Spacelights...

[john Olson]

Don't laugh! I have found that $10.00 lamp shades from Wal-Mart make a great and cheap substitute for space lights or chinese lanterns.

 

I remove the fabric covering and use only the plastic shell. Suspended in the gel frame holders of 1,000-Watt scoops, they give a really soft, 360-degree light. To avoid direct downlight, I suspend a blackwrap disc below the lamp shade. The opening of the lampshade needs to be clear to allow convection cooling. Removing of the fabric covering also helps cooling. They will melt without the convection cooling.

 

At about 12' above the floor on eight-foot spacing, I get about 50fc at face level. i should note tat color temperature is not constant and some tend toward a yellow tint which I correct with 1/4CTB.

[Jess Haas]

Anyone tried the Vietnamese silk lanterns? http://www.paperlanternstore.com/whvisila.html

 

More expensive than the nylon but they supposedly fold up like an umbrella so they store in a tube. They are also made from silk instead of nylon.

 

For china balls I usually use the ceramic fixtures that take a threaded lamp rod. I use bailing wire to secure it to the harp and the threaded lamp rod fits perfectly in a gobo head. The wiring goes through the hollow lamp rod.

 

~Jess