Wasara Push Lamp
30 April 2014
This project is about transformations. From the everyday into the unidentifiable, the liquid into the electric, it explores multiple and imaginative uses of domestic materials, literally turning the whole shebang upside-down!
This particular flying saucer - gliding noiselessly over a tabletop mountain range - started life as a piece of single-use paper-ware created by Wasara of Japan.
Wasara's products embody the spirit and aesthetic of the Japanese design technique known as 'shakkei' which aims to integrate the landscape - as seen through a window - as a part of an interior. It is not surprising then, that one of their simple bowls can be turned on its head, creating and illuminating a landscape all of its own.
Other unexpected transformations are afoot in the form of Bare Conductive's ingenious Electric Paint Pen, which allows this project - with its LEDs and circuitry - to be solder free. Believe it or not, their 'liquid wire' allows you to draw a circuit and - in this case - is what brings the LED colored landscape to life!
For the lamp and lamp base, you will need:
- 1 x Wasara Compote Bowl
- Electric Paint
- Printer paper (and color printer)
- Medium Weight Chipboard (card)
- Regular paper glue
- A circle cutter
- Paper pricking tool
- LEDs: 16 white, 6 Red, 6 Yellow, 4 Green, 4 Blue
- Wire Cutters
- 2 yards (2m) of 22 AWG (o.6mm) single core electric wire
- Resistors: 12 x 180 ohms, 4 x 220 ohms
- Marker pen
- A Precision knife
- 1 x 9v battery holder
- 1 x 9v battery
- Screwdriver
- Card stock (or a cardboard tube)
- Pliers, ruler & cutting mat (optional)
For the papier-mâché:
- Rice Paste Powder
- Newspaper
DOWNLOAD(S):
- push_light_disks.pdf 275.8 KB
Step One
Print out the LED template and cut out the two circles.
Step Two
Take a piece of 1.5 mm card, big enough to accommodate both circles, and glue the templates onto it.
Step Three
Cut out the circles following the thick black lines. You should end up with two donut shaped disks. If you are using a circle cutter make sure to start with the outer circle.
Step Four
With the pricking tool, poke holes through all the black dots marked on both disks. There are two holes in every colored circle and 16 holes along the thin black line.
Step Five
The color of the circles on the template match the color of the LEDs. Start with a white LED and insert it from the back of the template. Each LED has one long and one short pin. IMPORTANT: Always make sure the longer pin is in the right-hand side as you're looking at it.
Step Six
On the template side, fold the two pins over to hold the LED tightly in place. Fold the short pin so that it points diagonally up to the left, and the long pin so that it points diagonally down to the right as shown in the image.
Step Seven
Insert another white LED to the right of the first. Again, make sure the longer pin goes through the right-hand hole. This time, fold the short pin diagonally down to the left, so that it overlaps the right pin of the previous LED. The long pin folds diagonally down to the right again.
Step Eight
Cut off the ends of the pins which point to the center of the circle. Cut them after their overlap but before they hit the thin black line below. As shown.
Step Nine
Repeat steps 5-8 for each of the white, green and blue LEDs.
Step Ten
Inserting the yellow and red LEDs is almost the same process as for the white, only this time they are in a group of three. This just means you have to repeat step 7 twice. The result should look as in the image.
Step Eleven
Add the resistors for each color set. The white, green and blue LEDs use a resistor of 180 ohm - the yellow and red use a 220 ohm. Fold one of the 180 ohm resistors into a U shape and stick the pins through the two holes in the back of the template. It should sit underneath a set of white LEDs as shown.
Step Twelve
Turn the card over and fold the left pin of the resistor so that it points to the middle of the circle. Fold the right pin so that it points diagonally up to the right. Slide it under the far right pin of the furthest right LED of the group and push it down well. Long nose pliers can really come in handy here making sure everything is tight.
Step Thirteen
Insert all resistors for both disks. Again make sure that each white, green and blue group get a 180 ohm resistor and each yellow and red group get a 220 ohm resistor.
Step Fourteen
Take the smaller disk and cut 10" (25 cm) of electric wire. Bend one end around the thin black circle from which the resistor pins extend.
Step Fifteen
Hold the wire down and mark the position of the resistor pins.
Step Sixteen
Now, using a precision knife, strip the plastic coating from the wire in the places you have marked.
Step Seventeen
Bend all the left-hand resistor pins up and bend the wire back around the circle. Now fix the wire in place by folding the resistor wires over the stripped spots.
Step Eighteen
Repeat step 14-17 for the bigger disk.
Step Nineteen
Cut two 20" (50 cm) lengths of electric wire and complete the following steps for both disks. Bend the wire around the outside edge of the circle and mark the places where the LED pins protrude over the wire. Your first mark should be at least 15 mm from the end of the wire. Now strip the plastic coating from the marks as you did in step 16.
Step Twenty
Poke an extra hole in your disk about 5 mm from the outer edge and 5 mm from the LED closest to your first mark. Take the end of the wire from which you started your marking and feed it through the hole. Fold it over so that it is secure.
Step Twenty-one
Bend the LED pins over the edge of the card so that they match up with the stripped points on the wire. Cut the pins about 5 mm after the bend.
Step Twenty-two
Take your Bare Conductive pen and, on each metal-to-metal connection, put a drop of electric paint -
- Where the LED pins overlap
- Where the LED pin overlaps the resistor pin
- Where either the LED pin or resistor pin overlaps the wires.
