For the past couple of weeks I've been experimenting more with light painting tools for the Open Make: Tools event. Here are some of my favorite discoveries so far:
Once again I tried embedding LEDs in glue sticks to create an eerily diffuse quality of light. These two paintings were made with a red and white light embedded in a spinning glue stick that was held straight toward the camera in the first photo and oriented sideways in the other.
Next, I took the idea to a more extreme place with five lights arranged in a rainbow pattern that spun on a hobby motor.
One of the challenges we've encountered is that the two motors we've tried so far are either super fast or super slow. So I set up a few lights on a cricket computer motor which I thought might spin at an intermediate speed. It worked pretty well and the motor and battery also all fit together to a make a more compact package then some of the more unwieldy hobby motor setups.
Blinking LEDs make interesting semi-circle shapes.
On Friday, Sebastian and I tried some experiments with a large lazy susan. Combining the rotation of the surface with the spinning of motors made for light traces that showed compound motion and cycloid patterns.
One really cool thing that we could see with the camera is the difference in the pattern we got from spinning the turntable clockwise versus counter-clockwise
Sebastian introduced light painting with iphones to create what looked like an otherworldly glowing donut emanating from the device.
And the last "tool" we made brought back the glue stick (with two LEDs), but this time it spun on a string like a pendulum to create another cycloid pattern without the spinning disc.
We"ll do some more experiments with light painting and tool-making this week as we continue to prepare for open make event.
