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Gozdom
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« on: March 10, 2010, 12:39:49 am » |
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International Women's Day is widely celebrated here. I always try to avoid buying mutilated plants, and I also had some spare time at the workshop, so I came up with this for my wife. I took apart a solar lamp (sold for like 2$) intended as garden decoration, quite ugly in that function, a heap of poorly mold plastic. These charge their battery in daytime, and light their single LED when its dark (e.g. when they receive no current from the solar panel). I kept the circuit and the solar panel, replaced the LED with a large yellow one, and mounted it in the top part of an old silver (plated) cup. The stamens are brass nails, leaves are of etched brass sheet. This was a quick job (had to get it into working condition to present it), and needs a bit of an overhaul: a casing for the solar panel, covered cables and perhaps some patina. It is an inverse sunflower, in a way, hence the name Moonflower.  |
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Leonard Lightning
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« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2010, 02:16:43 am » |
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Wow thats beautiful.
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steelhips
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« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2010, 05:16:06 am » |
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Gorgeous!
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Otto Von Pifka
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« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2010, 08:08:41 am » |
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I used to have large pieces of broken solar cells, I bought a small bag full for a few dollars.
it was just a matter of carefully soldering a wire to the back and to the front matrix to get them to work.
they were quite brittle but could be shaped. maybe if you made something like the old petals of the blooming flower pod and added them around the stem, they could be used to do the charging.
it's very beautiful! very nice work!
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aldebaran
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« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2010, 09:42:06 am » |
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That is lovely!
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Gozdom
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« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2010, 12:57:45 pm » |
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I used to have large pieces of broken solar cells, I bought a small bag full for a few dollars.
it was just a matter of carefully soldering a wire to the back and to the front matrix to get them to work.
they were quite brittle but could be shaped. maybe if you made something like the old petals of the blooming flower pod and added them around the stem, they could be used to do the charging.
it's very beautiful! very nice work!
I decided not to tamper with the panel, although using them as leaves or petals would be much more elegant and organic. Perhaps I'll do another one later, I have a few small cells from old calcualtors and such. EDIT: I don't know much about solar panels, but shaping them is an exciting option. As far as I can see, they are sealed units containing a network of wires, and contacts on the back. Could they be cut and retain function? |
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« Last Edit: March 10, 2010, 02:17:39 pm by Gozdom »
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Miss Groves
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« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2010, 11:08:35 pm » |
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o how lovely!
You could use something like the 'sunjar's as well, they're a similar idea.
This would make great bedside lamps
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Happy Solar Circumnavigation Day!
"Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest of forms." - Sherlock Holmes
Let's eat Grandpa. Let's eat, Grandpa. Punctuation can save someone's life.
£5 out of £295 for a metal clay kiln : (
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Gozdom
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« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2010, 12:11:18 am » |
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o how lovely!
You could use something like the 'sunjar's as well, they're a similar idea.
This would make great bedside lamps
Unfortunately, the LED doesn't give enough light for anything else than illuminating itself. Moreover, the solar panel will only charge in bright light, not inside. I'll look for brighter LEDs and a source for solar panels, and make more brass flowers, this pseudo-plant concept seems interesting. |
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« Last Edit: March 12, 2010, 12:17:45 am by Gozdom »
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Soapwort Blisterbelch
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« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2010, 01:26:10 am » |
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The end result is well worth the overhaul though, eh? This thing is beautiful! |
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"Duck! 'Cause repentance won't be working this day!" -- Adequate Flattbucsh; Chief of Accquisition for the ship Gentry Blisterbelch
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J. Wilhelm
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« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2010, 04:24:29 am » |
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I saw your Flickr photo set. Very nice and original. Interesting, that etching on the leaves....There a little Frank Lloyd Wright similarity in the piece, I believe.... (American architect, 1867-1959, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright ). This really gives me some ideas, as I have been toying with Art Nouveau, but people often ignore that was not the only alternative style during the end of the Victorian period! There's so much to be done! |
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