It's essential to drop the paint EXACTLY on these points, so it doesn't spread to any other metal.
- Where the LED pins overlap
- Where the LED pin overlaps the resistor pin
- Where either the LED pin or resistor pin overlaps the wires.
It's essential to drop the paint EXACTLY on these points, so it doesn't spread to any other metal.
Step Twenty-three
Take your 300 gsm paper and cut the following three pieces: 1 of 11 x 16 cm; 1 of 9 x 5 cm and 1 of 10 x 6 cm. (Or, in inches: this is 1 of 4 x 6"; 1 of 3.5 x 2" and 1 of 4 x 2.3").
Step Twenty-four
From the leftovers of the 1.5 mm card, cut two disks; one with a diameter of 2.8 cm and one of 2.7 cms
Step Twenty-five
Take the piece of 10 x 6 cm paper and, using your pricking tool and a ruler, gently scratch a line parallel to the long side, 1 cm from the edge.
Step Twenty-six
With a precision knife, make a line of horizontal cuts from the scratched line to the edge. The cuts should be about 4 mm apart, in order to create little flaps.
Step Twenty-seven
Fold the flaps over to one side and then roll the paper (flaps inwards) around the 2.8 cm disk. If you pre-roll the paper this will be slightly easier. When it feels like it sits flat, take some glue and stick the paper to the disk.
Step Twenty-Eight
Repeat steps 25-27 for the 9 x 5 cm paper and 2.7 cm disk. Leave them both to dry thoroughly. When finished, the smaller tube should neatly fit inside the larger.
Step Twenty-nine
Take the larger of the two tubes and the 11 x 16 cm piece of paper. Roll the piece of paper around the tube so that you end up with a reinforced, 16 cm long tube. Make sure that the tube you are rolling around has the open side facing outwards. Pre roll it a few times and, when you are happy, glue it in place.
Step Thirty
From the edge of the paper where the smaller tube sits, mark at 2, 3, 4 and 5 cm.
Step Thirty-one
Use the pricking tool to make two holes on either side of the 4 cm mark.
Step Thirty-two
Take the two LED disks and slide them over the tube. The smaller one at the top with the LEDs facing up and the larger one at the bottom with the LEDs facing down.
Step Thirty-three
There should be two wires coming from each LED disk; one long and one short. Take the two long wires and push them through the holes to the right of the 4 cm mark. On the inside of the tube, make two holes in the disc, close to where the wires poke through. Push the long wires through these holes so you can pull them out the bottom of the tube.
Step Thirty-four
Take the two shorter wires and push these through the holes to the left of the 4 cm mark. Now feed them out through the top of the tube.
Step Thirty-five
Cut the two shorter wires to an equal length and strip about 1 cm off the plastic coating at the end. Twist the two bare copper ends together with small pliers.
Step Thirty-six
Cut a 40 cm (15.5") piece of wire and strip the ends as before. Now take your switch, which has two holes and two screws. Undo the screws and insert one end into one hole; tighten the screw to fix it in place. Now insert the twisted end of the two short wires into the other hole and tighten the screw.
Step Thirty-seven
Poke one more hole in the 2.8 cm disk and feed the single wire coming from the switch through it. Pull the wire out at the bottom of the tube and nest the switch inside. You might have to pull some of the other wires out of the tube to avoid any blocking.
Step Thirty-eight
Poke three more holes about 1 cm from the bottom edge of the tube and pull the three wires through them. Leave the wire from the switch as it is but cut the other two to equal length, strip the ends and twist the bare copper together.
Step Thirthy-nine
Take your battery holder and strip about 1.5 cm of plastic from the end of its wires. Wrap the black (-) wire around the two twisted wires and the red (+) wire around the single wire coming from the switch. To ensure the connection, add some Bare Conductive paint to the twisted parts. Once this is dry, cover the bare wires with electric tape.
Step Forty
You can now test your lamp! Insert a 9v battery into the holder and take the small tube from step 27. Insert this tube with the disk pointing down, into the top of the lamp's stem. Now, gently press on it to flick the switch. Your LEDs should light up!
Step Forty-one
Prepare your wallpaper glue following the instructions on the packet. Tear some newspaper into little strips of about 2 x 5 cm.
Step Forty-two
Fix the small tube in place at the center of the Wasara bowl using the glue covered newspaper. Make sure the disk faces out towards you and don't add to much paper to the sides. It still needs to fit inside the long tube! Papier-mâché doesn't feel very sticky or solid when working, but it will become much harder when dry so don't panic.
Step Forty-three
For the base you can do whatever you like! The only important thing is to keep the wires and battery pack away from the wet glue. Here, we do this by bending a piece of the 1.5 mm card into a U shape and placing it over the battery pack. You can then build up the papier-mâché over this to create your base.
Step Forty-five
TIP! Scrunching the paper up will allow you to cover more area in less time. Just make sure you allow time to dry in between layers. It can also be very useful to put a plastic sheet under your glue work. A shopping bag would be perfect.
Step Forty-six
For the last layer, use regular white printing paper. This will give you a nice, neat finish and a great base to paint on if you wish. Before you do anything else however, you must leave the lamp aside to dry thoroughly overnight.
Step Forty-seven
Once dry, take your Wasara bowl and insert its tube into the lamp's stem. To see your lamp in action just press down on the bowl!