieces and still had 50 or so to find a new home for.