Projects being developed specifically for Todmorden Lamplighter Festival Nov 2016 will now be featured separately under the “Lamplighter Festival 2016” thread.
Leeds Light Night is on for 2 nights this year - this Thursday & Friday: http://whatson.leeds.gov.uk/lightnight/Pages/default.aspx
I’ll probably head over there by train for Friday teatime - anyone else interested?
Here was Light Water Dark Sky by Squid Soup at Leeds Dock - sound played over headphones & light sequences varied, though I don’t think it was influenced by participants.
Here were the Giant Dandelions by Olivia d’Aboville, made from recycled plastic bottles.
Here was Phase Revival by Superposition at the Town Hall, a fascinating “optical harmonica” with lenses swinging back & forth making a noise, with a performance lasting for 9 minutes (?). (Temporarily) lapsed BR member, @a_wilson, is a member, but I don’t think was involved in this project.
This was called Fireflies by Fixedgrinn Collective; they bobbed up & down randomly (?) on cables suspended from the ceiling.
What inspiration can Bridge Rectifier take from this . . . . ?
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Anyone know anything about lasers? Just starting to research this area, & conscious of important safety issues. I’d like to set up a surface with glow in the dark paint, & ‘draw’ on it with a pointer. Hoping to find a very low power product with the right wavelength to be safe in public, as it’d be good fun, but ONLY provided it can be completely safe.
I gather UV is safer than visible light lasers, but on these products I don’t see the safety classifications I’ve read about: https://www.technoglowproducts.com/uv-laser-flashlights/
This is a public event, so it must be feasible: https://www.technoglowproducts.com/blog/
I seem to recall that anything more than a few milliwatts can cause eye damage if the beam hits the eye direct and is not moving. With higher power lasers one safety precaution being to kill the beam, either by turning the laser off or moving a shutter, if the thing that scans it fails.
I would have expected UV lasers to be more dangerous to be honest. Infra red ones are bad because you can’t see the beam, but with “far infra red” (longer wavelength) you do at least benefit from the fact that it doesn’t get focused by the lens in your eye. Still, not sure whether a melted lens or burnt retina is worse… I guess you might feel the heat and quickly move like you would if it was a flame. Also bear in mind that UV can be carcinogenic (think sunbeds and UV sunblock etc).
Green lasers look brighter than red for any given power, due to the eye being more sensitive to green light. So I’m not sure if this could be a factor. I.e. you could get away with a lower power.
Another thing to consider is divergence, as the less focused the beam is, the safer it is. You can obviously expand a beam with a simple lens, but then it loses one of it’s key laser characteristics. Just found a page that looks quite useful:
http://laserpointersafety.com/page52/laser-hazard_diagram/different-lasers-compared.html
If you wanted a laser show, I’d suggest buying a solution that is certified safe for use in public, from a reputable source and with CE marking.
If you wanted to draw with UV laser pointers as in that video, I’d seek assurances that those devices are perfectly safe for the general public to use and that no eye injury will result from people shining them at each other. May be that e.g. 5mW of 405nm with whatever divergence they have is actually pretty safe. I just don’t know…
I have actually been thinking about going on an accredited laser safety course, as it would prove useful for various projects I have in mind:
Leeds Light Night is coming around again - on Thu 5th & Fri 6th October: https://whatson.leeds.gov.uk/lightnight
I can recommend it & would like to see if we can get any inspiration for our own light art projects etc.
There’s mention of a giant spirograph here, @danieru-san. Not sure if it’s of any interest?
https://whatson.leeds.gov.uk/lightnight/all-events/event-details?eventId=whatson-2567
Here’s an installation repeated from 2014 by Leeds Hackspace: https://whatson.leeds.gov.uk/lightnight/all-events/event-details?eventId=whatson-2540
I was impressed when I saw it back then, & it’s a good example of hackspace collaborations … …
Hi…i am a new user here. In my case I would have expected UV lasers to be more dangerous to be honest. Infra red ones are bad because you can’t see the beam, but with “far infra red” you do at least benefit from the fact that it doesn’t get focused by the lens in your eye. Still, not sure whether a melted lens or burnt retina is worse.
Leeds Light Night is just over a month off, if anyone wants to log the date. It’s actually 2 nights - Thu 4th & Fri 5th October, and worth a visit for anyone interested in a diverse range of light art installations etc: https://whatson.leeds.gov.uk/lightnight/Home