constellation grids

I've built a bigger frame this time ,and wired up a grid with garden wire.This wire is connected to the negative of the 12v battery,and a connecting wire links up the red side of the leds.
I 've tries using black paint to vary the sizes of the light,like real stars would be ,this is sort of working.

unlit lighting grid

I have wired 35 3mm leds to the battery,but need about as much again to populate the sky with points of light.All the other lights,like the names and arrows will be connected to another battery. I'm meandering through this one as it takes time to build the elements and see how they look.I'll continue with the original plan,to shoot the grids outdoors against the sea/land and sky,although they will be visible,but i like that.

I will try to add abstract elements to this work as I go along , objects and effects ,and see where it goes to.perhaps the final pieces will be moving things ,or videos,
My tiny 12 v leds are here next week.I'm reading a star finding guide as reference,but ultimately don't want to just replicate the diagrams in it

constellation lights

Continuing with this project I have built a few more laser cut lightboxes,various astronomical names and greek letters ,in different sizes as I'm not really sure about the scale of the 'final' pieces,I think they will be larger than the first ones,as pulling the camera back from them made a lot of unwanted wires invisible to the lens. The original intention was to shoot the grid against a real sky and sea at dusk

shooting from a distance is going to need a bigger grid

I received  a blue LED strip at last,with the intended effect of creating a false dawn or evening sky .I also have 3mm white leds instead of 5mm, and a bunch of tiny 12v leds on the way,all these should give the impression of different size and magnitude stars in the sky. Im also building more EL wire 'straighteners', strips of light ply that straighten the wire out.

constellation map of northern stars

The last thing is a new wire grid, more even than the last one ,and wider too.

Photos /sculpture with lights

This new project is an attempt to construct pictures,sculptures or installation works using various lights and lighting effects,LED's of course,but also light strip,light boxes ,EL wire ,led lamps ,possibly lasers and projections and other lit electronic items such as mini tv screens.

 So far I've thrown together a frame and put up a grid of gardening wire ,which is handy ,its thin and dark green,so all the lit elements can be hung on this.

Lots of elements to replicate in this example,including greek letters ,numbers and dotted line boundaries

typical constellation pic

 One of the major hassles will be wiring up up to one hundred led's to this frame ,along with all the other bits and pieces.I intend to power it off a few of the drill batteries used in the big number in the sea project

The first demo is an attempt to replicate the night sky pictures i was always fascinated with.I believe the works will have many factual astronomical elements ,and also science fiction elements .

Putting the 0 together

placing the bolts

Levelling up the power number
 

This week i decided to put most of the sculpture together in order to find out how difficult it will be on a beach. I constructed the 0 and the 26,having previously lined them up at home .Im using 8 and 6 mm bolts and wingnuts to make the build quicker on location.

Back of the 26

Nearly there,just the 1 to build now
 

The number is very tall,and I'll need a decent stepladder maybe 8-9 ft tall to get to the top of the number and the 26 assembly and also a board to stop the ladder sinking in the sand.

Frame construction/problems

I have started to put the frame together tonight,with lenghts of wood with blocks to mark the positions for easy construction on the shoot,and again built the bottom half of the 0,but its not lining up as i had hoped ,theres a bit of play in the frame.I'm hoping that when the whole 0 is together ,this will iron out these problems. The frame will be quite heavy, and Im hoping there wont be any problems dragging the number into the surf,at least it wont float.


Drawing for battery placement

Another problem is the perspex brackets ,Im afraid the 10mm perspex is not strong enough,if the brackets,or the support for the 26 power number break from a gust of wind,,they'll fall into the sea and probably be destroyed,so Im going to get some thick polycarbonate to replace these clear parts,This could be costly, I've only spent about E250 on the project so far.

Other Ideas knocking around

attaching the exponent

leveling the number

Today I attached the 26 to the main number with perspex bars,the whole 26 is fairly heavy , because it is out on a limb. It should be ok when the whole number is screwed together.

The digits will need to be tweaked into position and then i will bolt them in place ,so that they line up properly on the beach.

I think the different colours is due to one of the batteries losing power,so i will check this out, as all the colours must be the same..

Exponent number

 

This is the one

Today I organised all the parts for the 1 digit ,and took it to dollymount strand to shoot it. The sunset was about 530 and this coindided with low tide,this meant the place where i want to eventually shoot the number ,was too far from the car,so i phographed it in a nearby tidal pool.

Different camera settings affect the look of the shots

The different camerasettings drastically affect the outcome ,which i like ,the sculpture affects its surroundings and is interpreted by the Camera CMOS,the foggy misty effect might be dampness or fog on the lens..but its all good.



This means i will have to organise some kind of cart to carry all the stuff to the shoreline,which was about half a kilometer from the carpark. The 1 was lighter than i thought,but this meant that it almost floated, so I'll have to get weights to keep it down.

 

The shoreline at dollymount.

The 1 dragged into position