Will o' the wispahedron

Textured Transluscent Plastic is a very curious material.  With a light behind it, the material seems to glow as a smoky monsoon of diffuse radiance.  A laser through it will diffract into chaos, but a laser through two layered sheets will instead spread into constellations.

But how to build a lamp of it?

I wanted a sphere, but all I got was this stupid icosahedron.

Originally, I wanted to see if I could get the lamp to float, perhaps held aloft in a fan, or somehow using magnets.  Ultimately, the imperfections in construction made these plans impossible; a fan will not hold it up much better than it would hold up a cheesecloth.

That said, the construction is hours away from a semi-permanent home above my bed.

Behold, a 3-photo tour-de-force of its construction:

What remained of the light once it hatched

The light, clamp, and grate, without the diffusing shade

Late construction, hanging on an assembly of flag poles, floor lamps, and wall masks

 Parts used:

1. 1 yard of textured transluscent plastic
2. Clear tape
3. Garage lamp (deconstructed)
4. Grate from a kitchen strainer
5. Clamp to hold the lamp parts, and rest the strainer atop it

Ideas for improvement:

1. Stronger tape and more precisely cut parts would help it keep its shape better
2. A metal frame would give the object some solidity, though it would make fan-floating plans nearly impossible
3. A helium balloon within it might still be capable of making the lamp weightless
4. Rather than using a light bulb, a laser mounted to a small fan on the inside would create a really interesting strobe-like effect.  Unfortunately, there were issues with all fans I tested this idea on, but I'm sure it's possible.  Even better if you could get a laser rotating through multiple spatial dimensions.
5. There are far more interesting 3-D geometric shapes one could build.

Can someone say "rhomboidodecahedron"?  Because I can't...

Glen Liberman from Kinekt Design

Last week, we spoke to Glen Liberman from Kinekt Design (http://www.kinektdesign.com). Glen launched his company with the patented Gear Ring, which features six micro-precision gears that turn in unison when the outer rims are spun. The Gear Ring currently has over 1 million views on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI2N6fsPjjg).

Glen has been designing since his 3rd year in college where he became interested in making prototypes of objects and products. Please find three examples of his work below:

One of his most recent design objects, inspired by Toshio Iwai’s Electroplankton game, is a square object designed to convey a sound wave. For fabrication, Glen intends to make each limited edition object out of glass and create a “new kind of snow globe” by filling the object with water and tiny plastic “square wave” fish.

Glen describes another design, Bauhouse Blocks, as a play on the German art movement, Bauhaus. To help convey the concept, Glen added in doors and chimneys to the circle, square, and triangle shapes.

A third design is called Vector Weapons. He designed pop-out/punch parts from which the weapons could be made. Using a laser cutter, the Weapons were fabricated.

If you would like to see more of Glenʼs personal work, please visit Aesthetic Invention (http://aestheticinvention.com). A huge thanks goes out to Glen for sharing his work and incredible design with the world!